Taxonomic review and evolutionary trends of Levipustulini and Absenticostini (Brachiopoda) from Argentina : palaeobiogeographic and palaeoclimatic implications

The diagnosis and composition of the brachiopod Tribe Levipustulini Lazarev, 1985 is reviewed, leading to a detailed revision of the genera Levipustula Maxwell, 1951 and Lanipustula Klets, 1983, as well as a review of previous records of the species Levipustula levis Maxwell from Australia and Argentina. The presence of Lanipustula patagoniensis Simanauskas in Patagonia is confirmed with additional topotypic material described and illustrated. Based on this review, we reassign Levipustula levis from New South Wales, Australia to Lanipustula. Two new species, Lanipustula kletsi from the middle Pennsylvanian of Patagonia and the Absenticostinin Absenticosta bruntoneileenae from the latest Viséan of western Argentina, are proposed. Abstenticosta bruntoneileenae is suggested as a possible ancestral stock of the Patagonian Levipustulini through the lineage Lanipustula-Verchojania-Jakutoproductus-Piatnitzkya (Serpukhovian-middle Artinskian). The development of similar phylogenetic lineages of Levipustulini in high latitude regions of both northern and southern hemispheres (such as Siberia in Northeast Asia and Patagonia in southwestern Gondwana) is here interpreted as a consequence of parallel evolution. The progressive palaeobiogeographic isolation of Patagonia from mainland South America, coupled with its southward drift under cold palaeoclimatic conditions during middle Carboniferous-earliest Permian times, is proposed to have triggered the Levipustulini vicariance

BRACHIOPOD ASSEMBLAGES OF THE EURYDESMA FAUNA IN GLACIAL- DEGLACIAL SEQUENCES FROM ARGENTINA AND AUSTRALIA

The Eurydesma Fauna characterizes the Late Pennsylvanian-Permian glacial-postglacial sediments recorded in several Gondwanan basins during the Late Paleozoic Ice Age (LPIA). Brachiopods, as one the most significant components of this fauna, are herein analyzed along with the associated bivalves, in two key sections from western and eastern Gondwana (Bonete Formation in the Sauce Grande Basin, eastern Argentina, and the Wasp Head Formation in the southern Sydney Basin, eastern Australia). The preliminary quantitative analysis indicates a high compositional similarity in both regions but occupancy exhibits important differences: brachiopod-dominated faunas can be found in eastern Australia (Tomiopsis and Trigonotreta are the most frequent taxa), and bivalve-dominated faunas are characteristic in eastern Argentina, where the brachiopods are poorly represented with the genera Tivertonia and Tomiopsis. In this locality, the development of r-strategy taxa, such as the bivalve Eurydesma, during the end of a glacial episode would adversely affect brachiopods’ abundance. This is also consistent with previous studies that indicate that brachiopods already showed a decrease in importance in Pennsylvanian communities from Argentina. Relative abundances of brachiopods and bivalves in both localities may reflect differences in the regional environmental conditions but, unfortunately, eastern Argentina lacks younger records to compare the faunal turnover with that of the Australian sequences. Despite the ecological structural differences identified (i.e. brachiopod:bivalve ratio), the postglacial Eurydesma fauna flourished in western and eastern Gondwana and it is striking that two faunas located on the opposite margins of this paleocontinent show such high compositional similarity during the development of a global postglacial event. This is particularly significant considering that the type of the basins (i.e. restricted vs open basins), biological features, paleoenvironmental conditions directly related to glacial dynamics, and also the diachronism of the transgression, can be controlling the composition of this fauna

The algebraic Bethe ansatz for open vertex models

We present a unified algebraic Bethe ansatz for open vertex models which are associated with the non-exceptional $A^{(2)}_{2n},A^{(2)}_{2n-1},B^{(1)}_n,C^{(1)}_n,D^{(1)}_{n}$ Lie algebras. By the method, we solve these models with the trivial K matrix and find that our results agree with that obtained by analytical Bethe ansatz. We also solve the $B^{(1)}_n,C^{(1)}_n,D^{(1)}_{n}$ models with some non-trivial diagonal K-matrices (one free parameter case) by the algebraic Bethe ansatz.Comment: Latex, 35 pages, new content and references are added, minor revisions are mad

