Incised valley paleoenvironments interpreted by seismic stratigraphic approach in Patos Lagoon, Southern Brazil

<div><p>ABSTRACT: The Rio Grande do Sul (RS) coastal plain area (33,000 km 2 ) had its physiography modified several times through the Quaternary, responding to allogenic and autogenic forcings. The Patos Lagoon covers a significant area of RS coastal plain (10,000 km 2 ), where incised valleys were identified in previous works. About 1,000 km of high resolution (3.5 kHz) seismic profiles, radiocarbon datings, Standard Penetration Test (SPT) and gravity cores were analyzed to interpret the paleoenvironmental evolution as preserved in incised valley infills. Seismic facies were recognized by seismic parameters. The sediment cores were used to ground-truth the seismic interpretations and help in the paleoenvironmental identification. Key surfaces were established to detail the stratigraphical framework, and seismic facies were grouped into four seismic units, which one classified in respective system tracts within three depositional sequences. The oldest preserved deposits are predominantly fluvial and estuarine facies, representing the falling stage and lowstand system tracts. The Holocene transgressive records are dominated by muddy material, mainly represented by estuarine facies with local variations. The transgression culminated in Late Holocene deposits of Patos Lagoon, representing the highstand system tract. The depositional pattern of the vertical succession was controlled by eustatic variations, while the autogenic forcing (paleogeography and sediment supply) modulated the local facies variation.</p></div

Horizontal Branch Stars: The Interplay between Observations and Theory, and Insights into the Formation of the Galaxy

We review HB stars in a broad astrophysical context, including both variable and non-variable stars. A reassessment of the Oosterhoff dichotomy is presented, which provides unprecedented detail regarding its origin and systematics. We show that the Oosterhoff dichotomy and the distribution of globular clusters (GCs) in the HB morphology-metallicity plane both exclude, with high statistical significance, the possibility that the Galactic halo may have formed from the accretion of dwarf galaxies resembling present-day Milky Way satellites such as Fornax, Sagittarius, and the LMC. A rediscussion of the second-parameter problem is presented. A technique is proposed to estimate the HB types of extragalactic GCs on the basis of integrated far-UV photometry. The relationship between the absolute V magnitude of the HB at the RR Lyrae level and metallicity, as obtained on the basis of trigonometric parallax measurements for the star RR Lyrae, is also revisited, giving a distance modulus to the LMC of (m-M)_0 = 18.44+/-0.11. RR Lyrae period change rates are studied. Finally, the conductive opacities used in evolutionary calculations of low-mass stars are investigated. [ABRIDGED]Comment: 56 pages, 22 figures. Invited review, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Scienc

Rapid isolation and profiling of a diverse panel of human monoclonal antibodies targeting the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein

Antibodies are a principal determinant of immunity for most RNA viruses and have promise to reduce infection or disease during major epidemics. The novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has caused a global pandemic with millions of infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths to date1,2. In response, we used a rapid antibody discovery platform to isolate hundreds of human monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against the SARS-CoV-2 spike (S) protein. We stratify these mAbs into five major classes on the basis of their reactivity to subdomains of S protein as well as their cross-reactivity to SARS-CoV. Many of these mAbs inhibit infection of authentic SARS-CoV-2 virus, with most neutralizing mAbs recognizing the receptor-binding domain (RBD) of S. This work defines sites of vulnerability on SARS-CoV-2 S and demonstrates the speed and robustness of advanced antibody discovery platforms

A muon-track reconstruction exploiting stochastic losses for large-scale Cherenkov detectors

IceCube is a cubic-kilometer Cherenkov telescope operating at the South Pole. The main goal of IceCube is the detection of astrophysical neutrinos and the identification of their sources. High-energy muon neutrinos are observed via the secondary muons produced in charge current interactions with nuclei in the ice. Currently, the best performing muon track directional reconstruction is based on a maximum likelihood method using the arrival time distribution of Cherenkov photons registered by the experiment\u27s photomultipliers. A known systematic shortcoming of the prevailing method is to assume a continuous energy loss along the muon track. However at energies >1 TeV the light yield from muons is dominated by stochastic showers. This paper discusses a generalized ansatz where the expected arrival time distribution is parametrized by a stochastic muon energy loss pattern. This more realistic parametrization of the loss profile leads to an improvement of the muon angular resolution of up to 20% for through-going tracks and up to a factor 2 for starting tracks over existing algorithms. Additionally, the procedure to estimate the directional reconstruction uncertainty has been improved to be more robust against numerical errors

Measurements of differential production cross sections for a Z boson in association with jets in pp collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Search for the associated production of the Higgs boson with a top-quark pair

A search for the standard model Higgs boson produced in association with a top-quark pair t t ¯ H (tt¯H) is presented, using data samples corresponding to integrated luminosities of up to 5.1 fb &#8722;1 and 19.7 fb &#8722;1 collected in pp collisions at center-of-mass energies of 7 TeV and 8 TeV respectively. The search is based on the following signatures of the Higgs boson decay: H &#8594; hadrons, H &#8594; photons, and H &#8594; leptons. The results are characterized by an observed t t ¯ H tt¯H signal strength relative to the standard model cross section, &#956; = &#963;/&#963; SM ,under the assumption that the Higgs boson decays as expected in the standard model. The best fit value is &#956; = 2.8 ± 1.0 for a Higgs boson mass of 125.6 GeV

Search for neutral resonances decaying into a Z boson and a pair of b jets or τ leptons

A search is performed for a new resonance decaying into a lighter resonance and a Z boson. Two channels are studied, targeting the decay of the lighter resonance into either a pair of oppositely charged τ leptons or a bb‾ pair. The Z boson is identified via its decays to electrons or muons. The search exploits data collected by the CMS experiment at a centre-of-mass energy of 8 TeV, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 19.8 fb −1 . No significant deviations are observed from the standard model expectation and limits are set on production cross sections and parameters of two-Higgs-doublet models

Search for vectorlike charge 2/3 T quarks in proton-proton collisions at root(s)=8 TeV

Peer reviewe

Measurements of the t(t)Overbar charge asymmetry using the dilepton decay channel in pp collisions at root s=7 TeV

The tt¯ charge asymmetry in proton-proton collisions at s&#8730; = 7 TeV is measured using the dilepton decay channel (ee, e &#956; , or &#956;&#956; ). The data correspond to a total integrated luminosity of 5.0 fb &#8722;1 , collected by the CMS experiment at the LHC. The tt and lepton charge asymmetries, defined as the differences in absolute values of the rapidities between the reconstructed top quarks and antiquarks and of the pseudorapidities between the positive and negative leptons, respectively, are measured to be A C = &#8722;0 . 010 ± 0 . 017 (stat . ) ± 0 . 008 (syst . ) and AlepC = 0 . 009 ± 0 . 010 (stat . ) ± 0 . 006 (syst . ). The lepton charge asymmetry is also measured as a function of the invariant mass, rapidity, and transverse momentum of the tt¯ system. All measurements are consistent with the expectations of the standard model