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Recent papers have found that the inferred slope of the high-mass ($>1.5$ M$_\odot$) IMF for field stars in the solar vicinity has a larger value ($\sim 1.7-2.1$) than the slopes ($\sim 1.2-1.7$; Salpeter= 1.35) inferred from numerous studies of young clusters. We attempt to reconcile this apparent contradiction. Stars mostly form in Giant Molecular Clouds, and the more massive stars ($\gtrsim 3$ M$_\odot$) may have insufficient time before their deaths to uniformly populate the solar circle of the Galaxy. We examine the effect of small sample volumes on the {\it apparent} slope, $\Gamma_{\rm app}$, of the high-mass IMF by modeling the present day mass function (PDMF) over the mass range $1.5-6$ M$_\odot$. Depending on the location of the observer along the solar circle and the size of the sample volume, the apparent slope of the IMF can show a wide variance, with typical values steeper than the underlying universal value $\Gamma$. We show, for example, that the PDMFs observed in a small (radius $\sim 200$ pc) volume randomly placed at the solar circle have a $\sim 15-30$\% likelihood of resulting in $\Gamma_{\rm app} \gtrsim \Gamma+ 0.35$ because of inhomogeneities in the surface densities of more massive stars. If we add the a priori knowledge that the Sun currently lies in an interarm region, where the star formation rate is lower than the average at the solar circle, we find an even higher likelihood ($\sim 50-60\%$ ) of $\Gamma_{\rm app} \gtrsim \Gamma+0.35$, corresponding to $\Gamma_{\rm app} \gtrsim 1.7$ when the underlying $\Gamma= 1.35$., Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures

In this work we study the coupled dynamics of social balance and opinion formation. We propose a model where agents form opinions under bounded confidence, but only considering the opinions of their friends. The signs of social ties -friendships and enmities- evolve seeking for social balance, taking into account how similar agents' opinions are. We consider both the case where opinions have one and two dimensions. We find that our dynamics produces the segregation of agents into two cliques, with the opinions of agents in one clique differing from those in the other. Depending on the level of bounded confidence, the dynamics can produce either consensus of opinions within each clique or the coexistence of several opinion clusters in a clique. For the uni-dimensional case, the opinions in one clique are all below the opinions in the other clique, hence defining a "left clique" and a "right clique". In the two-dimensional case, our numerical results suggest that the two cliques are separated by a hyperplane in the opinion space. We also show that the phenomenon of unidimensional opinions identified by DeMarzo, Vayanos and Zwiebel (Q J Econ 2003) extends partially to our dynamics. Finally, in the context of politics, we comment about the possible relation of our results to the fragmentation of an ideology and the emergence of new political parties., Comment: 8 figures, PLoS ONE 11(10): e0164323, 2016

The surface density and vertical distribution of stars, stellar remnants, and gas in the solar vicinity form important ingredients for understanding the star formation history of the Galaxy as well as for inferring the local density of dark matter by using stellar kinematics to probe the gravitational potential. In this paper we review the literature for these baryonic components, reanalyze data, and provide tables of the surface densities and exponential scale heights of main sequence stars, giants, brown dwarfs, and stellar remnants. We also review three components of gas (H2, HI, and HII), give their surface densities at the solar circle, and discuss their vertical distribution. We find a local total surface density of M dwarfs of 17.3 pm 2.3 Mo/pc^2. Our result for the total local surface density of visible stars, 27.0 pm 2.7 Mo/pc^2, is close to previous estimates due to a cancellation of opposing effects: more mass in M dwarfs, less mass in the others. The total local surface density in white dwarfs is 4.9 pm 0.6 Mo/pc^2; in brown dwarfs, it is ~1.2 Mo/pc^2. We find that the total local surface density of stars and stellar remnants is 33.4 pm 3 Mo/pc^2, somewhat less than previous estimates. We analyze data on 21 cm emission and absorption and obtain good agreement with recent results on the local amount of neutral atomic hydrogen obtained with the Planck satellite. The local surface density of gas is 13.7 pm 1.6 Mo/pc^2. The total baryonic mass surface density that we derive for the solar neighborhood is 47.1 pm 3.4 Mo/pc^2. Combining these results with others' measurements of the total surface density of matter within 1-1.1 kpc of the plane, we find that the local density of dark matter is 0.013 pm 0.003Mo/pc^3.The local density of all matter is 0.097 pm 0.013 Mo/pc^3. We discuss limitations on the properties of a possible thin disk of dark matter., Comment: 53 pages, 5 tables

