2,634 research outputs found
Optimal light harvesting structures at optical and infrared frequencies
One-dimensional light harvesting structures with a realistic geometry
nano-patterned on an opaque metallic film are optimized to render high
transmission efficiencies at optical and infrared frequencies. Simple design
rules are developed for the particular case of a slit-groove array with a given
number of grooves that are symmetrically distributed with respect to a central
slit. These rules take advantage of the hybridization of Fabry-Perot modes in
the slit and surface modes of the corrugated metal surface. Same design rules
apply for optical and infrared frequencies. The parameter space of the groove
array is also examined with a conjugate gradient optimization algorithm that
used as a seed the geometries optimized following physical intuition. Both
uniform and nonuniform groove arrays are considered. The largest transmission
enhancement, with respect to a uniform array, is obtained for a chirped groove
profile. Such enhancement is a function of the wavelength. It decreases from
39% in the optical part of the spectrum to 15% at the long wavelength infrared.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figure
A new and morphologically distinct population of cavernicolous Poecilia mexicana (Poeciliidae: Teleostei)
The cave molly, Poecilia mexicana, from the Cueva del Azufre, a sulfur cave in Tabasco, Mexico, ranks among the best-studied cave fishes worldwide, despite being known from a single population only. Here we describe a newly discovered second population of cave-dwelling P. mexicana from a nearby, but mostly non-sulfidic cave (Luna Azufre). Despite apparent similarities between the two populations (such as reduced eye diameter and reduced pigmentation), a geometric morphometric analysis revealed pronounced morphological differentiation between the two cave form
Switch between morphospecies of pocillopora corals
© 2015 by The University of Chicago. All rights reserved. Pocillopora corals are the main reef builders in the eastern tropical Pacific. The validity of Pocillopora morphospecies remains under debate because of disagreements between morphological and genetic data. To evaluate the temporal stability of morphospecies in situ, we monitored the shapes of individual colonies in three communities in the southern Gulf of California for 44 months. Twenty-three percent of tagged colonies of Pocillopora damicornis changed to Pocillopora inflata morphology during this time. This switch in identity coincided with a shift to a higher frequency of storms and lower water turbidity (i.e., lower chlorophyll a levels). Seven months after the switch, P. inflata colonies were recovering their original P. damicornis morphology. All colonies of both morphospecies shared a common mitochondrial identity, but most P. damicornis colonies undergoing change were at a site with low-flow conditions. This is the first in situ study to document switching between described morphospecies, and it elucidates the influence of temporal shifts in environmental conditions on morphologically plastic responses
Symmetries in Classical Field Theory
The multisymplectic description of Classical Field Theories is revisited,
including its relation with the presymplectic formalism on the space of Cauchy
data. Both descriptions allow us to give a complete scheme of classification of
infinitesimal symmetries, and to obtain the corresponding conservation laws.Comment: 70S05; 70H33; 55R10; 58A2
Predicting global geographical distribution of "Lolium rigidum" under climate change
“Lolium rigidum Gaud.” (vallico) es una de las malezas más extendidas y perjudiciales en los cultivos de cereales de invierno. Un modelo bioclimático para esta especie fue desarrollado utilizando CLIMEX. El modelo fue validado con los registros de esta especie en Estados Unidos y Oceanía y utilizado para predecir la distribución potencial global de “L. rigidum” bajo el clima actual y dos escenarios de cambio climático. Las proyección en virtud de las condiciones climáticas actuales indican que “L. rigidum” no ocupa todo el área disponible para su expansión. Considerando los escenarios climáticos futuros, el área potencial de expansión aumentará 3,79% y 5,06% bajo los escenarios moderado y extremo, respectivamente. La proyección del modelo mostró un avance gradual de “L. rigidum” en Norteamérica, Europa, Sudamérica y Asia, mientras que en África y Oceanía se prevé una regresión. Estos resultados proporcionan Los conocimientos necesarios para identificar y poner de relieve las posibles zonas de riesgo de invasión.“Lolium rigidum” Gaud. (rigid ryegrass) is one of the most extended and harmful weeds in winter cereal crops. A bioclimatic model for this species was developed using CLIMEX. The model was validated with records from North America and Oceania and used to assess the global potential distribution of “L. rigidum” under the current climate and under two climate change scenarios. The projection under current climate conditions indicated that “L. rigidum” does not occupy the full extent of the climatically suitable area available to it. Under future climate scenarios, the infested potential area will increase 3.79% in the low-emission CO2 scenario and 5.06% under the most extreme scenario. The model projection showed a gradual advance of rigid ryegrass in North America, Europe, South America and Asia, whilst in Africa and Oceania it indicated regression. These results provide the necessary knowledge for identifying and highlighting the potential invasion risk areas
Higher-order Mechanics: Variational Principles and other topics
After reviewing the Lagrangian-Hamiltonian unified formalism (i.e, the
Skinner-Rusk formalism) for higher-order (non-autonomous) dynamical systems, we
state a unified geometrical version of the Variational Principles which allows
