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In situ study of the sulphur isotopic compositions of Fe-Ni sulphides in CI1, CM1, and Tagish Lake carbonaceous chondrites: preliminary study
Rescaling multipartite entanglement measures for mixed states
A relevant problem regarding entanglement measures is the following: Given an
arbitrary mixed state, how does a measure for multipartite entanglement change
if general local operations are applied to the state? This question is
nontrivial as the normalization of the states has to be taken into account.
Here we answer it for pure-state entanglement measures which are invariant
under determinant 1 local operations and homogeneous in the state coefficients,
and their convex-roof extension which quantifies mixed-state entanglement. Our
analysis allows to enlarge the set of mixed states for which these important
measures can be calculated exactly. In particular, our results hint at a
distinguished role of entanglement measures which have homogeneous degree 2 in
the state coefficients.Comment: Published version plus one important reference (Ref. [39]
Inflation, cold dark matter, and the central density problem
A problem with high central densities in dark halos has arisen in the context
of LCDM cosmologies with scale-invariant initial power spectra. Although n=1 is
often justified by appealing to the inflation scenario, inflationary models
with mild deviations from scale-invariance are not uncommon and models with
significant running of the spectral index are plausible. Even mild deviations
from scale-invariance can be important because halo collapse times and
densities depend on the relative amount of small-scale power. We choose several
popular models of inflation and work out the ramifications for galaxy central
densities. For each model, we calculate its COBE-normalized power spectrum and
deduce the implied halo densities using a semi-analytic method calibrated
against N-body simulations. We compare our predictions to a sample of dark
matter-dominated galaxies using a non-parametric measure of the density. While
standard n=1, LCDM halos are overdense by a factor of 6, several of our example
inflation+CDM models predict halo densities well within the range preferred by
observations. We also show how the presence of massive (0.5 eV) neutrinos may
help to alleviate the central density problem even with n=1. We conclude that
galaxy central densities may not be as problematic for the CDM paradigm as is
sometimes assumed: rather than telling us something about the nature of the
dark matter, galaxy rotation curves may be telling us something about inflation
and/or neutrinos. An important test of this idea will be an eventual consensus
on the value of sigma_8, the rms overdensity on the scale 8 h^-1 Mpc. Our
successful models have values of sigma_8 approximately 0.75, which is within
the range of recent determinations. Finally, models with n>1 (or sigma_8 > 1)
are highly disfavored.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures. Minor changes made to reflect referee's
Comments, error in Eq. (18) corrected, references updated and corrected,
conclusions unchanged. Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D,
scheduled for 15 August 200
The Intriguing Distribution of Dark Matter in Galaxies
We review the most recent evidence for the amazing properties of the density
distribution of dark matter around spiral galaxies. Their rotation curves,
coadded according to the galaxy luminosity, conform to an universal profile
which can be represented as the sum of an exponential thin disk plus a
spherical halo with a flat density core. From dwarfs to giants, these halos
feature an inner constant density region. The fine structure of dark matter
halos is obtained from the kinematics of a number of suitable low-luminosity
disk galaxies. The halo circular velocity increases linearly with radius out to
the edge of the stellar disk, implying a constant dark halo density over the
entire disk region. The properties of halos around normal spirals provide
substantial evidence of a discrepancy between the mass distributions predicted
in the Cold Dark Matter scenario and those actually detected around galaxies.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Invited lecture to the 8th Adriatic Meeting:
Particle Physics in the New Millennium, Dubrovnik 4-14 Sep. 2001. To be
published in the series Lecture Notes in Physics, by Springer Verla
Modal mineralogy of CI and CI-like chondrites by X-ray diffraction
The CI chondrites are some of the most hydrated meteorites available to study, making them ideal samples with which to investigate aqueous processes in the early Solar System. Here, we have used position-sensitive-detector X-ray diffraction (PSD-XRD) to quantify the abundance of minerals in bulk samples of the CI chondrite falls Alais, Orgueil and Ivuna, and the Antarctic CI-like chondrites Y-82162 and Y-980115. We find that Alais, Orgueil and Ivuna are dominated by a mixed serpentine/saponite phyllosilicate (81–84 vol%), plus minor magnetite (6–10%), sulphides (4–7%) and carbonates (<3%). This reflects an extended period of aqueous alteration and the near-complete transformation of anhydrous phases into a secondary mineral assemblage. The similarity in total abundance of phyllosilicate suggests that the CI chondrites all experienced the same degree of aqueous alteration on the parent body.