Different models of social influence have explored the dynamics of social contagion, imitation, and diffusion of different types of traits, opinions, and conducts. However, few behavioral data indicating social influence dynamics have been obtained from direct observation in `natural' social contexts. The present research provides that kind of evidence in the case of the public expression of political preferences in the city of Barcelona, where thousands of citizens supporting the secession of Catalonia from Spain have placed a Catalan flag in their balconies. We present two different studies. 1) In July 2013 we registered the number of flags in 26% of the the city. We find that there is a large dispersion in the density of flags in districts with similar density of pro-independence voters. However, we find that the density of flags tends to be fostered in those electoral district where there is a clear majority of pro-independence vote, while it is inhibited in the opposite cases. 2) During 17 days around Catalonia's 2013 National Holiday we observed the position at balcony resolution of the flags displayed in the facades of 82 blocks. We compare the clustering of flags on the facades observed each day to equivalent random distributions and find that successive hangings of flags are not independent events but that a local influence mechanism is favoring their clustering. We also find that except for the National Holiday day the density of flags tends to be fostered in those facades where there is a clear majority of pro-independence vote., Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, 2 tables

The mass distribution of prestellar cores is obtained for clouds with arbitrary internal mass distributions using a selection criterion based on the thermal and turbulent Jeans mass and applied hierarchically from small to large scales. We have checked this methodology comparing our results for a lognormal density PDF with the theoretical CMF derived by Hennebelle and Chabrier, namely a power-law at large scales and a log-normal cutoff at low scales, but our method can be applied to any mass distributions representing a star-forming cloud. This methodology enables us to connect the parental cloud structure with the mass distribution of the cores and their spatial distribution, providing an efficient tool for investigating the physical properties of the molecular clouds that give rise to the prestellar core distributions observed. Simulated fBm clouds with the Hurst exponent close to the value H=1/3 give the best agreement with the theoretical CMF derived by Hennebelle and Chabrier and Chabrier's system IMF. Likewise, the spatial distribution of the cores derived from our methodology show a surface density of companions compatible with those observed in Trapezium and Ophiucus star-forming regions. This method also allows us to analyze the properties of the mass distribution of cores for different realizations. We found that the variations in the number of cores formed in different realizations of fBm clouds (with the same Hurst exponent) are much larger than the expected root N statistical fluctuations, increasing with H., Comment: 27 pages including 6 figures and 2 tables. Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal

We derive a semi-empirical galactic initial mass function (IMF) from observational constraints. We assume that the star formation rate in a galaxy can be expressed as the product of the IMF, $\psi (m)$, which is a smooth function of mass $m$ (in units of \msun), and a time- and space-dependent total rate of star formation per unit area of galactic disk. The mass dependence of the proposed IMF is determined by five parameters: the low-mass slope $\gamma$, the high-mass slope $-\Gamma$, the characteristic mass $m_{ch}$ (which is close to the mass $m_{\rm peak}$ at which the IMF turns over), and the lower and upper limits on the mass, $m_l$ (taken to be 0.004) and $m_u$ (taken to be 120). The star formation rate in terms of number of stars per unit area of galactic disk per unit logarithmic mass interval, is proportional to $m^{-\Gamma} \left\{1-\exp\left[{-(m/m_{ch})^{\gamma +\Gamma}}\right]\right\}$, where $\cal N_*$ is the number of stars, $m_l

