440 research outputs found
Probing the Earth's interior with a large-volume liquid scintillator detector
A future large-volume liquid scintillator detector would provide a
high-statistics measurement of terrestrial antineutrinos originating from
-decays of the uranium and thorium chains. In addition, the forward
displacement of the neutron in the detection reaction
provides directional information. We investigate the requirements on such
detectors to distinguish between certain geophysical models on the basis of the
angular dependence of the geoneutrino flux. Our analysis is based on a
Monte-Carlo simulation with different levels of light yield, considering both
unloaded and gadolinium-loaded scintillators. We find that a 50 kt detector
such as the proposed LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) will detect
deviations from isotropy of the geoneutrino flux significantly. However, with
an unloaded scintillator the time needed for a useful discrimination between
different geophysical models is too large if one uses the directional
information alone. A Gd-loaded scintillator improves the situation
considerably, although a 50 kt detector would still need several decades to
distinguish between a geophysical reference model and one with a large neutrino
source in the Earth's core. However, a high-statistics measurement of the total
geoneutrino flux and its spectrum still provides an extremely useful glance at
the Earth's interior.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures. Minor changes, version accepted for publication
in Astroparticle Physic
Imaging the Earth's Interior: the Angular Distribution of Terrestrial Neutrinos
Decays of radionuclides throughout the Earth's interior produce geothermal
heat, but also are a source of antineutrinos. The (angle-integrated)
geoneutrino flux places an integral constraint on the terrestrial radionuclide
distribution. In this paper, we calculate the angular distribution of
geoneutrinos, which opens a window on the differential radionuclide
distribution. We develop the general formalism for the neutrino angular
distribution, and we present the inverse transformation which recovers the
terrestrial radioisotope distribution given a measurement of the neutrino
angular distribution. Thus, geoneutrinos not only allow a means to image the
Earth's interior, but offering a direct measure of the radioactive Earth, both
(1) revealing the Earth's inner structure as probed by radionuclides, and (2)
allowing for a complete determination of the radioactive heat generation as a
function of radius. We present the geoneutrino angular distribution for the
favored Earth model which has been used to calculate geoneutrino flux. In this
model the neutrino generation is dominated by decays in the Earth's mantle and
crust; this leads to a very ``peripheral'' angular distribution, in which 2/3
of the neutrinos come from angles > 60 degrees away from the downward vertical.
We note the possibility of that the Earth's core contains potassium; different
geophysical predictions lead to strongly varying, and hence distinguishable,
central intensities (< 30 degrees from the downward vertical). Other
uncertainties in the models, and prospects for observation of the geoneutrino
angular distribution, are briefly discussed. We conclude by urging the
development and construction of antineutrino experiments with angular
sensitivity. (Abstract abridged.)Comment: 25 pages, RevTeX, 7 figures. Comments welcom
TectonoâStratigraphic Evolution of the Kerguelen Large Igneous Province: The Conjugate Williamâs RidgeâBroken Ridge Rifted Margins
AbstractExtensive investigation of continental rift systems has been fundamental for advancing the understanding of extensional tectonics and modes of formation of new ocean basins. However, current rift classification schemes do not account for conjugate end members formed by Large Igneous Province crust, referring to thick mafic crust, sometimes including continental fragments. Here, we investigate the rifting of William's Ridge (Kerguelen Plateau) and Broken Ridge, components of the Kerguelen Large Igneous Province now situated in the Southeast Indian Ocean, and incorporate these end members into the deformation migration concept for rifted margins. We use multichannel seismic reflection profiles and data from scientific drill cores acquired on both conjugate margins to propose, for the first time, a combined tectonoâstratigraphic framework. We interpret seismic patterns, tectonic features, and magnetic anomaly picks to determine an acrossâstrike structural domain classification. This interpretation considers the rift system overall to be âmagmaâpoorâ despite being located proximal to the Kerguelen plume but suggests that synârift interaction between the Kerguelen mantle plume and the lithospheric structure of William's Ridge and Broken Ridge has controlled the alongâstrike segmentation of both conjugates. We integrate seismic reflection and bathymetric data to test the hypothesis of predominantly transform motion, between the Australian and Antarctic plates, in Late Cretaceous and Paleogene time.</jats:p
Mimicking diffuse supernova antineutrinos with the Sun as a source
Measuring the electron antineutrino component of the cosmic diffuse supernova
neutrino background (DSNB) is the next ambitious goal for low-energy neutrino
astronomy. The largest flux is expected in the lowest accessible energy bin.
