3,194 research outputs found

    Greenstone belts: Their components and structure

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    Greenstone sucessions are defined as the nongranitoid component of granitoid-greenstone terrain and are linear to irregular in shape and where linear are termed belts. The chemical composition of greenstones is described. Also discussed are the continental environments of greenstone successions. The effects of contact with granitoids, geophysical properties, recumbent folds and late formation structures upon greenstones are examined. Large stratigraphy thicknesses are explained

    Reconsidering the quantization of electrodynamics with boundary conditions and some measurable consequences

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    We show that the commonly known conductor boundary conditions E=B=0E_{||}=B_\perp=0 can be realized in two ways which we call 'thick' and 'thin' conductor. The 'thick' conductor is the commonly known approach and includes a Neumann condition on the normal component EE_\perp of the electric field whereas for a 'thin' conductor EE_\perp remains without boundary condition. Both types describe different physics already on the classical level where a 'thin' conductor allows for an interaction between the normal components of currents on both sides. On quantum level different forces between a conductor and a single electron or a neutral atom result. For instance, the Casimir-Polder force for a 'thin' conductor is by about 13% smaller than for a 'thick' one.Comment: 22 pages, basic statement weakened, conclusions changed, misprints correcte

    The dehydration, rehydration and tectonic setting of greenstone belts in a portion of the northern Kaapvaal Craton, South Africa

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    High-grade gneiss terranes and low-grade granite-greenstone terranes are well known in several Archaean domains. The geological relationship between these different crustal regions, however, is still controversial. One school of thought favors fundamental genetic differences between high-grade and low-grade terranes while others argue for a depth-controlled crustal evolution. The detailed examination of well-exposed Archaean terranes at different metamorphic grades, therefore, is not only an important source of information about the crustal levels exposed, but also is critical to the understanding of the possible tectonic and metamorphic evolution of greenstone belts with time. Three South African greenstone belts are compared

    Climate Change Challenges for Land Conservation: Rethinking Conservation Easements, Strategies, and Tools

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    Climate change has significant consequences for land conservation. Government agencies and nonprofit land trusts heavily rely on perpetual conservation easements. However, climate change and other dynamic landscape changes raise questions about the effectiveness and adaptability of permanent conservation instruments like conservation easements. Building upon a study of 269 conservation easements and interviews with seventy conservation-easement professionals in six different states, we examine the adaptability of conservation easements to climate change. We outline four potential approaches to enhance conservation outcomes under climate change: (1) shift land-acquisition priorities to account for potential climate change impacts; (2) consider conservation tools other than perpetual conservation easements; (3) ensure that the terms of conservation easements permit the holder to adapt to climate change successfully; and (4) provide for more active stewardship of conservation lands. There is still a good deal of uncertainty as to the legal fate of a conservation easement that no longer meets its original purposes. Many state laws provide that conservation easements can be modified or terminated in the same manner as traditional easements. Yet conservation easements are in many ways unlike other easements. The beneficiary is usually the public, not merely a neighboring landowner, and the holder is always a nonprofit conservation organization or a government agency. Thus, there is a case to be made for adaptive protection. An overly narrow focus on perpetual property rights could actually thwart efforts to meet adaptation needs over the long term. We call for careful attention to ensuring conservation outcomes in dynamic landscapes over time

    A Systematic Extended Iterative Solution for QCD

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    An outline is given of an extended perturbative solution of Euclidean QCD which systematically accounts for a class of nonperturbative effects, while allowing renormalization by the perturbative counterterms. Proper vertices Gamma are approximated by a double sequence Gamma[r,p], with r the degree of rational approximation w.r.t. the QCD mass scale Lambda, nonanalytic in the coupling g, and p the order of perturbative corrections in g-squared, calculated from Gamma[r,0] - rather than from the perturbative Feynman rules Gamma(0)(pert) - as a starting point. The mechanism allowing the nonperturbative terms to reproduce themselves in the Dyson-Schwinger equations preserves perturbative renormalizability and is tied to the divergence structure of the theory. As a result, it restricts the self-consistency problem for the Gamma[r,0] rigorously - i.e. without decoupling approximations - to the superficially divergent vertices. An interesting aspect of the scheme is that rational-function sequences for the propagators allow subsequences describing short-lived excitations. The method is calculational, in that it allows known techniques of loop computation to be used while dealing with integrands of truly nonperturbative content.Comment: 48 pages (figures included). Scope of replacement: correction of a technical defect; no changes in conten

    Electromagnetic Casimir densities for a wedge with a coaxial cylindrical shell

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    Vacuum expectation values of the field square and the energy-momentum tensor for the electromagnetic field are investigated for the geometry of a wedge with a coaxal cylindrical boundary. All boundaries are assumed to be perfectly conducting and both regions inside and outside the shell are considered. By using the generalized Abel-Plana formula, the vacuum expectation values are presented in the form of the sum of two terms. The first one corresponds to the geometry of the wedge without the cylindrical shell and the second term is induced by the presence of the shell. The vacuum energy density induced by the shell is negative for the interior region and is positive for the exterior region. The asymptotic behavior of the vacuum expectation values are investigated in various limiting cases. It is shown that the vacuum forces acting on the wedge sides due to the presence of the cylindrical boundary are always attractive.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure

    Equivalence between free quantum particles and those in harmonic potentials and its application to instantaneous changes

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    This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly citedIn quantum physics the free particle and the harmonically trapped particle are arguably the most important systems a physicist needs to know about. It is little known that, mathematically, they are one and the same. This knowledge helps us to understand either from the viewpoint of the other. Here we show that all general time-dependent solutions of the free-particle Schrodinger equation can be mapped to solutions of the Schrodinger equation for harmonic potentials, both the trapping oscillator and the inverted `oscillator'. This map is fully invertible and therefore induces an isomorphism between both types of system, they are equivalent. A composition of the map and its inverse allows us to map from one harmonic oscillator to another with a different spring constant and different center position. The map is independent of the state of the system, consisting only of a coordinate transformation and multiplication by a form factor, and can be chosen such that the state is identical in both systems at one point in time. This transition point in time can be chosen freely, the wave function of the particle evolving in time in one system before the transition point can therefore be linked up smoothly with the wave function for the other system and its future evolution after the transition point. Such a cut-and-paste procedure allows us to describe the instantaneous changes of the environment a particle finds itself in. Transitions from free to trapped systems, between harmonic traps of different spring constants or center positions, or, from harmonic binding to repulsive harmonic potentials are straightforwardly modelled. This includes some time dependent harmonic potentials. The mappings introduced here are computationally more efficient than either state-projection or harmonic oscillator propagator techniques conventionally employed when describing instantaneous (non-adiabatic) changes of a quantum particle's environmentPeer reviewe

    Characteristics and outcome of infants with candiduria in neonatal intensive care - a Paediatric Investigators Collaborative Network on Infections in Canada (PICNIC) study

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    <p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>There is limited information in the literature on the presentation and prognosis of candidal urinary tract infection (UTI) in infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>This was a prospective cohort study performed in 13 Canadian NICUs. Infants with candidal UTI without extra-renal candidal infection at presentation were enrolled.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Thirty infants fit the study criteria. Median birth weight and gestational age were 2595 grams (range 575-4255) and 35 weeks (range 24-41) with 10 infants being < 30 weeks gestation. The most common primary underlying diagnosis was congenital heart disease (n = 10). The median age at initial diagnosis was 16 days (range 6-84 days). Renal ultrasonography findings were compatible with possible fungal disease in 15 of the 26 infants (58%) in whom it was performed. Treatment was variable, but fluconazole and either amphotericin B deoxycholate or lipid-based amphotericin B in combination or sequentially were used most frequently. Extra-renal candidiasis subsequently developed in 4 infants. In 2 of these 4 infants, dissemination happened during prolonged courses of anti-fungal therapy. Three of 9 deaths were considered to be related to candidal infection. No recurrences of candiduria or episodes of invasive candidiasis following treatment were documented.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Candidal UTI in the NICU population occurs both in term infants with congenital abnormalities and in preterm infants, and is associated with renal parenchymal disease and extra-renal dissemination. A wide variation in clinical approach was documented in this multicenter study. The overall mortality rate in these infants was significant (30%). In one third of the deaths, <it>Candida </it>infection was deemed to be a contributing factor, suggesting the need for antifungal therapy with repeat evaluation for dissemination in infants who are slow to respond to therapy.</p

    Mode-by-mode summation for the zero point electromagnetic energy of an infinite cylinder

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    Using the mode-by-mode summation technique the zero point energy of the electromagnetic field is calculated for the boundary conditions given on the surface of an infinite solid cylinder. It is assumed that the dielectric and magnetic characteristics of the material which makes up the cylinder (ϵ1,μ1)(\epsilon_1, \mu_1) and of that which makes up the surroundings (ϵ2,μ2)(\epsilon_2, \mu_2) obey the relation ϵ1μ1=ϵ2μ2\epsilon_1\mu_1= \epsilon_2\mu_2. With this assumption all the divergences cancel. The divergences are regulated by making use of zeta function techniques. Numerical calculations are carried out for a dilute dielectric cylinder and for a perfectly conducting cylindrical shell. The Casimir energy in the first case vanishes, and in the second is in complete agreement with that obtained by DeRaad and Milton who employed a Green's function technique with an ultraviolet regulator.Comment: REVTeX, 16 pages, no figures and tables; transcription error in previous version corrected, giving a zero Casimir energy for a tenuous cylinde

    Can spacetime curvature induced corrections to Lamb shift be observable?

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    The Lamb shift results from the coupling of an atom to vacuum fluctuations of quantum fields, so corrections are expected to arise when the spacetime is curved since the vacuum fluctuations are modified by the presence of spacetime curvature. Here, we calculate the curvature-induced correction to the Lamb shift outside a spherically symmetric object and demonstrate that this correction can be remarkably significant outside a compact massive astrophysical body. For instance, for a neutron star or a stellar mass black hole, the correction is \sim 25% at a radial distance of 4GM/c24GM/c^2, \sim 16% at 10GM/c210GM/c^2 and as large as \sim 1.6% even at 100GM/c2100GM/c^2, where MM is the mass of the object, GG the Newtonian constant, and cc the speed of light. In principle, we can look at the spectra from a distant compact super-massive body to find such corrections. Therefore, our results suggest a possible way of detecting fundamental quantum effects in astronomical observations.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, slight title change, clarifications and more discussions added, version to be published in JHE
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