title:
Morphology of the nonspherically decaying radiation beam generated by a
  rotating superluminal source

abstract:
  We consider the nonspherically decaying radiation field that is generated by
a polarization current with a superluminally rotating distribution pattern in
vacuum, a field that decays with the distance $\subP{R}$ from its source as
$\subP{R}^{-1/2}$, instead of $\subP{R}^{-1}$. It is shown (i) that the
nonspherical decay of this emission remains in force at all distances from its
source independently of the frequency of the radiation, (ii) that the part of
the source that makes the main contribution toward the value of the
nonspherically decaying field has a filamentary structure whose radial and
azimuthal widths become narrower (as $\subP{R}^{-2}$ and $\subP{R}^{-3}$,
respectively), the farther the observer is from the source, (iii) that the loci
on which the waves emanating from this filament interfere constructively
delineate a radiation `subbeam' that is nondiffracting in the polar direction,
(iv) that the cross-sectional area of each nondiffracting subbeam increases as
$\subP{R}$, instead of $\subP{R}^2$, so that the requirements of conservation
of energy are met by the nonspherically decaying radiation automatically, and
(v) that the overall radiation beam within which the field decays
nonspherically consists, in general, of the incoherent superposition of such
coherent nondiffracting subbeams. These findings are related to the recent
construction and use of superluminal sources in the laboratory and numerical
models of the emission from them. We also briefly discuss the relevance of
these results to the giant pulses received from pulsars.


title:
Fluid dynamics at arbitrary Knudsen on a base of Alexeev-Boltzmann
  equation: sound in a rarefied gas

abstract:
  The system of hydrodynamic-type equations is derived from Alexeev's
generalized Boltzmann kinetic equation by two-side distribution function for a
stratified gas in gravity field. It is applied to a problem of ultrasound
propagation and attenuation. The linearized version of the obtained system is
studied and compared with the Navier-Stokes one at arbitrary Knudsen numbers.
The problem of a generation by a moving plane in a rarefied gas is explored and
used as a test while compared with experiment. It is good agreement between
predicted propagation speed, attenuation factor and experimental results for a
wide range of Knudsen numbers.


title:
Reconstructing the impulse response of a diffusive medium with the
  Kramers-Kronig relations

abstract:
  The Kramers-Kronig (KK) algorithm, useful for retrieving the phase of a
spectrum based on the known spectral amplitude, is applied to reconstruct the
impulse response of a diffusive medium. It is demonstrated by a simulation of a
1D scattering medium with realistic parameters that its impulse response can be
generated from the KK method with high accuracy.


title:
On Field Emission in High Energy Colliders Initiated by a Relativistic
  Positively Charged Bunch of Particles

abstract:
  The design of the LHC and future colliders aims their operation with high
intensity beams, with bunch population, $N_p$, of the order of $10^{11}$. This
is dictated by a desire to study very rare processes with maximum data sample.
HEP colliders are engineering structures of many kilometers in length, whose
transverse compactness is achieved by the application of the superconducting
technologies and limitations of cost.
  However the compactness of the structural elements conceals and potential
danger for the stable work of the accelerator. This is because a high intensity
beam of positively charged particles (protons, positrons, ions) creates around
itself an electric self-field of very high intensity, $10^5 - 10^6$ V/cm. Being
located near the conducting surfaces, at the distances of 1-20 mm away from
them, the field of such bunches activates the field emission of electrons from
the surface. These electrons, in addition to electrons from the ionization of
residual gases, secondary electrons and electrons knocked out by synchrotron
radiation, contribute to the development of a dense electron cloud in the
transport line. The particles of the bunch, being scattered on the dense
electron cloud with $N_e\sim N_p$, leaves the beam and may cause noticeable
damage. The paper presents an analysis of the conditions, under which the field
emission in the LHC collimator system may become a serious problem. The
analogous analysis of a prototype of the International Linear Collider (ILC)
project, USLC, reveals that a noticeable field emission will accompany positron
bunches on their entire path during acceleration.

categories: physics.acc-ph cond-mat.mtrl-sci hep-ph physics.ins-det


title: Kinetic theory of electromagnetic ion waves in relativistic plasmas

abstract:
  A kinetic theory for electromagnetic ion waves in a cold relativistic plasma
is derived. The kinetic equation for the broadband electromagnetic ion waves is
coupled to the slow density response via an acoustic equation driven by
ponderomotive force like term linear in the electromagnetic field amplitude.
The modulational instability growth rate is derived for an arbitrary spectrum
of waves. The monochromatic and random phase cases are studied.


title: The dependence structure for PARMA models with alpha-stable innovations

abstract:
  In this paper we investigate the dependence structure for PARMA models (i.e.
ARMA models with periodic coefficients) with symmetric alpha-stable
innovations. In this case the covariance function is not defined and therefore
other measures of dependence have to be used. After obtaining the form of the
bounded solution of the PARMA system with symmetric alpha-stable innovations,
we study the codifference and the covariation -- the most popular measures of
dependence defined for symmetric stable time series. We show that both
considered measures are periodic. Moreover we determine the cases when the
codifference and the covariation are asymptotically proportional with the
coefficient of proportionality equal to alpha.


title: SUGRA interactions at thresholds of asymptotic freedom

abstract:
  A generic heterotic string theory is uniquely reduced to the standard model
in terms of a geometry that transcends compactification. This device also
extends the standard model to embrace three generations of fermions, including
a left-handed strange quark that is devoid of strangeness and three
right-handed neutrinos. Finally the proposed hypothesis indicates
supergravitationally mediated quark-lepton transitions that preserve baryon
structure, departing from the SUSY GUT tradition that predicts proton decay.


title:
Enhancement factor distribution around a single SERS Hot-spot and its
  relation to Single Molecule detection

abstract:
  We provide the theoretical framework to understand the phenomenology and
statistics of single-molecule (SM) signals arising in Surface-Enhanced Raman
Scattering (SERS) under the presence of so-called electromagnetic hot-spots
(HS's). We show that most characteristics of the SM-SERS phenomenon can be
tracked down to the presence of tail-like (power law) distribution of
enhancements and we propose a specific model for it. We analyze, in the light
of this, the phenomenology of SM-SERS and show how the different experimental
manifestations of the effect reported in the literature can be analyzed and
understood under a unified ``universal'' framework with a minimum set of
parameters.


title: Universalism versus particularism through ESS lenses

abstract:
  The cultural variation of economic activity is wide and multidimensional. In
my presentation I will refer to the analyses of the culture of capitalism
provided by Alfons Trompenaars and Charles Hampden-Turner. According to them
there are seven processes and related dilemmas which are important in analyzing
the construction of a cultural system of economy. I will focus only on one of
them, universalism versus particularism. Using the database of Trompenaars and
Hampden-Turner I will show how this dilemma was solved by managers from
different European countries. That will be starting point for my analysis of
universalism-particularism attitudes of respondents of European Social Survey
(ESS). I will be particularly interested in verification of hypothesis on the
place of Poland on the mosaic of European cultures of capitalism.


title:
Economic and social factors in designing disease control strategies for
  epidemics on networks

abstract:
  Models for control of epidemics on local, global and small-world networks are
considered, with only partial information accessible about the status of
individuals and their connections. The main goal of an effective control
measure is to stop the epidemic at a lowest possible cost, including treatment
and cost necessary to track the disease spread. We show that delay in detection
of infectious individuals and presence of long-range links are the most
important factors determining the cost. However, the details of long-range
links are usually the least-known element of the social interactions due to
their occasional character and potentially short life-span. We show that under
some conditions on the probability of disease spread, it is advisable to
attempt to track those links. Thus, collecting some additional knowledge about
the network structure might be beneficial to ensure a successful and
cost-effective control.


title:
Nonlinear photonic crystal fibres: pushing the zero-dispersion toward
  the visible

abstract:
  The strong waveguide dispersion in photonic crystal fibres provides unique
opportunities for nonlinear optics with a zero-dispersion wavelength
$\lambda_0$ far below the limit of ~1.3 micron set by the material dispersion
of silica. By tuning the air-hole diameter d, the pitch Lambda, and the number
of rings of air holes N, the strong waveguide dispersion can in principle be
used to extend lambda_0 well into the visible, albeit to some extend at the
cost of multimode operation. We study in detail the interplay of the
zero-dispersion wavelength, the cut-off wavelength lambda_c, and the leakage
loss in the parameter space spanned by d, Lambda, and N. As a particular result
we identify values of d (~500 nm) and Lambda (~700 nm) which facilitate the
shortest possible zero-dispersion wavelength (~700 nm) while the fibre is still
single-mode for longer wavelengths.


title:
Photonic crystal fibres: mapping Maxwell's equations onto a Schrodinger
  equation eigenvalue problem

abstract:
  We consider photonic crystal fibres (PCFs) made from arbitrary base materials
and introduce a short-wavelength approximation which allows for a mapping of
the Maxwell's equations onto a dimensionless eigenvalue equations which has the
form of the Schrodinger equation in quantum mechanics. The mapping allows for
an entire analytical solution of the dispersion problem which is in qualitative
agreement with plane-wave simulations of the Maxwell's equations for large-mode
area PCFs. We offer a new angle on the foundation of the endlessly single-mode
property and show that PCFs are endlessly single mode for a normalized air-hole
diameter smaller than ~0.42, independently of the base material. Finally, we
show how the group-velocity dispersion relates simply to the geometry of the
photonic crystal cladding.


title:
Theory and observations of ice particle evolution in cirrus using
  Doppler radar: evidence for aggregation

abstract:
  Vertically pointing Doppler radar has been used to study the evolution of ice
particles as they sediment through a cirrus cloud. The measured Doppler fall
speeds, together with radar-derived estimates for the altitude of cloud top,
are used to estimate a characteristic fall time tc for the `average' ice
particle. The change in radar reflectivity Z is studied as a function of tc,
and is found to increase exponentially with fall time. We use the idea of
dynamically scaling particle size distributions to show that this behaviour
implies exponential growth of the average particle size, and argue that this
exponential growth is a signature of ice crystal aggregation.


