Primordial nucleosynthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Schramm, D N

1998-01-06

With the advent of the new extragalactic deuterium observations, Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is on the verge of undergoing a transformation. In the past, the emphasis has been on demonstrating the concordance of the BBN model with the abundances of the light isotopes extrapolated back to their primordial values by using stellar and galactic evolution theories. As a direct measure of primordial deuterium is converged upon, the nature of the field will shift to using the much more precise primordial D/H to constrain the more flexible stellar and galactic evolution models (although the question of potential systematic error in 4He abundance determinations remains open). The remarkable success of the theory to date in establishing the concordance has led to the very robust conclusion of BBN regarding the baryon density. This robustness remains even through major model variations such as an assumed first-order quark-hadron phase transition. The BBN constraints on the cosmological baryon density are reviewed and demonstrate that the bulk of the baryons are dark and also that the bulk of the matter in the universe is nonbaryonic. Comparison of baryonic density arguments from Lyman-alpha clouds, x-ray gas in clusters, and the microwave anisotropy are made.

Constraining Primordial Black Holes with the EDGES 21-cm Absorption Signal arXiv

CERN Document Server

Hektor, Andi; Marzola, Luca; Raidal, Martti; Vaskonen, Ville; Veermäe, Hardi

The EDGES experiment has recently measured an anomalous global 21-cm spectrum due to hydrogen absorptions at redshifts of about $z\\sim 17$. Model independently, the unusually low temperature of baryons probed by this observable sets strong constraints on any physical process that transfers energy into the baryonic environment at such redshifts. Here we make use of the 21-cm spectrum to derive bounds on the energy injection due to a possible population of ${\\cal O}(1-100) M_\\odot$ primordial black holes, which induce a wide spectrum of radiation during the accretion of the surrounding gas. After calculating the total radiative intensity of a primordial black hole population, we estimate the amount of heat and ionisations produced in the baryonic gas and compute the resulting thermal history of the Universe with a modified version of RECFAST code. Finally, by imposing that the temperature of the gas at $z\\sim 17$ does not exceed the indications of EDGES, we constrain the possible abundance of primordial black h...

Primordial inflation and the monopole problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Olive, K.A.; Seckel, D.

1984-01-01

This chapter discusses the cosmological abundance of magnetic monopoles in locally supersymmetry grand unified theories (GUTs) and primordial inflation. It is shown how the magnetic monopole problem can be solved in variants of broken N=1 supergravity primordial inflation. The monopole problem and its solution in inflationary models is reviewed. It is demonstrated that the monopole problem can be solved by coupling primordial inflation to supersymmetric SU(5) breaking

Identifying the inflaton with primordial gravitational waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Easson, Damien A; Powell, Brian A

2011-05-13

We explore the ability of experimental physics to uncover the underlying structure of the gravitational Lagrangian describing inflation. While the observable degeneracy of the inflationary parameter space is large, future measurements of observables beyond the adiabatic and tensor two-point functions, such as non-gaussianity or isocurvature modes, might reduce this degeneracy. We show that, even in the absence of such observables, the range of possible inflaton potentials can be reduced with a precision measurement of the tensor spectral index, as might be possible with a direct detection of primordial gravitational waves.

Searching for Primordial Black Holes in the Radio and X-Ray Sky.

Science.gov (United States)

Gaggero, Daniele; Bertone, Gianfranco; Calore, Francesca; Connors, Riley M T; Lovell, Mark; Markoff, Sera; Storm, Emma

2017-06-16

We model the accretion of gas onto a population of massive primordial black holes in the Milky Way and compare the predicted radio and x-ray emission with observational data. We show that, under conservative assumptions on the accretion process, the possibility that O(10)M_{⊙} primordial black holes can account for all of the dark matter in the Milky Way is excluded at 5σ by a comparison with a Very Large Array radio catalog at 1.4 GHz and at ≃40σ by a comparison with a Chandra x-ray catalog (0.5-8 keV). We argue that this method can be used to identify such a population of primordial black holes with more sensitive future radio and x-ray surveys.

Primordial Nucleosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Coc, Alain

2013-01-01

Primordial nucleosynthesis, or Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), is one of the three evidences for the Big-Bang model, together with the expansion of the Universe and the Cosmic Microwave Background. There is a good global agreement over a range of nine orders of magnitude between abundances of 4 He, D, 3 He and 7 Li deduced from observations, and calculated in primordial nucleosynthesis. This comparison was used to determine the baryonic density of the Universe. For this purpose, it is now superseded by the analysis of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation anisotropies. However, there remain, a yet unexplained, discrepancy of a factor 3-5, between the calculated and observed lithium primordial abundances, that has not been reduced, neither by recent nuclear physics experiments, nor by new observations. We review here the nuclear physics aspects of BBN for the production of 4 He, D, 3 He and 7 Li, but also 6 Li, 9 Be, 11 B and up to CNO isotopes. These are, for instance, important for the initial composition of the matter at the origin of the first stars. Big-Bang nucleosynthesis, that has been used, to first constrain the baryonic density, and the number of neutrino families, remains, a valuable tool to probe the physics of the early Universe, like variation of ''constants'' or alternative theories of gravity.

Features in the primordial power spectrum of double D-term inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lesgourgues, Julien

2000-01-01

Recently, there has been some interest for building supersymmetric models of double inflation. These models, realistic from a particle physics point of view, predict a broken-scale-invariant power spectrum of primordial cosmological perturbations, that may explain eventual nontrivial features in the present matter power spectrum. In previous works, the primordial spectrum was calculated using analytic slow-roll approximations. However, these models involve a fast second-order phase transition during inflation, with a stage of spinodal instability, and an interruption of slow-roll. For our previous model of double D-term inflation, we simulate numerically the evolution of quantum fluctuations, taking into account the spinodal modes, and we show that the semiclassical approximation can be employed even during the transition, due to the presence of a second inflaton field. The primordial power spectrum possesses a rich structure, and possibly, a non-Gaussian spike on observable scales

Cosmological implications of primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Luis Bernal, José; Bellomo, Nicola; Raccanelli, Alvise; Verde, Licia, E-mail: joseluis.bernal@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: nicola.bellomo@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: alvise@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: liciaverde@icc.ub.edu [ICC, University of Barcelona, IEEC-UB, Martí i Franquès, 1, E08028 Barcelona (Spain)

2017-10-01

The possibility that a relevant fraction of the dark matter might be comprised of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) has been seriously reconsidered after LIGO's detection of a ∼ 30 M {sub ⊙} binary black holes merger. Despite the strong interest in the model, there is a lack of studies on possible cosmological implications and effects on cosmological parameters inference. We investigate correlations with the other standard cosmological parameters using cosmic microwave background observations, finding significant degeneracies, especially with the tilt of the primordial power spectrum and the sound horizon at radiation drag. However, these degeneracies can be greatly reduced with the inclusion of small scale polarization data. We also explore if PBHs as dark matter in simple extensions of the standard ΛCDM cosmological model induces extra degeneracies, especially between the additional parameters and the PBH's ones. Finally, we present cosmic microwave background constraints on the fraction of dark matter in PBHs, not only for monochromatic PBH mass distributions but also for popular extended mass distributions. Our results show that extended mass distribution's constraints are tighter, but also that a considerable amount of constraining power comes from the high-ℓ polarization data. Moreover, we constrain the shape of such mass distributions in terms of the correspondent constraints on the PBH mass fraction.

Running of featureful primordial power spectra

Science.gov (United States)

Gariazzo, Stefano; Mena, Olga; Miralles, Victor; Ramírez, Héctor; Boubekeur, Lotfi

2017-06-01

Current measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropy power spectra of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) seem to indicate that the naive expectation for the slow-roll hierarchy within the most simple inflationary paradigm may not be respected in nature. We show that a primordial power spectrum with localized features could in principle give rise to the observed slow-roll anarchy when fitted to a featureless power spectrum. From a model comparison perspective, and assuming that nature has chosen a featureless primordial power spectrum, we find that, while with mock Planck data there is only weak evidence against a model with localized features, upcoming CMB missions may provide compelling evidence against such a nonstandard primordial power spectrum. This evidence could be reinforced if a featureless primordial power spectrum is independently confirmed from bispectrum and/or galaxy clustering measurements.

Extreme scenarios: the tightest possible constraints on the power spectrum due to primordial black holes

Science.gov (United States)

Cole, Philippa S.; Byrnes, Christian T.

2018-02-01

Observational constraints on the abundance of primordial black holes (PBHs) constrain the allowed amplitude of the primordial power spectrum on both the smallest and the largest ranges of scales, covering over 20 decades from 1‑1020/ Mpc. Despite tight constraints on the allowed fraction of PBHs at their time of formation near horizon entry in the early Universe, the corresponding constraints on the primordial power spectrum are quite weak, typically Script PRlesssim 10‑2 assuming Gaussian perturbations. Motivated by recent claims that the evaporation of just one PBH would destabilise the Higgs vacuum and collapse the Universe, we calculate the constraints which follow from assuming there are zero PBHs within the observable Universe. Even if evaporating PBHs do not collapse the Universe, this scenario represents the ultimate limit of observational constraints. Constraints can be extended on to smaller scales right down to the horizon scale at the end of inflation, but where power spectrum constraints already exist they do not tighten significantly, even though the constraint on PBH abundance can decrease by up to 46 orders of magnitude. This shows that no future improvement in observational constraints can ever lead to a significant tightening in constraints on inflation (via the power spectrum amplitude). The power spectrum constraints are weak because an order unity perturbation is required in order to overcome pressure forces. We therefore consider an early matter dominated era, during which exponentially more PBHs form for the same initial conditions. We show this leads to far tighter constraints, which approach Script PRlesssim10‑9, albeit over a smaller range of scales and are very sensitive to when the early matter dominated era ends. Finally, we show that an extended early matter era is incompatible with the argument that an evaporating PBH would destroy the Universe, unless the power spectrum amplitude decreases by up to ten orders of magnitude.

Primordial black holes from fifth forces

Science.gov (United States)

Amendola, Luca; Rubio, Javier; Wetterich, Christof

2018-04-01

Primordial black holes can be produced by a long-range attractive fifth force stronger than gravity, mediated by a light scalar field interacting with nonrelativistic "heavy" particles. As soon as the energy fraction of heavy particles reaches a threshold, the fluctuations rapidly become nonlinear. The overdensities collapse into black holes or similar screened objects, without the need for any particular feature in the spectrum of primordial density fluctuations generated during inflation. We discuss whether such primordial black holes can constitute the total dark matter component in the Universe.

Gravitational waves from primordial black hole mergers

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Raidal, Martti; Vaskonen, Ville; Veermäe, Hardi, E-mail: martti.raidal@cern.ch, E-mail: ville.vaskonen@kbfi.ee, E-mail: hardi.veermae@cern.ch [NICPB, Rävala 10, 10143 Tallinn (Estonia)

2017-09-01

We study the production of primordial black hole (PBH) binaries and the resulting merger rate, accounting for an extended PBH mass function and the possibility of a clustered spatial distribution. Under the hypothesis that the gravitational wave events observed by LIGO were caused by PBH mergers, we show that it is possible to satisfy all present constraints on the PBH abundance, and find the viable parameter range for the lognormal PBH mass function. The non-observation of a gravitational wave background allows us to derive constraints on the fraction of dark matter in PBHs, which are stronger than any other current constraint in the PBH mass range 0.5−30 M {sub ⊙}. We show that the predicted gravitational wave background can be observed by the coming runs of LIGO, and its non-observation would indicate that the observed events are not of primordial origin. As the PBH mergers convert matter into radiation, they may have interesting cosmological implications, for example in the context of relieving the tension between high and low redshift measurements of the Hubble constant. However, we find that these effects are suppressed as, after recombination, no more that 1% of dark matter can be converted into gravitational waves.

Inflation and dark matter primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erfani, Encieh

2012-09-01

In this thesis a broad range of single field models of inflation are analyzed in light of all relevant recent cosmological data, checking whether they can lead to the formation of long-lived Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) to serve as candidates for Dark Matter. To that end we calculate the spectral index of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations as well as its first and second derivatives. PBH formation is possible only if the spectral index increases significantly at small scales, i.e. large wave number k. Since current data indicate that the first derivative α S of the spectral index n S (k pivot ) is negative at the pivot scale k pivot , PBH formation is only possible in the presence of a sizable and positive second derivative (''running of the running'') β S . Among the three small-field and five large-field inflation models we analyze, only one small-field model, the ''running-mass'' model, allows PBH formation, for a narrow range of parameters. We also note that none of the models we analyze can accord for a large and negative value of α S , which is weakly preferred by current data. Similarly, proving conclusively that the second derivative of the spectral index is positive would exclude all the large-field models we investigated.

Primordial gravitational waves and cosmology.

Science.gov (United States)

Krauss, Lawrence M; Dodelson, Scott; Meyer, Stephan

2010-05-21

The observation of primordial gravitational waves could provide a new and unique window on the earliest moments in the history of the universe and on possible new physics at energies many orders of magnitude beyond those accessible at particle accelerators. Such waves might be detectable soon, in current or planned satellite experiments that will probe for characteristic imprints in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background, or later with direct space-based interferometers. A positive detection could provide definitive evidence for inflation in the early universe and would constrain new physics from the grand unification scale to the Planck scale.

MEASURING PRIMORDIAL NON-GAUSSIANITY THROUGH WEAK-LENSING PEAK COUNTS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Marian, Laura; Hilbert, Stefan; Smith, Robert E.; Schneider, Peter; Desjacques, Vincent

2011-01-01

We explore the possibility of detecting primordial non-Gaussianity of the local type using weak-lensing peak counts. We measure the peak abundance in sets of simulated weak-lensing maps corresponding to three models f NL = 0, - 100, and 100. Using survey specifications similar to those of EUCLID and without assuming any knowledge of the lens and source redshifts, we find the peak functions of the non-Gaussian models with f NL = ±100 to differ by up to 15% from the Gaussian peak function at the high-mass end. For the assumed survey parameters, the probability of fitting an f NL = 0 peak function to the f NL = ±100 peak functions is less than 0.1%. Assuming the other cosmological parameters are known, f NL can be measured with an error Δf NL ∼ 13. It is therefore possible that future weak-lensing surveys like EUCLID and LSST may detect primordial non-Gaussianity from the abundance of peak counts, and provide information complementary to that obtained from the cosmic microwave background.

Primordial statistical anisotropy generated at the end of inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yokoyama, Shuichiro; Soda, Jiro

2008-01-01

We present a new mechanism for generating primordial statistical anisotropy of curvature perturbations. We introduce a vector field which has a non-minimal kinetic term and couples with a waterfall field in a hybrid inflation model. In such a system, the vector field gives fluctuations of the end of inflation and hence induces a subcomponent of curvature perturbations. Since the vector has a preferred direction, the statistical anisotropy could appear in the fluctuations. We present the explicit formula for the statistical anisotropy in the primordial power spectrum and the bispectrum of curvature perturbations. Interestingly, there is the possibility that the statistical anisotropy does not appear in the power spectrum but does appear in the bispectrum. We also find that the statistical anisotropy provides the shape dependence to the bispectrum

Primordial statistical anisotropy generated at the end of inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Yokoyama, Shuichiro [Department of Physics and Astrophysics, Nagoya University, Aichi 464-8602 (Japan); Soda, Jiro, E-mail: shu@a.phys.nagoya-u.ac.jp, E-mail: jiro@tap.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8501 (Japan)

2008-08-15

We present a new mechanism for generating primordial statistical anisotropy of curvature perturbations. We introduce a vector field which has a non-minimal kinetic term and couples with a waterfall field in a hybrid inflation model. In such a system, the vector field gives fluctuations of the end of inflation and hence induces a subcomponent of curvature perturbations. Since the vector has a preferred direction, the statistical anisotropy could appear in the fluctuations. We present the explicit formula for the statistical anisotropy in the primordial power spectrum and the bispectrum of curvature perturbations. Interestingly, there is the possibility that the statistical anisotropy does not appear in the power spectrum but does appear in the bispectrum. We also find that the statistical anisotropy provides the shape dependence to the bispectrum.

The role of primordial emotions in the evolutionary origin of consciousness.

