Auger electron emission due to incident particle in Ar(+), Ne(+) and Na(+) collisions with different solid targets

The L23 Auger spectra of Ar, Ne and Na from Ar(+)-Ti, Ne(+)-Mg, Ne-A1, Na(+)-Be, Na(+)-Mg and Na(+)-A1 collisions were obtained. For Ar, L23 MM Auger electrons are emitted from the fast moving incident projectiles and a Doppler broadened structure is observed. The Ne and Na Auger spectra are due to Auger transitions with single or double 2p vancancies in the initial state of the implanted Ne atoms or surface trapped Na atoms

The impact of feedback from galaxy formation on the Lyman-alpha transmitted flux

The forest of Lyman-alpha absorption lines seen in the spectra of distant quasars has become an important probe of the distribution of matter in the Universe. We use large, hydrodynamical simulations from the OWLS project to investigate the effect of feedback from galaxy formation on the probability distribution function and the power spectrum of the Lyman-alpha transmitted flux. While metal-line cooling is unimportant, both galactic outflows from massive galaxies driven by active galactic nuclei and winds from low-mass galaxies driven by supernovae have a substantial impact on the flux statistics. At redshift z=2.25, the effects on the flux statistics are of a similar magnitude as the statistical uncertainties of published data sets. The changes in the flux statistics are not due to differences in the temperature-density relation of the photo-ionised gas. Instead, they are caused by changes in the density distribution and in the fraction of hot, collisionally ionised gas. It may be possible to disentangle astrophysical and cosmological effects by taking advantage of the fact that they induce different redshift dependencies. In particular, the magnitude of the feedback effects appears to decrease rapidly with increasing redshift. Analyses of Lyman-alpha forest data from surveys that are currently in process, such as BOSS/SDSS-III and X-Shooter/VLT, must take galactic winds into account.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures. MNRAS in pres

Cosmography beyond standard candles and rulers

We perform a cosmographic analysis using several cosmological observables such as the luminosity distance moduli, the volume distance, the angular diameter distance and the Hubble parameter. These quantities are determined using different data sets: Supernovae type Ia and Gamma Ray Bursts, the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations, the cosmic microwave background power spectrum and the Hubble parameter as measured from surveys of galaxies. This data set allows to put constraints on the cosmographic expansion with unprecedented precision. We also present forecasts for the coefficients of the kinematic expansion using future but realistic data sets: constraints on the coefficients of the expansions are likely to improve by a factor ten with the upcoming large scale structure probes. Finally, we derive the set of the cosmographic parameters for several cosmological models (including $\Lambda$CDM) and compare them with our best fit set. While distance measurements are unable to discriminate among these models, we show that the inclusion of the Hubble data set leads to strong constraints on the lowest order coefficients and in particular it is incompatible with $\Lambda$CDM at 3-$\sigma$ confidence level. We discuss the reliability of this determination and suggest further observations which might be of crucial importance for the viability of cosmographic tests in the next future.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Accepted for publication in PR

Braneworld inflation from an effective field theory after WMAP three-year data

In light of the results from the WMAP three-year sky survey, we study an inflationary model based on a single-field polynomial potential, with up to quartic terms in the inflaton field. Our analysis is performed in the context of the Randall-Sundrum II braneworld theory, and we consider both the high-energy and low-energy (i.e. the standard cosmology case) limits of the theory. We examine the parameter space of the model, which leads to both large-field and small-field inflationary type solutions. We conclude that small field inflation, for a potential with a negative mass square term, is in general favored by current bounds on the tensor-to-scalar perturbation ratio rs.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures; references updated and a few comments added; final version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Possible evidence for an inverted temperature-density relation in the intergalactic medium from the flux distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest

We compare the improved measurement of the Lya forest flux probability distribution at 1.7<z<3.2 presented by Kim et al. (2007) to a large set of hydrodynamical simulations of the Lya forest with different cosmological parameters and thermal histories. The simulations are in good agreement with the observational data if the temperature-density relation for the low density intergalactic medium (IGM), T=T_0 Delta^{gamma-1}, is either close to isothermal or inverted (gamma<1). Our results suggest that the voids in the IGM may be significantly hotter and the thermal state of the low density IGM may be substantially more complex than is usually assumed at these redshifts. We discuss radiative transfer effects which alter the spectral shape of ionising radiation during the epoch of HeII reionisation as a possible physical mechanism for achieving an inverted temperature-density relation at z~3.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS following minor revision. The accepted version includes an expanded discussion of the flux power spectru

Diferenciação de rochas vulcânicas da formação serra geral utilizando gamaespectrometria terrestre na região vitivinícola Serra Gaúcha, RS - Brasil.

