Discretion in accounting for pensions under IAS 19: using the ‘magic telescope’?

We use a panel data set of UK-listed companies over the period 2005 to 2009 to analyse the actuarial assumptions used to value pension plan liabilities under IAS 19. The valuation process requires companies to make assumptions about financial and demographic variables, notably discount rate, price inflation, salary inflation, and mortality/life expectancy of plan members/beneficiaries. We use regression analysis to analyse the relationships between these key assumptions (except mortality, where disclosures are limited) and company-specific factors such as the pension plan funding position and duration of pension liabilities. We find evidence of selective ‘management’ of the three assumptions investigated, although the nature of this appears to differ from the findings of US authors. We conclude that IAS 19 does not prevent the use of managerial discretion, particularly by companies whose pension plan funding positions are weak, thereby reducing the representational faithfulness of the reported pension figures. We also highlight that the degree of discretion used reflects the extent to which IAS 19 defines how the assumptions are to be determined. We therefore suggest that companies should be encouraged to justify more explicitly their choice of assumptions

Approximate Particle Number Projection for Rotating Nuclei

Pairing correlations in rotating nuclei are discussed within the Lipkin-Nogami method. The accuracy of the method is tested for the Krumlinde-Szyma\'nski R(5) model. The results of calculations are compared with those obtained from the standard mean field theory and particle-number projection method, and with exact solutions.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures available on request, REVTEX3.

Big Corrections from a Little Higgs

We calculate the tree-level expressions for the electroweak precision observables in the SU(5)/SO(5) littlest Higgs model. The source for these corrections are the exchange of heavy gauge bosons, explicit corrections due to non-linear sigma-model dynamics and a triplet Higgs VEV. Weak isospin violating contributions are present because there is no custodial SU(2) global symmetry. The bulk of these weak isospin violating corrections arise from heavy gauge boson exchange while a smaller contribution comes from the triplet Higgs VEV. A global fit is performed to the experimental data and we find that throughout the parameter space the symmetry breaking scale is bounded by f > 4 TeV at 95% C.L. Stronger bounds on f are found for generic choices of the high energy gauge couplings. We find that even in the best case scenario one would need fine tuning of less than a percent to get a Higgs mass as light as 200 GeV.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figures included, typos fixed, comments on the effects of extra vector-like heavy fermions adde

Multiplicative renormalizability and quark propagator

The renormalized Dyson-Schwinger equation for the quark propagator is studied, in Landau gauge, in a novel truncation which preserves multiplicative renormalizability. The renormalization constants are formally eliminated from the integral equations, and the running coupling explicitly enters the kernels of the new equations. To construct a truncation which preserves multiplicative renormalizability, and reproduces the correct leading order perturbative behavior, non-trivial cancellations involving the full quark-gluon vertex are assumed in the quark self-energy loop. A model for the running coupling is introduced, with infrared fixed point in agreement with previous Dyson-Schwinger studies of the gauge sector, and with correct logarithmic tail. Dynamical chiral symmetry breaking is investigated, and the generated quark mass is of the order of the extension of the infrared plateau of the coupling, and about three times larger than in the Abelian approximation, which violates multiplicative renormalizability. The generated scale is of the right size for hadronic phenomenology, without requiring an infrared enhancement of the running coupling.Comment: 17 pages; minor corrections, comparison to lattice results added; accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Mass Splitting and Production of Σc0\Sigma_c^0 and Σc++\Sigma_c^{++} Measured in 500GeV500 {GeV} π−−\pi^- -N Interactions

From a sample of $2722 \pm 78$ $\Lambda_c^+$ decaying to the $pK^-\pi^+$ final state, we have observed, in the hadroproduction experiment E791 at Fermilab, $143 \pm 20$ $\Sigma_c^0$ and $122 \pm 18$ $\Sigma_c^{++}$ through their decays to $\Lambda_c^+ \pi^{\pm}$. The mass difference $M(\Sigma_c^0) - M(\Lambda_c^+$) is measured to be $(167.38\pm 0.29\pm 0.15) {MeV}$; for $M(\Sigma_c^{++}) - M(\Lambda_c^+)$, we find $(167.76\pm 0.29\pm0.15) {MeV}$. The rate of $\Lambda_c^+$ production from decays of the $\Sigma_c$ triplet is (22\pm 2\pm 3) {%} of the total $\Lambda_c^+$ production assuming equal rate of production from all three, as measured for $\Sigma_c^0$ and $\Sigma_c^{++}$. We do not observe a statistically significant $\Sigma_c$ baryon-antibaryon production asymmetry. The $x_F$ and $p_t^2$ spectra of $\Lambda_c^+$ from $\Sigma_c$ decays are observed to be similar to those for all $\Lambda_c^+$'s produced.Comment: 15 pages, uuencoded postscript 3 figures uuencoded, tar-compressed fil

Analytic properties of the Landau gauge gluon and quark propagators

We explore the analytic structure of the gluon and quark propagators of Landau gauge QCD from numerical solutions of the coupled system of renormalized Dyson--Schwinger equations and from fits to lattice data. We find sizable negative norm contributions in the transverse gluon propagator indicating the absence of the transverse gluon from the physical spectrum. A simple analytic structure for the gluon propagator is proposed. For the quark propagator we find evidence for a mass-like singularity on the real timelike momentum axis, with a mass of 350 to 500 MeV. Within the employed Green's functions approach we identify a crucial term in the quark-gluon vertex that leads to a positive definite Schwinger function for the quark propagator.Comment: 42 pages, 16 figures, revtex; version to be published in Phys Rev

D* Production in Deep Inelastic Scattering at HERA

This paper presents measurements of D^{*\pm} production in deep inelastic scattering from collisions between 27.5 GeV positrons and 820 GeV protons. The data have been taken with the ZEUS detector at HERA. The decay channel $D^{*+}\to (D^0 \to K^- \pi^+) \pi^+$ (+ c.c.) has been used in the study. The $e^+p$ cross section for inclusive D^{*\pm} production with $5<Q^2<100 GeV^2$ and $y<0.7$ is 5.3 \pms 1.0 \pms 0.8 nb in the kinematic region {$1.3<p_T(D^{*\pm})<9.0$ GeV and $| \eta(D^{*\pm}) |<1.5$}. Differential cross sections as functions of p_T(D^{*\pm}), $\eta(D^{*\pm}), W$ and $Q^2$ are compared with next-to-leading order QCD calculations based on the photon-gluon fusion production mechanism. After an extrapolation of the cross section to the full kinematic region in p_T(D^{*\pm}) and $\eta$(D^{*\pm}), the charm contribution $F_2^{c\bar{c}}(x,Q^2)$ to the proton structure function is determined for Bjorken $x$ between 2 $\cdot$ 10$^{-4}$ and 5 $\cdot$ 10$^{-3}$.Comment: 17 pages including 4 figure

Observation of Scaling Violations in Scaled Momentum Distributions at HERA

Charged particle production has been measured in deep inelastic scattering (DIS) events over a large range of $x$ and $Q^2$ using the ZEUS detector. The evolution of the scaled momentum, $x_p$, with $Q^2,$ in the range 10 to 1280 $GeV^2$, has been investigated in the current fragmentation region of the Breit frame. The results show clear evidence, in a single experiment, for scaling violations in scaled momenta as a function of $Q^2$.Comment: 21 pages including 4 figures, to be published in Physics Letters B. Two references adde