us to derive the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian equations for these kinds of
systems. Then, the standard Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of these
principles and the corresponding dynamical equations are recovered from this
unified framework.Comment: New version of the paper "Variational principles for higher-order
dynamical systems", which was presented in the "III Iberoamerican Meeting on
Geometry, Mechanics and Control" (Salamanca, 2012). The title is changed. A
detailed review is added. Sections containing results about variational
principles are enlarged with additional comments, diagrams and summarizing
results. Bibliography is update
Morphological variation and different branch modularity across contrasting flow conditions in dominant Pocillopora reef-building corals
© 2015, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg. Pocillopora corals, the dominant reef-builders in the Eastern Tropical Pacific, exhibit a high level of phenotypic plasticity, making the interpretation of morphological variation and the identification of species challenging. To test the hypothesis that different coral morphospecies represent phenotypes that develop in different flow conditions, we compared branch characters in three Pocillopora morphospecies (P.damicornis, P. verrucosa, and P. meandrina) from two communities in the Gulf of California exposed to contrasting flow conditions. Morphological variation and branch modularity (i.e., the tendency of different sets of branch traits to vary in a coordinated way) were assessed in colonies classified as Pocillopora type 1 according to two mitochondrial regions. Our results can be summarized as follows. (1) Pocillopora type 1 morphospecies corresponded to a pattern of morphological variation in the Gulf of California. Overall, P.damicornis had the thinnest branches and its colonies the highest branch density, followed by P.verrucosa, and then by P.meandrina, which had the thickest branches and its colonies the lowest branch density. (2) The differentiation among morphospecies was promoted by different levels of modularity of traits. P.verrucosa had the highest coordination of traits, followed by P.damicornis, and P.meandrina. (3) The variation and modularity of branch traits were related to water flow condition. Morphology under the high-flow condition was more similar among morphospecies than under the low-flow condition and seemed to be related to mechanisms for coping with these conditions. Our results provide the first evidence that in scleractinian corals different levels of modularity can be promoted by different environmental conditions
Symmetries and conservation laws in the Gunther k-symplectic formalism of field theory
This paper is devoted to studying symmetries of k-symplectic Hamiltonian and
Lagrangian first-order classical field theories. In particular, we define
symmetries and Cartan symmetries and study the problem of associating
conservation laws to these symmetries, stating and proving Noether's theorem in
different situations for the Hamiltonian and Lagrangian cases. We also
characterize equivalent Lagrangians, which lead to an introduction of
Lagrangian gauge symmetries, as well as analyzing their relation with Cartan
symmetries.Comment: 29 page
Multivector Field Formulation of Hamiltonian Field Theories: Equations and Symmetries
We state the intrinsic form of the Hamiltonian equations of first-order
Classical Field theories in three equivalent geometrical ways: using
multivector fields, jet fields and connections. Thus, these equations are given
in a form similar to that in which the Hamiltonian equations of mechanics are
usually given. Then, using multivector fields, we study several aspects of
these equations, such as the existence and non-uniqueness of solutions, and the
integrability problem. In particular, these problems are analyzed for the case
of Hamiltonian systems defined in a submanifold of the multimomentum bundle.
Furthermore, the existence of first integrals of these Hamiltonian equations is
considered, and the relation between {\sl Cartan-Noether symmetries} and {\sl
general symmetries} of the system is discussed. Noether's theorem is also
stated in this context, both the ``classical'' version and its generalization
to include higher-order Cartan-Noether symmetries. Finally, the equivalence
between the Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formalisms is also discussed.Comment: Some minor mistakes are corrected. Bibliography is updated. To be
published in J. Phys. A: Mathematical and Genera
Unambiguous Formalism for Higher-Order Lagrangian Field Theories
The aim of this paper is to propose an unambiguous intrinsic formalism for
higher-order field theories which avoids the arbitrariness in the
generalization of the conventional description of field theories, which implies
the existence of different Cartan forms and Legendre transformations. We
propose a differential-geometric setting for the dynamics of a higher-order
field theory, based on the Skinner and Rusk formalism for mechanics. This
approach incorporates aspects of both, the Lagrangian and the Hamiltonian
description, since the field equations are formulated using the Lagrangian on a
higher-order jet bundle and the canonical multisymplectic form on its dual. As
both of these objects are uniquely defined, the Skinner-Rusk approach has the
advantage that it does not suffer from the arbitrariness in conventional
descriptions. The result is that we obtain a unique and global intrinsic
version of the Euler-Lagrange equations for higher-order field theories.
Several examples illustrate our construction.Comment: 21 pages; 4 diagrams; (this version) corrected typos; moved
paragraphs; publishe
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