title: Fourier Optics treatment of Classical Relativistic Electrodynamics

abstract:
  In this paper we couple Synchrotron Radiation (SR) theory with a branch of
physical optics, namely laser beam optics. We show that the theory of laser
beams is successful in characterizing radiation fields associated with any SR
source. Both radiation beam generated by an ultra-relativistic electron in a
magnetic device and laser beam are solutions of the wave equation based on
paraxial approximation. It follows that they are similar in all aspects. In the
space-frequency domain SR beams appear as laser beams whose transverse extents
are large compared with the wavelength. In practical situations (e.g.
undulator, bending magnet sources), radiation beams exhibit a virtual "waist"
where the wavefront is often plane. Remarkably, the field distribution of a SR
beam across the waist turns out to be strictly related with the inverse Fourier
transform of the far-field angle distribution. Then, we take advantage of
standard Fourier Optics techniques and apply the Fresnel propagation formula to
characterize the SR beam. Altogether, we show that it is possible to
reconstruct the near-field distribution of the SR beam outside the magnetic
setup from the knowledge of the far-field pattern. The general theory of SR in
the near-zone developed in this paper is illustrated for the special cases of
undulator radiation, edge radiation and transition undulator radiation. Using
known analytical formulas for the far-field pattern and its inverse Fourier
transform we find analytical expressions for near-field distributions in terms
of far-field distributions. Finally, we compare these expressions with
incorrect or incomplete literature.


title: Structure of symmetric and asymmetric "ripple" phases in lipid bilayers

abstract:
  We reproduce the symmetric and asymmetric ``rippled'' $P_{\beta'}$ states of
lipid membranes by Monte Carlo simulations of a coarse-grained molecular model
for lipid-solvent mixtures. The structure and properties compare favorably with
experiments. The asymmetric ripple state is characterized by a periodic array
of fully interdigitated ``defect'' lines. The symmetric ripple state maintains
a bilayer structure, but is otherwise structurally similar. The formation of
both ripple states is driven by the propensity of lipid molecules with large
head groups to exhibit splay.


title: Photoionization effects in streamer discharges

abstract:
  In this paper we study the effects of photoionization processes on the
propagation of both negative and positive streamer discharges. We show that
negative fronts accelerate in the presence of photoionization events. The
appearance and propagation of positive streamers travelling with constant
velocity is explained as the result of the combined effects of photoionization
and electron diffusion. The photoionization range plays an important role for
the selection of the velocity of the streamer as we show in this work.


title: Reflections on Modern Macroeconomics: Can We Travel Along a Safer Road?

abstract:
  In this paper we sketch some reflections on the pitfalls and inconsistencies
of the research program - currently dominant among the profession - aimed at
providing microfoundations to macroeconomics along a Walrasian perspective. We
argue that such a methodological approach constitutes an unsatisfactory answer
to a well-posed research question, and that alternative promising routes have
been long mapped out but only recently explored. In particular, we discuss a
recent agent-based, truly non-Walrasian macroeconomic model, and we use it to
envisage new challenges for future research.


title:
Near-field enhancement and sub-wavelength imaging in the optical region
  using a pair of two-dimensional arrays of metal nanospheres

abstract:
  Near-field enhancement and sub-wavelength imaging properties of a system
comprising a coupled pair of two-dimensional arrays of resonant nanospheres are
studied. The concept of using two coupled material sheets possessing surface
mode resonances for evanescent field enhancement is already well established in
the microwave region. This paper shows that the same principles can be applied
also in the optical region, where the performance of the resonant sheets can be
realized with the use of metallic nanoparticles. In this paper we present
design of such structures and study the electric field distributions in the
image plane of such superlens.


title: Photonic flame effect

abstract:
  We observed new effect which we called photonic flame effect (PFE). Several
3-dimensional photonic crystals (artificial opals) were posed on Cu plate at
the temperature of liquid nitrogen (77K). Typical distance between them was 1-5
centimeters. Long-continued optical luminescence was excited in one of them by
the ruby laser pulse. Analogous visible luminescence manifesting time delay
appeared in other samples of the crystals. Experiments were realized for opal
crystals and for nanocomposites (opals filled with nonlinear liquids).


title: Test Ion Acceleration in the Field of Expanding Planar Electron Cloud

abstract:
  New exact results are obtained for relativistic acceleration of test positive
ions in the non-Boltzmann laminar zone of a planar electron sheath evolving
from an initially mono-energetic electron distribution. The electron dynamics
is analyzed against the background of motionless foil ions. The limiting
gamma-factor of accelerated ions is shown to be determined primarily by the
values of the ion-electron charge-over-mass ratio and the initial gamma-factor
of the accelerated electrons: there exists a critical relationship between
these two quantities, which determines whether the ion can overtake the
electron front moving with initial electron velocity. It is proven that in
reality protons and heavier test ions can never catch up with the electron
front; for their maximum energy an appropriate intermediate asymptotic formula
is derived. The domain of applicability of the laminar-zone results is analyzed
in detail.


title:
Research News -- Progess in determination of neutrino oscillation
  parameters

abstract:
  Recent results from the MINOS experiment at Fermilab reconfirm neutrino
oscillations. We describe briefly this experiment and discuss how this and
other experiments enable us to determine fundamental parameters of elementary
particle physics in the neutrino sector.


title:
Random Walks Along the Streets and Canals in Compact Cities: Spectral
  analysis, Dynamical Modularity, Information, and Statistical Mechanics

abstract:
  Different models of random walks on the dual graphs of compact urban
structures are considered. Analysis of access times between streets helps to
detect the city modularity. The statistical mechanics approach to the ensembles
of lazy random walkers is developed. The complexity of city modularity can be
measured by an information-like parameter which plays the role of an individual
fingerprint of {\it Genius loci}.
  Global structural properties of a city can be characterized by the
thermodynamical parameters calculated in the random walks problem.


title:
The lowest singlet-triplet excitation energy of BN: a converged coupled
  cluster perspective

abstract:
  The notoriously small $X ^3\Pi-a ^1\Sigma^+$ excitation energy of the BN
diatomic has been calculated using high-order coupled cluster methods.
Convergence has been established in both the 1-particle basis set and the
coupled cluster expansion. Explicit inclusion of connected quadruple
excitations $\hat{T}_4$ is required for even semiquantitative agreement with
the limit value, while connected quintuple excitations $\hat{T}_5$ still have
an effect of about 60 cm$^{-1}$. Still higher excitations only account for
about 10 cm$^{-1}$. Inclusion of inner-shell correlation further reduces $T_e$
by about 60 cm$^{-1}$ at the CCSDT, and 85 cm$^{-1}$ at the CCSDTQ level. Our
best estimate, $T_e$=183$\pm$40 cm$^{-1}$, is in excellent agreement with
earlier calculations and experiment, albeit with a smaller (and conservative)
uncertainty. The dissociation energy of BN($X ^3\Pi$) is $D_e$=105.74$\pm$0.16
kcal/mol and $D_0$=103.57$\pm$0.16 kcal/mol.


title: Threat Characterization: Trajectory Dynamics

abstract:
  Given a primary interest in "mitigation of the potential hazard" of
near-Earth objects impacting the Earth, the subject of characterization takes
on an aspect not normally present when considering asteroids as abstract
bodies. Many deflection concepts are interested in the classic geophysical
characteristics of asteroids when considering the physical challenge of
modifying their orbits in order to cause them to subsequently miss an impact
with Earth. Yet for all deflection concepts there are characteristics of the
threat which overwhelm these traditional factors. For example, a close
gravitational encounter with Earth some years or decades prior to impact can
reduce the velocity change necessary for deflection by several orders of
magnitude if the deflection precedes the close encounter (or encounters).
Conversely this "benefit" comes at a "price"; a corresponding increase in the
accuracy of tracking required to determine the probability of impact. Societal
issues, both national and international, also characterize the NEO deflection
process and these may strongly contend with the purely technical issues
normally considered. Therefore critical factors not normally considered must be
brought into play as one characterizes the threat of NEO impacts.


title: Threat Mitigation: The Asteroid Tugboat

abstract:
  The Asteroid Tugboat (AT) is a fully controlled asteroid deflection concept
using a robotic spacecraft powered by a high efficiency, electric propulsion
system (ion or plasma) which docks with and attaches to the asteroid, conducts
preliminary operations, and then thrusts continuously parallel to the asteroid
velocity vector until the desired velocity change is achieved. Based on early
warning, provided by ground tracking and orbit prediction, it would be deployed
a decade or more prior to a potential impact. On completion of the initial
rendezvous with the near-Earth object (NEO) the AT would first reduce the
uncertainty in the orbit of the asteroid via Earth tracking of its radio
transponder while it is station keeping with the asteroid. If on analysis of
tracking data a deflection is required the AT would execute a reconnaissance
phase collecting and processing information about the physical characteristics
of the asteroid to support subsequent operations. The AT would then dock at the
appropriate pole (i.e. on the spin axis), attach to the asteroid surface, and
initiate a NEO reorientation maneuver. Following completion of the NEO
reorientation the AT would initiate the deflection phase by thrusting
continuously parallel to the asteroid velocity vector until the resultant
target orbit is achieved. The orbit of the asteroid is continuously monitored
throughout the deflection process and the end state is known in real time. If
one assumes a nuclear-electric propulsion (NEP) system similar to that formerly
under development in the recently canceled Prometheus Program, the AT would be
capable of deflecting threatening NEOs up to 800 meters in diameter or more.


title: Threat Mitigation: The Gravity Tractor

abstract:
  The Gravity Tractor (GT) is a fully controlled asteroid deflection concept
using the mutual gravity between a robotic spacecraft and an asteroid to slowly
accelerate the asteroid in the direction of the "hovering" spacecraft. Based on
early warning, provided by ground tracking and orbit prediction, it would be
deployed a decade or more prior to a potential impact. Ion engines would be
utilized for both the rendezvous with the asteroid and the towing phase. Since
the GT does not dock with or otherwise physically contact the asteroid during
the deflection process there is no requirement for knowledge of the asteroid's
shape, composition, rotation state or other "conventional" characteristics. The
GT would first reduce the uncertainty in the orbit of the asteroid via Earth
tracking of its radio transponder while station keeping with the asteroid. If,
after analysis of the more precise asteroid orbit a deflection is indeed
indicated, the GT would "hover" above the surface of the asteroid in the
direction of the required acceleration vector for a duration adequate to
achieve the desired velocity change. The orbit of the asteroid is continuously
monitored throughout the deflection process and the end state is known in real
time. The performance envelope for the GT includes most NEOs which experience
close gravitational encounters prior to impact and those below 150-200 meters
in diameter on a direct Earth impact trajectory.


