30,606 research outputs found
Natural and laser-induced cavitation in corn stems: On the mechanisms of acoustic emissions
Water in plant xylem is often superheated, and therefore in a meta-stable
state. Under certain conditions, it may suddenly turn from the liquid to the
vapor state. This cavitation process produces acoustic emissions. We report the
measurement of ultrasonic acoustic emissions (UAE) produced by natural and
induced cavitation in corn stems. We induced cavitation and UAE in vivo, in
well controlled and reproducible experiments, by irradiating the bare stem of
the plants with a continuous-wave laser beam. By tracing the source of UAE, we
were able to detect absorption and frequency filtering of the UAE propagating
through the stem. This technique allows the unique possibility of studying
localized embolism of plant conduits, and thus to test hypotheses on the
hydraulic architecture of plants. Based on our results, we postulate that the
source of UAE is a transient "cavity oscillation" triggered by the disruptive
effect of cavitation inception.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure
Ediacaran Obduction of a Fore-Arc Ophiolite in SW Iberia: A Turning Point in the Evolving Geodynamic Setting of Peri- Gondwana
The Calzadilla Ophiolite is an ensemble of mafic and ultramafic rocks that represents the
transition between lower crust and upper mantle of a Cadomian (peri-Gondwanan) fore arc. Mapping and
structural analysis of the ophiolite demonstrates that it was obducted in latest Ediacaran times, because the
Ediacaran-Early Cambrian sedimentary series (Malcocinado Formation) discordantly covers it. The ophiolite
and emplacement-related structures are affected by Variscan deformation (Devonian-Carboniferous),
which includes SW verging overturned folds (D1) and thrusts (D2), upright folds (D3), extensional faults (D4),
and later faults (D5). These phases of deformation are explained in the context of Variscan tectonics as the
result of the progressive collision between Gondwana and Laurussia. Qualitative unstraining of Variscan
deformation reveals the primary geometry of Ediacaran-Cambrian structures and uncovers the generation of
east verging thrusts as responsible for the primary obduction of the Calzadilla Ophiolite. Restoration of
planar and linear structures associated with this event indicates an Ediacaran, east directed obduction of the
ophiolite, that is, emplacement of the Cadomian fore arc onto inner sections of the northern margin of
Gondwana. According to regional data, the obduction separates two extension-dominated stages in the
tectonic evolution of the African margin of northern Gondwana preserved in southern Europe. Preobduction
extension brought about the onset and widening of fore-arc and back-arc basins in the external part
of the continent, while postobduction extension facilitated the formation of extensional migmatitic domes,
an oceanward migration of back-arc spreading centers across peri-Gondwana, and the eventual opening
of a major basin such as the Rheic Ocean
Semi-classical spectrum of the Homogeneous sine-Gordon theories
The semi-classical spectrum of the Homogeneous sine-Gordon theories
associated with an arbitrary compact simple Lie group G is obtained and shown
to be entirely given by solitons. These theories describe quantum integrable
massive perturbations of Gepner's G-parafermions whose classical
equations-of-motion are non-abelian affine Toda equations. One-soliton
solutions are constructed by embeddings of the SU(2) complex sine-Gordon
soliton in the regular SU(2) subgroups of G. The resulting spectrum exhibits
both stable and unstable particles, which is a peculiar feature shared with the
spectrum of monopoles and dyons in N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric gauge theories.Comment: 28 pages, plain TeX, no figure
Divergence-free Nonrenormalizable Models
A natural procedure is introduced to replace the traditional, perturbatively
generated counter terms to yield a formulation of covariant, self-interacting,
nonrenormalizable scalar quantum field theories that has the added virtue of
exhibiting a divergence-free perturbation analysis. To achieve this desirable
goal it is necessary to reexamine the meaning of the free theory about which
such a perturbation takes place.Comment: 22 pages. Version accepted for publication; involves modest addition
to the end of Sec.
The group of strong Galois objects associated to a cocommutative Hopf quasigroup
Let H be a cocommutative faithfully flat Hopf quasigroup in a strict
symmetric monoidal category with equalizers. In this paper we introduce the
notion of (strong) Galois H-object and we prove that the set of isomorphism
classes of (strong) Galois H-objects is a (group) monoid which coincides, in
the Hopf algebra setting, with the Galois group of H-Galois objects introduced
by Chase and Sweedler
The influence of magnetic field geometry on magnetars X-ray spectra
Nowadays, the analysis of the X-ray spectra of magnetically powered neutron
stars or magnetars is one of the most valuable tools to gain insight into the
physical processes occurring in their interiors and magnetospheres. In
particular, the magnetospheric plasma leaves a strong imprint on the observed
X-ray spectrum by means of Compton up-scattering of the thermal radiation
coming from the star surface. Motivated by the increased quality of the
observational data, much theoretical work has been devoted to develop Monte
Carlo (MC) codes that incorporate the effects of resonant Compton scattering in
the modeling of radiative transfer of photons through the magnetosphere. The
two key ingredients in this simulations are the kinetic plasma properties and
the magnetic field (MF) configuration. The MF geometry is expected to be
complex, but up to now only mathematically simple solutions (self-similar
solutions) have been employed. In this work, we discuss the effects of new,
more realistic, MF geometries on synthetic spectra. We use new force-free
solutions in a previously developed MC code to assess the influence of MF
geometry on the emerging spectra. Our main result is that the shape of the
final spectrum is mostly sensitive to uncertain parameters of the
magnetospheric plasma, but the MF geometry plays an important role on the
angle-dependence of the spectra.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures To appear in Proceedings of II Iberian Nuclear
Astrophysics Meeting held in Salamanca, September 22-23, 201
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