Strong Gravitational Lensing and Dark Energy Complementarity

In the search for the nature of dark energy most cosmological probes measure simple functions of the expansion rate. While powerful, these all involve roughly the same dependence on the dark energy equation of state parameters, with anticorrelation between its present value w_0 and time variation w_a. Quantities that have instead positive correlation and so a sensitivity direction largely orthogonal to, e.g., distance probes offer the hope of achieving tight constraints through complementarity. Such quantities are found in strong gravitational lensing observations of image separations and time delays. While degeneracy between cosmological parameters prevents full complementarity, strong lensing measurements to 1% accuracy can improve equation of state characterization by 15-50%. Next generation surveys should provide data on roughly 10^5 lens systems, though systematic errors will remain challenging.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure

Dynamics of Void and its Shape in Redshift Space

We investigate the dynamics of a single spherical void embedded in a Friedmann-Lema\^itre universe, and analyze the void shape in the redshift space. We find that the void in the redshift space appears as an ellipse shape elongated in the direction of the line of sight (i.e., an opposite deformation to the Kaiser effect). Applying this result to observed void candidates at the redshift z~1-2, it may provide us with a new method to evaluate the cosmological parameters, in particular the value of a cosmological constant.Comment: 19 pages, 11 figure

Time-Varying Dark Energy Constraints From the Latest SN Ia, BAO and SGL

Based on the latest SNe Ia data provided by Hicken et al. (2009) with using MLCS17 light curve fitter, together with the Baryon Acoustic Oscillation(BAO) and strong gravitational lenses(SGL), we investigate the constraints on the dark energy equation-of-state parameter $w$ in the flat universe, especially for the time-varying case $w(z)=w_0+w_zz/(1+z)$. The constraints from SNe data alone are found to be: (a) $(\Omega_M, w)=(0.358, -1.09)$ as the best-fit results; (b) $(w_0, w_z)=(-0.73^{+0.23}_{-0.97}, 0.84^{+1.66}_{-10.34})$ for the two parameters in the time-varying case after marginalizing the parameter $\Omega_M$; (c) the likelihood of parameter $w_z$ has a high non-Gaussian distribution; (d) an extra restriction on $\Omega_M$ is necessary to improve the constraint of the SNe Ia data on the parameters ($w_0$, $w_z$). A joint analysis of SNe Ia data and BAO is made to break the degeneracy between $w$ and $\Omega_M$, and leads to the interesting maximum likelihoods $w_0 = -0.94$ and $w_z = 0$. When marginalizing the parameter $\Omega_M$, the fitting results are found to be $(w_0, w_z)=(-0.95^{+0.45}_{-0.18}, 0.41^{+0.79}_{-0.96})$. After adding the splitting angle statistic of SGL data, a consistent constraint is obtained $(\Omega_M, w)=(0.298, -0.907)$ and the constraints on time-varying dark energy are further improved to be $(w_0, w_z) = (-0.92^{+0.14}_{-0.10}, 0.35^{+0.47}_{-0.54})$, which indicates that the phantom type models are disfavored.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, to be published in JCA

Prospects for the Improvement of Energy Performance in Agroindustry Using Phase Change Materials

This work was partially supported by the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia, UIDB/00066/2020 (CTS – Center of Technology and Systems).The use of Phase Change Materials (PCMs), able to store latent heat, represents an opportunity to improve energy efficiency in the agroindustry by means of thermal energy storage. PCMs provide higher energy density then sensible heat storage mediums, thus paving the way to multiple applications, like supporting the integration of renewables or allowing for new storage architectures, decentralized and directly installed in the chain production equipment, creating e.g. the opportunity to recover and value low-grade operational heat sub-products. Such new and decentralized architecture, not currently applied in agroindustry, is proposed in this work. A chocolate tempering machine using an organic PCM is conceived and analyzed using ANSYS Fluent software for computational fluid dynamics simulations, comparing the main aspects in the storage capacity and discharging process with a conventional sensitive heat storage solution that uses water. PCMs allows improving the stored energy, keeping the chocolate in the working temperature after being tempered for more than four times longer than using only hot water. If the PCMs are charged by renewables, the self-consumption ratio can be improved while providing energy flexibility to the user.authorsversionpublishe

