New floristic data of alien vascular plants from Sicily

New records of Commelina communis, Euphorbia hypericifolia, Melia azedarach, Nicotiana tabacum, and Xanthoceras sorbifolium are reported for the Sicilian flora

Analysing Magnetism Using Scanning SQUID Microscopy

Scanning superconducting quantum interference device microscopy (SSM) is a scanning probe technique that images local magnetic flux, which allows for mapping of magnetic fields with high field and spatial accuracy. Many studies involving SSM have been published in the last decades, using SSM to make qualitative statements about magnetism. However, quantitative analysis using SSM has received less attention. In this work, we discuss several aspects of interpreting SSM images and methods to improve quantitative analysis. First, we analyse the spatial resolution and how it depends on several factors. Second, we discuss the analysis of SSM scans and the information obtained from the SSM data. Using simulations, we show how signals evolve as a function of changing scan height, SQUID loop size, magnetization strength and orientation. We also investigated 2-dimensional autocorrelation analysis to extract information about the size, shape and symmetry of magnetic features. Finally, we provide an outlook on possible future applications and improvements.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figure

Life forms, life strategies and ecological indices of bryophytes for bioindication in wood areas: a case of study in the "Bosco della Ficuzza, Rocca Busambra, Bosco del Cappelliere e Gorgo del Drago\u201d Oriented Nature Reserve (West Sicily).

Life forms, life strategies and ecological indices of bryophytes which live in evergreen and deciduous Quercus woods as well as in a Pinus halepensis artificial system within the "Bosco della Ficuzza, Rocca Busambra, Bosco del Cappelliere e Gorgo del Drago" Oriented Nature Reserve are analysed and compared. The study highlights that in the same local climatic conditions the Quercus and Pinus trees select different bio-ecological types in the bryophyte communities. They appear to be especially useful to detect physionomic-structural differences in the woods, integrating the information provided by the ecological indice

Geometric magnetism in open quantum systems

An isolated classical chaotic system, when driven by the slow change of several parameters, responds with two reaction forces: geometric friction and geometric magnetism. By using the theory of quantum fluctuation relations we show that this holds true also for open quantum systems, and provide explicit expressions for those forces in this case. This extends the concept of Berry curvature to the realm of open quantum systems. We illustrate our findings by calculating the geometric magnetism of a damped charged quantum harmonic oscillator transported along a path in physical space in presence of a magnetic field and a thermal environment. We find that in this case the geometric magnetism is unaffected by the presence of the heat bath.Comment: 7 pages. Signs corrected. v3 Accepted in Phys. Rev.

Introduction to the study of the bryological flora of the Batumi Botanical Garden (Georgia).

A preliminary list of 22 bryophytes growing in the Batumi Botanical garden is provided. From chorological point of view, temperate and boreo-temperate taxa prevail while with regard to ecological behaviour, mesophilous taxa are the most numerous and with respect to light requirements equivalently sciaphilous and eliophilous taxa are represented. The mosses Fissidens dubius and Cyrtomnium hymenophylloides are recorded for the first time in Georgia

Transient fluctuation theorem in closed quantum systems

Our point of departure are the unitary dynamics of closed quantum systems as generated from the Schr\"odinger equation. We focus on a class of quantum models that typically exhibit roughly exponential relaxation of some observable within this framework. Furthermore, we focus on pure state evolutions. An entropy in accord with Jaynes principle is defined on the basis of the quantum expectation value of the above observable. It is demonstrated that the resulting deterministic entropy dynamics are in a sense in accord with a transient fluctuation theorem. Moreover, we demonstrate that the dynamics of the expectation value are describable in terms of an Ornstein-Uhlenbeck process. These findings are demonstrated numerically and supported by analytical considerations based on quantum typicality.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure