Investigations on alternative substances for control of apple scab - results from sanitation trials

The intention of this research project, which was supported within the "Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau", was to look for alternatives in organic fruit growing to control apple scab, Venturia inaequalis. One important part of the investigations was the application of different substances like microbiological nutrient media, enzymes usually used for production of fruit juices and organic fertilizers on their effect on the ascospore potential on depots of fallen leaves. Some substances like TRYPTIC SOY BROTH increased the decomposition of the leaves significantly, other like BACTOFIL B and HUMOFIX showed nearly no effect on the decomposition, but reduced the ascospore potential in early spring by 80 % compared to the untreated control

Conduction Channels of One-Atom Zinc Contacts

We have determined the transmission coefficients of atomic-sized Zn contacts using a new type of breakjunction which contains a whisker as a central bridge. We find that in the last conductance plateau the transport is unexpectedly dominated by a well-transmitting single conduction channel. We explain the experimental findings with the help of a tight-binding model which shows that in an one-atom Zn contact the current proceeds through the 4s and 4p orbitals of the central atom.Comment: revtex4, 5 pages, 5 figure

Conformal scattering for a nonlinear wave equation on a curved background

The purpose of this paper is to establish a geometric scattering result for a conformally invariant nonlinear wave equation on an asymptotically simple spacetime. The scattering operator is obtained via trace operators at null infinities. The proof is achieved in three steps. A priori linear estimates are obtained via an adaptation of the Morawetz vector field in the Schwarzschild spacetime and a method used by H\"ormander for the Goursat problem. A well-posedness result for the characteristic Cauchy problem on a light cone at infinity is then obtained. This requires a control of the nonlinearity uniform in time which comes from an estimates of the Sobolev constant and a decay assumption on the nonlinearity of the equation. Finally, the trace operators on conformal infinities are built and used to define the conformal scattering operator

Electron-vibration interaction in transport through atomic gold wires

We calculate the effect of electron-vibration coupling on conduction through atomic gold wires, which was measured in the experiments of Agra\"it et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 88, 216803 (2002)]. The vibrational modes, the coupling constants, and the inelastic transport are all calculated using a tight-binding parametrization and the non-equilibrium Green function formalism. The electron-vibration coupling gives rise to small drops in the conductance at voltages corresponding to energies of some of the vibrational modes. We study systematically how the position and height of these steps vary as a linear wire is stretched and more atoms are added to it, and find a good agreement with the experiments. We also consider two different types of geometries, which are found to yield qualitatively similar results. In contrast to previous calculations, we find that typically there are several close-lying drops due to different longitudinal modes. In the experiments, only a single drop is usually visible, but its width is too large to be accounted for by temperature. Therefore, to explain the experimental results, we find it necessary to introduce a finite broadening to the vibrational modes, which makes the separate drops merge into a single, wide one. In addition, we predict how the signatures of vibrational modes in the conductance curves differ between linear and zigzag-type wires.Comment: 19 pages, 12 figure

Recovering the mass and the charge of a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole by an inverse scattering experiment

In this paper, we study inverse scattering of massless Dirac fields that propagate in the exterior region of a Reissner-Nordstr\"om black hole. Using a stationary approach we determine precisely the leading terms of the high-energy asymptotic expansion of the scattering matrix that, in turn, permit us to recover uniquely the mass of the black hole and its charge up to a sign

Decay of the Maxwell field on the Schwarzschild manifold

We study solutions of the decoupled Maxwell equations in the exterior region of a Schwarzschild black hole. In stationary regions, where the Schwarzschild coordinate $r$ ranges over $2M < r_1 < r < r_2$, we obtain a decay rate of $t^{-1}$ for all components of the Maxwell field. We use vector field methods and do not require a spherical harmonic decomposition. In outgoing regions, where the Regge-Wheeler tortoise coordinate is large, $r_*>\epsilon t$, we obtain decay for the null components with rates of $|\phi_+| \sim |\alpha| < C r^{-5/2}$, $|\phi_0| \sim |\rho| + |\sigma| < C r^{-2} |t-r_*|^{-1/2}$, and $|\phi_{-1}| \sim |\underline{\alpha}| < C r^{-1} |t-r_*|^{-1}$. Along the event horizon and in ingoing regions, where $r_*<0$, and when $t+r_*1$, all components (normalized with respect to an ingoing null basis) decay at a rate of C \uout^{-1} with \uout=t+r_* in the exterior region.Comment: 37 pages, 5 figure

Local energy decay of massive Dirac fields in the 5D Myers-Perry metric

We consider massive Dirac fields evolving in the exterior region of a 5-dimensional Myers-Perry black hole and study their propagation properties. Our main result states that the local energy of such fields decays in a weak sense at late times. We obtain this result in two steps: first, using the separability of the Dirac equation, we prove the absence of a pure point spectrum for the corresponding Dirac operator; second, using a new form of the equation adapted to the local rotations of the black hole, we show by a Mourre theory argument that the spectrum is absolutely continuous. This leads directly to our main result.Comment: 40 page

Metallic properties of magnesium point contacts

We present an experimental and theoretical study of the conductance and stability of Mg atomic-sized contacts. Using Mechanically Controllable Break Junctions (MCBJ), we have observed that the room temperature conductance histograms exhibit a series of peaks, which suggests the existence of a shell effect. Its periodicity, however, cannot be simply explained in terms of either an atomic or electronic shell effect. We have also found that at room temperature, contacts of the diameter of a single atom are absent. A possible interpretation could be the occurrence of a metal-to-insulator transition as the contact radius is reduced, in analogy with what it is known in the context of Mg clusters. However, our first principle calculations show that while an infinite linear chain can be insulating, Mg wires with larger atomic coordinations, as in realistic atomic contacts, are alwaysmetallic. Finally, at liquid helium temperature our measurements show that the conductance histogram is dominated by a pronounced peak at the quantum of conductance. This is in good agreement with our calculations based on a tight-binding model that indicate that the conductance of a Mg one-atom contact is dominated by a single fully open conduction channel.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure