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Precipitation and latent heating distributions from satellite passive microwave radiometry. Part I: improved method and uncertainties
A revised Bayesian algorithm for estimating surface rain rate, convective rain proportion, and latent heating profiles from satellite-borne passive microwave radiometer observations over ocean backgrounds is described. The algorithm searches a large database of cloud-radiative model simulations to find cloud profiles that are radiatively consistent with a given set of microwave radiance measurements. The properties of these radiatively consistent profiles are then composited to obtain best estimates of the observed properties. The revised algorithm is supported by an expanded and more physically consistent database of cloud-radiative model simulations. The algorithm also features a better quantification of the convective and nonconvective contributions to total rainfall, a new geographic database, and an improved representation of background radiances in rain-free regions. Bias and random error estimates are derived from applications of the algorithm to synthetic radiance data, based upon a subset of cloud-resolving model simulations, and from the Bayesian formulation itself. Synthetic rain-rate and latent heating estimates exhibit a trend of high (low) bias for low (high) retrieved values. The Bayesian estimates of random error are propagated to represent errors at coarser time and space resolutions, based upon applications of the algorithm to TRMM Microwave Imager (TMI) data. Errors in TMI instantaneous rain-rate estimates at 0.5°-resolution range from approximately 50% at 1 mm h−1 to 20% at 14 mm h−1. Errors in collocated spaceborne radar rain-rate estimates are roughly 50%–80% of the TMI errors at this resolution. The estimated algorithm random error in TMI rain rates at monthly, 2.5° resolution is relatively small (less than 6% at 5 mm day−1) in comparison with the random error resulting from infrequent satellite temporal sampling (8%–35% at the same rain rate). Percentage errors resulting from sampling decrease with increasing rain rate, and sampling errors in latent heating rates follow the same trend. Averaging over 3 months reduces sampling errors in rain rates to 6%–15% at 5 mm day−1, with proportionate reductions in latent heating sampling errors
Spectral functions of the Falicov-Kimball model with electronic ferroelectricity
We calculate the angular resolved photoemission spectrum of the
Falicov-Kimball model with electronic ferroelectricity where - and
-electrons have different hoppings. In mix-valence regimes, the presence of
strong scattering processes between - excitons and a hole, created by
emission of an electron, leads to the formation of pseudospin polarons and
novel electronic structures with bandwidth scaling with that of -
excitons. Especially, in the two-dimensional case, we find that flat regions
exist near the bottom of the quasiparticle band in a wide range of the - and
-level energy difference.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Towards a molecular definition of worker sterility: differential gene expression and reproductive plasticity in honey bees
We show that differences in the reproductive development of honey bee workers are associated with locus-specific changes to abundance of messenger RNA. Using a cross-fostering field experiment to control for differences related to age and environment, we compared the gene expression profiles of functionally sterile workers (wild-type) and those from a mutant strain in which workers are reproductively active (anarchist). Among the set of three genes that are significantly differentially expressed are two major royal jelly proteins that are up-regulated in wild-type heads. This discovery is consistent with sterile workers synthesizing royal jelly as food for developing brood. Likewise, the relative underexpression of these two royal jellies in anarchist workers is consistent with these workers’ characteristic avoidance of alloparental behaviour, in favour of selfish egg-laying. Overall, there is a trend for the most differentially expressed genes to be up-regulated in wild-type workers. This pattern suggests that functional sterility in honey bee workers may generally involve the expression of a suite of genes that effectively ‘switch’ ovaries off, and that selfish reproduction in honey bee workers, though rare, is the default developmental pathway that results when ovary activation is not suppressed
The transition form factors for semi-leptonic weak decays of in QCD sum rules
Within the Standard Model, we investigate the semi-leptonic weak decays of
. The various form factors of transiting to a single charmed
meson () are studied in the framework of the QCD sum rules.
These form factors fully determine the rates of the weak semi-leptonic decays
of and provide valuable information about the non-perturbative QCD
effects. Our results indicate that the decay rate of the semi-leptonic weak
decay mode is at order of .Comment: 28 pages, 6 figures, revised version to be published in Eur.Phys.J.