Science.gov (United States)

Denton, D A; McKinley, M J; Farrell, M; Egan, G F

2009-06-01

Primordial emotions are the subjective element of the instincts which are the genetically programmed behaviour patterns which contrive homeostasis. They include thirst, hunger for air, hunger for food, pain and hunger for specific minerals etc. There are two constituents of a primordial emotion--the specific sensation which when severe may be imperious, and the compelling intention for gratification by a consummatory act. They may dominate the stream of consciousness, and can have plenipotentiary power over behaviour. It is hypothesized that early in animal evolution complex reflex mechanisms in the basal brain subserving homeostatic responses, in concert with elements of the reticular activating system subserving arousal, melded functionally with regions embodied in the progressive rostral development of the telencephalon. This included the emergent limbic and paralimbic areas, and the insula. This phylogenetically ancient organization subserved the origin of consciousness as the primordial emotion, which signalled that the organisms existence was immediately threatened. Neuroimaging confirms major activations in regions of the basal brain during primordial emotions in humans. The behaviour of decorticate humans and animals is discussed in relation to the possible existence of primitive awareness. Neuroimaging of the primordial emotions reveals that rapid gratification of intention by a consummatory act such as ingestion causes precipitate decline of both the initiating sensation and the intention. There is contemporaneous rapid disappearance of particular regions of brain activation which suggests they may be part of the jointly sufficient and severally necessary activations and deactivations which correlate with consciousness [Crick, F. & Koch, C. (2003). A framework for consciousness. NatureNeuroscience,6, 119-126].

Primordial spectra from sudden turning trajectory

Science.gov (United States)

Noumi, Toshifumi; Yamaguchi, Masahide

2013-12-01

Effects of heavy fields on primordial spectra of curvature perturbations are discussed in inflationary models with a sudden turning trajectory. When heavy fields are excited after the sudden turn and oscillate around the bottom of the potential, the following two effects are generically induced: deformation of the inflationary background spacetime and conversion interactions between adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations, both of which can affect the primordial density perturbations. In this paper, we calculate primordial spectra in inflationary models with sudden turning potentials taking into account both of the two effects appropriately. We find that there are some non-trivial correlations between the two effects in the power spectrum and, as a consequence, the primordial scalar power spectrum has a peak around the scale exiting the horizon at the turn. Though both effects can induce parametric resonance amplifications, they are shown to be canceled out for the case with the canonical kinetic terms. The peak feature and the scale dependence of bispectra are also discussed.

Inflation and dark matter primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Erfani, Encieh

2012-09-15

In this thesis a broad range of single field models of inflation are analyzed in light of all relevant recent cosmological data, checking whether they can lead to the formation of long-lived Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) to serve as candidates for Dark Matter. To that end we calculate the spectral index of the power spectrum of primordial perturbations as well as its first and second derivatives. PBH formation is possible only if the spectral index increases significantly at small scales, i.e. large wave number k. Since current data indicate that the first derivative {alpha}{sub S} of the spectral index n{sub S}(k{sub pivot}) is negative at the pivot scale k{sub pivot}, PBH formation is only possible in the presence of a sizable and positive second derivative (''running of the running'') {beta}{sub S}. Among the three small-field and five large-field inflation models we analyze, only one small-field model, the ''running-mass'' model, allows PBH formation, for a narrow range of parameters. We also note that none of the models we analyze can accord for a large and negative value of {alpha}{sub S}, which is weakly preferred by current data. Similarly, proving conclusively that the second derivative of the spectral index is positive would exclude all the large-field models we investigated.

Primordial Regular Black Holes: Thermodynamics and Dark Matter

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

José Antonio de Freitas Pacheco

2018-05-01

Full Text Available The possibility that dark matter particles could be constituted by extreme regular primordial black holes is discussed. Extreme black holes have zero surface temperature, and are not subjected to the Hawking evaporation process. Assuming that the common horizon radius of these black holes is fixed by the minimum distance that is derived from the Riemann invariant computed from loop quantum gravity, the masses of these non-singular stable black holes are of the order of the Planck mass. However, if they are formed just after inflation, during reheating, their initial masses are about six orders of magnitude higher. After a short period of growth by the accretion of relativistic matter, they evaporate until reaching the extreme solution. Only a fraction of 3.8 × 10−22 of relativistic matter is required to be converted into primordial black holes (PBHs in order to explain the present abundance of dark matter particles.

Primordial nuclei

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Anon.

1995-01-01

The recent detection of intergalactic helium by NASA's Astro-2 mission backs up two earlier measurements by ESA and the University of California, San Diego, using instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. Taken together, these results give strong evidence that this helium is primordial, confirming a key prediction of the Big Bang theory. The amount of helium the results imply could also account for some of the Universe's invisible dark matter - material which affects galactic motion but is otherwise undetectable. According to theory, helium nuclei formed at around 100 seconds after the Big Bang, but the amount of helium depended on even earlier events. Initially, protons turned into neutrons with the same probability that neutrons turned into protons. But after about one second, the Universe had cooled down enough for the weak interaction to freeze out. Neutrons continued to decay into the slightly lighter protons, whilst the opposite reaction became much more scarce. At around 100 seconds, thermonuclear fusion reactions could begin, and all the neutrons that were left became absorbed into helium nuclei, leaving the remaining protons locked up in hydrogen. The ratio of helium to hydrogen was therefore determined by events occurring when the Universe was just one second old. Standard models of primordial nucleosynthesis fix this ratio at slightly less than 2 5% by mass. All heavier elements were cooked up much later in the stars, and amount to less than 1 % of the Universe's mass. These predictions have been borne out remarkably well by observation, although proof of the primordial origins of hydrogen and helium has remained elusive until now. Big Bang nucleosynthesis goes on to estimate that primordial baryonic matter in the form of light nuclei could account for around 10% of the Universe's dark matter. All three recent measurements used the same technique of looking at distant quasars, some of the most luminous objects in the Universe, to

Chiral primordial blue tensor spectra from the axion-gauge couplings

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Obata, Ippei, E-mail: obata@tap.scphys.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Department of Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, 606-8502 (Japan)

2017-06-01

We suggest the new feature of primordial gravitational waves sourced by the axion-gauge couplings, whose forms are motivated by the dimensional reduction of the form field in the string theory. In our inflationary model, as an inflaton we adopt two types of axion, dubbed the model-independent axion and the model-dependent axion, which couple with two gauge groups with different sign combination each other. Due to these forms both polarization modes of gauge fields are amplified and enhance both helicies of tensor modes during inflation. We point out the possibility that a primordial blue-tilted tensor power spectra with small chirality are provided by the combination of these axion-gauge couplings, intriguingly both amplitudes and chirality are potentially testable by future space-based gravitational wave interferometers such as DECIGO and BBO project.

Fluctuations in models with primordial inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kahn, R.; Brandenberger, R.

1984-01-01

The recently proposed general framework for calculating the growth of primordial energy density fluctuations in cosmological models is applied to two models of phenomenological interest in which the cosmological evolution differs crucially from that in new inflationary universe models. Both in a model of primordial supersymmetric inflation and in Linde's proposal of chaotic inflation we verify the conjectured results. (orig.)

Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance from the First Advanced LIGO Observation Run Using the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sai; Wang, Yi-Fan; Huang, Qing-Guo; Li, Tjonnie G. F.

2018-05-01

Advanced LIGO's discovery of gravitational-wave events is stimulating extensive studies on the origin of binary black holes. Assuming that the gravitational-wave events can be explained by binary primordial black hole mergers, we utilize the upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background given by Advanced LIGO as a new observational window to independently constrain the abundance of primordial black holes in dark matter. We show that Advanced LIGO's first observation run gives the best constraint on the primordial black hole abundance in the mass range 1 M⊙≲MPBH≲100 M⊙, pushing the previous microlensing and dwarf galaxy dynamics constraints tighter by 1 order of magnitude. Moreover, we discuss the possibility to detect the stochastic gravitational-wave background from primordial black holes, in particular from subsolar mass primordial black holes, by Advanced LIGO in the near future.

Constraints on the Primordial Black Hole Abundance from the First Advanced LIGO Observation Run Using the Stochastic Gravitational-Wave Background.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Sai; Wang, Yi-Fan; Huang, Qing-Guo; Li, Tjonnie G F

2018-05-11

Advanced LIGO's discovery of gravitational-wave events is stimulating extensive studies on the origin of binary black holes. Assuming that the gravitational-wave events can be explained by binary primordial black hole mergers, we utilize the upper limits on the stochastic gravitational-wave background given by Advanced LIGO as a new observational window to independently constrain the abundance of primordial black holes in dark matter. We show that Advanced LIGO's first observation run gives the best constraint on the primordial black hole abundance in the mass range 1M_{⊙}≲M_{PBH}≲100M_{⊙}, pushing the previous microlensing and dwarf galaxy dynamics constraints tighter by 1 order of magnitude. Moreover, we discuss the possibility to detect the stochastic gravitational-wave background from primordial black holes, in particular from subsolar mass primordial black holes, by Advanced LIGO in the near future.

Chiral primordial gravitational waves from a Lifshitz point.

Science.gov (United States)

Takahashi, Tomohiro; Soda, Jiro

2009-06-12

We study primordial gravitational waves produced during inflation in quantum gravity at a Lifshitz point proposed by Horava. Assuming power-counting renormalizability, foliation-preserving diffeomorphism invariance, and the condition of detailed balance, we show that primordial gravitational waves are circularly polarized due to parity violation. The chirality of primordial gravitational waves is a quite robust prediction of quantum gravity at a Lifshitz point which can be tested through observations of cosmic microwave background radiation and stochastic gravitational waves.

Galaxy bias and primordial non-Gaussianity

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Assassi, Valentin; Baumann, Daniel [DAMTP, Cambridge University, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA (United Kingdom); Schmidt, Fabian, E-mail: assassi@ias.edu, E-mail: D.D.Baumann@uva.nl, E-mail: fabians@MPA-Garching.MPG.DE [Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschild-Str. 1, 85748 Garching (Germany)

2015-12-01

We present a systematic study of galaxy biasing in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. For a large class of non-Gaussian initial conditions, we define a general bias expansion and prove that it is closed under renormalization, thereby showing that the basis of operators in the expansion is complete. We then study the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on the statistics of galaxies. We show that the equivalence principle enforces a relation between the scale-dependent bias in the galaxy power spectrum and that in the dipolar part of the bispectrum. This provides a powerful consistency check to confirm the primordial origin of any observed scale-dependent bias. Finally, we also discuss the imprints of anisotropic non-Gaussianity as motivated by recent studies of higher-spin fields during inflation.

Galaxy bias and primordial non-Gaussianity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Assassi, Valentin; Baumann, Daniel; Schmidt, Fabian

2015-01-01

We present a systematic study of galaxy biasing in the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. For a large class of non-Gaussian initial conditions, we define a general bias expansion and prove that it is closed under renormalization, thereby showing that the basis of operators in the expansion is complete. We then study the effects of primordial non-Gaussianity on the statistics of galaxies. We show that the equivalence principle enforces a relation between the scale-dependent bias in the galaxy power spectrum and that in the dipolar part of the bispectrum. This provides a powerful consistency check to confirm the primordial origin of any observed scale-dependent bias. Finally, we also discuss the imprints of anisotropic non-Gaussianity as motivated by recent studies of higher-spin fields during inflation

THE ROLE OF METHANOL IN THE CRYSTALLIZATION OF TITAN'S PRIMORDIAL OCEAN

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deschamps, Frederic; Mousis, Olivier; Sanchez-Valle, Carmen; Lunine, Jonathan I.

2010-01-01

A key parameter that controls the crystallization of primordial oceans in large icy moons is the presence of anti-freeze compounds, which may have maintained primordial oceans over the age of the solar system. Here we investigate the influence of methanol, a possible anti-freeze candidate, on the crystallization of Titan's primordial ocean. Using a thermodynamic model of the solar nebula and assuming a plausible composition of its initial gas phase, we first calculate the condensation sequence of ices in Saturn's feeding zone, and show that in Titan's building blocks methanol can have a mass fraction of ∼4 wt% relative to water, i.e., methanol can be up to four times more abundant than ammonia. We then combine available data on the phase diagram of the water-methanol system and scaling laws derived from thermal convection to estimate the influence of methanol on the dynamics of the outer ice I shell and on the heat transfer through this layer. For a fraction of methanol consistent with the building blocks composition we determined, the vigor of convection in the ice I shell is strongly reduced. The effect of 5 wt% methanol is equivalent to that of 3 wt% ammonia. Thus, if methanol is present in the primordial ocean of Titan, the crystallization may stop, and a sub-surface ocean may be maintained between the ice I and high-pressure ice layers. A preliminary estimate indicates that the presence of 4 wt% methanol and 1 wt% ammonia may result in an ocean of thickness at least 90 km.

Constraints on amplitudes of curvature perturbations from primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bugaev, Edgar; Klimai, Peter

2009-01-01

We calculate the primordial black hole (PBH) mass spectrum produced from a collapse of the primordial density fluctuations in the early Universe using, as an input, several theoretical models giving the curvature perturbation power spectra P R (k) with large (∼10 -2 -10 -1 ) values at some scale of comoving wave numbers k. In the calculation we take into account the explicit dependence of gravitational (Bardeen) potential on time. Using the PBH mass spectra, we further calculate the neutrino and photon energy spectra in extragalactic space from evaporation of light PBHs, and the energy density fraction contained in PBHs today (for heavier PBHs). We obtain the constraints on the model parameters using available experimental data (including data on neutrino and photon cosmic backgrounds). We briefly discuss the possibility that the observed 511 keV line from the Galactic center is produced by annihilation of positrons evaporated by PBHs.

BICEP2, Planck, spinorial space-time, pre-Big Bang.. On the possible origin of primordial CMB B-modes and gravitational waves. Potentialities of alternative cosmologies and open questions

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Mestres, Luis

2015-05-01

The field of Cosmology is currently undergoing a positive and constructive crisis. Controversies concerning inflation are not really new. But after the 2013-2014 Planck and BICEP2 announcements, and the more recent joint analysis by Planck, BICEP2 and the Keck Array (PBKA), the basic issues can involve more direct links between the Mathematical Physics aspects of cosmological patterns and the interpretation of experimental results. Open questions and new ideas on the foundations of Cosmology can emerge, while future experimental and observational programs look very promising. The BICEP2 result reporting an excess of B-mode polarization signal of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation was initially presented as a signature of primordial gravitational waves from cosmic inflation. But polarized dust emission can be at the origin of such a signal, and the evidence claimed by BICEP2 is no longer secure after the PBKA analysis. Furthermore, even assuming that significant CMB B-mode polarization has indeed been generated by the early Universe, its theoretical and cosmological interpretation would be far from obvious. Inflationary gravitational waves are not the only possible source of primordial CMB B-modes. Alternative cosmologies such as pre-Big Bang patterns and the spinorial space-time (SST) we introduced in 1996-97 can naturally produce this polarization. Furthermore, the SST automatically generates for each comoving observer a local privileged space direction (PSD) whose existence may have been confirmed by Planck data. If such a PSD exists, vector perturbations have most likely been strong in the early Universe and may have produced CMB B-modes. Pre-Big Bang cosmologies can also generate gravitational waves in the early Universe without inflation. After briefly describing detectors devoted to the study of the CMB polarization, we discuss the situation emerging from BICEP2 results, Planck results and the PBKA analysis. In particular, we further analyze

Primordial Radionuclides Distribution and dose Evaluation in Udagamandalam Region of Nilgiris in India

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Manikandan, N. Muguntha; Selvasekarapandian, S.; Sivakumar, R.; Meenakshisundaram, V.; Raghunath, V. M.

2001-01-01

The activity concentration of primordial radionuclides i.e., 238 U series, 232 Th series and 40 K, in soil samples collected from Udagamandalam environment, have been measured by employing NaI (TI) Gamma ray Spectrometer. The absorbed gamma dose rate has also been simultaneously measured by using both environmental radiation dosimeter at each soil sampling location (ambient gamma dose) as well as from the gamma dose derived from the activity concentration of the primordial radionuclides. The results of activity concentration of each radionuclides in soil, absorbed dose rate in air due to soil activity and possible cosmic radiation at each location along with human effective dose equivalent for Udagamandalam environment are presented and discussed

Primordial Radionuclides Distribution and dose Evaluation in Udagamandalam Region of Nilgiris in India

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Manikandan, N. Muguntha; Selvasekarapandian, S.; Sivakumar, R.; Meenakshisundaram, V. [Bharathiar Univ., Coimbatore (India); Raghunath, V. M. [Indira Gandhi Center for Atomic Research, Kalpakkam (India)

2001-09-15

The activity concentration of primordial radionuclides i.e., {sup 238}U series, {sup 232}Th series and {sup 40}K, in soil samples collected from Udagamandalam environment, have been measured by employing NaI (TI) Gamma ray Spectrometer. The absorbed gamma dose rate has also been simultaneously measured by using both environmental radiation dosimeter at each soil sampling location (ambient gamma dose) as well as from the gamma dose derived from the activity concentration of the primordial radionuclides. The results of activity concentration of each radionuclides in soil, absorbed dose rate in air due to soil activity and possible cosmic radiation at each location along with human effective dose equivalent for Udagamandalam environment are presented and discussed.

