1,947 research outputs found

    Agricultural Perturbations of the Nitrogen Cycle and Related Impact on Atmospheric N_2O and Ozone

    Get PDF
    The available data are employed to identify the fate of agricultural nitrogen in the environment. Best estimates predict denitrification of nearly 50% of fertilizer nitrogen in less than 10 years after application. We also discuss in detail the expected demand curve for agricultural N. If population growth continues at projected levels, between 100 and 200 M tons/yr of agricultural N will be needed by the year 2000. We estimate that as a result, atmospheric N_2O could be more than doubled by 2050, and that perturbations of O_3 at that time could range from 10 to more than 20%. Major uncertainties remain however, and we emphasize the importance of further experimental research into the nitrogen cycle

    Non-Abelian Meissner Effect in Yang--Mills Theories at Weak Coupling

    Full text link
    We present a weak-coupling Yang--Mills model supporting non-Abelian magnetic flux tubes and non-Abelian confined magnetic monopoles. In the dual description the magnetic flux tubes are prototypes of the QCD strings. Dualizing the confined magnetic monopoles we get gluelumps which convert a "QCD string" in the excited state to that in the ground state. Introducing a mass parameter m we discover a phase transition between the Abelian and non-Abelian confinement at a critical value m=m_* of order of Lambda. Underlying dynamics are governed by a Z_N symmetry inherent to the model under consideration. At m>m_* the Z_N symmetry is spontaneously broken, resulting in N degenerate Z_N (Abelian) strings. At m<m_* the Z_N symmetry is restored, the degeneracy is lifted, and the strings become non-Abelian. We calculate tensions of the non-Abelian strings, as well as the decay rates of the metastable strings, at N >> 1.Comment: Reference [45] corrected. Final version, to appear in Phys. Rev.

    Surface Critical Phenomena and Scaling in the Eight-Vertex Model

    Full text link
    We give a physical interpretation of the entries of the reflection KK-matrices of Baxter's eight-vertex model in terms of an Ising interaction at an open boundary. Although the model still defies an exact solution we nevertheless obtain the exact surface free energy from a crossing-unitarity relation. The singular part of the surface energy is described by the critical exponents αs=2π2μ\alpha_s = 2 - \frac{\pi}{2\mu} and α1=1πμ\alpha_1 = 1 - \frac{\pi}{\mu}, where μ\mu controls the strength of the four-spin interaction. These values reduce to the known Ising exponents at the decoupling point μ=π/2\mu=\pi/2 and confirm the scaling relations αs=αb+ν\alpha_s = \alpha_b + \nu and α1=αb1\alpha_1 = \alpha_b -1.Comment: 12 pages, LaTeX with REVTEX macros needed. To appear in Physical Review Letter

    Methanol observation of IRAS 19312+1950: A possible new type of class I methanol maser

    Full text link
    We report the result of a systematic methanol observation toward IRAS 19312+1950. The properties of the SiO, H2O, and OH masers of this object are consistent with those of mass-losing evolved stars, but some other properties are difficult to explain in the standard scheme of stellar evolution in its late stage. Interestingly, a tentative detection of radio methanol lines was suggested toward this object by a previous observation. To date, there are no confirmed detections of methanol emission towards evolved stars, so investigation of this possible detection is important to better understand the circumstellar physical/chemical environment of IRAS 19312+1950. In this study, we systematically observed multiple methanol lines of IRAS 19312+1950 in the λ = 3 mm, 7 mm, and 13 mm bands, and detected six lines including four thermal lines and two class I maser lines. We derived basic physical parameters, including kinetic temperature and relative abundances, by fitting a radiative transfer model. According to the derived excitation temperature and line profiles, a spherically expanding outflow lying at the center of the nebulosity is excluded from the possibilities for methanol emission regions. The detection of class I methanol maser emission suggests that a shock region is involved in the system of IRAS 19312+1950. If the central star of IRAS 19312+1950 is an evolved star as suggested in the past, the class I maser detected in the present observation is the first case detected in an interaction region between an evolved star outflow and ambient molecular gas. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Astronomical Society of Japan

    Electronic density of states derived from thermodynamic critical field curves for underdoped La-Sr-Cu-O

    Full text link
    Thermodynamic critical field curves have been measured for La2xSrxCuO4+δLa_{2-x}Sr_{x}CuO_{4+\delta} over the full range of carrier concentrations where superconductivity occurs in order to determine changes in the normal state density of states with carrier concentration. There is a substantial window in the HTH-T plane where the measurements are possible because the samples are both thermodynamically reversible and the temperature is low enough that vortex fluctuations are not important. In this window, the data fit Hao-Clem rather well, so this model is used to determine HcH_c and κc\kappa_c for each temperature and carrier concentration. Using N(0) and the ratio of the energy gap to transition temperature, Δ(0)/kBTc\Delta (0)/k_BT_c, as fitting parameters, the HcvsTH_c vs T curves give Δ(0)/kBTc2.0\Delta (0)/k_BT_c \sim 2.0 over the whole range of xx. Values of N(0) remain rather constant in the optimum-doped and overdoped regime, but drops quickly toward zero in the underdoped regime.

    Bulk Fermi surface and momentum density in heavily doped La2x_{2-x}Srx_xCuO4_4 using high resolution Compton scattering and positron annihilation spectroscopies

    Get PDF
    We have observed the bulk Fermi surface (FS) in an overdoped (xx=0.3) single crystal of La2x_{2-x}Srx_xCuO4_4 by using Compton scattering. A two-dimensional (2D) momentum density reconstruction from measured Compton profiles yields a clear FS signature in the third Brillouin zone along [100]. The quantitative agreement between density functional theory (DFT) calculations and momentum density experiment suggests that Fermi-liquid physics is restored in the overdoped regime. In particular the predicted FS topology is found to be in good accord with the corresponding experimental data. We find similar quantitative agreement between the measured 2D angular correlation of positron annihilation radiation (2D-ACAR) spectra and the DFT based computations. However, 2D-ACAR does not give such a clear signature of the FS in the extended momentum space in either the theory or the experiment.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure
    corecore