376 research outputs found
Diving
Thesis (B.S.)-- Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of General Engineering, 1935.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 138-140).by Maximilian Eugene Nohl.B.S
Reconstructing depositional rates and their effect on paleoenvironmental proxies : the case of the Lau Carbon Isotope Excursion in Gotland, Sweden
Variations in depositional rates affect the temporal depositional resolutions of proxies used for paleoenvironmental reconstructions; for example, condensation can make reconstructed environmental changes appear very abrupt. This is commonly addressed by transforming proxy data using age models, but this approach is limited to situations where numerical ages are available or can be reliably inferred by correlation. Here we propose a new solution, in which relative age models are constructed based on proxies for depositional rates. As a case study, we use the onset of the late Silurian Lau Carbon Isotope Excursion (LCIE) in Gotland, Sweden. The studied succession is a gradual record of shallowing upward in a tropical, neritic carbonate platform. As proxies for depositional rates we tested thorium concentration, carbonate content, and the concentration of pelagic palynomorphs. These three proxies were used to create relative age models using the previously published DAIME model. We applied these models to transform the delta C-13(carb) values as well as concentrations of selected redox-sensitive elements. The three relative age models yielded qualitatively similar results. In our case study, variations in depositional rates resulted in peaks of redox proxies appearing up to 76% higher when taken at face value, compared to when accounting for these rates. In the most extreme cases, our corrections resulted in a reversal in the stratigraphic trend of elemental concentrations. This approach can be applied and developed across depositional setting and types of paleoenvironmental proxies. It provides a flexible tool for developing quantitative models to improve our understanding of the stratigraphic record
Monopoles, Duality and Chiral Symmetry Breaking in N=2 Supersymmetric QCD
We study four dimensional supersymmetric gauge theories with matter
multiplets. For all such models for which the gauge group is , we derive
the exact metric on the moduli space of quantum vacua and the exact spectrum of
the stable massive states. A number of new physical phenomena occur, such as
chiral symmetry breaking that is driven by the condensation of magnetic
monopoles that carry global quantum numbers. For those cases in which conformal
invariance is broken only by mass terms, the formalism automatically gives
results that are invariant under electric-magnetic duality. In one instance,
this duality is mixed in an interesting way with triality.Comment: 89 page
Phonon Mode Spectroscopy, Electron-Phonon Coupling and the Metal-Insulator Transition in Quasi-One-Dimensional M2Mo6Se6
We present electronic structure calculations, electrical resistivity data and
the first specific heat measurements in the normal and superconducting states
of quasi-one-dimensional M2Mo6Se6 (M = Tl, In, Rb). Rb2Mo6Se6 undergoes a
metal-insulator transition at ~170K: electronic structure calculations indicate
that this is likely to be driven by the formation of a dynamical charge density
wave. However, Tl2Mo6Se6 and In2Mo6Se6 remain metallic down to low temperature,
with superconducting transitions at Tc = 4.2K and 2.85K respectively. The
absence of any metal-insulator transition in these materials is due to a larger
in-plane bandwidth, leading to increased inter-chain hopping which suppresses
the density wave instability. Electronic heat capacity data for the
superconducting compounds reveal an exceptionally low density of states DEF =
0.055 states eV^-1 atom^-1, with BCS fits showing 2Delta/kBTc >= 5 for
Tl2Mo6Se6 and 3.5 for In2Mo6Se6. Modelling the lattice specific heat with a set
of Einstein modes, we obtain the approximate phonon density of states F(w).
Deconvolving the resistivity for the two superconductors then yields their
electron-phonon transport coupling function a^2F(w). In Tl2Mo6Se6 and
In2Mo6Se6, F(w) is dominated by an optical "guest ion" mode at ~5meV and a set
of acoustic modes from ~10-30meV. Rb2Mo6Se6 exhibits a similar spectrum;
however, the optical phonon has a lower intensity and is shifted to ~8meV.
Electrons in Tl2Mo6Se6 couple strongly to both sets of modes, whereas In2Mo6Se6
only displays significant coupling in the 10-18meV range. Although pairing is
clearly not mediated by the guest ion phonon, we believe it has a beneficial
effect on superconductivity in Tl2Mo6Se6, given its extraordinarily large
coupling strength and higher Tc compared to In2Mo6Se6.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure
Neutrino Zero Modes on Electroweak Strings
Zero modes of massive standard model fermions have been found on electroweak
Z-strings. A zero mode solution for a massless left-handed neutrino is also
known, but was thought to be non-normalizable. Here we show that although this
mode is not discretely normalizable, it is delta-function normalizable and the
correct interpretation of this solution is within the framework of the
continuum spectrum. We also analyze an extension of the standard model
including right-handed neutrinos in which neutrinos have Dirac masses, arising
from a Yukawa coupling to the usual SU(2) Higgs doublet, and right-handed
Majorana masses. The Majorana mass terms are taken to be spatially homogeneous
and are presumed to arise from the vacuum expectation value of some field
acquired in a phase transition well above the electroweak phase transition. The
resulting zero energy equations have a discrete zero mode.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Nondegenerate Fermions in the Background of the Sphaleron Barrier
We consider level crossing in the background of the sphaleron barrier for
nondegenerate fermions. The mass splitting within the fermion doublets allows
only for an axially symmetric ansatz for the fermion fields. In the background
of the sphaleron we solve the partial differential equations for the fermion
functions. We find little angular dependence for our choice of ansatz. We
therefore propose a good approximate ansatz with radial functions only. We
generalize this approximate ansatz with radial functions only to fermions in
the background of the sphaleron barrier and argue, that it is a good
approximation there, too.Comment: LATEX, 20 pages, 11 figure
Level Crossing Along Sphaleron Barriers
In the electroweak sector of the standard model topologically inequivalent
vacua are separated by finite energy barriers, whose height is given by the
sphale\-ron. For large values of the Higgs mass there exist several sphaleron
solutions and the barriers are no longer symmetric. We construct paths of
classical configurations from one vacuum to a neighbouring one and solve the
fermion equations in the background field configurations along such paths,
choosing the fermions of a doublet degenerate in mass. As in the case of light
Higgs masses we observe the level crossing phenomenon also for large Higgs
masses.Comment: 17 pages, latex, 10 figures in uuencoded postscript files. THU-94/0
The Sphaleron Barrier in the Presence of Fermions
We calculate the minimal energy path over the sphaleron barrier in the
pre\-sen\-ce of fermions, assuming that the fermions of a doublet are
degenerate in mass. This allows for spherically symmetric ans\"atze for the
fields, when the mixing angle dependence is neglected. While light fermions
have little influence on the barrier, the presence of heavy fermions ( TeV) strongly deforms the barrier, giving rise to additional sphalerons
for very heavy fermions ( 10 TeV). Heavy fermions form
non-topological solitons in the vacuum sector.Comment: 19 pages, latex, 18 figures in 3 seperate uuencoded postscript files
THU-93/1
Sphalerons, spectral flow, and anomalies
The topology of configuration space may be responsible in part for the
existence of sphalerons. Here, sphalerons are defined to be static but unstable
finite-energy solutions of the classical field equations. Another manifestation
of the nontrivial topology of configuration space is the phenomenon of spectral
flow for the eigenvalues of the Dirac Hamiltonian. The spectral flow, in turn,
is related to the possible existence of anomalies. In this review, the
interconnection of these topics is illustrated for three particular sphalerons
of SU(2) Yang-Mills-Higgs theory.Comment: 35 pages with revtex4; invited paper for the August special issue of
JMP on "Integrability, topological solitons and beyond
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