842 research outputs found
Airline Market Power and Intertemporal Price Dispersion
This paper analyzes the empirical relationship between market structure and price dispersion in the airline markets connecting the UK and the Republic of Ireland. Price dispersion is measured by a number of inequality indexes, calculated using fares posted on the Internet at specific days before takeoff. We find a negative correlation between market dominance and price dispersion; thus competition appears to hinder the airlines' ability to price discriminate to exploit consumers' heterogeneity in booking time preferences. Moreover, in the Christmas and Easter periods of high demand, fares are less dispersed, possibly because airlines target a less heterogenous set of consumers.Intertemporal pricing, competition, price dispersion.
Rifting and arc-related early Paleozoic volcanism along the North Gondwana margin: geochemical and geological evidence from Sardinia (Italy)
Three series of volcanic rocks accumulated during the Cambrian to Silurian in the metasediment-dominated Variscan basement of Sardinia. They provide a record of the changing geodynamic setting of the North Gondwana margin between Upper Cambrian and earliest Silurian. A continuous Upper CambrianâLower Ordovician succession of felsic submarine and subaerial rocks, dominantly transitional alkaline in character (ca. 492â480 Ma), is present throughout the Variscan nappes. Trace element data, together with Nd isotope data that point to a depleted mantle source, indicate an ensialic environment. A Middle Ordovician (ca. 465 Ma) calc-alkaline bimodal suite, restricted to the external Variscan nappes, overlies the Sardic Unconformity. Negative Ï”Ndi values (â3.03 to â5.75) indicate that the suite is a product of arc volcanism from a variably enriched mantle. A Late OrdovicianâEarly Silurian (ca. 440 Ma) volcano-sedimentary cycle consists of an alkalic mafic suite in a post-Caradocian transgressive sequence. Feeder dykes cut the pre-Sardic sequence. The alkali basalts are enriched in Nb-Ta and have Zr/Nb ratios in the range 4.20â30.90 (typical of a rift environment) and positive Ï”Ndi values that indicate a depleted mantle source. Trachyandesite lavas have trace element contents characteristic of within-plate basalt differentiates, with evidence of minor crustal contamination
Airline Pricing under Different Market Conditions: Evidence from European Low-Cost Carriers
Traditional theories of airline pricing maintain that fares monotonically increase as fewer seats remain available on a flight. A fortiori, this implies a monotonically increasing temporal profile of fares. In this paper, we exploit the presence of drops in offered fares over time as an indicator of an active yield management intervention by two main European Low-Cost Carriers observed daily during the period June 2002 - June 2003. Our results indicate that yield management is effective in raising a flight's load factor. Furthermore, yield management interventions are more intense, and generate a stronger impact, on more competitive routes: one possible interpretation is that a reduction in competitive pressure allows the carriers to adopt a more standardized approach to pricing. Similarly, we find that yield management interventions are more effective in raising the load factor on routes where the customer mix is more heterogenous (i.e., it includes passengers traveling for leisure, business and for family matters). On markets with homogeneous customer base, no robust yield management effect was observed.Easyjet, Intertemporal Pricing, Panel Data, Ryanair, Yield Management
Diffuse cosmic rays shining in the Galactic center: A novel interpretation of H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT gamma-ray data
We present a novel interpretation of the -ray diffuse emission
measured by Fermi-LAT and H.E.S.S. in the Galactic center (GC) region and the
Galactic ridge (GR). In the first part we perform a data-driven analysis based
on PASS8 Fermi-LAT data: we extend down to few GeV the spectra measured by
H.E.S.S. and infer the primary cosmic-ray (CR) radial distribution between 0.1
and 3 TeV. In the second part we adopt a CR transport model based on a
position-dependent diffusion coefficient. Such behavior reproduces the radial
dependence of the CR spectral index recently inferred from the Fermi-LAT
observations. We find that the bulk of the GR emission can be naturally
explained by the interaction of the diffuse steady-state Galactic CR sea with
the gas present in the Central Molecular Zone. Although our results leave room
for a residual radial-dependent emission associated with a central source, the
relevance of the large-scale background prevents from a solid evidence of a GC
Pevatron.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review
Letter
Hard Cosmic Ray Sea in the Galactic Center: a consistent interpretation of H.E.S.S. and Fermi-LAT -ray data
We present a novel interpretation of the gamma-ray diffuse emission measured
by H.E.S.S. in the Galactic Center (GC) region and the Galactic ridge. Our
starting base is an updated analysis of PASS8 Fermi-LAT data, which allows to
extend down to few GeV the spectra measured by H.E.S.S. and to infer the
primary CR radial distribution above 100 GeV. We compare those results with a
CR transport model assuming a harder scaling of the diffusion coefficient with
rigidity in the inner Galaxy. Such a behavior reproduces the radial dependence
of the CR spectral index recently inferred from Fermi-LAT measurements in the
inner GP. We find that, in this scenario, the bulk of the Galactic ridge
emission can be naturally explained by the interaction of the diffuse,
steady-state Galactic CR sea interacting with the gas present in the Central
molecular zone. The evidence of a GC PeVatron is significantly weaker than that
inferred adopting a conventional (softer) CR sea.Comment: Oral contribution to the International Cosmic Ray Conference (ICRC
2017), 12-20 July 2017, Bexco, Busan, Kore
A common solution to the cosmic ray anisotropy and gradient problems
Multichannel Cosmic Ray (CR) spectra and the large scale CR anisotropy can
hardly be made compatible in the framework of conventional isotropic and
homogeneous propagation models. These models also have problems explaining the
longitude distribution and the radial emissivity gradient of the -ray
galactic interstellar emission. We argue here that accounting for a well
physically motivated correlation between the CR escape time and the spatially
dependent magnetic turbulence power can naturally solve both problems. Indeed,
by exploiting this correlation we find propagation models that fit a wide set
of CR primary and secondary spectra, and consistently reproduce the CR
anisotropy in the energy range 10^2 - 10^4 \GeV and the -ray
longitude distribution recently measured by Fermi-LAT.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. v2: Accepted in Phys. Rev. Let
Physics and application of photon number resolving detectors based on superconducting parallel nanowires
The Parallel Nanowire Detector (PND) is a photon number resolving (PNR)
detector which uses spatial multiplexing on a subwavelength scale to provide a
single electrical output proportional to the photon number. The basic structure
of the PND is the parallel connection of several NbN superconducting nanowires
(100 nm-wide, few nm-thick), folded in a meander pattern. PNDs were fabricated
on 3-4 nm thick NbN films grown on MgO (TS=400C) substrates by reactive
magnetron sputtering in an Ar/N2 gas mixture. The device performance was
characterized in terms of speed and sensitivity. PNDs showed a counting rate of
80 MHz and a pulse duration as low as 660ps full width at half maximum (FWHM).
Building the histograms of the photoresponse peak, no multiplication noise
buildup is observable. Electrical and optical equivalent models of the device
were developed in order to study its working principle, define design
guidelines, and develop an algorithm to estimate the photon number statistics
of an unknown light. In particular, the modeling provides novel insight of the
physical limit to the detection efficiency and to the reset time of these
detectors. The PND significantly outperforms existing PNR detectors in terms of
simplicity, sensitivity, speed, and multiplication noise
High performance NbN nanowire superconducting single photon detectors fabricated on MgO substrates
We demonstrate high-performance nanowire superconducting single photon
detectors (SSPDs) on ultrathin NbN films grown at a temperature compatible with
monolithic integration. NbN films ranging from 150nm to 3nm in thickness were
deposited by dc magnetron sputtering on MgO substrates at 400C. The
superconducting properties of NbN films were optimized studying the effects of
deposition parameters on film properties. SSPDs were fabricated on high quality
NbN films of different thickness (7 to 3nm) deposited under optimal conditions.
Electrical and optical characterizations were performed on the SSPDs. The
highest QE value measured at 4.2K is 20% at 1300nm
Hadronic interactions of primary cosmic rays with the FLUKA code
The measured fluxes of secondary particles produced by the interactions of
cosmic rays with the astronomical environment represent a powerful tool to
infer some properties of primary cosmic rays. In this work we investigate the
production of secondary particles in inelastic hadronic interactions between
several cosmic rays species of projectiles and different target nuclei of the
interstellar medium. The yields of secondary particles have been calculated
with the FLUKA simulation package, that provides with very good accuracy the
energy distributions of secondary products in a large energy range. An
application to the propagation and production of secondaries in the Galaxy is
presented.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; Contribution to the 34th International Cosmic Ray
Conference, July 30 to August 6, The Hague, Netherlands; fixing a typo in the
y-axis label of Fig.
The hidden sides of âdynamic pricingâ for airline tickets
Unlike its planes, easyJet prices go up but don't come down: The longer you wait, the more you pay, write Marco Alderighi, Alberto A. Gaggero and Claudio A. Pig
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