The relationship of drug reimbursement with the price and the quality of pharmaceutical innovations

This paper studies the strategic interaction between pharmaceutical firms' pricing decisions and government agencies' reimbursement decisions which discriminate between patients by giving reimbursement rights to patients for whom the drug is most effective. We show that if the reimbursement decision preceeds the pricing decision, the agency only reimburses some patients if the private and public health benefits from the new drug diverge. That is, when (i) there are large externalities of consuming the drug and (ii) the difference in costs between the new drug and the alternative treatment is large. Alternatively, if the firm can commit to a price in advance of the reimbursement decision, we identify a strategic effect which implies that by committing to a high price ex ante, the firm can force a listing outcome and make the agency more willing to reimburse than in the absence of commitment

Symmetry limit properties of a priori mixing amplitudes for non-leptonic and weak radiative decays of hyperons

We show that the so-called parity-conserving amplitudes predicted in the a priori mixing scheme for non-leptonic and weak radiative decays of hyperons vanish in the strong-flavor symmetry limit

Anderson transition in a three dimensional kicked rotor

We investigate Anderson localization in a three dimensional (3d) kicked rotor. By a finite size scaling analysis we have identified a mobility edge for a certain value of the kicking strength $k = k_c$. For $k > k_c$ dynamical localization does not occur, all eigenstates are delocalized and the spectral correlations are well described by Wigner-Dyson statistics. This can be understood by mapping the kicked rotor problem onto a 3d Anderson model (AM) where a band of metallic states exists for sufficiently weak disorder. Around the critical region $k \approx k_c$ we have carried out a detailed study of the level statistics and quantum diffusion. In agreement with the predictions of the one parameter scaling theory (OPT) and with previous numerical simulations of a 3d AM at the transition, the number variance is linear, level repulsion is still observed and quantum diffusion is anomalous with $\propto t^{2/3}$. We note that in the 3d kicked rotor the dynamics is not random but deterministic. In order to estimate the differences between these two situations we have studied a 3d kicked rotor in which the kinetic term of the associated evolution matrix is random. A detailed numerical comparison shows that the differences between the two cases are relatively small. However in the deterministic case only a small set of irrational periods was used. A qualitative analysis of a much larger set suggests that the deviations between the random and the deterministic kicked rotor can be important for certain choices of periods. Contrary to intuition correlations in the deterministic case can either suppress or enhance Anderson localization effects.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure

Is it possible to observe experimentally a metal-insulator transition in ultra cold atoms?

Kicked rotors with certain non-analytic potentials avoid dynamical localization and undergo a metal-insulator transition. We show that typical properties of this transition are still present as the non-analyticity is progressively smoothed out provided that the smoothing is less than a certain limiting value. We have identified a smoothing dependent time scale such that full dynamical localization is absent and the quantum momentum distribution develops power-law tails with anomalous decay exponents as in the case of a conductor at the metal-insulator transition. We discuss under what conditions these findings may be verified experimentally by using ultra cold atoms techniques. It is found that ultra-cold atoms can indeed be utilized for the experimental investigation of the metal-insulator transition.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure

Effect of a magnetic flux on the critical behavior of a system with long range hopping

We study the effect of a magnetic flux in a 1D disordered wire with long range hopping. It is shown that this model is at the metal-insulator transition (MIT) for all disorder values and the spectral correlations are given by critical statistics. In the weak disorder regime a smooth transition between orthogonal and unitary symmetry is observed as the flux strength increases. By contrast, in the strong disorder regime the spectral correlations are almost flux independent. It is also conjectured that the two level correlation function for arbitrary flux is given by the dynamical density-density correlations of the Calogero-Sutherland (CS) model at finite temperature. Finally we describe the classical dynamics of the model and its relevance to quantum chaos.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

Multifractality of quantum wave functions in the presence of perturbations

We present a comprehensive study of the destruction of quantum multifractality in the presence of perturbations. We study diverse representative models displaying multifractality, including a pseudointegrable system, the Anderson model and a random matrix model. We apply several types of natural perturbations which can be relevant for experimental implementations. We construct an analytical theory for certain cases, and perform extensive large-scale numerical simulations in other cases. The data are analyzed through refined methods including double scaling analysis. Our results confirm the recent conjecture that multifractality breaks down following two scenarios. In the first one, multifractality is preserved unchanged below a certain characteristic length which decreases with perturbation strength. In the second one, multifractality is affected at all scales and disappears uniformly for a strong enough perturbation. Our refined analysis shows that subtle variants of these scenarios can be present in certain cases. This study could guide experimental implementations in order to observe quantum multifractality in real systems.Comment: 20 pages, 27 figure

Two scenarios for quantum multifractality breakdown

We expose two scenarios for the breakdown of quantum multifractality under the effect of perturbations. In the first scenario, multifractality survives below a certain scale of the quantum fluctuations. In the other one, the fluctuations of the wave functions are changed at every scale and each multifractal dimension smoothly goes to the ergodic value. We use as generic examples a one-dimensional dynamical system and the three-dimensional Anderson model at the metal-insulator transition. Based on our results, we conjecture that the sensitivity of quantum multifractality to perturbation is universal in the sense that it follows one of these two scenarios depending on the perturbation. We also discuss the experimental implications.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, minor modifications, published versio

Dynamical description of the buildup process in resonant tunneling: Evidence of exponential and non-exponential contributions

The buildup process of the probability density inside the quantum well of a double-barrier resonant structure is studied by considering the analytic solution of the time dependent Schr\"{o}dinger equation with the initial condition of a cutoff plane wave. For one level systems at resonance condition we show that the buildup of the probability density obeys a simple charging up law, $| \Psi (\tau) / \phi | =1-e^{-\tau /\tau_0},$ where $\phi$ is the stationary wave function and the transient time constant $\tau_0$ is exactly two lifetimes. We illustrate that the above formula holds both for symmetrical and asymmetrical potential profiles with typical parameters, and even for incidence at different resonance energies. Theoretical evidence of a crossover to non-exponential buildup is also discussed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

A Catalogue of Be Stars in the Direction of the Galactic Bulge

Detailed studies of Be stars in environments with different metallicities like the Magellanic Clouds or the Galactic bulge are necessary to understand the formation and evolution mechanisms of the circumstellar disks. However, a detailed study of Be stars in the direction of the bulge of our own galaxy has not been performed until now. We report the first systematic search for Be star candidates in the direction of the Galactic Bulge. We present the catalogue, give a brief description of the stellar variability seen, and show some light curve examples. We searched for stars matching specific criteria of magnitude, color and variability in the I band. Our search was conducted on the 48 OGLE II fields of the Galactic Bulge.This search has resulted in 29053 Be star candidates, 198 of them showing periodic light variations. Nearly 1500 stars in this final sample are almost certainly Be stars, providing an ideal sample for spectroscopic multiobject follow-up studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in A &