Development of a mass spectrometer system for the measurement of inert gases in meteorites

The study of the inert gases in meteorites has provided many clues as to the origin and evolution of the solar system. Particularly crucial and complex are the gases krypton and xenon. To accurately measure the isotopic compositions of these gases requires a mass spectrometer of high sensitivity and resolution. A previously unused and largely untested mass spectrometer system was brought to the point where it was ready for routine sample analyses. This involved, among other things, focusing the ion beam for optimal peak shape and sensitivity, documenting the instrument's response to a series of characteristic tests such as multplier gain checks, and interfacing the instrument to a computer to run the sample analyses. Following this testing and setting up, three iron meteorite samples were to be analyzed for argon, krypton, and xenon. The three samples were shown in prior work to possibly contain primordial heavy inert gases. Although these analyses have not yet been carried out, it is anticipated that they will be completed in the near future

Numerical Computation of the Effective Potential and Renormalization

We present a novel way to compute the one-loop ring-improved effective potential numerically, which avoids the spurious appearence of complex expressions and at the same time is free from the renormalization ambiguities of the self-consistent approaches, based on the direct application of Schwinger-Dyson type equations to the masses.Comment: 8 pages, LATEX, 2 postscript figures available. e-mail : [email protected] , submitted to Mod. Phys. Letter

Gauge-Higgs unification on the brane

From the quantum field theory point of view, matter and gauge fields are generally expected to be localised around branes or topological defects occurring in extra dimensions. Here I discuss a simple scenario where, by starting with a five dimensional SU(3) gauge theory, we end up with several 4-D parallel branes with localised "chiral" fermions and gauge fields to them. I will show that it is possible to reproduce the electroweak model confined to a single brane, allowing a simple and geometrical approach to the fermion hierarchy problem. Some nice results of this construction are: Gauge and Higgs fields are unified at the 5-D level; and new particles are predicted: a left-handed neutrino of zero hypercharge, and a massive vector field coupling together the new neutrino to other left-handed leptons.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of the RTN workshop "The Quest for Unification: Theory Confronts Experiment", Corfu, Greece, Sept 11-18, 200

nZVI particles production for the remediation of soil and water polluted by inorganic Lead

The present study deals with experiments of Pb removal by nano-Zero Valent Iron (nZVI) in aqueous solution and in soil. Synthetic Pb aqueous solutions were treated by nZVI, at a fixed Pb concentration of 100 mg L-1 , varying nanoparticles initial concentration in the range between 27 and 270 mg nZVI L-1 . A kinetic study was carried out: Pb adsorption followed a first order kinetic, and half life times between 11 and 26.66 min were determined. Soil samples were first characterized, and Pb speciation and concentration by sequential extractions was determined. Adsorption tests were then carried out at three selected amounts of nZVI, to allow Pb stabilization in the soil matrix. To evaluate the treatment efficiency, sequential extractions were also performed on the treated samples

Hexavalent chromium reduction in manganese-rich soils by ZVI nanoparticles: the influence of natural organic matter and manganese oxides

Hexavalent chromium reduction by nano Zero-Valent Iron (nZVI) has been proved fast and efficient, mainly due to nanoparticles large specific surface area and high chemical reactivity. In this work the influence of natural organic matter and manganese oxide was investigated, through a set of experimental tests carried out on a real polluted soils naturally rich in manganese. Soil samples were characterized in terms of initial concentration of Cr, Cr(VI), Mn, pH, and TOC and three different nZVI solutions were used (120, 360 and 600 mg nZVI L-1 ) for the treatment. At selected interval times (0, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 120 min) a slurry sample was filtered and Cr(VI) residual concentration and pH were measured. The same procedure was carried out on an artificial spiked soil, characterized by a similar TOC and poor of Mn. Furthermore the two soils were mixed with different amounts of leonardite, to evaluate the influence of NOM on treatment efficiency

Continuous production of KNO3 nanosalts for the fertilization of soil by means of a Spinning Disk Reactor

In this study the production of high soluble material nanoparticles was successfully performed by means of a spinning disk reactor (SDR). This result was possible due to the use of a potassium nitrate saturated solution, which was continuously recycled back to the reactor after removal of the produced solid nanoparticles. Several process configurations were checked. It appears to be mandatory that the recycled saturated solution must be free of residual nanoparticles since their presence would lead to heterogeneous nucleation. In this respect, a small amount of nitric acid was added to the stream to permit the residual nanoparticle dissolution. Moreover, a spiral wounded piping system was developed in order to increase both the contact time and the mixing condition of the saturated solution with the added acid before entering the SD

Normal form decomposition for Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperators

In this paper we explore the set of linear maps sending the set of quantum Gaussian states into itself. These maps are in general not positive, a feature which can be exploited as a test to check whether a given quantum state belongs to the convex hull of Gaussian states (if one of the considered maps sends it into a non positive operator, the above state is certified not to belong to the set). Generalizing a result known to be valid under the assumption of complete positivity, we provide a characterization of these Gaussian-to-Gaussian (not necessarily positive) superoperators in terms of their action on the characteristic function of the inputs. For the special case of one-mode mappings we also show that any Gaussian-to-Gaussian superoperator can be expressed as a concatenation of a phase-space dilatation, followed by the action of a completely positive Gaussian channel, possibly composed with a transposition. While a similar decomposition is shown to fail in the multi-mode scenario, we prove that it still holds at least under the further hypothesis of homogeneous action on the covariance matrix

Quantum synchronization as a local signature of super- and subradiance

We study the relationship between the collective phenomena of super and subradiance and spontaneous synchronization of quantum systems. To this aim we revisit the case of two detuned qubits interacting through a pure dissipative bosonic environment, which contains the minimal ingredients for our analysis. By using the Liouville formalism, we are able to find analytically the ultimate connection between these phenomena. We find that dynamical synchronization is due to the presence of long standing coherence between the ground state of the system and the subradiant state. We finally show that, under pure dissipation, the emergence of spontaneous synchronization and of subradiant emission occur on the same time scale. This reciprocity is broken in the presence of dephasing noise.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

On the origin of <i>Halipeurus heraldicus</i> on Round Island petrels: cophylogenetic relationships between petrels and their chewing lice

Lice phylogenetic relationships have often been used to elucidate host relationships and vice versa. In this study, we investigate the louse genus Halipeurus which parasitizes bird hosts in the families Procellariidae, Hydrobatidae and Pelecanoididae. The presence of two lice species on Pterodroma arminjoniana in different breeding grounds (Halipeurus heraldicus on Round Island, off Mauritius in the Indian Ocean and Halipeurus kermadecensis on Trindade Island in the Atlantic Ocean) has led to some confusion in the distribution of Pt. arminjoniana and its close relatives Pt. heraldica and Pt. neglecta. By using a cophylogenetic approach that incorporates uncertainties in phylogenetic reconstructions, we show significant overall coevolution between Halipeurus lice and their hosts. However, the study also indicates that the presence of H. heraldicus on Pt. arminjoniana and Pt. neglecta on Round Island and on Pt. heraldica on Gambier Island are the result of a host switch whereas H. kermadecensis is the ancestral parasite of Pt. arminjoniana. This suggests that H. kermadecensis was lost during or after colonisation of Round Island by Pt. arminjoniana. We conclude that cophylogenetic analyses are central to inferring the evolutionary history and biogeographical patterns of hosts and their parasites

About the limits of microfiltration for the purification of wastewaters

In the past, microfiltration was widely used as a pretreatment step for wastewater stream purification purposes. Experiences performed during the last years shows that microfiltration fails to maintain its performances for longer period of times. Many case studies demonstrate that the adoption of microfiltration leads to the failure of the overall process; the severe fouling of the microfiltration membranes leads to high operating costs with the consequence to make the treatment of the wastewater economically unfeasible. The boundary flux concept is a profitable tool to analyze fouling issues in membrane processes. The boundary flux value separates an operating region characterized by reversible fouling formation from irreversible one. Boundary flux values are not content, but function of time, as calculated by the subboundary fouling rate value. The knowledge of both parameters may fully describe the membrane performances in sub-boundary operating regimes. Many times, for wastewater purification purposes, ultrafiltration membranes appear to be suits better to the needs, even they exhibit lower permeate fluxes compared to microfiltration. Key to this choice is that ultrafiltration appears to resist better to fouling issues, with a limited reduction of the performances as a function of time. In other words, it appears that ultrafiltration exhibit higher boundary flux values and lower sub-boundary fouling rates. In this work, after a brief introduction to the boundary flux concept, for many different wastewater streams (more than 20, produced by the most relevant industries in food, agriculture, manufacture, pharmaceutics), the boundary flux and sub-boundary fouling rate values of different microfiltration and ultrafiltration membranes will be discussed and compared. The possibility to successfully use microfiltration as a pretreatment step strongly depends on the feedstock characteristics and, in detail, on the particle size of the suspended matter. In most cases, microfiltration demonstrates to be technically unsuitable for pretreatment purposes of many wastewater streams; as a consequence, the adoption of microfiltration pushes operators to exceed boundary flux conditions, therefore triggering severe fouling, that leads to economic unfeasibility of the process in long terms