10,468 research outputs found
Curvature-driven coarsening in the two dimensional Potts model
We study the geometric properties of polymixtures after a sudden quench in
temperature. We mimic these systems with the -states Potts model on a square
lattice with and without weak quenched disorder, and their evolution with Monte
Carlo simulations with non-conserved order parameter. We analyze the
distribution of hull enclosed areas for different initial conditions and
compare our results with recent exact and numerical findings for (Ising)
case. Our results demonstrate the memory of the presence or absence of
long-range correlations in the initial state during the coarsening regime and
exhibit super-universality properties.Comment: 12 pages, 16 figure
Major shifts at the range edge of marine forests: the combined effects of climate changes and limited dispersal
Global climate change is likely to constrain low latitude range edges across many taxa and habitats. Such is the case for NE Atlantic marine macroalgal forests, important ecosystems whose main structuring species is the annual kelp Saccorhiza polyschides. We coupled ecological niche modelling with simulations of potential dispersal and delayed development stages to infer the major forces shaping range edges and to predict their dynamics. Models indicated that the southern limit is set by high winter temperatures above the physiological tolerance of overwintering microscopic stages and reduced upwelling during recruitment. The best range predictions were achieved assuming low spatial dispersal (5 km) and delayed stages up to two years (temporal dispersal). Reconstructing distributions through time indicated losses of similar to 30% from 1986 to 2014, restricting S. polyschides to upwelling regions at the southern edge. Future predictions further restrict populations to a unique refugium in northwestern Iberia. Losses were dependent on the emissions scenario, with the most drastic one shifting similar to 38% of the current distribution by 2100. Such distributional changes might not be rescued by dispersal in space or time (as shown for the recent past) and are expected to drive major biodiversity loss and changes in ecosystem functioning.Electricity of Portugal (Fundo EDP para a Biodiversidade); FCT - Portuguese Science Foundation [PTDC/MAR-EST/6053/2014, EXTANT-EXCL/AAG-GLO/0661/2012, SFRH/BPD/111003/2015
The Low CO Content of the Extremely Metal Poor Galaxy I Zw 18
We present sensitive molecular line observations of the metal-poor blue
compact dwarf I Zw 18 obtained with the IRAM Plateau de Bure interferometer.
These data constrain the CO J=1-0 luminosity within our 300 pc (FWHM) beam to
be L_CO < 1 \times 10^5 K km s^-1 pc^2 (I_CO < 1 K km s^-1), an order of
magnitude lower than previous limits. Although I Zw 18 is starbursting, it has
a CO luminosity similar to or less than nearby low-mass irregulars (e.g. NGC
1569, the SMC, and NGC 6822). There is less CO in I Zw 18 relative to its
B-band luminosity, HI mass, or star formation rate than in spiral or dwarf
starburst galaxies (including the nearby dwarf starburst IC 10). Comparing the
star formation rate to our CO upper limit reveals that unless molecular gas
forms stars much more efficiently in I Zw 18 than in our own galaxy, it must
have a very low CO-to-H_2 ratio, \sim 10^-2 times the Galactic value. We detect
3mm continuum emission, presumably due to thermal dust and free-free emission,
towards the radio peak.Comment: 5 pages in emulateapj style, accepted by the Astrophysical Journa
Kibble-Zurek mechanism and infinitely slow annealing through critical points
We revisit the Kibble-Zurek mechanism by analyzing the dynamics of phase
ordering systems during an infinitely slow annealing across a second order
phase transition. We elucidate the time and cooling rate dependence of the
typical growing length and we use it to predict the number of topological
defects left over in the symmetry broken phase as a function of time, both
close and far from the critical region. Our results extend the Kibble-Zurek
mechanism and reveal its limitations.Comment: 5 pages, 4 fig
Evidence of secondary relaxations in the dielectric spectra of ionic liquids
We investigated the dynamics of a series of room temperature ionic liquids
based on the same 1-butyl-3-methyl imidazolium cation and different anions by
means of broadband dielectric spectroscopy covering 15 decades in frequency
(10^(-6)-10^9 Hz), and in the temperature range from 400 K down to 35 K. An
ionic conductivity is observed above the glass transition temperature T_{g}
with a relaxation in the electric modulus representation. Below T_{g}, two
relaxation processes appear, with the same features as the secondary
relaxations typically observed in molecular glasses. The activation energy of
the secondary processes and their dependence on the anion are different. The
slower process shows the characteristics of an intrinsic Johari-Goldstein
