Short- and long-term stratospheric impact of smoke from the 2019–2020 Australian wildfires

At the end of December 2019 and beginning of 2020, massive firestorms in Australia formed pyrocumulonimbus clouds (pyroCbs) that acted like enormous smokestacks, pumping smoke to the upper troposphere and stratosphere. We study the smoke with data from four satellite-based sensors: the aerosol observation platforms CALIOP (Cloud-Aerosol Lidar with Orthogonal Polarization), OMPS-LP (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Limb Profiler), and OMPS-NM (Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite Nadir Mapper) and water vapor retrievals from MLS (Microwave Limb Sounder). Smoke was lofted to the upper troposphere and stratosphere during two events and spread almost exclusively within the extratropics. Smoke from the first event, starting 29 December, was injected directly into the stratosphere by pyroCbs, causing a rapid initial increase in AOD (aerosol optical depth). CALIOP identifies a rapid decline in this stratospheric smoke (half-life: 10 d), not captured in previous studies of the Australian fires, indicating photochemical processing of organic aerosol. This decay rate is in line with model predictions of mid-tropospheric organic aerosol loss by photolytic removal and is in agreement with our estimates of decay rates after the North American fires in August 2017. PyroCbs from the second event, 4 January, injected small amounts of smoke directly into the stratosphere. Large amounts of smoke were injected to the upper troposphere, from where it ascended into the stratosphere during several weeks, forming a second peak in the aerosol load. Hence, we find that pyroCbs can impact the stratospheric aerosol load both via direct injection to the stratosphere and through injection of smoke to the upper troposphere from where the smoke ascends into the stratosphere. The stratospheric AOD from the second-event fires decreased more slowly than the AOD from the first event, likely due to a combination of photolytic loss starting already in the troposphere and continued supply of smoke from the upper troposphere offsetting the loss rate. Together these injections yielded a major increase in the aerosol load for almost 1 year.</p

Quantum Mechanics and Thermodynamics of Particles with Distance Dependent Statistics

The general notion of distance dependent statistics in anyon-like systems is discussed. The two-body problem for such statistics is considered, the general formula for the second virial coefficient is derived and it is shown that in the limiting cases it reproduces the known results for ideal anyons.Comment: 9 pages, LATEX Kiev Institute for Theoretical Physics preprint ITP-93-5E, January 199

Exact Wavefunctions for non-Abelian Chern-Simons Particles

Exact wavefunctions for N non-Abelian Chern-Simons (NACS) particles are obtained by the ladder operator approach. The same method has previously been applied to construct exact wavefunctions for multi-anyon systems. The two distinct base states of the NACS particles that we use are multi-valued and are defined in terms of path ordered line integrals. Only strings of operators that preserve the monodromy properties of these base states are allowed to act on them to generate new states.Comment: 19 pages, CALT-68-187

Few-anyon systems in a parabolic dot

The energy levels of two and three anyons in a two-dimensional parabolic quantum dot and a perpendicular magnetic field are computed as power series in 1/|J|, where J is the angular momentum. The particles interact repulsively through a coulombic (1/r) potential. In the two-anyon problem, the reached accuracy is better than one part in 10^5. For three anyons, we study the combined effects of anyon statistics and coulomb repulsion in the ``linear'' anyonic states.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 4 postscript figure

Perturbative Renormalizations of Anyon Quantum Mechanics

In bosonic end perturbative calculations for quantum mechanical anyon systems a regularization and renormalization procedure, analogous to those used in field theory, is necessary. I examine the reliability and the physical interpretation of the most commonly used bosonic end regularization procedures. I then use the regularization procedure with the most transparent physical interpretation to derive some bosonic end perturbation theory results on anyon spectra, including a 3-anyon ground state energy.Comment: 19 pages, Plain LaTex, MIT-CTP-232

Diesel soot aging in urban plumes within hours under cold dark and humid conditions

Fresh and aged diesel soot particles have different impacts on climate and human health. While fresh diesel soot particles are highly aspherical and non-hygroscopic, aged particles are spherical and hygroscopic. Aging and its effect on water uptake also controls the dispersion of diesel soot in the atmosphere. Understanding the timescales on which diesel soot ages in the atmosphere is thus important, yet knowledge thereof is lacking. We show that under cold, dark and humid conditions the atmospheric transformation from fresh to aged soot occurs on a timescale of less than five hours. Under dry conditions in the laboratory, diesel soot transformation is much less efficient. While photochemistry drives soot aging, our data show it is not always a limiting factor. Field observations together with aerosol process model simulations show that the rapid ambient diesel soot aging in urban plumes is caused by coupled ammonium nitrate formation and water uptake.Peer reviewe

