A Multi-Factor Analysis of AREIT Returns

Since 1990, the Australian Real Estate Investment Trust (AREIT) sector has experienced substantial growth and popularity. While the AREIT sector had benefit from the increased flow of funds from institutional investors during the 1997 Asian financial crisis, the recent impact of the 2008 global financial crisis has been a negative one. In this paper, we examine the sensitivities of annualised AREIT returns against a set of seven firm-specific variables and four market-wide risk variables. Balanced and unbalanced panel regressions are conducted on three sub-periods during 1990 - 2008 corresponding to the major phases in evolution of the AREIT sector. Our regression results find that size has a negative impact on returns, and this effect has been diminishing over time. Overall market risk was also found to be significant and positive only since 2003, suggesting that recently AREITs behave more like stocks and less like defensive assets. The relationship with exchange rate risk has been positive in recent years, due to more AREITs choosing to diversify internationally, particularly in the U.S. property markets. Our findings on the relationship between market-to-book ratios and AREIT returns depart from standard finance literature. In comparison to REITs in other countries, AREITs have shifted their preferences away from property-type diversification and into more specialised investment strategies. We also find contrasting evidence on the impact of international diversification, and that domestic AREITs provide better returns than internationally diversified counterparts. The relationship between returns and short term interest rates was found to be positive and significant prior to 2002, and the relationship with long-term interest rates was found to be negative and significant since 2003, suggesting that AREITs exhibit less bond-like characteristics in the past five years.AREITs, AREIT returns, Property-type diversification, International diversification, Panel regressions

Relativistic linear stability equations for the nonlinear Dirac equation in Bose-Einstein condensates

We present relativistic linear stability equations (RLSE) for quasi-relativistic cold atoms in a honeycomb optical lattice. These equations are derived from first principles and provide a method for computing stabilities of arbitrary localized solutions of the nonlinear Dirac equation (NLDE), a relativistic generalization of the nonlinear Schr\"odinger equation. We present a variety of such localized solutions: skyrmions, solitons, vortices, and half-quantum vortices, and study their stabilities via the RLSE. When applied to a uniform background, our calculations reveal an experimentally observable effect in the form of Cherenkov radiation. Remarkably, the Berry phase from the bipartite structure of the honeycomb lattice induces a boson-fermion transmutation in the quasi-particle operator statistics.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Measurement of Spin Polarization by Andreev Reflection in Ferromagnetic In1-xMnxSb Epilayers

We carried out Point Contact Andreev Reflection (PCAR) spin spectroscopy measurements on epitaxially-grown ferromagnetic In1-xMnxSb epilayers with a Curie temperature of ~9K. The spin sensitivity of PCAR in this material was demonstrated by parallel control studies on its non-magnetic analog, In1-yBeySb. We found the conductance curves of the Sn point contacts with In1-yBeySb to be fairly conventional, with the possible presence of proximity-induced superconductivity effects at the lowest temperatures. The experimental Z-values of interfacial scattering agreed well with the estimates based on the Fermi velocity mismatch between the semiconductor and the superconductor. These measurements provided control data for subsequent PCAR measurements on ferromagnetic In1-xMnxSb, which indicated spin polarization in In1-xMnxSb to be 52 +- 3%

Finite temperature Casimir pistons for electromagnetic field with mixed boundary conditions and its classical limit

In this paper, the finite temperature Casimir force acting on a two-dimensional Casimir piston due to electromagnetic field is computed. It was found that if mixed boundary conditions are assumed on the piston and its opposite wall, then the Casimir force always tends to restore the piston towards the equilibrium position, regardless of the boundary conditions assumed on the walls transverse to the piston. In contrary, if pure boundary conditions are assumed on the piston and the opposite wall, then the Casimir force always tend to pull the piston towards the closer wall and away from the equilibrium position. The nature of the force is not affected by temperature. However, in the high temperature regime, the magnitude of the Casimir force grows linearly with respect to temperature. This shows that the Casimir effect has a classical limit as has been observed in other literatures.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted by Journal of Physics

Surface-reconstructed Icosahedral Structures for Lead Clusters

We describe a new family of icosahedral structures for lead clusters. In general, structures in this family contain a Mackay icosahedral core with a reconstructed two-shell outer-layer. This family includes the anti-Mackay icosahedra, which have have a Mackay icosahedral core but with most of the surface atoms in hexagonal close-packed positions. Using a many-body glue potential for lead, we identify two icosahedral structures in this family which have the lowest energies of any known structure in the size range from 900 to 15000 lead atoms. We show that these structures are stabilized by a feature of the many-body glue part of the interatomic potential.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Observation of twin beam correlations and quadrature entanglement by frequency doubling in a two-port resonator

We demonstrate production of quantum correlated and entangled beams by second harmonic generation in a nonlinear resonator with two output ports. The output beams at wavelength 428.5 nm exhibit 0.9 dB of nonclassical intensity correlations and 0.3 dB of entanglement.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figure

Quantum Gauge Equivalence in QED

We discuss gauge transformations in QED coupled to a charged spinor field, and examine whether we can gauge-transform the entire formulation of the theory from one gauge to another, so that not only the gauge and spinor fields, but also the forms of the operator-valued Hamiltonians are transformed. The discussion includes the covariant gauge, in which the gauge condition and Gauss's law are not primary constraints on operator-valued quantities; it also includes the Coulomb gauge, and the spatial axial gauge, in which the constraints are imposed on operator-valued fields by applying the Dirac-Bergmann procedure. We show how to transform the covariant, Coulomb and spatial axial gauges to what we call ``common form,'' in which all particle excitation modes have identical properties. We also show that, once that common form has been reached, QED in different gauges has a common time-evolution operator that defines time-translation for states that represent systems of electrons and photons. By combining gauge transformations with changes of representation from standard to common form, the entire apparatus of a gauge theory can be transformed from one gauge to another.Comment: Contribution for a special issue of Foundations of Physics honoring Fritz Rohrlich; edited by Larry P. Horwitz, Tel-Aviv University, and Alwyn van der Merwe, University of Denver (Plenum Publishing, New York); 40 pages, REVTEX, Preprint UCONN-93-3, 1 figure available upon request from author

Entanglement and statistics in Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometry

Hong-Ou-Mandel interferometry allows one to detect the presence of entanglement in two-photon input states. The same result holds for two-particles input states which obey to Fermionic statistics. In the latter case however anti-bouncing introduces qualitative differences in the interferometer response. This effect is analyzed in a Gedankenexperiment where the particles entering the interferometer are assumed to belong to a one-parameter family of quons which continuously interpolate between the Bosonic and Fermionic statistics.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures; minor editorial changes and new references adde