THE RATE OF BINARY BLACK HOLE MERGERS INFERRED FROM ADVANCED LIGO OBSERVATIONS SURROUNDING GW150914

A transient gravitational-wave signal, GW150914, was identi fi ed in the twin Advanced LIGO detectors on 2015 September 2015 at 09:50:45 UTC. To asse ss the implications of this discovery, the detectors remained in operation with unchanged con fi gurations over a period of 39 days around the time of t he signal. At the detection statistic threshold corresponding to that observed for GW150914, our search of the 16 days of simultaneous two-detector observational data is estimated to have a false-alarm rate ( FAR ) of < ́ -- 4.9 10 yr 61 , yielding a p -value for GW150914 of < ́ - 210 7 . Parameter estimation follo w-up on this trigger identi fi es its source as a binary black hole ( BBH ) merger with component masses ( )( ) = - + - + mm M ,36,29 12 4 5 4 4 at redshift = - + z 0.09 0.04 0.03 ( median and 90% credible range ) . Here, we report on the constraints these observations place on the rate of BBH coalescences. Considering only GW150914, assuming that all BBHs in the universe have the same masses and spins as this event, imposing a search FAR threshold of 1 per 100 years, and assuming that the BBH merger rate is constant in the comoving frame, we infer a 90% credible range of merger rates between – -- 2 53 Gpc yr 31 ( comoving frame ) . Incorporating all search triggers that pass a much lower threshold while accounting for the uncerta inty in the astrophysical origin of each trigger, we estimate a higher rate, ranging from – -- 13 600 Gpc yr 31 depending on assumptions about the BBH mass distribution. All together, our various rate estimat es fall in the conservative range – -- 2 600 Gpc yr 31

Performance Analysis of Adaptive MIMO OFDM Beamforming Systems

In this paper we consider an adaptive modulation system with multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antennas in conjunction with orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) operating over frequency selective Rayleigh fading environments. In particular, we consider a type of beamforming with a maximum ratio transmission, maximum ratio combining (MRT-MRC) transceiver structure. For this system we derive a central limit theorem for various block-based performance metrics. This motivates an accurate Gaussian approximation to the system data rate and the number of outages per OFDM block. In addition to data rate and outage distributions, we also consider the subcarrier SNR as a random process in the frequency domain and compute level crossing rates (LCRs) and average fade bandwidths (AFBs). Hence, we provide fundamental but novel results for the MIMO OFDM channel. The accuracy of these results is verified by Monte Carlo simulations, and applications to both performance analysis and system design are discussed

Block-Based Performance Measures for MIMO OFDM Beamforming Systems

In this paper, we consider an adaptive modulation system with multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) antennas in conjunction with orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) operating over frequency-selective Rayleigh fading environments. In particular, we consider a type of beamforming with a maximum ratio transmission/maximum ratio combining (MRT-MRC) transceiver structure. For this system, we derive a central limit theorem for various block-based performance metrics. This motivates an accurate Gaussian approximation to the system data rate and the number of outages per OFDM block. In addition to the data rate and outage distributions, we also consider the subcarrier signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) as a process in the frequency domain and compute level crossing rates (LCRs) and average fade bandwidths (AFBs). Hence, we provide fundamental but novel results for the MIMO OFDM channel. The accuracy of these results is verified by Monte Carlo simulations, and applications to performance analysis and system design are discussed

The Relationship Between R&D Investment and Firm Profitability Under a Three-Stage Sigmoid Curve Model: Evidence From an Emerging Economy

The relationship between investment in research and development (R&D) and firm performance has been the subject of numerous academic investigations, but the findings of these investigations have varied greatly, with research revealing a number of different patterns in the R&D-performance relationship. This inconsistency may be partly attributable to the failure of the commonly used linear modeling method to capture the full dynamics of the R&D-performance relationship. Based on the sigmoid (S) curve paradigm, as well as on other economic foundations, this study proposes the use of a three-stage S-curve model to help reconcile the disparities in the literature. This S-curve model shows that the relationship between R&D intensity and firm profitability is nonlinear, with the slope negative at low levels (stage 1), positive at medium levels (stage 2), and negative again at high levels of R&D investment (stage 3). Empirical evidence from a sample of 377 publicly listed Taiwanese high-tech manufacturing firms and 179 nonhigh-tech firms, examined during the period between 2000 and 2007, confirmed our proposed model. This study not only establishes a relationship pattern that differs from that shown in past studies, but also has important managerial implications for R&D managers and important policy implications for governments

The production of SiC nanowalls sheathed with a few layers of strained graphene and their use in heterogeneous catalysis and sensing applications

10.1016/j.carbon.2011.07.013Carbon49144911-4919CRBN