Difference In Number Density Research Articles

Cosmic birefringence from neutrino and dark matter asymmetries

In light of the recent measurement of the nonzero Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) polarization rotation angle from the Planck 2018 data, we explore the possibility that such a cosmic birefringence effect is induced by coupling a fermionic current with photons via a Chern-Simons-like term. We begin our discussion by rederiving the general formulae of the cosmic birefringence angle with correcting a mistake in the previous study.We then identify the fermions in the current as the left-handed electron neutrinos and asymmetric dark matter (ADM) particles, since the rotation angle is sourced by the number density difference between particles and antiparticles. For the electron neutrino case, with the value of the degeneracy parameter ξν e recently measured by the EMPRESS survey, we find a large parameter space which can explain the CMB photon polarization rotations. On the other hand, for the ADM solution, we consider two benchmark cases with Mχ = 5 GeV and 5 keV. The former is the natural value of the ADM mass if the observed ADM and baryon asymmetry in the Universe are produced by the same mechanism, while the latter provides a warm DM candidate. In addition, we explore the experimental constraints from the CMB power spectra and the DM direct detections.

The North/South Asymmetry of the Galaxy: Possible Connection to the Vertical Phase-space Snail

The galaxy is found to be in disequilibrium based on recent findings of the north/south (N/S) asymmetry and the phase mixing signatures, such as a phase spiral (snail) structure in the vertical phase space (z − V z ). We show that the N/S asymmetry in a tracer population of dwarfs may be quantitatively modeled with a simple phase snail model superimposed on a smooth equilibrium background. As the phase snail intersects with the z-axis, the number density is enhanced, and the velocity dispersion (σ z ) is decreased relative to the other side of the Galactic plane. Fitting only to the observed asymmetric N/S σ z profiles, we obtain reasonable parameters for the phase-space snail and the potential utilized in modeling the background, despite the complex dependence of the model on the potential parameters and the significant selection effects of the data. Both the snail shape and the N/S number density difference given by our best-fit model are consistent with previous observations. The equilibrium background implies a local dark matter density of M ⊙ pc−3. The vertical bulk motion of our model is similar to the observation, but with a ∼1.2 km s−1 shift. Our work demonstrates the strong correlation between the phase-space snail and the N/S asymmetry. Future observational constraints will facilitate more comprehensive snail models to unravel the Milky Way potential and the perturbation history encoded in the snail feature.

Effects of Rock Fragments on the Soil Physicochemical Properties and Vegetation on the Northeastern Tibetan Plateau

Stony soils are very widely distributed and contain abundant rock fragments (>2 mm), which impose major effects on soil properties and plant growth. However, the role of rock fragments is still often neglected, which can lead to an inadequate understanding of the interaction between plants and soil. Undisturbed soil columns were collected from three alpine grasslands on the Qilian Mountain, and the X-ray computed tomography method was applied to investigate the characteristics of rock fragments. The results showed there was significant difference in number density, volumetric content and surface area density of rock fragment among the three grasslands, and followed the order of alpine meadow > alpine steppe > alpine desert steppe. In addition, the soil organic carbon, total nitrogen, total phosphorus, available phosphorus, N-NH4+, and N-NO3− contents in fine earth all increased with increasing number density, volumetric content and surface area density but to different degrees. Furthermore, positive correlations were observed between the rock shape factor and belowground biomass (R2 = 0.531, p < 0.05), between the rock volumetric content and aboveground biomass (R2 = 0.527, p < 0.05), and between number density and Simpson’s index (R2 = 0.875, p < 0.05). Our findings suggest that within a certain range, the increase in rock fragment content is conducive to soil nutrient accumulation and soil water storage and circulation and changes plant features, which contributes to the growth of plants. In addition, rock fragments should be given more consideration when investigating the relationships between soil and vegetation and their response to climate change in future studies.

Reverse Monte Carlo modeling for low-dimensional systems

Reverse Monte Carlo (RMC) is one of the commonly used approaches for modeling total scattering data. However, to extend the capability of the RMC method for refining the structure of nanomaterials, the dimensionality and finite size need to be considered when calculating the pair distribution function (PDF). To achieve this, the simulation box must be set up to remove the periodic boundary condition in one, two or three of the dimensions. This then requires a correction to be applied for the difference in number density between the real system and the simulation box. In certain circumstances an analytical correction for the uncorrelated pairings of atoms is also applied. The validity and applicability of our methodology is demonstrated by applying the algorithms to simulate the PDF patterns of carbon systems with various dimensions, and also by using them to fit experimental data of CuO nanoparticles. This alternative approach for characterizing the local structure of nano-systems with the total scattering technique will be made available via the RMCProfile package. The theoretical formulation and detailed explanation of the analytical corrections for low-dimensional systems – 2D nanosheets, 1D nanowires and 0D nanoparticles – is also given.

