1,415 research outputs found
Cosmic magnetic fields and dark energy in extended electromagnetism
We discuss an extended version of electromagnetism in which the usual gauge
fixing term is promoted into a physical contribution that introduces a new
scalar state in the theory. This new state can be generated from vacuum quantum
fluctuations during an inflationary era and, on super-Hubble scales, gives rise
to an effective cosmological constant. The value of such a cosmological
constant coincides with the one inferred from observations as long as inflation
took place at the electroweak scale. On the other hand, the new state also
generates an effective electric charge density on sub-Hubble scales that
produces both vorticity and magnetic fields with coherent lengths as large as
the present Hubble horizon.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Contribution to the proceedings of Spanish
Relativity Meeting 2010, Granada, Spain, 6-10 September 201
Effects of biasing on the galaxy power spectrum at large scales
n this paper we study the effect of biasing on the power spectrum at large
scales. We show that even though non-linear biasing does introduce a white
noise contribution on large scales, the behavior of the
matter power spectrum on large scales may still be visible and above the white
noise for about one decade. We show, that the Kaiser biasing scheme which leads
to linear bias of the correlation function on {\em large} scales, also
generates a linear bias of the {\rm power spectrum} on rather small scales.
This is a consequence of the divergence on small scales of the pure
Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum. However, biasing becomes k-dependent when we damp
the underlying power spectrum on small scales. We also discuss the effect of
biasing on the baryon acoustic oscillations.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures. One figure and comments clarifying the linear
biasing on small scales and references added. V3 version accepted in PR
On the chemical ladder of esters. Detection and formation of ethyl formate in the W51 e2 hot molecular core
The detection of organic molecules with increasing complexity and potential
biological relevance is opening the possibility to understand the formation of
the building blocks of life in the interstellar medium. One of the families of
molecules with astrobiological interest are the esters, whose simplest member,
methyl formate, is rather abundant in star-forming regions. The next step in
the chemical complexity of esters is ethyl formate, CHOCHO. Only two
detections of this species have been reported so far, which strongly limits our
understanding of how complex molecules are formed in the interstellar medium.
We have searched for ethyl formate towards the W51 e2 hot molecular core, one
of the most chemically rich sources in the Galaxy and one of the most promising
regions to study prebiotic chemistry, especially after the recent discovery of
the PO bond, key in the formation of DNA. We have analyzed a spectral line
survey towards the W51 e2 hot molecular core, which covers 44 GHz in the 1, 2
and 3 mm bands, carried out with the IRAM 30m telescope. We report the
detection of the trans and gauche conformers of ethyl formate. A Local
Thermodynamic Equilibrium analysis indicates that the excitation temperature is
7810 K and that the two conformers have similar source-averaged column
densities of (2.00.3)10 cm and an abundance of
10. We compare the observed molecular abundances of ethyl formate
with different competing chemical models based on grain surface and gas-phase
chemistry. We propose that grain-surface chemistry may have a dominant role in
the formation of ethyl formate (and other complex organic molecules) in hot
molecular cores, rather than reactions in the gas phase.Comment: Accepted in A&A; 11 pages, 6 figures, 7 Table
Analysis of the quark sector in the 2HDM-III with a four-zero Yukawa texture using the most recent data on the CKM matrix
In this letter we analyse, in the context of the general 2-Higgs Doublet
Model, the structure of the Yukawa matrices, , by assuming a four-zero texture ansatz for their definition. In this
framework, we obtain compact expressions for , which are reduced to the Cheng and Sher ansatz with the difference that
they are obtained naturally as a direct consequence of the invariants of the
fermion mass matrices. Furthermore, in order to avoid large flavour violating
effects coming from charged Higgs exchange, we consider the main flavour
constraints on the off-diagonal terms of Yukawa texture {{}} (). We perform a -fit
based on current experimental data on the quark masses and the
Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa mixing matrix . Hence, we obtain
the allowed ranges for the parameters at
1 for several values of . The results are in complete
agreement with the bounds obtained taking into account constraints on Flavour
Changing Neutral Currents reported in the literature.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure. Version accepted in Phys. Lett.
