10,484 research outputs found
A comparison of the responses of mature and young clonal tea to drought.
To assist commercial producers with optimising the use of irrigation water, the
responses to drought of mature and young tea crops (22 and 5 years after field
planting respectively) were compared using data from two adjacent long-term
irrigation experiments in Southern Tanzania. Providing the maximum potential
soil water deficit was below about 400-500 mm for mature, and 200-250 mm for
young plants (clone 6/8), annual yields of dry tea from rainfed or partially
irrigated crops were similar to those from the corresponding well-watered crops.
At deficits greater than this, annual yields declined rapidly in young tea (up
to 22 kg (ha mm)-1) but relatively slowly in mature tea (up to 6.5 kg (ha mm)-
1). This apparent insensitivity of the mature crop to drought was due
principally to compensation that occurred during the rains for yield lost in the
dry season. Differences in dry matter distribution and shoot to root ratios
contributed to these contrasting responses. Thus, the total above ground dry
mass of well-irrigated, mature plants was about twice that for young plants.
Similarly, the total mass of structural roots (>1 mm diameter), to 3 m depth,
was four times greater in the mature crop than in the young crop and, for fine
roots (<1 mm diameter), eight times greater. The corresponding shoot to root
ratios (dry mass) were about 1:1 and 2:1 respectively. In addition, each unit
area of leaf in the canopy of a mature plant had six times more fine roots (by
weight) available to extract and supply water than did a young plant. Despite
the logistical benefits resulting from more even crop distribution during the
year when crops are fully irrigated, producers currently prefer to save water
and energy costs by allowing a substantial soil water deficit to develop prior
to the start of the rains, up to 250 mm in mature tea, knowing that yield
compensation will occur later
GaAs (AlGaAs)/CuInSe2 tandem solar cells. Technology status and future directions
Mechanically stacked, high efficiency, lightweight, and radiation resistant photovoltaic cells based on a GaAs thin film top and CuInSe2 thin film bottom cells were developed, and are considered one of the most promising devices for planar solar array applications. The highest efficiency demonstrated so far using the 4 sq cm design is 23.1 pct. AM0, one sun efficiency when measured in four-terminal configuration. The current status of the GaAs(AlGaAs)/CuInSe2 tandem cell program is presented and future directions that will lead to cell efficiencies higher than 26 pct. Air Mass Zero (AM0). A new 8 sq cm cell design developed for a two terminal and voltage matched configuration to minimize wiring complexity is discussed. Optimization of the GaAs structure for a higher end-of-life performance and further improvement of tandem cells by utilizing AlGaAs as an top absorber are described. Results of environmental tests conducted with these thin film GaAs/CuInSe2 tandem cells are also summarized
Cosmology and Static Spherically Symmetric solutions in D-dimensional Scalar Tensor Theories: Some Novel Features
We consider scalar tensor theories in D-dimensional spacetime, D \ge 4. They
consist of metric and a non minimally coupled scalar field, with its non
minimal coupling characterised by a function. The probes couple minimally to
the metric only. We obtain vacuum solutions - both cosmological and static
spherically symmetric ones - and study their properties. We find that, as seen
by the probes, there is no singularity in the cosmological solutions for a
class of functions which obey certain constraints. It turns out that for the
same class of functions, there are static spherically symmetric solutions which
exhibit novel properties: {\em e.g.} near the ``horizon'', the gravitational
force as seen by the probe becomes repulsive.Comment: Revtex. 21 pages. Version 2: More references added. Version 3: Issues
raised by the referee are addressed. Results unchanged. Title modified; a new
subsection and more references added. Verison to appear in Physical Review
Brane-Antibrane Backreaction in Axion Monodromy Inflation
We calculate the interaction potential between D5 and anti-D5 branes wrapping
distant but homologous 2-cycles. The interaction potential is logarithmic in
the separation radius and does not decouple at infinity. We show that
logarithmic backreaction is generic for 5-branes wrapping distant but
homologous 2-cycles, and we argue that this destabilises models of axion
monodromy inflation involving NS5 brane-antibrane pairs in separate warped
throats towards an uncontrolled region.Comment: 12 page
Mimicking transPlanckian effects in the CMB with conventional physics
We investigate the possibility that fields coupled to the inflaton can
influence the primordial spectrum of density perturbations through their
coherent motion. For example, the second field in hybrid inflation might be
oscillating at the beginning of inflation rather than at the minimum of its
potential. Although this effect is washed out if inflation lasts long enough,
we note that there can be up to 30 e-foldings of inflation prior to horizon
crossing of COBE fluctuations while still giving a potentially visible
distortion. Such pumping of the inflaton fluctuations by purely conventional
physics can resemble transPlanckian effects which have been widely discussed.
