Spokes cluster: The search for the quiescent gas

Context. Understanding the role of fragmentation is one of the most important current questions of star formation. To better understand the process of star and cluster formation, we need to study in detail the physical structure and properties of the parental molecular cloud. The Spokes cluster, or NGC 2264 D, is a rich protostellar cluster where previous N2H+(1-0) observations of its dense cores presented linewidths consistent with supersonic turbulence. However, the fragmentation of the most massive of these cores appears to have a scale length consistent with that of the thermal Jeans length, suggesting that turbulence was not dominant. Aims. These two results probe different density regimes. Our aim is to determine if there is subsonic or less-turbulent gas (than previously reported) in the Spokes cluster at higher densities. Methods. We present APEX N2H+(3-2) and N2D+(3-2) observations of the NGC2264-D region to measure the linewidths and the deuteration fraction of the higher density gas. The critical densities of the selected transitions are more than an order of magnitude higher than that of N2H+(1-0). Results. We find that the N2H+(3-2) and N2D+(3-2) emission present significantly narrower linewidths than the emission from N2H+(1-0) for most cores. In two of the spectra, the nonthermal component is close (within 1-sigma) to the sound speed. In addition, we find that the three spatially segregated cores, for which no protostar had been confirmed show the highest levels of deuteration. Conclusions. These results show that the higher density gas, probed with N2H+ and N2D+(3-2), reveals more quiescent gas in the Spokes cluster than previously reported. More high-angular resolution interferometric observations using high-density tracers are needed to truly assess the kinematics and substructure within NGC2264-D. (Abridged)Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures. Accepted in A&

Combined creep and plastic analysis with numerical methods

The combination of plastic and creep analysis formulation are developed in this paper. The boundary element method and the finite element method are applied in plates in order to do the numerical analysis. This new approach is developed to combine the constitutive equation for time hardening creep and the constitutive equation for plasticity, which is based on the von Mises criterion and the Prandtl-Reuss flow. The implementation of creep strain in the formulation is achieved through domain integrals. The creep phenomenon takes place in the domain which is discretized into quadratic quadrilateral continuous and discontinuous cells. The creep analysis is applied to metals with a power law creep for the secondary creep stage. Results obtained for three models studied are compared to those published in the literature. The obtained results are in good agreement and evinced that the Boundary Element Method could be a suitable tool to deal with combined nonlinear problems

Breakdown of the operator product expansion in the 't Hooft model

We consider deep inelastic scattering in the 't Hooft model. Being solvable, this model allows us to directly compute the moments associated with the cross section at next-to-leading order in the 1/Q^2 expansion. We perform the same computation using the operator product expansion. We find that all the terms match in both computations except for one in the hadronic side, which is proportional to a non-local operator. The basics of the result suggest that a similar phenomenon may occur in four dimensions in the large N_c limit.Comment: 4 page

The "True" Column Density Distribution in Star-Forming Molecular Clouds

We use the COMPLETE Survey's observations of the Perseus star-forming region to assess and intercompare three methods for measuring column density in molecular clouds: extinction mapping (NIR); thermal emission mapping (FIR); and mapping the intensity of CO isotopologues. The structures shown by all three tracers are morphologically similar, but important differences exist. Dust-based measures give similar, log-normal, distributions for the full Perseus region, once careful calibration corrections are made. We also compare dust- and gas-based column density distributions for physically-meaningful sub-regions of Perseus, and we find significant variations in the distributions for those regions. Even though we have used 12CO data to estimate excitation temperatures, and we have corrected for opacity, the 13CO maps seem unable to give column distributions that consistently resemble those from dust measures. We have edited out the effects of the shell around the B-star HD 278942. In that shell's interior and in the parts where it overlaps the molecular cloud, there appears to be a dearth of 13CO, likely due either to 13CO not yet having had time to form in this young structure, and/or destruction of 13CO in the molecular cloud. We conclude that the use of either dust or gas measures of column density without extreme attention to calibration and artifacts is more perilous than even experts might normally admit. And, the use of 13CO to trace total column density in detail, even after proper calibration, is unavoidably limited in utility due to threshold, depletion, and opacity effects. If one's main aim is to map column density, then dust extinction seems the best probe. Linear fits amongst column density tracers are given, quantifying the inherent uncertainties in using one tracer (when compared with others). [abridged]Comment: Accepted in ApJ. 13 pages, 6 color figures. It includes small changes to improve clarity. For a version with high-resolution figures see http://www.cfa.harvard.edu/COMPLETE/papers/Goodman_ColumnDensity.pd

Renormalization group improvement of the NRQCD Lagrangian and heavy quarkonium spectrum

We complete the leading-log renormalization group scaling of the NRQCD Lagrangian at $O(1/m^2)$. The next-to-next-to-leading-log renormalization group scaling of the potential NRQCD Lagrangian (as far as the singlet is concerned) is also obtained in the situation $m\alpha_s \gg \Lambda_{QCD}$. As a by-product, we obtain the heavy quarkonium spectrum with the same accuracy in the situation m\alpha_s^2 \simg \Lambda_{QCD}. When $\Lambda_{QCD} \ll m\alpha_s^2$, this is equivalent to obtain the whole set of $O(m\alpha_s^{(n+4)} \ln^n \alpha_s)$ terms in the heavy quarkonium spectrum. The implications of our results in the non-perturbative situation $m\alpha_s \sim \Lambda_{QCD}$ are also mentioned.Comment: 16 pages, LaTeX. Minor changes. Final versio

An Alternative Methodology for Estimating Credit Quality Transition Matrices

This study presents an alternative way of estimating credit transition matrices using a hazard function model. The model is useful both for testing the validity of the Markovian assumption, frequently made in credit rating applications, and also for estimating transition matrices conditioning on firm-specific and macroeconomic covariates that influence the migration process. The model presented in the paper is likely to be useful in other applications, though we would hesitate to extrapolate numerical values of coefficients outside of our application. Transition matrices estimated this way may be an important tool for a credit risk administration system, in the sense that with them a practitioner can easily forecast the behavior of the clients´ratings in the future and their possible changes of stateFirms; macroeconomic variables; firm-specific covariates; hazard function; transition intensities. Classification JEL: C4; E44; G21; G23; G38.

Renormalization group improvement of the spectrum of Hydrogen-like atoms with massless fermions

We obtain the next-to-next-to-leading-log renormalization group improvement of the spectrum of Hydrogen-like atoms with massless fermions by using potential NRQED. These results can also be applied to the computation of the muonic Hydrogen spectrum where we are able to reproduce some known double logs at O(m\alpha^6). We compare with other formalisms dealing with log resummation available in the literature.Comment: 9 pages, LaTeX. Minor changes, note added, final versio