348 research outputs found
Improving the identification of hydrologically sensitive areas using LiDAR DEMs for the delineation and mitigation of critical source areas of diffuse pollution
AbstractIdentifying critical source areas (CSAs) of diffuse pollution in agricultural catchments requires the accurate identification of hydrologically sensitive areas (HSAs) at highest propensity for generating surface runoff and transporting pollutants. A new GIS-based HSA Index is presented that improves the identification of HSAs at the sub-field scale by accounting for microtopographic controls. The Index is based on high resolution LiDAR data and a soil topographic index (STI) and also considers the hydrological disconnection of overland flow via topographic impediment from flow sinks. The HSA Index was applied to four intensive agricultural catchments (~7.5â12km2) with contrasting topography and soil types, and validated using rainfall-quickflow measurements during saturated winter storm events in 2009â2014. Total flow sink volume capacities ranged from 8298 to 59,584m3 and caused 8.5â24.2% of overland-flow-generating-areas and 16.8â33.4% of catchment areas to become hydrologically disconnected from the open drainage channel network. HSA maps identified âbreakthrough pointsâ and âdelivery pointsâ along surface runoff pathways as vulnerable points where diffuse pollutants could be transported between fields or delivered to the open drainage network, respectively. Using these as proposed locations for targeting mitigation measures such as riparian buffer strips reduced potential costs compared to blanket implementation within an example agri-environment scheme by 66% and 91% over 1 and 5years respectively, which included LiDAR DEM acquisition costs. The HSA Index can be used as a hydrologically realistic transport component within a fully evolved sub-field scale CSA model, and can also be used to guide the implementation of âtreatment-trainâ mitigation strategies concurrent with sustainable agricultural intensification
Growth of Inflaton Perturbations and the Post-Inflation Era in Supersymmetric Hybrid Inflation Models
It has been shown that hybrid inflation may end with the formation of
non-topological solitons of inflaton field. As a first step towards a fully
realistic picture of the post-inflation era and reheating in supersymmetric
hybrid inflation models, we study the classical scalar field equations of a
supersymmetric hybrid inflation model using a semi-analytical ansatz for the
spatial dependence of the fields. Using the minimal D-term inflation model as
an example, the inflaton field is evolved using the full 1-loop effective
potential from the slow-rolling era to the U(1)_{FI} symmetry-breaking phase
transition. Spatial perturbations of the inflaton corresponding to quantum
fluctuations are introduced for the case where there is spatially coherent
U(1)_{FI} symmetry breaking. The maximal growth of the dominant perturbation is
found to depend only on the ratio of superpotential coupling \lambda to the
gauge coupling g. The inflaton condensate fragments to non-topological solitons
for \lambda/g > 0.09. Possible consequences of non-topological soliton
formation in fully realistic SUSY hybrid inflation models are discussed.Comment: 27 pages LaTeX, 8 figures. Additional references and discussio
Angular momenta creation in relativistic electron-positron plasma
Creation of angular momentum in a relativistic electron-positron plasma is
explored. It is shown that a chain of angular momentum carrying vortices is a
robust asymptotic state sustained by the generalized nonlinear Schrodinger
equation characteristic to the system. The results may suggest a possible
electromagnetic origin of angular momenta when it is applied to the MeV epoch
of the early Universe.Comment: 20 pages, 6 figure
Cosmological Non-Linearities as an Effective Fluid
The universe is smooth on large scales but very inhomogeneous on small
scales. Why is the spacetime on large scales modeled to a good approximation by
the Friedmann equations? Are we sure that small-scale non-linearities do not
induce a large backreaction? Related to this, what is the effective theory that
describes the universe on large scales? In this paper we make progress in
addressing these questions. We show that the effective theory for the
long-wavelength universe behaves as a viscous fluid coupled to gravity:
integrating out short-wavelength perturbations renormalizes the homogeneous
background and introduces dissipative dynamics into the evolution of
long-wavelength perturbations. The effective fluid has small perturbations and
is characterized by a few parameters like an equation of state, a sound speed
and a viscosity parameter. These parameters can be matched to numerical
simulations or fitted from observations. We find that the backreaction of
small-scale non-linearities is very small, being suppressed by the large
hierarchy between the scale of non-linearities and the horizon scale. The
effective pressure of the fluid is always positive and much too small to
significantly affect the background evolution. Moreover, we prove that
virialized scales decouple completely from the large-scale dynamics, at all
orders in the post-Newtonian expansion. We propose that our effective theory be
used to formulate a well-defined and controlled alternative to conventional
perturbation theory, and we discuss possible observational applications.
