2,576 research outputs found
Landau levels on a torus
Landau levels have represented a very rich field of research, which has
gained widespread attention after their application to quantum Hall effect. In
a particular gauge, the holomorphic gauge, they give a physical implementation
of Bargmann's Hilbert space of entire functions. They have also been recognized
as a natural bridge between Feynman's path integral and Geometric Quantization.
We discuss here some mathematical subtleties involved in the formulation of the
problem when one tries to study quantum mechanics on a finite strip of sides
L_1, L_2 with a uniform magnetic field and periodic boundary conditions. There
is an apparent paradox here: infinitesimal translations should be associated to
canonical operators [p_x,p_y] \propto i\hslash B, and, at the same time, live
in a Landau level of finite dimension B L_1L_2/(hc/e), which is impossible from
Wintner's theorem. The paper shows the way out of this conundrum.Comment: 10 pages, two color eps-file
The Publicity of Thought
An influential tradition holds that thoughts are public: different thinkers share many of their thoughts, and the same applies to a single subject at different times. This ‘publicity principle’ has recently come under attack. Arguments by Mark Crimmins, Richard Heck and Brian Loar seem to show that publicity is inconsistent with the widely accepted principle that someone who is ignorant or mistaken about certain identity facts will have distinct thoughts about the relevant object—for instance, the astronomer who does not know that Hesperus is Phosphorus will have two distinct thoughts Hesperus is bright and Phosphorus is bright. In this paper, I argue that publicity can be defended if we adopt a relational account on which thoughts are individuated by their mutual relations. I then go on to develop a specific relational theory—the ‘linking account’—and contrast it with other relational views
Testing Williamson’s theory on transaction-specific governance structures: Evidence from electricity markets
Long term contracts increase the hazard of ex post maladaptation, creating demand for processes that enable adaptation over the course of long-term exchange. Enabling adaptation, however, may diminish the effectiveness of the long-term contracts, designed as prima facie hold-up remedies. Following Joskow (1987), we attempt to empirically capture the positive relationship between physical asset specificity and the duration of long-term contracts between California electricity generators. In addition, following Masten and Crocker (1985), we try to measure the effect of legal provisions on contract duration and interpret them as efficient instruments for providing flexibility in long-term relationships. The more important the investment in relationship-specific assets, the longer the contractual duration. However, parties mitigate long-term contract inflexibility, based on ex ante bargained terms and conditions, with provisions that allow for contingent adaptation. Our empirical results provide support for the hypothesised relationships under different model specifications and alternative estimation techniques.electricity long-term contracts, idiosyncratic relations, asset specificity, efficient adaptation
The Numerical Sausage
The renormalization group equation describing the evolution of the metric of
the non linear sigma models poses some nice mathematical problems involving
functional analysis, differential geometry and numerical analysis. We describe
the techniques which allow a numerical study of the solutions in the case of a
two-dimensional target space (deformation of the --model. Our
analysis shows that the so-called sausages define an attracting manifold in the
U(1) symmetric case, at one-loop level. The paper describes i) the known
analytical solutions, ii) the spectral method which realizes the numerical
integrator and allows to estimate the spectrum of zero--modes, iii) the
solution of variational equations around the solutions, and finally iv) the
algorithms which reconstruct the surface as embedded in .Comment: 15 pages, uuencoded postscript fil
High energy gravitational scattering: a numerical study
The S-matrix in gravitational high energy scattering is computed from the
region of large impact parameters b down to the regime where classical
gravitational collapse is expected to occur. By solving the equation of an
effective action introduced by Amati, Ciafaloni and Veneziano we find that the
perturbative expansion around the leading eikonal result diverges at a critical
value signalling the onset of a new regime. We then discuss the main features
of our explicitly unitary S-matrix down to the Schwarzschild's radius R=2G
s^(1/2), where it diverges at a critical value b ~ 2.22 R of the impact
parameter. The nature of the singularity is studied with particular attention
to the scaling behaviour of various observables at the transition. The
numerical approach is validated by reproducing the known exact solution in the
axially symmetric case to high accuracy.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure
Old master paintings, export veto and price formation: an empirical study
In this paper, we focus on the institutional setting where Old Masters'Paintings (OMP) markets transactions are carried. We develop a preliminary attempt to embody legal provisions in econometric, hedonic pricing models. We consider a particular regulation applicable only in Italy, the "export veto" for art objects that are particularly relevant for the national cultural patrimony. We proxy such legal provision in order to include it in the statistical analysis and to check whether it affects the OMP price differentials between pre-auction estimated price and post-auction hammer price. Preliminary results show that the price differential is affected by the legal variable, therefore suggesting that the country's institutional framework plays an important role in price dynamics
A numerical simulation of pre-big bang cosmology
We analyse numerically the onset of pre-big bang inflation in an
inhomogeneous, spherically symmetric Universe. Adding a small dilatonic
perturbation to a trivial (Milne) background, we find that suitable regions of
space undergo dilaton-driven inflation and quickly become spatially flat
(). Numerical calculations are pushed close enough to the big
bang singularity to allow cross checks against previously proposed analytic
asymptotic solutions.Comment: 19 pages, revtex, matlab code available at
http://www.fis.unipr.it/~onofr
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