Reconstructions of deltaic environments from Holocene palynological records in the Volga delta, northern Caspian Sea

This article was made available through open access by the Brunel Open Access Publishing Fund.New palynological and ostracod data are presented from the Holocene Volga delta, obtained from short cores and surface samples collected in the Damchik region, near Astrakhan, Russian Federation in the northern Caspian Sea. Four phases of delta deposition are recognized and constrained by accelerated mass spectrometry (AMS) radiocarbon ages. Palynological records show that erosive channels, dunes (Baer hills) and inter-dune lakes were present during the period 11,500–8900 cal. BP at the time of the Mangyshlak Caspian lowstand. The period 8900–3770 cal. BP was characterized regionally by extensive steppe vegetation, with forest present at times with warmer, more humid climates, and with halophytic and xerophytic vegetation present at times of drought. The period 3770–2080 cal. BP was a time of active delta deposition, with forest or woodland close to the delta, indicating relatively warm and humid climates and variable Caspian Sea levels. From 2080 cal. BP to the present-day, aquatic pollen is frequent in highstand intervals and herbaceous pollen and fungal hyphae frequent in lowstand intervals. Soils and incised valley sediments are associated with the regional Derbent regression and may be time-equivalent with the ‘Medieval Warm Period’. Fungal spores are an indicator of erosional or aeolian processes, whereas fungal hyphae are associated with soil formation. Freshwater algae, ostracods and dinocysts indicate mainly freshwater conditions during the Holocene with minor brackish influences. Dinocysts present include Spiniferites cruciformis, Caspidinium rugosum, Impagidinium caspienense and Pterocysta cruciformis, the latter a new record for the Caspian Sea. The Holocene Volga delta is a partial analogue for the much larger oil and gas bearing Mio-Pliocene palaeo-Volga delta.Funding for the data collection and field work was provided from the following sources: 1 – IGCP-UNESCO 2003–2008 (Project 481 CASPAGE, Dating Caspian Sea Level Change); 2 – NWO, Netherlands Science Foundation and RFFI, Russian Science Foundation 2005–2008 (Programme: ‘VHR Seismic Stratigraphy and Paleoecology of the Holocene Volga Delta’); and 3 – BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Sea Ltd. (Azeri-Chirag-Gunashli) 2005–2008 (‘Unravelling the Small-Scale Stratigraphy and Sediment Dynamics of the Modern Volga Delta Using VHR Marine Geophysics’). The palynological work was funded jointly by BP Exploration (Caspian Sea) Ltd., Delft University of Technology and KrA Stratigraphic Ltd. Ostracod analyses were funded by StrataData Ltd. and funding for two additional radiocarbon dates provided by Deltares

Higher harmonic anisotropic flow measurements of charged particles in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV

We report on the first measurement of the triangular $v_3$, quadrangular $v_4$, and pentagonal $v_5$ charged particle flow in Pb-Pb collisions at 2.76 TeV measured with the ALICE detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. We show that the triangular flow can be described in terms of the initial spatial anisotropy and its fluctuations, which provides strong constraints on its origin. In the most central events, where the elliptic flow $v_2$ and $v_3$ have similar magnitude, a double peaked structure in the two-particle azimuthal correlations is observed, which is often interpreted as a Mach cone response to fast partons. We show that this structure can be naturally explained from the measured anisotropic flow Fourier coefficients.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, published version, figures at http://aliceinfo.cern.ch/ArtSubmission/node/387

Suppression in Pb-Pb Collisions at the LHC.

The production of the ψ(2S) charmonium state was measured with ALICE in Pb-Pb collisions at sqrt[s_{NN}]=5.02  TeV, in the dimuon decay channel. A significant signal was observed for the first time at LHC energies down to zero transverse momentum, at forward rapidity (2.5<y<4). The measurement of the ratio of the inclusive production cross sections of the ψ(2S) and J/ψ resonances is reported as a function of the centrality of the collisions and of transverse momentum, in the region p_{T}<12  GeV/c. The results are compared with the corresponding measurements in pp collisions, by forming the double ratio [σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}]_{Pb-Pb}/[σ^{ψ(2S)}/σ^{J/ψ}]_{pp}. It is found that in Pb-Pb collisions the ψ(2S) is suppressed by a factor of ∼2 with respect to the J/ψ. The ψ(2S) nuclear modification factor R_{AA} was also obtained as a function of both centrality and p_{T}. The results show that the ψ(2S) resonance yield is strongly suppressed in Pb-Pb collisions, by a factor of up to ∼3 with respect to pp. Comparisons of cross section ratios with previous Super Proton Synchrotron findings by the NA50 experiment and of R_{AA} with higher-p_{T} results at LHC energy are also reported. These results and the corresponding comparisons with calculations of transport and statistical models address questions on the presence and properties of charmonium states in the quark-gluon plasma formed in nuclear collisions at the LHC

The possibilities of simultaneous detection of gamma rays, cosmic-ray electrons and positrons on the GAMMA-400 space observatory

The GAMMA-400 space observatory will provide precise measurements of gamma rays, electrons, and positrons in the energy range 0.1–3000 GeV. The good angular and energy resolutions, as well as identification capabilities (angular resolution ~0.01°, energy resolution ~1%, and proton rejection factor ~106) will allow us to study the main galactic and extragalactic sources, diffuse gamma-ray background, gamma-ray bursts, and to measure electron and positron fluxes. The peculiar characteristics of the experiment is simultaneous detection of gamma rays and cosmic-ray electrons and positrons, which can be connected with annihilation or decay of dark matter particles

