The Colorado School of Mines Nevada geothermal study

Geothermal systems in the Basin and Range Province of the western United States probably differ in many respects from geothermal systems already discovered in other parts of the world because of the unique tectonic setting. To investigate this, a study of the geothermal occurrences at Fly Ranch, approximately 100 miles north of Reno, Nevada, has been undertaken. Ample evidence for a geothermal system exists in this area, including the surface expression of heat flow in the form of hot springs, an extensive area of low electrical resistivity, and a high level of seismicity along faults bounding the thermal area. However, geophysical and geological studies have not yet provided evidence for a local heat source at depth. Additional detailed geophysical and geological studies, as well as drilling, must be completed before the geothermal system can be described fully

Thermal Decomposition of the Murchison CM2 Carbonaceous Chondrite: Implications of Space Weathering Processes for Sample Return Missions

Primitive carbonaceous asteroids are the target bodies for the JAXA Hayabusa2 mission to Ryugu and the NASA OSIRIS-REx mission to Bennu. Both asteroids share spectral characteristics of CI/CM type carbonaceous chondrites. Ryugu, in particular, appears to have undergone thermal processing that has modified its spectral properties. The nature and extent of space weathering processes on the surfaces of Bennu and Ryugu are under active investigation using remote sensing data from the missions [4] and through laboratory studies on analog materials. The analog studies are needed in order to understand the mineralogical and chemical changes that occur in space weathered samples that give rise to the observed optical effects measured by remote-sensing and to prepare for the analysis of returned samples. The space weathering effects of micrometeorite impact and solar wind irradiation on primitive carbonaceous chondrites have been simulated by analog studies on the Murchison CM2 chondrite. We performed a coordinated mineralogical, chemical and spectroscopic study to examine in detail the effects of thermal metamorphism on Murchison samples as an analog to processes that may have occurred on Ryugu. The bulk measurements including X-ray diffraction (XRD), Mssbauer spectroscopy, UV-VIS-NIR spectroscopy, thermogravimetric analysis, and evolved gas analysis are reported in a companion paper. Here we report on our preliminary nanoscale mineralogical and chemical analyses of pre- and post-heated Murchison samples using multiple electron beam techniques to understand how the mineralogical, chemical, and physical characteristics of carbonaceous chondrites change with increasing thermal effects

On the susceptibility function of piecewise expanding interval maps

We study the susceptibility function Psi(z) associated to the perturbation f_t=f+tX of a piecewise expanding interval map f. The analysis is based on a spectral description of transfer operators. It gives in particular sufficient conditions which guarantee that Psi(z) is holomorphic in a disc of larger than one. Although Psi(1) is the formal derivative of the SRB measure of f_t with respect to t, we present examples satisfying our conditions so that the SRB measure is not Lipschitz.*We propose a new version of Ruelle's conjectures.* In v2, we corrected a few minor mistakes and added Conjectures A-B and Remark 4.5. In v3, we corrected the perturbation (X(f(x)) instead of X(x)), in particular in the examples from Section 6. As a consequence, Psi(z) has a pole at z=1 for these examples.Comment: To appear Comm. Math. Phy

Averaging out magnetic forces with fast rf-sweeps in an optical trap for metastable chromium atoms

We introduce a novel type of time-averaged trap, in which the internal state of the atoms is rapidly modulated to modify magnetic trapping potentials. In our experiment, fast radiofrequency (rf) linear sweeps flip the spin of atoms at a fast rate, which averages out magnetic forces. We use this procedure to optimize the accumulation of metastable chomium atoms into an optical dipole trap from a magneto-optical trap. The potential experienced by the metastable atoms is identical to the bare optical dipole potential, so that this procedure allows for trapping all magnetic sublevels, hence increasing by up to 80 percent the final number of accumulated atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

X-Ray Diffraction and Reflectance Spectroscopy of Murchison Powders (CM2) After Thermal Analysis Under Reducing Conditions to Final Temperatures Between 300 and 1300c

The asteroids Ryugu and Bennu have spectral characteristics in common with CI/CM type carbonaceous chondrites and are target bodies for JAXAs Hayabusa2 and NASAs OSIRIS-Rex missions, respectively. Analog studies, based primarily on the Murchison CM2 chondrite, provide a pathway to separate spectral properties resulting space weathering from those inherent to parent-body, mineralogy, chemistry, and processes. Ryugu shares spectral properties with thermally metamorphosed and partly dehydrated CI/CM chondrites. We have undertaken a multidisciplinary study of the thermal decomposition of Murchison powder samples as an analog to metamorphic process that may have occurred on Ryugu. Bulk analyses include thermal And evolved gas analysis, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and VIS-NIR and Mssbauer spectroscopy; micro- to nanoscale analyses included scanning and transmission electron microscopy and electron probe micro analysisWe report here XRD and VIS-NIR analyses of pre- and post-heated Murchison powders, and in a companion paper report results from multiple electron beam techniques