title: Spacecraft at Small NEO

abstract:
  The impact risk has been sharply curtailed for the largest km-sized Near
Earth Objects (NEOs) through a concerted period of observation spanning the
last decade. Thus the risk of impact has now migrated to the smaller and more
numerous members of the Near Earth Object (NEO) population. Characterization
and mitigation missions to these smaller objects become more complex from a
spacecraft operations perspective, even as the prospects for nudging such lower
mass bodies off course become more feasible. This paper details the challenges
for spacecraft operations at small bodies and indicates areas where more
research and analysis of this problem is needed.


title:
Comparison of Two Scale-Dependent Dynamic Subgrid-Scale Models for
  Simulations of Neutrally Buoyant Shear-Driven Atmospheric Boundary Layer
  Flows

abstract:
  A new scale-dependent dynamic subgrid-scale (SGS) model based on Kolmogorov's
scaling hypothesis is presented. This SGS model is utilized in large-eddy
simulation of a well-known case study on shear-driven neutral atmospheric
boundary layer flows. The results are compared comprehensively with an
alternate scale-dependent dynamic SGS model based on the popular Smagorinsky
closure. Our results show that, in the context of this particular problem, the
scale-dependent dynamic modeling approach is extremely useful, and reproduces
several establised results (e.g., the surface layer similarity theory) with
fidelity. Results from both the SGS base models are generally in close
agreement, although we find a consistent superiority of the Smagorinsky-based
SGS model for predicting the inertial range scaling of spectra.


title:
Enhancing structure relaxations for first-principles codes: an
  approximate Hessian approach

abstract:
  We present a method for improving the speed of geometry relaxation by using a
harmonic approximation for the interaction potential between nearest neighbor
atoms to construct an initial Hessian estimate. The model is quite robust, and
yields approximately a 30% or better reduction in the number of calculations
compared to an optimized diagonal initialization. Convergence with this
initializer approaches the speed of a converged BFGS Hessian, therefore it is
close to the best that can be achieved. Hessian preconditioning is discussed,
and it is found that a compromise between an average condition number and a
narrow distribution in eigenvalues produces the best optimization.


title:
Comment on "Analysis of the Spatial Distribution between Successive
  Earthquakes" by Davidsen and Paczuski

abstract:
  By analyzing a southern California earthquake catalog, Davidsen and Paczuski
[Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 048501 (2005)] claim to have found evidence contradicting
the theory of aftershock zone scaling in favor of scale-free statistics. We
present four elements showing that Davidsen and Paczuski's results may be
insensitive to the existence of physical length scales associated with
aftershock zones or mainshock rupture lengths, so that their claim is
unsubstantiated. (i) Their exponent smaller than 1 for a pdf implies that the
power law statistics they report is at best an intermediate asymptotic; (ii)
their power law is not robust to the removal of 6 months of data around Landers
earthquake within a period of 17 years; (iii) the same analysis for Japan and
northern California shows no evidence of robust power laws; (iv) a statistical
model of earthquake triggering that explicitely obeys aftershock zone scaling
can reproduce the observed histogram of Davidsen and Paczuski, demonstrating
that their statistic may not be sensitive to the presence of characteristic
scales associated with earthquake triggering.


title:
A Generic Approach to Electronic Structure Calculations in Nanoscopic
  Systems

abstract:
  We outline a generic, flexible, modular, yet efficient framework to the
computation of energies and states for general nanoscopic systems with a focus
on semiconductor quantum dots. The approach utilizes the configuration
interaction method, in principal obtaining all many-body correlations in the
system. The approach exploits the powerful abstracting mechanisms of C++'s
template facility to produce efficient yet general code. The primary utility of
the present approach is not in the resulting raw computational speed, but
rather in minimizing the time from initial idea to final results.


title:
Internet data packet transport: from global topology to local queueing
  dynamics

abstract:
  We study structural feature and evolution of the Internet at the autonomous
systems level. Extracting relevant parameters for the growth dynamics of the
Internet topology, we construct a toy model for the Internet evolution, which
includes the ingredients of multiplicative stochastic evolution of nodes and
edges and adaptive rewiring of edges. The model reproduces successfully
structural features of the Internet at a fundamental level. We also introduce a
quantity called the load as the capacity of node needed for handling the
communication traffic and study its time-dependent behavior at the hubs across
years. The load at hub increases with network size $N$ as $\sim N^{1.8}$.
Finally, we study data packet traffic in the microscopic scale. The average
delay time of data packets in a queueing system is calculated, in particular,
when the number of arrival channels is scale-free. We show that when the number
of arriving data packets follows a power law distribution, $\sim n^{-\lambda}$,
the queue length distribution decays as $n^{1-\lambda}$ and the average delay
time at the hub diverges as $\sim N^{(3-\lambda)/(\gamma-1)}$ in the $N \to
\infty$ limit when $2 < \lambda < 3$, $\gamma$ being the network degree
exponent.


title:
A Proposed Mechanism for the Intrinsic Redshift and its Preferred Values
  Purportedly Found in Quasars Based on the Local-Ether Theory

abstract:
  Quasars of high redshift may be ejected from a nearby active galaxy of low
redshift. This physical association then leads to the suggestion that the
redshifts of quasars are not really an indication of their distances. In this
investigation, it is argued that the high redshift can be due to the
gravitational redshift as an intrinsic redshift. Based on the proposed
local-ether theory, this intrinsic redshift is determined solely by the
gravitational potential associated specifically with the celestial object in
which the emitting sources are placed. During the process with which quasars
evolve into ordinary galaxies, the fragmentation of quasars and the formation
of stars occur and hence the masses of quasars decrease. Thus their
gravitational potentials and hence redshifts become smaller and smaller. This
is in accord with the aging of redshift during the evolution process. In some
observations, the redshifts of quasars have been found to follow the Karlsson
formula to exhibit a series of preferred peaks in their distributions. Based on
the quasar fragmentation and the local-ether theory, a new formula is presented
to interpret the preferred peaks quantitatively.


title:
Spin-Dependent Quantized Magnetic Flux Through The Electronic Orbits of
  Dirac Hydrogen Atom

abstract:
  We investigate the quantized magnetic flux through the electronic orbits of
Dirac hydrogen atom in the absence of an external magnetic field. The sources
of the magnetic fields are taken to be that of proton's magnetic moment $\mu
_{p}$ and electron's magnetic moment $\mu_{e}$ (or $\mu_{j}$) which has two
components namely the orbital part $\mu_{l}$ and the spinning part $\mu_{s}$
>.We show that the quantized magnetic fluxes through the electronic orbits
corresponding to the ($n,l=n-1,m_{j}$) eigenstates of Dirac hydrogen atom take
the forms: $\Phi (n,l,m_{j})=[ n-l-m_{j}] \Phi_{0}$, where $\Phi
_{0}=\frac{h}{| e|}$ is the flux quanta. The application of the present result
to the selection rules for the optical transitions of hydrogen atom gives
access to the spin flip-floppings. The present result is believed to serve a
significant help for understanding the recent observations of spin relaxation
in excitonic transitions (such as 1s -> 2p or 2p -> 3d) in nanostructures.


title: Information filtering via Iterative Refinement

abstract:
  With the explosive growth of accessible information, expecially on the
Internet, evaluation-based filtering has become a crucial task. Various systems
have been devised aiming to sort through large volumes of information and
select what is likely to be more relevant. In this letter we analyse a new
ranking method, where the reputation of information providers is determined
self-consistently.


title: Electricity Real Options Valuation

abstract:
  In this paper a real option approach for the valuation of real assets is
presented. Two continuous time models used for valuation are described:
geometric Brownian motion model and interest rate model. The valuation for
electricity spread option under Vasicek interest model is placed and the
formulas for parameter estimators are calculated. The theoretical part is
confronted with real data from electricity market.

categories: physics.ao-ph math-ph math.MP physics.data-an


title:
Entrance Channel X-HF (X=Cl, Br, and I) Complexes studied by
  High-Resolution Infrared Laser Spectroscopy in Helium Nanodroplets

abstract:
  Rotationally resolved infrared spectra are reported for halogen atom - HF
free radical complexes formed in helium nanodroplets. An effusive pyrolysis
source is used to dope helium droplets with Cl, Br and I atoms, formed by
thermal dissociation of Cl$_2$, Br$_2$ and I$_2$. A single hydrogen fluoride
molecule is then added to the droplets, resulting in the formation of the X-HF
complexes of interest. Analysis of the resulting spectra confirms that the
observed species have $^2\Pi_{3/2}$ ground electronic states, consistent with
the linear hydrogen bound structures predicted from theory. Stark spectra are
also reported for these species, from which the permanent electric dipole
moments are determined.


title: Study of e/gamma trigger for the electron calibration stream

abstract:
  This note describes a study of the possibilities for selecting an electron
calibration stream using the High level electron trigger (Level 2 and the event
filter). Using the electromagnetic calorimeter reconstruction and the track
reconstruction algorithms, an evaluation has been performed of the selection
efficiencies and purities for different physics channels with single or double
electrons in the final state. A study of the calibration stream composition,
including the background from QCD processes, is presented.


title: Directed sub-wavelength imaging using a layered metal-dielectric system

abstract:
  We examine some of the optical properties of a metamaterial consisting of
thin layers of alternating metal and dielectric. We can model this material as
a homogeneous effective medium with anisotropic dielectric permittivity. When
the components of this permittivity have different signs, the behavior of the
system becomes very interesting: the normally evanescent parts of a P-polarized
incident field are now transmitted, and there is a preferred direction of
propagation.
  We show that a slab of this material can form an image with sub-wavelength
details, at a position which depends on the frequency of light used. The
quality of the image is affected by absorption and by the finite width of the
layers; we go beyond the effective medium approximation to predict how thin the
layers need to be in order to obtain subwavelength resolution.


