22,480 research outputs found
Theoretically palatable flavor combinations of astrophysical neutrinos
The flavor composition of high-energy astrophysical neutrinos can reveal the
physics governing their production, propagation, and interaction. The IceCube
Collaboration has published the first experimental determination of the ratio
of the flux in each flavor to the total. We present, as a theoretical
counterpart, new results for the allowed ranges of flavor ratios at Earth for
arbitrary flavor ratios in the sources. Our results will allow IceCube to more
quickly identify when their data imply standard physics, a general class of new
physics with arbitrary (incoherent) combinations of mass eigenstates, or new
physics that goes beyond that, e.g., with terms that dominate the Hamiltonian
at high energy.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures. Matches published versio
Firm Capabilities, Competition and Industrial Policies in a History-Friendly Model of the Computer Industry
In this paper, we explore some problems that industrial policy faces in industries characterized by dynamic increasing returns on the basis of a 'history friendly model' of the evolution of the computer industry. How does policy affect industry structure over the course of industry evolution? Is the timing of the intervention important? Do policy interventions have indirect and perhaps unintended consequences on different markets at different times? We focus on two sets of policies: antitrust and interventions aiming at supporting the entry of new forms in the industry. The results of our simulations show that, if strong dynamic increasing returns are operative, both through technological capabilities and through customer tendency to stick with a brand, there is little that antitrust and entry policy could have done to avert the rise of a dominant firm in mainframes. On the other hand, if the customer lock in effect had been smaller, either by chance or through policies that discouraged efforts of firms to lock in their customers, the situation might have been somewhat different. In the first place, even in the absence of antitrust or entry encouraging policies, market concentration would have been lower, albeit a dominant firm would emerge anyhow. Second, antitrust and entry encouraging policies would have been more effective in assuring that concentration would decrease. The leading firm would continue to dominate the market, but its relative power would be reduced. © Elsevier Science B.V
XMM Follow-Up Observations of Three Swift BAT-Selected Active Galactic Nuclei
We present XMM-Newton observations of three AGN taken as part of a hunt to
find very heavily obscured Compton-thick AGN. For obscuring columns greater
than 10^25 cm^-2, AGN are only visible at energies below 10 keV via
reflected/scattered radiation, characterized by a flat power-law. We therefore
selected three objects (ESO 417-G006, IRAS 05218-1212, and MCG -01-05-047) from
the Swift BAT hard X-ray survey catalog with Swift X-ray Telescope XRT 0.5-10
keV spectra with flat power-law indices as candidate Compton-thick sources for
follow-up observations with the more sensitive instruments on XMM-Newton. The
XMM spectra, however, rule out reflection-dominated models based on the
weakness of the observed Fe K-alpha lines. Instead, the spectra are well-fit by
a model of a power-law continuum obscured by a Compton-thin absorber, plus a
soft excess. This result is consistent with previous follow-up observations of
two other flat-spectrum BAT-detected AGN. Thus, out of the six AGN in the
22-month BAT catalog with apparently flat Swift XRT spectra, all five that have
had follow-up observations are not likely Compton-thick. We also present new
optical spectra of two of these objects, IRAS 05218-1212 and MCG -01-05-047.
Interestingly, though both these AGN have similar X-ray spectra, their optical
spectra are completely different, adding evidence against the simplest form of
the geometric unified model of AGN. IRAS 05218-1212 appears in the optical as a
Seyfert 1, despite the ~8.5x10^22 cm^-2 line-of-sight absorbing column
indicated by its X-ray spectrum. MCG -01-05-047's optical spectrum shows no
sign of AGN activity; it appears as a normal galaxy.Comment: 18 pages including 4 figures, accepted by Ap
Correlations of the IR Luminosity and Eddington Ratio with a Hard X-ray Selected Sample of AGN
We use the SWIFT Burst Alert Telescope (BAT) sample of hard x-ray selected
active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a median redshift of 0.03 and the 2MASS J and
K band photometry to examine the correlation of hard x-ray emission to
Eddington ratio as well as the relationship of the J and K band nuclear
luminosity to the hard x-ray luminosity. The BAT sample is almost unbiased by
the effects of obscuration and thus offers the first large unbiased sample for
the examination of correlations between different wavelength bands. We find
that the near-IR nuclear J and K band luminosity is related to the BAT (14 -
195 keV) luminosity over a factor of in luminosity ()and thus is unlikely to be due to dust. We also find that the
Eddington ratio is proportional to the x-ray luminosity. This new result should
be a strong constraint on models of the formation of the broad band continuum.Comment: accepted to ApJ
Event generation with SHERPA 1.1
In this paper the current release of the Monte Carlo event generator Sherpa,
version 1.1, is presented. Sherpa is a general-purpose tool for the simulation
of particle collisions at high-energy colliders. It contains a very flexible
tree-level matrix-element generator for the calculation of hard scattering
processes within the Standard Model and various new physics models. The
emission of additional QCD partons off the initial and final states is
described through a parton-shower model. To consistently combine multi-parton
matrix elements with the QCD parton cascades the approach of Catani, Krauss,
Kuhn and Webber is employed. A simple model of multiple interactions is used to
account for underlying events in hadron--hadron collisions. The fragmentation
of partons into primary hadrons is described using a phenomenological
cluster-hadronisation model. A comprehensive library for simulating tau-lepton
and hadron decays is provided. Where available form-factor models and matrix
elements are used, allowing for the inclusion of spin correlations; effects of
virtual and real QED corrections are included using the approach of Yennie,
Frautschi and Suura.Comment: 47 pages, 21 figure
Localization and its consequences for quantum walk algorithms and quantum communication
The exponential speed-up of quantum walks on certain graphs, relative to
classical particles diffusing on the same graph, is a striking observation. It
has suggested the possibility of new fast quantum algorithms. We point out here
that quantum mechanics can also lead, through the phenomenon of localization,
to exponential suppression of motion on these graphs (even in the absence of
decoherence). In fact, for physical embodiments of graphs, this will be the
generic behaviour. It also has implications for proposals for using spin
networks, including spin chains, as quantum communication channels.Comment: 4 pages, 1 eps figure. Updated references and cosmetic changes for v
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