In contrast, Y-82162 contains a highly disordered serpentine/saponite phyllosilicate (68 vol%), sulphide (19%), olivine (11%) and magnetite (2%). This mineralogy is distinct from that of the CI chondrites, attesting to both a different starting mineralogy and alteration history. The structure and relatively low abundance of the phyllosilicate, and the high abundance of olivine, are consistent with previous observations that Y-82162 represents CI-like material that following aqueous alteration suffered thermal metamorphism at temperatures >500 °C. Similarly, Y-980115 contains disordered serpentine/saponite (71 vol%), sulphide (19%), olivine (8%) and magnetite (2%), confirming that it too is a thermally metamorphosed CI-like chondrite. We suggest that the CI-like chondrites are derived from a different parent body than the CI chondrites, which underwent short-lived thermal metamorphism due to impacts and/or solar radiation
Terrestrial modification of the Ivuna meteorite and a reassessment of the chemical composition of the CI type specimen
The rare CI carbonaceous chondrites are the most aqueously altered and chemically primitive meteorites but due to their porous nature and high abundance of volatile elements are susceptible to terrestrial weathering. The Ivuna meteorite, type specimen for the CI chondrites, is the largest twentieth-century CI fall and probably the CI chondrite least affected by terrestrial alteration that is available for study. The main mass of Ivuna (BM2008 M1) has been stored in a nitrogen atmosphere at least since its arrival at the Natural History Museum (NHM), London, in 2008 (70 years after its fall) and could be considered the most pristine CI chondrite stone. We report the mineralogy, petrography and bulk elemental composition of BM2008 M1 and a second Ivuna stone (BM1996 M4) stored in air within wooden cabinets. We find that both Ivuna stones are breccias consisting of multiple rounded, phyllosilicate-rich clasts that formed through aqueous alteration followed by impact processing. A polished thin section of BM2008 M1 analysed immediately after preparation was found to contain sulphate-bearing veins that formed when primary sulphides reacted with oxygen and atmospheric water. A section of BM1996 M4 lacked veins but had sulphate grains on the surface that formed in ≤6 years, ∼3 times faster than previous reports for CI chondrite sections. Differences in the extent of terrestrial alteration recorded by BM2008 M1 and BM1996 M4 probably reflect variations in the post-recovery curation history of the stones prior to entering the NHM collection, and indicate that where possible pristine samples of hydrated carbonaceous should be kept out of the terrestrial environment in a stable atmosphere to avoid modification. The bulk elemental composition of the two Ivuna stones show some variability due to their heterogeneous nature but in general are similar to previous analyses of CI chondrites. We combine our elemental abundances with literature values to calculate a new average composition for the Ivuna meteorite, which we find is in good agreement with existing compilations of element compositions in the CI chondrites and the most recent solar photospheric abundances
Software for micromorphometric characterization of soil pores obtained from 2-D image analysis
ABSTRACT Studies of soil porosity through image analysis are important to an understanding of how the soil functions. However, the lack of a simplified methodology for the quantification of the shape, number, and size of soil pores has limited the use of information extracted from images. The present work proposes a software program for the quantification and characterization of soil porosity from data derived from 2-D images. The user-friendly software was developed in C++ and allows for the classification of pores in terms of size, shape, and combinations of size and shape. Using raw data generated by image analysis systems, the software calculates the following parameters for the characterization of soil porosity: total area of pore (Tap), number of pores, pore shape, pore shape and pore area, and pore shape and equivalent pore diameter (EqDiam). In this paper, the input file with the raw soil porosity data was generated using the Noesis Visilog 5.4 image analysis system; however other image analysis programs can be used, in which case, the input file requires a standard format to permit processing by this software. The software also shows the descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, variance, and the coefficient of variation) of the parameters considering the total number of images evaluated. The results show that the software is a complementary tool to any analysis of soil porosity, allowing for a precise and quick analysis
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