583 research outputs found
Diel-scale temporal dynamics recorded for bacterial groups in Namib Desert soil
Microbes in hot desert soil partake in core ecosystem processes e.g., biogeochemical cycling of carbon. Nevertheless, there is still a fundamental lack of insights regarding short-term (i.e., over a 24-hour [diel] cycle) microbial responses to highly fluctuating microenvironmental parameters like temperature and humidity. To address this, we employed T-RFLP fingerprinting and 454 pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA-derived cDNA to characterize potentially active bacteria in Namib Desert soil over multiple diel cycles. Strikingly, we found that significant shifts in active bacterial groups could occur over a single 24-hour period. For instance, members of the predominant Actinobacteria phyla exhibited a significant reduction in relative activity from morning to night, whereas many Proteobacterial groups displayed an opposite trend. Contrary to our leading hypothesis, environmental parameters could only account for 10.5% of the recorded total variation. Potential biotic associations shown through co-occurrence networks indicated that non-random inter- and intra-phyla associations were 'time-of-day-dependent' which may constitute a key feature of this system. Notably, many cyanobacterial groups were positioned outside and/or between highly interconnected bacterial associations (modules); possibly acting as inter-module 'hubs' orchestrating interactions between important functional consortia. Overall, these results provide empirical evidence that bacterial communities in hot desert soils exhibit complex and diel-dependent inter-community associations.EM201
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Low-energy electron capture by Ne2+ ions from H(D)
Using the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) ion-atom merged-beams apparatus, the absolute, total single-electron-capture cross section has been measured for collisions of Ne2+ with deuterium (D) at center-of-mass (c.m.) collision energies of 59–949 eV∕u. With the high-velocity ion beams now available at the ORNL Multicharged Ion Research Facility, we have extended our previous merged-beams measurement to lower c.m. collision energies. The data are compared to all four previously published measurements for Ne2++H(D) which differ considerably from one another at energies ≲600 eV∕u. We are unaware of any published theoretical cross-section data for Ne2++H(D) at the energies studied. Early quantal rate coefficient calculations for Ne2++H at eV/u energies suggest a cross section many orders of magnitude below previous measurements of the cross section at 40 eV∕u which is the lowest collision energy for which experimental results have been published. Here we compare our measurements to recent theoretical electron-capture results for He2++H. Both the experimental and theoretical results show a decreasing cross section with decreasing energy
The Charge Form Factor of the Neutron at Low Momentum Transfer from the Reaction
We report new measurements of the neutron charge form factor at low momentum
transfer using quasielastic electrodisintegration of the deuteron.
Longitudinally polarized electrons at an energy of 850 MeV were scattered from
an isotopically pure, highly polarized deuterium gas target. The scattered
electrons and coincident neutrons were measured by the Bates Large Acceptance
Spectrometer Toroid (BLAST) detector. The neutron form factor ratio
was extracted from the beam-target vector asymmetry
at four-momentum transfers , 0.20, 0.29 and 0.42
(GeV/c).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Parity-violating Electron Deuteron Scattering and the Proton's Neutral Weak Axial Vector Form Factor
We report on a new measurement of the parity-violating asymmetry in
quasielastic electron scattering from the deuteron at backward angles at Q2=
0.038 (GeV/c)2. This quantity provides a determination of the neutral weak
axial vector form factor of the nucleon, which can potentially receive large
electroweak corrections. The measured asymmetry A=-3.51 +/- 0.57(stat) +/-
0.58(sys)ppm is consistent with theoretical predictions. We also report on
updated results of the previous experiment at Q2=0.091 (GeV/c)2, which are also
consistent with theoretical predictions.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Cross Section Measurement of Charged Pion Photoproduction from Hydrogen and Deuterium
We have measured the differential cross section for the gamma n --> pi- p and
gamma p --> pi+ n reactions at center of mass angle of 90 degree in the photon
energy range from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV at Jefferson Lab (JLab). The data at photon
energies greater than 3.3 GeV exhibit a global scaling behavior for both pi-
and pi+ photoproduction, consistent with the constituent counting rule and the
existing pi+ photoproduction data. Possible oscillations around the scaling
value are suggested by these new data The data show enhancement in the scaled
cross section at a center-of-mass energy near 2.2 GeV. The cross section ratio
of exclusive pi- to pi+ photoproduction at high energy is consistent with the
prediction based on one-hard-gluon-exchange diagrams
Measurement of the proton electric to magnetic form factor ratio from \vec ^1H(\vec e, e'p)
We report the first precision measurement of the proton electric to magnetic
form factor ratio from spin-dependent elastic scattering of longitudinally
polarized electrons from a polarized hydrogen internal gas target. The
measurement was performed at the MIT-Bates South Hall Ring over a range of
four-momentum transfer squared from 0.15 to 0.65 (GeV/c).
Significantly improved results on the proton electric and magnetic form factors
are obtained in combination with previous cross-section data on elastic
electron-proton scattering in the same region.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PR
Cross Section Measurements of Charged Pion Photoproduction in Hydrogen and Deuterium from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV
The differential cross section for the gamma +n --> pi- + p and the gamma + p
--> pi+ n processes were measured at Jefferson Lab. The photon energies ranged
from 1.1 to 5.5 GeV, corresponding to center-of-mass energies from 1.7 to 3.4
GeV. The pion center-of-mass angles varied from 50 degree to 110 degree. The
pi- and pi+ photoproduction data both exhibit a global scaling behavior at high
energies and high transverse momenta, consistent with the constituent counting
rule prediction and the existing pi+ data. The data suggest possible
substructure of the scaling behavior, which might be oscillations around the
scaling value. The data show an enhancement in the scaled cross section at
center-of-mass energy near 2.2 GeV. The differential cross section ratios at
high energies and high transverse momenta can be described by calculations
based on one-hard-gluon-exchange diagrams.Comment: 18 pages, 19 figure
Scaling of the F_2 structure function in nuclei and quark distributions at x>1
We present new data on electron scattering from a range of nuclei taken in
Hall C at Jefferson Lab. For heavy nuclei, we observe a rapid falloff in the
cross section for , which is sensitive to short range contributions to the
nuclear wave-function, and in deep inelastic scattering corresponds to probing
extremely high momentum quarks. This result agrees with higher energy muon
scattering measurements, but is in sharp contrast to neutrino scattering
measurements which suggested a dramatic enhancement in the distribution of the
`super-fast' quarks probed at x>1. The falloff at x>1 is noticeably stronger in
^2H and ^3He, but nearly identical for all heavier nuclei.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, to be submitted to physical revie
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