However, for E < 15 MeV a possible signal can be mimicked by a solar electron
antineutrino flux that originates from the usual 8B neutrinos by spin-flavor
oscillations. We show that such an interpretation is possible within the
allowed range of neutrino electromagnetic transition moments and solar
turbulent field strengths and distributions. Therefore, an unambiguous
detection of the DSNB requires a significant number of events at E > 15 MeV.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
Pink1 and Parkin regulate Drosophila intestinal stem cell proliferation during stress and aging.
Intestinal stem cells (ISCs) maintain the midgut epithelium in Drosophila melanogaster Proper cellular turnover and tissue function rely on tightly regulated rates of ISC division and appropriate differentiation of daughter cells. However, aging and epithelial injury cause elevated ISC proliferation and decreased capacity for terminal differentiation of daughter enteroblasts (EBs). The mechanisms causing functional decline of stem cells with age remain elusive; however, recent findings suggest that stem cell metabolism plays an important role in the regulation of stem cell activity. Here, we investigate how alterations in mitochondrial homeostasis modulate stem cell behavior in vivo via RNA interference-mediated knockdown of factors involved in mitochondrial dynamics. ISC/EB-specific knockdown of the mitophagy-related genes Pink1 or Parkin suppresses the age-related loss of tissue homeostasis, despite dramatic changes in mitochondrial ultrastructure and mitochondrial damage in ISCs/EBs. Maintenance of tissue homeostasis upon reduction of Pink1 or Parkin appears to result from reduction of age- and stress-induced ISC proliferation, in part, through induction of ISC senescence. Our results indicate an uncoupling of cellular, tissue, and organismal aging through inhibition of ISC proliferation and provide insight into strategies used by stem cells to maintain tissue homeostasis despite severe damage to organelles
A complete 3D numerical study of the effects of pseudoscalar-photon mixing on quasar polarizations
We present the results of three-dimensional simulations of quasar
polarizations in the presence of pseudoscalar-photon mixing in the
intergalactic medium. The intergalactic magnetic field is assumed to be
uncorrelated in wave vector space but correlated in real space. Such a field
may be obtained if its origin is primordial. Furthermore we assume that the
quasars, located at cosmological distances, have negligible initial
polarization. In the presence of pseudoscalar-photon mixing we show, through a
direct comparison with observations, that this may explain the observed large
scale alignments in quasar polarizations within the framework of big bang
cosmology. We find that the simulation results give a reasonably good fit to
the observed data.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures, significant changes, to appear in EPJ
The see-saw mechanism: neutrino mixing, leptogenesis and lepton flavor violation
The see-saw mechanism to generate small neutrino masses is reviewed. After
summarizing our current knowledge about the low energy neutrino mass matrix we
consider reconstructing the see-saw mechanism. Low energy neutrino physics is
not sufficient to reconstruct see-saw, a feature which we refer to as ``see-saw
degeneracy''. Indirect tests of see-saw are leptogenesis and lepton flavor
violation in supersymmetric scenarios, which together with neutrino mass and
mixing define the framework of see-saw phenomenology. Several examples are
given, both phenomenological and GUT-related. Variants of the see-saw mechanism
like the type II or triplet see-saw are also discussed. In particular, we
compare many general aspects regarding the dependence of LFV on low energy
neutrino parameters in the extreme cases of a dominating conventional see-saw
term or a dominating triplet term. For instance, the absence of mu -> e gamma
or tau -> e gamma in the pure triplet case means that CP is conserved in
neutrino oscillations. Scanning models, we also find that among the decays mu
-> e gamma, tau -> e gamma and tau -> mu gamma the latter one has the largest
branching ratio in (i) SO(10) type I see-saw models and in (ii) scenarios in
which the triplet term dominates in the neutrino mass matrix.Comment: 26 pages, 7 figures. Expanded version of talk given at 10th Workshop
In High Energy Physics Phenomenology (WHEPP 10), January 2008, Chennai,
India. Typos corrected, comments and references adde
Repressing Anarchy in Neutrino Mass Textures
The recent results that is relatively large, of the order of
the previous upper bound, and the indications of a sizable deviation of
from the maximal value are in agreement with the predictions of
Anarchy in the lepton sector. The quark and charged lepton hierarchies can then
be reproduced in a SU(5) GUT context by attributing non-vanishing
charges, different for each family, only to the SU(5) tenplet states. The fact
that the observed mass hierarchies are stronger for up quarks than for down
quarks and charged leptons supports this idea. As discussed in the past, in the