Fingerprints of primordial universe paradigms as features in density perturbations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen Xingang

2011-01-01

Experimentally distinguishing different primordial universe paradigms that lead to the Big Bang model is an outstanding challenge in modern cosmology and astrophysics. We show that a generic type of signals that exist in primordial universe models can be used for such purpose. These signals are induced by tiny oscillations of massive fields and manifest as features in primordial density perturbations. They are capable of recording the time-dependence of the scale factor of the primordial universe, and therefore provide direct evidence for specific paradigm. These signals present special opportunities and challenges for experiments and data analyses.

Morphological anomaly of primordial follicle in {gamma}-irradiated mice

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Jin Kyu; Lee, Chang Joo; Lee, Young Dal [Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute, Taejon (Korea, Republic of)

1999-08-01

Ovarian follicles are faced with one of two fates, atresia or development. Up to 99% of follicles become degenerated rather than ovulated in female life span. Thus, atresia occurs at all stages of follicle development in mammalian ovaries. In the present experiment, the effect of {gamma}-radiation on primordial follicles was morphologically analyzed in a mouse ovary. Thirty-seven percent of the primordial follicles in the non-irradiated control mice ovaries were abnormal. At day 8 post irradiation, most of primordial follicles became atretic. They lost their integrity of architecture in the follicular shape. Then, all the oocytes disappeared from the follicles. And only 3 to 4 granulosa cells lay down onto the basement membrane. Disappearance of granulosa cells or oocytes resulted from the radiation-induced apoptotic process. It is definitely clear that {gamma}-radiation induces rapid apoptotic degeneration of the primordial follicles. The morphological degeneration induced by radiation in the primordial follicles can be used as an experimental model to draw out a deeper insight for radioprotectant researches. (author). 22 refs., 4 figs.

Summary of Recent Developments in Primordial Nucleosynthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Schramm, D N

1993-06-01

This paper summarizes the recent observational and theoretical results on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. In particular, it is shown that the new Pop II (6)Li results strongly support the argument that the Spite Plateau lithium is a good estimate of the primordial value. The (6)Li is consistent with the Be and Be found in Pop II stars, assuming those elements are cosmic ray produced. The HST (2)D value tightens the (2)D arguments and the observation of the (3)He in planetary nebula strengthens the (3)He +(2)D argument as a lower bound on Ωb. The new low metalicity (4)He determinations slightly raise the best primordial (4)He number and thus make a better fit and avoid a potential problem. The quark-hadron inspired inhomogeneous calculations now unanimously agree that only relatively small variations in Ωb are possible vis-à-vis the homogeneous model; hence, the robustness of Ωb∼ 0.05 is now apparent. A comparison with the ROSAT cluster data is also shown to be consistent with the standard BBN model. Ωb∼ 1 seems to be definitely excluded, so, if Ω= 1, as some recent observations may hint, then non-baryonic dark matter is required.

Some cosmological consequences of primordial black-hole evaporations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, B.J.

1976-01-01

According to Hawking, primordial black holes of less than 10 15 g would have evaporated by now. This paper examines the way in which small primordial black holes could thereby have contributed to the background density of photons, nucleons, neutrinos, electrons, and gravitons in the universe. Any photons emitted late enough should maintain their emission temperature apart from a redshift effect: it is shown that the biggest contribution should come from primordial black holes of about 10 15 g, which evaporate in the present era, and it is argued that observations of the γ-ray background indicate that primordial black holes of this size must have a mean density less than 10 -8 times the critical density. Photons which were emitted sufficiently early to be thermalized could, in principle, have generated the 3 K background in an initially cold universe, but only if the density fluctuations in the early universe had a particular form and did not extend up to a mass scale of 10 15 g. Primordial black holes of less than 10 14 g should emit nucleons: it is shown that such nucleons could not contribute appreciably to the cosmic-ray background. However, nucleon emission could have generated the observed number density of baryons in an initially baryon-symmetric universe, provided some CP-violating process operates in black hole evaporations such that more baryons are always produced than antibaryons. We predict the spectrum of neutrinos, electrons, and gravitons which should result from primordial black-hole evaporations and show that the observational limits on the background electron flux might place a stronger limitation on the number of 10 15 g primordial black holes than the γ-ray observations. Finally, we examine the limits that various observations place on the strength of any long-range baryonic field whose existence might be hypothesized as a means of preserving baryon number in black-hole evaporations

Baryogenesis in extended inflation. II. Baryogenesis via primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Barrow, J.D.; Copeland, E.J.; Kolb, E.W.; Liddle, A.R.

1991-01-01

This is the second of two papers devoted to the study of baryogenesis at the end of extended inflation. Extended inflation is brought to an end by the collisions of bubble walls surrounding regions of true vacuum, a process which produces particles well out of thermal equilibrium. In the first paper we considered baryogenesis via direct production and subsequent decay of baryon-number-violating bosons. In this paper we consider the further possibility that the wall collisions may provide a significant density of primordial black holes and examine their possible role in generating a baryon asymmetry

From electroweak theory to the primordial universe. A synthesis of some experimental results; De la theorie electrofaible a l'univers primordial. Synthese de quelques resultats experimentaux

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ealet, A

2004-12-15

Particle physic is based on a theory which can be tested on the current large colliders. Measurements are in a very good agreement with this electroweak theory and no deviation is observed to indicate new physics. What is surprising today is that none of its results agrees with what is known from our universe, neither to explain the primordial baryogenesis, neither to explain the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. In this work, I come back on some results obtained in the Lep collider, to test the electroweak theory (Higgs and W boson production) and on some measurements of CP violation. I compare them with what can be extrapolated in term of primordial baryogenesis and dark energy density and show that there is no possible agreement in the Standard Model. I finish by some experimental and theoretical views to answer this fundamental question. (author)

Provenance Store Evaluation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Paulson, Patrick R.; Gibson, Tara D.; Schuchardt, Karen L.; Stephan, Eric G.

2008-03-01

Requirements for the provenance store and access API are developed. Existing RDF stores and APIs are evaluated against the requirements and performance benchmarks. The team’s conclusion is to use MySQL as a database backend, with a possible move to Oracle in the near-term future. Both Jena and Sesame’s APIs will be supported, but new code will use the Jena API

Primordial anisotropies in gauged hybrid inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Akbar Abolhasani, Ali; Emami, Razieh; Firouzjahi, Hassan

2014-05-01

We study primordial anisotropies generated in the model of gauged hybrid inflation in which the complex waterfall field is charged under a U(1)gauge field. Primordial anisotropies are generated either actively during inflation or from inhomogeneities modulating the surface of end of inflation during waterfall transition. We present a consistent δN mechanism to calculate the anisotropic power spectrum and bispectrum. We show that the primordial anisotropies generated at the surface of end of inflation do not depend on the number of e-folds and therefore do not produce dangerously large anisotropies associated with the IR modes. Furthermore, one can find the parameter space that the anisotropies generated from the surface of end of inflation cancel the anisotropies generated during inflation, therefore relaxing the constrains on model parameters imposed from IR anisotropies. We also show that the gauge field fluctuations induce a red-tilted power spectrum so the averaged power spectrum from the gauge field can change the total power spectrum from blue to red. Therefore, hybrid inflation, once gauged under a U(1) field, can be consistent with the cosmological observations.

Primordial anisotropies in gauged hybrid inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abolhasani, Ali Akbar; Emami, Razieh; Firouzjahi, Hassan

2014-01-01

We study primordial anisotropies generated in the model of gauged hybrid inflation in which the complex waterfall field is charged under a U(1)gauge field. Primordial anisotropies are generated either actively during inflation or from inhomogeneities modulating the surface of end of inflation during waterfall transition. We present a consistent δN mechanism to calculate the anisotropic power spectrum and bispectrum. We show that the primordial anisotropies generated at the surface of end of inflation do not depend on the number of e-folds and therefore do not produce dangerously large anisotropies associated with the IR modes. Furthermore, one can find the parameter space that the anisotropies generated from the surface of end of inflation cancel the anisotropies generated during inflation, therefore relaxing the constrains on model parameters imposed from IR anisotropies. We also show that the gauge field fluctuations induce a red-tilted power spectrum so the averaged power spectrum from the gauge field can change the total power spectrum from blue to red. Therefore, hybrid inflation, once gauged under a U(1) field, can be consistent with the cosmological observations

The Primordial Inflation Explorer

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan J.

2012-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10(exp -3) at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. I describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture needed to detect the inflationary signature using only 4 semiconductor bolometers.

Loop corrections to primordial non-Gaussianity

Science.gov (United States)

Boran, Sibel; Kahya, E. O.

2018-02-01

We discuss quantum gravitational loop effects to observable quantities such as curvature power spectrum and primordial non-Gaussianity of cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. We first review the previously shown case where one gets a time dependence for zeta-zeta correlator due to loop corrections. Then we investigate the effect of loop corrections to primordial non-Gaussianity of CMB. We conclude that, even with a single scalar inflaton, one might get a huge value for non-Gaussianity which would exceed the observed value by at least 30 orders of magnitude. Finally we discuss the consequences of this result for scalar driven inflationary models.

Grand unification scale primordial black holes: consequences and constraints.

Science.gov (United States)

Anantua, Richard; Easther, Richard; Giblin, John T

2009-09-11

A population of very light primordial black holes which evaporate before nucleosynthesis begins is unconstrained unless the decaying black holes leave stable relics. We show that gravitons Hawking radiated from these black holes would source a substantial stochastic background of high frequency gravititational waves (10(12) Hz or more) in the present Universe. These black holes may lead to a transient period of matter-dominated expansion. In this case the primordial Universe could be temporarily dominated by large clusters of "Hawking stars" and the resulting gravitational wave spectrum is independent of the initial number density of primordial black holes.

Before primordial inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Nanopoulos, D. V.; Srednicki, M.

1983-12-01

We show that, before the onset of primordial inflation, there is plenty of time for fields with very flat potentials and very weak couplings (such as the local supersymmetry breaking field and the axion field) to roll to the global minima of their potentials. Thus there is no energy stored in these fields today and hence no constraint (such as faxion USA.

Primordial Prevention of Cardiometabolic Risk in Childhood.

Science.gov (United States)

Tanrikulu, Meryem A; Agirbasli, Mehmet; Berenson, Gerald

2017-01-01

Fetal life and childhood are important in the development of cardiometabolic risk and later clinical disease of atherosclerosis, hypertension and diabetes mellitus. Molecular and environmental conditions leading to cardiometabolic risk in early life bring us a challenge to develop effective prevention and intervention strategies to reduce cardiovascular (CV) risk in children and later disease. It is important that prevention strategies begin at an early age to reduce future CV morbidity and mortality. Pioneering work from longitudinal studies such as Bogalusa Heart Study (BHS), the Finnish Youth Study and other programs provide an awareness of the need for public and health services to begin primordial prevention. The impending CV risk beginning in childhood has a significant socioeconomic burden. Directions to achieve primordial prevention of cardiometabolic risk in children have been developed by prior longitudinal studies. Based on those studies that show risk factors in childhood as precursors of adult CV risk, implementation of primordial prevention will have effects at broad levels. Considering the epidemic of obesity, the high prevalence of hypertension and cardiometabolic risk, prevention early in life is valuable. Comprehensive health education, such as 'Health Ahead/Heart Smart', for all elementary school age children is one approach to begin primordial prevention and can be included in public education beginning in kindergarten along with the traditional education subject matter.

From Provenance Standards and Tools to Queries and Actionable Provenance

Science.gov (United States)

Ludaescher, B.

2017-12-01

The W3C PROV standard provides a minimal core for sharing retrospective provenance information for scientific workflows and scripts. PROV extensions such as DataONE's ProvONE model are necessary for linking runtime observables in retrospective provenance records with conceptual-level prospective provenance information, i.e., workflow (or dataflow) graphs. Runtime provenance recorders, such as DataONE's RunManager for R, or noWorkflow for Python capture retrospective provenance automatically. YesWorkflow (YW) is a toolkit that allows researchers to declare high-level prospective provenance models of scripts via simple inline comments (YW-annotations), revealing the computational modules and dataflow dependencies in the script. By combining and linking both forms of provenance, important queries and use cases can be supported that neither provenance model can afford on its own. We present existing and emerging provenance tools developed for the DataONE and SKOPE (Synthesizing Knowledge of Past Environments) projects. We show how the different tools can be used individually and in combination to model, capture, share, query, and visualize provenance information. We also present challenges and opportunities for making provenance information more immediately actionable for the researchers who create it in the first place. We argue that such a shift towards "provenance-for-self" is necessary to accelerate the creation, sharing, and use of provenance in support of transparent, reproducible computational and data science.

An MCMC determination of the primordial helium abundance

Science.gov (United States)

Aver, Erik; Olive, Keith A.; Skillman, Evan D.

2012-04-01

Spectroscopic observations of the chemical abundances in metal-poor H II regions provide an independent method for estimating the primordial helium abundance. H II regions are described by several physical parameters such as electron density, electron temperature, and reddening, in addition to y, the ratio of helium to hydrogen. It had been customary to estimate or determine self-consistently these parameters to calculate y. Frequentist analyses of the parameter space have been shown to be successful in these parameter determinations, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques have proven to be very efficient in sampling this parameter space. Nevertheless, accurate determination of the primordial helium abundance from observations of H II regions is constrained by both systematic and statistical uncertainties. In an attempt to better reduce the latter, and continue to better characterize the former, we apply MCMC methods to the large dataset recently compiled by Izotov, Thuan, & Stasińska (2007). To improve the reliability of the determination, a high quality dataset is needed. In pursuit of this, a variety of cuts are explored. The efficacy of the He I λ4026 emission line as a constraint on the solutions is first examined, revealing the introduction of systematic bias through its absence. As a clear measure of the quality of the physical solution, a χ2 analysis proves instrumental in the selection of data compatible with the theoretical model. Nearly two-thirds of the observations fall outside a standard 95% confidence level cut, which highlights the care necessary in selecting systems and warrants further investigation into potential deficiencies of the model or data. In addition, the method also allows us to exclude systems for which parameter estimations are statistical outliers. As a result, the final selected dataset gains in reliability and exhibits improved consistency. Regression to zero metallicity yields Yp = 0.2534 ± 0.0083, in broad agreement

An MCMC determination of the primordial helium abundance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aver, Erik; Olive, Keith A.; Skillman, Evan D.

2012-01-01

Spectroscopic observations of the chemical abundances in metal-poor H II regions provide an independent method for estimating the primordial helium abundance. H II regions are described by several physical parameters such as electron density, electron temperature, and reddening, in addition to y, the ratio of helium to hydrogen. It had been customary to estimate or determine self-consistently these parameters to calculate y. Frequentist analyses of the parameter space have been shown to be successful in these parameter determinations, and Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) techniques have proven to be very efficient in sampling this parameter space. Nevertheless, accurate determination of the primordial helium abundance from observations of H II regions is constrained by both systematic and statistical uncertainties. In an attempt to better reduce the latter, and continue to better characterize the former, we apply MCMC methods to the large dataset recently compiled by Izotov, Thuan, and Stasińska (2007). To improve the reliability of the determination, a high quality dataset is needed. In pursuit of this, a variety of cuts are explored. The efficacy of the He I λ4026 emission line as a constraint on the solutions is first examined, revealing the introduction of systematic bias through its absence. As a clear measure of the quality of the physical solution, a χ 2 analysis proves instrumental in the selection of data compatible with the theoretical model. Nearly two-thirds of the observations fall outside a standard 95% confidence level cut, which highlights the care necessary in selecting systems and warrants further investigation into potential deficiencies of the model or data. In addition, the method also allows us to exclude systems for which parameter estimations are statistical outliers. As a result, the final selected dataset gains in reliability and exhibits improved consistency. Regression to zero metallicity yields Y p = 0.2534 ± 0.0083, in broad

Primordial Black Holes from First Principles (Overview)

Science.gov (United States)

Lam, Casey; Bloomfield, Jolyon; Moss, Zander; Russell, Megan; Face, Stephen; Guth, Alan

2017-01-01

Given a power spectrum from inflation, our goal is to calculate, from first principles, the number density and mass spectrum of primordial black holes that form in the early universe. Previously, these have been calculated using the Press- Schechter formalism and some demonstrably dubious rules of thumb regarding predictions of black hole collapse. Instead, we use Monte Carlo integration methods to sample field configurations from a power spectrum combined with numerical relativity simulations to obtain a more accurate picture of primordial black hole formation. We demonstrate how this can be applied for both Gaussian perturbations and the more interesting (for primordial black holes) theory of hybrid inflation. One of the tools that we employ is a variant of the BBKS formalism for computing the statistics of density peaks in the early universe. We discuss the issue of overcounting due to subpeaks that can arise from this approach (the ``cloud-in-cloud'' problem). MIT UROP Office- Paul E. Gray (1954) Endowed Fund.