Experimental study of THGEM detector with mini-rim

The gas gain and energy resolution of single and double THGEM detectors (5{\times}5cm2 effective area) with mini-rims (rim is less than 10{\mu}m) were studied. The maximum gain can reach 5{\times}103 and 2{\times}105 for single and double THGEM respectively, while the energy resolution of 5.9 keV X-ray varied from 18% to 28% for both single and double THGEM detectors of different hole sizes and thicknesses.All the experiments were investigated in mixture of noble gases(argon,neon) and small content of other gases(iso-butane,methane) at atmospheric pressure.Comment: 4pages,6figures, it has been submitted to Chinese Physics

A Class of Exact Solutions of the Faddeev Model

A class of exact solutions of the Faddeev model, that is, the modified SO(3) nonlinear sigma model with the Skyrme term, is obtained in the four dimensional Minkowskian spacetime. The solutions are interpreted as the isothermal coordinates of a Riemannian surface. One special solution of the static vortex type is investigated numerically. It is also shown that the Faddeev model is equivalent to the mesonic sector of the SU(2) Skyrme model where the baryon number current vanishes.Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, refs. adde

Kondo spin liquid and magnetically long-range ordered states in the Kondo necklace model

A simplified version of the symmetric Kondo lattice model, the Kondo necklace model, is studied by using a representation of impurity and conduction electron spins in terms of local Kondo singlet and triplet operators. Within a mean field theory, a spin gap always appears in the spin triplet excitation spectrum in 1D, leading to a Kondo spin liquid state for any finite values of coupling strength $t/J$ (with $t$ as hopping and $J$ as exchange); in 2D and 3D cubic lattices the spin gaps are found to vanish continuously around $(t/J)_c\approx 0.70$ and $(t/J)_c\approx 0.38$, respectively, where quantum phase transitions occur and the Kondo spin liquid state changes into an antiferromagnetically long-range ordered state. These results are in agreement with variational Monte Carlo, higher-order series expansion, and recent quantum Monte Carlo calculations for the symmetric Kondo lattice modelComment: Revtex, four pages, three figures; to be published in Physical Review B1, 1 July (2000

Coexisting Kondo singlet state with antiferromagnetic long-range order: A possible ground state for Kondo insulators

The ground-state phase diagram of a half-filled anisotropic Kondo lattice model is calculated within a mean-field theory. For small transverse exchange coupling $J_{\perp}<J_{\perp c1}$, the ground state shows an antiferromagnetic long-range order with finite staggered magnetizations of both localized spins and conduction electrons. When $J_{\perp}>J_{\perp c2}$, the long-range order is destroyed and the system is in a disordered Kondo singlet state with a hybridization gap. Both ground states can describe the low-temperature phases of Kondo insulating compounds. Between these two distinct phases, there may be a coexistent regime as a result of the balance between local Kondo screening and magnetic interactions.Comment: four pages, Revtex, one figure; to be published in Phys. Rev. B, 1 July issue, 200

Conductance of a Quantum Point Contact in the presence of a Scanning Probe Microscope Tip

Using the recursive Green's function technique, we study the coherent electron conductance of a quantum point contact in the presence of a scanning probe microscope tip. Images of the coherent fringe inside a quantum point contact for different widths are obtained. It is found that the conductance of a specific channel is reduced while other channels are not affected as long as the tip is located at the positions correspending to that channel. Moreover, the coherent fringe is smoothed out by increasing the temperature or the voltage across the device. Our results are consistent with the experiments reported by Topinka et al.[Science 289, 2323 (2000)].Comment: 5 page

Strong quantum fluctuation of vortices in the new superconductor MgB2MgB_2

By using transport and magnetic measurement, the upper critical field $H_{c2}(T)$ and the irreversibility line $H_{irr}(T)$ has been determined. A big separation between $H_{c2}(0)$ and $H_{irr}(0)$ has been found showing the existence of a quantum vortex liquid state induced by quantum fluctuation of vortices in the new superconductor $MgB_2$. Further investigation on the magnetic relaxation shows that both the quantum tunneling and the thermally activated flux creep weakly depends on temperature. But when the melting field $H_{irr}$ is approached, a drastic rising of the relaxation rate is observed. This may imply that the melting of the vortex matter at a finite temperature is also induced by the quantum fluctuation of vortices.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure