Mortality, violence and access to care in two districts of Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Towards the end of 2006 open conflict broke out between United Nations forces and armed militia in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Fighting was most intense in the district of Cité Soleil. METHODS: A cross-sectional, random-sample survey among the conflict-affected populations living in Cité Soleil and Martissant was carried out over a 4-week period in 2006 using a semi-structured questionnaire to assess exposure to violence and access to health care. Household heads from 945 households (corresponding to 4,763 people) in Cité Soleil and 1,800 household (9,539 people) in Martissant provided information on household members. The average recall period was 579 days for Cité Soleil and 601 days for Martissant. RESULTS: In Cité Soleil 120 deaths (21 children) were reported (CMR 0.4 deaths/10,000 people/day; <5 MR 0.5 deaths/10,000/day) while in Martissant 165 deaths (8 children) were reported (CMR 0.3/10,000 people/day; <5 MR 0.2/10,000 people/day). Violence was reported as the main cause of adult mortality in both locations (mainly gunshot wounds) accounting for 29.2% of deaths in Cité Soleil and 23% of deaths in Martissant. 22.9% of families in Cité Soleil and 18.6% in Martissant reported at least one victim of violence. Destruction of property and belongings was common in both Cité Soleil (52.4% of families) and Martissant (14.9%). Access to health services was limited, with 11% (22/196) of victims of violence in Cité Soleil and 23% (49/212) in Martissant unable to access care due to insecurity or lack of money. DISCUSSION: Extrapolating to the total population of these two districts some 2,000 violent deaths occurred over the recall period. Among the survivors, violence had lasting effects in terms of physical and mental health and loss of property and possessions

A generating functional approach to the Hubbard model

The method of generating functional is generalized to the case of strongly correlated systems, and applied to the Hubbard model. For the electronic Green's function constructed for Hubbard operators, an equation using variational derivatives with respect to the fluctuating fields has been derived and its multiplicative form has been determined. Corrections for the electronic self-energy are calculated up to the second order with respect to the parameter W/U (W width of the band), and a mean field type approximation was formulated, including both charge and spin static fluctuations. The equations for the Bose-like Green's functions have been derived, describing the collective modes: the magnons and doublons. The properties of the poles of the doublon Green's functions depend on electronic filling. The investigation of the special case n=1 demonstrates that the doublon Green's function has a soft mode at the wave vector Q=(pi,pi,...), indicating possible instability of the uniform paramagnetic phase relatively to the two sublattices charge ordering. However this instability should compete with an instability to antiferromagnetic ordering.Comment: 31 pages, 7 figures, to be published in Eur. Phys. J.

Kepler-447b: a hot-Jupiter with an extremely grazing transit

We present the radial velocity confirmation of the extrasolar planet Kepler-447b, initially detected as a candidate by the Kepler mission. In this work, we analyze its transit signal and the radial velocity data obtained with the Calar Alto Fiber-fed Echelle spectrograph (CAFE). By simultaneously modeling both datasets, we obtain the orbital and physical properties of the system. According to our results, Kepler-447b is a Jupiter-mass planet ($M_p=1.37^{+0.48}_{-0.46}~M_{\rm Jup}$), with an estimated radius of $R_p=1.65^{+0.59}_{-0.56}~R_{\rm Jup}$ (uncertainties provided in this work are $3\sigma$ unless specified). This translates into a sub-Jupiter density. The planet revolves every $\sim7.8$ days in a slightly eccentric orbit ($e=0.123^{+0.037}_{-0.036}$) around a G8V star with detected activity in the Kepler light curve. Kepler-447b transits its host with a large impact parameter ($b=1.076^{+0.112}_{-0.086}$), being one of the few planetary grazing transits confirmed so far and the first in the Kepler large crop of exoplanets. We estimate that only around 20% of the projected planet disk occults the stellar disk. The relatively large uncertainties in the planet radius are due to the large impact parameter and short duration of the transit. Planets with such an extremely large impact parameter can be used to detect and analyze interesting configurations such as additional perturbing bodies, stellar pulsations, rotation of a non-spherical planet, or polar spot-crossing events. All these scenarios would periodically modify the transit properties (depth, duration, and time of mid-transit), what could be detectable with sufficient accurate photometry. Short-cadence photometric data (at the 1 minute level) would help in the search for these exotic configurations in grazing planetary transits like that of Kepler-447b.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. 13 pages, 8 figures, 4 tables. This version replaces an earlier version of the pape

Refined physical properties and g',r',i',z',J,H,K transmission spectrum of WASP-23b from the ground

Multi-band observations of planetary transits using the telescope defocus technique may yield high-quality light curves suitable for refining the physical properties of exoplanets even with small or medium size telescopes. Such observations can be used to construct a broad-band transmission spectrum of transiting planets and search for the presence of strong absorbers. We have thoroughly characterised the orbital ephemeris and physical properties of the transiting planet and host star in the WASP-23b system, constructed a broad-band transmission spectrum of WASP-23b and performed a comparative analysis with theoretical models of hot Jupiters. We observed a complete transit of WASP-23b in seven bands simultaneously, using the GROND instrument on the MPG/ESO 2.2m telescope at La Silla Observatory and telescope defocussing. The optical data were taken in the Sloan g',r',i' and z' bands. The resulting light curves are of high quality, with a root-mean-square scatter of the residual as low as 330ppm in the z'-band, with a cadence of 90s. Near-infrared data were obtained in the JHK bands. We performed MCMC analysis of our photometry plus existing radial velocity data to refine measurements of the ephemeris and physical properties of the WASP-23. We constructed a broad-band transmission spectrum of WASP-23b and compared it with a theoretical transmission spectrum of a Hot Jupiter. We measured the central transit time with a precision about 8s. From this and earlier observations we obtain an orbital period of P=2.9444300+/-0.0000011d. Our analysis also yielded a larger radius and mass for the planet (Rp=1.067+0.045-0.038 RJup and, Mp=0.917+0.040-0.039MJup). The transmission spectrum is marginally flat, given the limited precision of the measurements for the planet radius and poor spectral resolution of the data.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic

