5,299 research outputs found
Climate change and the selective signature of the Late Ordovician mass extinction
Selectivity patterns provide insights into the causes of ancient extinction events. The Late Ordovician mass extinction was related to Gondwanan glaciation; however, it is still unclear whether elevated extinction rates were attributable to record failure, habitat loss, or climatic cooling. We examined Middle Ordovician-Early Silurian North American fossil occurrences within a spatiotemporally explicit stratigraphic framework that allowed us to quantify rock record effects on a per-taxon basis and assay the interplay of macrostratigraphic and macroecological variables in determining extinction risk. Genera that had large proportions of their observed geographic ranges affected by stratigraphic truncation or environmental shifts at the end of the Katian stage were particularly hard hit. The duration of the subsequent sampling gaps had little effect on extinction risk, suggesting that this extinction pulse cannot be entirely attributed to rock record failure; rather, it was caused, in part, by habitat loss. Extinction risk at this time was also strongly influenced by the maximum paleolatitude at which a genus had previously been sampled, a macroecological trait linked to thermal tolerance. A model trained on the relationship between 16 explanatory variables and extinction patterns during the early Katian interval substantially underestimates the extinction of exclusively tropical taxa during the late Katian interval. These results indicate that glacioeustatic sea-level fall and tropical ocean cooling played important roles in the first pulse of the Late Ordovician mass extinction in Laurentia
Dynamics of the Pionium with the Density Matrix Formalism
The evolution of pionium, the hydrogen-like atom, while passing
through matter is solved within the density matrix formalism in the first Born
approximation. We compare the influence on the pionium break-up probability
between the standard probabilistic calculations and the more precise picture of
the density matrix formalism accounting for interference effects. We focus our
general result in the particular conditions of the DIRAC experiment at CERN.Comment: 14 pages, 2 figures, submitted to J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Phy
A tunable macroscopic quantum system based on two fractional vortices
We propose a tunable macroscopic quantum system based on two fractional
vortices. Our analysis shows that two coupled fractional vortices pinned at two
artificially created \kappa\ discontinuities of the Josephson phase in a long
Josephson junction can reach the quantum regime where coherent quantum
oscillations arise. For this purpose we map the dynamics of this system to that
of a single particle in a double-well potential. By tuning the \kappa\
discontinuities with injector currents we are able to control the parameters of
the effective double-well potential as well as to prepare a desired state of
the fractional vortex molecule. The values of the parameters derived from this
model suggest that an experimental realisation of this tunable macroscopic
quantum system is possible with today's technology.Comment: We updated our manuscript due to a change of the focus from qubit to
macroscopic quantum effect
Lignin dynamics in two13C-labelled arable soils during 18 years
Lignin has long been considered a relatively stable component of soil organic matter. However, recent studies suggest that lignin may turn over within years to decades in
arable soil. Here we analyzed lignin concentrations in an 18 year field experiment under continuous silage maize where two soils were sampled at six points in time. Our
objectives were to examine the long-term dynamics of (i) lignin derived from a previous C3-vegetation and (ii) lignin derived from maize, as influenced by two levels
of maize biomass input. Total lignin concentrations in soil were quantified by gas chromatography of lignin cupric oxide oxidation products. Compound-specific 13C isotope analysis allowed discrimination between C3-derived lignin and maize-derived lignin. Degradation dynamics of C3-derived lignin were independent of biomass input
level, suggesting that priming did not affect soil lignin concentrations over almost two decades. After 18 years approximately two thirds of the initial C3-derived lignin
remained in the soils, whereas, on average, 10 % of the recent maize-derived lignin input was retained. We suggest that lignin is effectively stabilized in these arable
soils, although the mechanisms involved remain unclear
Guidelines for a Space Propulsion Device Based on Heim's Quantum Theory
The text of the calligraphy on the front page means Cosmos, comprising the two chinese symbols for space and time. This calligraphy was done by Hozumi Gensho Roshi, Professor of Applied Sci-ences at Hanazono University, Kyoto, Japan in September 2003. The two red squares depict the sea
Breit Hamiltonian and QED Effects for Spinless Particles
We describe a simplified derivation for the relativistic corrections of order
for a bound system consisting of two spinless particles. We devote
special attention to pionium, the bound system of two oppositely charged pions.
The leading quantum electrodynamic (QED) correction to the energy levels is of
the order of and due to electronic vacuum polarization. We analyze
further corrections due to the self-energy of the pions, and due to recoil
effects, and we give a complete result for the scalar-QED leading logarithmic
corrections which are due to virtual loops involving only the scalar
constituent particles (the pions); these corrections are of order for S states.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX; references added (J. Phys. B, in press
Coherent and incoherent atomic scattering: Formalism and application to pionium interacting with matter
The experimental determination of the lifetime of pionium provides a very
important test on chiral perturbation theory. This quantity is determined in
the DIRAC experiment at CERN. In the analysis of this experiment, the breakup
probabilities of of pionium in matter are needed to high accuracy as a
theoretical input. We study in detail the influence of the target electrons.
They contribute through screening and incoherent effects. We use Dirac-Hartree-
Fock-Slater wavefunctions in order to determine the corresponding form factors.
We find that the inner-shell electrons contribute less than the weakly bound
outer electrons. Furthermore, we establish a more rigorous estimate for the
magnitude of the contributions form the transverse current (magnetic terms thus
far neglected in the calculations).Comment: Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics;
(accepted; 22 pages, 6 figures, 26 references) Revised version: more detailed
description of DIRAC experiment; failure of simplest models for incoherent
scattering demonstrated by example
A reduced model for shock and detonation waves. II. The reactive case
We present a mesoscopic model for reactive shock waves, which extends a
previous model proposed in [G. Stoltz, Europhys. Lett. 76 (2006), 849]. A
complex molecule (or a group of molecules) is replaced by a single
mesoparticle, evolving according to some Dissipative Particle Dynamics.
Chemical reactions can be handled in a mean way by considering an additional
variable per particle describing a rate of reaction. The evolution of this rate
is governed by the kinetics of a reversible exothermic reaction. Numerical
results give profiles in qualitative agreement with all-atom studies
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