Optimizing crop loading of apples and pears - results 2004-2006 (foliar fertilizers, thinning)

Main topics of the research-project FuE 03OE088 of “Bundesprogramm Ökologischer Landbau” (30.04.2004-31.12.2006) were the testing of foliar fertilizers in organic apples and pears, optimizing lime sulphur for blossom thinning, looking for alternatives to lime sulphur for blossom thinning and looking at different combinations of thinning measures. Only the results of testing foliar fertilizers (carried out by KoGa Ahrweiler and OVB/ÖON Jork) and combinations of thinning measures (carried out by LVWO Weinsberg) are described in this article. Over three years only a small increase in yield was evaluated for the fertilizers Aminosol PS and Wuxal Ascofol (site Ahrweiler, apple variety ‘Elstar’). In Jork (apple variety ‘Holsteiner Cox’) yield could only be judged in 2005 and 2006. Wuxal Ascofol showed some advantage in comparison to the control. At pear variety ‘Conference’ no clear tendencies could be seen, the control had the highest yield. In 2005 the fruitsetting of ‘Conference’ was very low because of bad conditions during blossom

The spin glass-antiferromagnetism competition in Kondo-lattice systems in the presence of a transverse applied magnetic field

A theory is proposed to describe the competition among antiferromagnetism (AF), spin glass (SG) and Kondo effect. The model describes two Kondo sublattices with an intrasite Kondo interaction strength $J_{K}$ and a random Gaussian interlattice interaction in the presence of a transverse field $\Gamma$. The $\Gamma$ field is introduced as a quantum mechanism to produce spin flipping and the random coupling has average $-2J_0/N$ and variance $32 J^{2}/N$. The path integral formalism with Grassmann fields is used to study this fermionic problem, in which the disorder is treated within the framework of the replica trick. The free energy and the order parameters are obtained using the static ansatz. In this many parameters problem, we choose $J_0/J \approx (J_{K}/J)^{2}$ and $\Gamma/J \approx (J_{K}/J)^{2}$ to allow a better comparison with the experimental findings. The obtained phase diagram has not only the same sequence as the experimental one for $Ce_{2}Au_{1-x}Co_{x}Si_{3}$, but mainly, it also shows a qualitative agreement concerning the behavior of the freezing temperature and the Neel temperature which decreases until a Quantum Critical Point (QCP).Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Physica

Influence of a small fraction of individuals with enhanced mutations on a population genetic pool

Computer simulations of the Penna ageing model suggest that already a small fraction of births with enhanced number of new mutations can negatively influence the whole population.Comment: 10 pages including 6 figures; draf

Dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate of Stationary-Light Dark-state Polaritons

We put forward and discuss in detail a scheme to achieve Bose-Einstein condensation of stationary-light dark-state polaritons with dipolar interaction. To this end we have introduced a diamond-like coupling scheme in a vapor of Rydberg atoms under the frozen gas approximation. To determine the system's dynamics we employ normal modes and identify the dark-state polariton corresponding to one of the modes. We show that in contrast to atomic dipolar ultra-cold vapors dark-state polariton Bose-Einstein condensates proposed here can be stable for a negative dipolar interaction constant.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figur

A theoretical study of the cluster glass-Kondo-magnetic disordered alloys

The physics of disordered alloys, such as typically the well known case of CeNi1-xCux alloys, showing an interplay among the Kondo effect, the spin glass state and a magnetic order, has been studied firstly within an average description like in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model. Recently, a theoretical model (PRB 74, 014427 (2006)) involving a more local description of the intersite interaction has been proposed to describe the phase diagram of CeNi1-xCux. This alloy is an example of the complex interplay between Kondo effect and frustration in which there is in particular the onset of a cluster-glass state. Although the model given in Ref. PRB 74, 014427 (2006) has reproduced the different phases relatively well, it is not able to describe the cluster-glass state. We study here the competition between the Kondo effect and a cluster glass phase within a Kondo Lattice model with an inter-cluster random Gaussian interaction. The inter-cluster term is treated within the cluster mean-field theory for spin glasses, while, inside the cluster, an exact diagonalisation is performed including inter-site ferromagnetic and intra-site Kondo interactions. The cluster glass order parameters and the Kondo correlation function are obtained for different values of the cluster size, the intra-cluster ferromagnetic coupling and the Kondo intra-site coupling. We obtain, for instance, that the increase of the Kondo coupling tends to destroy the cluster glass phase.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, Accepted for publication in Physica

