161 research outputs found
The Predictability of Punitive Damages
Using one year of jury trial outcomes from 45 of the nation\u27s most populous counties, this article shows a strong and statistically significant correlation between compensatory and punitive damages. These findings are replicated in 25 years of punitive damages awards from Cook County, Illinois, and California. In addition, we find no evidence that punitive damages awards are more likely when individuals sue businesses than when individuals sue individuals. With respect to award frequency, juries rarely award punitive damages and appear to be especially reluctant to do so in the areas of law that have captured the most attention, products liability and medical malpractice. Punitive damages are most frequently awarded in business/contract cases and intentional tort cases. The frequency-of-award findings are consistent with all major studies of punitive damages
The survival and disruption of CDM micro-haloes: implications for direct and indirect detection experiments
If the dark matter particle is a neutralino then the first structures to form
are cuspy cold dark matter (CDM) haloes collapsing after redshifts z ~ 100 in
the mass range 10^{-6} - 10^{-3} Msun. We carry out a detailed study of the
survival of these micro-haloes in the Galaxy as they experience tidal
encounters with stars, molecular clouds, and other dark matter substructures.
We test the validity of analytic impulsive heating calculations using high
resolution N-body simulations. A major limitation of analytic estimates is that
mean energy inputs are compared to mean binding energies, instead of the actual
mass lost from the system. This energy criterion leads to an overestimate of
the stripped mass and underestimate of the disruption timescale since CDM
haloes are strongly bound in their inner parts. We show that a significant
fraction of material from CDM micro-haloes can be unbound by encounters with
Galactic substructure and stars, however the cuspy central regions remain
relatively intact. Furthermore, the micro-haloes near the solar radius are
those which collapse significantly earlier than average and will suffer very
little mass loss. Thus we expect a fraction of surviving bound micro-haloes, a
smooth component with narrow features in phase space, which may be uncovered by
direct detection experiments, as well as numerous surviving cuspy cores with
proper motions of arc-minutes per year, which can be detected indirectly via
their annihilation into gamma-rays.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, submitted to MNRAS, v2: references adde
Tricritical Points in Random Combinatorics: the (2+p)-SAT case
The (2+p)-Satisfiability (SAT) problem interpolates between different classes
of complexity theory and is believed to be of basic interest in understanding
the onset of typical case complexity in random combinatorics. In this paper, a
tricritical point in the phase diagram of the random -SAT problem is
analytically computed using the replica approach and found to lie in the range
. These bounds on are in agreement with previous
numerical simulations and rigorous results.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, RevTeX, to appear in J.Phys.
The formation of ultra-compact dwarf galaxies and nucleated dwarf galaxies
Ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) have similar properties as massive
globular clusters or the nuclei of nucleated galaxies. Recent observations
suggesting a high dark matter content and a steep spatial distribution within
groups and clusters provide new clues as to their origins. We perform
high-resolution N-body / smoothed particle hydrodynamics simulations designed
to elucidate two possible formation mechanisms for these systems: the merging
of globular clusters in the centre of a dark matter halo, or the massively
stripped remnant of a nucleated galaxy. Both models produce density profiles as
well as the half light radii that can fit the observational constraints.
However, we show that the first scenario results to UCDs that are underluminous
and contain no dark matter. This is because the sinking process ejects most of
the dark matter particles from the halo centre. Stripped nuclei give a more
promising explanation, especially if the nuclei form via the sinking of gas,
funneled down inner galactic bars, since this process enhances the central dark
matter content. Even when the entire disk is tidally stripped away, the nucleus
stays intact and can remain dark matter dominated even after severe stripping.
Total galaxy disruption beyond the nuclei only occurs on certain orbits and
depends on the amount of dissipation during nuclei formation. By comparing the
total disruption of CDM subhaloes in a cluster potential we demonstrate that
this model also leads to the observed spatial distribution of UCDs which can be
tested in more detail with larger data sets.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, final version accepted for publication in MNRA
Phase coexistence and finite-size scaling in random combinatorial problems
We study an exactly solvable version of the famous random Boolean
satisfiability problem, the so called random XOR-SAT problem. Rare events are
shown to affect the combinatorial ``phase diagram'' leading to a coexistence of
solvable and unsolvable instances of the combinatorial problem in a certain
region of the parameters characterizing the model. Such instances differ by a
non-extensive quantity in the ground state energy of the associated diluted
spin-glass model. We also show that the critical exponent , controlling
the size of the critical window where the probability of having solutions
vanishes, depends on the model parameters, shedding light on the link between
random hyper-graph topology and universality classes. In the case of random
satisfiability, a similar behavior was conjectured to be connected to the onset
of computational intractability.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, to appear in J. Phys. A. v2: link to the XOR-SAT
probelm adde
Simplest random K-satisfiability problem
We study a simple and exactly solvable model for the generation of random
satisfiability problems. These consist of random boolean constraints
which are to be satisfied simultaneously by logical variables. In
statistical-mechanics language, the considered model can be seen as a diluted
p-spin model at zero temperature. While such problems become extraordinarily
hard to solve by local search methods in a large region of the parameter space,
still at least one solution may be superimposed by construction. The
statistical properties of the model can be studied exactly by the replica
method and each single instance can be analyzed in polynomial time by a simple
global solution method. The geometrical/topological structures responsible for
dynamic and static phase transitions as well as for the onset of computational
complexity in local search method are thoroughly analyzed. Numerical analysis
on very large samples allows for a precise characterization of the critical
scaling behaviour.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. E (Feb 2001). v2: minor
errors and references correcte
Diffuse Lyman Alpha Haloes around Lyman Alpha Emitters at z=3: Do Dark Matter Distributions Determine the Lyman Alpha Spatial Extents?
