5,150 research outputs found
Wetland restoration and nitrate reduction: the example of the periurban wetland of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country, North Spain)
Changes in land use and agricultural intensification caused wetlands on the quaternary aquifer of Vitoria-Gasteiz (Basque Country) to disappear some years ago and nitrate concentration in groundwaters increased very quickly. The Basque Government recently declared the East Sector of this aquifer a Vulnerable Zone according to the 91/676/CEE European Directive. Recently, the wetlands have been restored through the closure of the main drainage ditches, the consequent elevation of the water table and the abondonment of agricultural practices near the wetlands. This is the case of the Zurbano wetland. Restoration has allowed the recovery of its biogeochemical function, which has reduced nitrate concentrations in waters. Nitrate concentrations which exceed 50 mg l–1 in groundwaters entering into the wetland are less than 10 mg l–1 at the outlet. Conditions in the wetland are conducive to the loss of nitrates: organic matter rich wetted soils, clay presence allowing a local semiconfined flow and very low hydraulic gradient. Water quality monitoring at several points around the wetland showed the processes involved in nitrate loss, although some aspects still remain unresolved. However, during storm events, the wetland effectively reduces the nitrate concentration entering the Alegria River, the most important river on the quaternary aquifer
The identification of MAXI J1659-152 as a black hole candidate
We report on the analysis of all 65 pointed Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
observations of the recently discovered soft X-ray transient MAXI J1659-152
(initially referred to as GRB 100925A). The source was studied in terms of its
evolution through the hardness-intensity diagram (HID) as well as its X-ray
variability properties. MAXI J1659-152 traced out an anti-clockwise loop in the
HID, which is commonly seen in transient low-mass X-ray binaries. The
variability properties of the source, in particular the detection of type-B and
type-C low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations, and the way they evolve along
the HID track, indicate that MAXI J1659-152 is a black hole candidate. The
spectral and variability properties of MAXI J1659-152 imply that the source was
observed in the hard and soft intermediate states during the RXTE observations,
with several transitions between these two states.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Low-frequency QPO from the 11 Hz accreting pulsar in Terzan 5: not frame dragging
We report on 6 RXTE observations taken during the 2010 outburst of the 11 Hz
accreting pulsar IGR J17480-2446 located in the globular cluster Terzan 5.
During these observations we find power spectra which resemble those seen in
Z-type high-luminosity neutron star low-mass X-ray binaries, with a
quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) in the 35-50 Hz range simultaneous with a kHz
QPO and broad band noise. Using well known frequency-frequency correlations, we
identify the 35-50 Hz QPOs as the horizontal branch oscillations (HBO), which
were previously suggested to be due to Lense-Thirring precession. As IGR
J17480-2446 spins more than an order of magnitude more slowly than any of the
other neutron stars where these QPOs were found, this QPO can not be explained
by frame dragging. By extension, this casts doubt on the Lense-Thirring
precession model for other low-frequency QPOs in neutron-star and perhaps even
black-hole systems.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ
Constraining the properties of neutron star crusts with the transient low-mass X-ray binary Aql X-1
Aql X-1 is a prolific transient neutron star low-mass X-ray binary that
exhibits an accretion outburst approximately once every year. Whether the
thermal X-rays detected in intervening quiescent episodes are the result of
cooling of the neutron star or due to continued low-level accretion remains
unclear. In this work we use Swift data obtained after the long and bright 2011
and 2013 outbursts, as well as the short and faint 2015 outburst, to
investigate the hypothesis that cooling of the accretion-heated neutron star
crust dominates the quiescent thermal emission in Aql X-1. We demonstrate that
the X-ray light curves and measured neutron star surface temperatures are
consistent with the expectations of the crust cooling paradigm. By using a
thermal evolution code, we find that ~1.2-3.2 MeV/nucleon of shallow heat
release describes the observational data well, depending on the assumed
mass-accretion rate and temperature of the stellar core. We find no evidence
for varying strengths of this shallow heating after different outbursts, but
this could be due to limitations of the data. We argue that monitoring Aql X-1
for up to ~1 year after future outbursts can be a powerful tool to break model
degeneracies and solve open questions about the magnitude, depth and origin of
shallow heating in neutron star crusts.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted to MNRA
Instabilities in Zakharov Equations for Laser Propagation in a Plasma
F.Linares, G.Ponce, J-C.Saut have proved that a non-fully dispersive Zakharov
system arising in the study of Laser-plasma interaction, is locally well posed
in the whole space, for fields vanishing at infinity. Here we show that in the
periodic case, seen as a model for fields non-vanishing at infinity, the system
develops strong instabilities of Hadamard's type, implying that the Cauchy
problem is strongly ill-posed
Entropy-driven phase transition in a system of long rods on a square lattice
The isotropic-nematic (I-N) phase transition in a system of long straight
rigid rods of length k on square lattices is studied by combining Monte Carlo
simulations and theoretical analysis. The process is analyzed by comparing the
configurational entropy of the system with the corresponding to a fully aligned
system, whose calculation reduces to the 1D case. The results obtained (1)
allow to estimate the minimum value of k which leads to the formation of a
nematic phase and provide an interesting interpretation of this critical value;
(2) provide numerical evidence on the existence of a second phase transition
(from a nematic to a non-nematic state) occurring at density close to 1 and (3)
allow to test the predictions of the main theoretical models developed to treat
the polymers adsorption problem.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in JSTA
Type I X-ray bursts, burst oscillations and kHz quasi-periodic oscillations in the neutron star system IGR J17191-2821
We present a detailed study of the X-ray energy and power spectral properties
of the neutron star transient IGR J17191-2821. We discovered four instances of
pairs of simultaneous kilohertz quasi-periodic oscillations (kHz QPOs). The
frequency difference between these kHz QPOs is between 315 Hz and 362 Hz. We
also report on the detection of five thermonuclear type-I X-ray bursts and the
discovery of burst oscillations at ~294 Hz during three of them. Finally, we
report on a faint and short outburst precursor, which occurred about two months
before the main outburst. Our results on the broadband spectral and variability
properties allow us to firmly establish the atoll source nature of IGR
J17191-2821.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures - accepted for publication in MNRA
Microscopic cluster model for the description of (18O,16O) two-neutron transfer reactions
Excitation energy spectra and absolute cross-section angular distributions were measured for the 13C(18O,16O)15C two-neutron transfer reaction at 84 MeV incident energy. Exact finite-range coupled reaction channel calculations are used to analyse the data considering both the direct two-neutron transfer and the two-step sequential mechanism. For the direct calculations, two approaches are discussed: The extreme cluster and the newly introduced microscopic cluster. The latter makes use of spectroscopic amplitudes in the centre-of-mass reference frame, derived from shell-model calculations. The results describe well the experimental cross sections
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