Nonlinear trend stationarity of real exchange rates: the case of the Mediterranean countries

The aim of this article is to provide additional evidence on the fulfilment of the Purchasing Power Parity hypothesis in the so-called Mediterranean countries. In order to test for the empirical validity of such hypothesis, we have applied two types of unit root tests. The first group is due to Bierens (1997) who generalizes the alternative hypothesis to nonlinear trend stationariry and, the second is the Leybourne, Newbold and Vougas (1998) approach that uses a nonlinear specification for the intercept and slope in order to detrend the series. The results suggest that the evidence in favour of the Purchasing Power Parity hypothesis increases when we allow for nonlinear alternatives

Bosonic D=11 supergravity from a generalized Chern-Simons action

It is shown that the action of the bosonic sector of D=11 supergravity may be obtained by means of a suitable scaling of the originally dimensionless fields of a generalized Chern-Simons action. This follows from the eleven-form CS-potential of the most general linear combination of closed, gauge invariant twelve-forms involving the sp(32)-valued two-form curvatures supplemented by a three-form field. In this construction, the role of the skewsymmetric four-index auxiliary function needed for the first order formulation of $D=11$ supergravity is played by the gauge field associated with the five Lorentz indices generator of the bosonic sp(32) subalgebra of osp(1|32).Comment: Misprints corrected, to appear in NPB plain latex, no figures, 25 page

Surfactant effect in heteroepitaxial growth. The Pb - Co/Cu(111) case

A MonteCarlo simulations study has been performed in order to study the effect of Pb as surfactant on the initial growth stage of Co/Cu(111). The main characteristics of Co growing over Cu(111) face, i.e. the decorated double layer steps, the multiple layer islands and the pools of vacancies, disappear with the pre-evaporation of a Pb monolayer. Through MC simulations, a full picture of these complex processes is obtained. Co quickly diffuses through the Pb monolayer exchanging place with Cu atoms at the substrate. The exchange process diffusion inhibits the formation of pure Co islands, reducing the surface stress and then the formation of multilayer islands and the pools of vacancies. On the other hand, the random exchange also suppress the nucleation preferential sites generated by Co atoms at Cu steps, responsible of the step decoration.Comment: 4 pages, latex, 2 figures embedded in the tex

Dynamics of magnetic domain wall motion after nucleation: Dependence on the wall energy

The dynamics of magnetic domain wall motion in the FeNi layer of a FeNi/Al2O3/Co trilayer has been investigated by a combination of x-ray magnetic circular dichroism, photoelectron emission microscopy, and a stroboscopic pump-probe technique. The nucleation of domains and subsequent expansion by domain wall motion in the FeNi layer during nanosecond-long magnetic field pulses was observed in the viscous regime up to the Walker limit field. We attribute an observed delay of domain expansion to the influence of the domain wall energy that acts against the domain expansion and that plays an important role when domains are small.Comment: Accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Influence of topography and Co domain walls on the magnetization reversal of the FeNi layer in FeNi/Al_2\_2O_3\_3/Co magnetic tunnel junctions

We have studied the magnetization reversal dynamics of FeNi/Al$\_2$O$\_3$/Co magnetic tunnel junctions deposited on step-bunched Si substrates using magneto-optical Kerr effect and time-resolved x-ray photoelectron emission microscopy combined with x-ray magnetic circular dichroism (XMCD-PEEM). Different reversal mechanisms have been found depending on the substrate miscut angle. Larger terraces (smaller miscut angles) lead to a higher nucleation density and stronger domain wall pinning. The width of domain walls with respect to the size of the terraces seems to play an important role in the reversal. We used the element selectivity of XMCD-PEEM to reveal the strong influence of the stray field of domain walls in the hard magnetic layer on the magnetic switching of the soft magnetic layer.Comment: 8 Pages, 7 Figure

Tailoring magnetic anisotropy in epitaxial half metallic La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 thin films

We present a detailed study on the magnetic properties, including anisotropy, reversal fields, and magnetization reversal processes, of well characterized half-metallic epitaxial La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) thin films grown onto SrTiO3 (STO) substrates with three different surface orientations, i.e. (001), (110) and (1-18). The latter shows step edges oriented parallel to the [110] (in-plane) crystallographic direction. Room temperature high resolution vectorial Kerr magnetometry measurements have been performed at different applied magnetic field directions in the whole angular range. In general, the magnetic properties of the LSMO films can be interpreted with just the uniaxial term with the anisotropy axis given by the film morphology, whereas the strength of this anisotropy depends on both structure and film thickness. In particular, LSMO films grown on nominally flat (110)-oriented STO substrates presents a well defined uniaxial anisotropy originated from the existence of elongated in-plane [001]-oriented structures, whereas LSMO films grown on nominally flat (001)-oriented STO substrates show a weak uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis direction aligned parallel to residual substrate step edges. Elongated structures are also found for LSMO films grown on vicinal STO(001) substrates. These films present a well-defined uniaxial magnetic anisotropy with the easy axis lying along the step edges and its strength increases with the LSMO thickness. It is remarkable that this step-induced uniaxial anisotropy has been found for LSMO films up to 120 nm thickness. Our results are promising for engineering novel half-metallic magnetic devices that exploit tailored magnetic anisotropy.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, 1 tabl

Surfactant induced smooth and symmetric interfaces in Cu/Co multilayers

In this work we studied Ag surfactant induced growth of Cu/Co multilayers. The Cu/Co multilayers were deposited using Ag surfactant by ion beam sputtering technique. It was found that Ag surfactant balances the asymmetry between the surface free energy of Cu and Co. As a result, the Co-on-Cu and Cu-on-Co interfaces become sharp and symmetric and thereby improve the thermal stability of the multilayer. On the basis of obtained results, a mechanism leading to symmetric and stable interfaces in Cu/Co multilayers is discussed.Comment: 7 Pages, 7 Figure

Magnetic relaxation measurements of exchange biased (Pt/Co) multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy

Magnetic relaxation measurements were carried out by magneto-optical Kerr effect on exchange biased (Pt/Co)5/Pt/FeMn multilayers with perpendicular anisotropy. In these films the coercivity and the exchange bias field vary with Pt spacer thickness, and have a maximum for 0.2 nm. Hysteresis loops do not reveal important differences between the reversal for ascending and descending fields. Relaxation measurements were fitted using Fatuzzo's model, which assumes that reversal occurs by domain nucleation and domain wall propagation. For 2 nm thick Pt spacer (no exchange bias) the reversal is dominated by domain wall propagation starting from a few nucleation centers. For 0.2 nm Pt spacer (maximum exchange bias) the reversal is strongly dominated by nucleation, and no differences between the behaviour of the ascending and descending branches can be observed. For 0.4 nm Pt spacer (weaker exchange bias) the nucleation density becomes less important, and the measurements reveal a much stronger density of nucleation centers in the descending branch.Comment: Europhysical Journal B, in print DOI: 10.1140/epjb/e2005-00053-

Are the determinants of CO2 emissions converging among OECD countries?

This paper studies convergence in CO2emission intensity (CO2 emissions over GDP) among OECD countries over the period 1960-2008 based on its determinants, namely, energy intensity (energy consumption over GDP) and the so-called carbonisation index (CO2 emissions over energy consumption). We apply the Phillips and Sul (2007) methodology, which tests for the existence of convergence clubs. Our results highlight that differences in emission intensity convergence are more determined by differences in convergence of the carbonisation index rather than by differences in the dynamic convergence of energy intensity