The environment and host haloes of the brightest z ∼ 6 Lyman-break galaxies

By studying the large-scale structure of the bright high-redshift Lyman-break galaxy (LBG) population it is possible to gain an insight into the role of environment in galaxy formation physics in the early Universe. We measure the clustering of a sample of bright (-22.7<M_UV<-21.125) LBGs at z~6 and use a halo occupation distribution (HOD) model to measure their typical halo masses. We find that the clustering amplitude and corresponding HOD fits suggests that these sources are highly biased (b~8) objects in the densest regions of the high-redshift Universe. Coupled with the observed rapid evolution of the number density of these objects, our results suggest that the shape of high luminosity end of the luminosity function is related to feedback processes or dust obscuration in the early Universe - as opposed to a scenario where these sources are predominantly rare instances of the much more numerous M_UV ~ -19 population of galaxies caught in a particularly vigorous period of star formation. There is a slight tension between the number densities and clustering measurements, which we interpret this as a signal that a refinement of the model halo bias relation at high redshifts or the incorporation of quasi-linear effects may be needed for future attempts at modelling the clustering and number counts. Finally, the difference in number density between the fields (UltraVISTA has a surface density ~1.8 times greater than UDS) is shown to be consistent with the cosmic variance implied by the clustering measurements.

Kinetics of infrared stimulated luminescence from feldspars

We extend the localised transition model based on randomly varying recombination distances (Jain et al., 2012) to include Arrhenius analysis and truncated nearest neighbour distributions. The model makes important predictions regarding a) the physical understanding of the linear intercepts in the Arrhenius analysis for localised recombination systems and b) the relationship between charge depletion and shape of the luminescence decay curves; these predictions are successfully tested by experimental investigations. We demonstrate that this model successfully describes the kinetic behaviour, both thermal and optical, of the infrared stimulated luminescence signal from feldspar.Based on the application of this model, it is concluded that different infra-red stimulated luminescence emissions (UV, blue, yellow and far-red) follow the same kinetics, and, therefore, involve participation of the same electron (dosimetric) trap. The differences in thermal stabilities of the different emissions results from differences in number densities of the recombination sites. The results have implications for understanding the mechanism of the far-red emission, and the spatial distributions of recombination sites in feldspar.

Development of oxide dispersion strengthened ferritic steels with and without aluminum

Pure Fe, Cr, Al, Ti elemental powders and prealloyed Y2O3 powder were processed by high energy mechanical milling. The compositions of the mixed powders are designed as Fe-18Cr-0.2Ti-0.35Y2O3 and Fe-18Cr-5Al-0.2Ti-0.35Y2O3 in weight percent. The asmilled powders were consolidated by hot extrusion at 1423 K. The dispersed oxide particles were identified to be titania + yttria for Al-free oxide dispersion strengthened (ODS) steel and alumina + yttria for Al-added ODS steel, respectively. The ultimate tensile strength of Al-free ODS steel was higher than that of Al-added ODS steel over the temperature range of 298–973 K, because of the difference in number density and size of thermally stable oxide particles dispersed in both steel matrices. The strength in the longitudinal direction was lower than that in the transverse direction, probably due to anisotropy of the microstructure with elongated grains in the hot-extrusion direction for the 18%Cr-ODS steels with and without 5% Al.

Scatterer density estimation in the crust by seismic array processing

SUMMARY Both the number density of scatterers and scattering strength are parameters characterizing the inhomogeneity of the Earth’s crust. An attempt is made to estimate the number density of scatterers (n-value) using small-aperture seismic array data. Many estimates of scattering coefficients have been made previously; however, in a medium with a scattering strength, the wave energy scattered by a medium containing strong scatterers with a low number density is identical to that produced by a high density of weak scatterers. Knowledge of the number density besides the scattering strength supplies important information on stress concentration in the crust due to the strong scatterer reflecting strong inhomogeneity. Therefore, the number density of scatterers is estimated with array signal processing. A seismic array can decompose the approach direction of scattered waves arriving at the array. With array processing, it is not only possible to estimate the energy arriving at the array, but also the semblance value. Temporal variation of the energy depends strongly on the scattering coefficient. On the other hand, the difference in number density of the medium appears in the temporal variation of the semblance value. As a first-order approximation, the semblance value is inversely proportional to the n-value. For practical purposes, an array response should be considered for n-value estimation. Comparing simulated and observed semblances, number density and scattering strength can be estimated from the time sequence of semblances and stacking power. This method was applied to seismic array data from the aftershock area of the 2000 Western Tottori earthquake (Mw 6.8). A rough estimate of number density, compared to a simulation, is 3 × 10 −2 km −3 .

