The Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule and the infinite-momentum limit

We study the current-algebra approach to the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule, paying particular attention to the infinite-momentum limit. Employing the order-alpha^2 Weinberg-Salam model of weak interactions as a testing ground, we find that the legitimacy of the infinite-momentum limit is intimately connected with the validity of the naive equal-times algebra of electric charge densities. Our results considerably reduce the reliability of a recently proposed modification of the Gerasimov-Drell-Hearn sum rule, originating from an anomalous charge-density algebra.Comment: 12 pages; 6 figures; LaTeX; submitted to Z.Phys.

Scanning Electron Microscopic Examination of the Putative Olfactory Structures Possessed by the Phorid Fly, Megaselia halterata (Diptera, Phoridae)

The antennae, palps, and mouth parts sheath of Megaselia halterata (Wood) (Diptera, Phoridae) were examined by scanning electron microscopy to locate putative olfactory sensilla (POS). Most POS were found on the third antenna! segment (Johnston\u27s organ). These POS included a lanceolate peg, a bulbous peg, and two types of pit sensilla. Female flies could be distinguished from males by the predominance of the lanceolate peg on the female Johnston\u27s organ. One type of pit sensillum with a single exterior opening was located below the cuticular surface and housed several pegs. The other type of pit sensillum was domed with a single exterior opening, housed a single peg, and the lower half of this sensillum was embedded into the wall of the Johnston\u27s organ. This type of pit sensillum was also found on the sixth antennal segment of both sexes. A bulbous peg was found on the palps of both sexes. No POS were found on the mouth parts sheath. Specimens were prepared in the traditional manner for scanning electron microscopy examination. Also specimens were embedded in Paraplast and sections of the Johnston\u27s organ clarified the internal structure and distribution of the pit sensilla on this organ

Overview of the Nordic Seas CARINA data and salinity measurements

Water column data of carbon and carbon relevant hydrographic and hydrochemical parameters from 188 previously non-publicly available cruises in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Southern Ocean have been retrieved and merged into a new database: CARINA (CARbon IN the Atlantic). The data have been subject to rigorous quality control (QC) in order to ensure highest possible quality and consistency. The data for most of the parameters included were examined in order to quantify systematic biases in the reported values, i.e. secondary quality control. Significant biases have been corrected for in the data products, i.e. the three merged files with measured, calculated and interpolated values for each of the three CARINA regions; the Arctic Mediterranean Seas (AMS), the Atlantic (ATL) and the Southern Ocean (SO). With the adjustments the CARINA database is consistent both internally as well as with GLODAP (Key et al., 2004) and is suitable for accurate assessments of, for example, oceanic carbon inventories and uptake rates and for model validation. The Arctic Mediterranean Seas include the Arctic Ocean and the Nordic Seas, and the quality control was carried out separately in these two areas. This contribution provides an overview of the CARINA data from the Nordic Seas and summarises the findings of the QC of the salinity data. One cruise had salinity data that were of questionable quality, and these have been removed from the data product. An evaluation of the consistency of the quality controlled salinity data suggests that they are consistent to at least ±0.005

Dispersion Effects in Nucleon Polarisabilities

We present a formalism to extract the dynamical nucleon polarisabilities defined via a multipole expansion of the structure amplitudes in nucleon Compton scattering. In contradistinction to the static polarisabilities, dynamical polarisabilities gauge the response of the internal degrees of freedom of a composed object to an external, real photon field of arbitrary energy. Being energy dependent, they therefore contain additional information about dispersive effects induced by internal relaxation mechanisms, baryonic resonances and meson production thresholds of the nucleon. We give explicit formulae to extract the dynamical electric and magnetic dipole as well as quadrupole polarisabilities from low energy nucleon Compton scattering up to the one pion production threshold and discuss the connection to the definition of static nucleon polarisabilities. As a concrete example, we examine the results of leading order Heavy Baryon Chiral Perturbation Theory for the four leading spin independent iso-scalar polarisabilities of the nucleon. Finally, we consider the possible r{\^o}le of energy dependent effects in low energy extractions of the iso-scalar dipole polarisabilities from Compton scattering on the deuteron.Comment: 17 pages LaTeX2e with 2 figures, using includegraphicx (5 .eps files). Minor corrections, references updated. Contents identical to version to appear in Phys. Rev. C 65, spelling differen

Cosmic phylogeny: reconstructing the chemical history of the solar neighbourhood with an evolutionary tree

