A high-resolution record of Southern Ocean intermediate water radiocarbon over the past 30,000 years

The circulation of intermediate waters plays an important role in global heat and carbon transport in the ocean and changes in their distribution are closely tied to glacial–interglacial climate change. Coupled radiocarbon and U/Th measurements on deep-sea Desmophyllum dianthus corals allow for the reconstruction of past intermediate water ventilation. We present a high-resolution time series of Antarctic Intermediate Water radiocarbon from 44 corals spanning 30 ka through the start of the Holocene, encompassing the transition into the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) and the last deglaciation. Corals were collected south of Tasmania from water depths between 1430 and 1950 m with 80% of them between 1500 and 1700 m, giving us a continuous record from a narrow depth range. The record shows three distinct periods of circulation: the MIS 3–2 transition, the LGM/Heinrich Stadial 1 (extending from ∼22 to 16 kyr BP), and the Antarctic Cold Reversal (ACR). The MIS 3–2 transition and the ACR are characterized by abrupt changes in intermediate water radiocarbon while the LGM time period generally follows the atmosphere at a constant offset, in support of the idea that the LGM ocean was at steady state for its ^(14)C distribution. Closer inspection of the LGM time period reveals a 40‰ jump at ∼19 ka from an atmospheric offset of roughly 230‰ to 190‰, coincident with an observed 10–15 m rise in sea level and a southward shift of the Subantarctic and Polar Fronts, an abrupt change not seen in deeper records. During the ACR time period intermediate water radiocarbon is on average less offset from the atmosphere (∼110‰∼110‰) and much more variable. This variability has been captured within the lifetimes of three individual corals with changes of up to 35‰ over ∼40 yr, likely caused by the movement of Southern Ocean fronts. This surprising result of relatively young and variable intermediate water radiocarbon during the ACR seems to go against the canonical idea of reduced circulation and ventilation in the south during this time period. However comparisons with other records from the Southern Ocean highlight zonal asymmetries, which can explain the deviation of our Tasmanian record from those in Drake Passage and the eastern Pacific. These signals seen in Tasmanian intermediate water Δ^(14)C can also be found in Greenland ice core δ^(18)O and East Asian monsoon strength. Throughout the LGM and the deglaciation, our Tasmanian intermediate water record is sensitive to times when the upper and lower cells of the meridional overturning circulation are more or less interconnected, which has important implications for the global climate system on glacial–interglacial time scales

Pricing Bodies: A Feminist New Materialist Approach to the Relations Between the Economic and Socio-Cultural

Arguments that the economic and socio-cultural should be understood as relational and intertwined, and that price involves a reciprocal relationship between the economic and socio-cultural, are increasingly prevalent in the social sciences. I develop these notions of relationality and reciprocation through a feminist new materialist perspective, which emphasises the entanglement of and intra-action between what might usually be seen as independent and autonomous entities. To do this, I focus on a range of recent body-image initiatives, led by government, corporate and non-profit organisations, which aim to improve girls’ and young women’s levels of confidence and self-esteem. I explore how feminist theory tends to see such initiatives in terms of the expansion of the economic sphere into the socio-cultural, which involves a tainting or contamination of embodiment and feeling. Rather than dispute these arguments, I take seriously theories and practices from cultural economy that see the economic and socio-cultural as co-constitutive. I augment these ideas with a feminist new materialist approach and argue that the economic and socio-cultural are in intra-active relations: they do not precede or exist apart from each other. In doing so, I consider how body-image initiatives can be understood as phenomena produced through these entangled intra-active relations, and offer an understanding of pricing as a simultaneously socio-cultural and economic process, where value and values become. I also raise questions regarding how, ethically and politically, boundary making and unmaking can be conceived, and how despite being in entangled relations, asymmetries between economic and socio-cultural relations may be approached

The role of the Southern Ocean in abrupt transitions and hysteresis in glacial ocean circulation

High‐latitude Northern Hemisphere climate during the last glacial period was characterized by a series of abrupt climate changes, known as Dansgaard‐Oeschger (DO) events, which were recorded in Greenland ice cores as shifts in the oxygen isotopic composition of the ice. These shifts in inferred Northern Hemisphere high‐latitude temperature have been linked to changes in Atlantic meridional overturning strength. The response of ocean overturning circulation to forcing is non‐linear and a hierarchy of models have suggested that it may exist in multiple steady state configurations. Here, we use a time‐dependent coarse‐resolution isopycnal model with four density classes and two basins, linked by a Southern Ocean to explore overturning states and their stability to changes in external parameters. The model exhibits hysteresis in both the steady‐state stratification and overturning strength as a function of the magnitude of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. Hysteresis occurs as a result of two non‐linearities in the model‐‐‐the surface buoyancy distribution in the Southern Ocean and the vertical diffusivity profile in the Atlantic and Indo‐Pacific basins. We construct a metric to assess circulation configuration in the model, motivated by observations from the Last Glacial Maximum, which show a different circulation structure from the modern. We find that circulation configuration is primarily determined by NADW density. The model results are used to suggest how ocean conditions may have influenced the pattern of DO events across the last glacial cycle

alpha^2 corrections to parapositronium decay: a detailed description

We present details of our recent calculation of alpha^2 corrections to the parapositronium decay into two photons. These corrections are rather small and our final result for the parapositronium lifetime agrees well with the most recent measurement. Implications for orthopositronium decays are briefly discussed.Comment: 18 pages, late

