Criteria for Bayesian model choice with application to variable selection

In objective Bayesian model selection, no single criterion has emerged as dominant in defining objective prior distributions. Indeed, many criteria have been separately proposed and utilized to propose differing prior choices. We first formalize the most general and compelling of the various criteria that have been suggested, together with a new criterion. We then illustrate the potential of these criteria in determining objective model selection priors by considering their application to the problem of variable selection in normal linear models. This results in a new model selection objective prior with a number of compelling properties.Comment: Published in at http://dx.doi.org/10.1214/12-AOS1013 the Annals of Statistics (http://www.imstat.org/aos/) by the Institute of Mathematical Statistics (http://www.imstat.org

Historic records and GIS applications for flood risk analysis in the Salento peninsula (southern Italy)

International audienceThe occurrence of calamitous meteoric events represents a current problem of the Salento peninsula (Southern Italy). In fact, flash floods, generated by very intense rainfall, occur not only in autumn and winter, but at the end of summer as well. These calamities are amplified by peculiar geological and geomorphological characteristics of Salento and by the pollution of sinkholes. Floodings affect often large areas, especially in the impermeable lowering zones. These events cause warnings and emergency states, involving people as well as socio-economic goods. A methodical investigation based on the historic flood records and an analysis of the geoenvironmental factors have been performed, using a Geographic Information System (GIS) methodology for database processing in order to identify the distribution of areas with different risk degrees. The data, referring to events that occurred from 1968 to 2004, have been collected in a database, the so-called IPHAS (Salento Alluvial PHenomena Inventory), extracted in an easily consultable table. The final goal is the development of a risk map where the areas that are affected by floodings are included between small ridges, the so-called "Serre". More than 50% of the Salento peninsula shows high or very high risk values. The numerous maps that were utilized and generated represent an important basis in order to quantify the flood risk, according to the model using historic records

Magnetic Excitations in La2CuO4 probed by Indirect Resonant Inelastic X-ray Scattering

Recent experiments on La$_2$CuO$_4$ suggest that indirect resonant inelastic X-ray scattering (RIXS) might provide a probe for transversal spin dynamics. We present in detail a systematic expansion of the relevant magnetic RIXS cross section by using the ultrashort core-hole lifetime (UCL) approximation. We compute the scattering intensity and its momentum dependence in leading order of the UCL expansion. The scattering is due to two-magnon processes and is calculated within a linear spin-wave expansion of the Heisenberg spin model for this compound, including longer range and cyclic spin interactions. We observe that the latter terms in the Hamiltonian enhance the first moment of the spectrum if they strengthen the antiferromagnetic ordering. The theoretical spectra agree very well with experimental data, including the observation that scattering intensity vanishes for the transferred momenta ${\bf q} = (0,0)$ and ${\bf q} = (\pi,\pi)$. We show that at finite temperature there is an additional single-magnon contribution to the scattering with a spectral weight proportional to $T^3$. We also compute the leading corrections to the UCL approximation and find them to be small, putting the UCL results on a solid basis. All this univocally points to the conclusion that the observed low temperature RIXS intensity in La$_2$CuO$_4$ is due to two-magnon scattering.Comment: 11 pages, 13 figures, Phys. Rev. B 77, 134428 (2008) (v4: corrected figs 7

Anyons as quon particles

The momentum operator representation of nonrelativistic anyons is developed in the Chern - Simons formulation of fractional statistics. The connection between anyons and the q-deformed bosonic algebra is established.Comment: 10 pages,Late

All-order results for soft and collinear gluons

I briefly review some general features and some recent developments concerning the resummation of long-distance singularities in QCD and in more general non-abelian gauge theories. I emphasize the field-theoretical tools of the trade, and focus mostly on the exponentiation of infrared and collinear divergences in amplitudes, which underlies the resummation of large logarithms in the corresponding cross sections. I then describe some recent results concerning the conformal limit, notably the case of N = 4 superymmetric Yang-Mills theoryComment: 15 pages, invited talk presented at the 10th Workshop in High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP X), Chennai, India, January 200

Tachyonization of the \LaCDM cosmological model

In this work a tachyonization of the $\Lambda$CDM model for a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-time is proposed. A tachyon field and a cosmological constant are considered as the sources of the gravitational field. Starting from a stability analysis and from the exact solutions for a standard tachyon field driven by a given potential, the search for a large set of cosmological models which contain the $\Lambda$CDM model is investigated. By the use of internal transformations two new kinds of tachyon fields are derived from the standard tachyon field, namely, a complementary and a phantom tachyon fields. Numerical solutions for the three kinds of tachyon fields are determined and it is shown that the standard and complementary tachyon fields reproduces the $\Lambda$CDM model as a limiting case. The standard tachyon field can also describe a transition from an accelerated to a decelerated regime, behaving as an inflaton field at early times and as a matter field at late times. The complementary tachyon field always behaves as a matter field. The phantom tachyon field is characterized by a rapid expansion where its energy density increases with time.Comment: Version accepted for publication in GR

Dynamical Evolution of Globular Clusters in Hierarchical Cosmology

We probe the evolution of globular clusters that could form in giant molecular clouds within high-redshift galaxies. Numerical simulations demonstrate that the large and dense enough gas clouds assemble naturally in current hierarchical models of galaxy formation. These clouds are enriched with heavy elements from earlier stars and could produce star clusters in a similar way to nearby molecular clouds. The masses and sizes of the model clusters are in excellent agreement with the observations of young massive clusters. Do these model clusters evolve into globular clusters that we see in our and external galaxies? In order to study their dynamical evolution, we calculate the orbits of model clusters using the outputs of the cosmological simulation of a Milky Way-sized galaxy. We find that at present the orbits are isotropic in the inner 50 kpc of the Galaxy and preferentially radial at larger distances. All clusters located outside 10 kpc from the center formed in the now-disrupted satellite galaxies. The spatial distribution of model clusters is spheroidal, with a power-law density profile consistent with observations. The combination of two-body scattering, tidal shocks, and stellar evolution results in the evolution of the cluster mass function from an initial power law to the observed log-normal distribution.Comment: 5 pages, proceedings of IAU 246 "Dynamical Evolution of Dense Stellar Systems", eds. Vesperini, Giersz, Sill

The closest elastic tensor of arbitrary symmetry to an elasticity tensor of lower symmetry

The closest tensors of higher symmetry classes are derived in explicit form for a given elasticity tensor of arbitrary symmetry. The mathematical problem is to minimize the elastic length or distance between the given tensor and the closest elasticity tensor of the specified symmetry. Solutions are presented for three distance functions, with particular attention to the Riemannian and log-Euclidean distances. These yield solutions that are invariant under inversion, i.e., the same whether elastic stiffness or compliance are considered. The Frobenius distance function, which corresponds to common notions of Euclidean length, is not invariant although it is simple to apply using projection operators. A complete description of the Euclidean projection method is presented. The three metrics are considered at a level of detail far greater than heretofore, as we develop the general framework to best fit a given set of moduli onto higher elastic symmetries. The procedures for finding the closest elasticity tensor are illustrated by application to a set of 21 moduli with no underlying symmetry.Comment: 48 pages, 1 figur