250 research outputs found
Levy Anomalous Diffusion and Fractional Fokker--Planck Equation
We demonstrate that the Fokker-Planck equation can be generalized into a
'Fractional Fokker-Planck' equation, i.e. an equation which includes fractional
space differentiations, in order to encompass the wide class of anomalous
diffusions due to a Levy stable stochastic forcing. A precise determination of
this equation is obtained by substituting a Levy stable source to the classical
gaussian one in the Langevin equation. This yields not only the anomalous
diffusion coefficient, but a non trivial fractional operator which corresponds
to the possible asymmetry of the Levy stable source. Both of them cannot be
obtained by scaling arguments. The (mono-) scaling behaviors of the Fractional
Fokker-Planck equation and of its solutions are analysed and a generalization
of the Einstein relation for the anomalous diffusion coefficient is obtained.
This generalization yields a straightforward physical interpretation of the
parameters of Levy stable distributions. Furthermore, with the help of
important examples, we show the applicability of the Fractional Fokker-Planck
equation in physics.Comment: 22 pages; To Appear in Physica
Cooling down the world oceans and the earth by enhancing the North Atlantic Ocean current
The world is going through intensive changes due to global warming. It is well known that the reduction in ice cover in the Arctic Ocean further contributes to increasing the atmospheric Arctic temperature due to the reduction of the albedo effect and increase in heat absorbed by the oceanâs surface. The Arctic ice cover also works like an insulation sheet, keeping the heat in the ocean from dissipating into the cold Arctic atmosphere. Increasing the salinity of the Arctic Ocean surface would allow the warmer and less salty North Atlantic Ocean current to flow on the surface of the Arctic Ocean considerably increasing the temperature of the Arctic atmosphere and release the ocean heat trapped under the ice. This paper argues that if the North Atlantic Ocean current could maintain the Arctic Ocean ice-free during the winter, the longwave radiation heat loss into space would be larger than the increase in heat absorption due to the albedo effect. This paper presents details of the fundamentals of the Arctic Ocean circulation and presents three possible approaches for increasing the salinity of the surface water of the Arctic Ocean. It then discusses that increasing the salinity of the Arctic Ocean would warm the atmosphere of the Arctic region, but cool down the oceans and possibly the Earth. However, it might take thousands of years for the effects of cooling the oceans to cool the global average atmospheric temperature
Gravitational stability and dynamical overheating of stellar disks of galaxies
We use the marginal stability condition for galactic disks and the stellar
velocity dispersion data published by different authors to place upper limits
on the disk local surface density at two radial scalelengths .
Extrapolating these estimates, we constrain the total mass of the disks and
compare these estimates to those based on the photometry and color of stellar
populations. The comparison reveals that the stellar disks of most of spiral
galaxies in our sample cannot be substantially overheated and are therefore
unlikely to have experienced a significant merging event in their history. The
same conclusion applies to some, but not all of the S0 galaxies we consider.
However, a substantial part of the early type galaxies do show the stellar
velocity dispersion well in excess of the gravitational stability threshold
suggesting a major merger event in the past. We find dynamically overheated
disks among both seemingly isolated galaxies and those forming pairs. The ratio
of the marginal stability disk mass estimate to the total galaxy mass within
four radial scalelengths remains within a range of 0.4---0.8. We see no
evidence for a noticeable running of this ratio with either the morphological
type or color index.Comment: 25 pages, 5 figures, accepted to Astronomy Letter
The European Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet): Visions and roles of the gateway to marine data in Europe
Marine data are needed for many purposes: for acquiring a better scientific understanding of the marine environment, but also, increasingly, as marine knowledge for decision making as well as developing products and services supporting economic growth. Data must be of sufficient quality to meet the specific users' needs. It must also be accessible in a timely manner. And yet, despite being critical, this timely access to known-quality data proves challenging. Europe's marine data have traditionally been collected by a myriad of entities with the result that much of our data are scattered throughout unconnected databases and repositories. Even when data are available, they are often not compatible, making the sharing of the information and data aggregation particularly challenging. In this paper, we present how the European Marine Observation and Data network (EMODnet) has developed over the last decade to tackle these issues. Today, EMODnet is comprised of more than 150 organizations which gather marine data, metadata, and data products and make them more easily accessible for a wider range of users. EMODnet currently consists of seven sub-portals: bathymetry, geology, physics, chemistry, biology, seabed habitats, and human activities. In addition, Sea-basin Checkpoints have been established to assess the observation capacity in the North Sea, Mediterranean, Atlantic, Baltic, Artic, and Black Sea. The Checkpoints identify whether the observation infrastructure in Europe meets the needs of users by undertaking a number of challenges. To complement this, a Data Ingestion Service has been set up to tackle the problem of the wealth of marine data that remain unavailable, by reaching out to data holders, explaining the benefits of sharing their data and offering a support service to assist them in releasing their data and making them available through EMODnet. The EMODnet Central Portal (www.emodnet.eu) provides a single point of access to these services, which are free to access and use. The strategic vision of EMODnet in the next decade is also presented, together with key focal areas toward a more user-oriented service, including EMODnet for business, internationalization for global users, and stakeholder engagement to connect the diverse communities across the marine knowledge value chain
Experimental study of negative photoconductivity in n-PbTe(Ga) epitaxial films
We report on low-temperature photoconductivity (PC) in n-PbTe(Ga) epitaxial
films prepared by the hot-wall technique on -BaF_2 substrates. Variation
of the substrate temperature allowed us to change the resistivity of the films
from 10^8 down to 10_{-2} Ohm x cm at 4.2 K. The resistivity reduction is
associated with a slight excess of Ga concentration, disturbing the Fermi level
pinning within the energy gap of n-PbTe(Ga). PC has been measured under
continuous and pulse illumination in the temperature range 4.2-300 K. For films
of low resistivity, the photoresponse is composed of negative and positive
parts. Recombination processes for both effects are characterized by
nonexponential kinetics depending on the illumination pulse duration and
intensity. Analysis of the PC transient proves that the negative
photoconductivity cannot be explained in terms of nonequilibrium charge
carriers spatial separation of due to band modulation. Experimental results are
interpreted assuming the mixed valence of Ga in lead telluride and the
formation of centers with a negative correlation energy. Specifics of the PC
process is determined by the energy levels attributed to donor Ga III, acceptor
Ga I, and neutral Ga II states with respect to the crystal surrounding. The
energy level corresponding to the metastable state Ga II is supposed to occur
above the conduction band bottom, providing fast recombination rates for the
negative PC. The superposition of negative and positive PC is considered to be
dependent on the ratio of the densities of states corresponding to the donor
and acceptor impurity centers.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure
Energy partitioning and methane emission by sheep fed sorghum silages at different maturation stages
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