Evolution equation of quantum tomograms for a driven oscillator in the case of the general linear quantization

The symlectic quantum tomography for the general linear quantization is introduced. Using the approach based upon the Wigner function techniques the evolution equation of quantum tomograms is derived for a parametric driven oscillator.Comment: 11 page

Physical properties, starspot activity, orbital obliquity, and transmission spectrum of the Qatar-2 planetary system from multi-colour photometry

We present seventeen high-precision light curves of five transits of the planet Qatar-2b, obtained from four defocussed 2m-class telescopes. Three of the transits were observed simultaneously in the SDSS griz passbands using the seven-beam GROND imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope. A fourth was observed simultaneously in Gunn grz using the CAHA 2.2-m telescope with BUSCA, and in r using the Cassini 1.52-m telescope. Every light curve shows small anomalies due to the passage of the planetary shadow over a cool spot on the surface of the host star. We fit the light curves with the prism+gemc model to obtain the photometric parameters of the system and the position, size and contrast of each spot. We use these photometric parameters and published spectroscopic measurements to obtain the physical properties of the system to high precision, finding a larger radius and lower density for both star and planet than previously thought. By tracking the change in position of one starspot between two transit observations we measure the orbital obliquity of Qatar-2 b to be 4.3 \pm 4.5 degree, strongly indicating an alignment of the stellar spin with the orbit of the planet. We calculate the rotation period and velocity of the cool host star to be 11.4 \pm 0.5 d and 3.28 \pm 0.13 km/s at a colatitude of 74 degree. We assemble the planet's transmission spectrum over the 386-976 nm wavelength range and search for variations of the measured radius of Qatar-2 b as a function of wavelength. Our analysis highlights a possible H2/He Rayleigh scattering in the blue.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ

Quantum Characterization of a Werner-like Mixture

We introduce a Werner-like mixture [R. F. Werner, Phys. Rev. A {\bf 40}, 4277 (1989)] by considering two correlated but different degrees of freedom, one with discrete variables and the other with continuous variables. We evaluate the mixedness of this state, and its degree of entanglement establishing its usefulness for quantum information processing like quantum teleportation. Then, we provide its tomographic characterization. Finally, we show how such a mixture can be generated and measured in a trapped system like one electron in a Penning trap.Comment: 8 pages ReVTeX, 8 eps figure

Physical properties and radius variations in the HAT-P-5 planetary system from simultaneous four-colour photometry

The radii of giant planets, as measured from transit observations, may vary with wavelength due to Rayleigh scattering or variations in opacity. Such an effect is predicted to be large enough to detect using ground-based observations at multiple wavelengths. We present defocussed photometry of a transit in the HAT-P-5 system, obtained simultaneously through Stromgren u, Gunn g and r, and Johnson I filters. Two more transit events were observed through a Gunn r filter. We detect a substantially larger planetary radius in u, but the effect is greater than predicted using theoretical model atmospheres of gaseous planets. This phenomenon is most likely to be due to systematic errors present in the u-band photometry, stemming from variations in the transparency of Earth's atmosphere at these short wavelengths. We use our data to calculate an improved orbital ephemeris and to refine the measured physical properties of the system. The planet HAT-P-5b has a mass of 1.06 +/- 0.11 +/- 0.01 Mjup and a radius of 1.252 +/- 0.042 +/- 0.008 Rjup (statistical and systematic errors respectively), making it slightly larger than expected according to standard models of coreless gas-giant planets. Its equilibrium temperature of 1517 +/- 29 K is within 60K of that of the extensively-studied planet HD 209458b.Comment: Version 2 corrects the accidental omission of one author in the arXiv metadata. Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 9 pages, 4 figures, 7 tables. The properties of HAT-P-5 have been added to the Transiting Extrasolar Planet Catalogue at http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/tepcat

Physical properties of the WASP-44 planetary system from simultaneous multi-colour photometry

We present ground-based broad-band photometry of two transits in the WASP-44 planetary system obtained simultaneously through four optical (Sloan g', r', i', z') and three near-infrared (NIR; J, H, K) filters. We achieved low scatters of 1-2 mmag per observation in the optical bands with a cadence of 48 s, but the NIR-band light curves present much greater scatter. We also observed another transit of WASP-44 b by using a Gunn-r filter and telescope defocussing, with a scatter of 0.37 mmag per point and an observing cadence around 135 s. We used these data to improve measurements of the time of mid-transit and the physical properties of the system. In particular, we improved the radius measurements of the star and planet by factors of 3 and 4, respectively. We find that the radius of WASP-44 b is 1.002 R_Jup, which is slightly smaller than previously thought and differs from that expected for a core-free planet. In addition, with the help of a synthetic spectrum, we investigated the theoretically-predicted variation of the planetary radius as a function of wavelength, covering the range 370-2440 nm. We can rule out extreme variations at optical wavelengths, but unfortunately our data are not precise enough (especially in the NIR bands) to differentiate between the theoretical spectrum and a radius which does not change with wavelength.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