Magnetic Fields and Afterglows of BdHNe: Inferences from GRB 130427A, GRB 160509A, GRB 160625B, GRB 180728A and GRB 190114C

GRB 190114C is the first binary-driven hypernova (BdHN) fully observed from the initial supernova appearance to the final emergence of the optical SN signal. It offers an unprecedented testing ground for the BdHN theory and it is here determined and further extended to additional gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). BdHNe comprise two subclasses of long GRBs with progenitors a binary system composed of a carbon-oxygen star (CO$_\textrm{core}$) and a neutron star (NS) companion. The CO$_\textrm{core}$ explodes as a SN leaving at its center a newborn NS ($\nu$NS). The SN ejecta hypercritically accretes both on the $\nu$NS and the NS companion. BdHNe I are the tightest binaries where the accretion leads the companion NS to gravitational collapse into a black hole (BH). In BdHN II the accretion onto the NS is lower, so there is no BH formation. We observe the same structure of the afterglow for GRB 190114C and other selected examples of BdHNe I (GRB 130427A, GRB 160509A, GRB 160625B) and for BdHN II (GRB 180728A). In all the cases the explanation of the afterglow is reached via the synchrotron emission powered by the $\nu$NS: their magnetic fields structures and their spin are determined. For BdHNe I, we discuss the properties of the magnetic field embedding the newborn BH, inherited from the collapsed NS and amplified during the gravitational collapse process, and surrounded by the SN ejecta.Comment: 7 figures, 3 tables, submitted to Ap

The self-consistent general relativistic solution for a system of degenerate neutrons, protons and electrons in beta-equilibrium

We present the self-consistent treatment of the simplest, nontrivial, self-gravitating system of degenerate neutrons, protons and electrons in $\beta$-equilibrium within relativistic quantum statistics and the Einstein-Maxwell equations. The impossibility of imposing the condition of local charge neutrality on such systems is proved, consequently overcoming the traditional Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff treatment. We emphasize the crucial role of imposing the constancy of the generalized Fermi energies. A new approach based on the coupled system of the general relativistic Thomas-Fermi-Einstein-Maxwell equations is presented and solved. We obtain an explicit solution fulfilling global and not local charge neutrality by solving a sophisticated eigenvalue problem of the general relativistic Thomas-Fermi equation. The value of the Coulomb potential at the center of the configuration is $eV(0)\simeq m_\pi c^2$ and the system is intrinsically stable against Coulomb repulsion in the proton component. This approach is necessary, but not sufficient, when strong interactions are introduced.Comment: Letter in press, Physics Letters B (2011

The Impact of Unconditional Cash Transfers on Nutrition: The South African Child Support Grant

In light of research that has argued that the income elasticity of nutrition is low, the goal of a new generation of cash transfer programmes to boost the nutrition of poor families' children may seem surprising. This observation applies especially to South Africa's unconditional Child Support Grant (CSG), in which cash grants are made to families with no strings attached. However, in contrast to the market-generated income increases that identified low nutritional elasticities in the earlier studies, the income increases generated by the South African cash transfers are almost exclusively assigned to women. Taking advantage of a slow programme rollout that created exogenous variation in the extent of CSG treatment received by beneficiaries in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, this Working Paper utilizes the continuous treatment method of Hirano and Imbens (2004) to estimate the impact of these transfers on child nutrition as measured by child height-for-age. Large dosages of CSG treatment early in life are shown to significantly boost child height. Drawing on the best estimates in the literature, these estimated height gains in turn suggest large adult earnings increases for treated children and a discounted rate of return on CSG payments of between 160 per cent and 230 per cent.Nutrition, cash transfers, continuous treatment estimator, South Africa, poverty

Greedy randomized dispatching heuristics for the single machine scheduling problem with quadratic earliness and tardiness penalties

In this paper, we present greedy randomized dispatching heuristics for the single machine scheduling problem with quadratic earliness and tardiness costs, and no machine idle time. The several heuristic versions differ, on the one hand, on the strategies involved in the construction of the greedy randomized schedules. On the other hand, these versions also differ on whether they employ only a final improvement step, or perform a local search after each greedy randomized construction. The proposed heuristics were compared with existing procedures, as well as with optimum solutions for some instance sizes. The computational results show that the proposed procedures clearly outperform their underlying dispatching heuristic, and the best of these procedures provide results that are quite close to the optimum. The best of the proposed algorithms is the new recommended heuristic for large instances, as well as a suitable alternative to the best existing procedure for the larger of the middle size instances.scheduling, single machine, early/tardy, quadratic penalties, greedy randomized dispatching rules

A 10-way power divider based on a transducer and a radial junction operating in the circular TM01 mode

This work presents a 10-way Ku-band power divider using a mode transducer and a radial junction connected by an overmoded circular waveguide operating in the TM 01 mode. The circular symmetry of this mode has been exploited to obtain a power divider with the rectangular output ports radially distributed along the broad wall of the waveguides in H-plane configuration. This topology provides the same amplitude and phase for all the output ports. At the same time, a compact profile has been obtained, introducing a simple manufacturing for the two components of the divider. The first component is a mode transducer converting the TE 10 mode in the rectangular waveguide to the TM 01 mode in the circular waveguide. It is based on a novel topology providing a very high purity in the mode conversion with an attenuation for the other propagating mode, the TE 11c , higher than 60 dB. The second component is a 10-way radial junction that must work under the excitation of the TM 01 , whose special features, since this mode is not the fundamental one of the circular waveguide, will be highlighted. The final design has been validated with an experimental prototype, proposing a manufacturing based on four simple parts. This has been the key to obtain an experimental prototype with specifications in the state-of-the-art. The measured efficiency is better than 96.5% in a 16.7% relative frequency bandwidth from 11 GHz to 13 GHz, with return losses better than 25 dB in the common port. The measured difference between the signals at the output ports of the prototype is ±0.3 dB for the amplitudes and ±0.45° for the phases. A comparison of the obtained results with another divider based on the TE 01 mode shows the potential of the presented design for becoming an alternative to the more extended TE 01 -based power dividersThis work was supported by the Spanish Government through the Agencia Estatal de Investigacion, Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (AEI/FEDER, UE), under Grant TEC2016-76070-C3-1/2-R (ADDMATE

Experimental Demonstration of a Structured Material with Extreme Effective Parameters at Microwaves

Following our recent theoretical studies [M. G. Silveirinha, C. A. Fernandes, Phys. Rev. B, 78, 033108, 2008], it is experimentally verified that an array of crossed metallic wires may behave as a nonresonant material with extremely large index of refraction at microwaves, and may enable the realization of ultra-subwavelength waveguides.Comment: accepted for publication in Applied Physics Letters (in press). Applied Physics Letters (in press) (2008

Consistent discretization and loop quantum geometry

We apply the ``consistent discretization'' approach to general relativity leaving the spatial slices continuous. The resulting theory is free of the diffeomorphism and Hamiltonian constraints, but one can impose the diffeomorphism constraint to reduce its space of solutions and the constraint is preserved exactly under the discrete evolution. One ends up with a theory that has as physical space what is usually considered the kinematical space of loop quantum geometry, given by diffeomorphism invariant spin networks endowed with appropriate rigorously defined diffeomorphism invariant measures and inner products. The dynamics can be implemented as a unitary transformation and the problem of time explicitly solved or at least reduced to as a numerical problem. We exhibit the technique explicitly in 2+1 dimensional gravity.Comment: 4 pages, Revtex, no figure

Distance-Based Methods: Ripley’s K function vs. K density function

In this paper, we propose an analytical and methodological comparison between two of the most known distance-based methods in the evaluation of the geographic concentration of economic activity. These two methods are Ripley’s K function, a cumulative function popularised by Marcon and Puech (2003) that counts the average number of neighbours of each point within a circle of a given radius, and K density function, a probability density function of point-pair distances introduced by Duranton and Overman (2005), which considers the distribution of distances between pairs of points. To carry out this comparison, we first apply both methodologies to an exhaustive database containing Spanish manufacturing establishments and we evaluate the spatial location patterns obtained from both analysis. After an initial analysis, we realise that although these functions have always been treated as substitutes they should be considered as complementary, as both cumulative function and probability density function provide relevant and necessary information about the distribution of activity in space. Therefore, our next step will be to assess what are the advantages and disadvantages of each methodology from a descriptive and analytical way.