bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Distribution of financial services
Authors: Gupta A. K. , Westall G.
Published: April 2012

The historic barriers between the different companies which comprise the financial services industry are breaking down. In order that organisations may prosper in the new environment the relationships between products, distribution and clients need to be understood. A theory is developed to explain the historic position and the dynamics of the current environment and indicate future trends. The conclusion is that successful organisations will be those which fully understand and specialise in a limited number of sectors, and those who start with a clientbase and a distribution system which will not inhibit the introduction of other distribution methods so that they can become multi-product and multi-distribution organisations. Finally, the paper explores the relationships between pricing policy and distribution by means of distribution chains to determine the point and degree of price sensitivity.
The supervision and control of pension funding in the United Kingdom
Authors: McLeish D. J. D. , Stewart C. M.
Published: April 2012

This paper looks at the existing controls on minimum funding standards and the solvency of defined benefit pension schemes in the United Kingdom. It considers the definition and disclosure of solvency margins and then goes on to look at the operation of a ‘Pensioners’ Protection Fund which would underwrite the solvency of schemes in a winding-up. With submissions due to the Goode Committee before the end of 1992, this paper will provide a well-timed opportunity to discuss some of the issues to be addressed by that Committee.
Graduation by dynamic regression methods
Authors: Verrall R. J.
Published: April 2012

This paper extends the theory of graduation by parametric formulae to include dynamic estimation methods. This is an application of the Kalman filter and allows the parameters of the curve fitted to vary with age. The amount of variation is determined by the amount of smoothing required, and the method can be regarded as a combination of curve fitting and sequential smoothing, each of which has been used separately for performing graduations. In practice, a dynamic straight line can always be used for the graduation and the method has a sensible logical interpretation.
Financial reinsurance
Authors: Wilkinson R. C. , Clark P. K. , Craighead D. H. , Dean J. W. , Silverman A. H. , White M. G.
Published: April 2012

This paper seeks to define and explain financial reinsurance, a type of reinsurance growing rapidly in the general insurance market. It provides criteria for underwriters and actuaries to understand the degree of risk transfer involved and the limitations on that risk transfer. It seeks to set out criteria, applicable to both insurer and reinsurer, for estimating reserves where financial reinsurance covers are involved and for compliance with supervisory requirements. Several examples are given of typical financial reinsurance contracts currently in use.
A note on the equated time of a series of cash flows
Authors: Scott W. F.
Published: April 2012

A well-known result concerning the equated time of a series of cash payments is extended to more general cash flows, including continuous payment streams.
Dynamic response of insurance systems with delayed profit/loss sharing feedback to isolated unpredicted claims
Authors: Balzer L. A. , Benjamin S.
Published: April 2012

A mathematical model of the dynamic behaviour of an insurance system with delayed profit/loss sharing feedback is developed. The model is then subjected to a disturbance input consisting of an isolated group of unpredicted claims and the dynamic responses of cash flow and accumulated cash flow determined. Increasing delays are seen to lead first to undesirable oscillatory responses and eventually to instability. where the responses become unbounded. Such behaviour is noted to be independent of the type of business and to be a property of the feedback mechanism and not related to the type of disturbance input.
Indexing long-term financial contracts
Authors: Wilkie A. D.
Published: April 2012

This paper has two functions: first, in part 1, to present briefly the results of some recent investigations into the behaviour of a price index (in the United Kingdom) in order to gain some insight into the possible future progress of inflation; secondly, in parts 2–4, to present the arguments in favour of the linking to a price index of financial instruments, in particular government stocks, life assurance contracts and pension fund benefits. Part 1 is heavily statistical, and those who prefer the controversial material can go straight to part 2, noting only the conclusion to part 1,viz.: that it is not easy to forecast inflation over any lengthy period. Parts 2–4 are controversial, and I expect will still be topical when the paper is presented. I make no pretence to be impartial; I am convinced that widespread index-linking oflong-termcontracts would have a beneficial effect on the conduct of our financial affairs. It is up to those who disagree with me to put their case in the discussion; but I hope my supporters will express their views too.
Address by the President. The outlook for pensioning
Authors: Lyon Colin Stewart Sinclair
Published: April 2012

Almost a quarter of a century ago—in 1958 to be precise—one of my predecessors devoted the main part of his Presidential Address to a discussion of state and occupational pensions. He spoke at a time when price inflation was 2¾%, growth in the national income had been averaging 2% p.a. in real terms and the number out of work was half a million. The redemption yield on long-dated Government stock was about 5¼% and the dividend yield on the Actuaries' Investment Index of Ordinary Shares was 5¾%—we did not yet have the reverse yield gap that recognizes the endemic nature of inflation.
A market equilibrium model for the management of ordinary share portfolios
Authors: Clarkson R. S.
Published: April 2012

1.1 The price of a particular ordinary share represents an equilibrium position between the views of those participants in the market who wish to buy and those who wish to sell. Most participants, and certainly all institutional investors, have access to a vast amount of background information, and share prices adjust continuously as these participants revise their buying or selling prices in the light of new information or in the light of a changed interpretation of existing information. If an explicit price model can be developed solely from the principle that prices are in equilibrium once all participants in the market have acted on their interpretation of the information available to them, this model will be of considerable assistance in the management of ordinary share portfolios.