flexible context of , different patterns of charges can
be adopted going from Anarchy to various types of hierarchy. We revisit this
approach by also considering new models and we compare all versions to the
present data. As a result we confirm that, by relaxing the extreme ansatz of
equal charges for all SU(5) pentaplets and singlets, better
agreement with the data than for Anarchy is obtained without increasing the
model complexity. We also present the distributions obtained in the different
models for the Dirac CP-violating phase. Finally we discuss the relative merits
of these simple models.Comment: v1: 12 pages, 3 figures; v2: 13 pages, 3 figures, text improved,
matches version accepted for publication; v3: submitted to add an
acknowledgment to a networ
Cenozoic history of Antarctic glaciation and climate from onshore and offshore studies
The past three decades have seen a sustained and coordinated effort to refine the seismic stratigraphic framework of the Antarctic margin that has underpinned the development of numerous geological drilling expeditions from the continental shelf and beyond. Integration of these offshore drilling datasets covering the Cenozoic era with Antarctic inland datasets, provides important constraints that allow us to understand the role of Antarctic tectonics, the Southern Ocean biosphere, and Cenozoic ice sheet dynamics and ice sheetâocean interactions on global climate as a whole. These constraints are critical for improving the accuracy and precision of future projections of Antarctic ice sheet behaviour and changes in Southern Ocean circulation. Many of the recent advances in this field can be attributed to the community-driven approach of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet Dynamics (PAIS) research programme and its two key subcommittees: Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions. Since 2012, these two PAIS subcommittees provided the forum to initiate, promote, coordinate and study scientific research drilling around the Antarctic margin and the Southern Ocean. Here we review the seismic stratigraphic margin architecture, climatic and glacial history of the Antarctic continent following the break-up of Gondwanaland in the Cretaceous, with a focus on records obtained since the implementation of PRAMSO. We also provide a forward-looking approach for future drilling proposals in frontier locations critically relevant for assessing future Antarctic ice sheet, climatic and oceanic change.We thank many people who collaborated, by sharing data and ideas, on geoscience research projects under the umbrella of the highly successful Paleoclimate Records from the Antarctic Margin and Southern Ocean (PRAMSO) and Palaeotopographic-Palaeobathymetric Reconstructions subcommittees of the Scientific Committee on Antarctic Research (SCAR) Past Antarctic Ice Sheet scientific program. This synthesis, which reflects our views, would not have been possible without the efforts of these many investigators, most of whom continue their collaborative Antarctic studies, now under the successor SCAR INSTANT programme. Chris Sorlien is thanked for drafting Fig. 3.6. We thank John Anderson, Peter Barrett, Giuliano Brancolini and Alan Cooper for their useful comments and for their continuous dedication to the past Antarctic Ice Sheet evolution reconstructions. We thank Nigel Wardell, Frank Nitsche and Paolo Diviacco for maintaining the Seismic Data Library System and the National Antarctic funding agencies of many countries (Australia, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, New Zealand, Russia, Spain, the UK, the United States) for supporting geophysical and geological surveys essential for Paleotopographic and Paleobathymetric reconstructions. We thank the International Ocean Discovery Program (IODP) for its support of recent expeditions that arose out of PRAMSO discussions. R.M. was funded by the Royal Society Te ApÄrangi NZ Marsden Fund (grant 18-VUW-089). C.E. acknowledges funding by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitivity (grants CTM2017-89711-C2-1/2-P), cofunded by the European Union through FEDER funds. L.D.S. and F.D. were funded by the Programma Nazionale delle Ricerche in Antartide (PNRA16_00016 project and PNRA 14_00119). R.Larter and C.D.H. were funded by the BAS Polar Science for Planet Earth Programme and NERC UK IODP grant NE/J006548/1. S.K. was supported by the KOPRI Grant (PE21050). L.P. was funded by the European Unionâs Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No. 792773 WAMSISE. A.S. and S.G. were funded by NSF Office of Polar Programs (Grants OPP-1744970 (A.S.), -1143836 (A.S.), and -1143843 (S.G.). This is University of Texas Institute for Geophysics Contribution #3784. B.D. acknowledges funding from a Rutherford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship (RFT-VUW1804-PD). K.G. and G.K. were funded by AWI research programme Polar Regions and Coasts in the changing Earth System (PACES II) and the Sub-EIS-Obs programme by the Bundesanstalt fĂŒr Geowissenschaften und Rohstoffe (BGR). RL, RM, TN acknowledge support from MBIE Antarctic Science Platform contract ANTA1801
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