The Cost of Complexity in Federal Student Aid: Lessons from Optimal Tax Theory and Behavioral Economics

The federal system for distributing student financial aid rivals the tax code in its complexity. Both have been a source of frustration and a focus of reform efforts for decades, yet the complexity of the student aid system has received comparatively little attention from economists. We describe the complexity of the aid system, and apply lessons from optimal tax theory and behavioral economics to show that complexity is a serious obstacle to both efficiency and equity in the distribution of student aid. We show that complexity disproportionately burdens those with the least ability to pay and undermines redistributive goals. We use detailed data from federal student aid applications to show that a radically simplified aid process can reproduce the current distribution of aid using a fraction of the information now collected.

Phenotypically Plastic Responses to Predation Risk Are Temperature Dependent

Predicting how organisms respond to climate change requires that we understand the temperature dependence of fitness in relevant ecological contexts (e.g., with or without predation risk). Predation risk often induces changes to life history traits that are themselves temperature dependent. We explore how perceived predation risk and temperature interact to determine fitness (indicated by the intrinsic rate of increase, r) through changes to its underlying components (net reproductive rate, generation time, and survival) in Daphnia magna. We exposed Daphnia to predation cues from dragonfly naiads early, late, or throughout their ontogeny. Predation risk increased r differentially across temperatures and depending on the timing of exposure to predation cues. The timing of predation risk likewise altered the temperature-dependent response of T and R0. Daphnia at hotter temperatures responded to predation risk by increasing r through a combination of increased R0 and decreased T that together countered an increase in mortality rate. However, only D. magna that experienced predation cues early in ontogeny showed elevated r at colder temperatures. These results highlight the fact that phenotypically plastic responses of life history traits to predation risk can be strongly temperature dependent

Dust yields in clumpy SN shells: SN 1987A revisited

We present a study of the effects of clumping on the emergent spectral energy distribution (SED) from dusty supernova (SN) shells illuminated by a diffuse radiation source distributed throughout the medium. (...) The fully 3D radiation transport problem is solved using a Monte Carlo code, MOCASSIN, and we present a set of models aimed at investigating the sensitivity of the SEDs to various clumping parameters. We find that, contrary to the predictions of analytical prescriptions, the combination of an optical and IR observational data set is sufficient to constrain dust masses even in the case where optically thick clumps are present. Using both smoothly varying and clumped grain density distributions, we obtain new estimates for the mass of dust condensed by the Type II SN 1987A by fitting the optical and infrared spectrophotometric data of Wooden et al. (1993) at two epochs (day 615 and day 775). (...) From our numerical models we derive dust masses for SN 1987A that are comparable to previous analytic clumped graphite grain mass estimates, and at least two orders of magnitude below the 0.1-0.3 Msol that have been predicted to condense as dust grains in primordial core collapse supernova ejecta. This low condensation efficiency for SN 1987A is in contrast to the case of SN 2003gd, for which a dust condensation efficiency as large as 0.12 has recently been estimated. (Abridged)Comment: accepted for publication in MNRAS. The paper contains 15 figures and 1 tabl

Bimetric varying speed of light theories and primordial fluctuations

We exhibit a varying speed of light (VSL) theory that implements the recently proposed decaying speed of sound mechanism for generating density fluctuations. We avail ourselves of bimetric VSL theories, where the speed of gravity differs from that of light. We first show that a Dirac-Born-Infeld (DBI) type of $K$-essence has the necessary speed of sound profile to produce (near) scale-invariant fluctuations. We then examine the map between bimetric and $K$-essence models: typically the bi-scalar connecting the two metrics is a $K$-essence field in one of them. Remarkably, the DBI model is found to perturbatively represent the minimal bimetric model, where the bi-scalar is Klein-Gordon in the matter frame. But the full non-perturbative bimetric structure is even simpler: the bi-scalar dynamics should be simply driven by a cosmological constant in the matter frame, balanced by an opposite cosmological constant in the gravity frame. Thus the problem of structure formation receives an elegant and universal solution within bimetric VSL theories, which are known to also solve the flatness and entropy problems and evade a plethora of causality concerns

