Dynamics of Primordial Hydrogen Recombination with Allowance for a Recoil for Scattering in the Ly-alpha Line

It is shown that taking into account a recoil for radiation scattering in the Ly-alpha line can lead to a noticable acceleration of primordial hydrogen recombination. Thus for LambdaCDM model a decrease of ionization degree exceeds 1% for redshifts z in a range 800 - 1050 achieving approximately 1.3% at z=900. Corresponding corrections to the cosmic microwave background power spectra can achieve 1.1% for TT spectra and 1.7% for EE ones. Radiative transfer in these calculations was treated in a quasistationary approximation. Numerical solutions are also obtained in diffusion approximation for a nonstationary problem of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer under partial frequency redistribution with a recoil. An evolution of a local line profile is traced to as well as an evolution of a relative number of uncompensated transitions from 2p state down to 1s one. It is shown that taking into account nonstationarity of Ly-alpha line radiative transfer can lead to an additional acceleration of primordial hydrogen recombination.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy Letter

The importance of secondary school students' physical activity in modern environment

The research was aimed at evaluating physical activity of students, who live in the city and rural areas, identifying the relationship between physical activity and school performance, as well as studying the dependence of the number of diseases on the volume of locomotion. To this end, in the Belgorod Oblast, 1,488 schoolchildren of 5-11 grades were surveyed from 2014 to 201

Process based model sheds light on climate sensitivity of Mediterranean tree-ring width

We use the process-based VS (Vaganov-Shashkin) model to investigate whether a regional <i>Pinus halepensis</i> tree-ring chronology from Tunisia can be simulated as a function of climate alone by employing a biological model linking day length and daily temperature and precipitation (AD 1959–2004) from a climate station to ring-width variations. We check performance of the model on independent data by a validation exercise in which the model's parameters are tuned using data for 1982–2004 and the model is applied to generate tree-ring indices for 1959–1981. The validation exercise yields a highly significant positive correlation between the residual chronology and estimated growth curve (<i>r</i>=0.76 <i>p</i><0.0001, <i>n</i>=23). The model shows that the average duration of the growing season is 191 days, with considerable variation from year to year. On average, soil moisture limits tree-ring growth for 128 days and temperature for 63 days. Model results depend on chosen values of parameters, in particular a parameter specifying a balance ratio between soil moisture and precipitation. Future work in the Mediterranean region should include multi-year natural experiments to verify patterns of cambial-growth variation suggested by the VS model

Optical Absorption and Raman Spectroscopy Study of the Fluorinated Double-Wall Carbon Nanotubes

Double-wall carbon nanotube (DWNT) samples have been fluorinated at room temperature with varied concentration of a fluorinating agent BrF3. Content of the products estimated from X-ray photoelectron data was equal to CF0.20 and CF0.29 in the case of deficit and excess of BrF3. Raman spectroscopy showed considerable decrease of carbon nanotube amount in the fluorinated samples. Analysis of optical absorption spectra measured for pristine and fluorinated DWNT samples revealed a selectivity of carbon nanotube fluorination. Nanotubes with large chiral angle are more inert to the fluorinating agent used

Elastic Spin Relaxation Processes in Semiconductor Quantum Dots

Electron spin decoherence caused by elastic spin-phonon processes is investigated comprehensively in a zero-dimensional environment. Specifically, a theoretical treatment is developed for the processes associated with the fluctuations in the phonon potential as well as in the electron procession frequency through the spin-orbit and hyperfine interactions in the semiconductor quantum dots. The analysis identifies the conditions (magnetic field, temperature, etc.) in which the elastic spin-phonon processes can dominate over the inelastic counterparts with the electron spin-flip transitions. Particularly, the calculation results illustrate the potential significance of an elastic decoherence mechanism originating from the intervalley transitions in semiconductor quantum dots with multiple equivalent energy minima (e.g., the X valleys in SiGe). The role of lattice anharmonicity and phonon decay in spin relaxation is also examined along with that of the local effective field fluctuations caused by the stochastic electronic transitions between the orbital states. Numerical estimations are provided for typical GaAs and Si-based quantum dots.Comment: 57 pages, 14 figure

Atmospheric Gravity Perturbations Measured by Ground-Based Interferometer with Suspended Mirrors

A possibility of geophysical measurements using the large scale laser interferometrical gravitational wave antenna is discussed. An interferometer with suspended mirrors can be used as a gradiometer measuring variations of an angle between gravity force vectors acting on the spatially separated suspensions. We analyze restrictions imposed by the atmospheric noises on feasibility of such measurements. Two models of the atmosphere are invoked: a quiet atmosphere with a hydrostatic coupling of pressure and density and a dynamic model of moving region of the density anomaly (cyclone). Both models lead to similar conclusions up to numerical factors. Besides the hydrostatic approximation, we use a model of turbulent atmosphere with the pressure fluctuation spectrum f^{-7/3} to explore the Newtonian noise in a higher frequency domain (up to 10 Hz) predicting the gravitational noise background for modern gravitational wave detectors. Our estimates show that this could pose a serious problem for realization of such projects. Finally, angular fluctuations of spatially separated pendula are investigated via computer simulation for some realistic atmospheric data giving the level estimate 10^{-11} rad/sqrt(Hz) at frequency 10^{-4} Hz. This looks promising for the possibility of the measurement of weak gravity effects such as Earth inner core oscillations.Comment: 13 pages, 4 pigures, LaTeX. To be published in Classical and Quantum Gravit

