Flood magnitude-frequency and lithologic control on bedrock river incision in post-orogenic terrain

Mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers - bedrock channels lined with a discontinuous alluvial cover - are key agents in the shaping of mountain belt topography by bedrock fluvial incision. Whereas much research focuses upon the erosional dynamics of such rivers in the context of rapidly uplifting orogenic landscapes, the present study investigates river incision processes in a post-orogenic (cratonic) landscape undergoing extremely low rates of incision (> 5 m/Ma). River incision processes are examined as a function of substrate lithology and the magnitude and frequency of formative flows along Sandy Creek gorge, a mixed bedrock-alluvial stream in arid SE-central Australia. Incision is focused along a bedrock channel with a partial alluvial cover arranged into riffle-pool macrobedforms that reflect interactions between rock structure and large-flood hydraulics. Variations in channel width and gradient determine longitudinal trends in mean shear stress (τb) and therefore also patterns of sediment transport and deposition. A steep and narrow, non-propagating knickzone (with 5% alluvial cover) coincides with a resistant quartzite unit that subdivides the gorge into three reaches according to different rock erodibility and channel morphology. The three reaches also separate distinct erosional styles: bedrock plucking (i.e. detachment-limited erosion) prevails along the knickzone, whereas along the upper and lower gorge rock incision is dependent upon large formative floods exceeding critical erosion thresholds (τc) for coarse boulder deposits that line 70% of the channel thalweg (i.e. transport-limited erosion). The mobility of coarse bed materials (up to 2 m diameter) during late Holocene palaeofloods of known magnitude and age is evaluated using step-backwater flow modelling in conjunction with two selective entrainment equations. A new approach for quantifying the formative flood magnitude in mixed bedrock-alluvial rivers is described here based on the mobility of a key coarse fraction of the bed materials; in this case the d84 size fraction. A 350 m3/s formative flood fully mobilises the coarse alluvial cover with τb200-300 N/m2 across the upper and lower gorge riffles, peaking over 500 N/m2 in the knickzone. Such floods have an annual exceedance probability much less than 10- 2 and possibly as low as 10- 3. The role of coarse alluvial cover in the gorge is discussed at two scales: (1) modulation of bedrock exposure at the reach-scale, coupled with adjustment to channel width and gradient, accommodates uniform incision across rocks of different erodibility in steady-state fashion; and (2) at the sub-reach scale where coarse boulder deposits (corresponding to <i>τ</i><sub>b</sub> minima) cap topographic convexities in the rock floor, thereby restricting bedrock incision to rare large floods. While recent studies postulate that decreasing uplift rates during post-orogenic topographic decay might drive a shift to transport-limited conditions in river networks, observations here and elsewhere in post-orogenic settings suggest, to the contrary, that extremely low erosion rates are maintained with substantial bedrock channel exposure. Although bed material mobility is known to be rate-limiting for bedrock river incision under low sediment flux conditions, exactly how a partial alluvial cover might be spatially distributed to either optimise or impede the rate of bedrock incision is open to speculation. Observations here suggest that the small volume of very stable bed materials lining Sandy Creek gorge is distributed so as to minimise the rate of bedrock fluvial incision over time

Physical States in Canonically Quantized Supergravity

We discuss the canonical quantization of $N=1$ supergravity in the functional Schrodinger representation. Although the form of the supersymmetry constraints suggests that there are solutions of definite order $n$ in the fermion fields, we show that there are no such states for any finite $n$. For $n=0$, a simple scaling argument definitively excludes the purely bosonic states discussed by D'Eath. For $n>0$, the argument is based on a mode expansion of the gravitino field on the quantization 3-surface. It is thus suggested that physical states in supergravity have infinite Grassmann number. This is confirmed for the free spin-3/2 field, for which we find that states satisfying the gauge constraints contain an infinite product of fermion mode operators.Comment: 36 pages (uses jnl.tex), CTP #227

Heavy Flavour Working Group Summary

We review theoretical and phenomenological aspects of heavy flavour production as discussed in the heavy flavour working group of the DIS 2012. Recent theoretical progress includes approximate NNLO calculations for heavy quark structure functions in deep inelastic scattering, the extension of the ACOT heavy flavour scheme to jet production, and advances in top physics where the highlight is clearly the first complete NNLO QCD prediction for top pair production in the $q \bar{q}$ annihilation channel. Furthermore, state of the art phenomenological predictions for open charm and bottom, charmonium, and single top and top pair production are discussed in addition to other topics such as the effect of double parton scattering on heavy quark production. New measurements on charm and beauty production presented in the heavy flavor working group are summarized and discussed in comparison with QCD predictions. Top quark strong and weak couplings as well as top quark properties are being measured with precision at the LHC and the Tevatron. We summarize also recent results on spectroscopy of charmonia, bottomonia and $b$-hadrons, along with studies of their decays and properties. Searches for physics beyond Standard Model through precise measurements of rare decays of heavy flavours are discussed as well.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, to be published in the Proceedings of the XX International Workshop on Deep Inelastic Scattering, University of Bonn, 26-30th March 201

Risk aversion under preference uncertainty

We show that if an agent is uncertain about the precise form of his utility function, his actual relative risk aversion may depend on wealth even if he knows his utility function lies in the class of constant relative risk aversion (CRRA) utility functions. We illustrate the consequences of this result for asset allocation: poor agents that are uncertain about their risk aversion parameter invest less in risky assets than wealthy investors with identical risk aversion uncertainty. Keywords: Risk Aversion , Preference Uncertainty , Risk-taking , Asset Allocation JEL Classification: D81, D84, G11 This Version: November 25, 201

Possible assignments of the X(3872)X(3872), Zc(3900)Z_c(3900) and Zb(10610)Z_b(10610) as axial-vector molecular states

In this article, we construct both the color singlet-singlet type and octet-octet type currents to interpolate the $X(3872)$, $Z_c(3900)$, $Z_b(10610)$, and calculate the vacuum condensates up to dimension-10 in the operator product expansion. Then we study the axial-vector hidden charmed and hidden bottom molecular states with the QCD sum rules, explore the energy scale dependence of the QCD sum rules for the heavy molecular states in details, and use the formula $\mu=\sqrt{M^2_{X/Y/Z}-(2{\mathbb{M}}_Q)^2}$ with the effective masses ${\mathbb{M}}_Q$ to determine the energy scales. The numerical results support assigning the $X(3872)$, $Z_c(3900)$, $Z_b(10610)$ as the color singlet-singlet type molecular states with $J^{PC}=1^{++}$, $1^{+-}$, $1^{+-}$, respectively, more theoretical and experimental works are still needed to distinguish the molecule and tetraquark assignments; while there are no candidates for the color octet-octet type molecular states.Comment: 20 pages, 20 figures, add detailed discussions. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1310.2422, arXiv:1312.2652, arXiv:1312.1537, arXiv:1311.104