2,624 research outputs found
Vermiforichnus (Polychaeta) Borings in Paraspirifer Bownockeri (Brachiopoda: Devonian)
Author Institution: Department of Geology, Bowling Green UniversityShells of Paraspirifer bownockeri (Stewart) from the Silica Formation, Middle Devonian of northwestern Ohio, commonly contain numerous borings of a polychaete worm forming the endolithic trace fossil Vermiforichnus clarki Cameron (1969a) which can be exposed by acidizing the specimens. The borings are most abundant on the brachial valve, and their surface openings tend to be concentrated along major growth lines thence extending dominantly in the general direction of the beaks of the valves. Infestations of the polychaete occurred at 2 different time intervals as indicated by the spacing of the borings on 2 major growth lines with renewed shell growth between them. Growth of the host was severely reduced immediately following the infestation and in some areas damage to the mantle caused deformation in the shell of the host
Some Further Results for the Stationary Points and Dynamics of Supercooled Liquids
We present some new theoretical and computational results for the stationary
points of bulk systems. First we demonstrate how the potential energy surface
can be partitioned into catchment basins associated with every stationary point
using a combination of Newton-Raphson and eigenvector-following techniques.
Numerical results are presented for a 256-atom supercell representation of a
binary Lennard-Jones system. We then derive analytical formulae for the number
of stationary points as a function of both system size and the Hessian index,
using a framework based upon weakly interacting subsystems. This analysis
reveals a simple relation between the total number of stationary points, the
number of local minima, and the number of transition states connected on
average to each minimum. Finally we calculate two measures of localisation for
the displacements corresponding to Hessian eigenvectors in samples of
stationary points obtained from the Newton-Raphson-based geometry optimisation
scheme. Systematic differences are found between the properties of eigenvectors
corresponding to positive and negative Hessian eigenvalues, and localised
character is most pronounced for stationary points with low values of the
Hessian index.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figure
VLTI/MIDI 10 micron interferometry of the forming massive star W33A
We report on resolved interferometric observations with VLTI/MIDI of the
massive young stellar object (MYSO) W33A. The MIDI observations deliver
spectrally dispersed visibilities with values between 0.03 and 0.06, for a
baseline of 45m over the wavelength range 8-13 micron. The visibilities
indicate that W33A has a FWHM size of approximately 120AU (0.030'') at 8 micron
which increases to 240AU at 13 micron, scales previously unexplored among
MYSOs. This observed trend is consistent with the temperature falling off with
distance. 1D dust radiative transfer models are simultaneously fit to the
visibility spectrum, the strong silicate feature and the shape of the mid
infrared spectral energy distribution (SED). For any powerlaw density
distribution, we find that the sizes (as implied by the visibilities) and the
stellar luminosity are incompatible. A reduction to a third of W33A's
previously adopted luminosity is required to match the visibilities; such a
reduction is consistent with new high resolution 70 micron data from Spitzer's
MIPSGAL survey. We obtain best fits for models with shallow dust density
distributions of r^(-0.5) and r^(-1.0) and for increased optical depth in the
silicate feature produced by decreasing the ISM ratio of graphite to silicates
and using optical grain properties by Ossenkopf et al. (1992).Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for ApJ letter
Velocity dependence of friction and Kramers relaxation rates
We study the influence of the velocity dependence of friction on the escape
of a Brownian particle from the deep potential well (,
is the barrier height, is the Boltzmann constant, is the
bath temperature). The bath-induced relaxation is treated within the Rayleigh
model (a heavy particle of mass in the bath of light particles of mass
) up to the terms of the order of ,
. The term is equivalent to the Fokker-Planck
dissipative operator, and the term is responsible for the
velocity dependence of friction. As expected, the correction to the Kramers
escape rate in the overdamped limit is proportional to and is
small. The corresponding correction in the underdamped limit is proportional to
