56 research outputs found
Metabolism of alcaligenes denitrificans in biofilm vs planktonic cells
Aims: To compare the effect of phosphorous concentration (200 mg P 1-1 and 20 mg P 1-1) on
the denitrifying efficiency of Alcaligenes denitrificans when in the form of planktonic cells or in the form of a biofilm, and to select the most adequate C/N ratio.
Methods and Results: Two types of assays were carried out: with planktonic cells and with
cells in biofilm form. Anoxic bottles with the appropriate C/N and phosphorous concentration
were incubated at 30°C and submitted to orbital shaking at 150 rev min-1. The specific activity
of cells in biofilm form, in terms of substrate consumption, was significantly higher than cells in
planktonic form. With regard to the effect of increasing phosphorous concentration, an increase
in specific activity was also only evident when the cells were in biofilm form.
Conclusions: The two forms showed different performances and phosphorous concentration
only markedly affected the biofilm form.
Significance and Impact of the Study: The importance of the C/N/P ratio in the
denitrification process is demonstrated. As there was no report in the literature about the
stoichiometric relationship of heterotrophic denitrification with citrate, its stoichiometry,
including the requirement for cell synthesis, was determined.Instituto de Biotecnologia e Química Fina (IBQF).
PRAXIS XXI
Quantum driven Bounce of the future Universe
It is demonstrated that due to back-reaction of quantum effects, expansion of
the universe stops at its maximum and takes a turnaround. Later on, it
contracts to a very small size in finite future time. This phenomenon is
followed by a " bounce" with re-birth of an exponentially expanding
non-singular universe
Role of Brans-Dicke Theory with or without self-interacting potential in cosmic acceleration
In this work we have studied the possibility of obtaining cosmic acceleration
in Brans-Dicke theory with varying or constant (Brans- Dicke
parameter) and with or without self-interacting potential, the background fluid
being barotropic fluid or Generalized Chaplygin Gas. Here we take the power law
form of the scale factor and the scalar field. We show that accelerated
expansion can also be achieved for high values of for closed Universe.Comment: 12 Latex pages, 20 figures, RevTex styl
Particle-Like Description in Quintessential Cosmology
Assuming equation of state for quintessential matter: , we
analyse dynamical behaviour of the scale factor in FRW cosmologies. It is shown
that its dynamics is formally equivalent to that of a classical particle under
the action of 1D potential . It is shown that Hamiltonian method can be
easily implemented to obtain a classification of all cosmological solutions in
the phase space as well as in the configurational space. Examples taken from
modern cosmology illustrate the effectiveness of the presented approach.
Advantages of representing dynamics as a 1D Hamiltonian flow, in the analysis
of acceleration and horizon problems, are presented. The inverse problem of
reconstructing the Hamiltonian dynamics (i.e. potential function) from the
luminosity distance function for supernovae is also considered.Comment: 35 pages, 26 figures, RevTeX4, some applications of our treatment to
investigation of quintessence models were adde
Wormholes and Ringholes in a Dark-Energy Universe
The effects that the present accelerating expansion of the universe has on
the size and shape of Lorentzian wormholes and ringholes are considered. It is
shown that, quite similarly to how it occurs for inflating wormholes, relative
to the initial embedding-space coordinate system, whereas the shape of the
considered holes is always preserved with time, their size is driven by the
expansion to increase by a factor which is proportional to the scale factor of
the universe. In the case that dark energy is phantom energy, which is not
excluded by present constraints on the dark-energy equation of state, that size
increase with time becomes quite more remarkable, and a rather speculative
scenario is here presented where the big rip can be circumvented by future
advanced civilizations by utilizing sufficiently grown up wormholes and
ringholes as time machines that shortcut the big-rip singularity.Comment: 11 pages, RevTex, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Genesis of Dark Energy: Dark Energy as Consequence of Release and Two-stage Tracking Cosmological Nuclear Energy
Recent observations on Type-Ia supernovae and low density () measurement of matter including dark matter suggest that the present-day
universe consists mainly of repulsive-gravity type `exotic matter' with
negative-pressure often said `dark energy' (). But the nature
of dark energy is mysterious and its puzzling questions, such as why, how,
where and when about the dark energy, are intriguing. In the present paper the
authors attempt to answer these questions while making an effort to reveal the
genesis of dark energy and suggest that `the cosmological nuclear binding
energy liberated during primordial nucleo-synthesis remains trapped for a long