1.2 This paper describes the construction and application of such a price model and discusses the optimal extent to which mathematical and statistical methods can be employed in portfolio management. A recent paper by Clarkson (1980) describes the stage of development that had been reached at the end of 1978; the present paper expands on the underlying concept of market equilibrium and on the practical implications for the management of institutional portfolios of ordinary shares.
Projections of the costs of occupational pensions
Authors: Field J. L.
Published: April 2012

1. In the three years since projections of occupational pension scheme membership and expenditure were made for the Wilson Committee more data about schemes has become available, such as that from the Government Actuary's survey of Occupational Pension Schemes 1979 (theG.A.'s Survey), so the occasion of the publication of the Government Actuary's National Insurance Fund Long Term Financial Estimate (theQuinquennial Reviewor Q.R.) has been taken to revise and extend the Wilson Committee projections, using the starting date and earnings and prices assumptions of the Q.R.
Scientific underwriting: ‘stroke’ as a model
Authors: Haberman S.
Published: April 2012

The paper reports the results and conclusions of a project which provided a statistical analysis of survival after stroke (or cerebrovascular disease) and derived appropriate life assurance underwriting ratings. The methodology used has been described elsewhere and will be referenced as needed.

The project forms a pilot study set up to consider the feasibility of collecting and analysing in detail the considerable medical and actuarial literature that has accumulated on the prognostic experience of impaired lives over the last 30 years.
Salary survey comprising: (1) 1982 survey of the professional activities and earnings of recently qualified members. (2) A comparison of the results of the 1982 survey with those of the three previous investigations
Authors: Gunlake J. H. , Benjamin B.
Published: April 2012

1. In August 1982, a questionnaire relating to professional activities and earnings was sent to all members of the Institute in the United Kingdom who completed the examination between 1966 and 1981 inclusive. Questions regarding remuneration related to the year ended 5 April 1982.

2. Out of 970 questionnaires despatched 901 were returned, and of these 895 were sufficiently complete to be included in the analysis. Thus the effective response rate was 92%. The Council of the Institute is grateful to all those who participated.

3. The Council would also like to express their appreciation of the work carried out by Professor Bernard Benjamin, of the Centre for Research in Insurance and Investment in the City University, who arranged for the tabulation of the data and prepared a report on it.
Some experiments with pensions accrual
Authors: Wilkie A. D.
Published: April 2012

1. In the following experiments I simplify enormously, by assuming that the only benefit provided is a pension on retirement at age 65, that there are no benefits at all on death, not even a return of contributions, and that there are no ill-health retirements or early retirements. I also assume that all salaries, contributions and retirement pensions are paid annually in advance. This simplifies the calculations and hardly affects the results. I also assume complete certainty of inflation. salary increases and investment returns. The purpose of the experiment is to investigate the relationship between the amount of pension that may be deemed to have ‘accrued’ each year, and the amount of contribution (as a percentage of salary) needed to purchase the extra pension that has accrued in each year. under both a final salary defined benefit scheme and a revalued average salary scheme.
Criteria of smoothness
Authors: Barnett H. A. R.
Published: April 2012

1.1 The actuarial profession has for decades, indeed centuries, used age-related tables, particularly (although not exclusively) of mortality, which in preparation have been subjected to the process known as graduation. Five purposes of such graduation have recently been set out by Vallin, Pollard and Heligman and these may be summarized as follows:

(1) to smooth the data, make them easier to handle, remove irregularities and inconsistencies;

(2) to make the result more precise on the reasonable assumption that the real mortality underlying the observations is a smooth curve, i.e. to remove sampling and other errors;

(3) to aid inferences from incomplete data;

(4) to facilitate comparisons of mortality;

(5) to aid forecasting.

Of these purposes, (1), (2) and (3) may all be paraphrazed as implying that the purposes are to make the table smooth, and (4) and (5) as indicating uses to which a table may better be put if smoothed. So the purposes of what the profession has come to term ‘graduation’ all boil down to the production of a smooth table, and for the rest of this paper until the last section I shall use the word ‘smoothing’ rather than ‘graduation’. But what is smooth?
The Financial Times-Actuaries Fixed Interest Indices up to 1984
Authors: Wilkie A. D.
Published: April 2012

The new series of Financial Times–Actuaries fixed interest indices commenced in 1977 with the first publication in the Financial Times of the British Government Securities Indices. These were described on behalf of the Joint Index and Classification Committee of the Institute and the Faculty in the paper by G. M. Dobbie and A. D. Wilkie, “The F.T.–Actuaries Fixed Interest Indices”, J.I.A. 105, 15 and T.F.A. 36, 203. Subsequent notes in J.I.A. and T.F.A. have given annual reviews, the last, for 1980, appearing in T.F.A. 37, 327. Part 1 of the present note continues the history of the B.G.S. Indices up to the end. of 1984.
Alfred Watson Memorial Lecture: Science, innovation and prosperity
Authors: Kingman John
Published: April 2012

