728 research outputs found
Ecological selection pressures for C4 photosynthesis in the grasses
Grasses using the C4 photosynthetic pathway dominate grasslands and savannahs of warm regions, and account for half of the species in this ecologically and economically important plant family. The C4 pathway increases the potential for high rates of photosynthesis, particularly at high irradiance, and raises water-use efficiency compared with the C3 type. It is therefore classically viewed as an adaptation to open, arid conditions. Here, we test this adaptive hypothesis using the comparative method, analysing habitat data for 117 genera of grasses, representing 15 C4 lineages. The evidence from our three complementary analyses is consistent with the hypothesis that evolutionary selection for C4 photosynthesis requires open environments, but we find an equal likelihood of C4 evolutionary origins in mesic, arid and saline habitats. However, once the pathway has arisen, evolutionary transitions into arid habitats occur at higher rates in C4 than C3 clades. Extant C4 genera therefore occupy a wider range of drier habitats than their C3 counterparts because the C4 pathway represents a pre-adaptation to arid conditions. Our analyses warn against evolutionary inferences based solely upon the high occurrence of extant C4 species in dry habitats, and provide a novel interpretation of this classic ecological association
Black Hole Evaporation in the Presence of a Short Distance Cutoff
A derivation of the Hawking effect is given which avoids reference to field
modes above some cutoff frequency in the free-fall frame
of the black hole. To avoid reference to arbitrarily high frequencies, it is
necessary to impose a boundary condition on the quantum field in a timelike
region near the horizon, rather than on a (spacelike) Cauchy surface either
outside the horizon or at early times before the horizon forms. Due to the
nature of the horizon as an infinite redshift surface, the correct boundary
condition at late times outside the horizon cannot be deduced, within the
confines of a theory that applies only below the cutoff, from initial
conditions prior to the formation of the hole. A boundary condition is
formulated which leads to the Hawking effect in a cutoff theory. It is argued
that it is possible the boundary condition is {\it not} satisfied, so that the
spectrum of black hole radiation may be significantly different from that
predicted by Hawking, even without the back-reaction near the horizon becoming
of order unity relative to the curvature.Comment: 35 pages, plain LaTeX, UMDGR93-32, NSF-ITP-93-2
Constraints on Gravitational Scaling Dimensions from Non-Local Effective Field Equations
Quantum corrections to the classical field equations, induced by a scale
dependent gravitational constant, are analyzed in the case of the static
isotropic metric. The requirement of general covariance for the resulting
non-local effective field equations puts severe restrictions on the nature of
the solutions that can be obtained. In general the existence of vacuum
solutions to the effective field equations restricts the value of the
gravitational scaling exponent to be a positive integer greater than
one. We give further arguments suggesting that in fact only for
consistent solutions seem to exist in four dimensions.Comment: 14 page
Normal Coordinates Describing Coupled Oscillations in the Gravitational Field
The motion of a local source inducing small oscillations in the gravitational
field is investigated and shown to exhibit pure rotational kinetic energy.
Should the net affect of these slow, revolving oscillations cause large-scale
rotations in spacetime it would certainly result in anomalous celestial
accelerations. When this angular rotational frequency of spacetime is applied
to the anomalous acceleration of the Pioneer 10/11 spacecrafts, the correlation
is promising.Comment: General Relativity and Gravitation Ref.: Ms. No. GERG-D-06-00077R1
accepted for publication October 06, 200
Multipliers for p-Bessel sequences in Banach spaces
Multipliers have been recently introduced as operators for Bessel sequences
and frames in Hilbert spaces. These operators are defined by a fixed
multiplication pattern (the symbol) which is inserted between the analysis and
synthesis operators. In this paper, we will generalize the concept of Bessel
multipliers for p-Bessel and p-Riesz sequences in Banach spaces. It will be
shown that bounded symbols lead to bounded operators. Symbols converging to
zero induce compact operators. Furthermore, we will give sufficient conditions
for multipliers to be nuclear operators. Finally, we will show the continuous
dependency of the multipliers on their parameters.Comment: 17 page
Casimir Effect, Achucarro-Ortiz Black Hole and the Cosmological Constant
We treat the two-dimensional Achucarro-Ortiz black hole (also known as (1+1)
dilatonic black hole) as a Casimir-type system. The stress tensor of a massless
scalar field satisfying Dirichlet boundary conditions on two one-dimensional
"walls" ("Dirichlet walls") is explicitly calculated in three different vacua.