time and then is released free which manifests itself as dark energy in the
universe'. It is also explained why for dark energy the parameter . Noting that for stiff matter and for radiation; is for dark energy because is due to `deficiency of
stiff-nuclear-matter' and that this binding energy is ultimately released as
`radiation' contributing , making . When
dark energy is released free at , . But as on present day
at when radiation strength has diminished to , . This, thus almost solves the dark-energy mystery of
negative pressure and repulsive-gravity. The proposed theory makes several
estimates /predictions which agree reasonably well with the astrophysical
constraints and observations. Though there are many candidate-theories, the
proposed model of this paper presents an entirely new approach (cosmological
nuclear energy) as a possible candidate for dark energy.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figures, minor correction
Casimir Effects Near the Big Rip Singularity in Viscous Cosmology
Analytical properties of the scalar expansion in the cosmic fluid are
investigated, especially near the future singularity, when the fluid possesses
a constant bulk viscosity \zeta. In addition, we assume that there is a
Casimir-induced term in the fluid's energy-momentum tensor, in such a way that
the Casimir contributions to the energy density and pressure are both
proportional to 1/a^4, 'a' being the scale factor. A series expansion is worked
out for the scalar expansion under the condition that the Casimir influence is
small. Close to the Big Rip singularity the Casimir term has however to fade
away and we obtain the same singular behavior for the scalar expansion, the
scale factor, and the energy density, as in the Casimir-free viscous case.Comment: 7 pages RevTeX, no figures. Minor changes in discussion, some
references added. To appear in Gen. Rel. Gra
Cosmology with a long range repulsive force
We consider a class of cosmological models in which the universe is filled
with a (non-electric) charge density that repels itself by means of a force
carried by a vector boson with a tiny mass. When the vector's mass depends upon
other fields, the repulsive interaction gives rise to an electromagnetic
barrier which prevents these fields from driving the mass to zero. This can
modify the cosmology dramatically. We present a very simple realization of this
idea in which the vector's mass arises from a scalar field. The electromagnetic
barrier prevents this field from rolling down its potential and thereby leads
to accelerated expansion.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, LaTeX (version accepted for publication in PRD).
3 new figures, extended discussion of observational consequence
Electromagnetic waves in an axion-active relativistic plasma non-minimally coupled to gravity
We consider cosmological applications of a new self-consistent system of
equations, accounting for a nonminimal coupling of the gravitational,
electromagnetic and pseudoscalar (axion) fields in a relativistic plasma. We
focus on dispersion relations for electromagnetic perturbations in an initially
isotropic ultrarelativistic plasma coupled to the gravitational and axion
fields in the framework of isotropic homogeneous cosmological model of the de
Sitter type. We classify the longitudinal and transversal electromagnetic modes
in an axionically active plasma and distinguish between waves (damping,
instable or running), and nonharmonic perturbations (damping or instable). We
show that for the special choice of the guiding model parameters the
transversal electromagnetic waves in the axionically active plasma,
nonminimally coupled to gravity, can propagate with the phase velocity less
than speed of light in vacuum, thus displaying a possibility for a new type of
resonant particle-wave interactions.Comment: 19 pages, 9 figures, published versio
Condensate cosmology -- dark energy from dark matter
Imagine a scenario in which the dark energy forms via the condensation of
dark matter at some low redshift. The Compton wavelength therefore changes from
small to very large at the transition, unlike quintessence or metamorphosis. We
study CMB, large scale structure, supernova and radio galaxy constraints on
condensation by performing a 4 parameter likelihood analysis over the Hubble
constant and the three parameters associated with Q, the condensate field:
Omega_Q, w_f and z_t (energy density and equation of state today, and redshift
of transition). Condensation roughly interpolates between Lambda CDM (for large
z_t) and sCDM (low z_t) and provides a slightly better fit to the data than
Lambda CDM. We confirm that there is no degeneracy in the CMB between H and z_t
and discuss the implications of late-time transitions for the Lyman-alpha
forest. Finally we discuss the nonlinear phase of both condensation and
metamorphosis, which is much more interesting than in standard quintessence
models.Comment: 13 pages, 13 colour figures. Final version with discussion of TE
cross-correlation spectra for condensation and metamorphosis in light of the
WMAP result
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