Credit Enhancement through Financial Engineering: Freeport-McMoRan's Gold-Denominated Depository Shares

In 1993 and early 1994, Freeport McMoRan Copper and Gold (FCX), a mining company, issued two series of gold-denominated depositary shares to raise 430 million dollars expanding their mining capacity in Indonesia. We price the depositary shares using a term structure model for the forward rates implied by gold futures and we show that FCX successfully enhanced the credit quality of the issue. This credit enhancement is achieved because the effect of linking the payoff of the depositary shares to gold reduces default risk and is similar to conventional risk management. However, the bundling of financing and risk management allows the firm to target hedging benefits only to the newly issued securities. The design of the security also overcomes the asset substitution problem. The depositary shares issued by FCX illustrate how firms can enhance credit quality through financial engineering without changing the existing priority ordering of their capital structure.Risk management, Gold-linked, Hybrid Securities

Algebraic methods in the theory of generalized Harish-Chandra modules

This paper is a review of results on generalized Harish-Chandra modules in the framework of cohomological induction. The main results, obtained during the last 10 years, concern the structure of the fundamental series of $(\mathfrak{g},\mathfrak{k})-$modules, where $\mathfrak{g}$ is a semisimple Lie algebra and $\mathfrak{k}$ is an arbitrary algebraic reductive in $\mathfrak{g}$ subalgebra. These results lead to a classification of simple $(\mathfrak{g},\mathfrak{k})-$modules of finite type with generic minimal $\mathfrak{k}-$types, which we state. We establish a new result about the Fernando-Kac subalgebra of a fundamental series module. In addition, we pay special attention to the case when $\mathfrak{k}$ is an eligible $r-$subalgebra (see the definition in section 4) in which we prove stronger versions of our main results. If $\mathfrak{k}$ is eligible, the fundamental series of $(\mathfrak{g},\mathfrak{k})-$modules yields a natural algebraic generalization of Harish-Chandra's discrete series modules.Comment: Keywords : generalized Harish-Chandra module, (g,k)-module of finite type, minimal k-type, Fernando-Kac subalgebra, eligible subalgebra; Pages no. : 13; Bibliography : 21 item

M\"obius and twisted graphene nanoribbons: stability, geometry and electronic properties

Results of classical force field geometry optimizations for twisted graphene nanoribbons with a number of twists $N_t$ varying from 0 to 7 (the case $N_t$=1 corresponds to a half-twist M\"obius nanoribbon) are presented in this work. Their structural stability was investigated using the Brenner reactive force field. The best classical molecular geometries were used as input for semiempirical calculations, from which the electronic properties (energy levels, HOMO, LUMO orbitals) were computed for each structure. CI wavefunctions were also calculated in the complete active space framework taking into account eigenstates from HOMO-4 to LUMO+4, as well as the oscillator strengths corresponding to the first optical transitions in the UV-VIS range. The lowest energy molecules were found less symmetric than initial configurations, and the HOMO-LUMO energy gaps are larger than the value found for the nanographene used to build them due to electronic localization effects created by the twisting. A high number of twists leads to a sharp increase of the HOMO $\to$ LUMO transition energy. We suggest that some twisted nanoribbons could form crystals stabilized by dipolar interactions

Probing Quantized Einstein-Rosen Waves with Massless Scalar Matter

The purpose of this paper is to discuss in detail the use of scalar matter coupled to linearly polarized Einstein-Rosen waves as a probe to study quantum gravity in the restricted setting provided by this symmetry reduction of general relativity. We will obtain the relevant Hamiltonian and quantize it with the techniques already used for the purely gravitational case. Finally we will discuss the use of particle-like modes of the quantized fields to operationally explore some of the features of quantum gravity within this framework. Specifically we will study two-point functions, the Newton-Wigner propagator, and radial wave functions for one-particle states.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review

Local electronic nematicity in the one-band Hubbard model

Nematicity is a well known property of liquid crystals and has been recently discussed in the context of strongly interacting electrons. An electronic nematic phase has been seen by many experiments in certain strongly correlated materials, in particular, in the pseudogap phase generic to many hole-doped cuprate superconductors. Recent measurements in high $T_c$ superconductors has shown even if the lattice is perfectly rotationally symmetric, the ground state can still have strongly nematic local properties. Our study of the two-dimensional Hubbard model provides strong support of the recent experimental results on local rotational $C_4$ symmetry breaking. The variational cluster approach is used here to show the possibility of an electronic nematic state and the proximity of the underlying symmetry-breaking ground state within the Hubbard model. We identify this nematic phase in the overdoped region and show that the local nematicity decreases with increasing electron filling. Our results also indicate that strong Coulomb interaction may drive the nematic phase into a phase similar to the stripe structure. The calculated spin (magnetic) correlation function in momentum space shows the effects resulting from real-space nematicity

AVALIANDO A GESTÃO UNIVERSITÁRIA PONTO A PONTO: ESTUDO DE CASO

O processo de avaliação do ensino superior segue duas vertentes principais: a avaliação centrada no planejamento institucional com metas e indicadores globais bem definidos e a avaliação setorizada ou pontual que permite uma visão detalhada das rotinas e envolvimento dos indivíduos com a instituição. Neste trabalho apresentamos os resultados da avaliação pontual interna e externa de um setor administrativo da Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina. A avaliação foi realizada através análise de questionários com questões abertas e de resposta induzida. Os questionários foram preenchidos anonimamente e de forma voluntária por servidores da unidade (32 respondidos de 34 questionários enviados) e por usuários dos serviços da unidade (81 respondidos de 138 questionários enviados). Os resultados mostram, entre outros, os seguintes pontos positivos da avaliação interna: alto grau de envolvimento dos servidores com o processo de avaliação; satisfação com o trabalho; ambiente de trabalho propício à troca de idéias. Dos pontos negativos podemos ressaltar: os servidores sentem uma distribuição desigual da carga de trabalho no setor e fora dele e manifestam a falta de reuniões periódicas com as chefias. A avaliação externa revela respostas elogiosas ao trabalho do setor mas também que parte dos serviços prestados não são bem conhecidos da comunidade universitária. A auto avaliação é mais severa do que a avaliação externa, mostrando o espírito crítico dos servidores do setor. A avaliação permite recomendar ações concretas para reforçar os pontos positivos e minimizar os aspectos negativos como, por exemplo, o estabelecimento de uma agenda de reuniões periódicas entre servidores e chefias. Concluímos, além dos resultados diretos, que a avaliação setorizada é um mecanismo válido de diagnóstico da gestão e que existe, na comunidade universitária, um ambiente propício à continuidade da aplicação deste método

Asymptotics of Regulated Field Commutators for Einstein-Rosen Waves

We discuss the asymptotic behavior of regulated field commutators for linearly polarized, cylindrically symmetric gravitational waves and the mathematical techniques needed for this analysis. We concentrate our attention on the effects brought about by the introduction of a physical cut-off in the study of the microcausality of the model and describe how the different physically relevant regimes are affected by its presence. Specifically we discuss how genuine quantum gravity effects can be disentangled from those originating in the introduction of a regulator.Comment: 9 figures, 19 pages in DIN A4 format. Accepted for publication in Journal of Mathematical Physic