The Investment Effects of Price Caps under Imperfect Competition. A Note.

This note analyzes a simple Cournot model where firms choose outputs and capacities facing varying demand and price-cap regulation. We find that binding price caps set above long-run marginal cost increase (rather than decrease) aggregate capacity investment. (author's abstract)Series: Working Papers / Research Institute for Regulatory Economic

Exploration of Elastic Scattering Rates for Supersymmetric Dark Matter

We explore the possible cross sections for the elastic scattering of neutralinos chi on nucleons p,n in the minimal supersymmetric extension of the standard model (MSSM). Universality of the soft supersymmetry-breaking scalar masses for the Higgs multiplets is not assumed, but the MSSM parameters are nevertheless required to lead consistently to an electroweak vacuum. We explore systematically the region of MSSM parameter space where LEP and other accelerator constraints are respected, and the relic neutralino density lies in the range 0.1 < Omega_chi h^2 < 0.3 preferred by cosmology. We also discuss models with Omega_chi h^2 < 0.1, in which case we scale the density of supersymmetric dark matter in our galactic halo by Omega_chi h^2 / 0.1, allowing for the possible existence of some complementary form of cold dark matter. We find values of the cross sections that are considerably lower than the present experimental sensitivities. At low neutralino masses, m_chi < 100 GeV, the cross sections may be somewhat higher than in the constrained MSSM with universal soft Higgs masses, though they are generally lower. In the case of large m_chi, the cross sections we find may be considerably larger than in the constrained model, but still well below the present experimental sensitivity.Comment: 25 pages LaTeX, 7 eps figure

A Deep Primal-Dual Network for Guided Depth Super-Resolution

In this paper we present a novel method to increase the spatial resolution of depth images. We combine a deep fully convolutional network with a non-local variational method in a deep primal-dual network. The joint network computes a noise-free, high-resolution estimate from a noisy, low-resolution input depth map. Additionally, a high-resolution intensity image is used to guide the reconstruction in the network. By unrolling the optimization steps of a first-order primal-dual algorithm and formulating it as a network, we can train our joint method end-to-end. This not only enables us to learn the weights of the fully convolutional network, but also to optimize all parameters of the variational method and its optimization procedure. The training of such a deep network requires a large dataset for supervision. Therefore, we generate high-quality depth maps and corresponding color images with a physically based renderer. In an exhaustive evaluation we show that our method outperforms the state-of-the-art on multiple benchmarks.Comment: BMVC 201

Prospects for Detecting Supersymmetric Dark Matter at Post-LEP Benchmark Points

A new set of supersymmetric benchmark scenarios has recently been proposed in the context of the constrained MSSM (CMSSM) with universal soft supersymmetry-breaking masses, taking into account the constraints from LEP, $b \to s \gamma$ and $g_\mu - 2$. These points have previously been used to discuss the physics reaches of different accelerators. In this paper, we discuss the prospects for discovering supersymmetric dark matter in these scenarios. We consider direct detection through spin-independent and spin-dependent nuclear scattering, as well as indirect detection through relic annihilations to neutrinos, photons, and positrons. We find that several of the benchmark scenarios offer good prospects for direct detection via spin-independent nuclear scattering and indirect detection via muons produced by neutrinos from relic annihilations inside the Sun, and some models offer good prospects for detecting photons from relic annihilations in the galactic centre.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figure

Effect of chemical substitution and pressure on YbRh2Si2

We carried out electrical resistivity experiments on (Yb,La)Rh2Si2 and on Yb(Rh,Ir)2Si2 under pressure and in magnetic fields. YbRh2Si2 exhibits a weak antiferromagnetic transition at atmospheric pressure with a N\'eel temperature of only T_N = 70 mK. By applying a small magnetic field T_N can be continuously suppressed to T=0 at B_c = 60 mT (B_|_c) driving the system to a quantum critical point (QCP). On applying external pressure the magnetic phase is stabilized and T_N(p) is increasing as usually observed in Yb-based heavy-fermion metals. Substituting Yb by La or Rh by Ir allows to create a negative chemical pressure, La (Ir) being smaller than Yb (Rh), and eventually to drive YbRh2Si2 to a pressure controlled QCP. In this paper we compare the effect of external hydrostatic pressure and chemical substitution on the ground-state properties of YbRh2Si2.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, proceedings paper of the QCNP0

Supersymmetric Dark Matter Detection at Post-LEP Benchmark Points

We review the prospects for discovering supersymmetric dark matter in a recently proposed set of post-LEP supersymmetric benchmark scenarios. We consider direct detection through spin-independent nuclear scattering, as well as indirect detection through relic annihilations to neutrinos, photons, and positrons. We find that several of the benchmark scenarios offer good prospects for direct detection through spin-independent nuclear scattering, as well as indirect detection through muons produced by neutrinos from relic annihilations in the Sun, and photons from annihilations in the galactic center.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, uses RevTeX4, contribution to Snowmass 200