Using stacks of Ly-a images of 2128 Ly-a emitters (LAEs) and 24 protocluster
UV-selected galaxies (LBGs) at z=3.1, we examine the surface brightness
profiles of Ly-a haloes around high-z galaxies as a function of environment and
UV luminosity. We find that the slopes of the Ly-a radial profiles become
flatter as the Mpc-scale LAE surface densities increase, but they are almost
independent of the central UV luminosities. The characteristic exponential
scale lengths of the Ly-a haloes appear to be proportional to the square of the
LAE surface densities (r(Lya) \propto Sigma(LAE)^2). Including the diffuse,
extended Ly-a haloes, the rest-frame Ly-a equivalent width of the LAEs in the
densest regions approaches EW_0(Lya) ~ 200 A, the maximum value expected for
young (< 10^7 yr) galaxies. This suggests that Ly-a photons formed via shock
compression by gas outflows or cooling radiation by gravitational gas inflows
may partly contribute to illuminate the Ly-a haloes; however, most of their
Ly-a luminosity can be explained by photo-ionisation by ionising photons or
scattering of Ly-a photons produced in HII regions in and around the central
galaxies. Regardless of the source of Ly-a photons, if the Ly-a haloes trace
the overall gaseous structure following the dark matter distributions, it is
not surprising that the Ly-a spatial extents depend more strongly on the
surrounding Mpc-scale environment than on the activities of the central
galaxies.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Central Powering of the Largest Lyman-alpha Nebula is Revealed by Polarized Radiation
High-redshift Lyman-alpha blobs are extended, luminous, but rare structures
that appear to be associated with the highest peaks in the matter density of
the Universe. Their energy output and morphology are similar to powerful radio
galaxies, but the source of the luminosity is unclear. Some blobs are
associated with ultraviolet or infrared bright galaxies, suggesting an extreme
starburst event or accretion onto a central black hole. Another possibility is
gas that is shock excited by supernovae. However some blobs are not associated
with galaxies, and may instead be heated by gas falling into a dark matter
halo. The polarization of the Ly-alpha emission can in principle distinguish
between these options, but a previous attempt to detect this signature returned
a null detection. Here we report on the detection of polarized Ly-alpha from
the blob LAB1. Although the central region shows no measurable polarization,
the polarized fraction (P) increases to ~20 per cent at a radius of 45 kpc,
forming an almost complete polarized ring. The detection of polarized radiation
is inconsistent with the in situ production of Ly-alpha photons, and we
conclude that they must have been produced in the galaxies hosted within the
nebula, and re-scattered by neutral hydrogen.Comment: Published in the August 18 issue of Nature. 1750 words, 3 figures,
and full Supplementary Information. Version has not undergone proofing.
Reduced and processed data products are available here:
http://obswww.unige.ch/people/matthew.hayes/LymanAlpha/LabPol
The dark halo of the Hydra I galaxy cluster: core, cusp, cosmological? Dynamics of NGC 3311 and its globular cluster system
NGC 3311 is the central cD galaxy of the Hydra I cluster. We use globular
clusters around NGC 3311, combined with kinematical data of the galaxy itself,
to investigate the dark matter distribution in the central region of Hydra I.
Radial velocities of 118 bright globular clusters, based on VLT/VIMOS mask
spectroscopy, are used to calculate velocity dispersions which are well defined
out to 100 kpc. NGC 3311 is the most distant galaxy for which this kind of
study has been performed. We also determine velocity dispersions of the stellar
component from long slit spectroscopy out to 20 kpc. Moreover, we present a new
photometric model for NGC 3311 in the V-band. We search for a dark halo which
in the context of a spherical Jeans model. We also compare the radial velocity
distributions of globular clusters and planetary nebulae. The projected stellar
velocity dispersion rises from 185 km/s to 350 km/s at a radius of 20 kpc. The
globular cluster dispersion rises as well from 500 km/s at 10 kpc to about 800
km/s at 100 kpc, comparable to the velocity dispersion of the cluster galaxies.
A dark matter halo with a core reproduces well the velocity dispersions of
stars and globular clusters simultaneously under isotropy. The central stellar
velocity dispersions predicted by cosmological NFW halos are less good
representations, while the globular clusters allow a wide range of halo
parameters. A suspected radial anisotropy of the stellar population aggravates
the deviations. However, we find discrepancies with previous kinematical data,
which we cannot resolve and may indicate a more complicated velocity pattern.
Although one cannot conclusively demonstrate that the dark matter halo of NGC
3311 has a core rather than a cusp, a core seems to be preferred by the present
data. A more complete velocity field and an analysis of the anisotropy is
required to reach firm conclusions.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, abstract abridged, accepted for publication in
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