24,078 research outputs found
The Triassic-Jurassic boundary in eastern North America
Rift basins of the Atlantic passive margin in eastern North America are filled with thousands of meters of continental rocks termed the Newark Supergroup which provide an unprecedented opportunity to examine the fine scale structure of the Triassic-Jurassic mass extinction in continental environments. Time control, vital to the understanding of the mechanisms behind mass extinctions, is provided by lake-level cycles apparently controlled by orbitally induced climate change allowing resolution at the less than 21,000 year level. Correlation with other provinces is provided by a developing high resolution magnetostratigraphy and palynologically-based biostratigraphy. A large number of at least local vertebrate and palynomorph extinctions are concentrated around the boundary with survivors constituting the earliest Jurassic assemblages, apparently without the introduction of new taxa. The palynofloral transition is marked by the dramatic elimination of a relatively high diversity Triassic pollen assemblage with the survivors making up a Jurassic assemblage of very low diversity overwhelmingly dominated by Corollina. Based principally on palynological correlations, the hypothesis that these continental taxonomic transitions were synchronous with the massive Triassic-Jurassic marine extinctions is strongly corroborated. An extremely rapid, perhaps catastrophic, taxonomic turnover at the Triassic-Jurassic boundary, synchronous in continental and marine realms is hypothesized and discussed
vbyCaHbeta CCD Photometry of Clusters. VI. The Metal-Deficient Open Cluster NGC 2420
CCD photometry on the intermediate-band vbyCaHbeta system is presented for
the metal-deficient open cluster, NGC 2420. Restricting the data to probable
single members of the cluster using the CMD and the photometric indices alone
generates a sample of 106 stars at the cluster turnoff. The average E(b-y) =
0.03 +/- 0.003 (s.e.m.) or E(B-V) = 0.050 +/- 0.004 (s.e.m.), where the errors
refer to internal errors alone. With this reddening, [Fe/H] is derived from
both m1 and hk, using b-y and Hbeta as the temperature index. The agreement
among the four approaches is reasonable, leading to a final weighted average of
[Fe/H] = -0.37 +/- 0.05 (s.e.m.) for the cluster, on a scale where the Hyades
has [Fe/H] = +0.12. When combined with the abundances from DDO photometry and
from recalibrated low-resolution spectroscopy, the mean metallicity becomes
[Fe/H] = -0.32 +/- 0.03. It is also demonstrated that the average cluster
abundances based upon either DDO data or low-resolution spectroscopy are
consistently reliable to 0.05 dex or better, contrary to published attempts to
establish an open cluster metallicity scale using simplistic offset corrections
among different surveys.Comment: scheduled for Jan. 2006 AJ; 33 pages, latex, includes 7 figures and 2
table
Heterotic T-Duality and the Renormalization Group
We consider target space duality transformations for heterotic sigma models
and strings away from renormalization group fixed points. By imposing certain
consistency requirements between the T-duality symmetry and renormalization
group flows, the one loop gauge beta function is uniquely determined, without
any diagram calculations. Classical T-duality symmetry is a valid quantum
symmetry of the heterotic sigma model, severely constraining its
renormalization flows at this one loop order. The issue of heterotic anomalies
and their cancelation is addressed from this duality constraining viewpoint.Comment: 17 pages, Late
Fuzzy Nambu-Goldstone Physics
In spacetime dimensions larger than 2, whenever a global symmetry G is
spontaneously broken to a subgroup H, and G and H are Lie groups, there are
Nambu-Goldstone modes described by fields with values in G/H. In
two-dimensional spacetimes as well, models where fields take values in G/H are
of considerable interest even though in that case there is no spontaneous
breaking of continuous symmetries. We consider such models when the world sheet
is a two-sphere and describe their fuzzy analogues for G=SU(N+1),
H=S(U(N-1)xU(1)) ~ U(N) and G/H=CP^N. More generally our methods give fuzzy
versions of continuum models on S^2 when the target spaces are Grassmannians
and flag manifolds described by (N+1)x(N+1) projectors of rank =< (N+1)/2.
These fuzzy models are finite-dimensional matrix models which nevertheless
retain all the essential continuum topological features like solitonic sectors.