Using a set of heterogeneous competing systems with intra-system cooperation and inter-system aggression, we show how the coevolution of the system parameters (degree of organization and conditions for aggression) depends on the rate of supply of resources. The model consists of a number of units grouped into systems that compete for the resource; within each system several units can be aggregated into cooperative arrangements whose size is a measure of the degree of organization in the system. Aggression takes place when the systems release inhibitors that impair the performance of other systems. Using a mean field approximation we show that i) even in the case of identical systems there are stable inhomogeneous solutions, ii) a system steadily producing inhibitors needs large perturbations to leave this regime, and iii) aggression may give comparative advantages. A discrete model is used in order to examine how the particular configuration of the units within a system determines its performance in the presence of aggression. We find that full-scale, one sided aggression is only profitable for less-organized systems, and that systems with a mixture of degrees of organization exhibit robustness against aggression. By using a genetic algorithm we find that, in terms of the full-occupation resource supply rate, the coevolution of the set of systems displays a variety of regimes. This kind of model can be useful to analyse the interplay of the cooperation/competition processes that can be found in some social, economic, ecological and biochemical systems; as an illustration we refer to the competition between drug-selling gangs., Comment: This is the final version accepted by European Physical Journal B

A comparison is made between conventional Michaelis-Menten kinetics and two models that take into account the duration of the conformational changes that take place at the molecular level during the catalytic cycle of a monomer. The models consider the time that elapses from the moment an enzyme-substrate complex forms until the moment a product molecule is released, as well as the recovery time needed to reset the conformational change that took place. In the first model the dynamics is described by a set of delayed differential equations, instead of the ordinary differential equations associated to Michaelis-Menten kinetics. In the second model the delay, the discretization inherent to enzyme reactions and the stochastic binding of substrates to enzimes at the molecular level is considered. All three models agree at equilibrium, as expected; however, out-of-equilibrium dynamics can differ substantially. In particular, both delayed models show oscillations at low values of the Michaelis constant which are not reproduced by the Michaelis-Menten model. Additionally, in certain cases, the dynamics shown by the continuous delayed model differs from the dynamics of the discrete delayed model when some reactant become scarce., Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Journal of Theoretical Biology

Far Ultraviolet radiation has been recognized as the main source of heating of the neutral interstellar gas, and, as a consequence, it determines whether the thermal balance of the neutral gas results in cold ($T\sim 50 - 100 K$) clouds (CNM), warm ($T \sim 10^4 K$) clouds (WNM), or a combination of the two. High FUV fields convert the neutral gas to WNM, while low fields result in CNM. The sources of FUV radiation are the short-lived massive stars that generally originate in associations that form in Giant Molecular Clouds present in the galactic disk. Using McKee & Williams' (1997) distribution of birthrates for OB associations in the Galaxy, we determine the expected behavior of the time-dependent FUV field for random positions in the local ISM. The FUV field is calculated in two bands (912-1100 \AA and 912-2070 \AA) and at the wavelength 1400 \AA. Our median value for the [912-2070 \AA] band is $G_0=1.6$ times Habing's (1968) value for the radiation field at the solar circle in this band, and quite close to Draine's (1976) value, $G_0=1.7$. Due to attenuation by dust, only associations within about 500 pc contribute significantly to the energy density at a given point. The FUV field is asymmetric at a given point, and the asymmetry grows for higher fields. The FUV field fluctuates with a variety of amplitudes, the larger ones being less frequent. The mean field is about twice the median field because of these fluctuations, or spikes, in the radiation field. These spikes, which last $\sim 30$ Myr, are caused by the infrequent birth of nearby associations. We also model shorter duration spikes caused by runaway OB stars. The presence of a fluctuating heating rate created by the fluctuating FUV field converts CNM to WNM and vice versa., Comment: 43 pages, 23 figures, submitted to ApJ

