Local and nonlocal parallel heat transport in general magnetic fields

A novel approach that enables the study of parallel transport in magnetized plasmas is presented. The method applies to general magnetic fields with local or nonlocal parallel closures. Temperature flattening in magnetic islands is accurately computed. For a wave number $k$, the fattening time scales as $\chi_{\parallel} \tau \sim k^{-\alpha}$ where $\chi$ is the parallel diffusivity, and $\alpha=1$ ($\alpha=2$) for non-local (local) transport. The fractal structure of the devil staircase temperature radial profile in weakly chaotic fields is resolved. In fully chaotic fields, the temperature exhibits self-similar evolution of the form $T=(\chi_{\parallel} t)^{-\gamma/2} L \left[ (\chi_{\parallel} t)^{-\gamma/2} \delta \psi \right]$, where $\delta \psi$ is a radial coordinate. In the local case, $f$ is Gaussian and the scaling is sub-diffusive, $\gamma=1/2$. In the non-local case, $f$ decays algebraically, $L (\eta) \sim \eta^{-3}$, and the scaling is diffusive, $\gamma=1$

Radular ultrastructure of South American Ampullariidae (Gastropoda: Prosobranchia)

The radula of five species of South American Ampullariidae was analysed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) with the purpose of enlarging new studies on the systematic of this family. The studied species were Pomacea canaliculata (Lamarck, 1822), Pomacea scalaris (d'Orbigny, 1835), Pomella (P.) megastoma (Gray, 1847), Asolene A.) platae (Maton, 1809) and Felipponea neritiniformis (Dall, 1919). The central tooth shows different attributes which provide the means for generic determination; the analysis of the central tooth, the lateral and marginal ones by SEM adds further information for species differentiation

First record of Helobdella hyalina (Hirudinea; Glossiphoniidae) in the mantle cavity of Planorbidae from lentic environments in a Buenos Aires province, Argentina

Biomphalaria peregrina (D’Orbigny, 1835) and Drepanotrema kermatoides (D’Orbigny, 1835) were first reported as hosts of Helobdella hyalina Ringuelet, 1942. Both are important species from the Río de La Plata river basin in Argentina. They are associated with macrophytes of lentic or semilentic environments. They are more frequently observed in semipermanent low-depth environments with vegetation and abundant organic matter (Bonetto et al., 1990).\n(Párrafo extraído del texto a modo de resumen)</i

Quasars: from the Physics of Line Formation to Cosmology

Quasars accreting matter at very high rates (known as extreme Population A [xA] or super-Eddington accreting massive black holes) provide a new class of distance indicators covering cosmic epochs from the present-day Universe up to less than 1 Gyr from the Big Bang. The very high accretion rate makes it possible that massive black holes hosted in xA quasars radiate at a stable, extreme luminosity-to-mass ratio. This in turns translates into stable physical and dynamical conditions of the mildly ionized gas in the quasar low-ionization line emitting region. In this contribution, we analyze the main optical and UV spectral properties of extreme Population A quasars that make them easily identifiable in large spectroscopic surveys at low-z (z < 1) and intermediate-z (2 < z < 2.6), and the physical conditions that are derived for the formation of their emission lines. Ultimately, the analysis supports the possibility of identifying a virial broadening estimator from low-ionization line widths, and the conceptual validity of the redshift-independent luminosity estimates based on virial broadening for a known luminosity-to-mass ratio.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures. Invited lecture at SPIG 2018, Belgrade. To appear in Ato

Black hole mass estimates in quasars - A comparative analysis of high- and low-ionization lines

The inter-line comparison between high- and low-ionization emission lines has yielded a wealth of information on the quasar broad line region (BLR) structure and dynamics, including perhaps the earliest unambiguous evidence in favor of a disk + wind structure in radio-quiet quasars. We carried out an analysis of the CIV 1549 and Hbeta line profiles of 28 Hamburg-ESO high luminosity quasars and of 48 low-z, low luminosity sources in order to test whether the high-ionization line CIV 1549 width could be correlated with Hbeta and be used as a virial broadening estimator. We analyze intermediate- to high-S/N, moderate resolution optical and NIR spectra covering the redshifted CIV and H$\beta$ over a broad range of luminosity log L ~ 44 - 48.5 [erg/s] and redshift (0 - 3), following an approach based on the quasar main sequence. The present analysis indicates that the line width of CIV 1549 is not immediately offering a virial broadening estimator equivalent to H$\beta$. At the same time a virialized part of the BLR appears to be preserved even at the highest luminosities. We suggest a correction to FWHM(CIV) for Eddington ratio (using the CIV blueshift as a proxy) and luminosity effects that can be applied over more than four dex in luminosity. Great care should be used in estimating high-L black hole masses from CIV 1549 line width. However, once corrected FWHM(CIV) values are used, a CIV-based scaling law can yield unbiased MBH values with respect to the ones based on H$\beta$ with sample standard deviation ~ 0.3 dex.Comment: 43 pages, 15 Figures, submitted to A&