1,810 research outputs found
Volcanic forcing improves Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled General Circulation Model scaling performance
Recent Atmosphere-Ocean Coupled General Circulation Model (AOGCM) simulations
of the twentieth century climate, which account for anthropogenic and natural
forcings, make it possible to study the origin of long-term temperature
correlations found in the observed records. We study ensemble experiments
performed with the NCAR PCM for 10 different historical scenarios, including no
forcings, greenhouse gas, sulfate aerosol, ozone, solar, volcanic forcing and
various combinations, such as it natural, anthropogenic and all forcings. We
compare the scaling exponents characterizing the long-term correlations of the
observed and simulated model data for 16 representative land stations and 16
sites in the Atlantic Ocean for these scenarios. We find that inclusion of
volcanic forcing in the AOGCM considerably improves the PCM scaling behavior.
The scenarios containing volcanic forcing are able to reproduce quite well the
observed scaling exponents for the land with exponents around 0.65 independent
of the station distance from the ocean. For the Atlantic Ocean, scenarios with
the volcanic forcing slightly underestimate the observed persistence exhibiting
an average exponent 0.74 instead of 0.85 for reconstructed data.Comment: 4 figure
Thermal conductivity of Mg-doped CuGeO_3 at very low temperatures: Heat conduction by antiferromagnetic magnons
Thermal conductivity \kappa is measured at very low temperatures down to 0.28
K for pure and Mg-doped CuGeO_3 single crystals. The doped samples carry larger
amount of heat than the pure sample at the lowest temperature. This is because
antiferromagnetic magnons appear in the doped samples and are responsible for
the additional heat conductivity, while \kappa of the pure sample represents
phonon conductivity at such low temperatures. The maximum energy of the magnon
is estimated to be much lower than the spin-Peierls-gap energy. The result
presents the first example that \kappa at very low temperatures probes the
magnon transport in disorder-induced antiferromagnetic phase of spin-gap
systems
The first-order phase transition between dimerized-antiferromagnetic and uniform-antiferromagnetic phases in Cu_(1-x)M_xGeO_3
We have performed detailed magnetic susceptibility measurements as well as
synchrotron x-ray diffraction studies to determine the temperature vs
concentration ( - ) phase diagram of CuMgGeO. We
observe clear double peaks in the magnetic susceptibility implying two
antiferromagnetic (AF) transition temperatures in samples with Mg
concentrations in the range 0.0237 0.0271. We also observe a
drastic change in the inverse correlation length in this concentration range by
x-ray diffraction. The drastic change of the AF transition temperature as well
as the disappearance of the spin-Peierls (SP) phase have been clarified; these
results are consistent with a first-order phase transition between dimerized AF
(D-AF) and uniform AF (U-AF) phases as reported by T. Masuda {\it et al.}
\lbrack Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 80}, 4566 (1998)\rbrack. The - phase
diagram of CuZnGeO is similar to that of
CuMgGeO, which suggests that the present phase transition
is universal for CuGeO.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures. submitted to PR
Angular momentum spatial distribution symmetry breaking in Rb by an external magnetic field
Excited state angular momentum alignment -- orientation conversion for atoms
with hyperfine structure in presence of an external magnetic field is
investigated. Transversal orientation in these conditions is reported for the
first time. This phenomenon occurs under Paschen Back conditions at
intermediate magnetic field strength. Weak radiation from a linearly polarized
diode laser is used to excite Rb atoms in a cell. The laser beam is polarized
at an angle of pi/4 with respect to the external magnetic field direction.
Ground state hyperfine levels of the 5S_1/2 state are resolved using
laser-induced fluorescence spectroscopy under conditions for which all excited
5P_3/2 state hyperfine components are excited simultaneously. Circularly
polarized fluorescence is observed to be emitted in the direction perpendicular
to both to the direction of the magnetic field B and direction of the light
polarization E. The obtained circularity is shown to be in quantitative
agreement with theoretical predictions.Comment: Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Structural Critical Scattering Study of Mg-Doped CuGeO3
We report a synchrotron x-ray scattering study of the diluted spin-Peierls
(SP) material Cu_(1-x)Mg_xGeO_3. We find that for x>0 the temperature T_m at
which the spin gap is established is significantly higher than the temperature
T_s at which the SP dimerization attains long-range order. The latter is
observed only for xx_c the SP correlation length
quickly decreases with increasing x. We argue that impurity-induced competing
interactions play a central role in these phenomena.Comment: 5 pages, 4 embedded eps figures, to appear in PR
Using the past to constrain the future: how the palaeorecord can improve estimates of global warming
Climate sensitivity is defined as the change in global mean equilibrium
temperature after a doubling of atmospheric CO2 concentration and provides a
simple measure of global warming. An early estimate of climate sensitivity,
1.5-4.5{\deg}C, has changed little subsequently, including the latest
assessment by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
The persistence of such large uncertainties in this simple measure casts
doubt on our understanding of the mechanisms of climate change and our ability
to predict the response of the climate system to future perturbations. This has
motivated continued attempts to constrain the range with climate data, alone or
in conjunction with models. The majority of studies use data from the
instrumental period (post-1850) but recent work has made use of information
about the large climate changes experienced in the geological past.
In this review, we first outline approaches that estimate climate sensitivity
using instrumental climate observations and then summarise attempts to use the
record of climate change on geological timescales. We examine the limitations
of these studies and suggest ways in which the power of the palaeoclimate
record could be better used to reduce uncertainties in our predictions of
climate sensitivity.Comment: The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in
Progress in Physical Geography, 31(5), 2007 by SAGE Publications Ltd, All
rights reserved. \c{opyright} 2007 Edwards, Crucifix and Harriso
Bond-Dilution-Induced Quantum Phase Transitions in Heisenberg Antiferromagnets
Bond-dilution effects on the ground state of the square-lattice
antiferromagnetic Heisenberg model, consisting of coupled bond-alternating
chains, are investigated by means of the quantum Monte Carlo simulation. It is
found that, when the ground state of the non-diluted system is a non-magnetic
state with a finite spin gap, a sufficiently weak bond dilution induces a
disordered state with a mid gap in the original spin gap, and under a further
stronger bond dilution an antiferromagnetic long-range order emerges. While the
site-dilution-induced long-range order is induced by an infinitesimal
concentration of dilution, there exists a finite critical concentration in the
case of bond dilution. We argue that this essential difference is due to the
occurrence of two types of effective interactions between induced magnetic
moments in the case of bond dilution, and that the antiferromagnetic
long-range-ordered phase does not appear until the magnitudes of the two
interactions become comparable.Comment: 7 pages, 13 figure
Quantal phases, disorder effects and superconductivity in spin-Peierls systems
In view of recent developments in the investigation on cuprate high-T superconductors and the spin-Peierls compound CuGeO, we study the
effect of dilute impurity doping on the spin-Peierls state in quasi-one
dimensional systems. We identify a common origin for the emergence of
antiferromagnetic order upon the introduction of static vacancies, and
superconductivity for mobile holes.Comment: 4 pages revtex; revised versio
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