Constraints on dark matter particles charged under a hidden gauge group from primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dai, De-Chang; Stojkovic, Dejan; Freese, Katherine

2009-01-01

In order to accommodate increasingly tighter observational constraints on dark matter, several models have been proposed recently in which dark matter particles are charged under some hidden gauge group. Hidden gauge charges are invisible for the standard model particles, hence such scenarios are very difficult to constrain directly. However black holes are sensitive to all gauge charges, whether they belong to the standard model or not. Here, we examine the constraints on the possible values of the dark matter particle mass and hidden gauge charge from the evolution of primordial black holes. We find that the existence of the primordial black holes with reasonable mass is incompatible with dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is of the order of one. For dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is much less than one, we are able to exclude only heavy dark matter in the mass range of 10 11 GeV–10 16 GeV. Finally, for dark matter particles whose charge to mass ratio is much greater than one, there are no useful limits coming from primordial black holes

Direct search for features in the primordial bispectrum

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stephen Appleby

2016-09-01

Full Text Available We study features in the bispectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation correlated with the reconstructed primordial power spectrum from the observed cosmic microwave background temperature data. We first show how the bispectrum can be completely specified in terms of the power spectrum and its first two derivatives, valid for any configuration of interest. Then using a model-independent reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum from the Planck angular power spectrum of temperature anisotropies, we compute the bispectrum in different triangular configurations. We find that in the squeezed limit at k∼0.06 Mpc−1 and k∼0.014 Mpc−1 there are marginal 2σ deviations from the standard featureless bispectrum, which meanwhile is consistent with the reconstructed bispectrum in the equilateral configuration.

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Primordial Power Spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Hlozek, Renee; Dunkley, Joanna; Addison, Graeme; Appel, John William; Bond, J. Richard; Carvalho, C. Sofia; Das, Sudeep; Devlin, Mark J.; Duenner, Rolando; Essinger-Hileman, Thomas;

Electroweak baryogenesis with primordial hypermagnetic fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ayala, Alejandro; Pallares, Gabriel; Besprosvany, Jaime; Piccinelli, Gabriella

2002-01-01

Primordial magnetic fields, independently of their origin, could have had a significant influence over several physical processes that took place during the evolution of the early universe, in particular baryogenesis. Recall that for temperatures above the electroweak phase transition (T > 100 GeV), the symmetry of the standard model corresponded to the U(1)y hypercharge group, instead of the U(1)em electromagnetic group and are therefore properly called hypermagnetic fields. In this work, we show that during a first order electroweak phase transition, the presence of hypermagnetic fields produces an axial charge segregation in the reflection and transmission of fermions off the true vacuum bubbles. We also comment on the possible consequences that these processes have for the generation of baryon number during the phase transition

Primordial Nucleosynthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Coc, Alain

Primordial or big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) is now a parameter free theory whose predictions are in good overall agreement with observations. However, the 7Li calculated abundance is significantly higher than the one deduced from spectroscopic observations. Most solutions to this lithium problem involve a source of extra neutrons that inevitably leads to an increase of the deuterium abundance. This seems now to be excluded by recent deuterium observations that have drastically reduced the uncertainty on D/H and also calls for improved precision on thermonuclear reaction rates.

Cosmic microwave background trispectrum and primordial magnetic field limits.

Science.gov (United States)

Trivedi, Pranjal; Seshadri, T R; Subramanian, Kandaswamy

2012-06-08

Primordial magnetic fields will generate non-gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) as magnetic stresses and the temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. We compute a new measure of magnetic non-gaussianity, the CMB trispectrum, on large angular scales, sourced via the Sachs-Wolfe effect. The trispectra induced by magnetic energy density and by magnetic scalar anisotropic stress are found to have typical magnitudes of approximately a few times 10(-29) and 10(-19), respectively. Observational limits on CMB non-gaussianity from WMAP data allow us to conservatively set upper limits of a nG, and plausibly sub-nG, on the present value of the primordial cosmic magnetic field. This represents the tightest limit so far on the strength of primordial magnetic fields, on Mpc scales, and is better than limits from the CMB bispectrum and all modes in the CMB power spectrum. Thus, the CMB trispectrum is a new and more sensitive probe of primordial magnetic fields on large scales.

Production of high stellar-mass primordial black holes in trapped inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cheng, Shu-Lin; Lee, Wolung [Department of Physics, National Taiwan Normal University,Taipei 11677, Taiwan (China); Ng, Kin-Wang [Institute of Physics, Academia Sinica,Taipei 11529, Taiwan (China); Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Academia Sinica,Taipei 11529, Taiwan (China)

2017-02-01

Trapped inflation has been proposed to provide a successful inflation with a steep potential. We discuss the formation of primordial black holes in the trapped inflationary scenario. We show that primordial black holes are naturally produced during inflation with a steep trapping potential. In particular, we have given a recipe for an inflaton potential with which particle production can induce large non-Gaussian curvature perturbation that leads to the formation of high stellar-mass primordial black holes. These primordial black holes could be dark matter observed by the LIGO detectors through a binary black-hole merger. At the end, we have given an attempt to realize the required inflaton potential in the axion monodromy inflation, and discussed the gravitational waves sourced by the particle production.

Gravitational Waves from Primordial Black Holes and New Weak Scale Phenomena

OpenAIRE

Davoudiasl, Hooman; Giardino, Pier Paolo

2016-01-01

We entertain the possibility that primordialblack holes of mass $\\sim (10^{26}$--$10^{29})$~g, with Schwarzschild radii of $\\mathcal{O}{\\text{cm}}$, constitute $\\sim 10\\%$ or more of cosmic dark matter, as allowed by various constraints. These black holes would typically originate from cosmological eras corresponding to temperatures $\\mathcal{O}{10-100}$~GeV, and may be associated with first order phase transitions in the visible or hidden sectors. In case these small primordial black holes g...

Aggregation by Provenance Types: A Technique for Summarising Provenance Graphs

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Luc Moreau

2015-04-01

Full Text Available As users become confronted with a deluge of provenance data, dedicated techniques are required to make sense of this kind of information. We present Aggregation by Provenance Types, a provenance graph analysis that is capable of generating provenance graph summaries. It proceeds by converting provenance paths up to some length k to attributes, referred to as provenance types, and by grouping nodes that have the same provenance types. The summary also includes numeric values representing the frequency of nodes and edges in the original graph. A quantitative evaluation and a complexity analysis show that this technique is tractable; with small values of k, it can produce useful summaries and can help detect outliers. We illustrate how the generated summaries can further be used for conformance checking and visualization.

Primordial nucleosynthesis revisited via Trojan Horse Results

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pizzone R.G.

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN requires several nuclear physics inputs and nuclear reaction rates. An up-to-date compilation of direct cross sections of d(d,pt, d(d,n3He and 3He(d,p4He reactions is given, being these ones among the most uncertain bare-nucleus cross sections. An intense experimental effort has been carried on in the last decade to apply the Trojan Horse Method (THM to study reactions of relevance for the BBN and measure their astrophysical S(E-factor. The reaction rates and the relative error for the four reactions of interest are then numerically calculated in the temperature ranges of relevance for BBN (0.01primordial nucleosynthesis calculations in order to evaluate their impact on the calculated primordial abundances of D, 3,4He and 7Li. These were compared with the observational primordial abundance estimates in different astrophysical sites. A comparison was also performed with calculations using other reaction rates compilations available in literature.

Astrochemistry: From primordial gas to present-day clouds

OpenAIRE

Schleicher, Dominik R. G.; Bovino, Stefano; Körtgen, Bastian; Grassi, Tommaso; Banerjee, Robi

2017-01-01

Astrochemistry plays a central role during the process of star formation, both in the primordial regime as well as in the present-day Universe. We revisit here the chemistry in both regimes, focusing first on the chemistry under close to primordial conditions, as observed in the so-called Caffau star SDSS J102915+172927, and subsequently discuss deuteration processes in present-day star-forming cores. In models of the high-redshift Universe, the chemistry is particularly relevant to determine...

Chameleon-photon mixing in a primordial magnetic field

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schelpe, Camilla A. O.

2010-01-01

The existence of a sizable, O(10 -10 -10 -9 G), cosmological magnetic field in the early Universe has been postulated as a necessary step in certain formation scenarios for the large-scale O(μG) magnetic fields found in galaxies and galaxy clusters. If this field exists then it may induce significant mixing between photons and axion-like particles (ALPs) in the early Universe. The resonant conversion of photons into ALPs in a primordial magnetic field has been studied elsewhere by Mirizzi, Redondo and Sigl (2009). Here we consider the nonresonant mixing between photons and scalar ALPs with masses much less than the plasma frequency along the path, with specific reference to the chameleon scalar field model. The mixing would alter the intensity and polarization state of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation. We find that the average modification to the CMB polarization modes is negligible. However the average modification to the CMB intensity spectrum is more significant and we compare this to high-precision measurements of the CMB monopole made by the far infrared absolute spectrophotometer on board the COBE satellite. The resulting 95% confidence limit on the scalar-photon conversion probability in the primordial field (at 100 GHz) is P γ↔φ -2 . This corresponds to a degenerate constraint on the photon-scalar coupling strength, g eff , and the magnitude of the primordial magnetic field. Taking the upper bound on the strength of the primordial magnetic field derived from the CMB power spectra, B λ ≤5.0x10 -9 G, this would imply an upper bound on the photon-scalar coupling strength in the range g eff -13 GeV -1 to g eff -14 GeV -1 , depending on the power spectrum of the primordial magnetic field.

From electroweak theory to the primordial universe. A synthesis of some experimental results

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ealet, A.

2004-12-01

Particle physic is based on a theory which can be tested on the current large colliders. Measurements are in a very good agreement with this electroweak theory and no deviation is observed to indicate new physics. What is surprising today is that none of its results agrees with what is known from our universe, neither to explain the primordial baryogenesis, neither to explain the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe. In this work, I come back on some results obtained in the Lep collider, to test the electroweak theory (Higgs and W boson production) and on some measurements of CP violation. I compare them with what can be extrapolated in term of primordial baryogenesis and dark energy density and show that there is no possible agreement in the Standard Model. I finish by some experimental and theoretical views to answer this fundamental question. (author)

Selections from 2016: Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Kohler, Susanna

2016-12-01

Editors note:In these last two weeks of 2016, well be looking at a few selections that we havent yet discussed on AAS Nova from among the most-downloaded paperspublished in AAS journals this year. The usual posting schedule will resume after the AAS winter meeting.LIGO Gravitational Wave Detection, Primordial Black Holes, and the Near-IR Cosmic Infrared Background AnisotropiesPublished May2016Main takeaway:A study by Alexander Kashlinsky (NASA Goddard SFC) proposes that the cold dark matter that makes up the majority of the universes matter may be made of black holes. These black holes, Kashlinsky suggests, are primordial: they collapsed directly from dense regions of the universe soon after the Big Bang.Why its interesting:This model would simultaneously explain several observations. In particular, we see similarities in patterns between the cosmic infrared and X-ray backgrounds. This would make sense if accretion onto primordial black holes in halos produced the X-ray background in the same regions where the first stars also formed, producing the infrared background.What this means for current events:In Kashlinskys model, primordial black holes would occasionally form binary pairs and eventually spiral in and merge. The release of energy from such an event would then be observable by gravitational-wave detectors. Could the gravitational-wave signal that LIGO detected last year have been two primordial black holes merging? More observations will be needed to find out.CitationA. Kashlinsky 2016 ApJL 823 L25. doi:10.3847/2041-8205/823/2/L25

THE ATACAMA COSMOLOGY TELESCOPE: A MEASUREMENT OF THE PRIMORDIAL POWER SPECTRUM

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hlozek, Renee; Dunkley, Joanna; Addison, Graeme [Department of Astrophysics, Oxford University, Oxford OX1 3RH (United Kingdom); Appel, John William; Das, Sudeep; Essinger-Hileman, Thomas; Fowler, Joseph W.; Hajian, Amir; Hincks, Adam D. [Joseph Henry Laboratories of Physics, Jadwin Hall, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (United States); Bond, J. Richard [Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3H8 (Canada); Carvalho, C. Sofia [IPFN, IST, Av. RoviscoPais, 1049-001Lisboa, Portugal and RCAAM, Academy of Athens, Soranou Efessiou 4, 11-527 Athens (Greece); Devlin, Mark J.; Klein, Jeff [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsylvania, 209 South 33rd Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104 (United States); Duenner, Rolando; Gallardo, Patricio [Departamento de Astronomia y Astrofisica, Facultad de Fisica, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, Casilla 306, Santiago 22 (Chile); Halpern, Mark; Hasselfield, Matthew [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z4 (Canada); Hilton, Matt [School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Nottingham, University Park, Nottingham, NG7 2RD (United Kingdom); Hughes, John P. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, NJ 08854-8019 (United States); Irwin, Kent D. [NIST Quantum Devices Group, 325 Broadway Mailcode 817.03, Boulder, CO 80305 (United States); and others

2012-04-10

We present constraints on the primordial power spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations using data from the 2008 Southern Survey of the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) in combination with measurements from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and a prior on the Hubble constant. The angular resolution of ACT provides sensitivity to scales beyond l = 1000 for resolution of multiple peaks in the primordial temperature power spectrum, which enables us to probe the primordial power spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations with wavenumbers up to k {approx_equal} 0.2 Mpc{sup -1}. We find no evidence for deviation from power-law fluctuations over two decades in scale. Matter fluctuations inferred from the primordial temperature power spectrum evolve over cosmic time and can be used to predict the matter power spectrum at late times; we illustrate the overlap of the matter power inferred from cosmic microwave background measurements (which probe the power spectrum in the linear regime) with existing probes of galaxy clustering, cluster abundances, and weak-lensing constraints on the primordial power. This highlights the range of scales probed by current measurements of the matter power spectrum.

Calculating the mass fraction of primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, Sam; Byrnes, Christian T.; Sasaki, Misao

2014-01-01

We reinspect the calculation for the mass fraction of primordial black holes (PBHs) which are formed from primordial perturbations, finding that performing the calculation using the comoving curvature perturbation R c in the standard way vastly overestimates the number of PBHs, by many orders of magnitude. This is because PBHs form shortly after horizon entry, meaning modes significantly larger than the PBH are unobservable and should not affect whether a PBH forms or not—this important effect is not taken into account by smoothing the distribution in the standard fashion. We discuss alternative methods and argue that the density contrast, Δ, should be used instead as super-horizon modes are damped by a factor k 2 . We make a comparison between using a Press-Schechter approach and peaks theory, finding that the two are in close agreement in the region of interest. We also investigate the effect of varying the spectral index, and the running of the spectral index, on the abundance of primordial black holes

[Persistence of the primordial vitreous body and buphthalmos].

Science.gov (United States)

Cernea, P; Simionescu, C; Bosun, I

1995-01-01

Persistence of the hyperplasic primordial vitreous body is determined by a deletion of embryonal development of the vitreous body and of the hyaloid vascular system. Infant aged 3.5 years presents persistence of primordial vitreous body with crystalline dislocation in the camera aquosa and secondary buphthalmos of the left eye and microphthalmos with dislocation of the crystalline in the vitreous body of the right eye. At the back of the right eye we noticed a whitish mass, richly vascularized with vestiges from the hyaloid artery, but the posterior half of the vitreous cavity is filled with microscopic blood; the fibrovascular membrane is made of conjunctive tissue set in parallel layers and vessels with macrolipophagic degeneration. Microscopic investigation of retina reveals glial hyperplasia zones in the neighbourhood of the vitreous body. In the present paper the authors show the persistence of the primordial vitreous body in the left eye and bilateral dislocation of the crystalline, revealing multiple ocular malformations.