The role of interparticle heterogeneities in the selenization pathway of Cu Zn Sn S nanoparticle thin films a real time study
Real time energy dispersive X ray diffraction EDXRD analysis has been utilized to observe the selenization of Cu Zn Sn S nanoparticle films coated from three nanoparticle populations Cu and Sn rich particles roughly 5 nm in size, Zn rich nanoparticles ranging from 10 to 20 nm in diameter, and a mixture of both types of nanoparticles roughly 1 1 by mass , which corresponds to a synthesis recipe yielding CZTSSe solar cells with reported total area efficiencies as high as 7.9 . The EDXRD studies presented herein show that the formation of copper selenide intermediates during the selenization of mixed particle films can be primarily attributed to the small, Cu and Sn rich particles. Moreover, the formation of these copper selenide phases represents the first stage of the CZTSSe grain growth mechanism. The large, Zn rich particles subsequently contribute their composition to form micrometer sized CZTSSe grains. These findings enable further development of a previously proposed selenization pathway to account for the roles of interparticle heterogeneities, which in turn provides a valuable guide for future optimization of processes to synthesize high quality CZTSSe absorber layer
Study of Bc --> J/psi pi, etac pi decays with perturbative QCD approach
The Bc --> J/psi pi, etac pi decays are studied with the perturbative QCD
approach. It is found that form factors and branching ratios are sensitive to
the parameters w, v, f_J/psi and f_etac, where w and v are the parameters of
the charmonium wave functions for Coulomb potential and harmonic oscillator
potential, respectively, f_J/psi and f_etac are the decay constants of the
J/psi and etac mesons, respectively. The large branching ratios and the clear
signals of the final states make the Bc --> J/psi pi, etac pi decays to be the
prospective channels for measurements at the hadron collidersComment: 21 pages, revtex
Uncertainties in global crop model frameworks: effects of cultivar distribution, crop management and soil handling on crop yield estimates
Global gridded crop models (GGCMs) combine field-scale agronomic models or sets of plant growth algorithms with gridded spatial input data to estimate spatially explicit crop yields 40 and agricultural externalities at the global scale. Differences in GGCM outputs arise from the use of different bio-physical models, setups, and input data. While algorithms have been in the focus of recent GGCM comparisons, this study investigates differences in maize and wheat yield estimates from five GGCMs based on the public domain field-scale model Environmental Policy Integrated Climate (EPIC) that participate in the AgMIP Global Gridded Crop Model 45 Intercomparison (GGCMI) project. Albeit using the same crop model, the GGCMs differ in model version, input data, management assumptions, parameterization, geographic distribution of cultivars, and selection of subroutines e.g. for the estimation of potential evapotranspiration or soil erosion. The analyses reveal long-term trends and inter-annual yield variability in the EPIC-based GGCMs to be highly sensitive to soil parameterization and crop management. Absolute yield levels as well depend not only on nutrient supply but 50 also on the parameterization and distribution of crop cultivars. All GGCMs show an intermediate performance in reproducing reported absolute yield levels or inter-annual dynamics. Our findings suggest that studies focusing on the evaluation of differences in bio-physical routines may require further harmonization of input data and management assumptions in order to eliminate background noise resulting from differences in model setups. For agricultural impact assessments, employing a GGCM ensemble with its widely varying assumptions 55 in setups appears the best solution for bracketing such uncertainties as long as comprehensive global datasets taking into account regional differences in crop management, cultivar distributions and coefficients for parameterizing agro-environmental processes are lacking. Finally, we recommend improvements in the documentation of setups and input data of GGCMs in order to allow for sound interpretability, comparability and reproducibility of published results
Charmless Decays Based on the six-quark Effective Hamiltonian with Strong Phase Effects II
We provide a systematic study of charmless decays (
and denote pseudoscalar and vector mesons, respectively) based on an
approximate six-quark operator effective Hamiltonian from QCD. The calculation
of the relevant hard-scattering kernels is carried out, the resulting
transition form factors are consistent with the results of QCD sum rule
calculations. By taking into account important classes of power corrections
involving "chirally-enhanced" terms and the vertex corrections as well as weak
annihilation contributions with non-trivial strong phase, we present
predictions for the branching ratios and CP asymmetries of decays into
PP, PV and VV final states, and also for the corresponding polarization
observables in VV final states. It is found that the weak annihilation
contributions with non-trivial strong phase have remarkable effects on the
observables in the color-suppressed and penguin-dominated decay modes. In
addition, we discuss the SU(3) flavor symmetry and show that the symmetry
relations are generally respected
Spin chains with dynamical lattice supersymmetry
Spin chains with exact supersymmetry on finite one-dimensional lattices are
considered. The supercharges are nilpotent operators on the lattice of
dynamical nature: they change the number of sites. A local criterion for the
nilpotency on periodic lattices is formulated. Any of its solutions leads to a
supersymmetric spin chain. It is shown that a class of special solutions at
arbitrary spin gives the lattice equivalents of the N=(2,2) superconformal
minimal models. The case of spin one is investigated in detail: in particular,
it is shown that the Fateev-Zamolodchikov chain and its off-critical extension
admits a lattice supersymmetry for all its coupling constants. Its
supersymmetry singlets are thoroughly analysed, and a relation between their
components and the weighted enumeration of alternating sign matrices is
conjectured.Comment: Revised version, 52 pages, 2 figure
Exciton swapping in a twisted graphene bilayer as a solid-state realization of a two-brane model
It is shown that exciton swapping between two graphene sheets may occur under
specific conditions. A magnetically tunable optical filter is described to
demonstrate this new effect. Mathematically, it is shown that two turbostratic
graphene layers can be described as a "noncommutative" two-sheeted
(2+1)-spacetime thanks to a formalism previously introduced for the study of
braneworlds in high energy physics. The Hamiltonian of the model contains a
coupling term connecting the two layers which is similar to the coupling
existing between two braneworlds at a quantum level. In the present case, this
term is related to a K-K' intervalley coupling. In addition, the experimental
observation of this effect could be a way to assess the relevance of some
theoretical concepts of the braneworld hypothesis.Comment: 15 pages, 3 figures, final version published in European Physical
Journal
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