The color dependent morphology of the post-AGB star HD161796

Context. Many protoplanetary nebulae show strong asymmetries in their surrounding shell, pointing to asymmetries during the mass loss phase. Questions concerning the origin and the onset of deviations from spherical symmetry are important for our understanding of the evolution of these objects. Here we focus on the circumstellar shell of the post-AGB star HD 161796. Aims. We aim at detecting signatures of an aspherical outflow, as well as to derive the properties of it. Methods. We use the imaging polarimeter ExPo (the extreme polarimeter), a visitor instrument at the William Herschel Telescope, to accurately image the dust shell surrounding HD 161796 in various wavelength filters. Imaging polarimetry allows us to separate the faint, polarized, light from circumstellar material from the bright, unpolarized, light from the central star. Results. The shell around HD 161796 is highly aspherical. A clear signature of an equatorial density enhancement can be seen. This structure is optically thick at short wavelengths and changes its appearance to optically thin at longer wavelengths. In the classification of the two different appearances of planetary nebulae from HST images it changes from being classified as DUPLEX at short wavelengths to SOLE at longer wavelengths. This strengthens the interpretation that these two appearances are manifestations of the same physical structure. Furthermore, we find that the central star is hotter than often assumed and the relatively high observed reddening is due to circumstellar rather than interstellar extinction.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&

On the feasibility to study inverse proximity effect in a single S/F bilayer by Polarized Neutron Reflectometry

Here we report on a feasibility study aiming to explore the potential of Polarized Neutron Reflectometry (PNR) for detecting the inverse proximity effect in a single superconducting/ferromagnetic bilayer. Experiments, conducted on the V(40nm)/Fe(1nm) S/F bilayer, have shown that experimental spin asymmetry measured at T = 0.5TC is shifted towards higher Q values compared to the curve measured at T = 1.5TC. Such a shift can be described by the appearance in superconducting vanadium of magnetic sub-layer with thickness of 7 nm and magnetization of +0.8 kG.Comment: Changes in the 2nd version: small mistypes are corrected. Manuscript submitted to JETP let. 4 pages, 2 figure

Incommensurate Magnetic Order in TbTe3_3

We report a neutron diffraction study of the magnetic phase transitions in the charge-density-wave (CDW) TbTe$_3$ compound. We discover that in the paramagnetic phase there are strong 2D-like magnetic correlations, consistent with the pronounced anisotropy of the chemical structure. A long-range incommensurate magnetic order emerges in TbTe$_3$ at $T_{mag1}$ = 5.78 K as a result of continuous phase transitions. We observe that near the temperature $T_{mag1}$ the magnetic Bragg peaks appear around the position (0,0,0.24) (or its rational multiples), that is fairly close to the propagation vector $(0,0,0.29)$ associated with the CDW phase transition in TbTe$_3$. This suggests that correlations leading to the long-range magnetic order in TbTe$_3$ are linked to the modulations that occur in the CDW state

Dynamics and genetic structure of Argentine ant supercolonies in their native range.

Some introduced ant populations have an extraordinary social organization, called unicoloniality, whereby individuals mix freely within large supercolonies. We investigated whether this mode of social organization also exists in native populations of the Argentine ant Linepithema humile. Behavioral analyses revealed the presence of 11 supercolonies (width 1 to 515 m) over a 3-km transect. As in the introduced range, there was always strong aggression between but never within supercolonies. The genetic data were in perfect agreement with the behavioral tests, all nests being assigned to identical supercolonies with the different methods. There was strong genetic differentiation between supercolonies but no genetic differentiation among nests within supercolonies. We never found more than a single mitochondrial haplotype per supercolony, further supporting the view that supercolonies are closed breeding units. Genetic and chemical distances between supercolonies were positively correlated, but there were no other significant associations between geographic, genetic, chemical, and behavioral distances. A comparison of supercolonies sampled in 1999 and 2005 revealed a very high turnover, with about one-third of the supercolonies being replaced yearly. This dynamic is likely to involve strong competition between supercolonies and thus act as a potent selective force maintaining unicoloniality over evolutionary time