Stabilization of metal and metalloids from contaminated soils using magnesia-based tundish deskulling waste from continuous steel casting

This study presents a groundbreaking exploration into the potential use of refractory tundish deskulling waste (TUN), a magnesium oxide-based by-product from continuous steel casting, as a stabilizing agent for remediating metal and metalloids contaminated soils. Up-flow column horizontal percolation tests were conducted to measure the concentrations of metals and metalloids, pH, and electrical conductivity (EC) in the leachates of two different combinations of contaminated soil and stabilizer (95-5 wt% and 90-10 wt%). The effectiveness of TUN as a soil-stabilizing agent for contaminated soils with metals and metalloids was evaluated by comparing its leachates with those obtained from a sample of a well-established low-grade magnesium oxide (LG-MgO) by-product, which underwent the same testing procedure. The findings revealed a significant correlation between the mobility of the examined metals and metalloids, and the water-soluble or acid phase of the contaminated soil, primarily governed by precipitation-solution reactions. While the stabilizing impact on non-pH-dependent metals, particularly redox-sensitive oxyanions, was less pronounced, both MgO-based stabilizers exhibited a favourable influence on soil pH-dependent metals and metalloids. They achieved this by establishing an optimal pH range of approximately 9.0-10.5, wherein the solubility of metal (hydr)oxides is minimized. Notably, metals like Zn and Cu, which have high leaching potential, experienced a remarkable reduction in leaching - Zn by over 99% and Cu by around 97% - regardless of the stabilizer content. In a broader context, this research champions the principles of the circular economy by offering a technical remedy for treating soils contaminated with pH-dependent metals and metalloids. The proposed solution harnesses industrial waste - currently relegated to landfills - as a resource, aligning with sustainable practices and environmental responsibility

The strong coupling constant at small momentum as an instanton detector

We present a study of $\alpha_{MOM}(p)$ at small p computed from the lattice. It shows a dramatic $\propto p^4$ law which can be understood within an instanton liquid model. In this framework the prefactor gives a direct measure of the instanton density in thermalised configurations. A preliminary result for this density is 5.27(4) fm^{-4}.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figure

Instantons and <A2><A^2> Condensate

We argue that the $$condensate found in the Landau gauge on lattices, when an Operator Product Expansion of Green functions is performed, might be explained by instantons. We use cooling to estimate the instanton contribution and extrapolate back the result to the thermalised configuration. The resulting$$ is similar to $$.Comment: 6 pages, 1 fig., 1 tab., RevTeX to be use

Hydrostatic Pressure Sensing with High Birefringence Photonic Crystal Fibers

The effect of hydrostatic pressure on the waveguiding properties of high birefringence photonic crystal fibers (HiBi PCF) is evaluated both numerically and experimentally. A fiber design presenting form birefringence induced by two enlarged holes in the innermost ring defining the fiber core is investigated. Numerical results show that modal sensitivity to the applied pressure depends on the diameters of the holes, and can be tailored by independently varying the sizes of the large or small holes. Numerical and experimental results are compared showing excellent agreement. A hydrostatic pressure sensor is proposed and demonstrated using an in-fiber modal interferometer where the two orthogonally polarized modes of a HiBi PCF generate fringes over the optical spectrum of a broad band source. From the analysis of experimental results, it is concluded that, in principle, an operating limit of 92 MPa in pressure could be achieved with 0.0003% of full scale resolution

A data compression and optimal galaxy weights scheme for Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and weak lensing data sets

Combining different observational probes, such as galaxy clustering and weak lensing, is a promising technique for unveiling the physics of the Universe with upcoming dark energy experiments. The galaxy redshift sample from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will have a significant overlap with major ongoing imaging surveys specifically designed for weak lensing measurements: The Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), the Dark Energy Survey (DES), and the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. In this work, we analyse simulated redshift and lensing catalogues to establish a new strategy for combining high-quality cosmological imaging and spectroscopic data, in view of the first-year data assembly analysis of DESI. In a test case fitting for a reduced parameter set, we employ an optimal data compression scheme able to identify those aspects of the data that are most sensitive to cosmological information and amplify them with respect to other aspects of the data. We find this optimal compression approach is able to preserve all the information related to the growth of structures

A data compression and optimal galaxy weights scheme for Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument and weak lensing datasets

Combining different observational probes, such as galaxy clustering and weak lensing, is a promising technique for unveiling the physics of the Universe with upcoming dark energy experiments. The galaxy redshift sample from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) will have a significant overlap with major ongoing imaging surveys specifically designed for weak lensing measurements: the Kilo-Degree Survey (KiDS), the Dark Energy Survey (DES) and the Hyper Suprime-Cam (HSC) survey. In this work we analyse simulated redshift and lensing catalogues to establish a new strategy for combining high-quality cosmological imaging and spectroscopic data, in view of the first-year data assembly analysis of DESI. In a test case fitting for a reduced parameter set, we employ an optimal data compression scheme able to identify those aspects of the data that are most sensitive to the cosmological information, and amplify them with respect to other aspects of the data. We find this optimal compression approach is able to preserve all the information related to the growth of structure; we also extend this scheme to derive weights to be applied to individual galaxies, and show that these produce near-optimal results.Comment: 14 pages, 12 Figures, DESI collaboration articl

Synthetic light-cone catalogues of modern redshift and weak lensing surveys waith abacussummit

The joint analysis of different cosmological probes, such as galaxy clustering and weak lensing, can potentially yield invaluable insights into the nature of the primordial Universe, dark energy, and dark matter. However, the development of high-fidelity theoretical models is a necessary stepping stone. Here, we present public high-resolution weak lensing maps on the light-cone, generated using the N-body simulation suite abacussummit, and accompanying weak lensing mock catalogues, tuned to the Early Data Release small-scale clustering measurements of the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument. Available in this release are maps of the cosmic shear, deflection angle, and convergence fields at source redshifts ranging from z = 0.15 to 2.45 as well as cosmic microwave background convergence maps for each of the 25 base-resolution simulations (and Npart = 69123) as well as for the two huge simulations (and Npart = 86403) at the fiducial abacussummit cosmology. The pixel resolution of each map is 0.21 arcmin, corresponding to a healpix Nside of 16 384. The sky coverage of the base simulations is an octant until z ≈ 0.8 (decreasing to about 1800 deg2 at z ≈ 2.4), whereas the huge simulations offer full-sky coverage until z ≈ 2.2. Mock lensing source catalogues are sampled matching the ensemble properties of the Kilo-Degree Survey, Dark Energy Survey, and Hyper Suprime-Cam data sets. The mock catalogues are validated against theoretical predictions for various clustering and lensing statistics, such as correlation multipoles, galaxy-shear, and shear-shear, showing excellent agreement. All products can be downloaded via a Globus endpoint (see Data Availability section)