The amplitude of mass fluctuations and mass density of the Universe constrained by strong gravitational lensing

We investigate the linear amplitude of mass fluctuations in the universe, $\sigma_8$, and the present mass density parameter of the Universe, $\Omega_\mathrm{m}$, from the statistical strong gravitational lensing. We use the two populations of lens halos model with fixed cooling mass scale M_\mathrm{c}=3\times 10^{13}h^{-1}M_{\sun} to match the observed lensing probabilities, and leave $\sigma_8$ or $\Omega_\mathrm{m}$ as a free parameter to be constrained by data. Another varying parameter is the equation of state of dark energy $\omega$, and its typical values of -1, -2/3, -1/2 and -1/3 are investigated. We find that $\sigma_8$ is degenerate with $\Omega_\mathrm{m}$ in a way similar to that suggested by present day cluster abundance as well as cosmic shear lensing measurements: $\sigma_8\Omega_\mathrm{m}^{0.6}\approx 0.33$ (Bahcall & Bode\cite{bahcall03a} and references therein). However, both $\sigma_8\leq 0.7$ and $\Omega_\mathrm{m}\leq 0.2$ can be safely ruled out, the best value is when $\sigma_8=1.0$, $\Omega_\mathrm{m}=0.3$ and $\omega=-1$. This result is different from that obtained by Bahcall & Bode (\cite{bahcall03a}), who gives $\sigma_8 =0.98\pm 0.1$ and $\Omega_m =0.17\pm 0.05$. For $\sigma_8=1.0$, higher value of $\Omega_\mathrm{m}=0.35$ requires $\omega=-2/3$ and $\Omega_\mathrm{m}=0.40$ requires $\omega=-1/2$.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, references update

Selection and characterization of the probiotic potential of some lactic acid bacteria isolated from infant feces

Abstrac

Quintessence with a constant equation of state in hyperbolic universes

Quintessence models leading to a constant equation of state are studied in hyperbolic universes. General properties of the quintessence potentials V(phi) are discussed, and for some special cases also the exact analytic expressions for these potentials are derived. It is shown that the observed angular power spectrum of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is in excellent agreement with some of the quintessence models even in cases with negative curvature. It is emphasized that due to a (w_phi, Omega_phi, Omega_c)-degeneracy a universe with negative spatial curvature cannot be excluded.Comment: 15 pages, a version with figures in color can be obtained at http://www.physik.uni-ulm.de/theo/qc/ulm-tp/tp02-13.ps.g

К проблеме социальной эффективности инноваций в профессиональном образовании

Movile Cave, Romania, is an unusual underground ecosystem that has been sealed off from the outside world for several million years and is sustained by non-phototrophic carbon fixation. Methane and sulfur-oxidising bacteria are the main primary producers, supporting a complex food web that includes bacteria, fungi and cave-adapted invertebrates. A range of methylotrophic bacteria in Movile Cave grow on one-carbon compounds including methylated amines, which are produced via decomposition of organic-rich microbial mats. The role of methylated amines as a carbon and nitrogen source for bacteria in Movile Cave was investigated using a combination of cultivation studies and DNA stable isotope probing (DNA-SIP) using 13C-monomethylamine (MMA). Two newly developed primer sets targeting the gene for gamma-glutamylmethylamide synthetase (gmaS), the first enzyme of the recently-discovered indirect MMA-oxidation pathway, were applied in functional gene probing. SIP experiments revealed that the obligate methylotroph Methylotenera mobilis is one of the dominant MMA utilisers in the cave. DNA-SIP experiments also showed that a new facultative methylotroph isolated in this study, Catellibacterium sp. LW-1 is probably one of the most active MMA utilisers in Movile Cave. Methylated amines were also used as a nitrogen source by a wide range of non-methylotrophic bacteria in Movile Cave. PCR-based screening of bacterial isolates suggested that the indirect MMA-oxidation pathway involving GMA and N-methylglutamate is widespread among both methylotrophic and non-methylotrophic MMA utilisers from the cave