10,744 research outputs found
Environmental correlates of plant and invertebrate species richness in ponds
Ponds (lentic water bodies <2 ha) constitute a considerable biodiversity resource. Understanding the environmental factors that underlie this diversity is important in protecting and managing the habitat. We surveyed 425 ponds for biological and physical characteristics with 78 of those also surveyed for chemical characteristics. A total of 277 invertebrate species and 265 plant species were found. Species richness varied between 2 and 99 (mean 27.2 ± 0.6 SE) for invertebrates and 1 and 58 (mean 20.8 ± 0.4 SE) for plants. Generalised additive models were used to investigate variables that correlate with the species richness of plants and invertebrates, with additional models to investigate insect, Coleoptera, Odonata, Hemiptera, Trichoptera and Mollusca species richness. Models performed reasonably well for invertebrates in general (R 2 = 30.3%) but varied between lower-order invertebrate taxa (12.7–34.7%). Ponds with lower levels of shading and no history of drying contained higher numbers of species of plants and all invertebrate groups. Aquatic plant coverage positively correlated with species richness in all invertebrate groups apart from Trichoptera and the presence of fish was associated with high invertebrate species richness in all groups apart from Coleoptera. The addition of chemistry variables suggested non-linear relationships between oxygen demand and phosphate concentration and higher-order richness. We demonstrate that the composition of biological communities varies along with their species richness and that less diverse ponds are more variable compared to more diverse ponds. Variables positively correlated with richness of one taxon may be negatively correlated with that of another, making comprehensive management recommendations difficult. Promoting a high landscape-level pond biodiversity will involve the management of a high diversity of pond types within that landscape
The gauge algebra of double field theory and Courant brackets
We investigate the symmetry algebra of the recently proposed field theory on
a doubled torus that describes closed string modes on a torus with both
momentum and winding. The gauge parameters are constrained fields on the
doubled space and transform as vectors under T-duality. The gauge algebra
defines a T-duality covariant bracket. For the case in which the parameters and
fields are T-dual to ones that have momentum but no winding, we find the gauge
transformations to all orders and show that the gauge algebra reduces to one
obtained by Siegel. We show that the bracket for such restricted parameters is
the Courant bracket. We explain how these algebras are realised as symmetries
despite the failure of the Jacobi identity.Comment: 25 pages, LaTe
Frame-like Geometry of Double Field Theory
We relate two formulations of the recently constructed double field theory to
a frame-like geometrical formalism developed by Siegel. A self-contained
presentation of this formalism is given, including a discussion of the
constraints and its solutions, and of the resulting Riemann tensor, Ricci
tensor and curvature scalar. This curvature scalar can be used to define an
action, and it is shown that this action is equivalent to that of double field
theory.Comment: 35 pages, v2: minor corrections, to appear in J. Phys.
Canonical gravity in two time and two space dimensions
We describe a program for developing a canonical gravity in 2+2 dimensions
(two time and two space dimensions). Our procedure is similar to the usual
canonical gravity but with two times rather than just one time. Our work may be
of particular interest as an alternative approach to loop quantum gravity in
2+2 dimensions.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, improved versio
Timelike Hopf Duality and Type IIA^* String Solutions
The usual T-duality that relates the type IIA and IIB theories compactified
on circles of inversely-related radii does not operate if the dimensional
reduction is performed on the time direction rather than a spatial one. This
observation led to the recent proposal that there might exist two further
ten-dimensional theories, namely type IIA^* and type IIB^*, related to type IIB
and type IIA respectively by a timelike dimensional reduction. In this paper we
explore such dimensional reductions in cases where time is the coordinate of a
non-trivial U(1) fibre bundle. We focus in particular on situations where there
is an odd-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime AdS_{2n+1}, which can be
described as a U(1) bundle over \widetilde{CP}^n, a non-compact version of CP^n
corresponding to the coset manifold SU(n,1)/U(n). In particular, we study the
AdS_5\times S^5 and AdS_7\times S^4 solutions of type IIB supergravity and
eleven-dimensional supergravity. Applying a timelike Hopf T-duality
transformation to the former provides a new solution of the type IIA^* theory,
of the form \widetilde{CP}^2\times S^1\times S^5. We show how the Hopf-reduced
solutions provide further examples of ``supersymmetry without supersymmetry.''