Gravitational wave signatures of inflationary models from Primordial Black Hole dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

García-Bellido, Juan [Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autonóma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049 Spain (Spain); Peloso, Marco; Unal, Caner, E-mail: juan.garciabellido@uam.es, E-mail: peloso@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: unal@physics.umn.edu [School of Physics and Astronomy, and Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 55455 (United States)

2017-09-01

Primordial Black Holes (PBH) could be the cold dark matter of the universe. They could have arisen from large (order one) curvature fluctuations produced during inflation that reentered the horizon in the radiation era. At reentry, these fluctuations source gravitational waves (GW) via second order anisotropic stresses. These GW, together with those (possibly) sourced during inflation by the same mechanism responsible for the large curvature fluctuations, constitute a primordial stochastic GW background (SGWB) that unavoidably accompanies the PBH formation. We study how the amplitude and the range of frequencies of this signal depend on the statistics (Gaussian versus χ{sup 2}) of the primordial curvature fluctuations, and on the evolution of the PBH mass function due to accretion and merging. We then compare this signal with the sensitivity of present and future detectors, at PTA and LISA scales. We find that this SGWB will help to probe, or strongly constrain, the early universe mechanism of PBH production. The comparison between the peak mass of the PBH distribution and the peak frequency of this SGWB will provide important information on the merging and accretion evolution of the PBH mass distribution from their formation to the present era. Different assumptions on the statistics and on the PBH evolution also result in different amounts of CMB μ-distortions. Therefore the above results can be complemented by the detection (or the absence) of μ-distortions with an experiment such as PIXIE.

Observational constraints on the primordial curvature power spectrum

Science.gov (United States)

Emami, Razieh; Smoot, George F.

2018-01-01

CMB temperature fluctuation observations provide a precise measurement of the primordial power spectrum on large scales, corresponding to wavenumbers 10‑3 Mpc‑1 lesssim k lesssim 0.1 Mpc‑1, [1-7, 11]. Luminous red galaxies and galaxy clusters probe the matter power spectrum on overlapping scales (0.02 Mpc‑1 lesssim k lesssim 0.7 Mpc‑1 [10, 12-20]), while the Lyman-alpha forest reaches slightly smaller scales (0.3 Mpc‑1 lesssim k lesssim 3 Mpc‑1 [22]). These observations indicate that the primordial power spectrum is nearly scale-invariant with an amplitude close to 2 × 10‑9, [5, 23-28]. These observations strongly support Inflation and motivate us to obtain observations and constraints reaching to smaller scales on the primordial curvature power spectrum and by implication on Inflation. We are able to obtain limits to much higher values of k lesssim 105 Mpc‑1 and with less sensitivity even higher k lesssim 1019‑ 1023 Mpc‑1 using limits from CMB spectral distortions and other limits on ultracompact minihalo objects (UCMHs) and Primordial Black Holes (PBHs). PBHs are one of the known candidates for the Dark Matter (DM). Due to their very early formation, they could give us valuable information about the primordial curvature perturbations. These are complementary to other cosmological bounds on the amplitude of the primordial fluctuations. In this paper, we revisit and collect all the published constraints on both PBHs and UCMHs. We show that unless one uses the CMB spectral distortion, PBHs give us a very relaxed bounds on the primordial curvature perturbations. UCMHs, on the other hand, are very informative over a reasonable k range (3 lesssim k lesssim 106 Mpc‑1) and lead to significant upper-bounds on the curvature spectrum. We review the conditions under which the tighter constraints on the UCMHs could imply extremely strong bounds on the fraction of DM that could be PBHs in reasonable models. Failure to satisfy these conditions would

Running-mass inflation model and primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Drees, Manuel; Erfani, Encieh

2011-01-01

We revisit the question whether the running-mass inflation model allows the formation of Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) that are sufficiently long-lived to serve as candidates for Dark Matter. We incorporate recent cosmological data, including the WMAP 7-year results. Moreover, we include ''the running of the running'' of the spectral index of the power spectrum, as well as the renormalization group ''running of the running'' of the inflaton mass term. Our analysis indicates that formation of sufficiently heavy, and hence long-lived, PBHs still remains possible in this scenario. As a by-product, we show that the additional term in the inflaton potential still does not allow significant negative running of the spectral index

Primordial lithium and the standard model(s)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Deliyannis, C.P.; Demarque, P.; Kawaler, S.D.; Krauss, L.M.; Romanelli, P.

1989-01-01

We present the results of new theoretical work on surface 7 Li and 6 Li evolution in the oldest halo stars along with a new and refined analysis of the predicted primordial lithium abundance resulting from big-bang nucleosynthesis. This allows us to determine the constraints which can be imposed upon cosmology by a consideration of primordial lithium using both standard big-bang and standard stellar-evolution models. Such considerations lead to a constraint on the baryon density today of 0.0044 2 <0.025 (where the Hubble constant is 100h Km sec/sup -1/ Mpc /sup -1/), and impose limitations on alternative nucleosynthesis scenarios

Relativistic effects and primordial non-Gaussianity in the galaxy bias

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bartolo, Nicola; Matarrese, Sabino; Riotto, Antonio

2011-01-01

When dealing with observables, one needs to generalize the bias relation between the observed galaxy fluctuation field to the underlying matter distribution in a gauge-invariant way. We provide such relation at second-order in perturbation theory adopting the local Eulerian bias model and starting from the observationally motivated uniform-redshift gauge. Our computation includes the presence of primordial non-Gaussianity. We show that large scale-dependent relativistic effects in the Eulerian bias arise independently from the presence of some primordial non-Gaussianity. Furthermore, the Eulerian bias inherits from the primordial non-Gaussianity not only a scale-dependence, but also a modulation with the angle of observation when sources with different biases are correlated

Are cometary nuclei primordial rubble piles?

Science.gov (United States)

Weissman, P. R.

1986-01-01

Whipple's icy conglomerate model for the cometary nucleus has had considerable sucess in explaining a variety of cometary phenomena such as gas production rates and nongravitational forces. However, as discussed here, both observational evidence and theoretical considerations suggest that the cometary nucleus may not be a well-consolidated single body, but may instead be a loosely bound agglomeration of smaller fragments, weakly bonded and subject to occasional or even frequent disruptive events. The proposed model is analogous to the 'rubble pile' model suggested for the larger main-belt asteroids, although the larger cometary fragments are expected to be primordial condensations rather than collisionally derived debris as in the asteroid case. The concept of cometary nuclei as primordial rubble piles is proposed as a modification of the basic Whipple model, not as a replacement for it.

Mechanisms and pathways of growth failure in primordial dwarfism.

Science.gov (United States)

Klingseisen, Anna; Jackson, Andrew P

2011-10-01

The greatest difference between species is size; however, the developmental mechanisms determining organism growth remain poorly understood. Primordial dwarfism is a group of human single-gene disorders with extreme global growth failure (which includes Seckel syndrome, microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism I [MOPD] types I and II, and Meier-Gorlin syndrome). Ten genes have now been identified for microcephalic primordial dwarfism, encoding proteins involved in fundamental cellular processes including genome replication (ORC1 [origin recognition complex 1], ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6), DNA damage response (ATR [ataxia-telangiectasia and Rad3-related]), mRNA splicing (U4atac), and centrosome function (CEP152, PCNT, and CPAP). Here, we review the cellular and developmental mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of these conditions and address whether further study of these genes could provide novel insight into the physiological regulation of organism growth.

Chirality oscillation of primordial gravitational waves during inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cai, Yong; Wang, Yu-Tong [School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China); Piao, Yun-Song [School of Physics, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100049 (China); Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences,P.O. Box 2735, Beijing 100190 (China)

2017-03-06

We show that if the gravitational Chern-Simons term couples to a massive scalar field (m>H), the primordial gravitational waves (GWs) will show itself the chirality oscillation, i.e., the amplitudes of the left- and right-handed GWs modes will convert into each other and oscillate in their propagations. This oscillation will eventually develop a permanent difference of the amplitudes of both modes, which leads to nearly opposite oscillating shapes in the power spectra of the left- and right-handed primordial GWs. We discuss its implication to the CMB B-mode polarization.

Flow-Based Provenance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Sabah Al-Fedaghi

2017-02-01

Full Text Available Aim/Purpose: With information almost effortlessly created and spontaneously available, current progress in Information and Communication Technology (ICT has led to the complication that information must be scrutinized for trustworthiness and provenance. Information systems must become provenance-aware to be satisfactory in accountability, reproducibility, and trustworthiness of data. Background:\tMultiple models for abstract representation of provenance have been proposed to describe entities, people, and activities involved in producing a piece of data, including the Open Provenance Model (OPM and the World Wide Web Consortium. These models lack certain concepts necessary for specifying workflows and encoding the provenance of data products used and generated. Methodology: Without loss of generality, the focus of this paper is on OPM depiction of provenance in terms of a directed graph. We have redrawn several case studies in the framework of our proposed model in order to compare and evaluate it against OPM for representing these cases. Contribution: This paper offers an alternative flow-based diagrammatic language that can form a foundation for modeling of provenance. The model described here provides an (abstract machine-like representation of provenance. Findings: The results suggest a viable alternative in the area of diagrammatic representation for provenance applications. Future Research: Future work will seek to achieve more accurate comparisons with current models in the field.

Gravitational waves at interferometer scales and primordial black holes in axion inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

García-Bellido, Juan [Instituto de Física Teórica UAM-CSIC, Universidad Autonóma de Madrid, Cantoblanco, Madrid, 28049 (Spain); Peloso, Marco; Unal, Caner, E-mail: juan.garciabellido@uam.es, E-mail: peloso@physics.umn.edu, E-mail: unal@physics.umn.edu [School of Physics and Astronomy, and Minnesota Institute for Astrophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, 55455 (United States)

2016-12-01

We study the prospects of detection at terrestrial and space interferometers, as well as at pulsar timing array experiments, of a stochastic gravitational wave background which can be produced in models of axion inflation. This potential signal, and the development of these experiments, open a new window on inflation on scales much smaller than those currently probed with Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure measurements. The sourced signal generated in axion inflation is an ideal candidate for such searches, since it naturally grows at small scales, and it has specific properties (chirality and non-gaussianity) that can distinguish it from an astrophysical background. We study under which conditions such a signal can be produced at an observable level, without the simultaneous overproduction of scalar perturbations in excess of what is allowed by the primordial black hole limits. We also explore the possibility that scalar perturbations generated in a modified version of this model may provide a distribution of primordial black holes compatible with the current bounds, that can act as a seeds of the present black holes in the universe.

Calculating the mass fraction of primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Young, Sam; Byrnes, Christian T. [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, North-South Road, Brighton (United Kingdom); Sasaki, Misao, E-mail: sy81@sussex.ac.uk, E-mail: ctb22@sussex.ac.uk, E-mail: misao@yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp [Yukawa Institute for Theoretical Physics, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502 (Japan)

2014-07-01

We reinspect the calculation for the mass fraction of primordial black holes (PBHs) which are formed from primordial perturbations, finding that performing the calculation using the comoving curvature perturbation R{sub c} in the standard way vastly overestimates the number of PBHs, by many orders of magnitude. This is because PBHs form shortly after horizon entry, meaning modes significantly larger than the PBH are unobservable and should not affect whether a PBH forms or not—this important effect is not taken into account by smoothing the distribution in the standard fashion. We discuss alternative methods and argue that the density contrast, Δ, should be used instead as super-horizon modes are damped by a factor k{sup 2}. We make a comparison between using a Press-Schechter approach and peaks theory, finding that the two are in close agreement in the region of interest. We also investigate the effect of varying the spectral index, and the running of the spectral index, on the abundance of primordial black holes.

Corrections to primordial nucleosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dicus, D.A.; Kolb, E.W.; Gleeson, A.M.; Sudarshan, E.C.G.; Teplitz, V.L.; Turner, M.S.

1982-01-01

The changes in primordial nucleosynthesis resulting from small corrections to rates for weak processes that connect neutrons and protons are discussed. The weak rates are corrected by improved treatment of Coulomb and radiative corrections, and by inclusion of plasma effects. The calculations lead to a systematic decrease in the predicted 4 He abundance of about ΔY = 0.0025. The relative changes in other primoridal abundances are also 1 to 2%

Primordial Kaluza-Klein inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gonzalez-Diaz, P.F.

1986-01-01

In a higher-dimensional version of the gravitational action with higher-derivative terms and logarithmic dependence on the curvature scalar, in addition to the four-dimensional gravitational action integral, the non-gravitational Coleman-Weinberg effective potential that governs primordial inflation is obtained. Also, it is obtained that the length scale for the internal space decreases monotonously during the inflationary era, at a similar rate as the three spacelike dimensions grow. (orig.)

Primordial gravitational waves induced by magnetic fields in an ekpyrotic scenario

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Asuka Ito

2017-08-01

Full Text Available Both inflationary and ekpyrotic scenarios can account for the origin of the large scale structure of the universe. It is often said that detecting primordial gravitational waves is the key to distinguish both scenarios. We show that this is not true if the gauge kinetic function is present in the ekpyrotic scenario. In fact, primordial gravitational waves sourced by the gauge field can be produced in an ekpyrotic universe. We also study scalar fluctuations sourced by the gauge field and show that it is negligible compared to primordial gravitational waves. This comes from the fact that the fast roll condition holds in ekpyrotic models.

Primordial Spirituality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Kees Waaijman

2010-11-01

Full Text Available This article explores the primordial spirituality of the Bible, as expressed in names, narratives and prayers. It looks at the nomadic families of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca, Jacob, Lea and Rachel, moving around from Mesopotamia via Canaan into Egypt and vice versa (see Gn 11:31–32; 12:4–5; 27:43; 28:10; 29:4; Gn 24 and 29–31. It analyses their experiences, covering the span between birth and death and listens to their parental concerns about education as survival. It also follows their journeys along the margins of the deserts. It shares their community life as it takes shape in mutual solidarity, mercy and compassion.

BHDD: Primordial black hole binaries code

Science.gov (United States)

Kavanagh, Bradley J.; Gaggero, Daniele; Bertone, Gianfranco

2018-06-01

BHDD (BlackHolesDarkDress) simulates primordial black hole (PBH) binaries that are clothed in dark matter (DM) halos. The software uses N-body simulations and analytical estimates to follow the evolution of PBH binaries formed in the early Universe.

Cosmology with primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lindley, D.

1981-09-01

Cosmologies containing a substantial amount of matter in the form of evaporating primordial black holes are investigated. A review of constraints on the numbers of such black holes, including an analysis of a new limit found by looking at the destruction of deuterium by high energy photons, shows that there must be a negligible population of small black holes from the era of cosmological nucleosynthesis onwards, but that there are no strong constraints before this time. The major part of the work is based on the construction of detailed, self-consistent cosmological models in which black holes are continually forming and evaporating The interest in these models centres on the question of baryon generation, which occurs via the asymmetric decay of a new type of particle which appears as a consequence of the recently developed Grand Unified Theories of elementary particles. Unfortunately, there is so much uncertainty in the models that firm conclusions are difficult to reach; however, it seems feasible in principle that primordial black holes could be responsible for a significant part of the present matter density of the Universe. (author)

Primordial non-Gaussianity from LAMOST surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gong Yan; Wang Xin; Chen Xuelei; Zheng Zheng

2010-01-01

The primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) in the matter density perturbation is a very powerful probe of the physics of the very early Universe. The local PNG can induce a distinct scale-dependent bias on the large scale structure distribution of galaxies and quasars, which could be used for constraining it. We study the detection limits of PNG from the surveys of the LAMOST telescope. The cases of the main galaxy survey, the luminous red galaxy (LRG) survey, and the quasar survey of different magnitude limits are considered. We find that the Main1 sample (i.e. the main galaxy survey which is one magnitude deeper than the SDSS main galaxy survey, or r NL are |f NL | NL | NL | is between 50 and 103, depending on the magnitude limit of the survey. With Planck-like priors on cosmological parameters, the quasar survey with g NL | < 43 (2σ). We also discuss the possibility of further tightening the constraint by using the relative bias method proposed by Seljak.

Primordial blackholes and gravitational waves for an inflection-point model of inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Choudhury, Sayantan [Physics and Applied Mathematics Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, 203 B.T. Road, Kolkata 700 108 (India); Mazumdar, Anupam [Consortium for Fundamental Physics, Physics Department, Lancaster University, LA1 4YB (United Kingdom)

2014-06-02

In this article we provide a new closed relationship between cosmic abundance of primordial gravitational waves and primordial blackholes that originated from initial inflationary perturbations for inflection-point models of inflation where inflation occurs below the Planck scale. The current Planck constraint on tensor-to-scalar ratio, running of the spectral tilt, and from the abundance of dark matter content in the universe, we can deduce a strict bound on the current abundance of primordial blackholes to be within a range, 9.99712×10{sup −3}<Ω{sub PBH}h{sup 2}<9.99736×10{sup −3}.