In your Presidential Address last year, Mr President, you argued eloquently for the necessity and the inevitability of change in the nation's economic life, and you examined both the opportunities for, and the barriers to, the sort of fruitful innovation which you saw as essential to future prosperity. I want to pick up your theme, and pursue it with particular reference to the role of science and scientists in this process.
Pension aspects of takeovers: a review of practice
Authors: Garner A.S. , Thornton P.N. , Wise A.J.
Published: April 2012

1.1 The purpose of this paper is to review current practice regarding the pension aspects of takeovers and mergers of companies and businesses in the UK, with particular reference to the involvement and responsibilities of actuaries. Although there is an increasingly international aspect to such transactions, this is outside the scope of this paper.

1.2 Previous papers dealing with this subject either in part or in whole include those by Gilley, by Pomery and Jones, and by Chapman and Jagelman.
Smoking and mortality—a postscript
Authors: Benjamin Bernard
Published: April 2012

In an earlier paper (Benjamin, 1981) on the subject of cigarette smoking and mortality, statistics from a number of national prospective studies were brought together. These studies agreed in the general finding that the smoking of cigarettes doubled the risk of dying before the age of 65; that diseases most likely to intervene to produce this excess mortality were lung cancer, bronchitis, and emphysema, ischaemic heart disease, certain other cancers (notably of buccal cavity, oesophagus, bladder) and cirrhosis of the liver. It was emphasized that the excess mortality from heart and circulatory disease was not restricted to coronary heart disease, though this latter cause provided the most important element. There was for cigarette smokers a 70% higher risk of dying from myocardial infarction (for the same level of smoking that risk was not less for women than for men). A restricted number of international comparisons of mortality were provided. In almost all countries in Europe, ischaemic heart disease mortality was rising. Outside Europe there was a contrast between the less developed countries where the amount of tobacco consumed was low and those developed countries where consumption was higher. Death-rates were much higher in the latter group. The most pronounced association between smoking and disease was that of lung cancer. The recent experience of lung cancer mortality in a number of countries was recorded. In all countries where there was substantial participation in smoking, death-rates had been rising for men. In most countries where a high proportion of women had been smoking for many years the death-rate for cancer of the lung was rising and in most cases quite rapidly. A reminder was given that heart disease and cancer were not the only penalties of smoking. Emphysema, bronchitis, asthma, influenza, pneumonia and respiratory tuberculosis were diseases for which the risk of dying was increased in cigarette smokers.
Statistical analysis of life assurance lapses
Authors: Renshaw A. E. , Haberman S.
Published: April 2012

Data have been generously supplied by the Faculty of Actuaries Withdrawals Research Group. These data cover the lapse or withdrawal experience for the calendar year 1976 of seven Scottish life offices. An extensive analysis has been published by the Research Group although, for reasons we shall discuss later, we believe that the approach outlined here is better able to describe the structure of the data than the detailed (and somewhat pedestrian) tabulations of this earlier paper.
Alfred Watson Memorial Lecture: Public and professional attitudes to risk
Authors: Warner Frederick
Published: April 2012

It is a privilege, Mr President, to be invited to lecture to your Institute, especially in commemoration of Alfred Watson who did so much to establish the firm foundations of your profession. These are of such detail and intricacy that you remain elite and hardly subject to the kind of challenges which more and more affect other professions. Perhaps your time will come as mutterings are heard about your valuations of pension funds and to whom they belong.

The subject of this lecture tonight is the way in which risk has forced itself to the front of public discussion and finds the expression in comment almost every day, whether on the issue of vaccine damage to children, medical negligence, the Chernobyl disaster, landslides in Colombia or floods in Bangladesh.
Medical expenses insurance—an actuarial review
Authors: Orros G. C. , Webber J. M.
Published: April 2012

1.1 Medical expenses insurance, as we know it today, has been available in the United Kingdom since the late 1940s. In recent years the market has increased significantly to a point where we estimate approximately 6m people are now covered by medical expenses insurance, which represents over 10% of the population. Furthermore, there is evidence that the market is continuing to expand.
Marketing of retail financial services
Authors: Iqbal M.
Published: April 2012

1.1 In recent years insurance companies have begun to employ marketing techniques in search of greater success in an increasingly competitive market place. Several companies have Marketing Departments. However, those who have used marketing techniques most efficiently are not necessarily those with the largest departments.
Mortality differences between smokers and non-smokers
Authors: Benjamin B. , Michaelson R.
Published: April 2012

By courtesy of Robin Michaelson, data derived from a United States of America life insurance experience (1970–75) for individually insured lives was made available. The data consisted of the proportions of smokers in the population and the ratio of smokers' mortality to that of non-smokers. In both cases separate data was collected for males and females and at integral ages from 15 to 84. From these data it was possible to construct separate life tables for smokers and non-smokers, which were subdivided for males and females. These tables are shown as Tables A–D at the end of this note.
Improving the performance of equity portfolios
Authors: Clarkson R. S. , Plymen J.
Published: April 2012

This paper has the strictly practical objective of devising procedures for managing Equity portfolios to the best advantage.