title: Nonlinear Finite Element Analysis of Nanoindentation of Viral Capsids

abstract:
  Recent Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) nanoindentation experiments measuring
mechanical response of the protein shells of viruses have provided a
quantitative description of their strength and elasticity. To better understand
and interpret these measurements, and to elucidate the underlying mechanisms,
this paper adopts a course-grained modeling approach within the framework of
three-dimensional nonlinear continuum elasticity. Homogeneous, isotropic,
elastic, thick shell models are proposed for two capsids: the spherical Cowpea
Chlorotic Mottle Virus (CCMV), and the ellipsocylindrical bacteriophage $\phi
29$. As analyzed by the finite element method, these models enable parametric
characterization of the effects of AFM tip geometry, capsid dimensions, and
capsid constitutive descriptions. The generally nonlinear force response of
capsids to indentation is shown to be insensitive to constitutive details, and
greatly influenced by geometry. Nonlinear stiffening and softening of the force
response is dependent on the AFM tip dimensions and shell thickness. Fits of
the models capture the roughly linear behavior observed in experimental
measurements and result in estimates of Young's moduli of $\approx$280--360 MPa
for CCMV and $\approx$4.5 GPa for $\phi 29$.


title: The Error in the Two Envelopes Paradox

abstract:
  The "paradox" arises in the Two Envelopes Paradox from the incorrect
formulation of the argument. The infomation given is misused and therefore the
results are incorrect for the question asked. The key is to be clear on what
question we are asking. We must make sure that the question that is asked is
the question that is written down.


title:
Investigation of the transverse beam dynamics in the thermal wave model
  with a functional method

abstract:
  We investigated the transverse beam dynamics in a thermal wave model by using
a functional method. It can describe the beam optical elements separately with
a kernel for a component. The method can be applied to general quadrupole
magnets beyond a thin lens approximation as well as drift spaces. We found that
the model can successfully describe the PARMILA simulation result through an
FODO lattice structure for the Gaussian input beam without space charge
effects.


title: Relaxation in statistical many-agent economy models

abstract:
  We review some statistical many-agent models of economic and social systems
inspired by microscopic molecular models and discuss their stochastic
interpretation. We apply these models to wealth exchange in economics and study
how the relaxation process depends on the parameters of the system, in
particular on the saving propensities that define and diversify the agent
profiles.


title: Kinetic Vlasov Simulations of collisionless magnetic Reconnection

abstract:
  A fully kinetic Vlasov simulation of the Geospace Environment Modeling (GEM)
Magnetic Reconnection Challenge is presented. Good agreement is found with
previous kinetic simulations using particle in cell (PIC) codes, confirming
both the PIC and the Vlasov code. In the latter the complete distribution
functions $f_k$ ($k=i,e$) are discretised on a numerical grid in phase space.
In contrast to PIC simulations, the Vlasov code does not suffer from numerical
noise and allows a more detailed investigation of the distribution functions.
The role of the different contributions of Ohm's law are compared by
calculating each of the terms from the moments of the $f_k$. The important role
of the off--diagonal elements of the electron pressure tensor could be
confirmed. The inductive electric field at the X--Line is found to be dominated
by the non--gyrotropic electron pressure, while the bulk electron inertia is of
minor importance. Detailed analysis of the electron distribution function
within the diffusion region reveals the kinetic origin of the non--gyrotropic
terms.


title: Photoionization and vacancy decay of endohedral atoms

abstract:
  We demonstrate the role played by the fullerene shell in the photoionization
and vacancy decay of endohedral atoms A@C60. It is shown, partly in the frame
of a rather simple model that describes the fullerene shell, partly using only
the assumption on the smallness of the atom A in comparison to the size of C60
that it affects photoionization and the vacancy decay of A@C60 profoundly.
Namely, it leads to a number of new resonances in photoionization cross-section
and other photoionization characteristics as well as strong modifications of
the vacancy decay probabilities and opening of new decay channels. We discuss
the problem of photon propagation through the C60 shell and conclude that at
any considered frequency, up to about 60 eV, the C60 enhances the incoming
radiation. This shows non-metallic dielectric behavior of the 240 collectivized
electrons in C60. We discuss also the C60 effects upon the fast electron
inelastic scattering. The results obtained are valid qualitatively also for
other than C60, e.g. for C70 or C76.


title:
Vacuum polarization in muonic and antiprotonic atoms: the fine structure
  at medium Z

abstract:
  Effects of vacuum polarization modify the energy levels in atoms with an
orbiting particle heavier than an electron. The dominant effect is due to the
Uehling potential. In this paper we consider the relativistic corrections to
the energy levels caused by the Uehling potential and in particular the fine
structure in muonic and antiprotonic atoms. We derive general expressions and
consider in detail specific regions of parameters which allow simple asymptotic
expansion. We take into account the recoil effects and anomalous magnetic
moment in the case of an antiproton as the orbiting particle.


title: Evolution of surface gravity waves over a submarine canyon

abstract:
  The effects of a submarine canyon on the propagation of ocean surface waves
are examined with a three-dimensional coupled-mode model for wave propagation
over steep topography. Whereas the classical geometrical optics approximation
predicts an abrupt transition from complete transmission at small incidence
angles to no transmission at large angles, the full model predicts a more
gradual transition with partial reflection/transmission that is sensitive to
the canyon geometry and controlled by evanescent modes for small incidence
angles and relatively short waves. Model results for large incidence angles are
compared with data from directional wave buoys deployed around the rim and over
Scripps Canyon, near San Diego, California, during the Nearshore Canyon
Experiment (NCEX). Wave heights are observed to decay across the canyon by
about a factor 5 over a distance shorter than a wavelength. Yet, a spectral
refraction model predicts an even larger reduction by about a factor 10,
because low frequency components cannot cross the canyon in the geometrical
optics approximation. The coupled-mode model yields accurate results over and
behind the canyon. These results show that although most of the wave energy is
refractively trapped on the offshore rim of the canyon, a small fraction of the
wave energy 'tunnels' across the canyon. Simplifications of the model that
reduce it to the standard and modified mild slope equations also yield good
results, indicating that evanescent modes and high order bottom slope effects
are of minor importance for the energy transformation of waves propagating
across depth contours at large oblique angles.


title: Optimization of hierarchical structures of information flow

abstract:
  The efficiency of a large hierarchical organisation is simulated on
Barabasi-Albert networks, when each needed link leads to a loss of information.
The optimum is found at a finite network size, corresponding to about five
hierarchical layers, provided a cost for building the network is included in
our optimization.


title: Tuning ion coordination preferences to enable selective permeation

abstract:
  Potassium (K-) channels catalyze K+ ion permeation across cellular membranes
while simultaneously discriminating their permeation over Na+ ions by more than
a factor of a thousand. Structural studies show bare K+ ions occupying the
narrowest channel regions in a state of high coordination by all 8 surrounding
oxygen ligands from the channel walls. As in most channels, the driving force
for selectivity occurs when one ion is preferentially stabilized or
destabilized by the channel compared to water. In the common view of mechanism,
made vivid by textbook graphics, the driving force for selectivity in K-
channels arises by a fit, whereby the channel induces K+ ions to leave water by
offering an environment like water for K+, in terms of both energy and local
structure. The implication that knowledge of local ion coordination in a liquid
environment translates to design parameters in a protein ion channel, producing
similar energetic stabilities, has gone unchallenged, presumably due in part to
lack of consensus regarding ion coordination structures in liquid water.
Growing evidence that smaller numbers and different arrangements of ligands
coordinate K+ ions in liquid water, however, raises new questions regarding
mechanism: how and why should ion coordination preferences change, and how does
that alter the current notions of ion selectivity? Our studies lead to a new
channelcentric paradigm for the mechanism of K+ ion channel selectivity.
Because the channel environment is not liquid-like, the channel necessarily
induces local structural changes in ion coordination preferences that enable
structural and energetic differentiation between ions.


title: A strong factor for the reduction of inequality

abstract:
  The inequality is computed through the so-called Gini index. The population
is assumed to have the variable of interest distributed according to the Gamma
probability distribution. The results show that the Gini index is reduced when
the population is grouped. The number of individuals in the groups is the
relevant parameter, but this number does not need to be very large in order to
obtain a very substantial reduction of inequality.


title:
Excitation energies, polarizabilities, multipole transition rates, and
  lifetimes in Th IV

abstract:
  Excitation energies of the ns_{1/2} (n=7-10), np_j (n=7-9), nd_j (n=6-8),
nf_{j} (n=5-7), and ng_{j} (n=5-6) states in Th IV are evaluated. First-,
second-, third-, and all-order Coulomb energies and first- and second-order
Coulomb-Breit energies are calculated. Reduced matrix elements, oscillator
strengths, transition rates, and lifetimes are determined for the 96 possible
nl_j-n'l'_j' electric-dipole transitions. Multipole matrix elements
(7s_{1/2}-6d_j, 7s_{1/2}-5f_j, and 5f_{5/2}-5f_{7/2}) are evaluated to obtain
the lifetimes of the $5f_{7/2}$ and 7s_{1/2}$ states. Matrix elements are
calculated using both relativistic many-body perturbation theory, complete
through third order, and a relativistic all-order method restricted to single
and double (SD) excitations. Scalar and tensor polarizabilities for the
5f_{5/2} ground state in Th3+ are calculated using relativistic third-order and
all-order methods. These calculations provide a theoretical benchmark for
comparison with experiment and theory.


title: Superiority of the $h$-index over the Impact Factor for Physics

abstract:
  Focusing specifically on physics periodicals, I show that the journal Impact
Factor is not correlated with Hirsch's $h$-index. This implies that the Impact
Factor is not a good measure of research quality or influence because the
$h$-index is a reflection of peer review, and thus a strong indicator of
research quality. The impact gap between multidisciplinary journals and
physics-only journals is significantly reduced when $h$ is used instead of the
Impact Factor. Additionally, the impact of journals specializing in review
articles is inherently deflated using $h$ because of the limited number of
annual publications in such periodicals. Finally, a reordering of the top
ranking journals occurs with $h$ when only the physics articles of
multidisciplinary journals are considered, falling more in line with the
average physicist's interpretation of a journal's prestige.