Search for Gamma-Ray Lines towards Galaxy Clusters with the Fermi-LAT

We report on a search for monochromatic $\gamma$-ray features in the spectra of galaxy clusters observed by the \emph{Fermi} Large Area Telescope. Galaxy clusters are the largest structures in the Universe that are bound by dark matter (DM), making them an important testing ground for possible self-interactions or decays of the DM particles. Monochromatic $\gamma$-ray lines provide a unique signature due to the absence of astrophysical backgrounds and are as such considered a smoking-gun signature for new physics. An unbinned joint likelihood analysis of the sixteen most promising clusters using five years of data at energies between 10 and 400 GeV revealed no significant features. For the case of self-annihilation, we set upper limits on the monochromatic velocity-averaged interaction cross section. These limits are compatible with those obtained from observations of the Galactic Center, albeit weaker due to the larger distance to the studied clusters.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, 1 table; minor changes to match version to appear in JCAP, corresponding authors: B. Anderson & S. Zimme

Spin Glass and antiferromagnetism in Kondo lattice disordered systems

The competition between spin glass (SG), antiferromagnetism (AF) and Kondo effect is studied here in a model which consists of two Kondo sublattices with a gaussian random interaction between spins in differents sublattices with an antiferromagnetic mean Jo and standard deviation J. In the present approach there is no hopping of the conduction electrons between the sublattices and only spins in different sublattices can interact. The problem is formulated in the path integral formalism where the spin operators are expressed as bilinear combinations of Grassmann fields which can be solved at mean field level within the static approximation and the replica symmetry ansatz. The obtained phase diagram shows the sequence of phases SG, AF and Kondo state for increasing Kondo coupling. This sequence agrees qualitatively with experimental data of the Ce_{2} Au_{1-x} Co_{x} Si_{3} compound.Comment: 7 pages, 1 figure, submitted to EPJ

Recombinant Flag-tagged E1E2 glycoproteins from three hepatitis C virus genotypes are biologically functional and elicit cross-reactive neutralizing antibodies in mice

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a globally disseminated human pathogen for which no vaccine is currently available. HCV is highly diverse genetically and can be classified into 7 genotypes and multiple sub-types. Due to this antigenic variation, the induction of cross-reactive and at the same time neutralizing antibodies is a challenge in vaccine production. Here we report the analysis of immunogenicity of recombinant HCV envelope glycoproteins from genotypes 1a, 1b and 2a, with a Flag tag inserted in the hypervariable region 1 of E2. This modification did not affect protein expression or conformation or its capacity to bind the crucial virus entry factor, CD81. Importantly, in immunogenicity studies on mice, the purified E2-Flag mutants elicited high-titer, cross-reactive antibodies that were able to neutralize HCV infectious particles from two genotypes tested (1a and 2a). These findings indicate that E1E2-Flag envelope glycoproteins could be important immunogen candidates for vaccine aiming to induce broad HCV-neutralizing responses

A van Hemmen-Kondo model for disordered strongly correlated electron systems

We present here a theoretical model in order to describe the competition between the Kondo effect and the spin glass behavior. The spin glass part of the starting Hamiltonian contains Ising spins with an intersite exchange interaction given by the local van Hemmen model, while the Kondo effect is described as usual by the intrasite exchange $J_K$. We obtain, for large $J_K$ values, a Kondo phase and, for smaller $J_K$ values, a succession, with decreasingComment: 14 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.

Measurement of the Permanent Electric Dipole Moment of the 129^{129}Xe Atom

We report on a new measurement of the CP-violating permanent Electric Dipole Moment (EDM) of the neutral $^{129}$Xe atom. Our experimental approach is based on the detection of the free precession of co-located nuclear spin-polarized $^3$He and $^{129}$Xe samples. The EDM measurement sensitivity benefits strongly from long spin coherence times of several hours achieved in diluted gases and homogeneous weak magnetic fields of about 400~nT. A finite EDM is indicated by a change in the precession frequency, as an electric field is periodically reversed with respect to the magnetic guiding field. Our result, $\left(-4.7\pm6.4\right)\cdot 10^{-28}$ ecm, is consistent with zero and is used to place a new upper limit on the $^{129}$Xe EDM: $|d_\text{Xe}|<1.5 \cdot 10^{-27}$ ecm (95% C.L.). We also discuss the implications of this result for various CP-violating observables as they relate to theories of physics beyond the standard model