3,197 research outputs found
Changes in microphytobenthos fluorescence over a tidal cycle: implications for sampling designs
Intertidal microphytobenthos (MPB) are important primary producers and provide food for herbivores in soft sediments and on rocky shores. Methods of measuring MPB biomass that do not depend on the time of collection relative to the time of day or tidal conditions are important in any studies that need to compare temporal or spatial variation, effects of abiotic factors or activity of grazers. Pulse amplitude modulated (PAM) fluorometry is often used to estimate biomass of MPB because it is a rapid, non-destructive method, but it is not known how measures of fluorescence are altered by changing conditions during a period of low tide. We investigated this experimentally using in situ changes in minimal fluorescence (F) on a rocky shore and on an estuarine mudflat around Sydney (Australia), during low tides. On rocky shores, the time when samples are taken during low tide had little direct influence on measures of fluorescence as long as the substratum is dry. Wetness from wave-splash, seepage from rock pools, run-off, rainfall, etc., had large consequences for any comparisons. On soft sediments, fluorescence was decreased if the sediment dried out, as happens during low-spring tides on particularly hot and dry days. Surface water affected the response of PAM and therefore measurements used to estimate MPB, emphasising the need for care to ensure that representative sampling is done during low tide
Transport properties of heavy particles in high Reynolds number turbulence
The statistical properties of heavy particle trajectories in high Reynolds
numbers turbulent flows are analyzed. Dimensional analysis assuming Kolmogorov
scaling is compared with the result of numerical simulation using a synthetic
turbulence advecting field. The non-Markovian nature of the fluid velocity
statistics along the solid particle trajectories is put into evidence, and its
relevance in the derivation of Lagrangian transport models is discussed.Comment: 30 pages, 11 eps figures included. To appear in Physics of Fluid
Measurement of Analyzing Power for Proton-Carbon Elastic Scattering in the Coulomb-Nuclear Interference Region with a 22-GeV/c Polarized Proton Beam
The analyzing power for proton-carbon elastic scattering in the
coulomb-nuclear interference region of momentum transfer,
(GeV/, was measured with a 21.7
GeV/ polarized proton beam at the Alternating Gradient Synchrotron of
Brookhaven National Laboratory. The ratio of hadronic spin-flip to non-flip
amplitude, , was obtained from the analyzing power to be and .Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures and 1 table. Accepted by Physical Review Letter
Dynamical Fine Tuning in Brane Inflation
We investigate a novel mechanism of dynamical tuning of a flat potential in
the open string landscape within the context of warped brane-antibrane
inflation in type IIB string theory. Because of competing effects between
interactions with the moduli stabilizing D7-branes in the warped throat and
anti-D3-branes at the tip, a stack of branes gives rise to a local minimum of
the potential, holding the branes high up in the throat. As branes successively
tunnel out of the local minimum to the bottom of the throat the potential
barrier becomes lower and is eventually replaced by a flat inflection point,
around which the remaining branes easily inflate. This dynamical flattening of
the inflaton potential reduces the need to fine tune the potential by hand, and
also leads to successful inflation for a larger range of inflaton initial
conditions, due to trapping in the local minimum.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures. v2: Updated D3-dependence in potential, small
changes to numerical result
Flavour Issues in Leptogenesis
We study the impact of flavour in thermal leptogenesis, including the quantum
oscillations of the asymmetries in lepton flavour space. In the Boltzmann
equations we find different numerical factors and additional terms which can
affect the results significantly. The upper bound on the CP asymmetry in a
specific flavour is weaker than the bound on the sum. This suggests that --
when flavour dynamics is included -- there is no model-independent limit on the
light neutrino mass scale,and that the lower bound on the reheat temperature is
relaxed by a factor ~ (3 - 10).Comment: 19 pages, corrected equations for flavour oscillation
Diagrammatic approach to non-Gaussianity from inflation
We present Feynman type diagrams for calculating the n-point function of the
primordial curvature perturbation in terms of scalar field perturbations during
inflation. The diagrams can be used to evaluate the corresponding terms in the
n-point function at tree level or any required loop level. Rules are presented
for drawing the diagrams and writing down the corresponding terms in real space
and Fourier space. We show that vertices can be renormalised to automatically
account for diagrams with dressed vertices. We apply these rules to calculate
the primordial power spectrum up to two loops, the bispectrum including loop
corrections, and the trispectrum.Comment: 17 pages, 13 figures. v2: Comments and references added, v3:
Introduction expanded, subsection on evaluating loop diagrams added, minor
errors corrected, references adde
- …