The quantitative soil pit method for measuring belowground carbon and nitrogen stocks

Many important questions in ecosystem science require estimates of stocks of soil C and nutrients. Quantitative soil pits provide direct measurements of total soil mass and elemental content in depth-based samples representative of large volumes, bypassing potential errors associated with independently measuring soil bulk density, rock volume, and elemental concentrations. The method also allows relatively unbiased sampling of other belowground C and nutrient stocks, including roots, coarse organic fragments, and rocks. We present a comprehensive methodology for sampling these pools with quantitative pits and assess their accuracy, precision, effort, and sampling intensity as compared to other methods. At 14 forested sites in New Hampshire, nonsoil belowground pools (which other methods may omit, double-count, or undercount) accounted for upward of 25% of total belowground C and N stocks: coarse material accounted for 4 and 1% of C and N in the O horizon; roots were 11 and 4% of C and N in the O horizon and 10 and 3% of C and N in the B horizon; and soil adhering to rocks represented 5% of total B-horizon C and N. The top 50 cm of the C horizon contained the equivalent of 17% of B-horizon carbon and N. Sampling procedures should be carefully designed to avoid treating these important pools inconsistently. Quantitative soil pits have fewer sources of systematic error than coring methods; the main disadvantage is that because they are time-consuming and create a larger zone of disturbance, fewer observations can be made than with cores

Low Energy Theory for 2 flavors at High Density QCD

We construct the effective Lagrangian describing the low energy excitations for Quantum Chromodynamics with two flavors at high density. The non-linear realization framework is employed to properly construct the low energy effective theory. The light degrees of freedom, as required by 't Hooft anomaly conditions, contain massless fermions which we properly include in the effective Lagrangian. We also provide a discussion of the linearly realized Lagrangian.Comment: 17 pages, RevTeX format, references added. To appear in Phys. Rev.

Dark mammoth trunks in the merging galaxy NGC 1316 and a mechanism of cosmic double helices

NGC 1316 is a giant, elliptical galaxy containing a complex network of dark, dust features. The morphology of these features has been examined in some detail using a Hubble Space Telescope, Advanced Camera for Surveys image. It is found that most of the features are constituted of long filaments. There also exist a great number of dark structures protruding inwards from the filaments. Many of these structures are strikingly similar to elephant trunks in H II regions in the Milky Way Galaxy, although much larger. The structures, termed mammoth trunks, generally are filamentary and often have shapes resembling the letters V or Y. In some of the mammoth trunks the stem of the Y can be resolved into two or more filaments, many of which showing signs of being intertwined. A model of the mammoth trunks, related to a recent theory of elephant trunks, is proposed. Based on magnetized filaments, the model is capable of giving an account of the various shapes of the mammoth trunks observed, including the twined structures.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Ultrarelativistic electron-hole pairing in graphene bilayer

We consider ground state of electron-hole graphene bilayer composed of two independently doped graphene layers when a condensate of spatially separated electron-hole pairs is formed. In the weak coupling regime the pairing affects only conduction band of electron-doped layer and valence band of hole-doped layer, thus the ground state is similar to ordinary BCS condensate. At strong coupling, an ultrarelativistic character of electron dynamics reveals and the bands which are remote from Fermi surfaces (valence band of electron-doped layer and conduction band of hole-doped layer) are also affected by the pairing. The analysis of instability of unpaired state shows that s-wave pairing with band-diagonal condensate structure, described by two gaps, is preferable. A relative phase of the gaps is fixed, however at weak coupling this fixation diminishes allowing gapped and soliton-like excitations. The coupled self-consistent gap equations for these two gaps are solved at zero temperature in the constant-gap approximation and in the approximation of separable potential. It is shown that, if characteristic width of the pairing region is of the order of magnitude of chemical potential, then the value of the gap in the spectrum is not much different from the BCS estimation. However, if the pairing region is wider, then the gap value can be much larger and depends exponentially on its energy width.Comment: 13 pages with 8 figures; accepted to Eur. Phys. J.

A quantum Monte Carlo study of the one-dimensional ionic Hubbard model

Quantum Monte Carlo methods are used to study a quantum phase transition in a 1D Hubbard model with a staggered ionic potential (D). Using recently formulated methods, the electronic polarization and localization are determined directly from the correlated ground state wavefunction and compared to results of previous work using exact diagonalization and Hartree-Fock. We find that the model undergoes a thermodynamic transition from a band insulator (BI) to a broken-symmetry bond ordered (BO) phase as the ratio of U/D is increased. Since it is known that at D = 0 the usual Hubbard model is a Mott insulator (MI) with no long-range order, we have searched for a second transition to this state by (i) increasing U at fixed ionic potential (D) and (ii) decreasing D at fixed U. We find no transition from the BO to MI state, and we propose that the MI state in 1D is unstable to bond ordering under the addition of any finite ionic potential. In real 1D systems the symmetric MI phase is never stable and the transition is from a symmetric BI phase to a dimerized BO phase, with a metallic point at the transition

DCC dynamics with the SU(3) linear sigma model

The SU(3) extension of the linear sigma model is employed to elucidate the effect of including strangeness on the formation of disoriented chiral condensates. By means of a Hartree factorization, approximate dispersion relations for the 18 scalar and pseudoscalar meson species are derived and their self-consistent solution makes it possible to trace out the thermal path of the two order parameters as well as delineate the region of instability within which spontaneous pair creation becomes possible. The results depend significantly on the employed sigma mass, with the highest values yielding the largest regions of instability. An approximate solution of the equations of motion for the order parameter in scenarios emulating uniform scaling expansions show that even with a rapid quench only the pionic modes grow unstable. Nevertheless, the rapid and oscillatory relaxation of the order parameters leads to enhanced production of both pions and (to a lesser degree) kaons.Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX, 11 postscript figures, discussion about anomaly term adde

Search for the lepton-family-number nonconserving decay \mu -> e + \gamma

The MEGA experiment, which searched for the muon- and electron-number violating decay \mu -> e + \gamma, is described. The spectrometer system, the calibrations, the data taking procedures, the data analysis, and the sensitivity of the experiment are discussed. The most stringent upper limit on the branching ratio of \mu -> e + \gamma) < 1.2 x 10^{-11} was obtained

Does It Really Work? Re-Assessing the Impact of Pre-Departure Cross-Cultural Training on Expatriate Adjustment

Cultural adjustment is considered to be a prerequisite for expatriate success abroad. One way to enhance adjustment is to provide employees with knowledge and awareness of appropriate norms and behaviors of the host country through cross-cultural training (CCT). This article analyzes the impact of pre-departure CCT on expatriate adjustment and focuses on variations in participation, length and the comprehensiveness of training. Unlike previous research, the study focuses on the effectiveness of pre-departure CCT for non-US employees expatriated to a broad range of host country settings. Employing data from 339 expatriates from 20 German Multinational Corporations (MNCs) the study finds CCT has little if any effect on general, interactional or work setting expatriate adjustment. However, a significant impact of foreign language competence was found for all three dimensions of expatriate adjustment. We used interviews with 20 expatriates to supplement our discussion and provide further implications for practice