Reactive Multiphase Behavior of Co{sub 2} in Saline Aquifers Beneath the Colorado Plateau

Soil gas surveys have been carried out on the Colorado Plateau over areas with natural occurrences of CO{sub 2}. At Farnham Dome, Utah, and Springerville-St. Johns, Arizona, proven CO{sub 2} reservoirs occur at 600-800 m depth, but no anomalous soil gas CO{sub 2} flux was detected. Background CO{sub 2} fluxes of up to about 5 g m{sup -2} day{sup -1} were common in arid, poorly vegetated areas, and fluxes up to about 20 g m{sup -2} day{sup -1} were found at Springerville-St. Johns in heavily vegetated, wet ground adjacent to springs. These elevated fluxes are attributed to shallow root zone activity rather than to a deep upflow of CO{sub 2}. Localized areas of anomalously high CO{sub 2} gas flux ({approx} 100 g m{sup -2} day{sup -1}) were documented along the Little Grand Wash Fault Zone near Crystal Geyser, Utah and nearby in Ten Mile Graben, but those in Ten Mile Graben are not directly associated with the major faults. In both areas, features with a visible gas flux are present. Isotopic measurements on the CO{sub 2} gas confirm that it originated at depth. Evidence of widespread vein calcite at the surface at Farnham Dome and travertine deposits in the other areas suggests that there has been an outflow of CO{sub 2}-rich fluids in the past. 14C ages of pollen trapped in the travertine at Springerville-St. Johns record a period of CO{sub 2} leakage to the atmosphere between 887 {+-} 35 and 3219 {+-} 30 years BP. No travertine deposits appear to be currently forming. At Springerville-St. Johns, Crystal Geyser and Ten Mile Graben, there are significant outflows of high-bicarbonate water. Movement of CO{sub 2}-rich groundwaters may be the dominant mechanism controlling the mobility of CO{sub 2} today. The very localized nature of the soil gas anomalies, evidence of large scale discharge of CO{sub 2} over a very short period of time and the outflow of ground water containing dissolved CO{sub 2} will present challenges for effective, long term monitoring of CO{sub 2} leakage

Fermi surfaces and quasi-particle band dispersions of the iron pnictides superconductor KFe2As2 observed by angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy

We have performed an angle-resolved photoemission study of the iron pnictide superconductor KFe2As2 with Tc 4 K. Most of the observed Fermi surfaces show almost two-dimensional shapes, while one of the quasi-particle bands near the Fermi level has a strong dispersion along the kz direction, consistent with the result of a band-structure calculation. However, hole Fermi surfaces \alpha and \zeta are smaller than those predicted by the calculation while other Fermi surfaces are larger. These observations are consistent with the result of a de Haas-van Alphen study and a theoretical prediction on inter-band scattering, possibly indicating many body effects on the electronic structure.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. Proceeding of the 9th International Conference on Spectroscopies in Novel Superconductors (SNS2010

The relative influence of dune aspect ratio and beach width on dune erosion as a function of storm duration and surge level

Dune height is an important predictor of impact during a storm event given that taller dunes have a lower likelihood of being overtopped than shorter dunes. However, the temporal dominance of the wave collision regime, wherein volume loss (erosion) from the dune occurs through dune retreat without overtopping, suggests that dune width must also be considered when evaluating the vulnerability of dunes to erosion. We use XBeach, a numerical model that simulates hydrodynamic processes, sediment transport, and morphologic change, to analyze storm-induced dune erosion as a function of dune aspect ratio (i.e., dune height versus dune width) for storms of varying intensity and duration. We find that low aspect ratio (low and wide) dunes lose less volume than high aspect ratio (tall and narrow) dunes during longer and more intense storms when the beach width is controlled for. In managed dune scenarios, where sand fences are used to construct a "fenced"dune seaward of the existing "natural"dune, we find that fenced dunes effectively prevent the natural dune behind them from experiencing any volume loss until the fenced dune is sufficiently eroded, reducing the magnitude of erosion of the natural dune by up to 50ĝ€¯%. We then control for dune morphology to assess volume loss as a function of beach width and confirm that beach width exerts a significant influence on dune erosion; a wide beach offers the greatest protection from erosion in all circumstances while the width of the dune determines how long the dune will last under persistent scarping. These findings suggest that efforts to maintain a wide beach may be effective at protecting coastal communities from dune loss. However, a trade-off may exist in maintaining wide beaches and dunes in that the protection offered in the short-term must be considered in concert with potentially long-term detrimental effects of limiting overwash, a process which is critical to maintaining island elevation as sea level rises

