Coulomb gap in one-dimensional disordered electronic systems

We study a one-dimensional system of spinless electrons in the presence of a long-range Coulomb interaction (LRCI) and a random chemical potential at each site. We first present a Tomonaga-Luttinger liquid (TLL) description of the system. We use the bosonization technique followed by the replica trick to average over the quenched randomness. An expression for the localization length of the system is then obtained using the renormalization group method and also a physical argument. We then find the density of states for different values of the energy; we get different expressions depending on whether the energy is larger than or smaller than the inverse of the localization length. We work in the limit of weak disorder where the localization length is very large; at that length scale, the LRCI has the effect of reducing the interaction parameter K of the TLL to a value much smaller than the noninteracting value of unity.Comment: Revtex, 6 pages, no figures; discussions have been expanded in several place

Last Glacial Maximum in an Andean cloud forest environment (Eastern Cordillera, Bolivia): Comment and Reply

Whether the climate of tropical South America during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) was colder and drier or colder and wetter than present day has been widely debated. It is accepted, however, that the LGM in tropical South America was 2–9 °C colder than today (e.g., Betts and Ridgway, 1992; Bush et al., 2001). Without debating the merits of the following choices, if we assume a lapse rate in the LGM similar to the modern one of ~0.6 °C·100 m−1, then an intermediate cooling of 5 °C would lower the boundary between montane cloud forest and the overlying puna grasslands by ~800 or 900 m. Palynologists on both sides of the wet/dry debate have come to similar conclusions about forest-boundary lowering due to temperature decrease (reviewed by Flenley, 1998). In the Eastern Cordillera of Bolivia the modern puna–cloud forest boundary lies ~3400 m above sea level (masl). Ignoring any other environmental changes, LGM cooling would have lowered this boundary to 2500 or 2600 masl

Steering protein and salt ad- and desorption by an electrical switch applied to polymer-coated electrodes

Although solid-phase chromatography is a well-established method for protein separation, chemically intensive and often costly regeneration steps are needed to make reuse of the adsorbent possible. Here, we demonstrate the use of electrochemical principles as sustainable alternative. We make use of spontaneous adsorption of proteins to solid electrodes and reverse this process by applying an electric potential to regenerate the interface. This allows for adsorption of proteins to take place at 0 V difference between the electrodes, due to electrostatic interactions between the protein and the electrode surface. The desorption is then triggered by applying a potential difference (−1.2 V) between the electrodes.It is demonstrated that the incorporation of negatively charged polystyrene sulfonate (PSS) or positively charged polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (PDMAC) in or on top of the respective activated carbon electrodes increases the amount of exchanged protein from 1 to 10 mg g−1, as compared to simple activated carbon electrodes. Interestingly, salt ad- and desorption occurs in opposite cycles compared to protein ad- and desorption, resulting in simultaneous concentration and desalting of the protein when 0 V is applied. On top of that, we also found that an enrichment in β-lactoglobulin could be achieved starting from whey protein isolate. These results clearly demonstrate that electrochemical technologies can be used not only for protein separation (including removal of salt), but also for protein fractionation, while not requiring solvent use

Automorphism groups of polycyclic-by-finite groups and arithmetic groups

We show that the outer automorphism group of a polycyclic-by-finite group is an arithmetic group. This result follows from a detailed structural analysis of the automorphism groups of such groups. We use an extended version of the theory of the algebraic hull functor initiated by Mostow. We thus make applicable refined methods from the theory of algebraic and arithmetic groups. We also construct examples of polycyclic-by-finite groups which have an automorphism group which does not contain an arithmetic group of finite index. Finally we discuss applications of our results to the groups of homotopy self-equivalences of K(\Gamma, 1)-spaces and obtain an extension of arithmeticity results of Sullivan in rational homotopy theory

Anthropogenic alteration of nutrient supply increases the global freshwater carbon sink

Lakes have a disproportionate effect on the global carbon (C) cycle relative to their area, mediating C transfer from land to atmosphere, and burying organic-C in their sediments. The magnitude and temporal variability of C burial is, however, poorly constrained, and the degree to which humans have influenced lake C cycling through landscape alteration has not been systematically assessed. Here, we report global and biome specific trajectories of lake C sequestration based on 516 lakes and show that some lake C burial rates (i.e., those in tropical forest and grassland biomes) have quadrupled over the last 100 years. Global lake C-sequestration (~0.12 Pg year-1) has increased by ~72 Tg year-1 since 1900, offsetting 20% of annual CO2 freshwater emissions rising to ~30% if reservoirs are included and contributing to the residual continental C sink. Nutrient availability explains ~70% of the observed increase, while rising temperatures have a minimal effect

Trans-Amazon Drilling Project (TADP): origins and evolution of the forests, climate, and hydrology of the South American tropics

This article presents the scientific rationale for an ambitious ICDP drilling project to continuously sample Late Cretaceous to modern sediment in four different sedimentary basins that transect the equatorial Amazon of Brazil, from the Andean foreland to the Atlantic Ocean. The goals of this project are to document the evolution of plant biodiversity in the Amazon forests and to relate biotic diversification to changes in the physical environment, including climate, tectonism, and the surface landscape. These goals require long sedimentary records from each of the major sedimentary basins across the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, which can only be obtained by drilling because of the scarcity of Cenozoic outcrops. The proposed drilling will provide the first long, nearly continuous regional records of the Cenozoic history of the forests, their plant diversity, and the associated changes in climate and environment. It also will address fundamental questions about landscape evolution, including the history of Andean uplift and erosion as recorded in Andean foreland basins and the development of west-to-east hydrologic continuity between the Andes, the Amazon lowlands, and the equatorial Atlantic. Because many modern rivers of the Amazon basin flow along the major axes of the old sedimentary basins, we plan to locate drill sites on the margin of large rivers and to access the targeted drill sites by navigation along these rivers

Chronology of Dune Development in the White River Badlands, Northern Great Plains, USA

Aeolian dune field chronologies provide important information on drought history on the Great Plains. The White River Badlands (WRB) dunes are located approximately 60 km north of the Nebraska Sand Hills (NSH), in the western section of the northern Great Plains. Clifftop dunes, sand sheets, and stabilized northwest-southeast trending parabolic dunes are found on upland mesas and buttes, locally called tables. The result of this study is a dune stabilization history determined from samples collected from stratigraphic exposures and dune crests. Thirty-seven OSL ages, from this and previous investigations, show three periods of dune activity: 1) ∼21,000 years ago to 12,000 years ago (a), 2) ∼9 to 6 ka, and 3) post-700 a. Stratigraphic exposures and low-relief dune forms preserve evidence of late Pleistocene and middle Holocene dune development, while high-relief dune crests preserve evidence of late Holocene dune development. Results of 12 OSL ages from the most recent dune activation event indicate that Medieval Climate Anomaly (MCA) droughts and Little Ice Age (LIA) droughts caused dune reactivation on the tables. Dune reactivation was accompanied by other drought-driven geomorphological responses in the WRB, including fluvial incision of the prairie and formation of sod tables. Regional significance of the MCA and LIA droughts is supported by similarities in the aeolian chronologies of the NSH at 700–600 a and some western Great Plains dune fields at 420–210 a. Aerial photographs of the WRB show little activity during the Dust Bowl droughts of the 1930s