categories: physics.soc-ph astro-ph cond-mat.other math.HO


title: The Electromagentic Barrel Calorimeter for the GlueX Experiment

abstract:
  The electromagnetic barrel calorimeter is one of the main components of the
planned GlueX experiment. It will consist of 48 modules made of consecutive
layers of 4 m long lead sheet and fast green scintillator fibers for an overall
number of approximately 3000 readout channels with silicon
photomultiplier-based photo-sensors for light collection. The calorimeter is
expected to achieve energy and time resolution better than 5%/sqrt(E)+2% and
200 ps, respectively.
  In this contribution we present an overview of the calorimeter design and
some preliminary studies of its performance using Monte Carlo simulations and
beam test measurements.


title: Updating Probabilities

abstract:
  We show that Skilling's method of induction leads to a unique general theory
of inductive inference, the method of Maximum relative Entropy (ME). The main
tool for updating probabilities is the logarithmic relative entropy; other
entropies such as those of Renyi or Tsallis are ruled out. We also show that
Bayes updating is a special case of ME updating and thus, that the two are
completely compatible.

categories: physics.data-an cond-mat.stat-mech cs.IT math.IT


title:
The role of binding entropy in the refinement of protein-ligand docking
  predictions: analysis based on the use of 11 scoring functions

abstract:
  We present results of testing of the ability of eleven popular scoring
functions to predict native docked positions using a recently developed method
[1] for estimation the entropy contributions of relative motions to
protein-ligand binding affinity. The method is based on the integration of the
configurational integral over clusters obtained from multiple docked positions.
We use a test set of 100 PDB protein-ligand complexes and ensembles of 101
docked positions generated by Wang et al [2] for each ligand in the test set.
To test the suggested method we compare the averaged root-mean square
deviations (RMSD) of the top-scored ligand docked positions, accounting and not
accounting for entropy contributions, relative to the experimentally determined
positions. We demonstrate that the method increases docking accuracy by 10-21%
when used in conjunction with the AutoDock scoring function, by 2-25% with
G-Score, by 7-41% with D-Score, by 0-8% with LigScore, by 1-6% with PLP, by
0-12% with LUDI, by 2-8% with F-Score, by 7-29% with ChemScore, by 0-9% with
X-Score, by 2-19% with PMF, and by 1-7% with DrugScore. We also compare the
performance of the suggested method with the method based on ranking by cluster
occupancy only. We analyze how the choice of a RMSD-tolerance and a low bound
of dense clusters impacts on docking accuracy of the scoring methods. We derive
optimal intervals of the RMSD-tolerance for 11 scoring functions.


title: High Impact but Less Popular

abstract:
  By using the SLAC-SPIRES database it is shown that, in spite of obtaining a
high impact, Nature and Science are still less popular in the particle physics
community.


title: Unification, the Big Bang, and the Cosmological Constant

abstract:
  The two major goals in fundamental physics are: 1) Unification of all forces
incorporating relativity and quantum theory, 2) Understanding the origin and
evolution of the Universe as well as explaining the smallness of the
cosmological constant.
  Several efforts have been made in the last few decades towards achieving
these goals with some successes and failures. The current best theory we have
for unification of all forces is Superstring/M Theory. However current evidence
suggests our Universe is flat and accelerating. A Universe with a positive
cosmological constant will have serious implications for string theory since
the S-Matrix cannot be well defined and Superstring/M Theory is only formulated
in flat Minkowski background. Holographic principle provides a way out as shown
by the AdS/CFT and dS/CFT correspondence, but it remains to be proved if it is
valid for our non-conformal, non-supersymmetric Universe. Aside from the issue
of defining M-Theory in a de Sitter background, why the cosmological constant
is so small remains puzzling and needs to be understood. The ``cosmological
constant problem'' has brought physics to a standstill towards any major
development and remains currently the most disturbing issue.
  Conventional big bang cosmology has not yet produced a satisfactory
explanation of the small value of the cosmological constant. An attempt by
SuperString/M Theory in this direction is given by the Ekpyrotic/Cyclic model.
  The aim of this review is not to introduce any new concepts not already
known, but give an overview of current state of affairs in high energy physics,
highlighting some successes and failures and making some few suggestions on
areas to focus to resolve some of these outstanding issues.


title: Detecting Neutral Atoms on an Atom Chip

abstract:
  Detecting single atoms (qubits) is a key requirement for implementing quantum
information processing on an atom chip. The detector should ideally be
integrated on the chip. Here we present and compare different methods capable
of detecting neutral atoms on an atom chip. After a short introduction to
fluorescence and absorption detection we discuss cavity enhanced detection of
single atoms. In particular we concentrate on optical fiber based detectors
such as fiber cavities and tapered fiber dipole traps. We discuss the various
constraints in building such detectors in detail along with the current
implementations on atom chips. Results from experimental tests of fiber
integration are also described. In addition we present a pilot experiment for
atom detection using a concentric cavity to verify the required scaling.


title: On Value at Risk for foreign exchange rates - the copula approach

abstract:
  The aim of this paper is to determine the Value at Risk (VaR) of the
portfolio consisting of long positions in foreign currencies on an emerging
market. Basing on empirical data we restrict ourselves to the case when the
tail parts of distributions of logarithmic returns of these assets follow the
power laws and the lower tail of associated copula C follows the power law of
degree 1. We will illustrate the practical usefulness of this approach by the
analysis of the exchange rates of EUR and CHF at the Polish forex market.


title: The average behaviour of financial market by 2 scale homogenisation

abstract:
  The financial market is nonpredictable, as according to the Bachelier, the
mathematical expectation of the speculator is zero. Nevertheless, we observe in
the price fluctuations the two distinct scales, short and long time. Behaviour
of a market in long terms, such as year intervals, is different from that in
short terms.
  A diffusion equation with a time dependent diffusion coefficient that
describes the fluctuations of the financial market, is subject to a two-scale
homogenisation, and long term characteristics of the market such as mean
behaviour of price and variance, are obtained. We indicate also that
introduction of convolution into diffusion equation permits to obtain L- stable
behaviour of finance.


title: Precision study of hyperfine structure in simple atoms

abstract:
  We consider the most accurate tests of bound state QED theory of the
hyperfine splitting in two-body atoms related to the HFS interval of the 1s
state in muonium and positronium and the 2s state in hydrogen, deuterium and
the helium-3 ion. We summarize their QED theory and pay special attention to
involved effects of strong interactions and to recent optical measurements of
the 2s HFS interval in hydrogen and deuterium. We present results for specific
ratios of the 1s-2s frequencies in hydrogen and deuterium which happen to be
among the most accurately measured and calculated quantities.


title: Deterrents to a Theory of Quantum Gravity

abstract:
  As shown previously, quantum mechanics directly violates the weak equivalence
principle in general and in all dimensions, and thus indirectly violates the
strong equivalence principle in all dimensions. The present paper shows that
quantum mechanics also directly violates the strong equivalence principle
unless it is arbitrarily abetted in hindsight. Vital domains are shown to exist
in which quantum gravity would be nonapplicable. There are classical subtleties
in which the strong equivalence principle appears to be violated, but is not.
Neutron free fall interference experiments in a gravitational field reveal some
evidence for a violation of the equivalence principle. Galileo's falling body
assertion and the misconception it leads to, are examined,


title:
OH hyperfine ground state: from precision measurement to molecular
  qubits

abstract:
  We perform precision microwave spectroscopy--aided by Stark deceleration--to
reveal the low magnetic field behavior of OH in its ^2\Pi_{3/2} ro-vibronic
ground state, identifying two field-insensitive hyperfine transitions suitable
as qubits and determining a differential Lande g-factor of
1.267(5)\times10^{-3} between opposite parity components of the
\Lambda-doublet. The data are successfully modeled with an effective hyperfine
Zeeman Hamiltonian, which we use to make a tenfold improvement of the
magnetically sensitive, astrophysically important \Delta F=\pm1 satellite-line
frequencies, yielding 1720529887(10) Hz and 1612230825(15) Hz.


title:
Orthogonal, solenoidal, three-dimensional vector fields for no-slip
  boundary conditions

abstract:
  Viscous fluid dynamical calculations require no-slip boundary conditions.
Numerical calculations of turbulence, as well as theoretical turbulence closure
techniques, often depend upon a spectral decomposition of the flow fields.
However, such calculations have been limited to two-dimensional situations.
Here we present a method that yields orthogonal decompositions of
incompressible, three-dimensional flow fields and apply it to periodic
cylindrical and spherical no-slip boundaries.


title: The Role of Quantum Vacuum Forces in Microelectromechanical Systems

abstract:
  The presence of boundary surfaces in the vacuum alters the ground state of
the quantized electromagnetic field and can lead to the appearance of vacuum
forces. In the last decade, landmark measurements of the vacuum stress between
conducting uncharged parallel plates (Casimir force) have been made. Recently
the first micromachined MEMS (microelectromechanical system) device was
fabricated that utilizes the Casimir force between parallel plates. The force
dependence allows the device to serve as a highly sensitive position sensor.
The are many other examples of quantum vacuum forces and effects besides the
well known parallel plate Casimir force. Here we discuss potential roles of
quantum vacuum forces and effects in MEMS systems and other systems. With the
growing capability in nanofabrication, some of the roles may be actualized in
the future. Because of the computational complexity, no theoretical results are
yet available for a number of potentially interesting geometries and we can
only speculate.


title: On Capital Dependent Dynamics of Knowledge

abstract:
  We investigate the dynamics of growth models in terms of dynamical system
theory. We analyse some forms of knowledge and its influence on economic
growth. We assume that the rate of change of knowledge depends on both the rate
of change of physical and human capital. First, we study model with constant
savings. The model with optimised behaviour of households is also considered.
We show that the model where the rate of change of knowledge depends only on
the rate of change of physical capital can be reduced to the form of the
two-dimensional autonomous dynamical system. All possible evolutional paths and
the stability of solutions in the phase space are discussed in details. We
obtain that the rate of growth of capital, consumption and output are greater
in the case of capital dependent rate of change of knowledge.