Modifications of a method for low energy gamma-ray incident angle reconstruction in the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope

The GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope is designed to measure the gamma-ray fluxes in the energy range from 3c20 MeV to 3c1 TeV, performing a sensitive search for high-energy gamma-ray emission when annihilating or decaying dark matter particles. Such measurements will be also associated with the following scientific goals: searching for new and studying known Galactic and extragalactic discrete high-energy gamma-ray sources (supernova remnants, pulsars, accreting objects, microquasars, active galactic nuclei, blazars, quasars). It will be possible to study their structure with high angular resolution and measuring their energy spectra and luminosity with high-energy resolution; identify discrete gamma-ray sources with known sources in other energy ranges. The major advantage of the GAMMA-400 instrument is excellent angular and energy resolutions for gamma rays above 10 GeV. The gamma-ray telescope angular and energy resolutions for the main aperture at 100-GeV gamma rays are 3c0.01% and 3c1%, respectively. The motivation of presented results is to improve physical characteristics of the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope in the energy range of 3c20-100 MeV, most unexplored range today. Such observations are crucial today for a number of high-priority problems faced by modern astrophysics and fundamental physics, including the origin of chemical elements and cosmic rays, the nature of dark matter, and the applicability range of the fundamental laws of physics. To improve the reconstruction accuracy of incident angle for low-energy gamma rays the special analysis of topology of pair-conversion events in thin layers of converter performed. Choosing the pair-conversion events with more precise vertical localization allows us to obtain significantly better angular resolution in comparison with previous and current space and ground-based experiments. For 50-MeV gamma rays the GAMMA-400 gamma-ray telescope angular resolution is better than 50

Past and Current Changes in the Largest Lake of the World: The Caspian Sea: Chapter 3

International audienceThe Caspian Sea (CS), located between Europe and Asia, is the largest lake in the world; however, its physical environment and its floor have oceanic characteristics. The CS is composed of a very shallow north basin with a very low salinity mostly below 5 psu. The middle and southern basins are deep and have a salinity of c. 13 psu. To the east, the Kara-Bogaz-Gol, a hypersaline lagoon, is connected to the middle basin. The CS is endorheic and therefore very sensitive to changes in hydrography and climate. Because of its long history of isolation following the disconnection of the Caspian Sea from the Paratethys c. 6 Ma ago, this ancient lake has many endemic species. The harsh environment of its brackish waters and the repeated salinity changes over the millennia however do not allow for a high biodiversity. The benthos is more varied than the plankton. The history of water-level changes remains poorly known even for the last centuries. Nevertheless, the amplitude was of &gt;150 m in the Quaternary, several 10 s of m in the Holocene and several m in the last century. Many factors affect its natural state, such as petroleum pollution (an industry dating back to Antiquity), nutrient increase (alongside &gt;14 million inhabitants along the coast), invasive species (e.g. the comb jelly Mnemiopsis leidyi), overfishing (including sturgeon) and modifications of its coastline (e.g. sand extraction). In comparison to other ancient lakes, the CS surface temperature has suffered from the fastest increase on record. Owing to the complex natural state of the CS, it is not easy to identify the Holocene-Anthropocene transition, although it may be suggested that is was approximately AD1950 when intense human activity started to modify the lake

ALICE: Physics Performance Report, Volume II

ALICE is a general-purpose heavy-ion experiment designed to study the physics of strongly interacting matter and the quark-gluon plasma in nucleus-nucleus collisions at the LHC. It currently involves more than 900 physicists and senior engineers, from both the nuclear and high-energy physics sectors, from over 90 institutions in about 30 countries. The ALICE detector is designed to cope with the highest particle multiplicities above those anticipated for Pb-Pb collisions (dN(ch)/dy up to 8000) and it will be operational at the start-up of the LHC. In addition to heavy systems, the ALICE Collaboration will study collisions of lower-mass ions, which are a means of varying the energy density, and protons (both pp and pA), which primarily provide reference data for the nucleus-nucleus collisions. In addition, the pp data will allow for a number of genuine pp physics studies. The detailed design of the different detector systems has been laid down in a number of Technical Design Reports issued between mid-1998 and the end of 2004. The experiment is currently under construction and will be ready for data taking with both proton and heavy-ion beams at the start-up of the LHC. Since the comprehensive information on detector and physics performance was last published in the ALICE Technical Proposal in 1996, the detector, as well as simulation, reconstruction and analysis software have undergone significant development. The Physics Performance Report (PPR) provides an updated and comprehensive summary of the performance of the various ALICE subsystems, including updates to the Technical Design Reports, as appropriate. The PPR is divided into two volumes. Volume I, published in 2004 (CERN/LHCC 2003-049, ALICE Collaboration 2004 J. Phys. G: Nucl. Part. Phys. 30 1517-1763), contains in four chapters a short theoretical overview and an extensive reference list concerning the physics topics of interest to ALICE, the experimental conditions at the LHC, a short summary and update of the subsystem designs, and a description of the offline framework and Monte Carlo event generators. The present volume, Volume II, contains the majority of the information relevant to the physics performance in proton-proton, proton-nucleus, and nucleus-nucleus collisions. Following an introductory overview, Chapter 5 describes the combined detector performance and the event reconstruction procedures, based on detailed simulations of the individual subsystems. Chapter 6 describes the analysis and physics reach for a representative sample of physics observables, from global event characteristics to hard processes