1,466 research outputs found
Seismic Stability Analysis of a High Earth and Rockfill Dam
Accumulation of knowledge on earthquake activity in California has lead to stronger ground motions being postulated for the evaluation of the seismic stability of dams. A recent regional seismicity study for a 555 ft high earth and rockfill dam in central California lead to a ground motion with peak ground acceleration (PGA) of 0.50g originating in a local fault system 3 miles from the dam site. This PGA is more than 6 times higher than the PGA=0.08g value originally adopted when the Dam was analyzed for seismic stability 20 years ago. Thus, as part of FERC Part 12 evaluation requirements, the seismic stability of the Dam was re-evaluated using the updated ground motion and state-of-the-practice technology. This paper presents the analysis procedures and the results
Molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca
We used a combined analysis of one nuclear (28S rDNA) and three mitochondrial markers (COI, 12S
rDNA, 16S rDNA) to infer the molecular phylogeny of the Notostraca, represented by samples from the
six continents that are inhabited by this group of branchiopod crustaceans. Our results confirm the
monophyly of both extant notostracan genera Triops and Lepidurus with good support in model based
and maximum parsimony analyses. We used branchiopod fossils as a calibration to infer divergence
times among notostracan lineages and accounted for rate heterogeneity among lineages by applying
relaxed-clock models. Our divergence date estimates indicate an initial diversification into the genera Triops
and Lepidurus in the Mesozoic, most likely at a minimum age of 152.3–233.5 Ma, i.e., in the Triassic or
Jurassic. Implications for the interpretation of fossils and the evolution of notostracan morphology are
discussed. We further use the divergence date estimates to formulate a biogeographic hypothesis that
explains distributions of extant lineages predominantly by overland dispersal routes. We identified an
additional hitherto unrecognised highly diverged lineage within Lepidurus apus lubbocki and three additional
previously unknown major lineages within Triops. Within T. granarius we found deep differentiation,
with representatives distributed among three major phylogenetic lineages. One of these major
lineages comprises T. cancriformis, the T. mauritanicus species group and two hitherto unrecognised T. granarius
lineages. Samples that were morphologically identified as T. granarius diverged from the most
basal nodes within this major lineage, and divergence dates suggested an approximate age of 23.7–
49.6 Ma for T. cancriformis, indicating the need for a taxonomic revision of Triassic and Permian fossils
that are currently attributed to the extant T. cancriformis.We thus elevate T. cancriformis minor to full species
status as Triops minor Trusheim, 1938 and include in this species the additional Upper Triassic samples
that were attributed to T. cancriformis. We further elevate T. cancriformis permiensis to full species
status as Triops permiensis Gand et al., 1997
Infall, Fragmentation and Outflow in Sgr B2
Observations of HCO lines and continuum at 1.3 mm towards Sgr B2(N) and
Sgr B2(M) cores were carried out with the SMA. We imaged HCO line
absorption against the continuum cores and the surrounding line emission
clumps. The results show that the majority of the dense gas is falling into the
major cores where massive stars have been formed. The filaments and clumps of
the continuum and gas are detected outside of Sgr B2(N) and Sgr B2(M) cores.
Both the spectra and moment analysis show the presence of outflows from Sgr
B2(M) cores. The HCO gas in the red-shifted outflow of Sgr B2(M) appears
to be excited by a non-LTE process which might be related to the shocks in the
outflow.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, Published in J. Physics Conference Serie
An annotated checklist of freshwater copepoda (crustacea, hexanauplia) from continental Ecuador and the Galapagos archipelago
An annotated checklist of the free-living freshwater Copepoda recorded in different regions in Ecuador (including the Amazon, the Andes, the coastal region, and the Galapagos Islands) is here provided. We revised all published records, critically evaluated the validity of each taxon and provided short taxonomic and biogeographical remarks for each one. A total of 27 taxa have been reported, including species and records at the generic level only. The species and taxa identified only up to the generic level belong to five families and 14 genera. The Cyclopoida is the most diverse group with 16 records belonging to species (or identified to the generic level only) and eight genera, followed by the Harpacticoida with six species, one identification to the generic level only, and four genera, and Calanoida with four species belonging to two genera. A total of 18 taxa are recorded for the Andes. Six have been recorded in the Amazon, two are recorded for the coastal region, and six for the Galapagos. One species is shared between the Amazon and the Andes. One species is shared between the coastal region and the Amazon. Seventeen are only reported from the Andes and four are only reported from the Amazon. At the current status of the knowledge, any attempt to analyze and generalize distributional patterns of copepods in Ecuador is premature due to the scarcity of available information, and evidently there is an urgent need for more extensive field collections. A few working hypothesis for future studies are identified
Probing non-standard decoherence effects with solar and KamLAND neutrinos
It has been speculated that quantum gravity might induce a "foamy" space-time
structure at small scales, randomly perturbing the propagation phases of
free-streaming particles (such as kaons, neutrons, or neutrinos). Particle
interferometry might then reveal non-standard decoherence effects, in addition
to standard ones (due to, e.g., finite source size and detector resolution.) In
this work we discuss the phenomenology of such non-standard effects in the
propagation of electron neutrinos in the Sun and in the long-baseline reactor
experiment KamLAND, which jointly provide us with the best available probes of
decoherence at neutrino energies E ~ few MeV. In the solar neutrino case, by
means of a perturbative approach, decoherence is shown to modify the standard
(adiabatic) propagation in matter through a calculable damping factor. By
assuming a power-law dependence of decoherence effects in the energy domain
(E^n with n = 0,+/-1,+/-2), theoretical predictions for two-family neutrino
mixing are compared with the data and discussed. We find that neither solar nor
