5,404 research outputs found
The global nonmethane reactive organic carbon budget: A modeling perspective
The cycling of reactive organic carbon (ROC) is central to tropospheric chemistry. We characterize the global tropospheric ROC budget as simulated with the GEOS-Chem model. We expand the standard simulation by including new emissions and gas-phase chemistry, an expansion of dry and wet removal, and a mass tracking of all ROC species to achieve carbon closure. The resulting global annual mean ROC burden is 16 Tg C, with sources from methane oxidation and direct emissions contributing 415 and 935 Tg C yrâ»Âč. ROC is lost from the atmosphere via physical deposition (460 Tg C yrâ»Âč), and oxidation to CO/CO2 (875 Tg C yrâ»Âč). Ketones, alkanes, alkenes, and aromatic hydrocarbons dominate the ROC burden, whereas aldehydes and isoprene dominate the ROC global mean surface OH reactivity. Simulated OH reactivities are between 0.8â1 sâ»Âč, 3â14 sâ»Âč, and 12â34 sâ»Âč over selected regions in the remote ocean, continental midlatitudes, and the tropics, respectively, and are consistent with observational constraints.United States. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NA14OAR4310132
Circularly-Polarized Light Emission from Semiconductor Planar Chiral Photonic Crystal
We proposed and demonstrated a scheme of surface emitting circularly
polarized light source by introducing strong imbalance between left- and
right-circularly polarized vacuum fields in an on-waveguide chiral grating
structure. We observed circularly polarized spontaneous emission from InAs
quantum dots embedded in the wave guide region of a GaAs-based structure.
Obtained degree of polarization reaches as large as 25% at room temperature.
Numerical calculation visualizes spatial profiles of the modification of vacuum
field modes inside the structure with strong circular anisotropy.Comment: REVTeX4.1, 6pages, 3figure
Anisotropic thermal expansion of Fe1.06Te and FeTe0.5Se0.5 single crystals
Heat capacity and anisotropic thermal expansion was measured for Fe1.06Te and
FeTe0.5Se0.5 single crystals. Previously reported phase transitions are clearly
seen in both measurements. In both cases the thermal expansion is anisotropic.
The uniaxial pressure derivatives of the superconducting transition temperature
in FeTe0.5Se0.5 inferred from the Ehrenfest relation have opposite signs for
in-plane and c-axis pressures. Whereas the Gruneisen parameters for both
materials are similar and only weakly temperature-dependent above ~ 80 K, at
low temperatures (in the magnetically ordered phase) the magnetic contribution
to the Gruneisen parameter in Fe1.06Te is significantly larger than electron
and phonon contributions combined
Relaxation of classical many-body hamiltonians in one dimension
The relaxation of Fourier modes of hamiltonian chains close to equilibrium is
studied in the framework of a simple mode-coupling theory. Explicit estimates
of the dependence of relevant time scales on the energy density (or
temperature) and on the wavenumber of the initial excitation are given. They
are in agreement with previous numerical findings on the approach to
equilibrium and turn out to be also useful in the qualitative interpretation of
them. The theory is compared with molecular dynamics results in the case of the
quartic Fermi-Pasta-Ulam potential.Comment: 9 pag. 6 figs. To appear in Phys.Rev.