Using 17 chemical elements as a proxy for stellar DNA, we present a full phylogenetic study of stars in the solar neighbourhood. This entails applying a clustering technique that is widely used in molecular biology to construct an evolutionary tree from which three branches emerge. These are interpreted as stellar populations that separate in age and kinematics and can be thus attributed to the thin disc, the thick disc and an intermediate population of probable distinct origin. We further find six lone stars of intermediate age that could not be assigned to any population with enough statistical significance. Combining the ages of the stars with their position on the tree, we are able to quantify the mean rate of chemical enrichment of each of the populations, and thus show in a purely empirical way that the star formation rate in the thick disc is much higher than that in the thin disc. We are also able to estimate the relative contribution of dynamical processes such as radial migration and disc heating to the distribution of chemical elements in the solar neighbourhood. Our method offers an alternative approach to chemical tagging methods with the advantage of visualizing the behaviour of chemical elements in evolutionary trees. This offers a new way to search for ‘common ancestors’ that can reveal the origin of solar neighbourhood stars.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreement nos 320360 and 321067, as well as King’s College Cambridge CRA programme

The Threshold Pion-Photoproduction of Nucleons In The Chiral Quark Model

In this paper, we show that the low energy theorem (LET) of the threshold pion-photoproduction can be fully recovered in the quark model. An essential result of this investigation is that the quark-pion operators are obtained from the effective chiral Lagrangian, and the low energy theorem does not require the constraints on the internal structures of the nucleon. The pseudoscalar quark-pion coupling generates an additional term at order $\mu=m_{\pi}/M$ only in the isospin amplitude $A^{(-)}$. The role of the transitions between the nucleon and the resonance $P_{33}(1232)$ and P-wave baryons are also discussed, we find that the leading contributions to the isospin amplitudes at $O(\mu^2)$ are from the transition between the P-wave baryons and the nucleon and the charge radius of the nucleon. The leading contribution from the P-wave baryons only affects the neutral pion production, and improve the agreement with data significantly. The transition between the resonance $P_{33}(1232)$ and the nucleon only gives an order $\mu^3$ corrections to $A^{(-)}$

Online measurements of the emissions of intermediate-volatility and semi-volatile organic compounds from aircraft

A detailed understanding of the climate and air quality impacts of aviation requires measurements of the emissions of intermediate-volatility and semi-volatile organic compounds (I/SVOCs) from aircraft. Currently both the amount and chemical composition of aircraft I/SVOC emissions remain poorly characterized. Here we characterize I/SVOC emissions from aircraft, using a novel instrument for the online, quantitative measurement of the mass loading and composition of low-volatility organic vapors. Emissions from the NASA DC8 aircraft were sampled on the ground 143 m downwind of the engines and characterized as a function of engine power from idle (4% maximum rated thrust) through 85% power. Results show that I/SVOC emissions are highest during engine idle operating conditions, with decreasing but non-zero I/SVOC emissions at higher engine powers. Comparison of I/SVOC emissions with total hydrocarbon (THC) measurements, VOC measurements, and an established emissions profile indicates that I/SVOCs comprise 10–20% of the total organic gas-phase emissions at idle, and an increasing fraction of the total gas-phase organic emissions at higher powers. Positive matrix factorization of online mass spectra is used to identify three distinct types of I/SVOC emissions: aliphatic, aromatic and oxygenated. The volatility and chemical composition of the emissions suggest that unburned fuel is the dominant source of I/SVOCs at idle, while pyrolysis products make up an increasing fraction of the I/SVOCs at higher powers. Oxygenated I/SVOC emissions were detected at lower engine powers (≤30%) and may be linked to cracked, partially oxidized or unburned fuel components.United States. Dept. of Energy. Office of Science (Small Business Innovation Research Program Grant DE-SC0001666)United States. Environmental Protection Agency (National Center for Environmental Research Grant RD834560

E. coli elongation factor Tu bound to a GTP analogue displays an open conformation equivalent to the GDP-bound form

According to the traditional view, GTPases act as molecular switches, which cycle between distinct ‘on’ and ‘off’ conformations bound to GTP and GDP, respectively. Translation elongation factor EF-Tu is a GTPase essential for prokaryotic protein synthesis. In its GTP-bound form, EF-Tu delivers aminoacylated tRNAs to the ribosome as a ternary complex. GTP hydrolysis is thought to cause the release of EF-Tu from aminoacyl-tRNA and the ribosome due to a dramatic conformational change following Pi release. Here, the crystal structure of Escherichia coli EF-Tu in complex with a non-hydrolysable GTP analogue (GDPNP) has been determined. Remarkably, the overall conformation of EF-Tu·GDPNP displays the classical, open GDP-bound conformation. This is in accordance with an emerging view that the identity of the bound guanine nucleotide is not ‘locking’ the GTPase in a fixed conformation. Using a single molecule approach, the conformational dynamics of various ligand-bound forms of EF-Tu were probed in solution by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. The results suggest that EF-Tu, free in solution, may sample a wider set of conformations than the structurally well-defined GTP- and GDP-forms known from previous X-ray crystallographic studies. Only upon binding, as a ternary complex, to the mRNA programmed ribosome, is the well-known, closed GTP-bound conformation, observed