2,697 research outputs found
How to enhance crop production and nitrogen fluxes? A result-oriented scheme to evaluate best agri-environmental measures in Veneto Region, Italy
The cost-effectiveness of adopting agri-environmental measures (AEMs) in Europe, which combine agricultural productions with reduced N losses, is debated due to poorly targeted site-specific funding that is allocated regardless of local variability. An integrated DAYCENT model-GIS platform was developed combining pedo-climatic and agricultural systems information. The aim was to evaluate best strategies to improve N fluxes of agro-ecosystems within a perspective of sustainable intensification. Indicators of agronomic efficiency and environmental quality were considered. The results showed that agronomic benefits were observed with a continuous soil cover (conservation agriculture and cover crops), which enhanced nitrogen use efficiency (+17%) and crop yields (+34%), although in some cases these might be overestimated due to modelling limitations. An overall environmental improvement was found with continuous soil cover and long-term change from mineral to organic inputs (NLeach 45 Mg ha 121), which were effective in the sandy soils of western and eastern Veneto with low SOM, improving the soil-water balance and nutrients availability over time. Results suggest that AEM subsidies should be allocated at a site-specific level that includes pedo-climatic variability, following a result-oriented approach
Final spins from the merger of precessing binary black holes
The inspiral of binary black holes is governed by gravitational radiation
reaction at binary separations r < 1000 M, yet it is too computationally
expensive to begin numerical-relativity simulations with initial separations r
> 10 M. Fortunately, binary evolution between these separations is well
described by post-Newtonian equations of motion. We examine how this
post-Newtonian evolution affects the distribution of spin orientations at
separations r ~ 10 M where numerical-relativity simulations typically begin.
Although isotropic spin distributions at r ~ 1000 M remain isotropic at r ~ 10
M, distributions that are initially partially aligned with the orbital angular
momentum can be significantly distorted during the post-Newtonian inspiral.
Spin precession tends to align (anti-align) the binary black hole spins with
each other if the spin of the more massive black hole is initially partially
aligned (anti-aligned) with the orbital angular momentum, thus increasing
(decreasing) the average final spin. Spin precession is stronger for
comparable-mass binaries, and could produce significant spin alignment before
merger for both supermassive and stellar-mass black hole binaries. We also
point out that precession induces an intrinsic accuracy limitation (< 0.03 in
the dimensionless spin magnitude, < 20 degrees in the direction) in predicting
the final spin resulting from the merger of widely separated binaries.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, new PN terms, submitted to PR
A post-Newtonian diagnosis of quasiequilibrium configurations of neutron star-neutron star and neutron star-black hole binaries
We use a post-Newtonian diagnostic tool to examine numerically generated
quasiequilibrium initial data sets for non-spinning double neutron star and
neutron star-black hole binary systems. The PN equations include the effects of
tidal interactions, parametrized by the compactness of the neutron stars and by
suitable values of ``apsidal'' constants, which measure the degree of
distortion of stars subjected to tidal forces. We find that the post-Newtonian
diagnostic agrees well with the double neutron star initial data, typically to
better than half a percent except where tidal distortions are becoming extreme.
We show that the differences could be interpreted as representing small
residual eccentricity in the initial orbits. In comparing the diagnostic with
preliminary numerical data on neutron star-black hole binaries, we find less
agreement.Comment: 17 pages, 6 tables, 8 figure
Constraining the fraction of binary black holes formed in isolation and young star clusters with gravitational-wave data
Ten binary black-hole mergers have already been detected during the first two
observing runs of advanced LIGO and Virgo, and many more are expected to be
observed in the near future. This opens the possibility for gravitational-wave
astronomy to better constrain the properties of black hole binaries, not only
as single sources, but as a whole astrophysical population. In this paper, we
address the problem of using gravitational-wave measurements to estimate the
proportion of merging black holes produced either via isolated binaries or
binaries evolving in young star clusters. To this end, we use a Bayesian
hierarchical modeling approach applied to catalogs of merging binary black
holes generated using state-of-the-art population synthesis and N-body codes.
In particular, we show that, although current advanced LIGO/Virgo observations
only mildly constrain the mixing fraction between the two
formation channels, we expect to narrow down the fractional errors on to
after a few hundreds of detections.Comment: 17 pages, 4 figure
Constraining modifications of black hole perturbation potentials near the light ring with quasinormal modes
In modified theories of gravity, the potentials appearing in theSchr\"odinger-like equations that describe perturbations of non-rotating blackholes are also modified. In this paper we ask: can these modifications beconstrained with high-precision gravitational-wave measurements of the blackhole's quasinormal mode frequencies? We expand the modifications in a smallperturbative parameter regulating the deviation from the general-relativisticpotential, and in powers of . We compute the quasinormal modes of themodified potential up to quadratic order in the perturbative parameter. Then weuse Markov-chain-Monte-Carlo (MCMC) methods to recover the coefficients in the expansion in an ``optimistic'' scenario where we vary them one at a time,and in a ``pessimistic'' scenario where we vary them all simultaneously. Inboth cases, we find that the bounds on the individual parameters are notrobust. Because quasinormal mode frequencies are related to the behavior of theperturbation potential near the light ring, we propose a different strategy.Inspired by Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin (WKB) theory, we demonstrate that thevalue of the potential and of its second derivative at the light ring can berobustly constrained. These constraints allow for a more direct comparisonbetween tests based on black hole spectroscopy and observations of black hole`shadows'' by the Event Horizon Telescope and future instruments.<br
Discreteness effects in a reacting system of particles with finite interaction radius
An autocatalytic reacting system with particles interacting at a finite
distance is studied. We investigate the effects of the discrete-particle
character of the model on properties like reaction rate, quenching phenomenon
and front propagation, focusing on differences with respect to the continuous
case. We introduce a renormalized reaction rate depending both on the
interaction radius and the particle density, and we relate it to macroscopic
observables (e.g., front speed and front thickness) of the system.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figure
- …