First, Modern Portfolio Theory, (MPT) which has been developed over the last 35 years with just this objective, is critically examined; from a study of the history of MPT and of its philosophy, principles and practices, the authors conclude that this discipline makes no contribution whatever to improving the performance.

The Index Fund step-up is a sterile concept. Surely a professional investment manager, using modern techniques of data banks, investment analysis, etc. should improve on the Index performance. This objective is in conflict with the Perfect Market Principle. For the less erudite investors, who are, of course, in the majority, the Perfect Market Principle may well apply, at any rate, to the well researched leading shares. However, the Perfect Market Principle should not apply to the erudite, professional investor, well equipped and well advised, who should be able to find many opportunities for situations with undervalued and overvalued shares, both among the leading issues and particularly within the smaller companies that get less research attention.
Projecting the spread of AIDS in the United Kingdom: a sensitivity analysis
Authors: Daykin C. D. , Clark P. N. S. , Eves M. J. , Haberman S. , le Grys D. J. , Lockyer J. , Michaelson R. W. , Wilkie A. D.
Published: April 2012

In AIDS Bulletins Nos. 1 to 4 the Institute of Actuaries AIDS Working Party presented projections of HIV infection and AIDS based on a model developed by Wilkie. This paper explores the sensitivity of those projections to the various different assumptions which have to be made and presents results on a number of alternative sets of assumptions.
Work time lost to sickness, unemployment and stoppages: measurement and application
Authors: Haberman S. , Bloomfield D. S. F.
Published: April 2012

The paper considers a number of methods of estimating the work time lost due to sickness, unemployment and stoppages. The most satisfactory approach suggested is based on a multiple state working life table. Numerical examples of the measurement of work time lost are provided for particular application to the actuarial assessment of damages (arising out of personal injury or fatal accident). Other applications, including the pricing of unemployment insurance, are also discussed.
Notes on the Financial Times-Actuaries Index in 1973
Authors: Brumwell J. C. H.
Published: April 2012

Classification of Stock Exchange Securities by Industry

As a result of quarterly meetings of the Index Constituents & Industrial Classification Committee, the classifications of 60 companies were changed either because the original classification was found to be wrong, or because the company had clearly changed its business. These changes were only made after notification to the company concerned and in most cases after discussions with the company; apart from those with whom negotiations had begun in 1972, a further 65 companies were approached in 1973. Classifications of newly floated companies were made by the Stock Exchange Quotations Department but the published lists were scrutinized and occasional changes were recommended.

The original classifications were set out in the 1970 note in this series (J.I.A., 97, 111–12). During 1973, Group 52 was renamed ‘Newspapers & Periodicals’, and five minor amendments to the definitions of other Groups were made.
Notes on the 10th ASTIN Colloquium
Authors: Green P. J. H.
Published: April 2012

ASTIN—the section of the International Actuarial Association whose main interest is in the actuarial study of non-life insurance—held its 10th Colloquium at the University of Essex from 4–8 September 1973.

In all 161 members, representatives of corporate members, and accompanying persons attended, including 20 members of the Institute of Actuaries and 4 Fellows of the Faculty of Actuaries. 21 countries were represented and for the first time Great Britain provided the largest delegation.

The subject for the Colloquium was ‘Mathematical and Statistical Models underlying nonlife insurance’ and 24 papers or written contributions were presented. The Colloquium was opened by R. E. Beard, O.B.E., F.I.A., in his dual capacity as co-ordinator of the Scientific Programme and Professor at Essex University. The Chairman of ASTIN, Professor Bühlmann from Switzerland, expressed the gratitude of all to the University of Essex for the facilities given and his pleasure at the 10th Colloquium being held in the United Kingdom, a country recognized as the Father of Insurance.
A study of the variance of mortality rates
Authors: Daw R. H.
Published: April 2012

Some 20 to 30 years ago considerable progress was made in understanding the variance of mortality rates and, for assured lives data, the effect on it of the presence of duplicate policies, e.g. Redington and Michaelson (1940), Seal (1941, 1947, 1948 and 1949), Daw (1945 and 1951), Vajda (1945), Solomon (1948), Beard (1951), Jager (1953) and Continuous Mortality Investigation (C.M.I.) (1957). I have the impression that since that time this understanding has tended to regress. For example it is disappointing to find that the whole course of reading on the analysis of mortality data makes practically no mention of the effect of duplicate policies in increasing the variance of mortality rates. Yet this is a matter which can have a substantial effect on the results of testing a mortality table graduation as is recognized in C.M.I. (1974). It is salutory to find that G. H. Hardy (1882) was aware that the presence of duplicates increased the variance although he did not express it in quite that way.
Care robots for the supermarket shelf: a product gap in assistive technologies
Authors: BLACKMAN TIM
Published: April 2012

