Peaks in the CMBR power spectrum. I. Mathematical analysis of the associated real space features

The purpose of our study is to understand the mathematical origin in real space of modulated and damped sinusoidal peaks observed in cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropies. We use the theory of the Fourier transform to connect localized features of the two-point correlation function in real space to oscillations in the power spectrum. We also illustrate analytically and by means of Monte Carlo simulations the angular correlation function for distributions of filled disks with fixed or variable radii capable of generating oscillations in the power spectrum. While the power spectrum shows repeated information in the form of multiple peaks and oscillations, the angular correlation function offers a more compact presentation that condenses all the information of the multiple peaks into a localized real space feature. We have seen that oscillations in the power spectrum arise when there is a discontinuity in a given derivative of the angular correlation function at a given angular distance. These kinds of discontinuities do not need to be abrupt in an infinitesimal range of angular distances but may also be smooth, and can be generated by simply distributing excesses of antenna temperature in filled disks of fixed or variable radii on the sky, provided that there is a non-null minimum radius and/or the maximum radius is constrained.Comment: accepted to be published in Physica

Italy’s non-negligible cohabitational unions

Recent trends in official statistics show strong increases in non-marital cohabitation in younger Italian generations. Moreover, other sources suggest that consensual unions have lasted longer in recent years before they were converted into marriages. In the present paper we consider entry into marriage and entry into cohabitation as competing risks and study whether the (standardized) entry risk for cohabitation has overtaken that for marriage in Italy, much as in countries in Central and Eastern Europe that we have studied in earlier papers. We find that it has not, and conclude that the move toward the Second Demographic Transition has not taken off in Italy. We also find that the rise in the risk of entry into cohabitation is confined to Northern and Central Italy, while the risk of marriage formation has dropped both there and in Southern Italy. Perhaps Italy is a special case in the European context as far as union formation is concerned.Italy

Implications of effective axial-vector coupling of gluon for ttˉt\bar{t} spin polarizations at the LHC

We analyze the impact of effective axial-vector coupling of the gluon on spin polarization observables in $t\bar{t}$ pair production at the LHC. Working at leading order in QCD, we compute the $t\bar{t}$ spin-correlation and left-right spin asymmetry coefficients in the helicity basis in the laboratory frame as functions of the new physics scale $\Lambda$ associated with this coupling. We found that the $t\bar{t}$ invariant mass dependent asymmetries are more sensitive to the scale $\Lambda$ than the corresponding inclusive ones, in particular when suitable cuts selecting high $t\bar{t}$ invariant mass regions are imposed. In the context of this scenario, we show that the LHC has potential either to confirm or to rule out the Tevatron FB top asymmetry anomaly by analyzing the $t\bar{t}$ spin-correlation and left-right polarization asymmetries. On the other hand, stringent lower bound on the new physics scale $\Lambda$ can be set in this scenario if no significant deviations from the SM predictions for those observables will be measured.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, same as published version in PRD. Few modifications in the text and one new reference adde

A perturbative approach to the Bak-Sneppen Model

We study the Bak-Sneppen model in the probabilistic framework of the Run Time Statistics (RTS). This model has attracted a large interest for its simplicity being a prototype for the whole class of models showing Self-Organized Criticality. The dynamics is characterized by a self-organization of almost all the species fitnesses above a non-trivial threshold value, and by a lack of spatial and temporal characteristic scales. This results in {\em avalanches} of activity power law distributed. In this letter we use the RTS approach to compute the value of $x_c$, the value of the avalanche exponent $\tau$ and the asymptotic distribution of minimal fitnesses.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, to be published on Physical Review Letter

1-d gravity in infinite point distributions

The dynamics of infinite, asymptotically uniform, distributions of self-gravitating particles in one spatial dimension provides a simple toy model for the analogous three dimensional problem. We focus here on a limitation of such models as treated so far in the literature: the force, as it has been specified, is well defined in infinite point distributions only if there is a centre of symmetry (i.e. the definition requires explicitly the breaking of statistical translational invariance). The problem arises because naive background subtraction (due to expansion, or by "Jeans' swindle" for the static case), applied as in three dimensions, leaves an unregulated contribution to the force due to surface mass fluctuations. Following a discussion by Kiessling, we show that the problem may be resolved by defining the force in infinite point distributions as the limit of an exponentially screened pair interaction. We show that this prescription gives a well defined (finite) force acting on particles in a class of perturbed infinite lattices, which are the point processes relevant to cosmological N-body simulations. For identical particles the dynamics of the simplest toy model is equivalent to that of an infinite set of points with inverted harmonic oscillator potentials which bounce elastically when they collide. We discuss previous results in the literature, and present new results for the specific case of this simplest (static) model starting from "shuffled lattice" initial conditions. These show qualitative properties (notably its "self-similarity") of the evolution very similar to those in the analogous simulations in three dimensions, which in turn resemble those in the expanding universe.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, small changes (section II shortened, added discussion in section IV), matches final version to appear in PR