title:
Determination of the Rb ng-series quantum defect by
  electric-field-induced resonant energy transfer between cold Rydberg atoms

abstract:
  Resonant energy transfer between cold Rydberg atoms was used to determine
Rydberg atom energy levels, at precisions approaching those obtainable in
microwave spectroscopy. Laser cooled Rb atoms from a magneto-optical trap were
optically excited to 32d Rydberg states. The two-atom process 32d(j=5/2) +
32d(j=5/2) -> 34p(j=3/2) + 30g is resonant at an electric field of
approximately 0.3 V/cm. This process is driven by the electric dipole-dipole
interaction, which is allowed due to the partial f character that the g state
acquires in an electric field. The experimentally observed resonant field,
together with the Stark map calculation is used to make a determination of the
Rb ng-series quantum defect: delta_g (n=30) = 0.00405(6).


title: An Integrated Tracker for STAR

abstract:
  The STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider RHIC studies the
new state of matter produced in relativistic heavy ion collisions and the spin
structure of the nucleon in collisions of polarized protons. In order to
improve the capabilities for heavy flavor measurements and the reconstruction
of charged vector bosons an upgrade of the tracking system both in the central
and the forward region is pursued. The integrated system providing high
resolution tracking and secondary vertex reconstruction capabilities will use
silicon pixel, strip and GEM technology.


title: Cold collisions of OH and Rb. I: the free collision

abstract:
  We have calculated elastic and state-resolved inelastic cross sections for
cold and ultracold collisions in the Rb($^1 S$) + OH($^2 \Pi_{3/2}$) system,
including fine-structure and hyperfine effects. We have developed a new set of
five potential energy surfaces for Rb-OH($^2 \Pi$) from high-level {\em ab
initio} electronic structure calculations, which exhibit conical intersections
between covalent and ion-pair states. The surfaces are transformed to a
quasidiabatic representation. The collision problem is expanded in a set of
channels suitable for handling the system in the presence of electric and/or
magnetic fields, although we consider the zero-field limit in this work.
Because of the large number of scattering channels involved, we propose and
make use of suitable approximations. To account for the hyperfine structure of
both collision partners in the short-range region we develop a
frame-transformation procedure which includes most of the hyperfine
Hamiltonian. Scattering cross sections on the order of $10^{-13}$ cm$^2$ are
predicted for temperatures typical of Stark decelerators. We also conclude that
spin orientation of the partners is completely disrupted during the collision.
Implications for both sympathetic cooling of OH molecules in an environment of
ultracold Rb atoms and experimental observability of the collisions are
discussed.


title: Hitting Time Distributions in Financial Markets

abstract:
  We analyze the hitting time distributions of stock price returns in different
time windows, characterized by different levels of noise present in the market.
The study has been performed on two sets of data from US markets. The first one
is composed by daily price of 1071 stocks trade for the 12-year period
1987-1998, the second one is composed by high frequency data for 100 stocks for
the 4-year period 1995-1998. We compare the probability distribution obtained
by our empirical analysis with those obtained from different models for stock
market evolution. Specifically by focusing on the statistical properties of the
hitting times to reach a barrier or a given threshold, we compare the
probability density function (PDF) of three models, namely the geometric
Brownian motion, the GARCH model and the Heston model with that obtained from
real market data. We will present also some results of a generalized Heston
model.


title: Long Term Operation and Performance of Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators

abstract:
  Cryogenic Sapphire Oscillators (CSO) developed at UWA have now been in
operation around the world continuously for many years. Such oscillators, due
to their excellent spectral purity are essential for interrogating atomic
frequency standards at the limit of quantum projection noise; otherwise
aliasing effects will dominate the frequency stability due to the periodic
sampling between successive interrogations of the atomic transition. For this
reason, UWA oscillators are now operational at NMI (Sydney), LNE-SYRTE (Paris),
the French Space Agency (CNES, Toulouse) and at UWA (Perth). Other
applications, which have attracted attention in recent years, include tests on
fundamental principles of physics, such as tests of Lorentz invariance. This
paper reports on the long-term operation and performance of such oscillators.
We compare the long-term drift of some different CSOs. The drift rates turn out
to be linear over many years and in the same direction. However, the magnitude
seems to vary by more than one order of magnitude between the oscillators,
ranging from 10^14 per day to a few parts in 10^13 per day.


title: The Asymptotic Dependence of Elliptic Random Variables

abstract:
  In this paper, we try to answer the question, whether for bivariate elliptic
random variable X=(X_1,X_2) the marginal random variables X_1 and X_2 are
asymptotically dependent. We show, that for some special form of the
characteristic generator of X the answer is positive.


title:
Bit-strings and other modifications of Viviane model for language
  competition

abstract:
  The language competition model of Viviane de Oliveira et al is modified by
associating with each language a string of 32 bits. Whenever a language changes
in this Viviane model, also one randomly selected bit is flipped. If then only
languages with different bit-strings are counted as different, the resulting
size distribution of languages agrees with the empirically observed slightly
asymmetric log-normal distribution. Several other modifications were also tried
but either had more free parameters or agreed less well with reality.


title:
The Roland De Witte 1991 Detection of Absolute Motion and Gravitational
  Waves

abstract:
  In 1991 Roland De Witte carried out an experiment in Brussels in which
variations in the one-way speed of RF waves through a coaxial cable were
recorded over 178 days. The data from this experiment shows that De Witte had
detected absolute motion of the earth through space, as had six earlier
experiments, beginning with the Michelson-Morley experiment of 1887. His
results are in excellent agreement with the extensive data from the Miller
1925/26 detection of absolute motion using a gas-mode Michelson interferometer
atop Mt.Wilson, California. The De Witte data reveals turbulence in the flow
which amounted to the detection of gravitational waves. Similar effects were
also seen by Miller, and by Torr and Kolen in their coaxial cable experiment.
Here we bring together what is known about the De Witte experiment.


title: Black Holes and Quantum Theory: The Fine Structure Constant Connection

abstract:
  The new dynamical theory of space is further confirmed by showing that the
black hole masses M_BH in 19 spherical star systems, from globular clusters to
galaxies with masses M, satisfy the prediction that M_BH=(alpha/2)M, where
alpha is the fine structure constant. As well the necessary and unique
generalisations of the Schrodinger and Dirac equations permit the first
derivation of gravity from a deeper theory, showing that gravity is a quantum
effect of quantum matter interacting with the dynamical space. As well the
necessary generalisation of Maxwell's equations displays the observed light
bending effects. Finally it is shown from the generalised Dirac equation where
the spacetime mathematical formalism, and the accompanying geodesic
prescription for matter trajectories, comes from. The new theory of space is
non-local and we see many parallels between this and quantum theory, in
addition to the fine structure constant manifesting in both, so supporting the
argument that space is a quantum foam system, as implied by the deeper
information-theoretic theory known as Process Physics. The spatial dynamics
also provides an explanation for the `dark matter' effect and as well the
non-locality of the dynamics provides a mechanism for generating the uniformity
of the universe, so explaining the cosmological horizon problem.


title:
Diffusion entropy analysis on the stride interval fluctuation of human
  gait

abstract:
  In this paper, the diffusion entropy technique is applied to investigate the
scaling behavior of stride interval fluctuations of human gait. The scaling
behavior of the stride interval of human walking at normal, slow and fast rate
are similar; with the scale-invariance exponents in the interval
$[0.663,0.955]$, of which the mean value is $0.821\pm0.011$. Dynamical analysis
of these stride interval fluctuations reveals a self-similar pattern:
Fluctuation at one time scale are statistically similar to those at multiple
other time scales, at least over hundreds of steps, while the healthy subjects
walk at their normal rate. The long-range correlations are observed during the
spontaneous walking after the removal of the trend in the time series with
Fourier filter. These findings uncover that the fractal dynamics of stride
interval of human gait are normally intrinsic to the locomotor systems.


title: Physical Realities from Simple Philosophical Conjectures

abstract:
  We will focus on the Quantum theory and starting from simple philosophical
conjectures, we infer possible different physical realities. Also we argue of
possible wavefunction emerging under specific conditions of the physical
reality. Finally, we affirm that the "hidden choice" of the ontic elements as
primitive is a fundamental step to analyze the construction of any theory.


title: Gaussian Models for the Statistical Thermodynamics of Liquid Water

abstract:
  A gaussian distribution of binding energies, but conditioned to exploit
generally available information on packing in liquids, provides a
statistical-thermodynamic theory of liquid water that is structurally
non-committal, molecularly realistic, and surprisingly accurate. Neglect of
fluctuation contributions to this gaussian model yields a mean-field theory
that produces useless results. A refinement that accounts for
sharper-than-gaussian behavior at high binding energies recognizes
contributions from a discrete number of water molecules and permits a natural
matching of numerically exact results. These gaussian models, which can be
understood as vigorous simplifications of quasi-chemical theories, are
applicable to aqueous environments where the utility of structural models based
on geometrical considerations of water hydrogen bonding have not been
established.


title:
Depolarization regions of nonzero volume in bianisotropic homogenized
  composites

abstract:
  In conventional approaches to the homogenization of random particulate
composites, the component phase particles are often treated mathematically as
vanishingly small, point-like entities. The electromagnetic responses of these
component phase particles are provided by depolarization dyadics which derive
from the singularity of the corresponding dyadic Green functions. Through
neglecting the spatial extent of the depolarization region, important
information may be lost, particularly relating to coherent scattering losses.
We present an extension to the strong-property-fluctuation theory in which
depolarization regions of nonzero volume and ellipsoidal geometry are
accommodated. Therein, both the size and spatial distribution of the component
phase particles are taken into account. The analysis is developed within the
most general linear setting of bianisotropic homogenized composite mediums
(HCMs). Numerical studies of the constitutive parameters are presented for
representative examples of HCM; both Lorentz-reciprocal and
Lorentz-nonreciprocal HCMs are considered. These studies reveal that estimates
of the HCM constitutive parameters in relation to volume fraction, particle
eccentricity, particle orientation and correlation length are all significantly
influenced by the size of the component phase particles.


title: Tutorial on the double balanced mixer

abstract:
  Smart use of mixers is a relevant issue in radio engineering and in
instrumentation design, and of paramount importance in phase noise metrology.
However simple the mixer seems, every time I try to explain to a colleague what
it does, something goes wrong. One difficulty is that actual mixers operate in
a wide range of power (150 dB or more) and frequency (up to 3 decades). Another
difficulty is that the mixer works as a multiplier in the time-domain, which is
necessary to convert frequencies. A further difficulty is the interaction with
external circuits, the input sources and the load. Yet far the biggest
difficulty is that designing with mixers requires a deep comprehension of the
whole circuit at system level and at a component level. As the
electronic-component approach is well explained in a number of references, this
tutorial emphasizes the system approach, aiming to provide wisdom and insight
on mixes.