The literature on the development of assistive robots is dominated by technological papers with little consideration of how such devices might be commercialised for a mass market at a price that is affordable for older people and their families as well as public services and care insurers. This article argues that the focus of technical development in this field is too ambitious, neglecting the potential market for an affordable device that is aleady in the realm of the ‘adjacent possible’ given current technology capabilities. It also questions on both ethical and marketing grounds the current effort to develop assistive robots with pet-like or human-like features. The marketing literature on ‘really new products’ has so far not appeared to inform the development of assistive robots but has some important lessons. These include using analogies with existing products and giving particular attention to the role of early adopters. Relevant analogies for care robots are not animals or humans but useful domestic appliances and personal technologies with attractive designs, engaging functionality and intuitive usability. This points to a strategy for enabling mass adoption – which has so far eluded even conventional telecare – of emphasising how such an appliance is part of older people's contemporary lifestyles rather than a sign of age-related decline and loss of independence.
Economic principles for resource allocation decisions at national level to mitigate the effects of disease in farm animal populations
Authors: HOWE K. S. , HÄSLER B. , STÄRK K. D. C.
Published: April 2012

This paper originated in a project to develop a practical, generic tool for the economic evaluation of surveillance for farm animal diseases at national level by a state veterinary service. Fundamental to that process is integration of epidemiological and economic perspectives. Using a generalized example of epidemic disease, we show that an epidemic curve maps into its economic equivalent, a disease mitigation function, that traces the relationship between value losses avoided and mitigation resources expended. Crucially, elementary economic principles show that mitigation, defined as loss reduction achieved by surveillance and intervention, must be explicitly conceptualized as a three-variable process, and the relative contributions of surveillance and intervention resources investigated with regard to the substitution possibilities between them. Modelling the resultant mitigation surfaces for different diseases should become a standard approach to animal health policy analysis for economic efficiency, a contribution to the evolving agenda for animal health economics research.
New Localism: Implications for the Governance of Street Sex Work in England and Wales
Authors: Sagar Tracey , Croxall Jodie
Published: April 2012

This article focuses on the escalating shift in power from the centre to ‘community’ with specific regard to the local governance of street sex work. With reference to reforms in local governance and sex work policy, we question what localism may mean for street sex workers as both vulnerable members of the community and also anti-social subjects. Our critical examination suggests that street sex workers are susceptible to increasing marginalisation and social exclusion. To counter this, it is argued that there needs to be greater attention and investment towards improving community cohesion and democracy for ‘all’ within the localist agenda.
Shaking the Pot of Modelling Tools: Some Open Problems in the Field
Authors: Harmanec Petr
Published: April 2012

To inspire and provoke lively discussions, I argue that the accuracy of the basic physical properties of stars, based on analyses of well-observed detached binaries, might be worse than usually believed. I offer some ways how to deal with the situation. I end with a few comments on the studies of extra-solar planets.
Techniques for Observing Binaries in Other Galaxies
Authors: Bonanos Alceste Z.
Published: April 2012

I present an overview of the techniques used for detecting and following up binaries in nearby galaxies and present the current census of extragalactic binaries, with a focus on eclipsing systems. The motivation for looking in other galaxies is the use of eclipsing binaries as distance indicators and as probes of the most massive stars.
Reconstruction of an Accretion Disk Image in AU Mon from CoRoT Photometry
Authors: Mimica P. , Pavlovski K.
Published: April 2012

The long-period binary system AU Mon was photometrically observed on-board the CoRoT satellite in a continuous run of almost 60 days long which has covered almost 5 complete cycles. Unprecedented sub milimag precision of CoRoT photometry reveals all complexity of its light variations in this, still active mass-transfer binary system. We present images of an accretion disk reconstructed by eclipse mapping, and an optimization of intensity distribution along disk surface. Time resolution and accurate CoRoT photometric measurements allow precise location of spatial distribution of ‘hot’ spots on the disk, and tracing temporal changes in their activity. Clumpy disk structure is similar to those we detected early for another W Serpentis binary W Cru (Pavlovski, Burki & Mimica, 2006, A&A, 454, 855).
Multiwavelength Modeling the SED of Strongly Interacting Binaries
Authors: Skopal Augustin
Published: April 2012

The spectrum of strongly interacting binaries, as for example, high and low mass X-ray binaries, symbiotic (X-ray) binaries and/or classical and recurrent novae, consists of more components of radiation contributing from hard X-rays to radio wavelengths. To understand the basic physical processes responsible for the observed spectrum we have to disentangle the composite spectrum into its individual components, i.e. to determine their physical parameters. In this short contribution I demonstrate the method of modeling the multiwavelength SED on the example of the extragalactic super-soft X-ray source RX J0059.1-7505 (LIN 358).
Planets in Binary Systems
Authors: Pilello Antonio
Published: April 2012

