Distinguishing RBL-like objects and XBL-like objects with the peak emission frequency of the overall energy spectrum

We investigate quantitatively how the peak emission frequency of the overall energy spectrum is at work in distinguishing RBL-like and XBL-like objects. We employ the sample of Giommi et al. (1995) to study the distribution of BL Lacertae objects with various locations of the cutoff of the overall energy spectrum. We find that the sources with the cutoff located at lower frequency are indeed sited in the RBL region of the $\alpha_{ro}-\alpha_{ox}$ plane, while those with the cutoff located at higher frequency are distributed in the XBL region. For a more quantitative study, we employ the BL Lacertae samples presented by Sambruna et al. (1996), where, the peak emission frequency, $\nu _p$, of each source is estimated by fitting the data with a parabolic function. In the plot of $\alpha_{rx}-\log \nu_p$ we find that, in the four different regions divided by the $\alpha_{rx}=0.75$ line and the $\log \nu_p=14.7$ line, all the RBL-like objects are inside the upper left region, while most XBL-like objects are within the lower right region. A few sources are located in the lower left region. No sources are in the upper right region. This result is rather quantitative. It provides an evidence supporting what Giommi et al. (1995) suggested: RBL-like and XBL-like objects can be distinguished by the difference of the peak emission frequency of the overall energy spectrum.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figure

Extending the first-order post-Newtonian scheme in multiple systems to the second-order contributions to light propagation

In this paper, we extend the first-order post-Newtonian scheme in multiple systems presented by Damour-Soffel-Xu to the second-order contribution to light propagation without changing the virtueof the scheme on the linear partial differential equations of the potential and vector potential. The spatial components of the metric are extended to second order level both in a global coordinates ($q_{ij}/ c^4$) and a local coordinates ($Q_{ab}/ c^4$). The equations of $q_{ij}$ (or $Q_{ab}$) are obtained from the field equations.The relationship between $q_{ij}$ and $Q_{ab}$ are presented in this paper also. In special case of the solar system (isotropic condition is applied ($q_{ij} = \delta_{ij} q$)), we obtain the solution of $q$. Finally, a further extension of the second-order contributions in the parametrized post-Newtonian formalism is discussed.Comment: Latex2e; 6 pages PS fil

A numerical investigation of wave-supported gravity flow during cold fronts over the Atchafalaya Shelf

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2020. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research: Oceans 125(9), (2020): e2019JC015269, doi:10.1029/2019JC015269Wave‐supported fluid mud (WSFM) plays an important role in sediment downslope transport on the continental shelves. In this study, we incorporated WSFM processes in the wave boundary layer (WBL) into the Community Sediment Transport Modeling System (CSTMS) on the platform of the Coupled Ocean‐Atmosphere‐Wave‐and‐Sediment Transport modeling system (COAWST). The WSFM module was introduced between the bottommost water layer and top sediment layer, which accounted for the key sediment exchange processes (e.g., resuspension, vertical settling, diffusion, and horizontal advection) at the water‐WBL and WBL‐sediment bed boundaries. To test its robustness, we adapted the updated model (CSTMS + WBL) to the Atchafalaya shelf in the northern Gulf of Mexico and successfully reproduced the sediment dynamics in March 2008, when active WSFM processes were reported. Compared with original CSTMS results, including WSFM module weakened the overall intensity of sediment resuspension, and the CSTMS + WBL model simulated a lutocline between the WBL and overlying water due to the formation of WSFM. Downslope WSFM transport resulted in offshore deposition (>4 cm), which greatly changed the net erosion/deposition pattern on the inner shelf off the Chenier Plain. WSFM flux was comparable with suspended sediment flux (SSF) off the Atchafalaya Bay, and it peaked along the Chenier Plain coast where wave activities were strong and the bathymetric slope was steep. The influence of fluvial sediment supply on sediment dynamics was limited in the Atchafalaya Bay. Sensitivity tests of free settling, flocculation, and hindered settling effects suggested that sediments were transported further offshore due to reduced settling velocity in the WBL once fluid mud was formed. Although sediment concentration in the WBL was sensitive to surface sediment critical shear stress, cohesive bed behavior was less important in WSFM dynamics when compared with strong hydrodynamic during cold fronts.Research support provided through NSF CyberSEES (Award CCF‐1856359), NASA (Award NNH17ZHA002C), Louisiana Board of Regents (award number NASA/LEQSF(2018‐20)‐Phase3‐11), Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (Cooperative Agreement Award M20AC00007), NSF Coastal SEES (Award EAR‐1427389 ), NSF (Award OCE‐20203676), and LSU Foundation Billy and Ann Harrison Endowment for Sedimentary Geology.2021-02-1

