14,023 research outputs found
<i>Aporosa</i> Blume from the paleoequatorial rainforest of Bikaner, India: Its evolution and diversification in deep time
The Gondwanan origin, northward migration and subsequent collision with Asia means that the Indian subcontinent is of particular interest regarding the origin and dispersal of numerous plants and animal species. With this in mind, we describe a fossil leaf of Aporosa Blume (Phyllanthaceae) from the Paleogene of the Indian subcontinent and discuss its evolution and diversification with respect to the moving Indian plate and its connection with Southeast Asia since the early Cenozoic. At present, Aporosa Blume is confined to Southeast Asia with a few species in India and New Guinea. It is represented by six endemic species growing in the evergreen forests of India and Sri Lanka, including Aporosa acuminata Thwaites, which is morphologically close to the here described fossil from Bikaner, Rajasthan, India. From the age of the fossil and the distribution of its modern comparable form, it is assumed that Aporosa originated on the Indian subcontinent and then was distributed to Southeast Asia, supporting the ‘Out of India’ hypothesis. Diversification of the genus might have taken place either in the Paleogene or Neogene. Our fossil leaf material also indicates the existence of palaeoequatorial (< 10° N) tropical rain forests in western India during the Paleogene in contrast to dry and desertic climate occurring today
Ab initio Hartree-Fock Born effective charges of LiH, LiF, LiCl, NaF, and NaCl
We use the Berry-phase-based theory of macroscopic polarization of dielectric
crystals formulated in terms of Wannier functions, and state-of-the-art
Gaussian basis functions, to obtain benchmark ab initio Hartree-Fock values of
the Born effective charges of ionic compounds LiH, LiF, LiCl, NaF, and NaCl. We
find excellent agreement with the experimental values for all the compounds
except LiCl and NaCl, for which the disagreement with the experiments is close
to 10% and 16%, respectively. This may imply the importance of many-body
effects in those systems.Comment: 11 pages, Revtex, 2 figures (included), to appear in Phys. Rev. B
April 15, 200
Ion-acoustic solitary waves and shocks in a collisional dusty negative ion plasma
We study the effects of ion-dust collisions and ion kinematic viscosities on
the linear ion-acoustic instability as well as the nonlinear propagation of
small amplitude solitary waves and shocks (SWS) in a negative ion plasma with
immobile charged dusts. {The existence of two linear ion modes, namely the
`fast' and `slow' waves is shown, and their properties are analyzed in the
collisional negative ion plasma.} {Using the standard reductive perturbation
technique, we derive a modified Korteweg-de Vries-Burger (KdVB) equation which
describes the evolution of small amplitude SWS.} {The profiles of the latter
are numerically examined with parameters relevant for laboratory and space
plasmas where charged dusts may be positively or negatively charged.} It is
found that negative ion plasmas containing positively charged dusts support the
propagation of SWS with negative potential. However, the perturbations with
both positive and negative potentials may exist when dusts are negatively
charged. The results may be useful for the excitation of SWS in laboratory
negative ion plasmas as well as for observation in space plasmas where charged
dusts may be positively or negatively charged.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures; To appear in Physical Review
Return to return point memory
We describe a new class of systems exhibiting return point memory (RPM) that
are different from those discussed before in the context of ferromagnets. We
show numerically that one dimensional random Ising antiferromagnets have RPM,
when configurations evolve from a large field. However, RPM is violated when
started from some stable configurations at finite field unlike in the
ferromagnetic case. This implies that the standard approach to understanding
ferromagnetic RPM systems will fail for this case. We also demonstrate RPM with
a set of variables that keep track of spin flips at each site. Conventional RPM
for the spin configuration is a projection of this result, suggesting that spin
flip variables might be a more fundamental representation of the dynamics. We
also present a mapping that embeds the antiferromagnetic chain in a two
dimensional ferromagnetic model, and prove RPM for spin exchange dynamics in
the interior of the chain with this mapping
Influence of Ni doping on the electronic structure of Ni_2MnGa
The modifications in the electronic structure of Ni_{2+x}Mn_{1-x}Ga by Ni
doping have been studied using full potential linearized augmented plane wave
method and ultra-violet photoemission spectroscopy. Ni 3d related electron
states appear due to formation of Ni clusters. We show the possibility of
changing the minority-spin DOS with Ni doping, while the majority-spin DOS
remains almost unchanged. The total magnetic moment decreases with excess Ni.