On the accuracy of the melting curves drawn from modelling a solid as an elastic medium
An ongoing problem in the study of a classical many-body system is the
characterization of its equilibrium behaviour by theory or numerical
simulation. For purely repulsive particles, locating the melting line in the
pressure-temperature plane can be especially hard if the interparticle
potential has a softened core or contains some adjustable parameters. A method
is hereby presented that yields reliable melting-curve topologies with
negligible computational effort. It is obtained by combining the Lindemann
melting criterion with a description of the solid phase as an elastic
continuum. A number of examples are given in order to illustrate the scope of
the method and possible shortcomings. For a two-body repulsion of Gaussian
shape, the outcome of the present approach compares favourably with the more
accurate but also more computationally demanding self-consistent harmonic
approximation.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figure
Assessing Public Health Burden Associated with Exposure to Ambient Black Carbon in the United States
Black carbon (BC) is a significant component of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, which has been linked to a series of adverse health effects, in particular premature mortality. Recent scientific research indicates that BC also plays an important role in climate change. Therefore, controlling black carbon emissions provides an opportunity for a double dividend. This study quantifies the national burden of mortality and morbidity attributable to exposure to ambient BC in the United States (US). We use GEOSâChem, a global 3-D model of atmospheric composition to estimate the 2010 annual average BC levels at 0.5 x 0.667° resolution, and then re-grid to 12-km grid resolution across the continental US. Using PM2.5 mortality risk coefficient drawn from the American Cancer Society cohort study, the numbers of deaths due to BC exposure were estimated for each 12-km grid, and then aggregated to the county, state and national level. Given evidence that BC particles may pose a greater risk on human health than other components of PM2.5, we also conducted sensitivity analysis using BC-specific risk coefficients drawn from recent literature. We estimated approximately 14,000 deaths to result from the 2010 BC levels, and hundreds of thousands of illness cases, ranging from hospitalizations and emergency department visits to minor respiratory symptoms. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the total BC-related mortality could be even significantly larger than the above mortality estimate. Our findings indicate that controlling BC emissions would have substantial benefits for public health in the US
Assessing Public Health Burden Associated with Exposure to Ambient Black Carbon in the United States
Black carbon (BC) is a significant component of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution, which has been linked to a series of adverse health effects, in particular premature mortality. Recent scientific research indicates that BC also plays an important role in climate change. Therefore, controlling black carbon emissions provides an opportunity for a double dividend. This study quantifies the national burden of mortality and morbidity attributable to exposure to ambient BC in the United States (US). We use GEOSâChem, a global 3-D model of atmospheric composition to estimate the 2010 annual average BC levels at 0.5 x 0.667° resolution, and then re-grid to 12-km grid resolution across the continental US. Using PM2.5 mortality risk coefficient drawn from the American Cancer Society cohort study, the numbers of deaths due to BC exposure were estimated for each 12-km grid, and then aggregated to the county, state and national level. Given evidence that BC particles may pose a greater risk on human health than other components of PM2.5, we also conducted sensitivity analysis using BC-specific risk coefficients drawn from recent literature. We estimated approximately 14,000 deaths to result from the 2010 BC levels, and hundreds of thousands of illness cases, ranging from hospitalizations and emergency department visits to minor respiratory symptoms. Sensitivity analysis indicates that the total BC-related mortality could be even significantly larger than the above mortality estimate. Our findings indicate that controlling BC emissions would have substantial benefits for public health in the US
Comment on "On the importance of the free energy for elasticity under pressure"
Marcus et al. (Marcus P, Ma H and Qiu S L 2002 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 14
L525) claim that thermodynamic properties of materials under pressure must be
computed using the Gibbs free energy , rather than the internal energy .
Marcus et al. state that ``The minima of , but not of , give the
equilibrium structure; the second derivatives of , but not of , with
respect to strains at the equilibrium structure give the equilibrium elastic
constants.'' Both statements are incorrect.Comment: Commen
Chiral molecules split light: Reflection and refraction in a chiral liquid
A light beam changes direction as it enters a liquid at an angle from another
medium, such as air. Should the liquid contain molecules that lack mirror
symmetry, then it has been predicted by Fresnel that the light beam will not
only change direction, but will actually split into two separate beams with a
small difference in the respective angles of refraction. Here we report the
observation of this phenomenon. We also demonstrate that the angle of
reflection does not equal the angle of incidence in a chiral medium. Unlike
conventional optical rotation, which depends on the path-length through the
sample, the reported reflection and refraction phenomena arise within a few
wavelengths at the interface and thereby suggest a new approach to polarimetry
that can be used in microfluidic volumes
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