Guards and thieves: antagonistic interactions between two ant species coexisting on the same ant-plant

Abstract. 1. The simultaneous occupation of a rare understorey ant-acacia Acacia mayana by its guarding ant Pseudomyrmex ferrugineus, and an apparent opportunist parasite of the mutualism, the generalist ant Camponotus planatus is described. The two ant species occur together in 30.7% of the 26 mature A. mayana plants [23.5% of all trees (n ¼ 34)] surveyed, but C. planatus is absent from saplings below 1 m in height (n ¼ 8). 2. While P. ferrugineus shows behaviour compatible with effective host-tree defence, C. planatus does not attack phytophagous insects and appears ineffective as an ant-guard. Camponotus planatus does, however, occupy swollen thorns (pseudogalls) on the host tree, and harvests nectar from extrafloral leaf nectaries. It is proposed that C. planatus is a parasite of the Acacia-Pseudomyrmex mutualism. 3. Camponotus planatus does not harvest the second trophic reward produced by the tree for its Pseudomyrmex ant-guards, protein-rich food (Beltian) bodies. Camponotus planatus lack the specialised larval adaptations needed to use Beltian bodies as brood food, suggesting that this resource is potentially more resistant to exploitation by generalists than extrafloral nectar. 4. In competition for access to nectaries, C. planatus effectively displaced P. ferrugineus in 99.8% of encounters. These results suggest not only that C. planatus is a parasite of this mutualism, but also that it is able to effectively counteract the aggression shown to other insects by the resident ant-guards

Josephson Coupling, Phase Correlations, and Josephson Plasma Resonance in Vortex Liquid Phase

Josephson plasma resonance has been introduced recently as a powerful tool to probe interlayer Josephson coupling in different regions of the vortex phase diagram in layered superconductors. In the liquid phase, the high temperature expansion with respect to the Josephson coupling connects the Josephson plasma frequency with the phase correlation function. This function, in turn, is directly related to the pair distribution function of the liquid. We develop a recipe to extract the phase and density correlation functions from the dependencies of the plasma resonance frequency $\omega_p({\bf B})$ and the $c$ axis conductivity $\sigma_c({\bf B})$ on the {\it ab}-component of the magnetic field at fixed {\it c} -component. Using Langevin dynamic simulations of two-dimensional vortex arrays we calculate density and phase correlation functions at different temperatures. Calculated phase correlations describe very well the experimental angular dependence of the plasma resonance field. We also demonstrate that in the case of weak damping in the liquid phase, broadening of the JPR line is caused mainly by random Josephson coupling arising from the density fluctuations of pancake vortices. In this case the JPR line has a universal shape, which is determined only by parameters of the superconductors and temperature.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Phys. Rev. B, December

Theory of Insulator Metal Transition and Colossal Magnetoresistance in Doped Manganites

The persistent proximity of insulating and metallic phases, a puzzling characterestic of manganites, is argued to arise from the self organization of the twofold degenerate e_g orbitals of Mn into localized Jahn-Teller(JT) polaronic levels and broad band states due to the large electron - JT phonon coupling present in them. We describe a new two band model with strong correlations and a dynamical mean-field theory calculation of equilibrium and transport properties. These explain the insulator metal transition and colossal magnetoresistance quantitatively, as well as other consequences of two state coexistence

Thermodynamics of low dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg ferromagnets in an external magnetic field within Green function formalism

The thermodynamics of low dimensional spin-1/2 Heisenberg ferromagnets (HFM) in an external magnetic field is investigated within a second-order two-time Green function formalism in the wide temperature and field range. A crucial point of the proposed scheme is a proper account of the analytical properties for the approximate transverse commutator Green function obtained as a result of the decoupling procedure. A good quantitative description of the correlation functions, magnetization, susceptibility, and heat capacity of the HFM on a chain, square and triangular lattices is found for both infinite and finite-sized systems. The dependences of the thermodynamic functions of 2D HFM on the cluster size are studied. The obtained results agree well with the corresponding data found by Bethe ansatz, exact diagonalization, high temperature series expansions, and quantum Monte Carlo simulations.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figure

Neutrino mass, proton decay and dark matter in TeV scale universal extra dimension models

We show how the problem of small neutrino masses and suppressed proton decay can be simultaneously resolved in 6-D universal extra dimension models (UED) with a low fundamental scale using extended gauge groups that contain the local $B-L$ symmetry. The extra space dimensions are compactified either on a $T^2/Z_2$ or $T^2/Z_2\times Z'_2$ orbifold depending on whether the full gauge group is $SU(2)_L\times U(1)_{I_{3R}}\times U(1)_{B-L}$ or $SU(2)_L\times SU(2)_{R}\times U(1)_{B-L}$. In both cases, neutrino masses are suppressed by an appropriate orbifold parity assignment for the standard model singlet neutrinos and the proton decay rate is suppressed due to a residual discrete symmetry left over from compactification. For lower values of the fundamental scale, a dominant decay mode of the neutron is $n\to 3 \nu$. An interesting consequence of the model is a possible two component picture for dark matter of the universe.Comment: 25 pages, two minor typos correcte