In close eclipsing binary systems, measurements of the eclipse timing variations (ETV), obtained by means of accurate light curves, may be used to find circumbinary additional objects. The presence of these objects causes the motion of the eclipsing binary with respect to the centre of mass of the entire system and it results in advances or delays in the times of eclipses due to the light time effect. The most important issue of this project is to inspect the potential of detecting low mass substellar companions to close eclipsing binaries through the timing method. For this purpose, we use the public data from Kepler and CoRoT spacecrafts, collecting the light curves for a selected sample and analyzing the observed minus calculated (O-C) times of the eclipses in the search for ETVs and characterizing them. A large amplitude of the O-C ETVs can be explained in some cases by the presence of a third body in the system.
Probing Bow Shocks Around Exoplanets During Transits
Authors: Vidotto A. A. , Jardine M. , Helling C.
Published: April 2012

Here, we summarise the conditions that might lead to the formation of a bow shock surrounding a planet's magnetosphere. Such shocks are formed as a result of the interaction of a planet with its host star wind. In the case of close-in planets, the shock develops ahead of the planetary orbit. If this shocked material is able to absorb stellar radiation, the shock signature can be revealed in (asymmetric) transit light curves. We propose that this is the case of the gas giant planet WASP-12b, whose near-UV transit observations have detected the presence of an extended material ahead of the planetary orbit. We show that shock detection through transit observations can be a useful tool to constrain planetary magnetic fields.
The Orbital Period Distribution of Cataclysmic Variables Found by the SDSS
Authors: Southworth John , Gänsicke Boris T. , Breedt Elmé
Published: April 2012

The orbital period is one of the most accessible observables of a cataclysmic variable. It has been a concern for many years that the orbital period distribution of the known systems does not match that predicted by evolutionary theory. The sample of objects discovered by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey has changed this: it shows the long-expected predominance of short-period objects termed the ‘period spike’. The minimum period remains in conflict with theory, suggesting that the angular momentum loss mechanisms are stronger than predicted.
Space-Based Photometry of Eclipsing Binaries
Authors: Southworth John
Published: April 2012

I briefly review the history and prospects for the study of eclipsing binary star systems from space-based observatories. The benefits of shifting to space satellites lie in the high precision and cadence achievable, as well as the ability to access wavelength regions which are unattainable from the ground. Whilst small amounts of data on eclipsing binaries were obtained by the Voyager, IUE, OAO-II, Hipparcos and MOST, the more recent CoRoT and Kepler missions were the first to provide extensive data on large numbers of systems. The future holds the prospect of the PLATO satellite, which will go bigger, better and brighter.
Homogeneous Studies of Transiting Planets
Authors: Southworth John
Published: April 2012

The derived physical properties of the known transiting extrasolar planetary systems come from a variety of sources, and are calculated using a range of different methods so are not always directly comparable. I present a catalogue of the physical properties of 58 transiting extrasolar planet and brown dwarf systems which have been measured using homogeneous methods, resulting in quantities which are internally consistent and well-suited to detailed statistical study. The main results for each object, plus a critical compilation of literature values for all known systems, have been placed in an online catalogue. TEPCat can be found at http://www.astro.keele.ac.uk/~jkt/tepcat/
Light Curves of Planetary Transits: How About Ellipticity?
Authors: von Essen Carolina , Huber Klaus F. , Schmitt Jürgen H. M. M.
Published: April 2012

The observation of transit light curves has become a key technique in the study of exoplanets, since modeling the resulting transit photometry yields a wealth of information on the planetary systems. Considering that the limited accuracy of ground-based photometry does directly translate into uncertainties in the derived model parameters, simplified spherical planet models were appropriate in the past. With the advent of space-based instrumentation capable of providing photometry of unprecedented accuracy, however, a need for more realistic models has arisen.
New Photometric Observations of the Transiting Extrasolar Planet TrES-3b
Authors: Vaňko M. , Jakubík M. , Krejčová T. , Maciejewski G. , Budaj J. , Pribulla T. , Ohlert J. , Raetz S. , Krushevska V. , Dubovsky P.
Published: April 2012

We present new transit observations of the transiting exoplanet TrES-3b obtained in the range 2009 – 2011 at several observatories. The orbital parameters of the system were redetermined and the new linear ephemeris was calculated. We performed numerical simulations for studying the long-term stability of orbits.
Asymmetric Transit Curves as Indication of Orbital Obliquity: Clues from the Brown Dwarf Companion in KOI-13
Authors: Szabó G. M. , Szabó R. , Benkö J. M. , Lehmann H. , Mezö G. , Simon A. E. , Kövári Z. , Hodosán G. , Regály Z. , Kiss L. L.
Published: April 2012