Without employing known regularization techniques, the expression in each
vacuum for the stress tensor is reached by using the Wald's axioms. Finally,
within this asymptotically non-flat gravitational background, it is shown that
the equilibrium of the configurations, obtained by setting Casimir force to
zero, is controlled by the cosmological constant.Comment: 20 pages, LaTeX, minor corrections, comments and clarifications
added, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Low Background Micromegas in CAST
Solar axions could be converted into x-rays inside the strong magnetic field
of an axion helioscope, triggering the detection of this elusive particle. Low
background x-ray detectors are an essential component for the sensitivity of
these searches. We report on the latest developments of the Micromegas
detectors for the CERN Axion Solar Telescope (CAST), including technological
pathfinder activities for the future International Axion Observatory (IAXO).
The use of low background techniques and the application of discrimination
algorithms based on the high granularity of the readout have led to background
levels below 10 counts/keV/cm/s, more than a factor 100 lower than
the first generation of Micromegas detectors. The best levels achieved at the
Canfranc Underground Laboratory (LSC) are as low as 10
counts/keV/cm/s, showing good prospects for the application of this
technology in IAXO. The current background model, based on underground and
surface measurements, is presented, as well as the strategies to further reduce
the background level. Finally, we will describe the R&D paths to achieve
sub-keV energy thresholds, which could broaden the physics case of axion
helioscopes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Large TPC Conference 2014, Pari
Black Hole Entropy without Brick Walls
We present evidence which confirms a suggestion by Susskind and Uglum
regarding black hole entropy. Using a Pauli-Villars regulator, we find that 't
Hooft's approach to evaluating black hole entropy through a
statistical-mechanical counting of states for a scalar field propagating
outside the event horizon yields precisely the one-loop renormalization of the
standard Bekenstein-Hawking formula, S=\A/(4G). Our calculation also yields a
constant contribution to the black hole entropy, a contribution associated with
the one-loop renormalization of higher curvature terms in the gravitational
action.Comment: 15 pages, plain LaTex minor additions including some references;
version accepted for publicatio
Some general properties of the renormalized stress-energy tensor for static quantum states on (n+1)-dimensional spherically symmetric black holes
We study the renormalized stress-energy tensor (RSET) for static quantum
states on (n+1)-dimensional, static, spherically symmetric black holes. By
solving the conservation equations, we are able to write the stress-energy
tensor in terms of a single unknown function of the radial co-ordinate, plus
two arbitrary constants. Conditions for the stress-energy tensor to be regular
at event horizons (including the extremal and ``ultra-extremal'' cases) are
then derived using generalized Kruskal-like co-ordinates. These results should
be useful for future calculations of the RSET for static quantum states on
spherically symmetric black hole geometries in any number of space-time
dimensions.Comment: 9 pages, no figures, RevTeX4, references added, accepted for
publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio
Method to compute the stress-energy tensor for the massless spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime
A method for computing the stress-energy tensor for the quantized, massless,
spin 1/2 field in a general static spherically symmetric spacetime is
presented. The field can be in a zero temperature state or a non-zero
temperature thermal state. An expression for the full renormalized
stress-energy tensor is derived. It consists of a sum of two tensors both of
which are conserved. One tensor is written in terms of the modes of the
quantized field and has zero trace. In most cases it must be computed
numerically. The other tensor does not explicitly depend on the modes and has a
trace equal to the trace anomaly. It can be used as an analytic approximation
for the stress-energy tensor and is equivalent to other approximations that
have been made for the stress-energy tensor of the massless spin 1/2 field in
static spherically symmetric spacetimes.Comment: 34 pages, no figure
- âŠ