Temperature dependence of magnetic anisotropy and domain wall tuning in BaTiO₃(111)/CoFeB multiferroics

Artificial multiferroics consist of two types of ferroic materials, typically a ferroelectric and a ferromagnet, often coupled interfacially by magnetostriction induced by the lattice elongations in the ferroelectric. In BaTiO3, the magnitude of strain induced by these elongations is heavily temperature dependent, varying greatly between each of the polar crystal phases and exerting a huge influence over the properties of a coupled magnetic film. Here, we demonstrate that temperature and, thus, strain are effective means of controlling the magnetic anisotropy in BaTiO3(111)/CoFeB heterostructures. We investigate the three polar phases of BaTiO3: tetragonal (T) at room temperature, orthorhombic (O) below 280 K, and rhombohedral (R) below 190 K across a total range of 77–420 K. We find two distinct responses: a step-like change in the anisotropy across the low-temperature phase transitions and a sharp high-temperature reduction around the ferroelectric Curie temperature, measured from hard axis hysteresis loops. Using our measurements of this anisotropy strength, we are then able to show by micromagnetic simulation the behavior of all possible magnetic domain wall states and determine their scaling as a function of temperature. The most significant changes occur in the head-to-head domain wall states, with a maximum change of 210 nm predicted across the entire range, effectively doubling the size of the domain wall as compared to room temperature. Notably, similar changes are seen for both high and low temperatures, which suggests different routes for potential control of magnetic anisotropy and elastically pinned magnetic domain walls

A space-based radio frequency transient event classifier

The FORTE (Fast On-Orbit Recording of Transient Events) satellite will record RF transients in space. These transients will be classified onboard the spacecraft with an Event Classifier--specialized hardware that performs signal preprocessing and neural network classification. The authors describe the Event Classifier, future directions, and implications for telecommunications satellites. Telecommunication satellites are susceptible to damage from environmental factors such as deep dielectric charging and surface discharges. The event classifier technology the authors are developing is capable of sensing the surface discharges and could be useful for mitigating their effects. In addition, the techniques they are using for processing weak signals in noisy environments are relevant to telecommunications

The evolution of galaxy groups and of galaxies therein

Properties of groups of galaxies depend sensitively on the algorithm for group selection, and even the most recent catalogs of groups built from redshift-space selection should suffer from projections and infalling galaxies. The cosmo-dynamical evolution of groups from initial Hubble expansion to collapse and virialization leads to a fundamental track (FT) in virial-theorem-M/L vs crossing time. The increased rates of mergers, both direct and after dynamical friction, in groups relative to clusters, explain the higher fraction of elliptical galaxies at given local number density in X-ray selected groups, relative to clusters, even when the hierarchical evolution of groups is considered. Galaxies falling into groups and clusters should later travel outwards to typically 2 virial radii, which is somewhat less than the outermost radius where observed galaxy star formation efficiencies are enhanced relative to field galaxies of same morphological type. An ongoing analysis of the internal kinematics of X-ray selected groups suggests that the radial profiles of line of sight velocity dispersion are consistent with isotropic NFW distributions for the total mass density, with higher (lower) concentrations than LambdaCDM predictions in groups of high (low) mass. The critical mass, at M200 ~ 10^13 M_sun is consistent with possible breaks in the X-ray luminosity-temperature and Fundamental Plane relations. The internal kinematics of groups indicate that the M-T relation of groups should agree with that extrapolated from clusters with no break at the group scale. The analyses of observed velocity dispersion profiles and of the FT both suggest that low velocity dispersion groups (compact and loose, X-ray emitting or undetected) are quite contaminated by chance projections.Comment: Invited review, ESO workshop "Groups of Galaxies in the Nearby Universe", held in Santiago, Chile, 5-9 December 2005, ed. I. Saviane, V. Ivanov & J. Borissova, 16 page

