1,825 research outputs found
Are Energy Efficiency Standards Justified?
This paper develops and parameterizes an overarching analytical framework to estimate the welfare effects of energy efficiency standards applied to automobiles and electricity-using durables. We also compare standards with sectoral and economywide pricing policies. The model captures a wide range of externalities and preexisting energy policies, and it allows for possible âmisperceptionsââmarket failures that cause underinvestment in energy efficiency.Automobile fuel economy standards are not part of the first-best policy to reduce gasoline: fuel taxes are always superior because they reduce the externalities related to vehicle miles traveled. For the power sector, potential welfare gains from supplementing pricing instruments with efficiency standards are small at best. If pricing instruments are not feasible, a large misperceptions failure is required to justify efficiency standards, and even in this case the optimal reductions in fuel and electricity use are relatively modest. Reducing economywide carbon dioxide emissions through regulatory packages (combining efficiency and emissions standards) involves much higher costs than pricing instruments.standards, energy taxes, market failure, climate, power sector, gasoline
Critical Exponents and Stability at the Black Hole Threshold for a Complex Scalar Field
This paper continues a study on Choptuik scaling in gravitational collapse of
a complex scalar field at the threshold for black hole formation. We perform a
linear perturbation analysis of the previously derived complex critical
solution, and calculate the critical exponent for black hole mass, . We also show that this critical solution is unstable via a
growing oscillatory mode.Comment: 15 pages of latex/revtex; added details of numerics, in press in Phys
Rev D; 1 figure included, or available by anonymous ftp to
ftp://ftp.itp.ucsb.edu/figures/nsf-itp-95-58.ep
On the fluctuations of jamming coverage upon random sequential adsorption on homogeneous and heterogeneous media
The fluctuations of the jamming coverage upon Random Sequential Adsorption
(RSA) are studied using both analytical and numerical techniques. Our main
result shows that these fluctuations (characterized by )
decay with the lattice size according to the power-law . The exponent depends on the dimensionality of
the substrate and the fractal dimension of the set where the RSA process
actually takes place () according to .This
theoretical result is confirmed by means of extensive numerical simulations
applied to the RSA of dimers on homogeneous and stochastic fractal substrates.
Furthermore, our predictions are in excellent agreement with different previous
numerical results.
It is also shown that, studying correlated stochastic processes, one can
define various fluctuating quantities designed to capture either the underlying
physics of individual processes or that of the whole system. So, subtle
differences in the definitions may lead to dramatically different physical
interpretations of the results. Here, this statement is demonstrated for the
case of RSA of dimers on binary alloys.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure
Criticality and Bifurcation in the Gravitational Collapse of a Self-Coupled Scalar Field
We examine the gravitational collapse of a non-linear sigma model in
spherical symmetry. There exists a family of continuously self-similar
solutions parameterized by the coupling constant of the theory. These solutions
are calculated together with the critical exponents for black hole formation of
these collapse models. We also find that the sequence of solutions exhibits a
Hopf-type bifurcation as the continuously self-similar solutions become
unstable to perturbations away from self-similarity.Comment: 18 pages; one figure, uuencoded postscript; figure is also available
at http://www.physics.ucsb.edu/people/eric_hirschman
Symmetry Algebras of Large-N Matrix Models for Open Strings
We have discovered that the gauge invariant observables of matrix models
invariant under U() form a Lie algebra, in the planar large-N limit. These
models include Quantum Chromodynamics and the M(atrix)-Theory of strings. We
study here the gauge invariant states corresponding to open strings (`mesons').
We find that the algebra is an extension of a remarkable new Lie algebra by a product of more well-known algebras such as
and the Cuntz algebra. appears to be a generalization of
the Lie algebra of vector fields on the circle to non-commutative geometry. We
also use a representation of our Lie algebra to establish an isomorphism
between certain matrix models (those that preserve `gluon number') and open
quantum spin chains. Using known results on quantum spin chains, we are able to
identify some exactly solvable matrix models. Finally, the Hamiltonian of a
dimensionally reduced QCD model is expressed explicitly as an element of our
Lie algebra.Comment: 44 pages, 8 eps figures, 3 tables, LaTeX2.09; this is the published
versio
Some flows in shape optimization
Geometric flows related to shape optimization problems of Bernoulli type are
investigated. The evolution law is the sum of a curvature term and a nonlocal
term of Hele-Shaw type. We introduce generalized set solutions, the definition
of which is widely inspired by viscosity solutions. The main result is an
inclusion preservation principle for generalized solutions. As a consequence,
we obtain existence, uniqueness and stability of solutions. Asymptotic behavior
for the flow is discussed: we prove that the solutions converge to a
generalized Bernoulli exterior free boundary problem
Heat release by controlled continuous-time Markov jump processes
We derive the equations governing the protocols minimizing the heat released
by a continuous-time Markov jump process on a one-dimensional countable state
space during a transition between assigned initial and final probability
distributions in a finite time horizon. In particular, we identify the
hypotheses on the transition rates under which the optimal control strategy and
the probability distribution of the Markov jump problem obey a system of
differential equations of Hamilton-Bellman-Jacobi-type. As the state-space mesh
tends to zero, these equations converge to those satisfied by the diffusion
process minimizing the heat released in the Langevin formulation of the same
problem. We also show that in full analogy with the continuum case, heat
minimization is equivalent to entropy production minimization. Thus, our
results may be interpreted as a refined version of the second law of
thermodynamics.Comment: final version, section 2.1 revised, 26 pages, 3 figure
The Spectrum of Electromagnetic Jets from Kerr Black Holes and Naked Singularities in the Teukolsky Perturbation Theory
We give a new theoretical basis for examination of the presence of the Kerr
black hole (KBH) or the Kerr naked singularity (KNS) in the central engine of
different astrophysical objects around which astrophysical jets are typically
formed: X-ray binary systems, gamma ray bursts (GRBs), active galactic nuclei
(AGN), etc. Our method is based on the study of the exact solutions of the
Teukolsky master equation for electromagnetic perturbations of the Kerr metric.
By imposing original boundary conditions on the solutions so that they describe
a collimated electromagnetic outflow, we obtain the spectra of possible {\em
primary jets} of radiation, introduced here for the first time. The theoretical
spectra of primary electromagnetic jets are calculated numerically. Our main
result is a detailed description of the qualitative change of the behavior of
primary electromagnetic jet frequencies under the transition from the KBH to
the KNS, considered here as a bifurcation of the Kerr metric. We show that
quite surprisingly the novel spectra describe linearly stable primary
electromagnetic jets from both the KBH and the KNS. Numerical investigation of
the dependence of these primary jet spectra on the rotation of the Kerr metric
is presented and discussed.Comment: 18 pages, 35 figures, LaTeX file. Final version. Accepted for
publication in Astrophysics and Space Science. Amendments. Typos corrected.
Novel notion -"primary jet" is introduced. New references and comments adde
Novas espécies de Vidius Evans e Cobalopsis Godman & Salvin do Brasil (Lepidoptera, Hesperiidae, Hesperiinae)
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