Approximate formula for the ground state energy of anyons in 2D parabolic well

We determine approximate formula for the ground state energy of anyons in 2D parabolic well which is valid for the arbitrary anyonic factor \nu and number of particles N in the system. We assume that centre of mass motion energy is not excluded from the energy of the system. Formula for ground state energy calculated by variational principle contains logarithmic divergence at small distances between two anyons which is regularized by cut-off parameter. By equating this variational formula to the analogous formula of Wu near bosonic limit (\nu ~ 0)we determine the value of the cut-off and thus derive the approximate formula for the ground state energy for the any \nu and N. We checked this formula at \nu=1, when anyons become fermions, for the systems containing two to thirty particles. We find that our approximate formula has an accuracy within 6%. It turns out, at the big number N limit the ground state energy has square root dependence on factor \nu.Comment: 7 page

Peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and infants: NEonate and Children audiT of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe: A prospective European multicentre observational study

BACKGROUND: Little is known about current clinical practice concerning peri-operative red blood cell transfusion in neonates and small infants. Guidelines suggest transfusions based on haemoglobin thresholds ranging from 8.5 to 12 g dl-1, distinguishing between children from birth to day 7 (week 1), from day 8 to day 14 (week 2) or from day 15 (≥week 3) onwards. OBJECTIVE: To observe peri-operative red blood cell transfusion practice according to guidelines in relation to patient outcome. DESIGN: A multicentre observational study. SETTING: The NEonate-Children sTudy of Anaesthesia pRactice IN Europe (NECTARINE) trial recruited patients up to 60 weeks' postmenstrual age undergoing anaesthesia for surgical or diagnostic procedures from 165 centres in 31 European countries between March 2016 and January 2017. PATIENTS: The data included 5609 patients undergoing 6542 procedures. Inclusion criteria was a peri-operative red blood cell transfusion. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The primary endpoint was the haemoglobin level triggering a transfusion for neonates in week 1, week 2 and week 3. Secondary endpoints were transfusion volumes, 'delta haemoglobin' (preprocedure - transfusion-triggering) and 30-day and 90-day morbidity and mortality. RESULTS: Peri-operative red blood cell transfusions were recorded during 447 procedures (6.9%). The median haemoglobin levels triggering a transfusion were 9.6 [IQR 8.7 to 10.9] g dl-1 for neonates in week 1, 9.6 [7.7 to 10.4] g dl-1 in week 2 and 8.0 [7.3 to 9.0] g dl-1 in week 3. The median transfusion volume was 17.1 [11.1 to 26.4] ml kg-1 with a median delta haemoglobin of 1.8 [0.0 to 3.6] g dl-1. Thirty-day morbidity was 47.8% with an overall mortality of 11.3%. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate lower transfusion-triggering haemoglobin thresholds in clinical practice than suggested by current guidelines. The high morbidity and mortality of this NECTARINE sub-cohort calls for investigative action and evidence-based guidelines addressing peri-operative red blood cell transfusions strategies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT02350348

Airway closure, atelectasis and gas exchange during general anaesthesia.

Airway closure and the formation of atelectasis have been proposed as important contributors to impairment of gas exchange during general anaesthesia. We have elucidated the relationships between each of these two mechanisms and gas exchange. We studied 35 adults with healthy lungs, undergoing elective surgery. Airway closure was measured using the foreign gas bolus technique, atelectasis was estimated by analysis of computed x-ray tomography, and ventilation-perfusion distribution (VA/Q) was assessed by the multiple inert gas elimination technique. The difference between closing volume and expiratory reserve volume (CV-ERV) increased from the awake to the anaesthetized state. Linear correlations were found between atelectasis and shunt (r = 0.68, P < 0.001), and between CV-ERV and the amount of perfusion to poorly ventilated lung units (“low Va/Q”, r = 0.57, P = 0.001). Taken together, the amount of atelectasis and airway closure may explain 75% of the deterioration in PaO2. There was no significant correlation between CV-ERV and atelectasis. We conclude that in anaesthetized adults with healthy lungs, undergoing mechanical ventilation, both airway closure and atelectasis contributed to impairment of gas exchange. Atelectasis and airway closure do not seem to be closely related

Airway closure, atelectasis and gas exchange during general anaesthesia

Airway closure and the formation of atelectasis have been proposed as important contributors to impairment of gas exchange during general anaesthesia. We have elucidated the relationships between each of these two mechanisms and gas exchange. We studied 35 adults with healthy lungs, undergoing elective surgery. Airway closure was measured using the foreign gas bolus technique, atelectasis was estimated by analysis of computed x-ray tomography, and ventilation-perfusion distribution (VA/Q) was assessed by the multiple inert gas elimination technique. The difference between closing volume and expiratory reserve volume (CV-ERV) increased from the awake to the anaesthetized state. Linear correlations were found between atelectasis and shunt (r = 0.68, P < 0.001), and between CV-ERV and the amount of perfusion to poorly ventilated lung units ("low Va/Q", r = 0.57, P = 0.001). Taken together, the amount of atelectasis and airway closure may explain 75% of the deterioration in PaO2. There was no significant correlation between CV-ERV and atelectasis. We conclude that in anaesthetized adults with healthy lungs, undergoing mechanical ventilation, both airway closure and atelectasis contributed to impairment of gas exchange. Atelectasis and airway closure do not seem to be closely relate