The future of primordial features with large-scale structure surveys

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xingang; Namjoo, Mohammad Hossein; Dvorkin, Cora; Huang, Zhiqi; Verde, Licia

2016-01-01

Primordial features are one of the most important extensions of the Standard Model of cosmology, providing a wealth of information on the primordial Universe, ranging from discrimination between inflation and alternative scenarios, new particle detection, to fine structures in the inflationary potential. We study the prospects of future large-scale structure (LSS) surveys on the detection and constraints of these features. We classify primordial feature models into several classes, and for each class we present a simple template of power spectrum that encodes the essential physics. We study how well the most ambitious LSS surveys proposed to date, including both spectroscopic and photometric surveys, will be able to improve the constraints with respect to the current Planck data. We find that these LSS surveys will significantly improve the experimental sensitivity on features signals that are oscillatory in scales, due to the 3D information. For a broad range of models, these surveys will be able to reduce the errors of the amplitudes of the features by a factor of 5 or more, including several interesting candidates identified in the recent Planck data. Therefore, LSS surveys offer an impressive opportunity for primordial feature discovery in the next decade or two. We also compare the advantages of both types of surveys.

The future of primordial features with large-scale structure surveys

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Xingang; Namjoo, Mohammad Hossein [Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Dvorkin, Cora [Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138 (United States); Huang, Zhiqi [School of Physics and Astronomy, Sun Yat-Sen University, 135 Xingang Xi Road, Guangzhou, 510275 (China); Verde, Licia, E-mail: xingang.chen@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: dvorkin@physics.harvard.edu, E-mail: huangzhq25@sysu.edu.cn, E-mail: mohammad.namjoo@cfa.harvard.edu, E-mail: liciaverde@icc.ub.edu [ICREA and ICC-UB, University of Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Marti i Franques, 1, Barcelona 08028 (Spain)

2016-11-01

Primordial features are one of the most important extensions of the Standard Model of cosmology, providing a wealth of information on the primordial Universe, ranging from discrimination between inflation and alternative scenarios, new particle detection, to fine structures in the inflationary potential. We study the prospects of future large-scale structure (LSS) surveys on the detection and constraints of these features. We classify primordial feature models into several classes, and for each class we present a simple template of power spectrum that encodes the essential physics. We study how well the most ambitious LSS surveys proposed to date, including both spectroscopic and photometric surveys, will be able to improve the constraints with respect to the current Planck data. We find that these LSS surveys will significantly improve the experimental sensitivity on features signals that are oscillatory in scales, due to the 3D information. For a broad range of models, these surveys will be able to reduce the errors of the amplitudes of the features by a factor of 5 or more, including several interesting candidates identified in the recent Planck data. Therefore, LSS surveys offer an impressive opportunity for primordial feature discovery in the next decade or two. We also compare the advantages of both types of surveys.

Imprint of primordial non-Gaussianity on dark matter halo profiles

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dizgah, Azadeh Moradinezhad; Dodelson, Scott; Riotto, Antonio

2013-09-01

We study the impact of primordial non-Gaussianity on the density profile of dark matter halos by using the semi-analytical model introduced recently by Dalal {\\it et al.} which relates the peaks of the initial linear density field to the final density profile of dark matter halos. Models with primordial non-Gaussianity typically produce an initial density field that differs from that produced in Gaussian models. We use the path-integral formulation of excursion set theory to calculate the non-Gaussian corrections to the peak profile and derive the statistics of the peaks of non-Gaussian density field. In the context of the semi-analytic model for halo profiles, currently allowed values for primordial non-Gaussianity would increase the shapes of the inner dark matter profiles, but only at the sub-percent level except in the very innermost regions.

Time evolution of primordial magnetic fields and present day extragalactic magnetism

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Saveliev, Andrey

2014-05-01

The topic of the present thesis is the time evolution of Primordial Magnetic Fields which have been generated in the Early Universe. Assuming this so-called Cosmological Scenario of magnetogenesis to be true, it is shown in the following that this would account for the present day Extragalactic Magnetic Fields. This is particularly important in light of recent gamma ray observations which are used to derive a lower limit for the corresponding magnetic field strength, even though also an alternative approach, claiming instead that these observations are due to interactions with the Intergalactic Medium, is possible and will be tested here with Monte Carlo simulations. In order to describe the aforementioned evolution of Primordial Magnetic Fields, a set of general Master Equations for the spectral magnetic, kinetic and helical components of the system are derived and then solved numerically for the Early Universe. This semianalytical method allows it to perform a full quantitative study for the time development of the power spectra, in particular by fully taking into account the backreaction of the turbulent medium onto the magnetic fields. Applying the formalism to non-helical Primordial Magnetic Fields created on some characteristic length measure, it is shown that on large scales L their spectrum 5 builds up a slope which behaves as B∝L -(5)/(2) and governs the evolution of the coherence (or integral) scale. In addition, the claim of equipartition between the magnetic and the kinetic energy is found to be true. Extending the analysis to helical magnetic fields, it is observed that the time evolution changes dramatically, hence confirming quantitatively that an Inverse Cascade, i.e. an efficient transport of energy from small to large scales, as predicted in previous works, indeed does take place.

Determination of marble provenance: limits of isotopic analysis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Germann, K.; Holzmann, G.; Winkler, F.J.

1980-01-01

Provenance determination of Thessalian stelae marbles using the C/O isotopic analysis proved to be misleading, as the isotopic composition even in very small quarrying areas is heterogeneous and isotopic coincidence of marbles from very distant sources occurs. Therefore additional geological features must be taken into consideration and preference should be given to combinations of both petrographical and geochemical properties. Geological field work to establish the range of possible marble sources and the variability within these sources is one of the prerequisites of provenance studies. (author)

Cosmic gamma radiation of ultra high energy of primordial origin

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aquino Filho, F.G. de.

1984-01-01

The quantum mechanical effects near a collapsing black hole as shown by Stephen W.Hawking in 1974 to produce streaming particles through tunneling effect was explored in the context of cosmic gamma ray production. In this thesis, we show the possible production of gamma rays of high energies (ν approx 10 41 Hz) in the initial stages of the formation of the Universe by the explosion of primordial mini black holes. These mini black hole explosions happening at 10 -43 s to 10 -37 s after the start perhaps may account for the existing universal cosmic background radiation of 2.7 0 K. (Author) [pt

El lugar del padre primordial en Moisés y la religión monoteísta: Algunas conclusiones The Place Of The Primordial Father In Moses And Monotheism: Some Conclusions

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Laura Edith Raffaini

2008-12-01

Full Text Available En Moisés y la religión monoteísta Freud desarrolla su última versión del padre. En este trabajo, analizo el lugar que ocupa el padre primordial de Tótem y tabú a partir de dicha versión. Presento, asimismo, un movimiento teórico fundamental en la teoría freudiana sobre el padre: el pasaje del padre primordial a la religión del padre como producto de la neurosis.In "Moses and Monotheism" Freud's ultimate version of the father is described. In this paper, the place the primordial father in "Totem und Tabu" occupies is established based on such version. The transition from the primordial father to the religion of the father as a neurosis product is analysed.

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism (MOPD) type I ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Rabah M. Shawky

2017-05-02

May 2, 2017 ... Seckel syndrome, microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarf- ism (MOPD) type ... tures of elbow and knee joints, thin dry skin with marked decreased ... lashes and eyebrows, protruding eyes, prominent nose with a flat.

Primordial Noble Gases from Earth's Core

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, K.; Lu, X.; Brodholt, J. P.

2016-12-01

Recent partitioning experiment suggests helium is more compatible in iron melt than in molten silicates at high pressures (> 10 GPa) (1), thus provide the possibility of the core as being the primordial noble gases warehouse that is responsible for the high primordial/radiogenic noble gas isotopic ratios observed in plume-related basalts. However, the possible transportation mechanism of the noble gases from the core to the overlying mantle is still ambiguous, understanding how this process would affect the noble gas isotopic characteristics of the mantle is critical to validate this core reservoir model. As diffusion is a dominant mass transport process that plays an important role in chemical exchange at the core-mantle boundary (CMB), we have determined the diffusion coefficients of helium, neon and argon in major lower mantle minerals, i.e. periclase (MgO), bridgemanite (MgSiO3-Pv) and post-perovskite (MgSiO3-PPv), by first-principles calculation based on density functional theory (DFT). As expected, the diffusion rate of helium is the fastest at the CMB, which is in the range of 3 × 10-10 to 1 × 10-8 m2/s. The neon diffusion is slightly slower, from 5 × 10-10 to 5 × 10-9 m2/s. Argon diffuses slowest at the rate from 1 × 10-10 to 2 × 10-10 m2/s. We have further simulated the evolution of noble gas isotopic ratios in the mantle near the CMB. Considering its close relationship with the mantle plumes and very likely to be the direct source of "hot-spot" basalts, we took a close investigation on the large low-shear-velocity provinces (LLSVPs). Under reasonable assumptions based on our diffusion parameters, the modelling results indicate that LLSVP is capable of generating all the noble gas isotope signals, e.g., 3He/4He = 55 Ra, 3He/22Ne = 3.1, 3He/36Ar = 0.82, 40Ar/36Ar = 9500, that are in good agreement with the observed values in "hot-spot" basalts (2). Therefore, this core-reservior hypothesis is a self-consistent model that can fits in multiple noble gas

Primordial nucleosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gustavino, C.; Anders, M.; Bemmerer, D.; Elekes, Z.; Trezzi, D.

2016-01-01

Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) describes the production of light nuclei in the early phases of the Universe. For this, precise knowledge of the cosmological parameters, such as the baryon density, as well as the cross section of the fusion reactions involved are needed. In general, the energies of interest for BBN are so low (E < 1 MeV) that nuclear cross section measurements are practically unfeasible at the Earth's surface. As of today, LUNA (Laboratory for Underground Nuclear Astrophysics) has been the only facility in the world available to perform direct measurements of small cross section in a very low background radiation. Owing to the background suppression provided by about 1400 meters of rock at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso (LNGS), Italy, and to the high current offered by the LUNA accelerator, it has been possible to investigate cross sections at energies of interest for Big Bang nucleosynthesis using protons, 3 He and alpha particles as projectiles. The main reaction studied in the past at LUNA is the 2 H( 4 He, γ) 6 Li. Its cross section was measured directly, for the first time, in the BBN energy range. Other processes like 2 H(p, γ) 3 He, 3 He( 2 H, p) 4 He and 3 He( 4 He, γ) 7 Be were also studied at LUNA, thus enabling to reduce the uncertainty on the overall reaction rate and consequently on the determination of primordial abundances. The improvements on BBN due to the LUNA experimental data will be discussed and a perspective of future measurements will be outlined. (orig.)

Cosmic microwave background constraints on primordial black hole dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Aloni, Daniel; Blum, Kfir [Department of Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Herzl 234, Rehovot (Israel); Flauger, Raphael, E-mail: daniel.aloni@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: kfir.blum@weizmann.ac.il, E-mail: flauger@physics.ucsd.edu [University of California, 9500 Gilman Drive 0319, La Jolla, San Diego, CA, 92093 (United States)

2017-05-01

We revisit cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraints on primordial black hole dark matter. Spectral distortion limits from COBE/FIRAS do not impose a relevant constraint. Planck CMB anisotropy power spectra imply that primordial black holes with m {sub BH}∼> 5 M {sub ⊙} are disfavored. However, this is susceptible to sizeable uncertainties due to the treatment of the black hole accretion process. These constraints are weaker than those quoted in earlier literature for the same observables.

On the evolution of the primordial cosmic turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tanabe, Kenji.

1980-09-01

The evolution of the primordial cosmic turbulence in the big-bang universe is studied by numerical integration of the spectral equation derived by Nariai and closed by Heisenberg's hypothesis. In order to examine whether the turbulence can survive by the epoch of the plasma recombination, the equation is dealt with by taking full account of the viscosity effect. The main conclusion is that the resulting spectrum survived against the viscous decay depends on the initial spectral shape which is assumed at the epoch t sub(eq) when the density of matter is equal to that of radiation. The Taylor's micro-scale is also calculated which is available to determine the fate of the primordial cosmic turbulence. (author)

Quantum inflaton, primordial perturbations, and CMB fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, F.J.; Vega, H.J. de; Sanchez, N.G.

2004-01-01

We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the dynamics of the (classical) cosmological metric. For chaotic inflation, the quantum treatment avoids the unnatural requirements of an initial state with all the energy in the zero mode. For new inflation it allows a consistent treatment of the explosive particle production due to spinodal instabilities. Quantum field inflation (under conditions that are the quantum analog of slow-roll) leads, upon evolution, to the formation of a condensate starting a regime of effective classical inflation. We compute the primordial perturbations taking the dominant quantum effects into account. The results for the scalar, vector and tensor primordial perturbations are expressed in terms of the classical inflation results. For a N-component field in a O(N) symmetric model, adiabatic fluctuations dominate while isocurvature or entropy fluctuations are negligible. The results agree with the current Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations and predict corrections to the power spectrum in classical inflation. Such corrections are estimated to be of the order of (m 2 /NH 2 ), where m is the inflaton mass and H the Hubble constant at the moment of horizon crossing. An upper estimate turns to be about 4% for the cosmologically relevant scales. This quantum field treatment of inflation provides the foundations to the classical inflation and permits to compute quantum corrections to it

The primordial helium abundance from updated emissivities

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Aver, Erik; Olive, Keith A.; Skillman, Evan D.; Porter, R.L.

2013-01-01

Observations of metal-poor extragalactic H II regions allow the determination of the primordial helium abundance, Y p . The He I emissivities are the foundation of the model of the H II region's emission. Porter, Ferland, Storey, and Detisch (2012) have recently published updated He I emissivities based on improved photoionization cross-sections. We incorporate these new atomic data and update our recent Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of the dataset published by Izotov, Thuan, and Stasi'nska (2007). As before, cuts are made to promote quality and reliability, and only solutions which fit the data within 95% confidence level are used to determine the primordial He abundance. The previously qualifying dataset is almost entirely retained and with strong concordance between the physical parameters. Overall, an upward bias from the new emissivities leads to a decrease in Y p . In addition, we find a general trend to larger uncertainties in individual objects (due to changes in the emissivities) and an increased variance (due to additional objects included). From a regression to zero metallicity, we determine Y p = 0.2465 ± 0.0097, in good agreement with the BBN result, Y p = 0.2485 ± 0.0002, based on the Planck determination of the baryon density. In the future, a better understanding of why a large fraction of spectra are not well fit by the model will be crucial to achieving an increase in the precision of the primordial helium abundance determination

arXiv Light Primordial Exotic Compact Objects as All Dark Matter

CERN Document Server

Raidal, Martti; Vaskonen, Ville; Veermäe, Hardi

2018-06-13

The radiation emitted by horizonless exotic compact objects (ECOs), such as wormholes, 2-2-holes, fuzzballs, gravastars, boson stars, collapsed polymers, superspinars etc., is expected to be strongly suppressed when compared to the radiation of black holes. If large primordial curvature fluctuations collapse into such objects instead of black holes, they do not evaporate or evaporate much slower than black holes and could thus constitute all of the dark matter with masses below $M < 10^{-16}M_\\odot.$ We reevaluate the relevant experimental constraints for light ECOs in this mass range and show that very large new parameter space down to ECO masses $M\\sim 10\\,{\\rm TeV}$ opens up for light primordial dark matter. A new dedicated experimental program is needed to test this mass range of primordial dark matter.

Primordial gravitational waves, BICEP2 and beyond

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

2016-01-07

Jan 7, 2016 ... Observations of the imprints of primordial gravitational waves on the ... the cosmic microwave background can provide us with unambiguous clues to the ... by the stress–energy tensor) can be classified, for instance, based on ...