The structure of cloud complexes appears to be well described by a "tree structure" representation when the image is partitioned into "clouds". In this representation, the parent-child relationships are assigned according to containment. Based on this picture, a hierarchical model for the evolution of Cloud Complexes, including star formation, is constructed, that follows the mass evolution of each sub-structure by computing its mass exchange (evaporation or condensation) with its parent and children, which depends on the radiation density at the interphase. For the set of parameters used as a reference model, the system produces IMFs with a maximum at too high mass (~2 M_sun) and the characteristic times for evolution seem too long. We show that these properties can be improved by adjusting model parameters. However, the emphasis here is to illustrate some general properties of this nonlinear model for the star formation process. Notwithstanding the simplifications involved, the model reveals an essential feature that will likely remain if additional physical processes are included. That is: the detailed behavior of the system is very sensitive to variations on the initial and external conditions, suggesting that a "universal" IMF is very unlikely. When an ensemble of IMFs corresponding to a variety of initial or external conditions is examined, the slope of the IMF at high masses shows variations comparable to the range derived from observational data. (Abridged), Comment: Latex, 29 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ

The variation of an ionizing flux as a mechanism to stimulate the condensation of a diffuse gas is considered. To illustrate this effect, two situations are examined: one on the context of pregalactic conditions, and the other on the context of the actual interstellar medium. We focus our attention on flash-like variations; that is, during a ``short'' period of time the ionizing flux is enhanced in comparison to the pre- and post-flash values. In both cases the cause of the induced phase change is the same: the enhancement of the cooling rate by the increase in the electron density caused by the momentary increase of ionizing flux. After the passing of the flash, the cooling rate remains enhanced due to the ``inertia of the ionization''. In the first case (metal free gas) the cooling rate is enhanced due to the fact that the increase of the electron density makes possible the gas phase formation of H_2 by the creation of the intermediaries H^- and H^+_2. We show that after the passing of the photo-ionizing flash a cloud near thermo-chemical equilibrium at ~8000 K may be induced to increase its H_2 content by many orders of magnitude, causing a rapid decrease of its temperature to values as low as 100 K. In the second case (solar abundances gas) the dominant cooling mechanism of the warm neutral gas (the excitation of heavy ions by electron impacts) is proportional to the electron density. We show that, for the expected states of the warm interstellar gas, ionizing flashes may induce the phase transition from the warm to the cool phase. The results indicate that the mechanism of induced condensation studied here might play a relevant role in the gas evolution of the diffuse gas in both, the pregalactic and the actual interstellar medium conditions., Comment: 14 pages, 11 Postscript figures, Latex, l-aa.sty, accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysics, e-mail:parravan@ciens.ula.ve

We examine the formation of massive stars in the Galaxy, the resultant fluctuating UV (ultraviolet) radiation field, and the effect of this field on the star-forming interstellar medium. There are substantial fluctuations of the UV radiation field in space (scales of 100's of parsecs) and time (time-scales of order 100 million years). The FUV (far ultraviolet) (6 eV less than hv less than 13.6 eV) field and the pressure determines whether the thermal balance of the neutral gas results in cold clouds or warm (T approx. 10(exp 4) K) neutral medium. We show how to calculate the average fractions of the gas in the cold and warm phases when the interstellar gas is subject to this fluctuating FUV field. The knowledge of how these fractions depend on the gas properties and on the FUV sources is a basic step in building a model of the large scale behavior of the ISM (interstellar medium) and the mutual relation between the ISM and the star formation rate.

We examine the formation of massive stars in the Galaxy, the resultant fluctuating UV radiation field, and the effect of this field on the star-forming interstellar medium (ISM). There are substantial fluctuations of the UV radiation field in space (scales of 100's of parsecs) and time (time-scales of order 100 million years) at the solar circle. The Far Ultraviolet (FUV) (6 eV< hv < 13.6 eV) field and the pressure determines whether the thermal balance of the neutral gas results in cold clouds or warm (T - 10(exp 4) neutral medium. We show how to calculate the average fractions of the gas in the cold and warm phases when the interstellar gas is subject to this fluctuating FUV field. The knowledge of how these fractions depend on the gas properties and on the FUV sources is a basic step in building a model of the large scale behavior of the ISM and the mutual relation between the ISM and the star formation rate. Application is made to observations of spiral galaxies which correlate the star formation rate per unit area with the surface density of the gas. We acknowledge support from the NASA Astrophysical Theory program.