Finally, our way of reformulating results in second-order perturbation theory
in terms of a long-wavelength effective fluid provides the opportunity to
understand non-linear effects in a simple and physically intuitive way.Comment: 84 pages, 3 figure
Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in âs = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector
A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fbâ1 of protonâproton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results
Jet size dependence of single jet suppression in lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s(NN)) = 2.76 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the LHC
Measurements of inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions at the LHC
provide direct sensitivity to the physics of jet quenching. In a sample of
lead-lead collisions at sqrt(s) = 2.76 TeV corresponding to an integrated
luminosity of approximately 7 inverse microbarns, ATLAS has measured jets with
a calorimeter over the pseudorapidity interval |eta| < 2.1 and over the
transverse momentum range 38 < pT < 210 GeV. Jets were reconstructed using the
anti-kt algorithm with values for the distance parameter that determines the
nominal jet radius of R = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4 and 0.5. The centrality dependence of
the jet yield is characterized by the jet "central-to-peripheral ratio," Rcp.
Jet production is found to be suppressed by approximately a factor of two in
the 10% most central collisions relative to peripheral collisions. Rcp varies
smoothly with centrality as characterized by the number of participating
nucleons. The observed suppression is only weakly dependent on jet radius and
transverse momentum. These results provide the first direct measurement of
inclusive jet suppression in heavy ion collisions and complement previous
measurements of dijet transverse energy imbalance at the LHC.Comment: 15 pages plus author list (30 pages total), 8 figures, 2 tables,
submitted to Physics Letters B. All figures including auxiliary figures are
available at
http://atlas.web.cern.ch/Atlas/GROUPS/PHYSICS/PAPERS/HION-2011-02
Genetic drivers of kidney defects in the digeorge syndrome
BACKGROUND The DiGeorge syndrome, the most common of the microdeletion syndromes, affects multiple organs, including the heart, the nervous system, and the kidney. It is caused by deletions on chromosome 22q11.2; the genetic driver of the kidney defects is unknown. METHODS We conducted a genomewide search for structural variants in two cohorts: 2080 patients with congenital kidney and urinary tract anomalies and 22,094 controls. We performed exome and targeted resequencing in samples obtained from 586 additional patients with congenital kidney anomalies. We also carried out functional studies using zebrafish and mice. RESULTS We identified heterozygous deletions of 22q11.2 in 1.1% of the patients with congenital kidney anomalies and in 0.01% of population controls (odds ratio, 81.5; P = 4.5Ă1014). We localized the main drivers of renal disease in the DiGeorge syndrome to a 370-kb region containing nine genes. In zebrafish embryos, an induced loss of function in snap29, aifm3, and crkl resulted in renal defects; the loss of crkl alone was sufficient to induce defects. Five of 586 patients with congenital urinary anomalies had newly identified, heterozygous protein-Altering variants, including a premature termination codon, in CRKL. The inactivation of Crkl in the mouse model induced developmental defects similar to those observed in patients with congenital urinary anomalies. CONCLUSIONS We identified a recurrent 370-kb deletion at the 22q11.2 locus as a driver of kidney defects in the DiGeorge syndrome and in sporadic congenital kidney and urinary tract anomalies. Of the nine genes at this locus, SNAP29, AIFM3, and CRKL appear to be critical to the phenotype, with haploinsufficiency of CRKL emerging as the main genetic driver
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