A complex pattern of post‐divergence expansion, contraction, introgression and asynchronous responses to Pleistocene climate changes in two Dipelta sister species from western China

The well-known vicariance and dispersal models dominate in understanding the allopatric pattern for related species and presume the simultaneous occurrence of speciation and biogeographic events. However, the formation of allopatry may postdate the species divergence. We examined this hypothesis using DNA sequence data from 3 chloroplast fragments and 5 nuclear loci of Dipelta floribunda and D. yunnanensis, two shrub species with the circum Sichuan Basin distribution, combining the climatic niche modeling approach. The best-fit model supported by the approximate Bayesian computation (ABC) analysis indicated that, D. floribunda and D. yunnanensis diverged during the mid-Pleistocene period, consistent with the largest glacial period in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP). The historically inter-specific gene flow was identified but seemed to have ceased after the last interglacial period (LIG), when the range of D. floribunda moved northward from the south of the Sichuan Basin. Further, populations of D. floribunda had expanded obviously in the north of the Sichuan Basin after the last glacial maximum (LGM). Relatively, the range of D. yunnanensis expanded before the LGM, reduced during the post-LGM especially in the north of the Sichuan Basin, reflecting the asynchronous responses of related species to the contemporary climate changes. Our results suggested that complex topography should be considered in understanding the distributional patterns even for closely related species and their demographic responses

Exploring sources of resistance to brown rot in an interspecific almond × peach population

BACKGROUND: Monilinia spp. are responsible for brown rot, one of the most significant stone fruit diseases. Planting resistant cultivars seems a promising alternative, although most commercial cultivars are susceptible to brown rot. The aim of this study was to explore resistance to Monilinia fructicola over two seasons in a backcross one interspecific population between almond ‘Texas’ and peach ‘Earlygold’ (named T1E). RESULTS: ‘Texas’ almond was resistant to brown rot inoculation, whereas peach was highly susceptible. Phenotypic data from the T1E population indicated wide differences in response to M. fructicola. Additionally, several non-wounded individuals exhibited resistance to brown rot. Quantitative trait loci (QTLs) were identified in several linkage groups, but only two proximal QTLs in G4 were detected over both seasons and accounted for 11.3–16.2% of the phenotypic variation. CONCLUSION: Analysis of the progeny allowed the identification of resistant genotypes that could serve as a source of resistance in peach breeding programs. The finding of loci associated with brown rot resistance would shed light on implementing a strategy based on marker-assisted selection (MAS) for introgression of this trait into elite peach materials. New peach cultivars resistant to brown rot may contribute to the implementation of more sustainable crop protection strategies.info:eu-repo/semantics/acceptedVersio

A topological insulator surface under strong Coulomb, magnetic and disorder perturbations

Three dimensional topological insulators embody a newly discovered state of matter characterized by conducting spin-momentum locked surface states that span the bulk band gap as demonstrated via spin-resolved ARPES measurements . This highly unusual surface environment provides a rich ground for the discovery of novel physical phenomena. Here we present the first controlled study of the topological insulator surfaces under strong Coulomb, magnetic and disorder perturbations. We have used interaction of iron, with a large Coulomb state and significant magnetic moment as a probe to \textit{systematically test the robustness} of the topological surface states of the model topological insulator Bi$_2$Se$_3$. We observe that strong perturbation leads to the creation of odd multiples of Dirac fermions and that magnetic interactions break time reversal symmetry in the presence of band hybridization. We also present a theoretical model to account for the altered surface of Bi$_2$Se$_3$. Taken collectively, these results are a critical guide in manipulating topological surfaces for probing fundamental physics or developing device applications.Comment: 14 pages, 4 Figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1009.621

Detecting recent selective sweeps while controlling for mutation rate and background selection

A composite likelihood ratio test implemented in the program sweepfinder is a commonly used method for scanning a genome for recent selective sweeps. sweepfinder uses information on the spatial pattern (along the chromosome) of the site frequency spectrum around the selected locus. To avoid confounding effects of background selection and variation in the mutation process along the genome, the method is typically applied only to sites that are variable within species. However, the power to detect and localize selective sweeps can be greatly improved if invariable sites are also included in the analysis. In the spirit of a Hudson–Kreitman–Aguadé test, we suggest adding fixed differences relative to an out‐group to account for variation in mutation rate, thereby facilitating more robust and powerful analyses. We also develop a method for including background selection, modelled as a local reduction in the effective population size. Using simulations, we show that these advances lead to a gain in power while maintaining robustness to mutation rate variation. Furthermore, the new method also provides more precise localization of the causative mutation than methods using the spatial pattern of segregating sites alone.Christian D. Huber, Michael DeGiorgio, Ines Hellmann, Rasmus Nielse

Multi-scale three-dimensional characterization of iron particles in dusty olivine: Implications for paleomagnetism of chondritic meteorites