Exoplanets orbiting rapidly rotating stars may have unusual light curve shapes. These objects transit across an oblate disk with non-isotropic surface brightness, caused by the gravitational darkening. If such asymmetries are measured, one can infer the orbital obliquity of the exoplanet and the gravity darkened star, even without the analysis of the Rossiter-McLaughlin effect or interferometry. Here we introduce KOI-13 as the first example of a transiting system with a gravity darkened star.
New Binary and Exoplanet Candidates from STEREO Light Curves
Authors: Whittaker Gemma , Sangaralingam Vino , Stevens Ian
Published: April 2012

The Heliospheric Imagers (HI) onboard the STEREO satellites are observing an abundance of background stars as they follow their respective Sun-centered orbits. These are wide-angled CCD cameras with a 20°×20° field of view, directed ~14° from the solar disk. These imagers monitor 20% of the sky over one year, providing light curves for over 500,000 stars down to 12th magnitude and brighter than 7th. We are currently analysing the photometric data from the HI-1 cameras, obtained since March 2007. Following a standard data reduction of the raw photometric images, the resultant light curves underwent a sequence of detrending procedures to minimize systematics in the data, which can contribute to red noise. A transit search was performed using the BLS algorithm, which is sensitive to the box-like shape associated with planetary transits. The resulting candidates were subjected to a number of false-alarm tests to determine the most promising candidates and these were investigated further, visually and using available catalogue data. Possible new exoplanet and binary candidates will now be submitted for follow-up photometric and spectroscopic observations to confirm their nature.
Tomography of Interacting Binary Systems: Algols to Gamma-Ray Binaries
Authors: Richards Mercedes T.
Published: April 2012

Three-dimensional Doppler tomography of interacting binaries has now provided some interesting perspectives of the gas flows beyond the central plane corresponding to the orbital plane. These images suggest that the magnetic field of the mass losing star influences the gas flows in some cases. Earlier 2D tomograms displayed evidence of gas flows associated with the gas stream, accretion disks, accretion annuli, and hot spots as well as evidence of magnetic flows associated with the mass loser. These indirect images have revealed the active environments that exist in the slow-mass-transfer Algols, cataclysmic variables, polars, x-ray binaries, and gamma ray binaries.
Lucky Imaging Survey for Binary Exoplanet Hosts
Authors: Bergfors Carolina , Brandner Wolfgang , Daemgen Sebastian , Henning Thomas
Published: April 2012

Binary or multiple stars are common in our neighbourhood, and many of the exoplanets we know of belong to a star in such a system. The influence of a second star on planet formation can be probed by comparing properties of planets in binary/multiple-star systems with those of single-star planets. We present some of the results from our Lucky Imaging survey for binary companions to hosts of transiting exoplanets.
LTE Model Atmospheres: MARCS, ATLAS and CO5BOLD
Authors: Bonifacio P. , Caffau E. , Ludwig H.-G. , Steffen M.
Published: April 2012

In this talk, we review the basic assumptions and physics covered by classical 1D LTE model atmospheres. We will focus on ATLAS and MARCS models of F-G-K stars and describe what resources are available through the web, both in terms of codes and model-atmosphere grids. We describe the advances made in hydrodynamical simulations of convective stellar atmospheres with the CO5BOLD code and what grids and resources are available, with a prospect of what will be available in the near future.
Modeling of Circumstellar Dust by the DUSTY Code
Authors: Jurkić Tomislav , Kotnik-Karuza Dubravka
Published: April 2012

We present a circumstellar dust model around the symbiotic Mira RR Tel obtained by modeling the near-infrared JHKL magnitudes and ISO spectra. In order to follow the evolution of infrared colours in time, the published JHKL magnitudes were corrected by removing the Mira pulsations. The RR Tel light curves show three obscuration events in the near-IR. Using the simultaneously available JHKL magnitudes and ISO spectra in three different epochs, we obtained SEDs in the near- and mid-IR spectral region (1-20 μm) in epochs with and without obscuration.

The DUSTY numerical code was used to solve the radiative transfer and to determine the circumstellar dust properties of the inner dust regions around the Mira, assuming a spherical dust temperature distribution in its close neighbourhood. The physical properties of the dust, mass loss and optical depth during intervals with and without obscuration have been obtained. Both JHKL and ISO observations during the obscuration period can be reproduced with a spherical dust envelope, while ISO spectra outside obscuration show a different behaviour. The dynamical behaviour of the circumstellar dust was obtained by modeling the JHKL magnitudes observed during the span of more than 30 years.

