5,253 research outputs found
Possible world-wide middle miocene iridium anomaly and its relationship to periodicity of impacts and extinctions
In a study of one million years of Middle Miocene sediment deposition in ODP Hole 689B in the Weddell Sea near Antarctica, a single iridium (Ir) anomaly of 44 (+ or - 10) x 10 to the 12th gram Ir per gram rock (ppt) was observed in core 6H, section 3, 50 to 60 cm, after background contributions associated with manganese precipitates and clay are subtracted. The ODP Hole 689B is 10,000 km away from another site, DSDP Hole 588B in the Tasman Sea north of New Zealand, where a single Ir anomaly of 144 + or - 7 ppt over a background of 11 ppt was found in an earlier study of 3 million years of deposition. From chemical measurements the latter deposition was thought to be impact-related. Ir measurements were made, following neutron activation, with the Iridium Coincidence Spectrometer. The age vs depth calibration curves given in the DSDP and ODP preliminary reports indicate the ages of the Iranomalies are identical, 11.7 million years, but the absolute and relative uncertainties in the curves are not known. Based on the newest age data the age estimate is 10 million years. As the Ir was deposited at the two sites at about the same time and they are one quarter of the way around the world from each other it seems likely that the deposition was world-wide. The impact of a large asteroid or comet could produce the wide distribution, and this data is supportive of the impact relationship deduced for Deep Sea Drilling Project (DSDP) 588B from the chemical evidence. If the surface densities of Ir at the two sites are representative of the world-wide average, the diameter of a Cl type asteroid containing the necessary Ir would be 3 + or - 1 km, which is large enough to cause world-wide darkness and hence extinctions although the latter point is disputed
Self-dual Ginzburg-Landau vortices in a disk
We study the properties of the Ginzburg-Laundau model in the self-dual point
for a two-dimensional finite system . By a numerical calculation we analyze the
solutions of the Euler-Lagrange equations for a cylindrically symmetric ansatz.
We also study the self-dual equations for this case. We find that the minimal
energy configurations are not given by the Bogomol'nyi equations but by
solutions to the Euler Lagrange ones. With a simple approximation scheme we
reproduce the result of the numerical calculation.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, RevTex macro
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A STAT3 Gene Expression Signature in Gliomas is Associated with a Poor Prognosis
Gliomas frequently display constitutive activation of the transcription factor STAT3, a protein that is known to be able to mediate neoplastic transformation. STAT3 regulates genes that play a central role in cellular survival, proliferation, self-renewal, and invasion, and a cohort of STAT3 target genes have been found that are commonly coexpressed in human cancers. Thus, these genes likely subserve the transforming ability of constitutively activated STAT3. To determine whether the coordinated expression of STAT3 target genes is present in a subset of human gliomas, and whether this changes the biology of these tumors in patients, gene expression analysis was performed in four distinct human glioma data sets for which patient survival information was available. Coordinate expression of STAT3 targets was significantly associated with poor patient outcome in each data set. Specifically, patients with tumors displaying high expression of STAT3 targets had a shorter median survival time compared to patients whose tumors had low expression of STAT3 targets. These data suggest that constitutively activated STAT3 in gliomas can alter the biology of these tumors, and that development of targeted STAT3 inhibitors would likely be of particular benefit in treatment of this disease
Theory and Applications of X-ray Standing Waves in Real Crystals
Theoretical aspects of x-ray standing wave method for investigation of the
real structure of crystals are considered in this review paper. Starting from
the general approach of the secondary radiation yield from deformed crystals
this theory is applied to different concreat cases. Various models of deformed
crystals like: bicrystal model, multilayer model, crystals with extended
deformation field are considered in detailes. Peculiarities of x-ray standing
wave behavior in different scattering geometries (Bragg, Laue) are analysed in
detailes. New possibilities to solve the phase problem with x-ray standing wave
method are discussed in the review. General theoretical approaches are
illustrated with a big number of experimental results.Comment: 101 pages, 43 figures, 3 table
Top quark forward-backward asymmetry in R-parity violating supersymmetry
The interaction of bottom squark-mediated top quark pair production,
occurring in the R-parity violating minimal supersymmetric standard model
(MSSM), is proposed as an explanation of the anomalously large
forward-backward asymmetry (FBA) observed at the Tevatron. We find that this
model can give a good fit to top quark data, both the inclusive and invariant
mass-dependent asymmetries, while remaining consistent (at the 2-
level) with the total and differential production cross-sections. The scenario
is challenged by strong constraints from atomic parity violation (APV), but we
point out an extra diagram for the effective down quark-Z vertex, involving the
same coupling constant as required for the FBA, which tends to weaken the APV
constraint, and which can nullify it for reasonable values of the top squark
masses and mixing angle. Large contributions to flavor-changing neutral
currents can be avoided if only the third generation of sparticles is light.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures. v3: included LHC top production cross section
data; model still consistent at 2 sigma leve
First Stars VIII -- Enrichment of the neutron-capture elements in the early Galaxy
Our aim is to measure accurate, homogeneous neutron-capture element
abundances for the sample of 32 EMP giant stars studied earlier in this series,
including 22 stars with [Fe/H] 3.0. Based on high-resolution, high S/N
spectra from the ESO VLT/UVES, 1D, LTE model atmospheres, and synthetic
spectrum fits, we determine abundances or upper limits for the 16 elements Sr,
Y, Zr, Ba, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, and Yb in all stars. As
found earlier, [Sr/Fe], [Y/Fe], [Zr/Fe] and [Ba/Fe] are below Solar in the EMP
stars, with very large scatter. However, we find a tight anti-correlation of
[Sr/Ba], [Y/Ba], and [Zr/Ba] with [Ba/H] for [Ba/H] , also
when subtracting the contribution of the main -process as measured by
[Ba/H]. The huge, well-characterised scatter of the [n-capture/Fe] ratios in
our EMP stars is in stark contrast to the negligible dispersion in the
[/Fe] and [Fe-peak/Fe] ratios for the same stars found in Paper V.