The distortions which they make to the CMB could leave a distinctive signature
which differs from generic effects like tilting of the spectrum.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; presented at PASCOS 03, TIFR, Mumbai, Indi
Fibre Inflation: Observable Gravity Waves from IIB String Compactifications
We introduce a simple string model of inflation, in which the inflaton field
can take trans-Planckian values while driving a period of slow-roll inflation.
This leads naturally to a realisation of large field inflation, inasmuch as the
inflationary epoch is well described by the single-field scalar potential . Remarkably, for a broad class of vacua
all adjustable parameters enter only through the overall coefficient , and
in particular do not enter into the slow-roll parameters. Consequently these
are determined purely by the number of \e-foldings, , and so are not
independent: . This implies similar
relations among observables like the primordial scalar-to-tensor amplitude,
, and the scalar spectral tilt, : . is
itself more model-dependent since it depends partly on the post-inflationary
reheat history. In a simple reheating scenario a reheating temperature of
GeV gives , corresponding to and , within reach of future observations. The model is
an example of a class that arises naturally in the context of type IIB string
compactifications with large-volume moduli stabilisation, and takes advantage
of the generic existence there of Kahler moduli whose dominant appearance in
the scalar potential arises from string loop corrections to the Kahler
potential. The inflaton field is a combination of Kahler moduli of a K3-fibered
Calabi-Yau manifold. We believe there are likely to be a great number of models
in this class -- `high-fibre models' -- in which the inflaton starts off far
enough up the fibre to produce observably large primordial gravity waves.Comment: Extended calculations beyond the leading approximations, including
numerical integrations of multi-field evolution; Display an example with ; Simplify the discussion of large fields; Corrected minor errors and
typos; Added references; 41 pages LaTeX, 25 figure
Oscillatory interference in parietal cortex: a mechanism to represent order in working memory
Brane Induced Gravity: Codimension-2
We review the results of arXiv:hep-th/0703190, on brane induced gravity (BIG)
in 6D. Among a large diversity of regulated codimension-2 branes, we find that
for near-critical tensions branes live inside very deep throats which
efficiently compactify the angular dimension. In there, 4D gravity first
changes to 5D, and only later to 6D. The crossover from 4D to 5D is independent
of the tension, but the crossover from 5D to 6D is not. This shows how the
vacuum energy problem manifests in BIG: instead of tuning vacuum energy to
adjust the 4D curvature, generically one must tune it to get the desired
crossover scales and the hierarchy between the scales governing the 4D \to 5D
\to 6D transitions. In the near-critical limit, linearized perturbation theory
remains under control below the crossover scale, and we find that linearized
gravity around the vacuum looks like a scalar-tensor theory.Comment: 16 pages latex, 2 .eps figs, based on the talks given at the "Sowers
Workshop", Virginia Tech, May 14-18, 2007, "Cosmology and Strings" workshop
at ICTP, Trieste, Italy, July 9-13, 2007, "Dark Energy In the Universe",
Hakone, Japan, Sep 1-4, 2007 and "Zagreb Workshop 2007", Zagreb, Croatia, Nov
9-11, 2007; v2: added reference
Neutrino Oscillations, Fluctuations and Solar Magneto-gravity Waves
This review has two parts. The first part summarizes the current
observational constraints on fluctuations in the solar medium deep within the
solar Radiative Zone, and shows how the KamLAND and SNO-salt data combine to
make the experimental determination of the neutrino oscillation parameters
largely insensitive to prior assumptions about the nature of these
oscillations. As part of a search for plausible sources of solar fluctuations
to which neutrinos could be sensitive, the second part of the talk summarizes a
preliminary analysis of the influence of magnetic fields on helioseismic waves.
Using simplifying assumptions which should apply to modes in the solar
radiative zone, we find a resonance between Alfven waves and helioseismic
g-modes which potentially modifies the solar density profile fairly
significantly over comparatively short distance scales, too narrow to be ruled
out by present-day analyses of p-wave helioseismic spectra.Comment: Plenary talk presented at AHEP 2003, Valencia, Spain, October 200
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