Mid-mantle deformation inferred from seismic anisotropy

With time, convective processes in the Earth's mantle will tend to align crystals, grains and inclusions. This mantle fabric is detectable seismologically, as it produces an anisotropy in material properties—in particular, a directional dependence in seismic-wave velocity. This alignment is enhanced at the boundaries of the mantle where there are rapid changes in the direction and magnitude of mantle flow, and therefore most observations of anisotropy are confined to the uppermost mantle or lithosphere and the lowermost-mantle analogue of the lithosphere, the D" region. Here we present evidence from shear-wave splitting measurements for mid-mantle anisotropy in the vicinity of the 660-km discontinuity, the boundary between the upper and lower mantle. Deep-focus earthquakes in the Tonga–Kermadec and New Hebrides subduction zones recorded at Australian seismograph stations record some of the largest values of shear-wave splitting hitherto reported. The results suggest that, at least locally, there may exist a mid-mantle boundary layer, which could indicate the impediment of flow between the upper and lower mantle in this region

A kinetic approach to eta' production from a CP-odd phase

The production of (eta,eta')- mesons during the decay of a CP-odd phase is studied within an evolution operator approach. We derive a quantum kinetic equation starting from the Witten-DiVecchia-Veneziano Lagrangian for pseudoscalar mesons containing a U_A(1) symmetry breaking term. The non-linear vacuum mean field for the flavour singlet pseudoscalar meson is treated as a classical, self-interacting background field with fluctuations assumed to be small. The numerical solution provides the time evolution of momentum distribution function of produced eta'- mesons after a quench at the deconfinement phase transition. We show that the time evolution of the momentum distribution of the produced mesons depend strongly on the shape of the effective potential at the end of the quench, exhibiting either parametric or tachyonic resonances. Quantum statistical effects are essential and lead to a pronounced Bose enhancement of the low momentum states.Comment: 10 pages, latex, epsfig, 6 figure

Sub-lattice of Jahn-Teller centers in hexaferrite crystal

A novel type of sub-lattice of the Jahn-Teller (JT) centers was arranged in Ti-doped barium hexaferrite BaFe12O19. In the un-doped crystal all iron ions, sitting in five different crystallographic positions, are Fe3+ in the high-spin configuration (S = 5/2) and have a non-degenerate ground state. We show that the electron-donor Ti substitution converts the ions to Fe2+ predominantly in tetrahedral coordination, resulting in doubly-degenerate states subject to the E⊗ e problem of the JT effect. The arranged JT complexes, Fe2+O4, their adiabatic potential energy, non-linear and quantum dynamics, have been studied by means of ultrasound and terahertz-infrared spectroscopies. The JT complexes are sensitive to external stress and applied magnetic field. For that reason, the properties of the doped crystal can be controlled by the amount and state of the JT complexes. © 2020, The Author(s).Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAADRussian Foundation for Basic Research, RFBR: 18–02–00332 aDeutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst, DAAD: 91728513Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Minobrnauka: 19–53–0401019–72–00055Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, MinobrnaukaThe authors acknowledge fruitful discussions with A.S. Prokhorov. We acknowledge support of the HLD at HZDR, member of the European Magnetic Field Laboratory (EMFL). At Ural Federal University, the research was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (18–02–00332 a), UrFU Center of Excellence “Radiation and Nuclear Technologies” (Competitiveness Enhancement Program), the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (Program 5–100). In M.N. Miheev Institute of Metal Physics, the research was carried out within the state assignment of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation (theme “Electron” No. AAAA-A18–118020190098–5. At South Ural State University, the authors were generally supported by Act 211 Government of the Russian Federation, contract № 02.A03.21.0011. The single crystal growth part was supported by Russian Foundation for Basic Research (19–53–04010). At Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the work was supported by the Russian Ministry of Education and Science (Program 5–100) and by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Michael Lomonosov Programm Linie B, 91728513. Time-domain low temperature spectroscopic experiments were financially supported by the Russian Scientific Foundation (19–72–00055)

Inertial mechanism: dynamical mass as a source of particle creation

A kinetic theory of vacuum particle creation under the action of an inertial mechanism is constructed within a nonpertrubative dynamical approach. At the semi-phenomenological level, the inertial mechanism corresponds to quantum field theory with a time-dependent mass. At the microscopic level, such a dependence may be caused by different reasons: The non-stationary Higgs mechanism, the influence of a mean field or condensate, the presence of the conformal multiplier in the scalar-tensor gravitation theory etc. In what follows, a kinetic theory in the collisionless approximation is developed for scalar, spinor and massive vector fields in the framework of the oscillator representation, which is an effective tool for transition to the quasiparticle description and for derivation of non-Markovian kinetic equations. Properties of these equations and relevant observables (particle number and energy densities, pressure) are studied. The developed theory is applied here to describe the vacuum matter creation in conformal cosmological models and discuss the problem of the observed number density of photons in the cosmic microwave background radiation. As other example, the self-consistent evolution of scalar fields with non-monotonic self-interaction potentials (the W-potential and Witten - Di Vecchia - Veneziano model) is considered. In particular, conditions for appearance of tachyonic modes and a problem of the relevant definition of a vacuum state are considered.Comment: 51 pages, 18 figures, submitted to PEPAN (JINR, Dubna); v2: added reference