These results demonstrate that a second (``weak'' or LEPP) -process
dominates the production of the lighter neutron-capture elements for [Ba/H] . The combination of very consistent [/Fe] and erratic
[n-capture/Fe] ratios indicates that inhomogeneous models for the early
evolution of the halo are needed. Our accurate data provide strong constraints
on future models of the production and mixing of the heavy elements in the
early Galaxy.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, A&A accepte
Early star-forming galaxies and the reionization of the Universe
Star forming galaxies represent a valuable tracer of cosmic history. Recent
observational progress with Hubble Space Telescope has led to the discovery and
study of the earliest-known galaxies corresponding to a period when the
Universe was only ~800 million years old. Intense ultraviolet radiation from
these early galaxies probably induced a major event in cosmic history: the
reionization of intergalactic hydrogen. New techniques are being developed to
understand the properties of these most distant galaxies and determine their
influence on the evolution of the universe.Comment: Review article appearing in Nature. This posting reflects a submitted
version of the review formatted by the authors, in accordance with Nature
publication policies. For the official, published version of the review,
please see http://www.nature.com/nature/archive/index.htm
Caribbean Corals in Crisis: Record Thermal Stress, Bleaching, and Mortality in 2005
BACKGROUND The rising temperature of the world's oceans has become a major threat to coral reefs globally as the severity and frequency of mass coral bleaching and mortality events increase. In 2005, high ocean temperatures in the tropical Atlantic and Caribbean resulted in the most severe bleaching event ever recorded in the basin. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS Satellite-based tools provided warnings for coral reef managers and scientists, guiding both the timing and location of researchers' field observations as anomalously warm conditions developed and spread across the greater Caribbean region from June to October 2005. Field surveys of bleaching and mortality exceeded prior efforts in detail and extent, and provided a new standard for documenting the effects of bleaching and for testing nowcast and forecast products. Collaborators from 22 countries undertook the most comprehensive documentation of basin-scale bleaching to date and found that over 80% of corals bleached and over 40% died at many sites. The most severe bleaching coincided with waters nearest a western Atlantic warm pool that was centered off the northern end of the Lesser Antilles. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE Thermal stress during the 2005 event exceeded any observed from the Caribbean in the prior 20 years, and regionally-averaged temperatures were the warmest in over 150 years. Comparison of satellite data against field surveys demonstrated a significant predictive relationship between accumulated heat stress (measured using NOAA Coral Reef Watch's Degree Heating Weeks) and bleaching intensity. This severe, widespread bleaching and mortality will undoubtedly have long-term consequences for reef ecosystems and suggests a troubled future for tropical marine ecosystems under a warming climate.This work was partially supported by salaries from the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program to the NOAA Coral Reef Conservation Program authors. NOAA provided funding to Caribbean ReefCheck investigators to undertake surveys of bleaching and mortality. Otherwise, no funding from outside authors' institutions was necessary for the undertaking of this study. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript
Symmetries for generating string cosmologies
We discuss the symmetry properties of the low-energy effective action of the
type IIB superstring that may be employed to derive four-dimensional solutions.
A truncated effective action, compactified on a six-torus, but including both
Neveu/Schwarz-Neveu/Schwarz and Ramond-Ramond field strengths, can be expressed
as a non-linear sigma model which is invariant under global SL(3,R)
transformations. This group contains as a sub-group the SL(2,R) symmetry of the
ten-dimensional theory and a discrete Z2 reflection symmetry which leads to a
further SL(2,R) sub-group. The symmetries are employed to analyse a general
class of spatially homogeneous cosmological solutions with non-trivial
Ramond-Ramond fields.Comment: Substantially extended version with new sections on further
symmetries and anisotropic cosmological solutions. New title. To appear in
Physical Review D. 13 pages, LaTeX, no figure
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