They seem well-suited for numerical work.Comment: Latex, 18 pages; references added, typos correcte
vbyCaHbeta CCD Photometry of Clusters. VIII. The Super-Metal Rich, Old Open Cluster NGC 6791
CCD photometry on the intermediate-band vbyCaHbeta system is presented for
the metal-rich, old open cluster, NGC 6791. Preliminary analysis led to [Fe/H]
above +0.4 with an anomalously high reddening and an age below 5 Gyr. A revised
calibration between (b-y)_0 and [Fe/H] at a given temperature shows that the
traditional color-metallicity relations underestimate the color of the turnoff
stars at high metallicity. With the revised relation, the metallicity from hk
and the reddening for NGC 6791 become [Fe/H] = +0.45 +/- 0.04 and E(b-y) =
0.113 +/- 0.012 or E(B-V) = 0.155 +/- 0.016. Using the same technique,
reanalysis of the photometry for NGC 6253 produces [Fe/H] = +0.58 +/-0.04 and
E(b-y) = 0.120 +/- 0.018 or E(B-V) = 0.160 +/- 0.025. The errors quoted include
both the internal and external errors. For NGC 6791, the metallicity from m_1
is a factor of two below that from hk, a result that may be coupled to the
consistently low metal abundance from DDO photometry of the cluster and the
C-deficiency found from high dispersion spectroscopy. E(B-V) is the same value
predicted from Galactic reddening maps. With E(B-V) = 0.15 and [Fe/H] = +0.45,
the available isochrones predict an age of 7.0 +/- 1.0 Gyr and an apparent
modulus of (m-M) = 13.60 +/- 0.15, with the dominant source of the uncertainty
arising from inconsistencies among the isochrones. The reanalysis of NGC 6253
with the revised lower reddening confirms that on both the hk and m_1
metallicity scales, NGC 6253, while less than half the age of NGC 6791, remains
at least as metal-rich as NGC 6791, if not richer.Comment: Accepted for Astronomical Journal. 42 p. latex file includes 11
figures and 3 tables, one of which is a short version of a data table to
appear in online AJ in its entiret
Neutron activation analysis traces copper artifacts to geographical point of origin
Impurities remaining in the metallic copper are identified and quantified by spectrographic and neutron activation analysis. Determination of the type of ore used for the copper artifact places the geographic point of origin of the artifact
Quantum field effects in coupled atomic and molecular Bose-Einstein condensates
This paper examines the parameter regimes in which coupled atomic and
molecular Bose-Einstein condensates do not obey the Gross-Pitaevskii equation.
Stochastic field equations for coupled atomic and molecular condensates are
derived using the functional positive-P representation. These equations
describe the full quantum state of the coupled condensates and include the
commonly used Gross-Pitaevskii equation as the noiseless limit. The model
includes all interactions between the particles, background gas losses,
two-body losses and the numerical simulations are performed in three
dimensions. It is found that it is possible to differentiate the quantum and
semiclassical behaviour when the particle density is sufficiently low and the
coupling is sufficiently strong.Comment: 4 postscript figure
The problem of the Pleiades distance. Constraints from Stromgren photometry of nearby field stars
The discrepancy between the Pleiades cluster distance based on Hipparcos
parallaxes and main sequence fitting is investigated on the basis of Stromgren
photometry of F-type stars. Field stars with the same metallicity as the
Pleiades have been selected from the m1 index and a technique has been
developed to locate the ZAMS of these field stars in color-magnitude diagrams
based on the color/temperature indices b-y, v-y, and beta. Fitting the Pleiades
to these ZAMS relations results in a distance modulus of 5.61+/-0.03 mag in
contrast to the Hipparcos modulus of 5.36+/-0.06 mag. Hence, we cannot confirm
the recent claim by Grenon (1999) that the distance problem is solved by
adopting a low metallicity of the Pleiades ([Fe/H]=-0.11) as determined from
Geneva photometry. The metallicity sensitivity of the ZAMS determined by the
field stars is investigated, and by combining this sensitivity in all three
color/temperature indices b-y, v-y, and beta we get a independent test of the
Pleiades distance modulus which support our value of 5.61 mag. Furthermore, the
field star sample used for the comparison is tested against theoretical
isochrones of different ages to show that evolutionary effects in the field
star sample are not biasing our distance modulus estimate significantly.
Possible explanations of the Pleiades distance problem are discussed and it is
suggested that the discrepancy in the derived moduli may be linked to a
non-spherical shape of the cluster.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Using Adaptive Mesh Refinement to Study Grid Resolution Effects for Shock-Boundary Layer Interactions
Adaptive Mesh Refinement (AMR) promises a much more computationally efficient means to obtain a discrete approximation to a continuous boundary value problem of a specified accuracy than classic isotropic grid refinement. The AMR capability of OVERFLOW (a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) code) is utilized to provide estimates of the exact analytical solutions to problems of interest to turbulence modeling. Predictions of surface pressure and skin friction, essentially the state of stress at the surface, shows little difference with grids believed to be "grid resolved." Velocity profiles, on the other hand, show marked differences in flows with shocks. The AMR method, as implemented in OVERFLOW 2.2k, appears to provide the ability to produce arbitrarily accurate solutions at a predictable cost much smaller than classic uniform mesh refinement
Two-Loop Beta Functions Without Feynman Diagrams
Starting from a consistency requirement between T-duality symmetry and
renormalization group flows, the two-loop metric beta function is found for a
d=2 bosonic sigma model on a generic, torsionless background. The result is
obtained without Feynman diagram calculations, and represents further evidence
that duality symmetry severely constrains renormalization flows.Comment: 4 pp., REVTeX. Added discussion on scheme (in)dependence; final
version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
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