Significance of the oceanic CO(2 )sink for national carbon accounts

BACKGROUND: Under the United Nations convention on the law of the sea (1982), each participating country maintains exclusive economic and environmental rights within the oceanic region extending 200 nm from its coastline, known as the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Although the ocean within each EEZ has a vast capacity to absorb anthropogenic CO(2 )and therefore potentially be used as a carbon sink, it is not mentioned within the Kyoto Protocol most likely due to inadequate quantitative estimates. Here, I use two methods to estimate the anthropogenic CO(2 )storage and uptake for a typically large EEZ (Australia). RESULTS: Depending on whether the Antarctic territory is included I find that during the 1990s between 30–40% of Australia's fossil-fuel CO(2 )emissions were absorbed by its own EEZ. CONCLUSION: This example highlights the potential significance of the EEZ carbon sink for national carbon accounts. However, this 'natural anthropogenic CO(2 )sink' could be used as a disincentive for certain nations to reduce their anthropogenic CO(2 )emissions, which would ultimately dampen global efforts to reduce atmospheric CO(2 )concentrations. Since the oceanic anthropogenic CO(2 )sink has limited ability to be controlled by human activities, current and future international climate change policies should have an explicit 'EEZ' clause excluding its use within national carbon accounts

Zero Temperature Thermodynamics of Asymmetric Fermi Gases at Unitarity

The equation of state of a dilute two-component asymmetric Fermi gas at unitarity is subject to strong constraints, which affect the spatial density profiles in atomic traps. These constraints require the existence of at least one non-trivial partially polarized (asymmetric) phase. We determine the relation between the structure of the spatial density profiles and the T=0 equation of state, based on the most accurate theoretical predictions available. We also show how the equation of state can be determined from experimental observations.Comment: 10 pages and 7 figures. (Minor changes to correspond with published version.

Induced P-wave Superfluidity in Asymmetric Fermi Gases

We show that two new intra-species P-wave superfluid phases appear in two-component asymmetric Fermi systems with short-range S-wave interactions. In the BEC limit, phonons of the molecular BEC induce P-wave superfluidity in the excess fermions. In the BCS limit, density fluctuations induce P-wave superfluidity in both the majority and the minority species. These phases may be realized in experiments with spin-polarized Fermi gases.Comment: published versio

WMAP Haze: Directly Observing Dark Matter?

In this paper we show that dark matter in the form of dense matter/antimatter nuggets could provide a natural and unified explanation for several distinct bands of diffuse radiation from the core of the Galaxy spanning over 12 orders of magnitude in frequency. We fix all of the phenomenological properties of this model by matching to x-ray observations in the keV band, and then calculate the unambiguously predicted thermal emission in the microwave band, at frequencies smaller by 10 orders of magnitude. Remarkably, the intensity and spectrum of the emitted thermal radiation are consistent with--and could entirely explain--the so-called "WMAP haze": a diffuse microwave excess observed from the core of our Galaxy by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This provides another strong constraint of our proposal, and a remarkable nontrivial validation. If correct, our proposal identifies the nature of the dark matter, explains baryogenesis, and provides a means to directly probe the matter distribution in our Galaxy by analyzing several different types of diffuse emissions.Comment: 16 pages, REVTeX4. Updated to correspond with published version: includes additional appendices discussing finite-size effect

Exploring Zeptosecond Quantum Equilibration Dynamics: From Deep-Inelastic to Fusion-Fission Outcomes in 58^{58}Ni+60^{60}Ni Reactions

Energy dissipative processes play a key role in how quantum many-body systems dynamically evolve towards equilibrium. In closed quantum systems, such processes are attributed to the transfer of energy from collective motion to single-particle degrees of freedom; however, the quantum many-body dynamics of this evolutionary process are poorly understood. To explore energy dissipative phenomena and equilibration dynamics in one such system, an experimental investigation of deep-inelastic and fusion-fission outcomes in the $^{58}$Ni+$^{60}$Ni reaction has been carried out. Experimental outcomes have been compared to theoretical predictions using Time Dependent Hartree Fock and Time Dependent Random Phase Approximation approaches, which respectively incorporate one-body energy dissipation and fluctuations. Excellent quantitative agreement has been found between experiment and calculations, indicating that microscopic models incorporating one-body dissipation and fluctuations provide a potential tool for exploring dissipation in low-energy heavy ion collisions.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, 1 table, including Supplemental Material - Version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letter

Elastic Nd scattering at intermediate energies as a tool for probing the short-range deuteron structure

A calculation of the deuteron polarization observables $A^d_y$, $A_{yy}$, $A_{xx}$, $A_{xz}$ and the differential cross-section for elastic nucleon-deuteron scattering at incident deuteron energies 270 and 880 MeV in lab is presented. A comparison of the calculations with two different deuteron wave-functions derived from the Bonn-CD $NN$-potential model and the dressed bag quark model is carried out. A model-independent approach, based on an optical potential framework, is used in which a nucleon-nucleon $T$-matrix is assumed to be local and taken on the energy shell, but still depends on the internal nucleon momentum in a deuteron.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figure

Annexin-A5 assembled into two-dimensional arrays promotes cell membrane repair

Eukaryotic cells possess a universal repair machinery that ensures rapid resealing of plasma membrane disruptions. Before resealing, the torn membrane is submitted to considerable tension, which functions to expand the disruption. Here we show that annexin-A5 (AnxA5), a protein that self-assembles into two-dimensional (2D) arrays on membranes upon Ca2+ activation, promotes membrane repair. Compared with wild-type mouse perivascular cells, AnxA5-null cells exhibit a severe membrane repair defect. Membrane repair in AnxA5-null cells is rescued by addition of AnxA5, which binds exclusively to disrupted membrane areas. In contrast, an AnxA5 mutant that lacks the ability of forming 2D arrays is unable to promote membrane repair. We propose that AnxA5 participates in a previously unrecognized step of the membrane repair process: triggered by the local influx of Ca2+, AnxA5 proteins bind to torn membrane edges and form a 2D array, which prevents wound expansion and promotes membrane resealing