We also present a detailed discussion of the geometrical structure of the
Hopf-fibred metric on AdS_{2n+1}, and its relation to the horospherical metric
that arises in the AdS/CFT correspondence.Comment: Latex, 26 page
Cosmic No Hair for Collapsing Universes
It is shown that all contracting, spatially homogeneous, orthogonal Bianchi
cosmologies that are sourced by an ultra-stiff fluid with an arbitrary and, in
general, varying equation of state asymptote to the spatially flat and
isotropic universe in the neighbourhood of the big crunch singularity. This
result is employed to investigate the asymptotic dynamics of a collapsing
Bianchi type IX universe sourced by a scalar field rolling down a steep,
negative exponential potential. A toroidally compactified version of M*-theory
that leads to such a potential is discussed and it is shown that the isotropic
attractor solution for a collapsing Bianchi type IX universe is supersymmetric
when interpreted in an eleven-dimensional context.Comment: Extended discussion to include Kantowski-Sachs universe. In press,
Classical and Quantum Gravit
Background independent action for double field theory
Double field theory describes a massless subsector of closed string theory
with both momentum and winding excitations. The gauge algebra is governed by
the Courant bracket in certain subsectors of this double field theory. We
construct the associated nonlinear background-independent action that is
T-duality invariant and realizes the Courant gauge algebra. The action is the
sum of a standard action for gravity, antisymmetric tensor, and dilaton fields
written with ordinary derivatives, a similar action for dual fields with dual
derivatives, and a mixed term that is needed for gauge invariance.Comment: 45 pages, v2: minor corrections, refs. added, to appear in JHE
A Geometry for Non-Geometric String Backgrounds
A geometric string solution has background fields in overlapping coordinate
patches related by diffeomorphisms and gauge transformations, while for a
non-geometric background this is generalised to allow transition functions
involving duality transformations. Non-geometric string backgrounds arise from
T-duals and mirrors of flux compactifications, from reductions with duality
twists and from asymmetric orbifolds. Strings in ` T-fold' backgrounds with a
local -torus fibration and T-duality transition functions in are
formulated in an enlarged space with a fibration which is geometric,
with spacetime emerging locally from a choice of a submanifold of each
fibre, so that it is a subspace or brane embedded in the enlarged
space. T-duality acts by changing to a different subspace of .
For a geometric background, the local choices of fit together to give a
spacetime which is a bundle, while for non-geometric string backgrounds
they do not fit together to form a manifold. In such cases spacetime geometry
only makes sense locally, and the global structure involves the doubled
geometry. For open strings, generalised D-branes wrap a subspace of each
fibre and the physical D-brane is the part of the part of the physical
space lying in the generalised D-brane subspace.Comment: 28 Pages. Minor change
Generalised Geometry for M-Theory
Generalised geometry studies structures on a d-dimensional manifold with a
metric and 2-form gauge field on which there is a natural action of the group
SO(d,d). This is generalised to d-dimensional manifolds with a metric and
3-form gauge field on which there is a natural action of the group .
This provides a framework for the discussion of M-theory solutions with flux. A
different generalisation is to d-dimensional manifolds with a metric, 2-form
gauge field and a set of p-forms for either odd or even on which there is a
natural action of the group . This is useful for type IIA or IIB
string solutions with flux. Further generalisations give extended tangent
bundles and extended spin bundles relevant for non-geometric backgrounds.
Special structures that arise for supersymmetric backgrounds are discussed.Comment: 31 page
Scaling Cosmologies from Duality Twisted Compactifications
Oscillating moduli fields can support a cosmological scaling solution in the
presence of a perfect fluid when the scalar field potential satisfies
appropriate conditions. We examine when such conditions arise in
higher-dimensional, non-linear sigma-models that are reduced to four dimensions
under a generalized Scherk-Schwarz compactification. We show explicitly that
scaling behaviour is possible when the higher-dimensional action exhibits a
global SL(n,R) or O(2,2) symmetry. These underlying symmetries can be exploited
to generate non-trivial scaling solutions when the moduli fields have
non-canonical kinetic energy. We also consider the compactification of
eleven-dimensional vacuum Einstein gravity on an elliptic twisted torus.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figure
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