title:
Improved frequency measurement of a one-dimensional optical lattice
  clock with a spin-polarized fermionic $^{87}$Sr isotope

abstract:
  We demonstrate a one-dimensional optical lattice clock with a spin-polarized
fermionic isotope designed to realize a collision-shift-free atomic clock with
neutral atom ensembles. To reduce systematic uncertainties, we developed both
Zeeman shift and vector light-shift cancellation techniques. By introducing
both an H-maser and a Global Positioning System (GPS) carrier phase link, the
absolute frequency of the $^1S_0(F=9/2) - {}^3P_0(F=9/2)$ clock transition of
the $^{87}$Sr optical lattice clock is determined as 429,228,004,229,875(4) Hz,
where the uncertainty is mainly limited by that of the frequency link. The
result indicates that the Sr lattice clock will play an important role in the
scope of the redefinition of the ``second'' by optical frequency standards.


title: Extract Signals by Fitting $\chi^2$ Distribution of the Kinematic Fit

abstract:
  In measuring the $\psip$ radiative decays at BESII, contribution of the
background is serious in most of the final states. To extract the number of
signal events, a fit to the $\chi^2$ distribution of kinematic fit using signal
and background components is proposed. Extensive Monte-Carlo simulations (MCS)
are performed, and the results show that the shape of $\chi^2$ distribution of
the signal channel looks different from those of the background channels, thus
it provides us by fitting the $\chi^2$ distribution of the data to extract the
number of signal events. An input-output test is performed using MCS, and the
uncertainty of the fit method is found to be less than 2%.


title: Comparison of gain-loss asymmetry behavior for stocks and indexes

abstract:
  Investment horizon approach has been used to analyze indexes of Polish stock
market.Optimal time horizon for each return value is evaluated by fitting
appropriate function form of the distribution. Strong asymmetry of gain-loss
curves is observed for WIG index, whereas gain and loss curves look similar for
WIG20 and for most of individual companies stocks. The gain-loss asymmetry for
these data, measured by the coefficient, that we postulated before
\cite{karpio}, has opposite sign to this for WIG index.


title: Statistical equilibrium in simple exchange games I

abstract:
  Simple stochastic exchange games are based on random allocation of finite
resources. These games are Markov chains that can be studied either
analytically or by Monte Carlo simulations. In particular, the equilibrium
distribution can be derived either by direct diagonalization of the transition
matrix, or using the detailed balance equation, or by Monte Carlo estimates. In
this paper, these methods are introduced and applied to the
Bennati-Dragulescu-Yakovenko (BDY) game. The exact analysis shows that the
statistical-mechanical analogies used in the previous literature have to be
revised.


title:
Fabrication of alignment structures for a fiber resonator by use of
  deep-ultraviolet lithography

abstract:
  We present a novel method to mount and align an optical-fiber-based resonator
on the flat surface of an atom chip with ultrahigh precision. The structures
for mounting a pair of fibers, which constitute the fiber resonator, are
produced by a spin-coated SU-8 photoresist technique by use of deep-UV
lithography. The design and production of the SU-8 structures are discussed.
  From the measured finesses we calculate the coupling loss of the SU-8
structures acting as a kind of fiber splice to be smaller than 0.013 dB.


title:
Mixtures of compound Poisson processes as models of tick-by-tick
  financial data

abstract:
  A model for the phenomenological description of tick-by-tick share prices in
a stock exchange is introduced. It is based on mixtures of compound Poisson
processes. Preliminary results based on Monte Carlo simulation show that this
model can reproduce various stylized facts.


title:
Electrical Behavior of Downburst-Producing Convective Storms over the
  High Plains

abstract:
  A great body of research literature pertaining to microburst generation in
convective storms has focused on thermodynamic factors of the pre-convective
environment as well as storm morphology as observed by radar imagery. Derived
products based on Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES)
sounder data have been found to be especially useful in the study of
thermodynamic environments. However, addressed much less frequently is the
relationship between convective storm electrification, lightning phenomenology
and downburst occurrence. Previous research in lightning production by
convective storms has identified that electrification, phenomenology, and
polarity are dependent upon the thermodynamic structure of the ambient
atmosphere, especially vertical moisture stratification. Thus, relevant
parameters to describe the thermodynamic setting would include convective
available potential energy (CAPE), due to its influence on updraft strength,
and moisture characteristics of the boundary layer, due to its relationship to
precipitation physical processes. It has already been addressed that buoyant
energy and moisture stratification are important factors in convective storm
development and downburst generation.


title:
Synthesis and Structure of 1D Na6 Cluster Chain with Short Na-Na
  Distance: Organic like Aromaticity in Inorganic Metal Cluster

abstract:
  A unique 1D chain of sodium cluster containing (Na6) rings stabilized by a
molybdenum containing metalloligand has been synthesized and characterized. DFT
calculations show striking resemblance in their aromatic behaviour with the
corresponding hydrocarbon analogues


title: Multiscale modelling of liquids with molecular specificity

abstract:
  The separation between molecular and mesoscopic length and time scales poses
a severe limit to molecular simulations of mesoscale phenomena. We describe a
hybrid multiscale computational technique which address this problem by keeping
the full molecular nature of the system where it is of interest and
coarse-graining it elsewhere. This is made possible by coupling molecular
dynamics with a mesoscopic description of realistic liquids based on Landau's
fluctuating hydrodynamics. We show that our scheme correctly couples
hydrodynamics and that fluctuations, at both the molecular and continuum
levels, are thermodynamically consistent. Hybrid simulations of sound waves in
bulk water and reflected by a lipid monolayer are presented as illustrations of
the scheme.


title:
Growth and Allocation of Resources in Economics: The Agent-Based
  Approach

abstract:
  Some agent-based models for growth and allocation of resources are described.
The first class considered consists of conservative models, where the number of
agents and the size of resources are constant during time evolution. The second
class is made up of multiplicative noise models and some of their extensions to
continuous-time.


title: Planck scale to Compton scale

abstract:
  The Planck scale is considered to be a natural minimum scale, made up as it
is solely of fundamental constants. However the Planck scale is well beyond the
scales encountered in real life, these latter being at least of the order of
the Compton scale. The Compton scale too is fundamental in the same sense -- it
is made up of fundamental micro physical constants, though it is $10^{20}$
orders higher than the Planck scale. We discuss here a mechanism by which the
Planck scale manifests itself at the real life Compton scale, this happening
due to processes within the Planck time. Related issues are also discussed.


title:
Optical spectral pulse shaping by combining two oppositely chirped fiber
  Bragg grating

abstract:
  In this letter we present a new technique for pulse shaping. The desired
pulse is shaped by two apodized chirped fiber Bragg gratings which dispersions
are adjusted to be cancelled. This technique exploits the well-known property
of linearly-chirped gratings, in which the apodization (amplitude) grating
profile maps its spectral response. This technique presents inherent advantages
of chirped fiber Bragg gratings and direct design in frequency domain.


title: The art of fitting financial time series with Levy stable distributions

abstract:
  This paper illustrates a procedure for fitting financial data with
$\alpha$-stable distributions. After using all the available methods to
evaluate the distribution parameters, one can qualitatively select the best
estimate and run some goodness-of-fit tests on this estimate, in order to
quantitatively assess its quality. It turns out that, for the two investigated
data sets (MIB30 and DJIA from 2000 to present), an $\alpha$-stable fit of
log-returns is reasonably good.


title: Opaque perfect lenses

abstract:
  The response of the ``perfect lens'', consisting of a slab of lossless
material of thickness $d$ with $\epsilon=\mu=-1$ at one frequency $\omega_0$ is
investigated. It is shown that as time progresses the lens becomes increasingly
opaque to any physical TM line dipole source located a distance $d_0<d/2$ from
the lens and which has been turned on at time $t=0$. Here a physical source is
defined as one which supplies a bounded amount of energy per unit time. In fact
the lens cloaks the source so that it is not visible from behind the lens
either. For sources which are turned on exponentially slowly there is an exact
correspondence between the response of the perfect lens in the long time
constant limit and the response of lossy lenses in the low loss limit. Contrary
to the usual picture where the field intensity has a minimum at the front
interface we find that the field diverges to infinity there in the long time
constant limit.


title: A generic model for lipid monolayers, bilayers, and membranes

abstract:
  We describe a simple coarse-grained model which is suited to study lipid
layers and their phase transitions. Lipids are modeled by short semiflexible
chains of beads with a solvophilic head and a solvophobic tail component. They
are forced to self-assemble into bilayers by a computationally cheap `phantom
solvent' environment. The model reproduces the most important phases and phase
transitions of monolayers and bilayers. Technical issues such as Monte Carlo
parallelization schemes are briefly discussed.


title: Wave turbulence in incompressible Hall MHD

abstract:
  We investigate the steepening of the magnetic fluctuation power law spectra
observed in the inner solar wind for frequencies higher than 0.5 Hz. This high
frequency part of the spectrum may be attributed to dispersive nonlinear
processes. In that context, the long-time behavior of weakly interacting waves
is examined in the framework of 3D incompressible Hall MHD turbulence. The Hall
term added to the standard MHD equations makes the Alfv\'en waves dispersive
and circularly polarized. We introduce the generalized Els\"asser variables
and, using a complex helicity decomposition, we derive for three-wave
interaction processes the general wave kinetic equations; they describe the
nonlinear dynamics of Alfv\'en, whistler and ion cyclotron wave turbulence in
the presence of a strong uniform magnetic field $B_0 \ep$. Hall MHD turbulence
is characterized by anisotropies of different strength. We show that electron
and standard MHD turbulence can be seen as two frequency limits of the present
theory but the standard MHD limit is singular; additionally, we analyze in
detail the ion MHD turbulence limit. Exact power law solutions of the master
wave kinetic equations are given in the small and large scale limits for which
we have, respectively, the total energy spectra $E(\kpn,\kpa) \sim \kpn^{-5/2}
|\kpa|^{-1/2}$ and $E(\kpn,\kpa) \sim \kpn^{-2}$. An anisotropic phenomenology
is developed to describe continuously the different scaling laws of the energy
spectrum; one predicts $E(\kpn,\kpa) \sim \kpn^{-2} |\kpa|^{-1/2}
(1+\kpn^2d_i^2)^{-1/4}$. Nonlocal interactions between Alfv\'en, whistler and
ion cyclotron waves are investigated; a non trivial dynamics exists only when a
discrepancy from the equipartition between the large scale kinetic and magnetic
energies happens.


