On Painleve VI transcendents related to the Dirac operator on the hyperbolic disk

Dirac hamiltonian on the Poincare disk in the presence of an Aharonov-Bohm flux and a uniform magnetic field admits a one-parameter family of self-adjoint extensions. We determine the spectrum and calculate the resolvent for each element of this family. Explicit expressions for Green functions are then used to find Fredholm determinant representations for the tau function of the Dirac operator with two branch points on the Poincare disk. Isomonodromic deformation theory for the Dirac equation relates this tau function to a one-parameter class of solutions of the Painleve VI equation with $\gamma=0$. We analyze long distance behaviour of the tau function, as well as the asymptotics of the corresponding Painleve VI transcendents as $s\to 1$. Considering the limit of flat space, we also obtain a class of solutions of the Painleve V equation with $\beta=0$.Comment: 38 pages, 5 figure

Form factors of twist fields in the lattice Dirac theory

We study U(1) twist fields in a two-dimensional lattice theory of massive Dirac fermions. Factorized formulas for finite-lattice form factors of these fields are derived using elliptic parametrization of the spectral curve of the model, elliptic determinant identities and theta functional interpolation. We also investigate the thermodynamic and the infinite-volume scaling limit, where the corresponding expressions reduce to form factors of the exponential fields of the sine-Gordon model at the free-fermion point.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figure

The Stellar Content Near the Galactic Center

High angular resolution J, H, K, and L' images are used to investigate the stellar content within 6 arcsec of SgrA*. The data, which are complete to K ~ 16, are the deepest multicolor observations of the region published to date.Comment: 34 pages, including 12 figure

Tricritical point of J1-J2 Ising model on hyperbolic lattice

A ferromagnetic-paramagnetic phase transition of the two-dimensional frustrated Ising model on a hyperbolic lattice is investigated by use of the corner transfer matrix renormalization group method. The model contains ferromagnetic nearest-neighbor interaction J_1 and the competing antiferromagnetic interaction J_2. A mean-field like second-order phase transition is observed when the ratio \kappa = J_2 / J_1 is less than 0.203. In the region 0.203 < \kappa < 1/4, the spontaneous magnetization is discontinuous at the transition temperature. Such tricritical behavior suggests that the phase transitions on hyperbolic lattices need not always be mean-field like.Comment: 7 pages, 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.

Spectral dimension reduction of complex dynamical networks

Dynamical networks are powerful tools for modeling a broad range of complex systems, including financial markets, brains, and ecosystems. They encode how the basic elements (nodes) of these systems interact altogether (via links) and evolve (nodes' dynamics). Despite substantial progress, little is known about why some subtle changes in the network structure, at the so-called critical points, can provoke drastic shifts in its dynamics. We tackle this challenging problem by introducing a method that reduces any network to a simplified low-dimensional version. It can then be used to describe the collective dynamics of the original system. This dimension reduction method relies on spectral graph theory and, more specifically, on the dominant eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the network adjacency matrix. Contrary to previous approaches, our method is able to predict the multiple activation of modular networks as well as the critical points of random networks with arbitrary degree distributions. Our results are of both fundamental and practical interest, as they offer a novel framework to relate the structure of networks to their dynamics and to study the resilience of complex systems.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figure

Media Advertising and Ballot Initiatives: An Experimental Analysis

Spending on political advertising increases with every election cycle, not only for congressional or presidential candidates, but also for state-level ballot initiatives. There is little research in marketing, however, on the effectiveness of political advertising at this level. In this study, we conduct an experimental analysis of advertisements used during the 2008 campaign to mandate new animal welfare standards in California (Proposition 2). Using subjects' willingness to pay for cage-free eggs as a proxy for their likely voting behavior, we investigate whether advertising provides real information to likely voters, and thus sharpens their existing attitudes toward the issue, or whether advertising can indeed change preferences. We find that advertising in support of Proposition 2 was more effective in raising subjects' willingness to pay for cage-free eggs than ads in opposition were in reducing it, but we also find that ads in support of the measure reduce the dispersion of preferences and thus polarize attitudes toward the initiative. More generally, political ads are found to contain considerably more "hype" than "real information" in the sense of Johnson and Myatt (2006).Animal Welfare, Proposition 2, Cage Free eggs, Willingness to Pay, BDM auction, Political Advertising, Agribusiness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Demand and Price Analysis, Marketing, Political Economy, Production Economics, Public Economics,

Direct Imaging of Multiple Planets Orbiting the Star HR 8799

Direct imaging of exoplanetary systems is a powerful technique that can reveal Jupiter-like planets in wide orbits, can enable detailed characterization of planetary atmospheres, and is a key step towards imaging Earth-like planets. Imaging detections are challenging due to the combined effect of small angular separation and large luminosity contrast between a planet and its host star. High-contrast observations with the Keck and Gemini telescopes have revealed three planets orbiting the star HR 8799, with projected separations of 24, 38, and 68 astronomical units. Multi-epoch data show counter-clockwise orbital motion for all three imaged planets. The low luminosity of the companions and the estimated age of the system imply planetary masses between 5 and 13 times that of Jupiter. This system resembles a scaled-up version of the outer portion of our Solar System.Comment: 30 pages, 5 figures, Research Article published online in Science Express Nov 13th, 200