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Characterization of the Subsurface of 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko's Abydos Site
We investigate the structure of the subsurface of the Abydos site using a cometary nucleus model with parameters adapted to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko and the Abydos landing site. We aim to compare the production rates derived from our model with those of the main molecules measured by Ptolemy. This will allow us to retrieve the depths at which the different molecules still exist in solid form
Isotope Geochemistry for Comparative Planetology of Exoplanets
Isotope geochemistry has played a critical role in understanding processes at work in and the history of solar system bodies. Application of these techniques to exoplanets would be revolutionary and would allow comparative planetology with the formation and evolution of exoplanet systems. The roadmap for comparative planetology of the origins and workings of exoplanets involves isotopic geochemistry efforts in three areas: (1) technology development to expand observations of the isotopic composition of solar system bodies and expand observations to isotopic composition of exoplanet atmospheres; (2) theoretical modeling of how isotopes fractionate and the role they play in evolution of exoplanetary systems, atmospheres, surfaces and interiors; and (3) laboratory studies to constrain isotopic fractionation due to processes at work throughout the solar system
Zooming in on local level statistics by supersymmetric extension of free probability
We consider unitary ensembles of Hermitian NxN matrices H with a confining
potential NV where V is analytic and uniformly convex. From work by
Zinn-Justin, Collins, and Guionnet and Maida it is known that the large-N limit
of the characteristic function for a finite-rank Fourier variable K is
determined by the Voiculescu R-transform, a key object in free probability
theory. Going beyond these results, we argue that the same holds true when the
finite-rank operator K has the form that is required by the Wegner-Efetov
supersymmetry method of integration over commuting and anti-commuting
variables. This insight leads to a potent new technique for the study of local
statistics, e.g., level correlations. We illustrate the new technique by
demonstrating universality in a random matrix model of stochastic scattering.Comment: 38 pages, 3 figures, published version, minor changes in Section
A Vision for Ice Giant Exploration
From Voyager to a Vision for 2050: NASA and ESA have just completed a study of candidate missionsto Uranus and Neptune, the so-called ice giant planets. It is a Pre-Decadal Survey Study, meant to inform the next Planetary Science Decadal Survey about opportunities for missions launching in the 2020's and early 2030's. There have been no space flight missions to the ice giants since the Voyager 2 flybys of Uranus in 1986 and Neptune in 1989. This paper presents some conclusions of that study (hereafter referred to as The Study), and how the results feed into a vision for where planetary science can be in 2050. Reaching that vision will require investments in technology andground-based science in the 2020's, flight during the 2030's along with continued technological development of both ground- and space-based capabilities, and data analysis and additional flights in the 2040's. We first discuss why exploring the ice giants is important. We then summarize the science objectives identified by The Study, and our vision of the science goals for 2050. We then review some of the technologies needed to make this vision a reality
Understanding and Visualizing Droplet Distributions in Simulations of Shallow Clouds
Thorough analysis of local droplet-level interactions is crucial to better
understand the microphysical processes in clouds and their effect on the global
climate. High-accuracy simulations of relevant droplet size distributions from
Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of bin microphysics challenge current analysis
techniques due to their high dimensionality involving three spatial dimensions,
time, and a continuous range of droplet sizes. Utilizing the compact latent
representations from Variational Autoencoders (VAEs), we produce novel and
intuitive visualizations for the organization of droplet sizes and their
evolution over time beyond what is possible with clustering techniques. This
greatly improves interpretation and allows us to examine aerosol-cloud
interactions by contrasting simulations with different aerosol concentrations.
We find that the evolution of the droplet spectrum is similar across aerosol
levels but occurs at different paces. This similarity suggests that
precipitation initiation processes are alike despite variations in onset times.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted at NeurIPS 2023 (Machine Learning and
the Physical Sciences Workshop
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