Complex X-ray Absorption and the Fe Kalpha Profile in NGC 3516

We present data from simultaneous Chandra, XMM-Newton and BeppoSAX observations of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 3516, taken during 2001 April and Nov. We have investigated the nature of the very flat observed X-ray spectrum. Chandra grating data show the presence of X-ray absorption lines, revealing two distinct components of the absorbing gas, one which is consistent with our previous model of the UV/X-ray absorber while the other, which is outflowing at a velocity of ~1100 km/s has a larger column density and is much more highly ionized. The broad-band spectral characteristics of the X-ray continuum observed with XMM during 2001 April, reveal the presence of a third layer of absorption consisting of a very large column (~2.5 x 10E23 cm^-2) of highly ionized gas with a covering fraction ~50%. This low covering fraction suggests that the absorber lies within a few lt-days of the X-ray source and/or is filamentary in structure. Interestingly, these absorbers are not in thermal equilibrium with one another. The two new components are too highly ionized to be radiatively accelerated, which we suggest is evidence for a hydromagnetic origin for the outflow. Applying our model to the Nov dataset, we can account for the spectral variability primarily by a drop in the ionization states of the absorbers, as expected by the change in the continuum flux. When this complex absorption is accounted for we find the underlying continuum to be typical of Seyfert 1 galaxies. The spectral curvature attributed to the high column absorber, in turn, reduces estimates of the flux and extent of any broad Fe emission line from the accretion disk.Comment: 33 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Collisional and thermal ionization of sodium Rydberg atoms I. Experiment for nS and nD atoms with n=8-20

Collisional and thermal ionization of sodium nS and nD Rydberg atoms with n=8-20 has been studied. The experiments were performed using a two-step pulsed laser excitation in an effusive atomic beam at atom density of about 2 10^{10} cm^{-3}. Molecular and atomic ions from associative, Penning, and thermal ionization processes were detected. It has been found that the atomic ions were created mainly due to photoionization of Rydberg atoms by photons of blackbody radiation at the ambient temperature of 300K. Blackbody ionization rates and effective lifetimes of Rydberg states of interest were determined. The molecular ions were found to be from associative ionization in Na(nL)+Na(3S) collisions. Rate constants of associative ionization have been measured using an original method based on relative measurements of Na_{2}^{+} and Na^{+} ion signals.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figure

Kinetic and Transport Equations for Localized Excitations in Sine-Gordon Model

We analyze the kinetic behavior of localized excitations - solitons, breathers and phonons - in Sine-Gordon model. Collision integrals for all type of localized excitation collision processes are constructed, and the kinetic equations are derived. We analyze the kinetic behavior of localized excitations - solitons, breathers and phonons - in Sine-Gordon model. Collision integrals for all type of localized excitation collision processes are constructed, and the kinetic equations are derived. We prove that the entropy production in the system of localized excitations takes place only in the case of inhomogeneous distribution of these excitations in real and phase spaces. We derive transport equations for soliton and breather densities, temperatures and mean velocities i.e. show that collisions of localized excitations lead to creation of diffusion, thermoconductivity and intrinsic friction processes. The diffusion coefficients for solitons and breathers, describing the diffusion processes in real and phase spaces, are calculated. It is shown that diffusion processes in real space are much faster than the diffusion processes in phase space.Comment: 23 pages, latex, no figure

Quantum Dew

We consider phase separation in nonequilibrium Bose gas with an attractive interaction between the particles. Using numerical integrations on a lattice, we show that the system evolves into a state that contains drops of Bose-Einstein condensate suspended in uncondensed gas. When the initial gas is sufficiently rarefied, the rate of formation of this quantum dew scales with the initial density as expected for a process governed by two-particle collisions.Comment: 4 pages, revtex, 5 figure

Josephson Plasma Resonance as a Structural Probe of Vortex Liquid

Recent developments of the Josephson plasma resonance and transport c-axis measurements in layered high T$_{c}$ superconductors allow to probe Josephson coupling in a wide range of the vortex phase diagram. We derive a relation between the field dependent Josephson coupling energy and the density correlation function of the vortex liquid. This relation provides a unique opportunity to extract the density correlation function of pancake vortices from the dependence of the plasma resonance on the $ab$-component of the magnetic field at a fixed $c$-axis component.Comment: 4 pages, 1 fugure, accepted to Phys. Rev. Let