1,261 research outputs found
Morphological evolution in Hyles HĂĽbner, 1819 hawkmoths (Lepidoptera, Sphingidae): reconstructing the ancestral Hyles habitus
Molecular phylogenetic studies suggest that similar wing and body patterns in the hawkmoth genus Hyles Hübner, [1819] do not necessarily reflect a close phylogenetic relationship. To improve our understanding of morphological evolution in these organisms, 75 characters derived from the external adult morphology are explicitly coded and analysed in a maximum parsimony cladistic framework. The results corroborate the hypothesis that wing and body patterns have indeed reappeared in different parts of the phylogeny but the underlying genetic mechanism remains to be determined. By reconstructing the suite of ancestral states of the morphological characters using Bayesian inference, we derived an approximation of the appearance of the proto-Hyles species. The overall habitus of this moth does not display a combination of characters found in any extant Hyles species. Rather, the forewings are most like those of members of the Hyles euphorbiae-complex but with better developed antemedial and postmedial lines, the hindwings are typical Hyles, and the abdominal pattern most closely resembles that of Hyles euphorbiarum (Guérin-Méneville & Percheron, 1835), but with one fewer pairs of black subdorsal patches. Within the context of the subtribe Choerocampina and Sphingidae more generally, the proto-Hyles reconstruction does not resemble any other species apart from Rhodafra opheltes (Cramer, 1780), but this appears to be another instance of convergent pattern expression
Phylogenomics resolves major relationships and reveals significant diversification rate shifts in the evolution of silk moths and relatives
Background:
Silkmoths and their relatives constitute the ecologically and taxonomically diverse superfamily Bombycoidea,which includes some of the most charismatic species of Lepidoptera. Despite displaying spectacular forms and diverse ecological traits, relatively little attention has been given to understanding their evolution and drivers of their diversity. To begin to address this problem, we created a new Bombycoidea-specific Anchored Hybrid Enrichment (AHE) probe set and sampled up to 571 loci for 117 taxa across all major lineages of the Bombycoidea, with a newly developed DNA extraction protocol that allows Lepidoptera specimens to be readily sequenced from pinned natural history collections.
Results:
The well-supported tree was overall consistent with prior morphological and molecular studies, although some taxa were misplaced. The bombycid Arotros Schaus was formally transferred to Apatelodidae. We identified important evolutionary patterns (e.g., morphology, biogeography, and differences in speciation and extinction), and our analysis of diversification rates highlights the stark increases that exist within the Sphingidae (hawkmoths) and Saturniidae (wild silkmoths).
Conclusions:
Our study establishes a backbone for future evolutionary, comparative, and taxonomic studies of Bombycoidea. We postulate that the rate shifts identified are due to the well-documented bat-moth“arms race”.Our research highlights the flexibility of AHE to generate genomic data from a wide range of museum specimens, both age and preservation method, and will allow researchers to tap into the wealth of biological data residing in natural history collections around the globe
Nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung: An example of the impossibility of measuring off-shell amplitudes
For nearly fifty years theoretical and experimental efforts in
nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung (NN) have been devoted to measuring
off-shell amplitudes and distinguishing among various NN potentials on the
basis of their off-shell behavior. New experiments are underway, designed
specifically to attain kinematics further off shell than in the past, and thus
to be more sensitive to the off-shell behavior. This letter shows that,
contrary to these expectations, and due to the invariance of the S-matrix under
transformations of the fields, the off-shell NN amplitude is as a matter of
principle an unmeasurable quantity in NN.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, using RevTeX; Minor wording changes, title changed,
version to be published in Phys. Rev. Letter
Weak gravitational lensing with the Square Kilometre Array
We investigate the capabilities of various stages of the SKA to perform
world-leading weak gravitational lensing surveys. We outline a way forward to
develop the tools needed for pursuing weak lensing in the radio band. We
identify the key analysis challenges and the key pathfinder experiments that
will allow us to address them in the run up to the SKA. We identify and
summarize the unique and potentially very powerful aspects of radio weak
lensing surveys, facilitated by the SKA, that can solve major challenges in the
field of weak lensing. These include the use of polarization and rotational
velocity information to control intrinsic alignments, and the new area of weak
lensing using intensity mapping experiments. We show how the SKA lensing
surveys will both complement and enhance corresponding efforts in the optical
wavebands through cross-correlation techniques and by way of extending the
reach of weak lensing to high redshift.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Cosmology Chapter, Advancing Astrophysics with