The "recoil" correction of order mα6m \alpha^6 to hyperfine splitting of positronium ground state

The "recoil" correction of order $m \alpha^6$ to the hyperfine splitting of positronium ground state was found. The formalism employed is based on the noncovariant perturbation theory in QED. Equation for two-particle component of full (many-body) wave function is used, in which effective Hamiltonian depends on the energy of a system. The effective Hamiltonian is not restricted to the nonrelativistic region, so there is no need in any regularization. To evaluate integrals over loop momenta, they are divided into "hard" and "soft" parts, coming from large and small momenta respectively. Soft contributions were found analytically, and hard ones are evaluated by numerical integration. Some soft terms due to the retardation cancel each other. To calculate the "hard" contributions, a great number of noncovariant graphs is replaced by only a few covariant ones. The hard contribution was found in two ways. The first way is to evaluate contributions of separate graphs, using the Coulomb gauge. The second one is to calculate full hard contribution as a whole using the Feynman gauge. The final result for the "recoil" correction is 0.381(6) m\al^6 and agrees with those of previous papers. Diagram-to-diagram comparison with the revised results of Adkins&Sapirstein was done. All the results agree, so the "recoil" correction is now firmly established. This means a considerable disagreement with the experimental data.Comment: 28 pages, latex including latex figure

One-loop corrections of order (Z alpha)^6m_1/m_2, (Z alpha)^7 to the muonium fine structure

The corrections of order (Z alpha)^6m_1/m_2 and (Z alpha)^7 from one-loop two-photon exchange diagrams to the energy spectra of the hydrogenic atoms are calculated with the help of the Taylor expansion of corresponding integrands. The method of averaging the quasipotential over the wave functions in the d-dimensional coordinate space is formulated. The numerical values of the obtained contributions to the fine structure of muonium, hydrogen and positronium are presented.Comment: Talk given at the XVIth International Workshop High-Energy Physics and Quantum Field Theory (QFTHEP2001), Moscow, Russia, 6-12 Sep 2001, 12 pages, REVTE

Neutron Rich Hypernuclei in Chiral Soliton Model

The binding energies of neutron rich strangeness $S=-1$ hypernuclei are estimated in the chiral soliton approach using the bound state rigid oscillator version of the SU(3) quantization model. Additional binding of strange hypernuclei in comparison with nonstrange neutron rich nuclei takes place at not large values of atomic (baryon) numbers, $A=B\leq\sim 10$. This effect becomes stronger with increasing isospin of nuclides, and for "nuclear variant" of the model with rescaled Skyrme constant $e$. Total binding energies of (Lambda)He-8 and recently discovered (Lambda)H-6 satisfactorily agree with experimental data. Hypernuclei (Lambda)H-7, (Lambda)He-9 are predicted to be bound stronger in comparison with their nonstrange analogues H-7, He-9; hypernuclei (Lambda)Li-10, (Lambda)Li-11, (Lambda)Be-12, (Lambda)Be-13, etc. are bound stronger in the nuclear variant of the model.Comment: 8 pages, 4 tables; amendments made, data on binding energy of (Lambda)He-8 and references added; prepared for the conferences Quarks-2012 and HYP201

Metal-insulator transition in a 2D electron gas: Equivalence of two approaches for determining the critical point

The critical electron density for the metal-insulator transition in a two-dimensional electron gas can be determined by two distinct methods: (i) a sign change of the temperature derivative of the resistance, and (ii) vanishing activation energy and vanishing nonlinearity of current-voltage characteristics as extrapolated from the insulating side. We find that in zero magnetic field (but not in the presence of a parallel magnetic field), both methods give equivalent results, adding support to the existence of a true zero-field metal-insulator transition.Comment: As publishe

Weak electricity of the Nucleon in the Chiral Quark-Soliton Model

The induced pseudotensor constant (weak electricity) of the nucleon is calculated in the framework of the chiral quark soliton model. This quantity originates from the G-parity violation and hence is proportional to $m_u-m_d$. We obtain for $m_u-m_d=-5 MeV$ a value of $g_T/g_A =-0.0038$.Comment: The final version. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

The role of the Southern Ocean in abrupt transitions and hysteresis in glacial ocean circulation

High‐latitude Northern Hemisphere climate during the last glacial period was characterized by a series of abrupt climate changes, known as Dansgaard‐Oeschger (DO) events, which were recorded in Greenland ice cores as shifts in the oxygen isotopic composition of the ice. These shifts in inferred Northern Hemisphere high‐latitude temperature have been linked to changes in Atlantic meridional overturning strength. The response of ocean overturning circulation to forcing is non‐linear and a hierarchy of models have suggested that it may exist in multiple steady state configurations. Here, we use a time‐dependent coarse‐resolution isopycnal model with four density classes and two basins, linked by a Southern Ocean to explore overturning states and their stability to changes in external parameters. The model exhibits hysteresis in both the steady‐state stratification and overturning strength as a function of the magnitude of North Atlantic Deep Water (NADW) formation. Hysteresis occurs as a result of two non‐linearities in the model‐‐‐the surface buoyancy distribution in the Southern Ocean and the vertical diffusivity profile in the Atlantic and Indo‐Pacific basins. We construct a metric to assess circulation configuration in the model, motivated by observations from the Last Glacial Maximum, which show a different circulation structure from the modern. We find that circulation configuration is primarily determined by NADW density. The model results are used to suggest how ocean conditions may have influenced the pattern of DO events across the last glacial cycle