A Região Vitivinícola Serra Gaúcha (RVSG) possui fatores naturais e culturais aliados à geodiversidade da região que implica na formação de solos e relevos diferenciados. Essa particularidade, por sua vez, acarreta em respostas agronômicas específicas da videira e possibilita a valorização da produção de vinhos com distintas qualidades que caracterizam, consequentemente, diferentes terroírs. A área de estudo se situa no contexto de áreas de indicações geográficas para vinhos finos (Vale do Rio das Antas), no limite das unidades geomorfológicas Serra Geral e Planalto dos Campos Gerais, esculpidas sobre rochas da Formação Serra Geral. Na área ocorrem as Fácies Gramado e Caxias. Na primeira, têm-se basaltos de 132 milhões de anos, granulares finos a médios, melanocráticos; na segunda têm-se rochas intermediárias a ácidas (riodacíticas) de 131 milhões de anos, mesocráticas, granulares finas a microfaneríticas. Os horizontes superiores apresentam disjunção tabular bem desenvolvida e as partes centrais dos derrames são maciças, podendo apresentar estruturas de fluxo laminar e dobras. O relevo foi originado na era mesozóica por intenso vulcanismo fissural, havendo platôs com escarpas íngremes e o arcabouço estrutural mostra fraturas e falhas que condicionam a padrões de drenagem angulares e o entalhe das vertentes retilíneas. As áreas cultivadas com vinhedos na RVSG situam-se sobre zonas de maior altitude e menor declividade, relativas aos topos dos platôs, onde predominam rochas ácidas a intermediárias (Fácies Caxias), contendo argissolos, cambissolos e nitossolos. Nas áreas íngremes sobre rochas básicas (Fácies Gramado), ocorrem alissolos e chernossolos situados nos patamares inferiores. O objetivo deste trabalho foi testar um método rápido de distinção de rochas ácidas e básicas, por meio de gamaespectrometria terrestre. As medições foram adquiridas em uma área de 800 Km2 com orientação NE-SW, num perfil transversal da RVSG. O método utilizado empregou o amaespectrometro portátil da marca Radiation Solutíons, modelo super Spec RS-125 de 1024 canais espectrais, cedido pela UNISINOS/NEAP e GPS Garmin Montana 650, sendo o trabalho de campo apoiado pela Embrapa Uva e Vinho. Foram analisadas 83 medidas de rochas, sendo 59 da Fácies Caxias e 24 da Fácies Gramado, em sua maioria de rochas sãs. A classificação dessas rochas foi realizada utilizando critérios descritivos de campo. As medidas de K, eU e eTh foram comparadas na forma de gráficos, relativamente aos valores encontrados na literatura para esses tipos de rochas. Os resultados demonstraram que o método é eficaz na discriminação entre as rochas vulcânicas ácidas e básicas da Formação Serra Geral. Para a Fácies Caxias as concentrações médias foram de 3,7%, 5,5 ppm e 17,4 ppm, para K, eU e eTh, respectivamente. Já para a Fácies Gramado os valores médios de K foram de 2%, de eU foram de 2 ppm e de eTh de 9,2 ppm. O estudo também ratificou que as concentrações de K e eU são mais sensíveis ao grau de intemperismo das rochas do que as concentrações de eTh. Os dados estão organizados em um SIG e, na próxima etapa, o estudo buscará agregar dados de sensoriamento remoto hiperespectral para integrar com os dados gamaespectrométrico e geológicos

Decaying Sterile Neutrinos as a Heating Source in the Milky Way Center

Recent Chandra and Newton observations indicate that there are two-temperature components ($T \sim$ 8 keV, 0.8 keV) of the diffuse x-rays emitted from deep inside the center of Milky Way. We show that this can be explained by the existence of sterile neutrinos, which decay to emit photons that can be bound-free absorbed by the isothermal hot gas particles in the center of Milky Way. This model can account for the two-temperature components naturally as well as the energy needed to maintain the $\sim$ 8 keV temperature in the hot gas. The predicted sterile neutrino mass is between 16-18 keV.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS with minor correction

Integração de dados em SIG - geológicos e sensoriamento remoto na caracterização da IG Farroupilha para vinhos de qualidade, RS, Brasil.

Este trabalho visou elaborar uma base geológica da IG Farroupilha, a fim de contribuir com a delimitação da mesma, integrando e processando os dados num sistema de informações geográficas

A Metal-Polymer Interface Study using Electropolymerized Acrylonitrile on Nickel Surfaces

Studies of the interface between mineral and organic materials have been realized for a couple formed between pure transition metal and a polar and polarizable molecule (acrylonitrile). The results presented show the effects of a local electric field on the activation processes associated with adsorption sites and the molecule, interaction mechanisms and the resulting types of chemical bond. The structural, electronic and chemical properties of a nickel-polyacrylonitrile interface are described. Molecular and energetic qualitative models for the interaction mechanisms are proposed

Is radiographic measurement of distal femoral torsion reliable?

BACKGROUND: Distal femur torsion (DFT) is a crucial parameter in knee replacement surgery. The reference standard for measuring DFT is posterior condylar angle (PCA) measurement using computed tomography (CT). The objective of this study was to assess the feasibility and reliability of a radiographic PCA measurement method. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We studied 125 osteoarthritic knees in 79 patients (42 women and 37 men) with a mean age of 71.6 ± 8.8 years (range 47 to 86 years); 32 knees were aligned, 85 in varus, and eight in valgus. DFT was measured on an antero-posterior (AP) radiograph of the knee in 90° of flexion (known as the seated AP view). The PCA was defined as the angle subtended by the tangent to the posterior condyles and the transepicondylar axis (anatomic PCA [aPCA]) or the line connecting the lateral epicondyle to the medial sulcus (surgical PCA [sPCA]). The PCA was conventionally recorded as positive in the event of external torsion and negative in the event of internal torsion. PCA measurements were performed three times by each of five observers to allow assessments of inter-observer and test-retest reliabilities. RESULTS: aPCA was consistently negative (mean, -6.1 ± 1.6°) (range, 0 to -10°); inter-observer and test-retest reliability were satisfactory (0.54 CONCLUSION: Radiographic measurement of DFT is simple and non-invasive. Measurement reproducibility was satisfactory for aPCA but not for sPCA. aPCA showed marked inter-individual variability and tended to increase when the knee was in valgus. Mean aPCA values were comparable to those reported using CT. In contrast to CT, radiographic DFT measurement can easily be incorporated into the pre- and postoperative work-ups for knee replacement surgery, provided the patient can achieve 90° of knee flexion. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV, prospective cohort study