the SKA (AASKA14) Conference, Giardini Naxos (Italy), June 9th-13th 201
A magneto-optic trap using a reversible, solid-state alkali-metal source
We demonstrate a novel way to form and deplete a vapor-cell magneto-optic
trap (MOT) using a reversible, solid-state alkali-metal source (AMS) via an
applied polarized voltage. Using ~100 mW of electrical power, a trapped-atom
number of 5x10^6 has been achieved starting from near zero and the timescales
of the MOT formation and depletion of ~1 s. This fast, reversible, and low
power alkali-atom source is desirable in both tabletop and portable cold-atom
systems. The core technology of this device should translate readily to other
alkali and alkaline-earth elements that could find a wide range of uses in
cold-atom systems and instruments.Comment: 7 page
Dynamic characterization of an alkali-ion battery as a source for laser-cooled atoms
We investigate a solid-state, reversible, alkali-ion battery (AIB) capable of
regulating the density of alkali atoms in a vacuum system used for the
production of laser-cooled atoms. The cold-atom sample can be used with
in-vacuum chronoamperometry as a diagnostic for the voltage-controlled
electrochemical reaction that sources or sinks alkali atoms into the vapor. In
a combined reaction-diffusion-limited regime, we show that the number of
laser-cooled atoms in a magneto-optical trap can be increased both by initially
loading the AIB from the vapor for longer, and by using higher voltages across
the AIB when atoms are subsequently sourced back into the vapor. The time
constants associated with the change in atom number in response to a change in
AIB voltage are in the range of 0.5 s - 40 s. The AIB alkali reservoir is
demonstrated to survive oxidization during atmospheric exposure, simplifying
reservoir loading prior to vacuum implementation as a replacement for
traditional resistively-heated dispensers. The AIB capabilities may provide an
improved atom number stability in next-generation atomic clocks and sensors,
while also facilitating fast loading and increased interrogation times.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
3D Cosmic Shear: Cosmology from CFHTLenS
This paper presents the first application of 3D cosmic shear to a wide-field
weak lensing survey. 3D cosmic shear is a technique that analyses weak lensing
in three dimensions using a spherical harmonic approach, and does not bin data
in the redshift direction. This is applied to CFHTLenS, a 154 square degree
imaging survey with a median redshift of 0.7 and an effective number density of
11 galaxies per square arcminute usable for weak lensing. To account for survey
masks we apply a 3D pseudo-Cl approach on weak lensing data, and to avoid
uncertainties in the highly non-linear regime, we separately analyse radial
wave numbers k<=1.5h/Mpc and k<=5.0h/Mpc, and angular wavenumbers l~400-5000.
We show how one can recover 2D and tomographic power spectra from the full 3D
cosmic shear power spectra and present a measurement of the 2D cosmic shear
power spectrum, and measurements of a set of 2-bin and 6-bin cosmic shear
tomographic power spectra; in doing so we find that using the 3D power in the
calculation of such 2D and tomographic power spectra from data naturally
accounts for a minimum scale in the matter power spectrum. We use 3D cosmic
shear to constrain cosmologies with parameters OmegaM, OmegaB, sigma8, h, ns,
w0, wa. For a non-evolving dark energy equation of state, and assuming a flat
cosmology, lensing combined with WMAP7 results in h=0.78+/-0.12,
OmegaM=0.252+/-0.079, sigma8=0.88+/-0.23 and w=-1.16+/-0.38 using only scales
k<=1.5h/Mpc. We also present results of lensing combined with first year Planck
results, where we find no tension with the results from this analysis, but we
also find no significant improvement over the Planck results alone. We find
evidence of a suppression of power compared to LCDM on small scales 1.5 < k <
5.0 h/Mpc in the lensing data, which is consistent with predictions of the
effect of baryonic feedback on the matter power spectrum.Comment: Full journal article here
http://mnras.oxfordjournals.org/content/442/2/1326.full.pdf+htm
VIS: the visible imager for Euclid
Euclid-VIS is a large format visible imager for the ESA Euclid space mission
in their Cosmic Vision program, scheduled for launch in 2019. Together with the
near infrared imaging within the NISP instrument it forms the basis of the weak
lensing measurements of Euclid. VIS will image in a single r+i+z band from
550-900 nm over a field of view of ~0.5 deg2. By combining 4 exposures with a
total of 2240 sec, VIS will reach to V=24.5 (10{\sigma}) for sources with
extent ~0.3 arcsec. The image sampling is 0.1 arcsec. VIS will provide deep
imaging with a tightly controlled and stable point spread function (PSF) over a
wide survey area of 15000 deg2 to measure the cosmic shear from nearly 1.5
billion galaxies to high levels of accuracy, from which the cosmological
parameters will be measured. In addition, VIS will also provide a legacy
imaging dataset with an unprecedented combination of spatial resolution, depth
and area covering most of the extra-Galactic sky. Here we will present the
results of the study carried out by the Euclid Consortium during the Euclid
Definition phase.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
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