KamLAND data show evidence in favor of non-standard decoherence effects, whose
characteristic parameter gamma_0 can thus be significantly constrained. In the
"Lorentz-invariant" case n=-1, we obtain the upper limit gamma_0<0.78 x 10^-26
GeV at 95% C.L. In the specific case n=-2, the constraints can also be
interpreted as bounds on possible matter density fluctuations in the Sun, which
we improve by a factor of ~ 2 with respect to previous analyses.Comment: Minor changes. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Source-intrinsic near-infrared properties of Sgr A*: Total intensity measurements
We present a comprehensive data description for Ks-band measurements of Sgr
A*. We characterize the statistical properties of the variability of Sgr A* in
the near-infrared, which we find to be consistent with a single-state process
forming a power-law distribution of the flux density. We discover a linear
rms-flux relation for the flux-density range up to 12 mJy on a timescale of 24
minutes. This and the power-law flux density distribution implies a
phenomenological, formally non-linear statistical variability model with which
we can simulate the observed variability and extrapolate its behavior to higher
flux levels and longer timescales. We present reasons why data with our cadence
cannot be used to decide on the question whether the power spectral density of
the underlying random process shows more structure at timescales between 25 min
and 100 min compared to what is expected from a red noise random process.Comment: Accepted to ApJS, August 27, 201
An Inverse Compton Scattering Origin of X-ray Flares from Sgr A*
The X-ray and near-IR emission from Sgr A* is dominated by flaring, while a
quiescent component dominates the emission at radio and sub-mm wavelengths. The
spectral energy distribution of the quiescent emission from Sgr A* peaks at
sub-mm wavelengths and is modeled as synchrotron radiation from a thermal
population of electrons in the accretion flow, with electron temperatures
ranging up to \,MeV. Here we investigate the mechanism by which
X-ray flare emission is produced through the interaction of the quiescent and
flaring components of Sgr A*. The X-ray flare emission has been interpreted as
inverse Compton, self-synchrotron-Compton, or synchrotron emission. We present
results of simultaneous X-ray and near-IR observations and show evidence that
X-ray peak flare emission lags behind near-IR flare emission with a time delay
ranging from a few to tens of minutes. Our Inverse Compton scattering modeling
places constraints on the electron density and temperature distributions of the
accretion flow and on the locations where flares are produced. In the context
of this model, the strong X-ray counterparts to near-IR flares arising from the
inner disk should show no significant time delay, whereas near-IR flares in the
outer disk should show a broadened and delayed X-ray flare.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, 2 tables, AJ (in press
Observables sensitive to absolute neutrino masses: Constraints and correlations from world neutrino data
In the context of three-flavor neutrino mixing, we present a thorough study
of the phenomenological constraints applicable to three observables sensitive
to absolute neutrino masses: The effective neutrino mass in Tritium beta decay
(m_beta); the effective Majorana neutrino mass in neutrinoless double beta
decay (m_2beta); and the sum of neutrino masses in cosmology (Sigma). We
discuss the correlations among these variables which arise from the combination
of all the available neutrino oscillation data, in both normal and inverse
neutrino mass hierarchy. We set upper limits on m_beta by combining updated
results from the Mainz and Troitsk experiments. We also consider the latest
results on m_2beta from the Heidelberg-Moscow experiment, both with and without
the lower bound claimed by such experiment. We derive upper limits on Sigma
from an updated combination of data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy
Probe (WMAP) satellite and the 2 degrees Fields (2dF) Galaxy Redshifts Survey,
with and without Lyman-alpha forest data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
(SDSS), in models with a non-zero running of the spectral index of primordial
inflationary perturbations. The results are discussed in terms of
two-dimensional projections of the globally allowed region in the
(m_beta,m_2beta,Sigma) parameter space, which neatly show the relative impact
of each data set. In particular, the (in)compatibility between Sigma and
m_2beta constraints is highlighted for various combinations of data. We also
briefly discuss how future neutrino data (both oscillatory and non-oscillatory)
can further probe the currently allowed regions.Comment: 17 pages (RevTeX) + 7 figures (PostScript). Minor changes in text;
references added; results unchanged. To appear in PR
Simultaneous Multi-Wavelength Observations of Sgr A* during 2007 April 1-11
We report the detection of variable emission from Sgr A* in almost all
wavelength bands (i.e. centimeter, millimeter, submillimeter, near-IR and
X-rays) during a multi-wavelength observing campaign. Three new moderate flares
are detected simultaneously in both near-IR and X-ray bands. The ratio of X-ray
to near-IR flux in the flares is consistent with inverse Compton scattering of
near-IR photons by submillimeter emitting relativistic particles which follow
scaling relations obtained from size measurements of Sgr A*. We also find that
the flare statistics in near-IR wavelengths is consistent with the probability
of flare emission being inversely proportional to the flux. At millimeter
wavelengths, the presence of flare emission at 43 GHz (7mm) using VLBA with
milli-arcsecond spatial resolution indicates the first direct evidence that
hourly time scale flares are localized within the inner 3070
Schwarzschild radii of Sgr A*. We also show several cross correlation plots
between near-IR, millimeter and submillimeter light curves that collectively
demonstrate the presence of time delays between the peaks of emission up to
three hours. The evidence for time delays at millimeter and submillimeter
wavelengths are consistent with the source of emission being optically thick
initially followed by a transition to an optically thin regime. In particular,
there is an intriguing correlation between the optically thin near-IR and X-ray
flare and optically thick radio flare at 43 GHz that occurred on 2007 April 4.
This would be the first evidence of a radio flare emission at 43 GHz delayed
with respect to the near-IR and X-ray flare emission.Comment: replaced with revised version 57 pages, 28 figures, ApJ (in press
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