Dusty olivine (olivine containing multiple sub-micrometer inclusions of metallic iron) in chondritic meteorites is considered an ideal carrier of paleomagnetic remanence, capable of maintaining a faithful record of pre-accretionary magnetization acquired during chondrule formation. Here we show how the magnetic architecture of a single dusty olivine grain from the Semarkona LL3.0 ordinary chondrite meteorite can be fully characterised in three dimensions, using a combination of Focussed-Ion-Beam nanotomography (FIB-nT), electron tomography and finite-element micromagnetic modelling. We present a three-dimensional (3D) volume reconstruction of a dusty olivine grain, obtained by selective milling through a region of interest in a series of sequential 20 nm slices, which are then imaged using scanning electron microscopy. The data provide a quantitative description of the iron particle ensemble, including the distribution of particle sizes, shapes, interparticle spacings and orientations. Iron particles are predominantly oblate ellipsoids with average radii 242 ± 94 nm by 199 ± 80 nm by 123 ± 58 nm. Using analytical TEM we observe that the particles nucleate on sub-grain boundaries and are loosely arranged in a series of sheets parallel to (001) of the olivine host. This is in agreement with the orientation data collected using the FIB-nT, and highlights how the underlying texture of the dusty olivine is crystallographically constrained by the olivine host. The shortest dimension of the particles is oriented normal to the sheets and their longest dimension is preferentially aligned within the sheets. Individual particle geometries are converted to a finite-element mesh and used to perform micromagnetic simulations. The majority of particles adopt a single vortex state, with ‘bulk’ spins that rotate around a central vortex core. We observed no particles, which are in a true single domain state. The results of the micromagnetic simulations challenge some pre-conceived ideas about the remanence carrying properties of vortex states. There is often not a simple predictive relationship between the major, intermediate and minor axes of the particles and the remanence vector imparted in different fields. Although the orientation of the vortex core is determined largely by the ellipsoidal geometry (i.e., parallel to the major axis for prolate ellipsoids and parallel to the minor axis for oblate ellipsoids), the core and remanence vectors can sometimes lie at very large (tens of degree) angles to the principal axes. The subtle details of the morphology can control the overall remanence state, leading in some cases to a dominant contribution from the bulk spins to the net remanence, with profound implications for predicting the anisotropy of the sample. The particles have very high switching fields (several hundred mT), demonstrating their high stability and suitability for paleointensity studies.The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreements 291522-3DIMAGE (P.A.M.) and 320750 - Nanopaleomagnetism (J.F.E., R.J.H., and P.A.M.). BPW and RRF were supported by NASA Emerging Worlds program grant #NNX15AH72G, the NASA Solar System Exploration and Research Virtual Institute grant #NNA14AB01A, and a generous gift from Thomas F. Peterson, Jr. The research leading to these results has received funding from the European Research Council under the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme (FP/2007-2013)/ERC Grant Agreement No. 320832-Imagine. (W.W . and P.O.C.) W.W. was also supported for this research under NERC grant NE/J020966/1 - Predicting the reliability with which the geomagnetic field can be recorded in igneous rocks.This is the author accepted manuscript. It is currently under an indefinite embargo pending publication by the Mineralogical Society of America

The Subleading Term of the Strong Coupling Expansion of the Heavy-Quark Potential in a N=4\mathcal N=4 Super Yang-Mills Plasma

Applying the AdS/CFT correspondence, the expansion of the heavy-quark potential of the ${\cal N}$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory at large $N_c$ is carried out to the sub-leading term in the large 't Hooft coupling at nonzero temperatures. The strong coupling corresponds to the semi-classical expansion of the string-sigma model, the gravity dual of the Wilson loop operator, with the sub-leading term expressed in terms of functional determinants of fluctuations. The contributions of these determinants are evaluated numerically.Comment: 17 pages in JHEP3, typos fixed, updated version to be published in JHE

Fourier Magnetic Imaging with Nanoscale Resolution and Compressed Sensing Speed-up using Electronic Spins in Diamond

Optically-detected magnetic resonance using Nitrogen Vacancy (NV) color centres in diamond is a leading modality for nanoscale magnetic field imaging, as it provides single electron spin sensitivity, three-dimensional resolution better than 1 nm, and applicability to a wide range of physical and biological samples under ambient conditions. To date, however, NV-diamond magnetic imaging has been performed using real space techniques, which are either limited by optical diffraction to 250 nm resolution or require slow, point-by-point scanning for nanoscale resolution, e.g., using an atomic force microscope, magnetic tip, or super-resolution optical imaging. Here we introduce an alternative technique of Fourier magnetic imaging using NV-diamond. In analogy with conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we employ pulsed magnetic field gradients to phase-encode spatial information on NV electronic spins in wavenumber or k-space followed by a fast Fourier transform to yield real-space images with nanoscale resolution, wide field-of-view (FOV), and compressed sensing speed-up.Comment: 31 pages, 10 figure

General optimized lower and upper bounds for discrete and continuous arithmetic Asian options

We propose an accurate method for pricing arithmetic Asian options on the discrete or continuous average in a general model setting by means of a lower bound approximation. In particular, we derive analytical expressions for the lower bound in the Fourier domain. This is then recovered by a single univariate inversion and sharpened using an optimization technique. In addition, we derive an upper bound to the error from the lower bound price approximation. Our proposed method can be applied to computing the prices and price sensitivities of Asian options with fixed or floating strike price, discrete or continuous averaging, under a wide range of stochastic dynamic models, including exponential Lévy models, stochastic volatility models, and the constant elasticity of variance diffusion. Our extensive numerical experiments highlight the notable performance and robustness of our optimized lower bound for different test cases