33,004 research outputs found
Biological activity in the wake of an island close to a coastal upwelling
Hydrodynamic forcing plays an important role in shaping the dynamics of
marine organisms, in particular of plankton. In this work we study the
planktonic biological activity in the wake of an island which is close to an
upwelling region. Our research is based on numerical analysis of a kinematic
flow mimicking the hydrodynamics in the wake, coupled to a three-component
plankton model. Depending on model parameters different phenomena are
described: a) The lack of transport of nutrients and plankton across the wake,
so that the influence of upwelling on primary production on the other side of
the wake is blocked. b) For sufficiently high vorticity, the role of the wake
in facilitating this transport and leading to an enhancement of primary
production. Finally c) we show that under certain conditions the interplay
between wake structures and biological growth leads to plankton blooms inside
mesoscale hydrodynamic vortices that act as incubators of primary production.Comment: 42 pages, 9 figure
Plankton blooms in vortices: The role of biological and hydrodynamic time scales
We study the interplay of hydrodynamic mesoscale structures and the growth of
plankton in the wake of an island, and its interaction with a coastal
upwelling. Our focus is on a mechanism for the emergence of localized plankton
blooms in vortices. Using a coupled system of a kinematic flow mimicking the
mesoscale structures behind the island and a simple three component model for
the marine ecosystem, we show that the long residence times of nutrients and
plankton in the vicinity of the island and the confinement of plankton within
vortices are key factors for the appearance of localized plankton bloomsComment: 29 pages, 9 figure
13CO at the centre of M82
Using the IRAM interferometer, we have observed the nearby starburst galaxy
M82 with a 4.2" resolution (~70 pc) in the 1->0 line of 13CO and in the 2.6-mm
continuum.
The spatial distribution of the 13CO line shows the same gross features as
the 12CO(1->0) map of Shen & Lo (1995), namely two lobes and a compact central
source, though with different relative intensities. The lobes are more
conspicuous and the central source is fainter in 13CO than in 12CO.
The velocity field observed around the nucleus shows a very steep gradient
(140 km/s over 75 pc), which is very probably caused by the stellar bar visible
in the near infrared. The dynamical centre coincides with the IR peak and is
shifted 6" north-east of the compact 13CO source. The two CO lobes appear to be
associated with the ends of the bar and not with a molecular ring, as usually
assumed. They are probably shaped by the strong UV radiation from the central
region. 13CO must be more photodissociated than the self-shielded 12CO
molecules in the central ~250 pc region, which may explain the relative
weakness of the 13CO central source.
A 130 pc-wide bubble of molecular gas has been identified, which happens to
host the most luminous compact radio source in M82. It lies 120 pc west of the
IR peak between the central source and the western lobe and seems characterized
by warmer gas, strong UV radio free-free radiation, and an enhanced cosmic ray
production rate.Comment: Accepted by A&A; 9 pages, 9 ps figures, needs LaTeX 2e A&A macro and
psfig Styl
Break-down of the density-of-states description of scanning tunneling spectroscopy in supported metal clusters
Low-temperature scanning tunneling spectroscopy allows to probe the
electronic properties of clusters at surfaces with unprecedented accuracy. By
means of quantum transport theory, using realistic tunneling tips, we obtain
conductance curves which considerably deviate from the cluster's density of
states. Our study explains the remarkably small number of peaks in the
conductance spectra observed in recent experiments. We demonstrate that the
unambiguous characterization of the states on the supported clusters can be
achieved with energy-resolved images, obtained from a theoretical analysis
which mimics the experimental imaging procedure.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Quantum Estimation Methods for Quantum Illumination
Quantum illumination consists in shining quantum light on a target region
immersed in a bright thermal bath, with the aim of detecting the presence of a
possible low-reflective object. If the signal is entangled with the receiver,
then a suitable choice of the measurement offers a gain with respect to the
optimal classical protocol employing coherent states. Here, we tackle this
detection problem by using quantum estimation techniques to measure the
reflectivity parameter of the object, showing an enhancement in the
signal-to-noise ratio up to 3 dB with respect to the classical case when
implementing only local measurements. Our approach employs the quantum Fisher
information to provide an upper bound for the error probability, supplies the
concrete estimator saturating the bound, and extends the quantum illumination
protocol to non-Gaussian states. As an example, we show how Schrodinger's cat
states may be used for quantum illumination.Comment: Published versio
Optimizing periodicity and polymodality in noise-induced genetic oscillators
Many cellular functions are based on the rhythmic organization of biological
processes into self-repeating cascades of events. Some of these periodic
processes, such as the cell cycles of several species, exhibit conspicuous
irregularities in the form of period skippings, which lead to polymodal
distributions of cycle lengths. A recently proposed mechanism that accounts for
this quantized behavior is the stabilization of a Hopf-unstable state by
molecular noise. Here we investigate the effect of varying noise in a model
system, namely an excitable activator-repressor genetic circuit, that displays
this noise-induced stabilization effect. Our results show that an optimal noise
level enhances the regularity (coherence) of the cycles, in a form of coherence
resonance. Similar noise levels also optimize the multimodal nature of the
cycle lengths. Together, these results illustrate how molecular noise within a
minimal gene regulatory motif confers robust generation of polymodal patterns
of periodicity.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
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