1,398 research outputs found
Ancient great wall building materials reveal paleoenvironmental Changes in Northwestern China
Plant material used in the construction of segments and beacon towers of the ancient Great Wall in northwestern China contain untapped potential for revealing paleoenvironmental conditions. Here, we characterize the molecular preservation and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope compositions of common reeds (Phragmites) collected from Great Wall fascines dated to the Han Dynasty in today’s Gansu and Xinjiang provinces using a combination of chromatographic techniques and isotope analyses. Our data demonstrates that ancient reeds were harvested from local habitats that were more diverse than exist today. The isotope data also capture differential rates of environmental deterioration along the eastern margin of the Tarim Basin, leading to the intense evaporative stress on modern plants. This study demonstrates the wealth of environmental and climate information obtainable from site-specific organic building material of ancient walls, which have received considerably less attention than the iconic brick and stone masonry walls of the later Ming Dynasty.Introduction Results - Py-GC-MS Analysis - Lipid Concentration and Distribution - Bulk Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis Discussion - Differential Rates of Environmental Deterioration - Temperature and the Diversity of Ancient Phragmites Populations - Archaeological Significance of the Great Wall in Northwestern China Conclusions Methods - Site Locations and Sampling - Plant Biomolecular Composition -- Molecular Composition -- Plant Wax Lipids - Bulk Carbon and Nitrogen Isotope Analysis -- Carbon -- Nitroge
Antiferromagnetic interlayer exchange coupling across an amorphous metallic spacer layer
By means of magneto-optical Kerr effect we observe for the first time
antiferromagnetic coupling between ferromagnetic layers across an amorphous
metallic spacer layer. Biquadratic coupling occurs at the transition from a
ferromagnetically to an antiferromagnetically coupled region. Scanning
tunneling microscopy images of all involved layers are used to extract
thickness fluctuations and to verify the amorphous state of the spacer. The
observed antiferromagnetic coupling behavior is explained by RKKY interaction
taking into account the amorphous structure of the spacer material.Comment: Typset using RevTex, 4 pages with 4 figures (.eps
Large-Scale Atomistic Simulations of Environmental Effects on the Formation and Properties of Molecular Junctions
Using an updated simulation tool, we examine molecular junctions comprised of
benzene-1,4-dithiolate bonded between gold nanotips, focusing on the importance
of environmental factors and inter-electrode distance on the formation and
structure of bridged molecules. We investigate the complex relationship between
monolayer density and tip separation, finding that the formation of
multi-molecule junctions is favored at low monolayer density, while
single-molecule junctions are favored at high density. We demonstrate that tip
geometry and monolayer interactions, two factors that are often neglected in
simulation, affect the bonding geometry and tilt angle of bridged molecules. We
further show that the structures of bridged molecules at 298 and 77 K are
similar.Comment: To appear in ACS Nano, 30 pages, 5 figure
Study of and and
We study the decays of and to the final states
and based on a single
baryon tag method using data samples of
and events collected with
the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider. The decays to
are observed for the first time. The
measured branching fractions of and
are in good agreement with, and much
more precise, than the previously published results. The angular parameters for
these decays are also measured for the first time. The measured angular decay
parameter for , , is found to be negative, different to the other
decay processes in this measurement. In addition, the "12\% rule" and isospin
symmetry in the and and
systems are tested.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures. This version is consistent with paper published
in Phys.Lett. B770 (2017) 217-22
Observation of an anomalous line shape of the mass spectrum near the mass threshold in
Using events collected by the BESIII experiment
in 2012, we study the
process and observe a significant abrupt change in the slope of the
invariant mass distribution at the
proton-antiproton () mass threshold. We use two models to
characterize the line shape around
: one which explicitly incorporates the opening of a
decay threshold in the mass spectrum (Flatt\'{e} formula), and another which is
the coherent sum of two resonant amplitudes. Both fits show almost equally good
agreement with data, and suggest the existence of either a broad state around
with strong couplings to final states or a
narrow state just below the mass threshold. Although we cannot
distinguish between the fits, either one supports the existence of a
molecule-like state or bound state with greater than significance
Measurement of the proton form factor by studying
Using data samples collected with the BESIII detector at the BEPCII collider,
we measure the Born cross section of at 12
center-of-mass energies from 2232.4 to 3671.0 MeV. The corresponding effective
electromagnetic form factor of the proton is deduced under the assumption that
the electric and magnetic form factors are equal . In
addition, the ratio of electric to magnetic form factors, , and
are extracted by fitting the polar angle distribution of the proton
for the data samples with larger statistics, namely at 2232.4 and
2400.0 MeV and a combined sample at = 3050.0, 3060.0 and 3080.0 MeV,
respectively. The measured cross sections are in agreement with recent results
from BaBar, improving the overall uncertainty by about 30\%. The
ratios are close to unity and consistent with BaBar results in
the same region, which indicates the data are consistent with the
assumption that within uncertainties.Comment: 13 pages, 24 figure
Observation of the state in at BESIII
We report the observation of the in the process with a statistical
significance of , in data samples at center-of-mass energies
4.230, 4.260, 4.360, 4.420 and 4.600~GeV collected with the BESIII
detector at the BEPCII electron positron collider. The measured mass of the
is ~MeV/, where the first error is
statistical and the second systematic, and the width is less than ~MeV at
the 90\% confidence level. The products of the Born cross sections for
and the branching ratio are also measured. These measurements are in good
agreement with the assignment of the as the charmonium
state.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, version to appear in Phys. Rev. Let
An amplitude analysis of the system produced in radiative decays
An amplitude analysis of the system produced in radiative
decays is presented. In particular, a piecewise function that
describes the dynamics of the system is determined as a
function of from an analysis of the
decays collected by the BESIII detector.
The goal of this analysis is to provide a description of the scalar and tensor
components of the system while making minimal assumptions about
the properties or number of poles in the amplitude. Such a model-independent
description allows one to integrate these results with other related results
from complementary reactions in the development of phenomenological models,
which can then be used to directly fit experimental data to obtain parameters
of interest. The branching fraction of is
determined to be , where the uncertainty is
systematic only and the statistical uncertainty is negligible.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev. D 19 pages, 4 figure
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