Susceptibility inhomogeneity and non-Fermi liquid behavior in UCu_{5-x}Pt_x

Transverse-field muSR shifts and relaxation rates have been measured in the non-Fermi liquid (NFL) alloy system UCu_{5-x}Pt_x, x = 1.0, 1.5, and 2.5. At low temperatures the fractional spread in Knight shifts delta K/K approx deltachi/chi is gtrsim 2 for x = 1, but is only half this value for x = 1.5 and 2.5. In a disorder-driven scenario where the NFL behavior is due to a broadly distributed (Kondo or Griffiths-phase cluster) characteristic energy E, our results indicate that delta E/E_{rm av} approx (delta K/K)_{T=0} is similar for UCu_{5-x}Pd_x (x = 1 and 1.5) and UCu_4Pt, but is reduced for UCu_{5-x}Pt_x, x = 1.5 and 2.5. This reduction is due to a marked increase of E with increasing x; the spread delta E is found to be roughly independent of x. Our results correlate with the observed suppression of other NFL anomalies for x > 1 in UCu_{5-x}Pt_x but not in UCu_{5-x}Pd_x, and are further evidence for the importance of disorder in the NFL behavior of both these alloy systems.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to 10th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation, and Resonance, Oxford, UK, August 200

Genetic fat – bullet proofing the Merino ewe

Merino ewes are the backbone of the Australian sheep industry and this is likely to be the case for some time. Stocking rate will remain a key profit driver in Merino enterprises and to maintain or improve profitability producers will need to continually adapt their production systems to deal with even larger changes in feed supply between seasons and years. The reproductive performance of the Merino ewe also needs to improve, largely through improving the survival of twin born lambs, to rebuild flock numbers and meet market demand for lamb and sheep meat. Increasing both stocking rates and reproductive performance need to be achieved in the context of producers wanting to run more sheep per person with less intervention and increased consumer demand for welfare friendly products. Improving genetics and matching sheep genotype to the production and management system will inevitably become more important. We believe this will include defining traits to more easily identify Merino sheep that are more robust, that lose less liveweight when faced with sub-optimum nutrition and that produce more progeny with higher survival rates both pre- and post-weaning. Increasing genetic fat is the prime candidate for increasing the robustness of Merino ewes and their progeny as the storage and mobilisation of fat is an important mechanism for all animals to cope with fluctuating environments. Fat is stored during favourable times and then mobilised to provide energy for fundamental functions when requirements exceed supply, such as during periods of limited nutrition or during late pregnancy and lactation. The amount of fat stored in fat depots in sheep can be increased by selection for higher subcutaneous fat depth, using Australian Sheep Breeding Values (ASBVs) from MERINOSELECT. However, from a genetic perspective, reducing the fatness of lamb to improve its appeal to the consumer has resulted in a general focus on selection for less fat in Australian sheep breeds. Merino sheep have also become leaner as a result of selection for higher fleece weights and the genetic association between higher fleece weight and reduced fatness (Huisman and Brown 2009). Defining the true value of fat requires an understanding of the effect it has on the value of lamb carcasses as well as its effects on the productivity of the sheep production system in different environments. In this paper we have reviewed published papers and our own unpublished work to test the hypothesis that Merino sheep that are genetically fatter will have improved performance especially under more restricted nutritional conditions

Glassy Spin Dynamics in Non-Fermi-Liquid UCu_{5-x}Pd_x, x = 1.0 and 1.5

Local f-electron spin dynamics in the non-Fermi-liquid heavy-fermion alloys UCu_{5-x}Pd_x, x = 1.0 and 1.5, have been studied using muon spin-lattice relaxation. The sample-averaged asymmetry function Gbar(t) indicates strongly inhomogeneous spin fluctuations, and exhibits the scaling Gbar(t,H) = Gbar(t/H^\gamma) expected from glassy dynamics. At 0.05 K \gamma(x=1.0) = 0.35 \pm 0.1, but \gamma(x=1.5) = 0.7 \pm 0.1. This is in contrast to inelastic neutron scattering results, which yield \gamma = 0.33 for both concentrations. There is no sign of static magnetism \gtrsim 10^{-3} \mu_B/U ion in either material above 0.05 K. Our results strongy suggest that both alloys are quantum spin glasses.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in Physical Review Letter

