Peculiar Velocities and the Mean Density Parameter

We study the peculiar velocity field inferred from the Mark III spirals using a new method of analysis. We estimate optimal values of Tully-Fisher scatter and zero-point offset, and we derive the 3-dimensional rms peculiar velocity ($\sigma_v$) of the galaxies in the samples analysed. We check our statistical analysis using mock catalogs derived from numerical simulations of CDM models considering measurement uncertainties and sampling variations. Our best determination for the observations is $\sigma_v= (660\pm50) km/s$. We use the linear theory relation between $\sigma_v$, the density parameter $\Omega$, and the galaxy correlation function $\xi(r)$ to infer the quantity $\beta =\Omega^{0.6}/b = 0.60^{+0.13}_{-0.11}$ where $b$ is the linear bias parameter of optical galaxies and the uncertainties correspond to bootstrap resampling and an estimated cosmic variance added in quadrature. Our findings are consistent with the results of cluster abundances and redshift space distortion of the two-point correlation function. These statistical measurements suggest a low value of the density parameter $\Omega \sim 0.4$ if optical galaxies are not strongly biased tracers of mass.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 8 pages latex (mn.sty), including 7 figure

Change in the Magnetic Domain Alignment Process at the Onset of a Frustrated Magnetic State in Ferrimagnetic La2Ni(Ni1/3Sb2/3)O6 Double Perovskite

We have performed a combined study of magnetization hysteresis loops and time dependence of the magnetization in a broad temperature range for the ferrimagnetic La2Ni(Ni1/3Sb2/3)O6 double perovskite. This material has a ferrimagnetic order transition at ~100 K and at lower temperatures (~ 20 K) shows the signature of a frustrated state due to the presence of two competing magnetic exchange interactions. The temperature dependence of the coercive field shows an important upturn below the point where the frustrated state sets in. The use of the magnetization vs. applied magnetic field hysteresis data, together with the magnetization vs. time data provides a unique opportunity to distinguish between different scenarios for the low temperature regime. From our analysis, a strong domain wall pinning results the best scenario for the low temperature regime. For temperatures larger than 20K the adequate scenario seems to correspond to a weak domain wall pinning.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures included. Manuscript submitted to IEEE Transactions on Magnetics, proceedings of the LAW3M 2013 conferenc

Agglomeration in a global Economy: A Survey

This review of recent contributions reveals common conclusions about the effects of integration on location. For high trade costs, the need to supply markets locally encourages firms to spread across different regions. Integration weakens the incentives for self-sufficiency and for intermediate values of trade costs pecuniary externalities induce firms and workers to cluster together, turning location into a self-reinforcing process. However, agglomeration raises the price of immobile local factors and goods, so far low transport costs firms may spread to regions where those prices are lower.

Properties of galaxies in SDSS Quasar environments at z < 0.2

We analyse the environment of low redshift, z < 0.2, SDSS quasars using the spectral and photometric information of galaxies from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Third Data Release (SDSS-DR3). We compare quasar neighbourhoods with field and high density environments through an analysis on samples of typical galaxies and groups. We compute the surrounding surface number density of galaxies finding that quasar environments systematically avoid high density regions. Their mean environments correspond to galaxy density enhancements similar to those of typical galaxies. We have also explored several galaxy properties in these environments, such as spectral types, specific star formation rates, concentration indexes, colours and active nuclei activity. We conclude that low redshift quasar neighbourhoods (r_p < 1 Mpc h^-1, Delta V < 500 km/s) are populated by bluer and more intense star forming galaxies of disk-type morphology than galaxies in groups and in the field. Although star formation activity is thought to be significantly triggered by interactions, we find that quasar fueling may not require the presence of a close companion galaxy (r_p < 100 kpc h^-1, Delta V< 350 km/s). As a test of the unified AGN model, we have performed a similar analysis to the neighbours of a sample of active galaxies. The results indicate that these neighbourhoods are comparable to those of quasars giving further support to this unified scenario.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRA

Boundary Conformal Anomalies on Hyperbolic Spaces and Euclidean Balls

We compute conformal anomalies for conformal field theories with free conformal scalars and massless spin $1/2$ fields in hyperbolic space $\mathbb{H}^d$ and in the ball $\mathbb{B}^d$, for $2\leq d\leq 7$. These spaces are related by a conformal transformation. In even dimensional spaces, the conformal anomalies on $\mathbb{H}^{2n}$ and $\mathbb{B}^{2n}$ are shown to be identical. In odd dimensional spaces, the conformal anomaly on $\mathbb{B}^{2n+1}$ comes from a boundary contribution, which exactly coincides with that of $\mathbb{H}^{2n+1}$ provided one identifies the UV short-distance cutoff on $\mathbb{B}^{2n+1}$ with the inverse large distance IR cutoff on $\mathbb{H}^{2n+1}$, just as prescribed by the conformal map. As an application, we determine, for the first time, the conformal anomaly coefficients multiplying the Euler characteristic of the boundary for scalars and half-spin fields with various boundary conditions in $d=5$ and $d=7$.Comment: 16 pages. V3: small correction

Operator Mixing in Large NN Superconformal Field Theories on S4\mathbb{S}^4 and Correlators with Wilson loops

We find a general formula for the operator mixing on the $\mathbb{S}^4$ of chiral primary operators (CPO) for the ${\cal N}=4$ theory at large $N$ in terms of Chebyshev polynomials. As an application, we compute the correlator of a CPO and a Wilson loop, reproducing an earlier result by Giombi and Pestun obtained from a two-matrix model proposal. Finally, we discuss a simple method to obtain correlators in general ${\cal N}=2$ superconformal field theories in perturbation theory in terms of correlators of the ${\cal N}=4$ theory.Comment: 15 pages, no figure