relaxation, in particular an activation energy E_{beta}=24k_{B}T_{g} is found,
as observed in molecular glasses.Comment: Major revision, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Marginal topological properties of graphene: a comparison with topological insulators
The electronic structures of graphene systems and topological insulators have
closely-related features, such as quantized Berry phase and zero-energy edge
states. The reason for these analogies is that in both systems there are two
relevant orbital bands, which generate the pseudo-spin degree of freedom, and,
less obviously, there is a correspondence between the valley degree of freedom
in graphene and electron spin in topological insulators. Despite the
similarities, there are also several important distinctions, both for the bulk
topological properties and for their implications for the edge states --
primarily due to the fundamental difference between valley and spin. In view of
their peculiar band structure features, gapped graphene systems should be
properly characterized as marginal topological insulators, distinct from either
the trivial insulators or the true topological insulators.Comment: This manuscript will be published on the Proceedings of the 2010
Nobel Symposium on Graphene and Quantum Matte
BAFF Index and CXCL13 levels in the cerebrospinal fluid associate respectively with intrathecal IgG synthesis and cortical atrophy in multiple sclerosis at clinical onset
Abstract
Background
B lymphocytes are thought to play a relevant role in multiple sclerosis (MS) pathology. The in vivo analysis of intrathecally produced B cell-related cytokines may help to clarify the mechanisms of B cell recruitment and immunoglobulin production within the central nervous system (CNS) in MS.
Methods
Paired cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and serum specimens from 40 clinically isolated syndrome suggestive of MS or early-onset relapsing-remitting MS patients (CIS/eRRMS) and 17 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed for the intrathecal synthesis of IgG (quantitative formulae and IgG oligoclonal bands, IgGOB), CXCL13, BAFF, and IL-21. 3D-FLAIR, 3D-DIR, and 3D-T1 MRI sequences were applied to evaluate white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) lesions and global cortical thickness (gCTh).
Results
Compared to HC, CIS/eRRMS having IgGOB (IgGOB+, 26 patients) had higher intrathecal IgG indexes ( p \u2009<\u20090.01), lower values of BAFF Index (11.9\u2009\ub1\u20096.1 vs 17.5\u2009\ub1\u20095.2, p \u2009<\u20090.01), and higher CSF CXCL13 levels (27.7\u2009\ub1\u200933.5 vs 0.9\u2009\ub1\u20091.5, p \u2009<\u20090.005). In these patients, BAFF Index but not CSF CXCL13 levels inversely correlated with the intrathecal IgG synthesis ( r \u2009>\u20090.5 and p \u2009<\u20090.05 for all correlations). CSF leukocyte counts were significantly higher in IgGOB+ compared to IgGOB\u2212 ( p \u2009<\u20090.05) and HC ( p \u2009<\u20090.01), and correlated to CSF CXCL13 concentrations ( r 0.77, p \u2009<\u20090.001).
The gCTh was significantly lower in patients with higher CSF CXCL13 levels (2.41\u2009\ub1\u20090.1 vs 2.49\u2009\ub1\u20090.1\ua0mm, p \u2009<\u20090.05), while no difference in MRI parameters of WM and GM pathology was observed between IgGOB+ and IgGOB\u2212.
Conclusions
The intrathecal IgG synthesis inversely correlated with BAFF Index and showed no correlation with CSF CXCL13. These findings seem to indicate that intrathecally synthesized IgG are produced by long-term PCs that have entered the CNS from the peripheral blood, rather than produced by PCs developed in the meningeal follicle-like structures (FLS). In this study, CXCL13 identifies a subgroup of MS patients characterized by ..
A dark energy multiverse
We present cosmic solutions corresponding to universes filled with dark and
phantom energy, all having a negative cosmological constant. All such solutions
contain infinite singularities, successively and equally distributed along
time, which can be either big bang/crunchs or big rips singularities.
Classicaly these solutions can be regarded as associated with multiverse
scenarios, being those corresponding to phantom energy that may describe the
current accelerating universe
A note on a third order curvature invariant in static spacetimes
We consider here the third order curvature invariant
in static spacetimes
for which is conformally flat. We evaluate
explicitly the invariant for the -dimensional Majumdar-Papapetrou multi
black-holes solution, confirming that does indeed vanish on the event
horizons of such black-holes. Our calculations show, however, that solely the
vanishing of is not sufficient to locate an event horizon in
non-spherically symmetric spacetimes. We discuss also some tidal effects
associated to the invariant .Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures. Extra material available at
http://vigo.ime.unicamp.br/in
- …