title:
Predicting Baseball Home Run Records Using Exponential Frequency
  Distributions

abstract:
  A new model, which uses the frequency of individuals' annual home run totals,
is employed to predict future home run totals and records in Major League
Baseball. Complete home run frequency data from 1903--2005 is analyzed,
resulting in annual exponential distributions whose changes can be a used as a
measure of progression in the sport and serve as a basis against which
record-setting performances can be compared. We show that there is an 80%
chance that Barry Bonds' current 73 home run record will be broken in the next
10 years, despite the longevity of previous records held by baseball legends
Babe Ruth and Roger Marris.


title:
Confirmation of Don Borghi's experiment on the synthesis of neutrons
  from protons and electrons

abstract:
  Following Rutherford's 1920 historical hypothesis of the neutron as a
compressed hydrogen atom in the core of stars, the laboratory synthesis of the
neutron from protons and electrons was claimed in the late 1960 by the Italian
priest-physicist Don Carlo Borghi and his associates via a metal chamber
containing a partially ionized hydrogen gas at a fraction of $1 bar$ pressure
traversed by an electric arc with $5 J$ energy and microwaves with $10^{10}
s^{-1}$ frequency. The experiment remained unverified for decades due to the
lack of theoretical understanding of the results. In this note we report
various measurements showing that, under certain conditions, electric arcs
within a hydrogen gas produce neutral, hadron-size entities that are absorbed
by stable nuclei and subsequently result in the release of detectable neutrons,
thus confirming Don Borghi's experiment. The possibility that said entities are
neutrons is discussed jointly with other alternatives. Due to their simplicity,
a primary scope of this note is to stimulate the independent re-run of the
tests as conducted or in suitable alternative forms.


title:
Remarks on nonlinear relation among phases and frequencies in
  modulational instabilities of parallel propagating Alfven waves

abstract:
  Nonlinear relations among frequencies and phases in modulational instability
of circularly polarized Alfven waves are discussed, within the context of one
dimensional, dissipation-less, unforced fluid system. We show that generation
of phase coherence is a natural consequence of the modulational instability of
Alfven waves. Furthermore, we quantitatively evaluate intensity of wave-wave
interaction by using bi-coherence, and also by computing energy flow among wave
modes, and demonstrate that the energy flow is directly related to the phase
coherence generation.


title: Are Adenine Strands Helical H-aggregates?

abstract:
  This paper has been withdrawn by the authors due to request from a JPCB
editor.


title: Statistical properties of online auctions

abstract:
  We characterize the statistical properties of a large number of online
auctions run on eBay. Both stationary and dynamic properties, like
distributions of prices, number of bids etc., as well as relations between
these quantities are studied. The analysis of the data reveals surprisingly
simple distributions and relations, typically of power-law form. Based on these
findings we introduce a simple method to identify suspicious auctions that
could be influenced by a form of fraud known as shill bidding. Furthermore the
influence of bidding strategies is discussed. The results indicate that the
observed behavior is related to a mixture of agents using a variety of
strategies.


title: Cooling and trapping of ultra-cold strontium isotopic mixtures

abstract:
  We present the simultaneous cooling and trapping of an isotopic mixture in a
magneto-optical trap and we describe the transfer of the mixture into a
conservative, far-off resonant dipole trap. The mixture is prepared with a new
technique that applies to intermediate and heavy alkaline earth like atoms. In
this work, 88Sr and 86Sr are simultaneously loaded first into the
magneto-optical trap operated on the 1S0-3P1 spin-forbidden line at 689 nm, and
then transferred into the dipole trap. We observe fast inter-species
thermalization in the dipole trap which allows one to set a lower bound on the
88Sr-86Sr elastic cross section.


title: A Coarse-Grained Lattice Model for Molecular Recognition

abstract:
  We present a simple model which allows to investigate equilibrium aspects of
molecular recognition between rigid biomolecules on a generic level. Using a
two-stage approach, which consists of a design and a testing step, the role of
cooperativity and of varying bond strength in molecular recognition is
investigated. Cooperativity is found to enhance selectivity. In complexes which
require a high binding flexibility a small number of strong bonds seems to be
favored compared to a situation with many but weak bonds.


title:
Is it possible to observe experimentally a metal-insulator transition in
  ultra cold atoms?

abstract:
  Kicked rotors with certain non-analytic potentials avoid dynamical
localization and undergo a metal-insulator transition. We show that typical
properties of this transition are still present as the non-analyticity is
progressively smoothed out provided that the smoothing is less than a certain
limiting value. We have identified a smoothing dependent time scale such that
full dynamical localization is absent and the quantum momentum distribution
develops power-law tails with anomalous decay exponents as in the case of a
conductor at the metal-insulator transition. We discuss under what conditions
these findings may be verified experimentally by using ultra cold atoms
techniques. It is found that ultra-cold atoms can indeed be utilized for the
experimental investigation of the metal-insulator transition.


title:
On some detailed examples of quantum like structures containing quantum
  potential states in the sphere of biological dynamics

abstract:
  In the first part of the present paper we give an analysis of the ontic
nature of quantum states to be intended as potentialities and of the central
role of spin to be considered as the basic essence of quantum mechanical
reality: using an algebraic quantum like structure we give mathematical proof
on the transition from potentiality to actualization : we recall here what was
recently given by us in arXiv quant-ph/0607196. However, as may be expected, it
is not so easy to introduce examples containing an adequate description of
ontic potentialities through detailed models of systems. The central aim of
this paper is to attempt to reach this objective giving direct cases of systems
in which ontic potentialities act jointly to actualization. Our aim is to
provide evidence for the possible importance of potential states in the sphere
of the biological dynamics giving detailed examples of interest for biological
studies. We outline the possible implications of potentialities at the level of
linear and non linear biological dynamics.


title:
Theory of Transmission of Light by Sub-wavelength Cylindrical Holes in
  Metallic Films

abstract:
  This paper presents theory and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD)
calculations for a single and arrays of sub-wavelength cylindrical holes in
metallic films presenting large transmission. These calculations are in
excellent agreement with experimental measurements. This effect has to be
understood in terms of the properties exhibited by the dielectric constant of
metals which cannot be treated as ideal metals for the purpose of transmission
and diffraction of light. We discuss the cases of well-differentiated metals
silver and tungsten. It is found that the effect of surface plasmons or other
surface wave excitations due to a periodical set of holes or other roughness at
the surface is marginal. The effect can enhance but also can depress the
transmission of the arrays as shown by theory and experiments. The peak
structure observed in experiments is a consequence of the interference of the
wavefronts transmitted by each hole and is determined by the surface array
period independently of the material. Without large transmission through a
single hole there is no large transmission through the array. We found that in
the case of Ag which at the discussed frequencies is a metal there are
cylindrical plasmons at the wall of the hole, as reported by Economu et al 30
years ago, that enhanced the transmission. But it turns out, as will be
explained, that for the case of W which behaves as a dielectric, there is also
a large transmission when compared with that of an ideal metal waveguide. To
deal with this problem one has to use the measured dielectric function of the
metals. We discuss thoroughly all these cases and compare with the data.


title: An Explanation of Dayton Miller's Anomalous "Ether Drift" Result

abstract:
  In 1933 Dayton Miller published in this journal the results of his voluminous
observations using his ether drift interferometer, and proclaimed that he had
determined the "absolute motion of the earth". This result is in direct
conflict with the prediction of Special Relativity, and also with numerous
related experiments that found no such signal or "absolute motion". This paper
presents a complete explanation for his anomalous result by: a) showing that
his results are not statistically significant, b) describing in detail how
flaws in his analysis procedure produced a false signal with precisely the
properties he expected, and c) presenting a quantitative model of his
systematic drift that shows there is no real signal in his data. In short, this
is every experimenter's nightmare: he was unknowingly looking at statistically
insignificant patterns in his systematic drift that mimicked the appearance of
a real signal. An upper limit on "absolute motion" of 6 km/sec is derived from
his raw data, fully consistent with similar experimental results and the
prediction of Special Relativity. The key point of this paper is the need for a
comprehensive and quantitative error analysis. The concepts and techniques used
in this analysis were not available in Miller's day, but are now standard.
These problems also apply to the famous measurements of Michelson and Morley,
and to most if not all similar experiments; appendices are provided discussing
several such experiments.


title:
Reforming a large lecture modern physics course for engineering majors
  using a PER-based design

abstract:
  We have reformed a large lecture modern physics course for engineering majors
by radically changing both the content and the learning techniques implemented
in lecture and homework. Traditionally this course has been taught in a manner
similar to the equivalent course for physics majors, focusing on mathematical
solutions of abstract problems. Based on interviews with physics and
engineering professors, we developed a syllabus and learning goals focused on
content that was more useful to our actual student population: engineering
majors. The content of this course emphasized reasoning development, model
building, and connections to real world applications. In addition we
implemented a variety of PER-based learning techniques, including peer
instruction, collaborative homework sessions, and interactive simulations. We
have assessed the effectiveness of reforms in this course using pre/post
surveys on both content and beliefs. We have found significant improvements in
both content knowledge and beliefs compared with the same course before
implementing these reforms and a corresponding course for physics majors.


title:
Integrated approaches in physics education: A graduate level course in
  physics, pedagogy, and education research

abstract:
  We describe a course designed to help future educators build an integrated
understanding of the different elements of physics education research (PER),
including: research into student learning, content knowledge from the
perspective of how it is learned, and reform-based curricula together with
evidence of their effectiveness. Course elements include equal parts of
studying physics through proven curricula and discussion of research results in
the context of the PER literature. We provide examples of the course content
and structure as well as representative examples of student learning in the
class.