Microbial ecology of extreme environments: Antarctic dry valley yeasts and growth in substrate-limited habitats

The success of the Antarctic Dry Valley yeasts presumeably results from adaptations to multiple stresses, to low temperatures and substrate-limitation as well as prolonged resting periods enforced by low water availability. Previous investigations have suggested that the crucial stress is substrate limitation. Specific adaptations may be pinpointed by comparing the physiology of the Cryptococcus vishniacii complex, the yeasts of the Tyrol Valley, with their congeners from other habitats. Progress was made in methods of isolation and definition of ecological niches, in the design of experiments in competition for limited substrate, and in establishing the relationships of the Cryptococcus vishniacii complex with other yeasts. In the course of investigating relationships, a new method for 25SrRNA homology was developed. For the first time it appears that 25SrRNA homology may reflect parallel or convergent evolution

Microbial ecology of extreme environments: Antarctic dry valley yeasts and growth in substrate limited habitats

The multiple stresses temperature, moisture, and for chemoheterotrophs, sources of carbon and energy of the Dry Valley Antarctica soils allow at best depauperate communities, low in species diversity and population density. The nature of community structure, the operation of biogeochemical cycles, the evolution and mechanisms of adaptation to this habitat are of interest in informing speculations upon life on other planets as well as in modeling the limits of gene life. Yeasts of the Cryptococcus vishniacil complex (Basidiobiastomycetes) are investigated, as the only known indigenes of the most hostile, lichen free, parts of the Dry Valleys. Methods were developed for isolating these yeasts (methods which do not exclude the recovery of other microbiota). The definition of the complex was refined and the importance of nitrogen sources was established as well as substrate competition in fitness to the Dry Valley habitats

Microbial ecology of extreme environments: Antarctic yeasts and growth in substrate-limited habitats

An extreme environment is by definition one with a depauperate biota. While the Ross Desert is by no means homogeneous, the most exposed and arid habitats, soils in the unglaciated high valleys, do indeed contain a very sparse biota of low diversity. So sparse that the natives could easily be outnumbered by airborne exogenous microbes. Native biota must be capable of overwintering as well as growing in the high valley summer. Tourists may undergo a few divisions before contributing their enzymes and, ultimately, elements to the soil - or may die before landing. The simplest way to demonstrate the indigenicity of a particular microbe is therefore to establish unique distribution; occurrence only in the habitat in question precludes foreign origin

Stochastic Biasing and Weakly Non-linear Evolution of Power Spectrum

Distribution of galaxies may be a biased tracer of the dark matter distribution and the relation between the galaxies and the total mass may be stochastic, non-linear and time-dependent. Since many observations of galaxy clustering will be done at high redshift, the time evolution of non-linear stochastic biasing would play a crucial role for the data analysis of the future sky surveys. In this paper, we develop the weakly non-linear analysis and attempt to clarify the non-linear feature of the stochastic biasing. We compute the one-loop correction of the power spectrum for the total mass, the galaxies and their cross correlation. Assuming the local functional form for the initial galaxy distribution, we investigate the time evolution of the biasing parameter and the correlation coefficient. On large scales, we first find that the time evolution of the biasing parameter could deviate from the linear prediction in presence of the initial skewness. However, the deviation can be reduced when the initial stochasticity exists. Next, we focus on the quasi-linear scales, where the non-linear growth of the total mass becomes important. It is recognized that the scale-dependence of the biasing dynamically appears and the initial stochasticity could affect the time evolution of the scale-dependence. The result is compared with the recent N-body simulation that the scale-dependence of the halo biasing can appear on relatively large scales and the biasing parameter takes the lower value on smaller scales. Qualitatively, our weakly non-linear results can explain this trend if the halo-mass biasing relation has the large scatter at high redshift.Comment: 29pages, 7 postscript figures, submitted to Ap

Zonal Flows and Long-Lived Axisymmetric Pressure Bumps in Magnetorotational Turbulence

We study the behavior of magnetorotational turbulence in shearing box simulations with a radial and azimuthal extent up to ten scale heights. Maxwell and Reynolds stresses are found to increase by more than a factor two when increasing the box size beyond two scale heights in the radial direction. Further increase of the box size has little or no effect on the statistical properties of the turbulence. An inverse cascade excites magnetic field structures at the largest scales of the box. The corresponding 10% variation in the Maxwell stress launches a zonal flow of alternating sub- and super-Keplerian velocity. This in turn generates a banded density structure in geostrophic balance between pressure and Coriolis forces. We present a simplified model for the appearance of zonal flows, in which stochastic forcing by the magnetic tension on short time-scales creates zonal flow structures with life-times of several tens of orbits. We experiment with various improved shearing box algorithms to reduce the numerical diffusivity introduced by the supersonic shear flow. While a standard finite difference advection scheme shows signs of a suppression of turbulent activity near the edges of the box, this problem is eliminated by a new method where the Keplerian shear advection is advanced in time by interpolation in Fourier space.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Simulations of MHD Turbulence in a Strongly Magnetized Medium