КОРА И МАНТИЯ БАЙКАЛЬСКОЙ РИФТОВОЙ ЗОНЫ ПО ДАННЫМ ПРИЕМНЫХ ФУНКЦИЙ ПРОДОЛЬНЫХ И ПОПЕРЕЧНЫХ ВОЛН

We have obtained P-wave and S-wave receiver functions for 10 broadband seismograph stations in the Baikal rift zone (BRZ) and inverted them for seismic velocity models of the crust and upper mantle. The thinnest crust (30–35 km) is found in the Baikal basin, the thickest in the East Sayan uplift (45–50 km). Intermediate values (40 km) are found in the BRZ at distances around 100 km from Lake Baikal. A high (at least 1.8) Vp/Vs ratio is observed in the middle and lower crust. It exceeds 2.0 at some stations. In our opinion, the highest Vp/Vs ratios are due to fluid-filled porosity with a high pore pressure. The seismic lithosphere – asthenosphere boundary (LAB) is manifested by a shear velocity drop from 4.5 km/s to 4.0–4.2 km/s. Beneath the Baikal basin, the LAB is located at a depth not more than 50 km, and the S velocity drop is maximal (10 %). A similar structure is found outside the basin, underneath a segment of the East Sayan uplift. At other locations in the BRZ, a typical depth of the LAB varies from 80 to 90 km. Having considered changes in the depth of the 410 km seismic discontinuity, we cannot find any evidence of an elevated temperature of a hypothetical thermal plume beneath the BRZ. Для десяти широкополосных сейсмических станций в Байкальской рифтовой зоне получены приемные функции продольных и поперечных волн и выполнено их совместное обращение в скоростные разрезы. Самая тонкая кора (30–35 км) приурочена к Байкальской впадине, самая толстая – к Восточному Саяну (45–50 км). Промежуточные значения (около 40 км) получены в БРЗ на удалениях около 100 км от Байкала. В средней и нижней коре систематически наблюдается высокое (не менее 1.8) отношение скоростей Vp/Vs, которое на нескольких станциях превышает 2.0. Самые высокие значения мы объясняем присутствием флюида с высоким поровым давлением. Сейсмическая граница литосфера – астеносфера проявляется падением скорости поперечных волн с глубиной от 4.5 до 4.0–4.2 км/с. Под Байкальской впадиной эта граница находится на глубинах, не превышающих 50 км, и понижение скорости поперечных волн в астеносфере достигает максимальных значений (около 10 %). За пределами Байкальской впадины сходная структура наблю­дается под частью Восточного Саяна. В остальных случаях характерное значение глубины границы лито­сфера – астеносфера составляет 80–90 км. Повышение температуры в гипотетическом мантийном плюме под БРЗ по изменению глубины 410-километровой сейсмической границы не обнаружено

Stochastic Inversion of P-to-S Converted Waves for Mantle Composition and Thermal Structure: Methodology and Application

We present a new methodology for inverting P‐to‐S receiver function (RF) waveforms directly for mantle temperature and composition. This is achieved by interfacing the geophysical inversion with self‐consistent mineral phase equilibria calculations from which rock mineralogy and its elastic properties are predicted as a function of pressure, temperature, and bulk composition. This approach anchors temperatures, composition, seismic properties, and discontinuities that are in mineral physics data, while permitting the simultaneous use of geophysical inverse methods to optimize models of seismic properties to match RF waveforms. Resultant estimates of transition zone (TZ) topography and volumetric seismic velocities are independent of tomographic models usually required for correcting for upper mantle structure. We considered two end‐member compositional models: the equilibrated equilibrium assemblage (EA) and the disequilibrated mechanical mixture (MM) models. Thermal variations were found to influence arrival times of computed RF waveforms, whereas compositional variations affected amplitudes of waves converted at the TZ discontinuities. The robustness of the inversion strategy was tested by performing a set of synthetic inversions in which crustal structure was assumed both fixed and variable. These tests indicate that unaccounted‐for crustal structure strongly affects the retrieval of mantle properties, calling for a two‐step strategy presented herein to simultaneously recover both crustal and mantle parameters. As a proof of concept, the methodology is applied to data from two stations located in the Siberian and East European continental platforms.This work was supported by a grant from the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF project 200021_159907). B. T. was funded by a Délégation CNRS and Congé pour Recherches et Conversion Thématique from the Université de Lyon to visit the Research School of Earth Sciences (RSES), The Australian National University (ANU). B. T. has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement 79382