and is not necessarily small. We thus suggest that
the effects due to the velocity-dependent friction may be of considerable
importance in determining the rate of escape of an under- and moderately damped
Brownian particle from a deep potential well, while they are of minor
importance for an overdamped particle
Near-infrared integral field spectroscopy of Massive Young Stellar Objects
We present medium resolution () -band integral field
spectroscopy of six MYSOs. The targets are selected from the RMS survey, and we
used the NIFS on the Gemini North telescope. The data show various spectral
line features including Br, CO, H, and \mbox{He\,{\sc i}}. The
Br line is detected in emission in all objects with
-- 200 kms. V645 Cyg shows a high-velocity
P-Cygni profile between -800 kms and -300 kms. We performed
three-dimensional spectroastrometry to diagnose the circumstellar environment
in the vicinity of the central stars using the Br line. We measured the
centroids of the velocity components with sub-mas precision. The centroids
allow us to discriminate the blueshifted and redshifted components in a roughly
east--west direction in both IRAS 18151--1208 and S106 in Br. This lies
almost perpendicular to observed larger scale outflows. We conclude, given the
widths of the lines and the orientation of the spectroastrometric signature,
that our results trace a disc wind in both IRAS 18151--1208 and S106. The CO
absorption lines at low transitions are detected in IRAS
18151--1208 and AFGL 2136. We analysed the velocity structure of the neutral
gas discs. In IRAS 18151--1208, the absorption centroids of the blueshifted and
redshifted components are separated in a direction of north-east to south-west,
nearly perpendicular to that of the larger scale jet. The
position-velocity relations of these objects can be reproduced with central
masses of 30 M_{\sun} for IRAS 18151--1208 and 20 M_{\sun} for AFGL 2136.
We also detect CO bandhead emission in IRAS 18151--1208, S106 and
V645 Cyg. The results can be fitted reasonably with a Keplerian rotation model,
with masses of 15, 20 and 20 M_{\sun} respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA
Ionization of clusters in intense laser pulses through collective electron dynamics
The motion of electrons and ions in medium-sized rare gas clusters (1000
atoms) exposed to intense laser pulses is studied microscopically by means of
classical molecular dynamics using a hierarchical tree code. Pulse parameters
for optimum ionization are found to be wavelength dependent. This resonant
behavior is traced back to a collective electron oscillation inside the charged
cluster. It is shown that this dynamics can be well described by a driven and
damped harmonic oscillator allowing for a clear discrimination against other
energy absorption mechanisms.Comment: 4 pages (4 figures
The vegetation of the habitat of the Brenton blue butterfly, Orachrysops niobe (Trimen), in the Western Cape, South Africa
The Brenton blue butterfly is known only from a small population in one hectare of asteraceous coastal fynbos at Brenton-on-Sea. This fynbos is characterized by a great diversity of shrubs, herbs and graminoids, with a successional gradient to thicket where Pterocelastrus tricuspidatus is dominant. The eggs of the butterfly are laid on the lower side of the leaves of Indigofera erecta, on which the larvae feed. Fifteen 1-m² quadrats containing plants of Indigofera erecta with and without eggs of the butterfly were distinguished and sampled separately from 15 1-m² quadrats containing plants of Indigofera erecta without eggs. No marked differences in total vegetation, shrub or herb cover between the sites with and without eggs were observed. There was a difference in abundance of the fern Pteridium aquilinum, with over 30% cover at sites with no eggs and only about 6% at sites with eggs present. This could reflect the absence of other plants where the ferns had such dense cover
The Bryozoan Fistulipora Candida from the Ames Limestone (Conemaugh) of Ohio
Author Institution: Department of Geology, Bowling Green State University, and Department of Geology, Ohio UniversityThe bryozoan Fistulipora Candida (Moore & Dudley, 1944) has been found at two localities in the Ames Limestone; no other occurrences of massive bryozoans have been reported from Pennsylvanian rocks in Ohio. These occurrences suggest a possible correlation of the Ames Limestone with the Coal Creek Limestone (Virgilian Series) in the Western Interior Basin
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