We analyze 3D numerical simulations of driven incompressible magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence in a periodic box threaded by a moderately strong external magnetic field. We sum over nonlinear interactions within Fourier wavebands and find that the time scale for the energy cascade is consistent with the Goldreich-Sridhar model of strong MHD turbulence. Using higher order longitudinal structure functions we show that the turbulent motions in the plane perpendicular to the local mean magnetic field are similar to ordinary hydrodynamic turbulence while motions parallel to the field are consistent with a scaling correction which arises from the eddy anisotropy. We present the structure tensor describing velocity statistics of Alfvenic and pseudo-Alfvenic turbulence. Finally, we confirm that an imbalance of energy moving up and down magnetic field lines leads to a slow decay of turbulent motions and speculate that this imbalance is common in the interstellar medium where injection of energy is intermittent both in time and space.Comment: ApJ accepted, 29 pages, 10 figures; some revisions, new figure

Reconnection in a Weakly Stochastic Field

We examine the effect of weak, small scale magnetic field structure on the rate of reconnection in a strongly magnetized plasma. This affects the rate of reconnection by reducing the transverse scale for reconnection flows, and by allowing many independent flux reconnection events to occur simultaneously. Allowing only for the first effect and using Goldreich and Sridhar's model of strong turbulence in a magnetized plasma with negligible intermittency, we find that the lower limit for the reconnection speed is the Alfven speed times the Lundquist number to the power (-3/16). The upper limit on the reconnection speed is typically a large fraction of Alfven speed. We argue that generic reconnection in turbulent plasmas will normally occur at close to this upper limit. The fraction of magnetic energy that goes directly into electron heating scales as Lundquist number to the power (-2/5) and the thickness of the current sheet scales as the Lundquist number to the power (-3/5). A significant fraction of the magnetic energy goes into high frequency Alfven waves. We claim that the qualitative sense of these conclusions, that reconnection is fast even though current sheets are narrow, is almost independent of the local physics of reconnection and the nature of the turbulent cascade. As the consequence of this the Galactic and Solar dynamos are generically fast, i.e. do not depend on the plasma resistivity.Comment: Extended version accepted to ApJ, 44pages, 2 figure

Evolution of Topological Defects During Inflation

Topological defects can be formed during inflation by phase transitions as well as by quantum nucleation. We study the effect of the expansion of the Universe on the internal structure of the defects. We look for stationary solutions to the field equations, i.e. solutions that depend only on the proper distance from the defect core. In the case of very thin defects, whose core dimensions are much smaller than the de Sitter horizon, we find that the solutions are well approximated by the flat space solutions. However, as the flat space thickness parameter $\delta_0$ increases we notice a deviation from this, an effect that becomes dramatic as $\delta_0$ approaches $(H)^{-1}/{\sqrt 2}$. Beyond this critical value we find no stationary solutions to the field equations. We conclude that only defects that have flat space thicknesses less than the critical value survive, while thicker defects are smeared out by the expansion.Comment: 14 page

Self-gravitating fluid shells and their non-spherical oscillations in Newtonian theory

We summarize the general formalism describing surface flows in three-dimensional space in a form which is suitable for various astrophysical applications. We then apply the formalism to the analysis of non-radial perturbations of self-gravitating spherical fluid shells. Spherically symmetric gravitating shells (or bubbles) have been used in numerous model problems especially in general relativity and cosmology. A radially oscillating shell was recently suggested as a model for a variable cosmic object. Within Newtonian gravity we show that self-gravitating static fluid shells are unstable with respect to linear non-radial perturbations. Only shells (bubbles) with a negative mass (or with a charge the repulsion of which is compensated by a tension) are stable.Comment: 20 pages, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal, typos correcte

Relation of Astrophysical Turbulence and Magnetic Reconnection

Astrophysical fluids are generically turbulent and this must be taken into account for most transport processes. We discuss how the preexisting turbulence modifies magnetic reconnection and how magnetic reconnection affects the MHD turbulent cascade. We show the intrinsic interdependence and interrelation of magnetic turbulence and magnetic reconnection, in particular, that strong magnetic turbulence in 3D requires reconnection and 3D magnetic turbulence entails fast reconnection. We follow the approach in Eyink, Lazarian & Vishniac 2011 to show that the expressions of fast magnetic reconnection in Lazarian & Vishniac 1999 can be recovered if Richardson diffusion of turbulent flows is used instead of ordinary Ohmic diffusion. This does not revive, however, the concept of magnetic turbulent diffusion which assumes that magnetic fields can be mixed up in a passive way down to a very small dissipation scales. On the contrary, we are dealing the reconnection of dynamically important magnetic field bundles which strongly resist bending and have well defined mean direction weakly perturbed by turbulence. We argue that in the presence of turbulence the very concept of flux-freezing requires modification. The diffusion that arises from magnetic turbulence can be called reconnection diffusion as it based on reconnection of magnetic field lines. The reconnection diffusion has important implications for the continuous transport processes in magnetized plasmas and for star formation. In addition, fast magnetic reconnection in turbulent media induces the First order Fermi acceleration of energetic particles, can explain solar flares and gamma ray bursts. However, the most dramatic consequence of these developments is the fact that the standard flux freezing concept must be radically modified in the presence of turbulence.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, Physics of Plasma