The total energy calculations corroborate the experimentally reported changes
in the Curie temperature and the martensitic transition temperature with x.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted in Phys. Rev.
Exact Solution of Return Hysteresis Loops in One Dimensional Random Field Ising Model at Zero Temperature
Minor hysteresis loops within the main loop are obtained analytically and
exactly in the one-dimensional ferromagnetic random field Ising-model at zero
temperature. Numerical simulations of the model show excellent agreement with
the analytical results
Chiral properties of hematite ({\alpha}-Fe2O3) inferred from resonant Bragg diffraction using circularly polarized x-rays
Chiral properties of the two phases - collinear motif (below Morin transition
temperature, TM=250 K) and canted motif (above TM) - of magnetically ordered
hematite ({\alpha}-Fe2O3) have been identified in single crystal resonant x-ray
Bragg diffraction, using circular polarized incident x-rays tuned near the iron
K-edge. Magneto-electric multipoles, including an anapole, fully characterize
the high-temperature canted phase, whereas the low-temperature collinear phase
supports both parity-odd and parity-even multipoles that are time-odd. Orbital
angular momentum accompanies the collinear motif, while it is conspicuously
absent with the canted motif. Intensities have been successfully confronted
with analytic expressions derived from an atomic model fully compliant with
chemical and magnetic structures. Values of Fe atomic multipoles previously
derived from independent experimental data, are shown to be completely
trustworthy
Heavy-Fermion Instability in Double-Degenerate Plasmas
In this work we study the propagations of normal frequency modes for quantum
hydrodynamic (QHD) waves in the linear limit and introduce a new kind of
instability in a double-degenerate plasma. Three different regimes, namely,
low, intermediate and high magnetic field strengths are considered which span
the applicability of the work to a wide variety of environments. Distinct
behavior is observed for different regimes, for instance, in the
laboratory-scale field regime no frequency-mode instability occurs unlike those
of intermediate and high magnetic-field strength regimes. It is also found that
the instability of this kind is due to the heavy-fermions which appear below a
critical effective-mass parameter () and that the responses
of the two (lower and upper frequency) modes to fractional effective-mass
change in different effective-mass parameter ranges (below and above the
critical value) are quite opposite to each other. It is shown that, the
heavy-fermion instability due to extremely high magnetic field such as that
encountered for a neutron-star crust can lead to confinement of stable
propagations in both lower and upper frequency modes to the magnetic poles.
Current study can have important implications for linear wave dynamics in both
laboratory and astrophysical environments possessing high magnetic fields
The promise of fuel cell-based automobiles
Fuel cell-based automobiles have gained attention in the last few years due to growing public concern about urban air pollution and consequent environmental problems. From an analysis of the power and energy requirements of a modern car, it is estimated that a base sustainable power of ca. 50 kW supplemented with short bursts up to 80 kW will suffice in most driving requirements. The energy demand depends greatly on driving characteristics but under normal usage is expected to be 200 Wh/km. The advantages and disadvantages of candidate fuel-cell systems and various fuels are considered together with the issue of whether the fuel should be converted directly in the fuel cell or should be reformed to hydrogen onboard the vehicle. For fuel cell vehicles to compete successfully with conventional internal-combustion engine vehicles, it appears that direct conversion fuel cells using probably hydrogen, but possibly methanol, are the only realistic contenders for road transportation applications. Among the available fuel cell technologies, polymer-electrolyte fuel cells directly fueled with hydrogen appear to be the best option for powering fuel cell vehicles as there is every prospect that these will exceed the performance of the internal-combustion engine vehicles but for their first cost. A target cost of $ 50/kW would be mandatory to make polymer-electrolyte fuel cells competitive with the internal combustion engines and can only be achieved with design changes that would substantially reduce the quantity of materials used. At present, prominent car manufacturers are deploying important research and development efforts to develop fuel cell vehicles and are projecting to start production by 2005
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