Study of geological and technological model of complex reservoirs of Samotlor field oil and gas deposits

The achievement of project indicators of complex reservoirs` development through integrated management of oil and gas reserves` recovery requires the use of models that adequately reflect the geological structure of the medium, which determines the filtration flows direction during waterflooding. Their reliability increases based on the analysis of lithofacies features of productive part of the cut and enclosing sediments formation, reservoir features prediction in the inter-well space. It is known that the heterogeneity of macro level (sand content, segmentation) plays a crucial role in the formation of primary directions of reservoir fluid`s filtration flows. Microinhomogeneity (anisotropy, lateral variability in the permeability) has an impact on the nature of mass transfer processes, the target fluid`s displacement indicators and the phase permeability changing. Analyzing the the productive section of the AV11–2 reservoir, which is the most lithologically volatile in the Samotlor field, a special attention was given to textural characteristics (monolithicity and segmentation) of collectors. As a result, based on the ratio of two basic parameters Hef и αps, formation reservoirs were classified into three main classes: with massive texture, with thin-layered structure and with mixed texture. As a result of detailed studies of the geological and physical characteristic`s features of structure and, taking into account the results of facies analysis for each of layers, criteria referring to a particular type were formed. It was found that the productive strata gof the roup AB are characterized by a very complex facies formation environment, which occurred mainly in the coastal-marine conditions, in the areas of semi-enclosed sea gulfs and lagoons, deltaic subtraction of paleorivers. This affected both the nature of the various deposits types` distribution and their structure, and resulted in a significant heterogeneity of reservoir properties. The research results allowed to allocate within the considered layers zones with different facies. It was found that the most effective barrier waterflooding is in the avandelta area. The influence of reservoir facies affiliation on the effectiveness of the barrier flooding associated with distribution characteristics of interlayers with different permeability and of reservoir segmentation degree was explained. The recommendations for optimizing the barrier waterflooding techniques depending on the facial characteristics of the area were developed

Study on influence of two-phase filtration transformation on formation of zones of undeveloped oil reserves

In order to study the process of fluid filtration during flooding of an oil field, article uses Rapoport – Lis model of non-piston oil displacement by water. During plane-radial filtration in a homogeneous formation, radii of disturbance zones are determined with and without taking into account the end effect. Influence of changes in value of capillary pressure gradient on distribution of water saturation coefficient in the non-piston displacement zone for high and low permeability reservoirs is revealed. Application of an element model for a five-point injection and production well placement system showed that, using traditional flooding technology, flat-radial fluid filtration is transformed into rectilinear-parallel. At solving equation of water saturation, Barenblatt method of integral relations was used, which allows determining the transformation time. By solving the saturation equation for rectilinear-parallel filtration, change in the value of water saturation coefficient at bottomhole of production well for an unlimited and closed deposit is determined. It is shown that an increase in water cut coefficient of a production well is possible only for a closed formation. To determine coefficient of water saturation in a closed deposit, a differential equation with variable coefficients is obtained, an iterative solution method is proposed. In the element of the five-point system, oil-saturated zones not covered by development were identified. For channels of low filtration resistance, conditions for their location in horizontal and vertical planes are established. It is shown that, at maintaining formation pressure, there is an isobar line in formation, corresponding to initial formation pressure, location of which determines direction of fluid crossflow rates. Intensity of crossflows affects application efficiency of hydrodynamic, physical and chemical, thermal and other methods of enhanced oil recovery

Effects of CMB temperature uncertainties on cosmological parameter estimation

We estimate the effect of the experimental uncertainty in the measurement of the temperature of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) on the extraction of cosmological parameters from future CMB surveys. We find that even for an ideal experiment limited only by cosmic variance up to l = 2500 for both the temperature and polarisation measurements, the projected cosmological parameter errors are remarkably robust against the uncertainty of 1 mK in the FIRAS instrument's CMB temperature monopole measurement. The maximum degradation in sensitivity is 20%, for the baryon density estimate, relative to the case in which the monopole is known infinitely well. While this degradation is acceptable, we note that reducing the uncertainty in the current temperature measurement by a factor of five will bring it down to the per cent level. We also estimate the effect of the uncertainty in the dipole temperature measurement. Assuming the overall calibration of the data to be dominated by the dipole error of 0.2% from FIRAS, the sensitivity degradation is insignificant and does not exceed 10% in any parameter direction.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, uses iopart.cls, v2: added discussion of CMB dipole uncertainty, version accepted by JCA