338 research outputs found
Consumption rates vary based on the presence and type of oyster structure: A seasonal and latitudinal comparison
As oyster reefs continue to decline worldwide, interest has turned to restoration and aquaculture as ways to sustain the services derived from these ecologically and economically valuable habitats. While biogenic oyster reefs support a variety of ecological functions, it remains unclear whether aquaculture and its associated infrastructure can provide equivalent levels of functioning. Here, we compare consumption rates by fish and invertebrate predators, a key indicator of energy transfer between trophic levels, between reef and aquaculture habitats for the Eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) in the Western Atlantic. We deployed a standardized dried squid prey item (âSquidpopsâ) in three different structured settings: biogenic oyster reefs, on-bottom aquaculture, and off-bottom aquaculture. For each habitat treatment, we also implemented an adjacent control in nearby bare (unstructured) sediment. These assays were repeated across three seasons at twelve locations spanning 900 km of coastline. We found that consumption rates were contingent on the presence and type of structure: they were highest near off-bottom floating bags, and the difference between structured habitats and unstructured controls was also greatest for this treatment. Moreover, at large temporal and spatial scales, consumption rates increased with increasing temperature, and independently declined with increasing latitude. Our study revealed that certain types of aquaculture support comparable or greater consumption rates than natural reefs, suggesting an important role for this novel structured habitat in maintaining coastal food webs
A Lattice Study of the Magnetic Moment and the Spin Structure of the Nucleon
Using an approach free from momentum extrapolation, we calculate the nucleon
magnetic moment and the fraction of the nucleon spin carried by the quark
angular momentum in the quenched lattice QCD approximation. Quarks with three
values of lattice masses, 210, 124 and 80 MeV, are formulated on the lattice
using the standard Wilson approach. At every mass, 100 gluon configurations on
16^3 x 32 lattice with \beta=6.0 are used for statistical averaging. The
results are compared with the previous calculations with momentum
extrapolation. The contribution of the disconnected diagrams is studied at the
largest quark mass using noise theory technique.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, Talk given at Lattice2001, Berlin, German
The Muonium Atom as a Probe of Physics beyond the Standard Model
The observed interactions between particles are not fully explained in the
successful theoretical description of the standard model to date. Due to the
close confinement of the bound state muonium () can be used as
an ideal probe of quantum electrodynamics and weak interaction and also for a
search for additional interactions between leptons. Of special interest is the
lepton number violating process of sponteanous conversion of muonium to
antimuonium.Comment: 15 pages,6 figure
Active region formation through the negative effective magnetic pressure instability
The negative effective magnetic pressure instability operates on scales
encompassing many turbulent eddies and is here discussed in connection with the
formation of active regions near the surface layers of the Sun. This
instability is related to the negative contribution of turbulence to the mean
magnetic pressure that causes the formation of large-scale magnetic structures.
For an isothermal layer, direct numerical simulations and mean-field
simulations of this phenomenon are shown to agree in many details in that their
onset occurs at the same depth. This depth increases with increasing field
strength, such that the maximum growth rate of this instability is independent
of the field strength, provided the magnetic structures are fully contained
within the domain. A linear stability analysis is shown to support this
finding. The instability also leads to a redistribution of turbulent intensity
and gas pressure that could provide direct observational signatures.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, submitted to Solar Physic
Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset
corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected
during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV.
The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the
couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and
right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary
mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b,
leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing
transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W'
boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to
the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for
masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC
data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed
coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant
improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe
Measurement of the Lambda(b) cross section and the anti-Lambda(b) to Lambda(b) ratio with Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda decays in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
The Lambda(b) differential production cross section and the cross section
ratio anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) are measured as functions of transverse momentum
pt(Lambda(b)) and rapidity abs(y(Lambda(b))) in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7
TeV using data collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The measurements are
based on Lambda(b) decays reconstructed in the exclusive final state J/Psi
Lambda, with the subsequent decays J/Psi to an opposite-sign muon pair and
Lambda to proton pion, using a data sample corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of 1.9 inverse femtobarns. The product of the cross section times
the branching ratio for Lambda(b) to J/Psi Lambda versus pt(Lambda(b)) falls
faster than that of b mesons. The measured value of the cross section times the
branching ratio for pt(Lambda(b)) > 10 GeV and abs(y(Lambda(b))) < 2.0 is 1.06
+/- 0.06 +/- 0.12 nb, and the integrated cross section ratio for
anti-Lambda(b)/Lambda(b) is 1.02 +/- 0.07 +/- 0.09, where the uncertainties are
statistical and systematic, respectively.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters
Search for new physics in events with opposite-sign leptons, jets, and missing transverse energy in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV
A search is presented for physics beyond the standard model (BSM) in final
states with a pair of opposite-sign isolated leptons accompanied by jets and
missing transverse energy. The search uses LHC data recorded at a
center-of-mass energy sqrt(s) = 7 TeV with the CMS detector, corresponding to
an integrated luminosity of approximately 5 inverse femtobarns. Two
complementary search strategies are employed. The first probes models with a
specific dilepton production mechanism that leads to a characteristic kinematic
edge in the dilepton mass distribution. The second strategy probes models of
dilepton production with heavy, colored objects that decay to final states
including invisible particles, leading to very large hadronic activity and
missing transverse energy. No evidence for an event yield in excess of the
standard model expectations is found. Upper limits on the BSM contributions to
the signal regions are deduced from the results, which are used to exclude a
region of the parameter space of the constrained minimal supersymmetric
extension of the standard model. Additional information related to detector
efficiencies and response is provided to allow testing specific models of BSM
physics not considered in this paper.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO
Surface-focused Seismic Holography of Sunspots: I. Observations
We present a comprehensive set of observations of the interaction of p-mode
oscillations with sunspots using surface-focused seismic holography. Maps of
travel-time shifts, relative to quiet-Sun travel times, are shown for incoming
and outgoing p modes as well as their mean and difference. We compare results
using phase-speed filters with results obtained with filters that isolate
single p-mode ridges, and further divide the data into multiple temporal
frequency bandpasses. The f mode is removed from the data. The variations of
the resulting travel-time shifts with magnetic-field strength and with the
filter parameters are explored. We find that spatial averages of these shifts
within sunspot umbrae, penumbrae, and surrounding plage often show strong
frequency variations at fixed phase speed. In addition, we find that positive
values of the mean and difference travel-time shifts appear exclusively in
waves observed with phase-speed filters that are dominated by power in the
low-frequency wing of the p1 ridge. We assess the ratio of incoming to outgoing
p-mode power using the ridge filters and compare surface-focused holography
measurements with the results of earlier published p-mode scattering
measurements using Fourier-Hankel decomposition.Comment: Solar Physics, accepte
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