The DUSTY code was also successfully applied in the modeling of circumstellar dust envelopes of young stellar objects, such as Herbig Ae/Be stars.
Fitting of Silicon lines in UV and Balmer Hδ Line in Optical Spectra of B supergiant HD 198478
Authors: Jurkić Tomislav , Deković Mariza Sarta , Kotnik-Karuza Dubravka
Published: April 2012

Atmospheric parameters of the Galactic early B-supergiant HD 198478 (55 Cyg) were determined from the UV silicon lines and optical Balmer Hδ 4101 Å line. TLUSTY synthetic spectra were broadened using the ROTIN numerical code in order to determine effective temperature, surface gravity, rotational and macroturbulent velocity.
New Galactic Candidate Luminous Blue Variables and Wolf-Rayet Stars
Authors: Stringfellow Guy S. , Gvaramadze Vasilii V. , Beletsky Yuri , Kniazev Alexei Y.
Published: April 2012

We have undertaken a near-infrared spectral survey of stars associated with compact mid-IR shells recently revealed by the MIPSGAL (24 μm) and GLIMPSE (8 μm) Spitzer surveys, whose morphologies are typical of circumstellar shells produced by massive evolved stars. Through spectral similarity with known Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) and Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars, a large population of candidate LBVs (cLBVs) and a smaller number of new WR stars are being discovered. This significantly increases the Galactic cLBV population and confirms that nebulae are inherent to most (if not all) objects of this class.
RaveSpan - Radial Velocity and Spectrum Analyzer
Authors: Pilecki Bogumil , Konorski Piotr , Gorski Marek
Published: April 2012

The RV analysis tool integrates widely used methods of radial velocity determination (CCF, TODCOR, BF) in an easy to use graphical environment. No advanced knowledge of these methods is required to use it. The obtained velocities may be immediately analyzed with the same tool as it comprises flexible fitting of orbital parameters, which includes the third body influence and pulsational velocities of the components. These features together help to establish the most accurate combination of templates, spectrum range, and method. Scripting functionality is to be implemented in the future.
Infinity – A New Program for Modeling Binary Systems
Authors: Attila Cséki , Latković Olivera
Published: April 2012

Infinity is a new program for modeling binary systems. The model is based on Roche geometry with asynchronous rotation, including an assortment of effects like gravity and limb darkening, mutual irradiation, bright and dark spots and so on. However, Infinity brings innovations in the modeling of accretion disks, and introduces the modeling of radial and non-radial oscillations on one or both components of the system.

At this stage of development, Infinity can produce light curves, spectra and radial velocity curves; solving the inverse problem is still a work in progress. In terms of programming, Infinity is being developed in the object-oriented language C#, and great care is taken to produce readable, easily extensible and verifiable code. Infinity is fully optimized to take advantage of modern multi-core CPUs, and the code is thoroughly covered with unit-tests. We expect to make a public release during 2012.
Period Changes of the Algol System SZ Herculis
Authors: Lee J. W. , Lee C.-U. , Kim S.-L. , Kim H.-I. , Park J.-H. , Hinse T. C.
Published: April 2012

New CCD photometric observations of SZ Her were obtained between February and May 2008. More than 1,100 times of minimum light spanning more than one century were used for the period analysis. We find that the orbital period of SZ Her has varied due to a combination of two periodic variations, with cycle lengths of P3 = 85.8 yr and P4 = 42.5 yr and semi-amplitudes of K3 = 0.013 days and K4 = 0.007 days, respectively. The most reasonable explanation for them is a pair of light-time-travel (LTT) effects driven by the existence of two M-type companions with minimum masses of M3 = 0.22 M⊙ and M4 = 0.19 M⊙, located at nearly 2:1 mean motion resonance. Then, SZ Her is a quadruple system and the 3rd and 4th components would stay in the stable orbital resonance.
Methods of the Long-term Radial-Velocity Variation Removal and their Application to Detect Duplicity of Several Be Stars
Authors: Nemravová J. , Harmanec P. , Koubský P. , Miroshnichenko A.
Published: April 2012

There are several types of binary stars which show non-periodical radial velocity variations with the amplitude larger than those connected with the orbital motion. The non-periodical changes have to be removed in order to study the orbital ones. We propose three removal techniques, two of which are based on the trend modeling with continuous functions and the third one that takes the orbital motion into account.
The Effects of Eccentric Accretion Structures on the Light Curves of Interacting Algol-type Binary Stars
Authors: Reed Phillip A.
Published: April 2012

The light curves of many Algol-type binary stars are complicated with strange variations. Secular variations are due to the transient nature of the accretion structure, while the phase-dependent features, such as outside-of-eclipse dips, are likely geometrical effects of the accretion structure eclipsing the primary star. Presented here is a model of the ultraviolet light curve of R Arae that explains these variations through the combination of an eccentric accretion structure and the system's orbital inclination.

The orbital period of R Ara is 4.4 days, which is too long to allow for direct impact of the mass transfer stream onto the primary star, but not long enough for a stable accretion disk to form. Such intermediate-period Algols are good candidates in which to find transient and eccentric accretion structures. Other examples of interacting Algols that exhibit outside-of-eclipse dips in their light curves include RV Oph (Porb.=3.7 days) and Y Psc (Porb.=3.9 days).

In order to more accurately model eccentric accretion structures with synthetic light curves, especially at visible (and longer) wavelengths, more work must be done to account for emission by the parts of the accretion structure that are not in the line of sight to the primary star. The model presented here accounts only for the eclipsing regions of the accretion structure.