Indirect search for dark matter: prospects for GLAST

Possible indirect detection of neutralino, through its gamma-ray annihilation product, by the forthcoming GLAST satellite from our galactic halo, M31, M87 and the dwarf galaxies Draco and Sagittarius is studied. Gamma-ray fluxes are evaluated for the two representative energy thresholds, 0.1 GeV and 1.0 GeV, at which the spatial resolution of GLAST varies considerably. Apart from dwarfs which are described either by a modified Plummer profile or by a tidally-truncated King profiles, fluxes are compared for halos with central cusps and cores. It is demonstrated that substructures, irrespective of their profiles, enhance the gamma-ray emission only marginally. The expected gamma-ray intensity above 1 GeV at high galactic latitudes is consistent with the residual emission derived from EGRET data if the density profile has a central core and the neutralino mass is less than 50 GeV, whereas for a central cusp only a substantial enhancement would explain the observations. From M31, the flux can be detected above 0.1 GeV and 1.0 GeV by GLAST only if the neutralino mass is below 300 GeV and if the density profile has a central cusp, case in which a significant boost in the gamma-ray emission is produced by the central black hole. For Sagittarius, the flux above 0.1 GeV is detectable by GLAST provided the neutralino mass is below 50 GeV. From M87 and Draco the fluxes are always below the sensitivity limit of GLAST.Comment: 14 Pages, 7 Figures, 3 Tables, version to appear on Physical Review

Strong-coupling expansions for chiral models of electroweak symmetry breaking

We consider chiral $U(N)\times U(N)$ models with fermions in the limit of infinitely large local bare Yukawa coupling. When the scalar field is subject to non-linear constraint, phase transitions in these models are seen to be identical to those in the corresponding purely bosonic ones. Relaxing the non-linear constraint, we compute the seventh-order strong-coupling series for the susceptibility in these models and analyze them numerically for the $U(2)\times U(2)$ case. We find that in four dimensions the approach to the phase transition follows to a good accuracy the mean-field critical behavior, indicating the absence of non-trivial fixed points at strong coupling and being consistent with the first-order nature of the transition. In three dimensions, the strongly-coupled bosonic $U(2)\times U(2)$ model (without gauge fields) has a first-order transition strong enough to accommodate electroweak baryogenesis only for a narrow region of the bare parameter space.Comment: 11 pages, latex, no figure

Generating droplets in two-dimensional Ising spin glasses by using matching algorithms

We study the behavior of droplets for two dimensional Ising spin glasses with Gaussian interactions. We use an exact matching algorithm which enables study of systems with linear dimension L up to 240, which is larger than is possible with other approaches. But the method only allows certain classes of droplets to be generated. We study single-bond, cross and a category of fixed volume droplets as well as first excitations. By comparison with similar or equivalent droplets generated in previous works, the advantages but also the limitations of this approach are revealed. In particular we have studied the scaling behavior of the droplet energies and droplet sizes. In most cases, a crossover of the data can be observed such that for large sizes the behavior is compatible with the one-exponent scenario of the droplet theory. Only for the case of first excitations, no clear conclusion can be reached, probably because even with the matching approach the accessible system sizes are still too small.Comment: 11 pages, 16 figures, revte

Direct Optical Coupling to an Unoccupied Dirac Surface State in the Topological Insulator Bi2_2Se3_3

We characterize the occupied and unoccupied electronic structure of the topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$ by one-photon and two-photon angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and slab band structure calculations. We reveal a second, unoccupied Dirac surface state with similar electronic structure and physical origin to the well-known topological surface state. This state is energetically located 1.5 eV above the conduction band, which permits it to be directly excited by the output of a Ti:Sapphire laser. This discovery demonstrates the feasibility of direct ultrafast optical coupling to a topologically protected, spin-textured surface state.Comment: Accepted to Physical Review Letter