Strength distribution of solar magnetic fields in photospheric quiet Sun regions

The magnetic topology of the solar photosphere in its quietest regions is hidden by the difficulties to disentangle magnetic flux through the resolution element from the field strength of unresolved structures. The observation of spectral lines with strong coupling with hyperfine structure, like the observed MnI line at 553.7 nm, allows such differentiation. The main aim is to analyse the distribution of field strengths in the network and intranetwork of the solar photosphere through inversion of the MnI line at 553.7 nm. An inversion code for the magnetic field using the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) has been developed. Statistical tests are run on the code to validate it. The code has to draw information from the small-amplitude spectral feature oppearing in the core of the Stokes V profile of the observed line for field strengths below a certain threshold, coinciding with lower limit of the Paschen-Back effect in the fine structure of the involved atomic levels. The inversion of the observed profiles, using the circular polarization (V) and the intensity (I), shows the presence of magnetic fields strengths in a range from 0 to 2 kG, with predominant weak strength values. Mixed regions with mean strength field values of 1130 and 435 Gauss are found associated with the network and intranetwork respectively. The MnI line at 553 nm probes the field strength distribution in the quiet sun and shows the predominance of weak, hectoGauss fields in the intranetwork, and strong, kiloGauss fields in the network. It also shows that both network and intranetwork are to be understood at our present spatial resolutions as field distributions of which we hint the mean properties.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure

Noncommutative 6D Gauge Higgs Unification Models

The influence of higher dimensions in noncommutative field theories is considered. For this purpose, we analyze the bosonic sector of a recently proposed 6 dimensional SU(3) orbifold model for the electroweak interactions. The corresponding noncommutative theory is constructed by means of the Seiberg-Witten map in 6D. We find in the reduced bosonic interactions in 4D theory, couplings which are new with respect to other known 4D noncommutative formulations of the Standard Model using the Seiberg-Witten map. Phenomenological implications due to the noncommutativity of extra dimensions are explored. In particular, assuming that the commutative model leads to the standard model values, a bound -5.63 10^{-8} GeV^{-2}< theta <1.06 10^{-7}GeV^{-2} on the corresponding noncommutativity scale is derived from current experimental constraints on the S and T oblique parameters. This bound is used to predict a possibly significant impact of noncommutativity effects of extra dimensions on the rare Higgs boson decay H-> gamma gamma.Comment: Latex file, 11 pages, 1 figur

Cosmic acceleration in entropic cosmology

In this paper we study the viability of an entropic cosmological model. The effects of entropic gravity are derived from a modified entropy-area relationship with a volumetric entropy term. This model describes a late time limit cosmic acceleration, whose origin is related to a volumetric term in the entropy. Moreover, we analyze the phenomenological implications of the entropic model using the Supernovae Pantheon compilation and the observational Hubble parameter data to find consistency with cosmological observations. Finally, we show the equivalence between the entropic model and a brane world cosmological model, by means of an effective geometrical construction.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures. Version accepted for Publication in Phys. Lett.

Fluencia a alta temperatura de compuestos alúmina-circona

Se ha estudiado la microestructura y la respuesta mecánica en compresión a alta temperatura de dos cerámicos de alúmina reforzada con circona (ZTA), fabricados mediante mezcla de polvos y mediante sol-gel con precursores de circona, para determinar la influencia del procesado. Las primeras presentan grandes aglomerados de partículas de circona y mayor tamaño de grano de alúmina, mientras que el material fabricado a partir de precursores presenta una microestructura más homogénea. Se han realizado ensayos en compresión a temperaturas entre 1300 y 1450 °C, tensiones desde 20 a 600 MPa, y velocidad de deformación de 2 x 10'^ s'^, encontrando fractura frágil a T 1400 °C para ambos tipos de microestructura.Microstructure and high temperature compressive creep of tw^o ci cona toughened alumina (ZTA) ceramics, fabricated by pow^der processing and sol-gel precursors processing, has been studied, in order to determine the influence of processing. For the samples fabricated from powders, the microstructure is less homogeneous, with large agglomerates of circona, and greater alumina grain sizes. Compressive tests at temperatures between 1300 °C and 1400 °C, stresses between 20 and 600 MPa, at an strain rate of 2 x 10"^ s"^ have been carried out. Brittle fracture behavior was found for both materials below 1400 °C, and stationary plastic deformation above this temperature

Effect of disorder on the vortex-lattice melting transition

We use a three dimensional stacked triangular network of Josephson junctions as a model for the study of vortex structure in the mixed state of high Tc superconductors. We show that the addition of disorder destroys the first order melting transition occurring for clean samples. The melting transition splits in two different (continuous) transitions, ocurring at temperatures Ti and Tp (>Ti). At Ti the perpendicular-to-field superconductivity is lost, and at Tp the parallel-to-field superconductivity is lost. These results agree well with recent experiments in YBaCuO.Comment: 4 pages + 2 figure

Tail autotomy effects on the escape behavior of the lizard Gonatodes albogularis (Squamata: Sphaerodactylidae), from Córdoba, Colombia

Background: Caudal autotomy appears to be an adaptation strategy to reduce the risk of being preyed upon. In an encounter with a predator, the prey must reduce the risk of being preyed upon, and one of the strategies that has exerted a strong pressure on selection has been tail loss. In lizards, it has been demonstrated that tail loss reduces the probability of survival in the event of a second attack; therefore, they must resort to new escape strategies to reduce the risk of falling prey. In order to evaluate the effect of tail loss on the escape behavior of Gonatodes albogularis in natural conditions, we took samples from a forest interior population. We expected that individuals that had not lost their tails would allow the predator to get closer than those that had lost it. For each sample, we recorded the following: (1) escape behavior, measured through three distances (e.g., approach distance, escape distance, and final distance); (2) distance to shelter; and (3) length of tail. We included only males in the study since we did not record any females without a tail and far fewer with a regenerated tail. Results: We found that tail loss does have an effect on the escape behavior of G. albogularis. Males that have their tails intact allow the predator to come closer, and we found a negative correlation between the approach distance and the length of the tail. Conclusion: Our results support the escape behavior theory, in which G. albogularis males drop their tails when the risk of predation is much higher than the cost of fleeing.Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Muse