Investor Behavior in the Option Market

This paper investigates the behavior of investors in the equity option market using a unique and detailed dataset of open interest and volume for all contracts listed on the Chicago Board Options Exchange over the 1990 through 2001 period. We document major stylized facts about the option market activity of three types of non-market maker investors over this time period and also investigate how their trading changed during the stock market bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000. Our key findings are: (1) non-market maker investors have about four times more long call than long put open interest, (2) these investors have more short than long open interest in both calls and puts, (3) each type of investor purchases more calls to open brand new positions when the return on underlying stocks are higher over horizons ranging from one week to two years into the past, (4) the least sophisticated group of investors substantially increased their purchases of calls on growth but not value stocks during the stock market bubble of the late 1990s and early 2000, and (5) none of the investor groups significantly increased their purchases of puts during the bubble period in order to overcome short sales constraints in the stock market.

Damped Population Oscillation in a Spontaneously Decaying Two-Level Atom Coupled to a Monochromatic Field

We investigate the time evolution of atomic population in a two-level atom driven by a monochromatic radiation field, taking spontaneous emission into account. The Rabi oscillation exhibits amplitude damping in time caused by spontaneous emission. We show that the semiclassical master equation leads in general to an overestimation of the damping rate and that a correct quantitative description of the damped Rabi oscillation can thus be obtained only with a full quantum mechanical theory.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Noncontact temperature pattern measuring device

This invention relates to a noncontact imagine pyrometer system for obtaining the true temperature image of a given substance in a contactless fashion without making assumptions about localized emissivity of the substance or the uniformity of the temperature distribution. Such a contactless temperature imaging system has particular application in the study and production of many materials where the physical contact required to make a conventional temperature measurement drastically effects or contaminates the physical process being observed. Two examples where accurate temperature profiles are of critical interest are: (1) the solid-liquid phase change interface in the production of electronic materials and (2) metastable materials in the undercooling region. The apparent novelty resides in the recognition that an active pyrometer system may be advantageously adapted to perform contactless temperature imaging so that an accurate temperature profile can be obtained

Origin of Superconductivity in Boron-doped Diamond

Superconductivity of boron-doped diamond, reported recently at T_c=4 K, is investigated exploiting its electronic and vibrational analogies to MgB2. The deformation potential of the hole states arising from the C-C bond stretch mode is 60% larger than the corresponding quantity in MgB2 that drives its high Tc, leading to very large electron-phonon matrix elements. The calculated coupling strength \lambda ~ 0.5 leads to T_c in the 5-10 K range and makes phonon coupling the likely mechanism. Higher doping should increase T_c somewhat, but effects of three dimensionality primarily on the density of states keep doped diamond from having a T_c closer to that of MgB2.Comment: Four pages with two embedded figures, corrected fig1. (To appear in Physical Review Letters(2004)

Heat Conduction in two-dimensional harmonic crystal with disorder

We study the problem of heat conduction in a mass-disordered two-dimensional harmonic crystal. Using two different stochastic heat baths, we perform simulations to determine the system size (L) dependence of the heat current (J). For white noise heat baths we find that J ~ 1/L^a with $a \approx 0.59$ while correlated noise heat baths gives $a \approx 0.51$. A special case with correlated disorder is studied analytically and gives a=3/2 which agrees also with results from exact numerics.Comment: Revised version. 4 pages, 3 figure

Wild dogma: An examination of recent "evidence" for dingo regulation of invasive mesopredator release in Australia

There is growing interest in the role that apex predators play in shaping terrestrial ecosystems and maintaining trophic cascades. In line with the mesopredator release hypothesis, Australian dingoes (Canis lupus dingo and hybrids) are assumed by many to regulate the abundance of invasive mesopredators, such as red foxes Vulpes vulpes and feral cats Felis catus, thereby providing indirect benefits to various threatened vertebrates. Several recent papers have claimed to provide evidence for the biodiversity benefits of dingoes in this way. Nevertheless, in this paper we highlight several critical weaknesses in the methodological approaches used in many of these reports, including lack of consideration for seasonal and habitat differences in activity, the complication of simple track-based indices by incorporating difficult-to-meet assumptions, and a reduction in sensitivity for assessing populations by using binary measures rather than potentially continuous measures. Of the 20 studies reviewed, 15 of them (75%) contained serious methodological flaws, which may partly explain the inconclusive nature of the literature investigating interactions between invasive Australian predators. We therefore assert that most of the "growing body of evidence" for mesopredator release is merely an inconclusive growing body of literature only. We encourage those interested in studying the ecological roles of dingoes relative to invasive mesopredators and native prey species to account for the factors we identify, and caution the value of studies that have not done so

Micro-Structured Ferromagnetic Tubes for Spin Wave Excitation

Micron scale ferromagnetic tubes placed on the ends of ferromagnetic CoTaZr spin waveguides are explored in order to enhance the excitation of Backward Volume Magnetostatic Spin Waves. The tubes produce a closed magnetic circuit about the signal line of the coplanar waveguide and are, at the same time, magnetically contiguous with the spin waveguide. This results in a 10 fold increase in spin wave amplitude. However, the tube geometry distorts the magnetic field near the spin waveguide and relatively high biasing magnetic fields are required to establish well defined spin waves. Only the lowest (uniform) spin wave mode is excited.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure