2,323 research outputs found
Stock Exchange Competition in a Simple Model of Capital Market Equilibrium
This paper uses a simple model of mean-variance asset pricing with transaction costs to analyze one of the main empirical phenomena in stock market competition in the last years, the decrease of transaction costs. We endogenize transaction costs as variables strategically influenced by stock exchanges and model stock market integration as an increase in the correlation of the underlying stock market returns. Among other things, we find that market integration leads to a decrease of transaction costs and to an increase in long-term trading activity.Stock Exchange Competition; Capital Markets Equilibrium; Transaction Costs
On a generalization of Jacobi's elliptic functions and the Double Sine-Gordon kink chain
A generalization of Jacobi's elliptic functions is introduced as inversions
of hyperelliptic integrals. We discuss the special properties of these
functions, present addition theorems and give a list of indefinite integrals.
As a physical application we show that periodic kink solutions (kink chains) of
the double sine-Gordon model can be described in a canonical form in terms of
generalized Jacobi functions.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figures, 3 table
Quantum measurement problem and cluster separability
A modified Beltrametti-Cassinelli-Lahti model of measurement apparatus that
satisfies both the probability reproducibility condition and the
objectification requirement is constructed. Only measurements on microsystems
are considered. The cluster separability forms a basis for the first working
hypothesis: the current version of quantum mechanics leaves open what happens
to systems when they change their separation status. New rules that close this
gap can therefore be added without disturbing the logic of quantum mechanics.
The second working hypothesis is that registration apparatuses for microsystems
must contain detectors and that their readings are signals from detectors. This
implies that separation status of a microsystem changes during both preparation
and registration. A new rule that specifies what happens at these changes and
that guarantees the objectification is formulated and discussed. A part of our
result has certain similarity with 'collapse of the wave function'.Comment: 31 pages, no figure. Published versio
Modalities and future prospects of gene therapy in heart transplantation
Heart transplantation is the treatment of choice for many patients with end-stage heart failure. Its success, however, is limited by organ shortage, side effects of immunosuppressive drugs, and chronic rejection. Gene therapy is conceptually appealing for applications in transplantation, as the donor organ is genetically manipulated ex vivo before transplantation. Localised expression of immunomodulatory genes aims to create a state of immune privilege within the graft, which could eliminate the need for systemic immunosuppression. In this review, recent advances in the development of gene therapy in heart transplantation are discussed. Studies in animal models have demonstrated that genetic modification of the donor heart with immunomodulatory genes attenuates ischaemia-reperfusion injury and rejection. Alternatively, bone marrow-derived cells genetically engineered with donor-type major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I or II promote donor-specific hyporesponsiveness. Genetic engineering of naïve T cells or dendritic cells may induce regulatory T cells and regulatory dendritic cells. Despite encouraging results in animal models, however, clinical gene therapy trials in heart transplantation have not yet been started. The best vector and gene to be delivered remain to be identified. Pre-clinical studies in non-human primates are needed. Nonetheless, the potential of gene therapy as an adjunct therapy in transplantation is essentially intac
FSH prevents depletion of the resting follicle pool by promoting follicular number and morphology in fresh and cryopreserved primate ovarian tissues following xenografting
Background: Cryopreservation and transplantation of ovarian tissue is one option for re-establishing ovarian function, but optimal conditions for graft sustainment and follicular survival are still considered experimental. The present study aims to analyze the effect of FSH treatment on the resting follicle pool in fresh and cryopreserved primate ovarian tissues following xenografting.
Methods: Ovarian tissues from adult marmosets were grafted freshly or following cryopreservation to ovarectomized nude mice treated with FSH 25 IU twice daily post transplantation or left untreated as controls. Grafts were retrieved 2 or 4 weeks after transplantation to evaluate the number and morphological appearance of follicles.
Results: Early start of FSH treatment within 1 week following transplantation partly prevents primordial follicle loss in fresh and frozen-thawed tissues, whereas after a 3 weeks time interval this effect is present only in fresh tissues. A similar positive effect of early, but not later FSH treatment on primary follicles is seen in fresh tissues compared to only marginal effects in frozen-thawed tissues. The percentage of morphologically normal follicles is generally increased in FSH treated tissues, whereas the percentage of primary follicles over all primordial and primary follicles is increased by FSH only in freshly-grafted tissues.