Microstructural evolution of nickel-doped 9Cr steels irradiated in HFIR

The microstructures of reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels, 9Cr–1MoVNb, 9Cr–1MoVNb–2Ni, 9Cr–2WVTa and 9Cr–2WVTa doped with 2% Ni, irradiated at 400 °C up to 12 dpa in the high flux isotope reactor, were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. The cavity number density of Ni-doped steels was higher than that of Ni-undoped steels due to the higher concentration of helium. There was no difference of cavity number density between the steels tempered at 700 and 750 °C, but the mean size of the cavities in the steels tempered at 750 °C was larger than that tempered at 700 °C. There was a tendency for the number density of loops in Ni-doped steels to be higher than in Ni-undoped steels. In addition, the mean size of loops in the steels tempered at 750 °C was larger than for those tempered at 700 °C, while there was not much difference of number density between them. In the steels doped with Ni, irradiation-produced precipitates, identified as M 6C( η)-type carbide and M 2X phase, were found in the 9Cr–2VWTa–2Ni steel and 9Cr–1MoVNb–2Ni, respectively. Irradiation of Ni-doped steels showed the effect of helium on cavity nucleation, however, the effect of helium on dislocation structure and precipitation was not made clear.

Microstructural Evolution of Ni-doped Ferritic/martensitic Steels Irradiated in the HFIR

ABSTRACTThe microstructures of reduced-activation ferritic/martensitic steels, 9Cr-2WVTa and 9Cr-2WVTa doped with 2% Ni, irradiated at 400oC up to 12 dpa in the High Flux Isotope Reactor (HFIR), were investigated by transmission electron microscopy. Specimens were tempered at two different temperatures in order to investigate the effects of tempering on microstructural evolution during irradiation. Before irradiation, the lath width of Ni-doped 9Cr-2WVTa was somewhat narrower and the dislocation density tended to be higher compared with 9Cr-2WVTa. Dislocation density of specimens tempered at 750°C was lower than that tempered at 700°C. In all steels, precipitates on grain and/or lath boundaries were mainly M23C6, and there were a few TaC along dislocations in the matrices. Irradiation-induced cavities were observed in all the steels. The cavity number density of the Ni-doped 9Cr-2WVTa was higher than that of 9Cr-2WVTa due to the higher concentration of helium; however, swelling in each steels was &lt; 0.1% because cavity sizes were so small. There was no difference of cavity number density between the steels tempered at 700°C and 750°C, but the mean size of the cavities in the steels tempered at 750°C was larger than that tempered at 700°C. Irradiation-induced a0&lt;100&gt; and (a0/2)&lt;111&gt; type dislocation loops were observed in all steels; number density and mean diameter of a0&lt;100&gt; type loops was higher and larger than that of (a0/2)&lt;111&gt; type loops. There was a tendency for the number density of loops in Ni-doped 9Cr-2WVTa to be slightly higher than that in 9Cr-2WVTa. In addition, the mean size of loops in the steels tempered at 750°C was larger than for those tempered at 700°C, while there was not much difference of number density between them. In the steels doped with Ni, irradiation-produced precipitates, identified as M6C(η)-type carbide, were found in the matrices. In this experiment, the change in tensile properties and the δDBTT of the 9Cr-2VWTa-2Ni was greater than for 9Cr-2WVTa. The microstructural evidence suggests that these differences in mechanical behavior are related to the formation of radiation-induced precipitates and cavities in the Ni-doped alloy; further analysis of the data using barrier hardening models is in progress.

The Impact of Non-Lambertian Wavelength-Dependent Reflecting Surfaces on Stratospheric Radiation and Photochemistry

We have developed models of physically-based cloud and ocean surfacesfor use in photochemical models. These surface models are described in termsof a flux albedo and a normalized reflection function.Through these, the dependence of albedo on wavelength, solar zenithangle, cloud optical depth (cloud surfaces) and surface windspeed (ocean surfaces) are allowed for. In addition, the non-Lambertian nature of these surfaces is accounted for.We have integrated these surfacemodels into a multiple scattering radiative transfer model to assess their effects on the stratospheric radiation field and J-values. This was accomplished by comparison with results obtainedusing Lambertian, constant albedo surfaces. Comparisons of stratospheric radiation fields revealed that boththe wavelength and directional dependences of the cloud and oceansurfaces could be large effects.Differences between calculated J-values varied from 0 to 12% depending upon species, solar zenith angle, andheight.The J-values were then used as input for a chemical box model to examine the effects these surfaces had on stratospheric chemistry. Comparisons were made against box model runs using J-values fromconstant surfaces. Overall, the effect was on the order of 10%.Differences in number densities using these different surfacesvaried with latitude, height and species.Runs were made with and without heterogeneous chemistry.