10,882 research outputs found
Paleolakes and life on early Mars
Two distinct directions have begun to elucidate key parameters in the search for extinct life on Mars. Carbonate sediments, deposited about 10,000 years ago in association with biological activity, have been sampled from the paleolake beds of Lake Vanda and Meirs in the McMurdo Dry Valleys in Antarctica. These samples are being analyzed for simple biological signatures that remain in cold and dry paleolake sediments, namely microfossils, percent carbonate, and total organic carbon. Our second initiative is the study of Colour Lake, in the Canadian Arctic, that periodically maintains a perennial ice cover. Physical measurements started this year will be used to determine one end point for ice covered lake environments and will be compared to continuous measurements from Antarctic lakes started in November 1985. Interestingly, Colour Lake also supports benthic mat communities, but the low pH precludes carbonate deposition. This research will broaden our knowledge base for what conditions are necessary for ice covered lake formation and what biological signatures will remain in paleolake deposits
Anisotropic pair-superfluidity of trapped two-component Bose gases
We theoretically investigate the pair-superfluid phase of two-component
ultracold gases with negative inter-species interactions in an optical lattice.
We establish the phase diagram for filling at zero and finite
temperature, by applying Bosonic Dynamical Mean-Field Theory, and confirm the
stability of pair-superfluidity for asymmetric hopping of the two species.
While the pair superfluid is found to be robust in the presence of a harmonic
trap, we observe that it is destroyed already by a small population imbalance
of the two species.Comment: 7 pages, 11 figure
Shape computations without compositions
Parametric CAD supports design explorations through generative methods which compose and transform geometric elements. This paper argues that elementary shape computations do not always correspond to valid compositional shape structures. In many design cases generative rules correspond to compositional structures, but for relatively simple shapes and rules it is not always possible to assign a corresponding compositional structure of parts which account for all operations of the computation. This problem is brought into strong relief when design processes generate multiple compositions according to purpose, such as product structure, assembly, manufacture, etc. Is it possible to specify shape computations which generate just these compositions of parts or are there additional emergent shapes and features? In parallel, combining two compositions would require the associated combined computations to yield a valid composition. Simple examples are presented which throw light on the issues in integrating different product descriptions (i.e. compositions) within parametric CAD
Pairing, crystallization and string correlations of mass-imbalanced atomic mixtures in one-dimensional optical lattices
We numerically determine the very rich phase diagram of mass-imbalanced
binary mixtures of hardcore bosons (or equivalently -- fermions, or
hardcore-Bose/Fermi mixtures) loaded in one-dimensional optical lattices.
Focusing on commensurate fillings away from half filling, we find a strong
asymmetry between attractive and repulsive interactions. Attraction is found to
always lead to pairing, associated with a spin gap, and to pair crystallization
for very strong mass imbalance. In the repulsive case the two atomic components
remain instead fully gapless over a large parameter range; only a very strong
mass imbalance leads to the opening of a spin gap. The spin-gap phase is the
precursor of a crystalline phase occurring for an even stronger mass imbalance.
The fundamental asymmetry of the phase diagram is at odds with recent
theoretical predictions, and can be tested directly via time-of-flight
experiments on trapped cold atoms.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures + Supplementary Materia
The average number of spanning trees in sparse graphs with given degrees
We give an asymptotic expression for the expected number of spanning trees in a random graph with a given degree sequence d=(d1,…,dn), provided that the number of edges is at least n+12dmax4, where dmax is the maximum degree. A key part of our argument involves establishing a concentration result for a certain family of functions over random trees with given degrees, using Prüfer codes
The Effect of Spring Grass Availability on Dry Matter Intake of Early Lactation Dairy Cows
Spring grass availability has a major impact on dry matter intake (DMI) of dairy cows during early lactation. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of opening farm cover (OFC) on DMI during early lactation. A twelve week experiment, which was split into two 6 week periods (Period 1 (Week 1 – 6) and period 2 (Week 7 – 12), was conducted over a two year period. A high and low OFC were established for two treatment groups; 1253 kg DM/ha (High grass = HG) and 887 kg DM/ha (Low grass = LG). Animals were randomly assigned to either the HG or LG treatment as they calved. Cows on the LG treatment were offered a lower daily herbage allowance (DHA) (10.99 kg DM/cow/day) and were offered silage supplementation at a rate of 3 kg DM/cow/day, while the cows on the HG treatment, were offered a higher DHA (13.98 kg DM/cow/day) with no silage supplementation. Dry matter intake was measured bi-weekly using the n-alkane technique. Silage supplementation on the LG treatment did not significantly affect (P \u3e 0.05) total DMI (TDMI), however, the LG cows TDMI was lower than HG cows throughout the experimental period. The inclusion of silage in the diet of early lactation dairy cows, resulted in a significantly (P \u3c 0.05) lower grass DMI, milk yield and milk protein concentration. Increasing OFC results in higher DHA which increases grass DMI and milk production
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Beagle to the Moon: nn experiment package to measure polar ice and volatiles in permanently shadowed areas or beneath the lunar surface
The Beagle Science Package is a flight qualified set of instruments which should be deployed to the lunar surface to answer the questions about water and volatiles present in permanently shadowed regions and/or beneath the surface
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