arXiv subjects

Andrea Musso

Publications and source records attributed to Andrea Musso.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

Large cities lose their growth advantage as countries urbanize

The share of the world population living in cities with more than one million people rose from 11% in 1975 to 24% in 2025 (our estimates). Will this trend towards greater concentration in large cities continue or level off? We introduce two new city population datasets that use consistent city definitions across countries and over time. The first covers the world between 1975 and 2025, using satellite imagery. The second covers the U.S. between 1850 and 2020, using census microdata. We find that urban growth follows a characteristic life cycle. In the early stages of a country's urbanization process, large cities grow faster than smaller ones. At later stages, growth rates equalize across sizes. We use this life cycle to project future population concentration in large cities. Our projections suggest that 38% of the world population will be living in cities with more than one million people by 2100. This estimate is higher than the 33% implied by the well-known theory of proportional growth, but lower than the 42% obtained by extrapolating current trends.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2024

Superconducting Cable Modelling into Electro-Magnetic Transient Simulation Tool

The European project SCARLET aims to study and realize a demonstrator of a MVDC (Medium Voltage Direct Current) high-power superconducting cable. This device might be employed to connect offshore wind farms with land, expecting to significantly simplify the offshore platform by eliminating the need for its conversion function. For this purpose, windmill conversion chain must be modified to directly produce the MVDC export voltage. In this scenario, this paper presents the case of a 1GW offshore windmill superconducting link and outlines the design consideration for a 1 GW onshore converter. For this cable, a protection strategy that combines DC circuit breakers with a Resistive Superconducting Fault Current Limiter is proposed. Moreover, this works demonstrates how a superconducting cable can be modelled as an electrical circuit to be integrated into a network simulation tool, enabling the investigation of various fault scenarios and protection strategies. Finally, a specific result is discussed to exemplify how the proposed approach can benefit the design of both the electrical network and the superconducting cable itself.

cond-mat.supr-con↗

arXiv2022

How networks shape diversity for better or worse

Socio-diversity, the variety of human opinions, ideas, behaviors and styles, has profound implications for social systems. While it fuels innovation, productivity, and collective intelligence, it can also complicate communication and erode trust. So what mechanisms can influence it? This paper studies how fundamental characteristics of social networks can support or hinder socio-diversity. It employs models of cultural evolution, mathematical analysis, and numerical simulations. We find that pronounced inequalities in the distribution of connections obstruct socio-diversity. In contrast, the prevalence of close-knit communities, a scarcity of long-range connections, and a significant tie density tend to promote it. These results open new perspectives for understanding how to change social networks to sustain more socio-diversity and, thereby, societal innovation, collective intelligence, and productivity.

physics.soc-ph↗

arXiv2021

Equidistribution of rational subspaces and their shapes

To any $k$-dimensional subspace of $\mathbb Q^n$ one can naturally associate a point in the Grassmannian ${\rm Gr}_{n,k}(\mathbb R)$ and two shapes of lattices of rank $k$ and $n-k$ respectively. These lattices originate by intersecting the $k$-dimensional subspace with the lattice $\mathbb Z^n$. Using unipotent dynamics we prove simultaneous equidistribution of all of these objects under a congruence conditions when $(k,n) \neq (2,4)$.

math.NT↗