The role of sediment-induced light attenuation on primary production during Hurricane Gustav (2008)

© The Author(s), 2020. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Zang, Z., Xue, Z. G., Xu, K., Bentley, S. J., Chen, Q., D'Sa, E. J., Zhang, L., & Ou, Y. The role of sediment-induced light attenuation on primary production during Hurricane Gustav (2008). Biogeosciences, 17(20), (2020): 5043-5055, doi:10.5194/bg-17-5043-2020.We introduced a sediment-induced light attenuation algorithm into a biogeochemical model of the Coupled Ocean–Atmosphere–Wave–Sediment Transport (COAWST) modeling system. A fully coupled ocean–atmospheric–sediment–biogeochemical simulation was carried out to assess the impact of sediment-induced light attenuation on primary production in the northern Gulf of Mexico during the passage of Hurricane Gustav in 2008. When compared with model results without sediment-induced light attenuation, our new model showed a better agreement with satellite data on both the magnitude of nearshore chlorophyll concentration and the spatial distribution of offshore bloom. When Hurricane Gustav approached, resuspended sediment shifted the inner shelf ecosystem from a nutrient-limited one to a light-limited one. Only 1 week after Hurricane Gustav's landfall, accumulated nutrients and a favorable optical environment induced a posthurricane algal bloom in the top 20 m of the water column, while the productivity in the lower water column was still light-limited due to slow-settling sediment. Corresponding with the elevated offshore NO3 flux (38.71 mmol N m−1 s−1) and decreased chlorophyll flux (43.10 mg m−1 s−1), the outer shelf posthurricane bloom should have resulted from the cross-shelf nutrient supply instead of the lateral dispersed chlorophyll. Sensitivity tests indicated that sediment light attenuation efficiency affected primary production when sediment concentration was moderately high. Model uncertainties due to colored dissolved organic matter and parameterization of sediment-induced light attenuation are also discussed.This research has been supported by the National Science Foundation (grant nos. CCF-1856359, EnvS-1903340, OCE-1635837 and EAR-1427389), NASA (grant no. NNH17ZHA002C), the Louisiana Board of Regents (grant no. NASA/LEQSF(2018-20)-Phase3-11) and the LSU Foundation Billy and Ann Harrison Endowment for Sedimentary Geology

Tundra soil carbon is vulnerable to rapid microbial decomposition under climate warming

Microbial decomposition of soil carbon in high-latitude tundra underlain with permafrost is one of the most important, but poorly understood, potential positive feedbacks of greenhouse gas emissions from terrestrial ecosystems into the atmosphere in a warmer world. Using integrated metagenomic technologies, we showed that the microbial functional community structure in the active layer of tundra soil was significantly altered after only 1.5 years of warming, a rapid response demonstrating the high sensitivity of this ecosystem to warming. The abundances of microbial functional genes involved in both aerobic and anaerobic carbon decomposition were also markedly increased by this short-term warming. Consistent with this, ecosystem respiration (R eco) increased up to 38%. In addition, warming enhanced genes involved in nutrient cycling, which very likely contributed to an observed increase (30%) in gross primary productivity (GPP). However, the GPP increase did not offset the extra R eco, resulting in significantly more net carbon loss in warmed plots compared with control plots. Altogether, our results demonstrate the vulnerability of active-layer soil carbon in this permafrost-based tundra ecosystem to climate warming and the importance of microbial communities in mediating such vulnerability

Measurement of the chi_{c2} Polarization in psi(2S) to gamma chi_{c2}

The polarization of the chi_{c2} produced in psi(2S) decays into gamma chi_{c2} is measured using a sample of 14*10^6 psi(2S) events collected by BESII at the BEPC. A fit to the chi_{c2} production and decay angular distributions in psi(2S) to gamma chi_{c2}, chi_{c2} to pi pi and KK yields values x=A_1/A_0=2.08+/-0.44 and y=A_2/A_0=3.03 +/-0.66, with a correlation rho=0.92 between them, where A_{0,1,2} are the chi_{c2} helicity amplitudes. The measurement agrees with a pure E1 transition, and M2 and E3 contributions do not differ significantly from zero.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl