1,304 research outputs found
Reforming India’s Fiscal Transfer System : Resolving Vertical and Horizontal Imbalances
Two central problems in a fiscal transfer systemrelate to resolving vertical and horizontal imbalances. In the context of the setting of the 13th Finance Commission, this paper looks at the methodological background of fiscal transfers followed by recent Finance Commissions in India, particularly the Twelfth Finance Commission (TFC). It is noted that in India, there is long - term stability in the share of states after transfers in the combined revenues of the centre and the states. It is argued that this stability depends on linking the share of states in the transfers, particularly tax devolution with the difference in the buoyancies of central and states taxes. In the context of horizontal imbalance, it is argued that some of the recent Finance Commissions have implicitly followed an axiomatic approach to tax devolution and brought in some normative elements in determining grants. In spite of large difference in fiscal capacities, a high degree of equalization has been achieved. It is shown, for example, that in the case of TFC recommended transfers, nearly 88 percent of needed equalization was achieved while devoting 50 percent of transfers to resolving vertical imbalance. Amethodology is also developed to determine weights of vertical and equalizing components of transfers through devolution. In the case of the Twelfth Finance Commission, the horizontal component of tax devolution is strengthened by a scheme of equalizing health and education grants.fiscal transfer system, vertical imbalance, horizontal imbalance, Twelfth Finance Commission
Lyapunov Exponents without Rescaling and Reorthogonalization
We present a new method for the computation of Lyapunov exponents utilizing
representations of orthogonal matrices applied to decompositions of M or
MM_trans where M is the tangent map. This method uses a minimal set of
variables, does not require renormalization or reorthogonalization, can be used
to efficiently compute partial Lyapunov spectra, and does not break down when
the Lyapunov spectrum is degenerate.Comment: 4 pages, no figures, uses RevTeX plus macro (included). Phys. Rev.
Lett. (in press
Remarks on non-gaussian fluctuations of the inflaton and constancy of \zeta outside the horizon
We point out that the non-gaussianity arising from cubic self interactions of
the inflaton field is proportional to \xi N_e where \xi ~ V"' and N_e is the
number of e-foldings from horizon exit till the end of inflation. For scales of
interest N_e = 60, and for models of inflation such as new inflation, natural
inflation and running mass inflation \xi is large compared to the slow roll
parameter \epsilon ~ V'^{2}. Therefore the contribution from self interactions
should not be outrightly ignored while retaining other terms in the
non-gaussianity parameter f_{NL}. But the N_e dependent term seems to imply the
growth of non-gaussianities outside the horizon. Therefore we briefly discuss
the issue of the constancy of correlations of the curvature perturbation \zeta
outside the horizon. We then calculate the 3-point function of the inflaton
fluctuations using the canonical formalism and further obtain the 3-point
function of \zeta_k. We find that the N_e dependent contribution to f_{NL} from
self interactions of the inflaton field is cancelled by contributions from
other terms associated with non-linearities in cosmological perturbation
theory.Comment: 16 pages, Minor changes, matches the published version. v3: Minor
typo correcte
On the Weakening of Chromospheric Magnetic Field in Active Regions
Simultaneous measurement of line-of-sight (LOS) magnetic and velocity fields
at the photosphere and chromosphere are presented. Fe I line at
and at are used respectively for deriving the
physical parameters at photospheric and chromospheric heights. The LOS magnetic
field obtained through the center-of-gravity method show a linear relation
between photospheric and chromospheric field for field strengths less than 700
G. But in strong field regions, the LOS magnetic field values derived from
are much weaker than what one gets from the linear relationship
and also from those expected from the extrapolation of the photospheric
magnetic field. We discuss in detail the properties of magnetic field observed
in from the point of view of observed velocity gradients. The
bisector analysis of Stokes profiles show larger velocity
gradients in those places where strong photospheric magnetic fields are
observed. These observations may support the view that the stronger fields
diverge faster with height compared to weaker fields.Comment: accepted for publication in Ap
Spatial synchronization and extinction of species under external forcing
We study the interplay between synchronization and extinction of a species.