Initial conditions, Discreteness and non-linear structure formation in cosmology

In this lecture we address three different but related aspects of the initial continuous fluctuation field in standard cosmological models. Firstly we discuss the properties of the so-called Harrison-Zeldovich like spectra. This power spectrum is a fundamental feature of all current standard cosmological models. In a simple classification of all stationary stochastic processes into three categories, we highlight with the name ``super-homogeneous'' the properties of the class to which models like this, with $P(0)=0$, belong. In statistical physics language they are well described as glass-like. Secondly, the initial continuous density field with such small amplitude correlated Gaussian fluctuations must be discretised in order to set up the initial particle distribution used in gravitational N-body simulations. We discuss the main issues related to the effects of discretisation, particularly concerning the effect of particle induced fluctuations on the statistical properties of the initial conditions and on the dynamical evolution of gravitational clustering.Comment: 28 pages, 1 figure, to appear in Proceedings of 9th Course on Astrofundamental Physics, International School D. Chalonge, Kluwer, eds N.G. Sanchez and Y.M. Pariiski, uses crckapb.st pages, 3 figure, ro appear in Proceedings of 9th Course on Astrofundamental Physics, International School D. Chalonge, Kluwer, Eds. N.G. Sanchez and Y.M. Pariiski, uses crckapb.st

Invasion Percolation with Temperature and the Nature of SOC in Real Systems

We show that the introduction of thermal noise in Invasion Percolation (IP) brings the system outside the critical point. This result suggests a possible definition of SOC systems as ordinary critical systems where the critical point correspond to set to 0 one of the parameters. We recover both IP and EDEN model, for $T \to 0$, and $T \to \infty$ respectively. For small $T$ we find a dynamical second order transition with correlation length diverging when $T \to 0$.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figure

Force distribution in a randomly perturbed lattice of identical particles with 1/r21/r^2 pair interaction

We study the statistics of the force felt by a particle in the class of spatially correlated distribution of identical point-like particles, interacting via a $1/r^2$ pair force (i.e. gravitational or Coulomb), and obtained by randomly perturbing an infinite perfect lattice. In the first part we specify the conditions under which the force on a particle is a well defined stochastic quantity. We then study the small displacements approximation, giving both the limitations of its validity, and, when it is valid, an expression for the force variance. In the second part of the paper we extend to this class of particle distributions the method introduced by Chandrasekhar to study the force probability density function in the homogeneous Poisson particle distribution. In this way we can derive an approximate expression for the probability distribution of the force over the full range of perturbations of the lattice, i.e., from very small (compared to the lattice spacing) to very large where the Poisson limit is recovered. We show in particular the qualitative change in the large-force tail of the force distribution between these two limits. Excellent accuracy of our analytic results is found on detailed comparison with results from numerical simulations. These results provide basic statistical information about the fluctuations of the interactions (i) of the masses in self-gravitating systems like those encountered in the context of cosmological N-body simulations, and (ii) of the charges in the ordered phase of the One Component Plasma.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure

Non perturbative renormalization group approach to surface growth

We present a recently introduced real space renormalization group (RG) approach to the study of surface growth. The method permits us to obtain the properties of the KPZ strong coupling fixed point, which is not accessible to standard perturbative field theory approaches. Using this method, and with the aid of small Monte Carlo calculations for systems of linear size 2 and 4, we calculate the roughness exponent in dimensions up to d=8. The results agree with the known numerical values with good accuracy. Furthermore, the method permits us to predict the absence of an upper critical dimension for KPZ contrarily to recent claims. The RG scheme is applied to other growth models in different universality classes and reproduces very well all the observed phenomenology and numerical results. Intended as a sort of finite size scaling method, the new scheme may simplify in some cases from a computational point of view the calculation of scaling exponents of growth processes.Comment: Invited talk presented at the CCP1998 (Granada