6,125 research outputs found
Non-random dispersal in the butterfly Maniola jurtina: implications for metapopulation models
The dispersal patterns of animals are important in metapopulation ecology because they affect the dynamics and survival of populations. Theoretical models assume random dispersal but little is known in practice about the dispersal behaviour of individual animals or the strategy by which dispersers locate distant habitat patches. In the present study, we released individual meadow brown butterflies (Maniola jurtina) in a non-habitat and investigated their ability to return to a suitable habitat. The results provided three reasons for supposing that meadow brown butterflies do not seek habitat by means of random flight. First, when released within the range of their normal dispersal distances, the butterflies orientated towards suitable habitat at a higher rate than expected at random. Second, when released at larger distances from their habitat, they used a non-random, systematic, search strategy in which they flew in loops around the release point and returned periodically to it. Third, butterflies returned to a familiar habitat patch rather than a non-familiar one when given a choice. If dispersers actively orientate towards or search systematically for distant habitat, this may be problematic for existing metapopulation models, including models of the evolution of dispersal rates in metapopulations
Triplet Leptogenesis in Left-Right Symmetric Seesaw Models
We discuss scalar triplet leptogenesis in a specific left-right symmetric
seesaw model. We show that the Majorana phases that are present in the model
can be effectively used to saturate the existing upper limit on the
CP-asymmetry of the triplets. We solve the relevant Boltzmann equations and
analyze the viability of triplet leptogenesis. It is known for this kind of
scenario that the efficiency of leptogenesis is maximal if there exists a
hierarchy between the branching ratios of the triplet decays into leptons and
Higgs particles. We show that triplet leptogenesis typically favors branching
ratios with not too strong hierarchies, since maximal efficiency can only be
obtained at the expense of suppressed CP-asymmetries.Comment: 16 pages, 5 figures, published versio
Semiquantum Chaos in the Double-Well
The new phenomenon of semiquantum chaos is analyzed in a classically regular
double-well oscillator model. Here it arises from a doubling of the number of
effectively classical degrees of freedom, which are nonlinearly coupled in a
Gaussian variational approximation (TDHF) to full quantum mechanics. The
resulting first-order nondissipative autonomous flow system shows energy
dependent transitions between regular behavior and semiquantum chaos, which we
monitor by Poincar\'e sections and a suitable frequency correlation function
related to the density matrix. We discuss the general importance of this new
form of deterministic chaos and point out the necessity to study open
(dissipative) quantum systems, in order to observe it experimentally.Comment: LaTeX, 25 pages plus 7 postscript figures. Replaced figure 3 with a
non-bitmapped versio
Complete one-loop analysis of the nucleon's spin polarizabilities
We present a complete one-loop analysis of the four nucleon spin
polarizabilities in the framework of heavy baryon chiral perturbation theory.
The first non-vanishing contributions to the isovector and first corrections to
the isoscalar spin polarizabilities are calculated. No unknown parameters enter
these predictions. We compare our results to various dispersive analyses. We
also discuss the convergence of the chiral expansion and the role of the delta
isobar.Comment: 4 pp, REVTE
Low energy effects of neutrino masses
While all models of Majorana neutrino masses lead to the same dimension five
effective operator, which does not conserve lepton number, the dimension six
operators induced at low energies conserve lepton number and differ depending
on the high energy model of new physics. We derive the low-energy dimension six
operators which are characteristic of generic Seesaw models, in which neutrino
masses result from the exchange of heavy fields which may be either fermionic
singlets, fermionic triplets or scalar triplets. The resulting operators may
lead to effects observable in the near future, if the coefficients of the
dimension five and six operators are decoupled along a certain pattern, which
turns out to be common to all models. The phenomenological consequences are
explored as well, including their contributions to and new
bounds on the Yukawa couplings for each model.Comment: modifications: couplings in appendix B, formulas (121)-(122) on rare
leptons decays (to match with published version) and consequently bounds in
table
Axial form factor of the nucleon in the perturbative chiral quark model
We apply the perturbative chiral quark model (PCQM) at one loop to analyze
the axial form factor of the nucleon. This chiral quark model is based on an
effective Lagrangian, where baryons are described by relativistic valence
quarks and a perturbative cloud of Goldstone bosons as dictated by chiral
symmetry. We apply the formalism to obtain analytical expressions for the axial
form factor of the nucleon, which is given in terms of fundamental parameters
of low-energy pion-nucleon physics (weak pion decay constant, strong
pion-nucleon form factor) and of only one model parameter (radius of the
nucleonic three-quark core).Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys.
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