Using a general model we show that under a common external forcing, the species
with a quadratic saturation term in the population dynamics first undergoes
spatial synchronization and then extinction, thereby avoiding the rescue
effect. This is because the saturation term reduces the synchronization time
scale but not the extinction time scale. The effect can be observed even when
the external forcing acts only on some locations provided there is a
synchronizing term in the dynamics. Absence of the quadratic saturation term
can help the species to avoid extinction.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure
ASMOOTH: A simple and efficient algorithm for adaptive kernel smoothing of two-dimensional imaging data
An efficient algorithm for adaptive kernel smoothing (AKS) of two-dimensional
imaging data has been developed and implemented using the Interactive Data
Language (IDL). The functional form of the kernel can be varied (top-hat,
Gaussian etc.) to allow different weighting of the event counts registered
within the smoothing region. For each individual pixel the algorithm increases
the smoothing scale until the signal-to-noise ratio (s.n.r.) within the kernel
reaches a preset value. Thus, noise is suppressed very efficiently, while at
the same time real structure, i.e. signal that is locally significant at the
selected s.n.r. level, is preserved on all scales. In particular, extended
features in noise-dominated regions are visually enhanced. The ASMOOTH
algorithm differs from other AKS routines in that it allows a quantitative
assessment of the goodness of the local signal estimation by producing
adaptively smoothed images in which all pixel values share the same
signal-to-noise ratio above the background.
We apply ASMOOTH to both real observational data (an X-ray image of clusters
of galaxies obtained with the Chandra X-ray Observatory) and to a simulated
data set. We find the ASMOOTHed images to be fair representations of the input
data in the sense that the residuals are consistent with pure noise, i.e. they
possess Poissonian variance and a near-Gaussian distribution around a mean of
zero, and are spatially uncorrelated.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, to be published in MNRA
Deep ROSAT-HRI observations of the NGC 1399/NGC 1404 region: morphology and structure of the X-ray halo
We present the analysis of a deep (167 ks) ROSAT HRI observation of the cD
galaxy NGC 1399 in the Fornax cluster. Using both HRI and, at larger radii,
archival PSPC data, we find that the radial behavior of the X-ray surface
brightness profile is not consistent with a simple Beta model and suggests
instead three distinct components. We use a multi-component bidimensional model
to study in detail these three components that we identify respectively with
the cooling flow region, the galactic and the cluster halo. From these data we
derive a binding mass distribution in agreement with that suggested by optical
dynamical indicators, with an inner core dominated by luminous matter and an
extended dark halo differently distributed on galactic and cluster scales. The
HRI data and a preliminary analysis of Chandra public data, allow us to detect
significant density fluctuations in the halo. We discuss possible
non-equilibrium scenarios to explain the hot halo structure, including tidal
interactions with neighboring galaxies, ram stripping from the intra-cluster
medium and merging events. In the innermost region of NGC 1399, the comparison
between the X-ray and radio emission suggests that the radio emitting plasma is
displacing and producing shocks in the hot X-ray emitting gas. We found that
the NGC 1404 halo is well represented by a single symmetric Beta model and
follows the stellar light profile within the inner 8 kpc. The mass distribution
is similar to the `central' component of the NGC 1399 halo. At larger radii ram
pressure stripping from the intra-cluster medium produces strong asymmetries in
the gas distribution. Finally we discuss the properties of the point source
population finding evidence of correlation between the source excess and NGC
1399.Comment: 34 pages in aastex5.0 format, including 28 B&W and 4 color figures.
Uses LaTex packages: subfigure, lscape and psfig. Accepted for publication in
ApJ. High resolution version can be found at:
http://www.na.astro.it/~paolillo/publications.htm
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