On minimally parametric primordial power spectrum reconstruction and the evidence for a red tilt

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Verde, Licia; Peiris, Hiranya

2008-01-01

The latest cosmological data seem to indicate a significant deviation from scale invariance of the primordial power spectrum when parameterized either by a power law or by a spectral index with non-zero 'running'. This deviation, by itself, serves as a powerful tool for discriminating among theories for the origin of cosmological structures such as inflationary models. Here, we use a minimally parametric smoothing spline technique to reconstruct the shape of the primordial power spectrum. This technique is well suited to searching for smooth features in the primordial power spectrum such as deviations from scale invariance or a running spectral index, although it would recover sharp features of high statistical significance. We use the WMAP three-year results in combination with data from a suite of higher resolution cosmic microwave background experiments (including the latest ACBAR 2008 release), as well as large-scale structure data from SDSS and 2dFGRS. We employ cross-validation to assess, using the data themselves, the optimal amount of smoothness in the primordial power spectrum consistent with the data. This minimally parametric reconstruction supports the evidence for a power law primordial power spectrum with a red tilt, but not for deviations from a power law power spectrum. Smooth variations in the primordial power spectrum are not significantly degenerate with the other cosmological parameters

Lyman-alpha clouds as a relic of primordial density fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bond, J.R.; Szalay, A.S.; Silk, J.

1988-01-01

Primordial density fluctuations are studied using a CDM model and primordial clouds some of which are expanding, driven by pressure gradients created when the medium is photionized, and some of which are massive enough to continue collapsing in spite of the pressure. Normalization of CDM models to the clustering properties on large scales are used to predict the parameters of collapsing clouds of subgalactic mass at early epochs. It is shown that the abundance and dimensions of these clouds are comparable to those of the Lyman-alpha systems. The evolutionary history of the clouds is computed, utilizing a spherically symmetric hydrodynamics code with the dark matter treated as a collisionless fluid, and the H I column density distribution is evaluated as a function of N(H I) and redshift. The observed cloud parameters come out naturally in the CDM model and suggest that Lyman-alpha clouds are the missing link between primordial density fluctuations and the formation of galaxies. 31 references

Standard Clock in primordial density perturbations and cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chen, Xingang; Namjoo, Mohammad Hossein

2014-01-01

Standard Clocks in the primordial epoch leave a special type of features in the primordial perturbations, which can be used to directly measure the scale factor of the primordial universe as a function of time a(t), thus discriminating between inflation and alternatives. We have started to search for such signals in the Planck 2013 data using the key predictions of the Standard Clock. In this Letter, we summarize the key predictions of the Standard Clock and present an interesting candidate example in Planck 2013 data. Motivated by this candidate, we construct and compute full Standard Clock models and use the more complete prediction to make more extensive comparison with data. Although this candidate is not yet statistically significant, we use it to illustrate how Standard Clocks appear in Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and how they can be further tested by future data. We also use it to motivate more detailed theoretical model building

Gravitational wave production by Hawking radiation from rotating primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dong, Ruifeng; Kinney, William H.; Stojkovic, Dejan, E-mail: ruifengd@buffalo.edu, E-mail: whkinney@buffalo.edu, E-mail: ds77@buffalo.edu [HEPCOS, Department of Physics, SUNY, University at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260-1500 (United States)

2016-10-01

In this paper we analyze in detail a rarely discussed question of gravity wave production from evaporating primordial black holes. These black holes emit gravitons which are, at classical level, registered as gravity waves. We use the latest constraints on their abundance, and calculate the power emitted in gravitons at the time of their evaporation. We then solve the coupled system of equations that gives us the evolution of the frequency and amplitude of gravity waves during the expansion of the universe. The spectrum of gravitational waves that can be detected today depends on multiple factors: fraction of the total energy density which was occupied by primordial black holes, the epoch in which they were formed, and quantities like their mass and angular momentum. We conclude that very small primordial black holes which evaporate before the big-bang nucleosynthesis emit gravitons whose spectral energy fraction today can be as large as 10{sup −7.5}. On the other hand, those which are massive enough so that they still exist now can yield a signal as high as 10{sup −6.5}. However, typical frequencies of the gravity waves from primordial black holes are still too high to be observed with the current and near future gravity wave observations.

"Ocular moyamoya" syndrome in a patient with features of microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II.

Science.gov (United States)

Bang, Genie M; Kirmani, Salman; Patton, Alice; Pulido, Jose S; Brodsky, Michael C

2013-02-01

Primordial dwarfism refers to severely impaired growth beginning early in fetal life. There are many genetic causes of primordial dwarfism, including disorders classified as microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism. Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II is an autosomal-recessive disease characterized by small stature, bone and dental anomalies, and characteristic facies. Affected patients have a high risk of stroke secondary to progressive cerebral vascular anomalies, which often are classified as moyamoya disease. We present the case of a boy with features suggestive of MOPD II with unilateral moyamoya cerebrovascular changes and correlative moyamoya collaterals involving the iris of the ipsilateral eye. Copyright © 2013 American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.

Expanding the phenotypic and mutational spectrum in microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I.

Science.gov (United States)

Abdel-Salam, Ghada M H; Abdel-Hamid, Mohamed S; Issa, Mahmoud; Magdy, Ahmed; El-Kotoury, Ahmed; Amr, Khalda

2012-06-01

Mutations in the RNU4ATAC gene cause microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I. It encodes U4atac, a small nuclear RNA that is a component of the minor spliceosome. Six distinct mutations in 30 patients diagnosed as microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I have been described. We report on three additional patients from two unrelated families presenting with a milder phenotype of microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I and metopic synostosis. Patient 1 had two novel heterozygous mutations in the 3' prime stem-loop, g.66G > C and g.124G > A while Patients 2 and 3 had a homozygous mutation g.55G > A in the 5' prime stem-loop. Although they manifested the known spectrum of clinical features of microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I, they lacked evidence of severe developmental delay and neurological symptoms. These findings expand the mutational and phenotypic spectrum of this syndrome. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Assumptions of the primordial spectrum and cosmological parameter estimation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shafieloo, Arman; Souradeep, Tarun

2011-01-01

The observables of the perturbed universe, cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy and large structures depend on a set of cosmological parameters, as well as the assumed nature of primordial perturbations. In particular, the shape of the primordial power spectrum (PPS) is, at best, a well-motivated assumption. It is known that the assumed functional form of the PPS in cosmological parameter estimation can affect the best-fit-parameters and their relative confidence limits. In this paper, we demonstrate that a specific assumed form actually drives the best-fit parameters into distinct basins of likelihood in the space of cosmological parameters where the likelihood resists improvement via modifications to the PPS. The regions where considerably better likelihoods are obtained allowing free-form PPS lie outside these basins. In the absence of a preferred model of inflation, this raises a concern that current cosmological parameter estimates are strongly prejudiced by the assumed form of PPS. Our results strongly motivate approaches toward simultaneous estimation of the cosmological parameters and the shape of the primordial spectrum from upcoming cosmological data. It is equally important for theorists to keep an open mind towards early universe scenarios that produce features in the PPS. (paper)

Reconstructing the size distribution of the primordial Main Belt

Science.gov (United States)

Tsirvoulis, G.; Morbidelli, A.; Delbo, M.; Tsiganis, K.

2018-04-01

In this work we aim to constrain the slope of the size distribution of main-belt asteroids, at their primordial state. To do so we turn out attention to the part of the main asteroid belt between 2.82 and 2.96 AU, the so-called "pristine zone", which has a low number density of asteroids and few, well separated asteroid families. Exploiting these unique characteristics, and using a modified version of the hierarchical clustering method we are able to remove the majority of asteroid family members from the region. The remaining, background asteroids should be of primordial origin, as the strong 5/2 and 7/3 mean-motion resonances with Jupiter inhibit transfer of asteroids to and from the neighboring regions. The size-frequency distribution of asteroids in the size range 17 size distribution slope q = - 1.43 . In addition, applying the same 'family extraction' method to the neighboring regions, i.e. the middle and outer belts, and comparing the size distributions of the respective background populations, we find statistical evidence that no large asteroid families of primordial origin had formed in the middle or pristine zones.

Primordial nucleosynthesis in inhomogeneous cosmologies: Ω = 1 with baryonic dark matter

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mathews, G.J.; Sale, K.E.

1986-09-01

We consider the constraints on Ω from primordial nucleosynthesis in inhomogeneous cosmologies. We find that allowance for isothermal fluctuations significantly weakens the upper bound on the average value of Ω derived from the standard big bang. Under the plausible additional assumption that regions of high baryon density are preferentially absorbed into cold dark matter, the constraints from primordial nucleosynthesis can be satisfied for large values of Ω, including Ω = 1. 22 refs., 2 figs

Shapes and features of the primordial bispectrum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Jinn-Ouk [Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Cheongam-ro 67, Pohang, 37673 (Korea, Republic of); Palma, Gonzalo A.; Sypsas, Spyros, E-mail: jinn-ouk.gong@apctp.org, E-mail: gpalmaquilod@ing.uchile.cl, E-mail: s.sypsas@gmail.com [Departamento de Física, FCFM, Universidad de Chile, Blanco Encalada 2008, Santiago, 837.0415 Chile (Chile)

2017-05-01

If time-dependent disruptions from slow-roll occur during inflation, the correlation functions of the primordial curvature perturbation should have scale-dependent features, a case which is marginally supported from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data. We offer a new approach to analyze the appearance of such features in the primordial bispectrum that yields new consistency relations and justifies the search of oscillating patterns modulated by orthogonal and local templates. Under the assumption of sharp features, we find that the cubic couplings of the curvature perturbation can be expressed in terms of the bispectrum in two specific momentum configurations, for example local and equilateral. This allows us to derive consistency relations among different bispectrum shapes, which in principle could be tested in future CMB surveys. Furthermore, based on the form of the consistency relations, we construct new two-parameter templates for features that include all the known shapes.

Extending eScience Provenance with User-Submitted Semantic Annotations

Science.gov (United States)

Michaelis, J.; Zednik, S.; West, P.; Fox, P. A.; McGuinness, D. L.

2010-12-01

eScience based systems generate provenance of their data products, related to such things as: data processing, data collection conditions, expert evaluation, and data product quality. Recent advances in web-based technology offer users the possibility of making annotations to both data products and steps in accompanying provenance traces, thereby expanding the utility of such provenance for others. These contributing users may have varying backgrounds, ranging from system experts to outside domain experts to citizen scientists. Furthermore, such users may wish to make varying types of annotations - ranging from documenting the purpose of a provenance step to raising concerns about the quality of data dependencies. Semantic Web technologies allow for such kinds of rich annotations to be made to provenance through the use of ontology vocabularies for (i) organizing provenance, and (ii) organizing user/annotation classifications. Furthermore, through Linked Data practices, Semantic linkages may be made from provenance steps to external data of interest. A desire for Semantically-annotated provenance has been motivated by data management issues in the Mauna Loa Solar Observatory’s (MLSO) Advanced Coronal Observing System (ACOS). In ACOS, photomoeter-based readings are taken of solar activity and subsequently processed into final data products consumable by end users. At intermediate stages of ACOS processing, factors such as evaluations by human experts and weather conditions are logged, which could impact data product quality. If such factors are linked via user-submitted annotations to provenance, it could be significantly beneficial for other users. Likewise, the background of a user could impact the credibility of their annotations. For example, an annotation made by a citizen scientist describing the purpose of a provenance step may not be as reliable as a similar annotation made by an ACOS project member. For this work, we have developed a software package that

Towards an Ontology-Driven Blockchain Design for Supply Chain Provenance

OpenAIRE

Kim, Henry M.; Laskowski, Marek

2016-01-01

An interesting research problem in our age of Big Data is that of determining provenance. Granular evaluation of provenance of physical goods--e.g. tracking ingredients of a pharmaceutical or demonstrating authenticity of luxury goods--has often not been possible with today's items that are produced and transported in complex, inter-organizational, often internationally-spanning supply chains. Recent adoption of Internet of Things and Blockchain technologies give promise at better supply chai...

Lifting Primordial Non-Gaussianity Above the Noise

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Welling, Yvette; Woude, Drian van der; Pajer, Enrico

2016-01-01

Primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) in Large Scale Structures is obfuscated by the many additional sources of non-linearity. Within the Effective Field Theory approach to Standard Perturbation Theory, we show that matter non-linearities in the bispectrum can be modeled sufficiently well to strengthen

Effect of accretion on primordial black holes in Brans-Dicke theory

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Nayak, B.; Singh, L. P.; Majumdar, A. S.

2009-01-01

We consider the effect of accretion of radiation in the early Universe on primordial black holes in Brans-Dicke theory. The rate of growth of a primordial black hole due to accretion of radiation in Brans-Dicke theory is considerably smaller than the rate of growth of the cosmological horizon, thus making available sufficient radiation density for the black hole to accrete causally. We show that accretion of radiation by Brans-Dicke black holes overrides the effect of Hawking evaporation during the radiation dominated era. The subsequent evaporation of the black holes in later eras is further modified due to the variable gravitational 'constant', and they could survive up to longer times compared to the case of standard cosmology. We estimate the impact of accretion on modification of the constraint on their initial mass fraction obtained from the γ-ray background limit from presently evaporating primordial black holes.

Isotopic evidence for primordial molecular cloud material in metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Kooten, Elishevah M. M. E.; Wielandt, Daniel Kim Peel; Schiller, Martin

2016-01-01

product of (26)Al. This correlation is interpreted as reflecting progressive thermal processing of in-falling (26)Al-rich molecular cloud material in the inner Solar System. The thermally unprocessed molecular cloud matter reflecting the nucleosynthetic makeup of the molecular cloud before the last......)Mg*-depleted and (54)Cr-enriched component. This composition is consistent with that expected for thermally unprocessed primordial molecular cloud material before its pollution by stellar-derived (26)Al. The (26)Mg* and (54)Cr compositions of bulk metal-rich chondrites require significant amounts (25......-50%) of primordial molecular cloud matter in their precursor material. Given that such high fractions of primordial molecular cloud material are expected to survive only in the outer Solar System, we infer that, similarly to cometary bodies, metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites are samples of planetesimals...

RTTN Mutations Cause Primary Microcephaly and Primordial Dwarfism in Humans.

Science.gov (United States)

Shamseldin, Hanan; Alazami, Anas M; Manning, Melanie; Hashem, Amal; Caluseiu, Oana; Tabarki, Brahim; Esplin, Edward; Schelley, Susan; Innes, A Micheil; Parboosingh, Jillian S; Lamont, Ryan; Majewski, Jacek; Bernier, Francois P; Alkuraya, Fowzan S

2015-12-03

Primary microcephaly is a developmental brain anomaly that results from defective proliferation of neuroprogenitors in the germinal periventricular zone. More than a dozen genes are known to be mutated in autosomal-recessive primary microcephaly in isolation or in association with a more generalized growth deficiency (microcephalic primordial dwarfism), but the genetic heterogeneity is probably more extensive. In a research protocol involving autozygome mapping and exome sequencing, we recruited a multiplex consanguineous family who is affected by severe microcephalic primordial dwarfism and tested negative on clinical exome sequencing. Two candidate autozygous intervals were identified, and the second round of exome sequencing revealed a single intronic variant therein (c.2885+8A>G [p.Ser963(∗)] in RTTN exon 23). RT-PCR confirmed that this change creates a cryptic splice donor and thus causes retention of the intervening 7 bp of the intron and leads to premature truncation. On the basis of this finding, we reanalyzed the exome file of a second consanguineous family affected by a similar phenotype and identified another homozygous change in RTTN as the likely causal mutation. Combined linkage analysis of the two families confirmed that RTTN maps to the only significant linkage peak. Finally, through international collaboration, a Canadian multiplex family affected by microcephalic primordial dwarfism and biallelic mutation of RTTN was identified. Our results expand the phenotype of RTTN-related disorders, hitherto limited to polymicrogyria, to include microcephalic primordial dwarfism with a complex brain phenotype involving simplified gyration. Copyright © 2015 The American Society of Human Genetics. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

One Percent Determination of the Primordial Deuterium Abundance

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Ryan J.; Pettini, Max; Steidel, Charles C.

2018-03-01

We report a reanalysis of a near-pristine absorption system, located at a redshift {z}abs}=2.52564 toward the quasar Q1243+307, based on the combination of archival and new data obtained with the HIRES echelle spectrograph on the Keck telescope. This absorption system, which has an oxygen abundance [O/H] = ‑2.769 ± 0.028 (≃1/600 of the solar abundance), is among the lowest metallicity systems currently known where a precise measurement of the deuterium abundance is afforded. Our detailed analysis of this system concludes, on the basis of eight D I absorption lines, that the deuterium abundance of this gas cloud is {log}}10({{D}}/{{H}})=-4.622+/- 0.015, which is in very good agreement with the results previously reported by Kirkman et al., but with an improvement on the precision of this single measurement by a factor of ∼3.5. Combining this new estimate with our previous sample of six high precision and homogeneously analyzed D/H measurements, we deduce that the primordial deuterium abundance is {log}}10{({{D}}/{{H}})}{{P}}=-4.5974+/- 0.0052 or, expressed as a linear quantity, {10}5{({{D}}/{{H}})}{{P}}=2.527+/- 0.030; this value corresponds to a one percent determination of the primordial deuterium abundance. Combining our result with a big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) calculation that uses the latest nuclear physics input, we find that the baryon density derived from BBN agrees to within 2σ of the latest results from the Planck cosmic microwave background data. Based on observations collected at the W.M. Keck Observatory which is operated as a scientific partnership among the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The Observatory was made possible by the generous financial support of the W.M. Keck Foundation.