Adsorption of landfill leachates onto activated carbon: Equilibrium and kinetics
The adsorption of stabilized leachates generated in a municipal landfill onto three commercial activated carbons has been investigated. Norit
0.8, Chemviron AQ40 and Picacarb 1240 have been used as adsorbents. Equilibrium experiments have been conducted to obtain the experimental isotherm profiles. Isotherms have been plotted based on the adsorption of general parameters, for instance chemical oxygen demand, total carbon, absorption at 410 nm and absorption at 254 nm. Different literature models and error functions have been used to adequately fit the experimental data. As a rule of thumb, three-parameter models do adjust experimental results better than two-parameter models. Norit 0.8 shows better adsorption characteristics than the rest of activated carbons, both in terms of contaminant level reduction of per unit mass of absorbent and in terms of the process kinetics
Study of different integrated physical-chemical + adsorption processes for landfill leachate remediation
Some integrated processes to deal with landfill leachates have been investigated and their efficiencies expressed in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal. The systems tested were the result of different combinations of the following single stages: acidic pH shift (elimination of humic substances), ozonation (O3), coagulation-flocculation with Fe(III) salts, Fenton's oxidation (Fe(III) + H2O2), wet air oxidation (with or without radical promoters), and adsorption onto activated carbon (commercial Norit 0.8 powdered activated carbon). COD removals obtained ranged in the interval of 80-96% for initial COD values close to 11000 mg L-1. None of the processes tested reduced the COD levels sufficiently to allow direct discharge; however, the ratio biochemical oxygen demand (BOD/COD was significantly increased (up to 1000% in some cases, i.e., from 0.1 to values above 1.0). Total carbon reduction achieved ranged from 60 to 94%, while complete decolorization (measured as the absorbance at 410 nm) was obtained in practically all the combinations investigate
The effect of material cyclic deformation properties on residual stress generation by laser shock processing
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Tracing the Evolution of Agglomeration Economies: Spain, 1860-1991
This article attempts to quantify how the effect of agglomeration economies on population growth has evolved over time. Using district population in Spain between 1860 and 1991, recorded approximately every decade, this article examines whether initial population affects subsequent population growth. Our results show that, while the relationship between these two variables hardly existed during the second half of the 19th century, this link increased significantly between 1910 and 1970, although this trend was abruptly interrupted by the Civil War and the autarkic period that followed. The intensity of this relationship debilitated in the 1970s, a process that continued during the 1980s as rural out-migration diminished and de-industrialisation hit traditional manufacturing sectors. Our findings also stress that agglomeration economies were stronger in medium-size districts, especially from 1960 onwards, thus suggesting that congestion costs began to mitigate the benefits arising from agglomeration economies in the largest locations
Novel cavity-induced switching between Bell-state textures in a quantum dot
Nanoscale quantum dots in microwave cavities can be used as a laboratory for
exploring electron-electron interactions and their spin in the presence of
quantized light and a magnetic field. We show how a simple theoretical model of
this interplay at resonance predicts complex but measurable effects. New
polariton states emerge that combine spin, relative modes, and radiation. These
states have intricate spin-space correlations and undergo polariton transitions
controlled by the microwave cavity field. We uncover novel topological effects
involving highly correlated spin and charge density, that display
singlet-triplet and inhomogeneous Bell-state distributions. Signatures of these
transitions are imprinted in the photon distribution, which will allow for
optical read out protocols in future experiments and nanoscale quantum
technologies.Comment: 28 pages, 7 figures, supplementary material is located after the
bibliograph
Simulated solar driven photolytic ozonation for the oxidation of aqueous recalcitrant-to-ozone tritosulfuron. Transformation products and toxicity
The authors are grateful to Junta de Extremadura (Project IB16022), co-financed by the European Funds for Regional Development, for economically supporting this work. Moreover, it is also acknowledged the ‘Servicio de Análisis Elemental y Molecular (SAEM)’ of ‘Servicios de Apoyo a la Investigación de la Universidad de Extremadura (SAIUex)’ for the helping with the intermediate products analyses.This work reports the combination of ozone and solar radiation as an advanced oxidation process to remove the herbicide tritosufuron (TSF) in water. Firstly, the recalcitrance of TSF has been assessed, obtaining an ozonation second order rate constant of 5–154 M−1 min−1 in the range of pH from 5 to 8; while the rate constant with HOradical dot was found to be (1.8–3.1)·109 M−1 s−1. Secondly, the simultaneous application of simulated solar radiation in between 300 and 800 nm and ozone resulted positive in the oxidation rate of TSF. Mineralization extent was also higher. Less effective oxidation was achieved after limiting the radiation to the range 360–800 nm or 390–800 nm; also completely inappropriate for mineralization. Thirdly, the detected transformation products (TPs) demonstrated the vulnerability of TSF molecule to be attacked by HOradical dot in the sulfonylurea bridge. The combination of ozone and radiation of 300–800 nm led to the most effective removal of the TPs. Finally, after the photolytic ozonation treatment toxicity was also evaluated in terms of phytotoxicity towards the germination and root elongation of Lactuca Sativa seeds, and toxicity by immobilization tests of Daphnia Magna.Junta de Extremadura (Project IB16022)European Funds for Regional Developmen
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