Extra dimensions, orthopositronium decay, and stellar cooling

In a class of extra dimensional models with a warped metric and a single brane the photon can be localized on the brane by gravity only. An intriguing feature of these models is the possibility of the photon escaping into the extra dimensions. The search for this effect has motivated the present round of precision orthopositronium decay experiments. We point out that in this framework a photon in plasma should be metastable. We consider the astrophysical consequences of this observation, in particular, what it implies for the plasmon decay rate in globular cluster stars and for the core-collapse supernova cooling rate. The resulting bounds on the model parameter exceed the possible reach of orthopositronium experiments by many orders of magnitude.Comment: 13 pages, no figure

Supernova Reverse Shocks and SiC Growth

We present new mechanisms by which the isotopic compositions of X-type grains of presolar SiC are altered by reverse shocks in Type II supernovae. We address three epochs of reverse shocks: pressure wave from the H envelope near t = 10$^6$s; reverse shock from the presupernova wind near 10$^8-10^9$s; reverse shock from the ISM near 10$^{10}$s. Using 1-D hydrodynamics we show that the first creates a dense shell of Si and C atoms near 10$^6$s in which the SiC surely condenses. The second reverse shock causes precondensed grains to move rapidly forward through decelerated gas of different isotopic composition, during which implantation, sputtering and further condensation occur simultaneously. The third reverse shock causes only further ion implantation and sputtering, which may affect trace element isotopic compositions. Using a 25M$_{\odot}$ supernova model we propose solutions to the following unsolved questions: where does SiC condense?; why does SiC condense in preference to graphite?; why is condensed SiC $^{28}$Si-rich?; why is O richness no obstacle to SiC condensation?; how many atoms of each isotope are impacted by a grain that condenses at time t$_0$ at radial coordinate r$_0$? These many considerations are put forward as a road map for interpreting SiC X grains found in meteorites and their meaning for supernova physics.Comment: 28 pages, 14 figures, animation for Figure 3 and machine-readable Table 3 can be found at http://antares.steelangel.com/~edeneau/supernova/DHC_2003, Submitted to Ap

Induced Nested Galactic Bars Inside Assembling Dark Matter Halos

We investigate the formation and evolution of nested bar systems in disk galaxies in a cosmological setting by following the development of an isolated dark matter (DM) and baryon density perturbation. The disks form within the assembling triaxial DM halos and the feedback from the stellar evolution is accounted for in terms of supernovae and OB stellar winds. Focusing on a representative model, we show the formation of an oval disk and of a first generation of nested bars with characteristic sub-kpc and a few kpc sizes. The system evolves through successive dynamical couplings and decouplings, forcing the gas inwards and settles in a state of resonant coupling. The inflow rate can support a broad range of activity within the central kpc, from quasar- to Seyfert-types, supplemented by a vigorous star formation as a by-product. The initial bar formation is triggered in response to the tidal torques from the triaxial DM halo, which acts as a finite perturbation. This first generation of bars does not survive for more than 4--5 Gyr: by that time the secondary bar has totally dissolved, while the primary one has very substantially weakened, reduced to a fat oval. This evolution is largely due to chaos introduced by the interaction of the multiple non-axisymmetric components.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 mpeg animation. To be published by the Astrophysical Journal Letters. The animation can be found at http://www.pa.uky.edu/~shlosman/research/galdyn/movies.html Replaced with an updated version (small text corrections

Early Dust Formation and a Massive Progenitor for SN 2011ja?

SN 2011ja was a bright (I = -18.3) Type II supernova occurring in the nearby edge on spiral galaxy NGC 4945. Flat-topped and multi-peaked H-alpha and H-beta spectral emission lines appear between 64 - 84 days post-explosion, indicating interaction with a disc-like circumstellar medium inclined 30-45 degrees from edge-on. After day 84 an increase in the H- and K-band flux along with heavy attenuation of the red wing of the emission lines are strong indications of early dust formation, likely located in the cool dense shell created between the forward shock of the SN ejecta and the reverse shock created as the ejecta plows into the existing CSM. Radiative transfer modeling reveals both ~1.5 x 10^-4 Msun of pre-existing dust located ~ 10^16.7 cm away and ~ 5 x 10^-5 Msun of newly formed dust. Spectral observations after 1.5 years reveal the possibility that the fading SN is located within a young (3-6 Myr) massive stellar cluster, which when combined with tentative 56Ni mass estimates of 0.2 Msun may indicate a massive (> 25 Msun) progenitor for SN 2011ja.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRAS awaiting final referee repor

Sixty original plays for primary grades

Thesis (Ed.M.)--Boston Universit