Effect of annealing on glassy dynamics and non-Fermi liquid behavior in UCu_4Pd

Longitudinal-field muon spin relaxation (LF-muSR) experiments have been performed in unannealed and annealed samples of the heavy-fermion compound UCu_4Pd to study the effect of disorder on non-Fermi liquid behavior in this material. The muon spin relaxation functions G(t,H) obey the time-field scaling relation G(t,H) = G(t/H^gamma) previously observed in this compound. The observed scaling exponent gamma = 0.3 pm 0.1, independent of annealing. Fits of the stretched-exponential relaxation function G(t) = exp[-(Lambda t)^K] to the data yielded stretching exponentials K < 1 for all samples. Annealed samples exhibited a reduction of the relaxation rate at low temperatures, indicating that annealing shifts fluctuation noise power to higher frequencies. There was no tendency of the inhomogeneous spread in rates to decrease with annealing, which modifies but does not eliminate the glassy spin dynamics reported previously in this compound. The correlation with residual resistivity previously observed for a number of NFL heavy-electron materials is also found in the present work.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to 10th International Conference on Muon Spin Rotation, Relaxation, and Resonance, Oxford, UK, August 200

Two-Particle Correlation Functions for the 200-MeV 3-He + Ag Reaction

This research was sponsored by the National Science Foundation Grant NSF PHY-931478

Anthropogenic alteration of nutrient supply increases the global freshwater carbon sink

Lakes have a disproportionate effect on the global carbon (C) cycle relative to their area, mediating C transfer from land to atmosphere, and burying organic-C in their sediments. The magnitude and temporal variability of C burial is, however, poorly constrained, and the degree to which humans have influenced lake C cycling through landscape alteration has not been systematically assessed. Here, we report global and biome specific trajectories of lake C sequestration based on 516 lakes and show that some lake C burial rates (i.e., those in tropical forest and grassland biomes) have quadrupled over the last 100 years. Global lake C-sequestration (~0.12 Pg year-1) has increased by ~72 Tg year-1 since 1900, offsetting 20% of annual CO2 freshwater emissions rising to ~30% if reservoirs are included and contributing to the residual continental C sink. Nutrient availability explains ~70% of the observed increase, while rising temperatures have a minimal effect

Inelastic neutrino and antineutrino scattering on nuclei and ``strangeness'' of the nucleon

Possibilities to extract information on the strange form factors of the nucleon from neutrino (antineutrino) inelastic scattering on nuclei, in an energy range from 200 MeV to 1 GeV and more, are investigated in detail. All calculations are performed within two relativistic independent particle models (Fermi gas and shell model); the final state interactions of the ejected nucleon are taken into account through relativistic optical model potentials. We have shown that the values of the cross sections significantly depend on the nuclear model (especially in the lower energy range). However the NC/CC neutrino-antineutrino asymmetry in a medium--high energy range shows a rather small dependence on the model and allows to disentangle different values of the parameters that characterize the strange form factors. We have calculated also the ratio of the cross sections for inelastic NC scattering of neutrinos on nuclei, with the emission of a proton and of a neutron. Our calculations show that this ratio depends rather weakly on the nuclear model and confirm previous conclusions on the rather strong dependence of this ratio upon the axial strange form factors.Comment: RevTeX file, 35 pages including 12 figure

Demonstration of the temporal matter-wave Talbot effect for trapped matter waves

We demonstrate the temporal Talbot effect for trapped matter waves using ultracold atoms in an optical lattice. We investigate the phase evolution of an array of essentially non-interacting matter waves and observe matter-wave collapse and revival in the form of a Talbot interference pattern. By using long expansion times, we image momentum space with sub-recoil resolution, allowing us to observe fractional Talbot fringes up to 10th order.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figure