Conclusions: FSH treatment alleviates depletion of the resting follicle pool and promotes normal follicular morphology both in freshly and frozen-thawed grafted tissues. In previously cryopreserved tissues, applying to most of the tissues intended for clinical use in fertility preservation attempts, its positive effect on primordial follicle numbers and potential graft sustainment is dependent on an early start of treatment within one week of transplantation
Positive-Operator-Valued Time Observable in Quantum Mechanics
We examine the longstanding problem of introducing a time observable in
Quantum Mechanics; using the formalism of positive-operator-valued measures we
show how to define such an observable in a natural way and we discuss some
consequences.Comment: 13 pages, LaTeX, no figures. Some minor changes, expanded the
bibliography (now it is bigger than the one in the published version),
changed the title and the style for publication on the International Journal
of Theoretical Physic
Protecting a quantum state from environmental noise by an incompatible finite-time measurement
We show that measurements of finite duration performed on an open two-state
system can protect the initial state from a phase-noisy environment, provided
the measured observable does not commute with the perturbing interaction. When
the measured observable commutes with the environmental interaction, the
finite-duration measurement accelerates the rate of decoherence induced by the
phase noise. For the description of the measurement of an observable that is
incompatible with the interaction between system and environment, we have found
an approximate analytical expression, valid at zero temperature and weak
coupling with the measuring device. We have tested the validity of the
analytical predictions against an exact numerical approach, based on the
superoperator-splitting method, that confirms the protection of the initial
state of the system. When the coupling between the system and the measuring
apparatus increases beyond the range of validity of the analytical
approximation, the initial state is still protected by the finite-time
measurement, according with the exact numerical calculations.Comment: REVISED VERSION: 37 pages, 3 figure
Ashkin-Teller universality in a quantum double model of Ising anyons
We study a quantum double model whose degrees of freedom are Ising anyons.
The terms of the Hamiltonian of this system give rise to a competition between
single and double topologies. By studying the energy spectra of the Hamiltonian
at different values of the coupling constants, we find extended gapless regions
which include a large number of critical points described by conformal field
theories with central charge c=1. These theories are part of the Z_2 orbifold
of the bosonic theory compactified on a circle. We observe that the Hilbert
space of our anyonic model can be associated with extended Dynkin diagrams of
affine Lie algebras which yields exact solutions at some critical points. In
certain special regimes, our model corresponds to the Hamiltonian limit of the
Ashkin-Teller model, and hence integrability over a wide range of coupling
parameters is established.Comment: 11 pages, minor revision
Causal categories: relativistically interacting processes
A symmetric monoidal category naturally arises as the mathematical structure
that organizes physical systems, processes, and composition thereof, both
sequentially and in parallel. This structure admits a purely graphical
calculus. This paper is concerned with the encoding of a fixed causal structure
within a symmetric monoidal category: causal dependencies will correspond to
topological connectedness in the graphical language. We show that correlations,
either classical or quantum, force terminality of the tensor unit. We also show
that well-definedness of the concept of a global state forces the monoidal
product to be only partially defined, which in turn results in a relativistic
covariance theorem. Except for these assumptions, at no stage do we assume
anything more than purely compositional symmetric-monoidal categorical
structure. We cast these two structural results in terms of a mathematical
entity, which we call a `causal category'. We provide methods of constructing
causal categories, and we study the consequences of these methods for the
general framework of categorical quantum mechanics.Comment: 43 pages, lots of figure
Long-Time Behavior of Macroscopic Quantum Systems: Commentary Accompanying the English Translation of John von Neumann's 1929 Article on the Quantum Ergodic Theorem
The renewed interest in the foundations of quantum statistical mechanics in
recent years has led us to study John von Neumann's 1929 article on the quantum
ergodic theorem. We have found this almost forgotten article, which until now
has been available only in German, to be a treasure chest, and to be much
misunderstood. In it, von Neumann studied the long-time behavior of macroscopic
quantum systems. While one of the two theorems announced in his title, the one
he calls the "quantum H-theorem", is actually a much weaker statement than
Boltzmann's classical H-theorem, the other theorem, which he calls the "quantum
ergodic theorem", is a beautiful and very non-trivial result. It expresses a
fact we call "normal typicality" and can be summarized as follows: For a
"typical" finite family of commuting macroscopic observables, every initial
wave function from a micro-canonical energy shell so evolves that for
most times in the long run, the joint probability distribution of these
observables obtained from is close to their micro-canonical
distribution.Comment: 34 pages LaTeX, no figures; v2: minor improvements and additions. The
English translation of von Neumann's article is available as arXiv:1003.213
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