Primordial tensor modes from quantum corrected inflation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Joergensen, Jakob; Sannino, Francesco; Svendsen, Ole

2014-01-01

. Finally we confront these theories with the Planck and BICEP2 data. We demonstrate that the discovery of primordial tensor modes by BICEP2 require the presence of sizable quantum departures from the $\\phi^4$-Inflaton model for the non-minimally coupled scenario which we parametrize and quantify. We...

Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II: clinical findings and dental management of a child patient.

Science.gov (United States)

Terlemez, Arslan; Altunsoy, Mustafa; Celebi, Hakki

2015-01-01

Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II) is an unusual autosomal recessive inherited form of primordial dwarfism, which is characterized by a small head diameter at birth, but which also progresses to severe microcephaly, progressive bony dysplasia, and characteristic facies and personality. This report presents a case of a five-year-old girl with MOPD II syndrome. The patient was referred to our clinic with the complaint of severe tooth pain at the left mandibular primary molar teeth. Clinical examination revealed that most of the primary teeth had been decayed and all primary teeth were hypoplastic. Patient's history revealed delayed development in the primary dentition and radiographic examination showed rootless primary molar teeth and short-rooted incisors. The treatment was not possible due to the lack of root of the left mandibular primary molars; so the teeth were extracted. Thorough and timely dental evaluation is crucial for the prevention of dental problems and the maintenance of oral health in patients with MOPD II syndrome is of utmost importance.

MAJEWSKI OSTEODYSPLASTIC PRIMORDIAL DWARFISM TYPE II: CLINICAL FINDINGS AND DENTAL MANAGEMENT OF A CHILD PATIENT

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arslan Terlemez

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II is an unusual autosomal recessive inherited form of primordial dwarfism, which is characterized by a small head diameter at birth, but which also progresses to severe microcephaly, progressive bony dysplasia, and characteristic facies and personality. This report presents a case of a five-year-old girl with MOPD II syndrome. The patient was referred to our clinic with the complaint of severe tooth pain at the left mandibular primary molar teeth. Clinical examination revealed that most of the primary teeth had been decayed and all primary teeth were hypoplastic. Patient’s history revealed delayed development in the primary dentition and radiographic examination showed rootless primary molar teeth and short-rooted incisors. The treatment was not possible due to the lack of root of the left mandibular primary molars; so the teeth were extracted. Thorough and timely dental evaluation is crucial for the prevention of dental problems and the maintenance of oral health in patients with MOPD II syndrome is of utmost importance.

Quantum inflaton, primordial metric perturbations and CMB fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cao, F J

2007-01-01

We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the dynamics of the (classical) cosmological metric. For chaotic inflation, the quantum treatment avoids the unnatural requirements of an initial state with all the energy in the zero mode. For new inflation it allows a consistent treatment of the explosive particle production due to spinodal instabilities. Quantum field inflation (under conditions that are the quantum analog of slow roll) leads, upon evolution, to the formation of a condensate starting a regime of effective classical inflation. We compute the primordial perturbations taking the dominant quantum effects into account. The results for the scalar, vector and tensor primordial perturbations are expressed in terms of the classical inflation results. For a N-component field in a O(N) symmetric model, adiabatic fluctuations dominate while isocurvature or entropy fluctuations are negligible. The results agree with the current WMAP observations and predict corrections to the power spectrum in classical inflation. Such corrections are estimated to be of the order of m 2 /[NH 2 ] where m is the inflaton mass and H the Hubble constant at horizon crossing. This turns to be about 4% for the cosmologically relevant scales. This quantum field treatment of inflation provides the foundations to the classical inflation and permits to compute quantum corrections to it

Cosmological lepton asymmetry, primordial nucleosynthesis and sterile neutrinos

Science.gov (United States)

Abazajian, Kevork; Bell, Nicole F.; Fuller, George M.; Wong, Yvonne Y. Y.

2005-09-01

We study post weak decoupling coherent active-sterile and active-active matter-enhanced neutrino flavor transformation in the early Universe. We show that flavor conversion efficiency at Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein resonances is likely to be high (adiabatic evolution) for relevant neutrino parameters and energies. However, we point out that these resonances cannot sweep smoothly and continuously with the expansion of the Universe. We show how neutrino flavor conversion in this way can leave both the active and sterile neutrinos with nonthermal energy spectra, and how, in turn, these distorted energy spectra can affect the neutron-to-proton ratio, primordial nucleosynthesis, and cosmological mass/closure constraints on sterile neutrinos. We demonstrate that the existence of a light sterile neutrino which mixes with active neutrinos can change fundamentally the relationship between the cosmological lepton numbers and the primordial nucleosynthesis He4 yield.

SPRAI: coupling of radiative feedback and primordial chemistry in moving mesh hydrodynamics

Science.gov (United States)

Jaura, O.; Glover, S. C. O.; Klessen, R. S.; Paardekooper, J.-P.

2018-04-01

In this paper, we introduce a new radiative transfer code SPRAI (Simplex Photon Radiation in the Arepo Implementation) based on the SIMPLEX radiation transfer method. This method, originally used only for post-processing, is now directly integrated into the AREPO code and takes advantage of its adaptive unstructured mesh. Radiated photons are transferred from the sources through the series of Voronoi gas cells within a specific solid angle. From the photon attenuation, we derive corresponding photon fluxes and ionization rates and feed them to a primordial chemistry module. This gives us a self-consistent method for studying dynamical and chemical processes caused by ionizing sources in primordial gas. Since the computational cost of the SIMPLEX method does not scale directly with the number of sources, it is convenient for studying systems such as primordial star-forming haloes that may form multiple ionizing sources.

Genomic analysis of primordial dwarfism reveals novel disease genes.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaheen, Ranad; Faqeih, Eissa; Ansari, Shinu; Abdel-Salam, Ghada; Al-Hassnan, Zuhair N; Al-Shidi, Tarfa; Alomar, Rana; Sogaty, Sameera; Alkuraya, Fowzan S

2014-02-01

Primordial dwarfism (PD) is a disease in which severely impaired fetal growth persists throughout postnatal development and results in stunted adult size. The condition is highly heterogeneous clinically, but the use of certain phenotypic aspects such as head circumference and facial appearance has proven helpful in defining clinical subgroups. In this study, we present the results of clinical and genomic characterization of 16 new patients in whom a broad definition of PD was used (e.g., 3M syndrome was included). We report a novel PD syndrome with distinct facies in two unrelated patients, each with a different homozygous truncating mutation in CRIPT. Our analysis also reveals, in addition to mutations in known PD disease genes, the first instance of biallelic truncating BRCA2 mutation causing PD with normal bone marrow analysis. In addition, we have identified a novel locus for Seckel syndrome based on a consanguineous multiplex family and identified a homozygous truncating mutation in DNA2 as the likely cause. An additional novel PD disease candidate gene XRCC4 was identified by autozygome/exome analysis, and the knockout mouse phenotype is highly compatible with PD. Thus, we add a number of novel genes to the growing list of PD-linked genes, including one which we show to be linked to a novel PD syndrome with a distinct facial appearance. PD is extremely heterogeneous genetically and clinically, and genomic tools are often required to reach a molecular diagnosis.

Impact of stochastic primordial magnetic fields on the scalar contribution to cosmic microwave background anisotropies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Finelli, Fabio; Paci, Francesco; Paoletti, Daniela

2008-01-01

We study the impact of a stochastic background of primordial magnetic fields on the scalar contribution of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and on the matter power spectrum. We give the correct initial conditions for cosmological perturbations and the exact expressions for the energy density and Lorentz force associated to the stochastic background of primordial magnetic fields, given a power-law for their spectra cut at a damping scale. The dependence of the CMB temperature and polarization spectra on the relevant parameters of the primordial magnetic fields is illustrated.

Human DAZL, DAZ and BOULE genes modulate primordial germ cell and haploid gamete formation

Science.gov (United States)

Kee, Kehkooi; Angeles, Vanessa T; Flores, Martha; Nguyen, Ha Nam; Pera, Renee A Reijo

2009-01-01

The leading cause of infertility in men and women is quantitative and qualitative defects in human germ cell (oocyte and sperm) development. Yet, it has not been possible to examine the unique developmental genetics of human germ cell formation and differentiation due to inaccessibility of germ cells during fetal development. Although several studies have shown that germ cells can be differentiated from mouse and human embryonic stem cells, human germ cells differentiated in these studies generally did not develop beyond the earliest stages1-8. Here we used a germ cell reporter to quantitate and isolate primordial germ cells derived from both male and female hESCs. Then, by silencing and overexpressing genes that encode germ cell-specific cytoplasmic RNA-binding proteins (not transcription factors), we modulated human germ cell formation and developmental progression. We observed that human DAZL (Deleted in AZoospermia-Like) functions in primordial germ cell formation, whereas closely-related genes, DAZ and BOULE, promote later stages of meiosis and development of haploid gametes. These results are significant to the generation of gametes for future basic science and potential clinical applications. PMID:19865085

Empowering Provenance in Data Integration

Science.gov (United States)

Kondylakis, Haridimos; Doerr, Martin; Plexousakis, Dimitris

The provenance of data has recently been recognized as central to the trust one places in data. This paper presents a novel framework in order to empower provenance in a mediator based data integration system. We use a simple mapping language for mapping schema constructs, between an ontology and relational sources, capable to carry provenance information. This language extends the traditional data exchange setting by translating our mapping specifications into source-to-target tuple generating dependencies (s-t tgds). Then we define formally the provenance information we want to retrieve i.e. annotation, source and tuple provenance. We provide three algorithms to retrieve provenance information using information stored on the mappings and the sources. We show the feasibility of our solution and the advantages of our framework.

Primordial braneworld black holes: significant enhancement of ...

Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

Abstract. The Randall-Sundrum (RS-II) braneworld cosmological model with a frac- tion of the total energy density in primordial black holes is considered. Due to their 5d geometry, these black holes undergo modified Hawking evaporation. It is shown that dur- ing the high-energy regime, accretion from the surrounding ...

Hunting for primordial non-Gaussianity in the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Komatsu, Eiichiro

2010-01-01

Since the first limit on the (local) primordial non-Gaussianity parameter, f NL , was obtained from the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) data in 2002, observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) have been playing a central role in constraining the amplitudes of various forms of non-Gaussianity in primordial fluctuations. The current 68% limit from the 7-year data of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is f NL = 32 ± 21, and the Planck satellite is expected to reduce the uncertainty by a factor of 4 in a few years from now. If f NL >> 1 is found by Planck with high statistical significance, all single-field models of inflation would be ruled out. Moreover, if the Planck satellite finds f NL ∼ 30, then it would be able to test a broad class of multi-field models using the 4-point function (trispectrum) test of τ NL ≥ (6f NL /5) 2 . In this paper, we review the methods (optimal estimator), results (WMAP 7-year) and challenges (secondary anisotropy, second-order effect and foreground) of measuring primordial non-Gaussianity from the CMB data, present a science case for the trispectrum and conclude with future prospects.

Sudetic larch in Germany - Results of provenance and progeny research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weisgerber, H. [Forest Centre for Management Planning, Research and Ecology, Hann Muenden (Germany)

1995-12-31

There are only a few older sources of Sudetic larch in Germany. They distinguish themselves by outstanding growth and low susceptibility to canker. This impression was confirmed by results of provenance research. The Sudetic larch tested in comparison with numerous other provenances proved to be fast-growing, site-tolerant, to a large extent insusceptible to canker, with straight but also slightly to moderately curved stems. The Sudetic provenances behave remarkably uniformly as regards these characteristics. In addition to provenance research investigations have been going on for a long time in Germany into individual differences within the Sudetic larch populations. A report is given on the results of progeny tests from free and controlled pollination, using the example of a seed orchard consisting of 54 clones. We point also to possibilities for improving stem quality by selection steps. The results of provenance and progeny research on Sudetic larch are in the meantime being put to use to a large extent in practical forestry. The forest administrations of various federal lands recommend the use of reproductive material of Sudetic origin and from seed orchards. 20 refs, 3 figs

Sudetic larch in Germany - Results of provenance and progeny research

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Weisgerber, H [Forest Centre for Management Planning, Research and Ecology, Hann Muenden (Germany)

1996-12-31

There are only a few older sources of Sudetic larch in Germany. They distinguish themselves by outstanding growth and low susceptibility to canker. This impression was confirmed by results of provenance research. The Sudetic larch tested in comparison with numerous other provenances proved to be fast-growing, site-tolerant, to a large extent insusceptible to canker, with straight but also slightly to moderately curved stems. The Sudetic provenances behave remarkably uniformly as regards these characteristics. In addition to provenance research investigations have been going on for a long time in Germany into individual differences within the Sudetic larch populations. A report is given on the results of progeny tests from free and controlled pollination, using the example of a seed orchard consisting of 54 clones. We point also to possibilities for improving stem quality by selection steps. The results of provenance and progeny research on Sudetic larch are in the meantime being put to use to a large extent in practical forestry. The forest administrations of various federal lands recommend the use of reproductive material of Sudetic origin and from seed orchards. 20 refs, 3 figs

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism, with the fascinating history of "Mademoiselle Crachami".

Science.gov (United States)

Bozkaya, O Giray

2013-01-01

This review critically examines the findings which characterize the dysmorphic, radiologic and behavioral phenotype of Microcephalic Osteodysplastic Primordial Dwarfism (MOPD) and has an historical perspective on it. MOPD is a group of primordial dwarfism syndromes with prenatal onset growth retardation, a typical craniofacial appearance and behavioral phenotype. In 1959, Mann and Russell have described the first case in a detailed report, and named "microcephalic midget of extreme type". In their report; based on historical records and a small painting, they pointed "Mademoiselle Crachami" as the oldest known case.

Logical provenance in data-oriented workflows?

KAUST Repository

Ikeda, R.

2013-04-01

We consider the problem of defining, generating, and tracing provenance in data-oriented workflows, in which input data sets are processed by a graph of transformations to produce output results. We first give a new general definition of provenance for general transformations, introducing the notions of correctness, precision, and minimality. We then determine when properties such as correctness and minimality carry over from the individual transformations\\' provenance to the workflow provenance. We describe a simple logical-provenance specification language consisting of attribute mappings and filters. We provide an algorithm for provenance tracing in workflows where logical provenance for each transformation is specified using our language. We consider logical provenance in the relational setting, observing that for a class of Select-Project-Join (SPJ) transformations, logical provenance specifications encode minimal provenance. We have built a prototype system supporting the features and algorithms presented in the paper, and we report a few preliminary experimental results. © 2013 IEEE.

Primordial black hole formation during the QCD epoch

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Jedamzik, K.

1997-01-01

We consider the formation of horizon-size primordial black holes (PBH close-quote s) from pre-existing density fluctuations during cosmic phase transitions. It is pointed out that the formation of PBH close-quote s should be particularly efficient during the QCD epoch due to a substantial reduction of pressure forces during adiabatic collapse, or equivalently, a significant decrease in the effective speed of sound during the color-confinement transition. Our considerations imply that for generic initial density perturbation spectra PBH mass functions are expected to exhibit a pronounced peak on the QCD-horizon mass scale ∼1M circle-dot . This mass scale is roughly coincident with the estimated masses for compact objects recently observed in our galactic halo by the MACHO Collaboration. Black holes formed during the QCD epoch may offer an attractive explanation for the origin of halo dark matter evading possibly problematic nucleosynthesis and luminosity bounds on baryonic halo dark matter. copyright 1997 The American Physical Society

Special Section: The third provenance challenge on using the open provenance model for interoperability

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Simmhan, Y; Groth, P.T.; Moreau, L

2011-01-01

The third provenance challenge was organized to evaluate the efficacy of the Open Provenance Model (OPM) in representing and sharing provenance with the goal of improving the specification. A data loading scientific workflow that ingests data files into a relational database for the Pan-STARRS sky

Querying Provenance Information: Basic Notions and an Example from Paleoclimate Reconstruction

Science.gov (United States)

Stodden, V.; Ludaescher, B.; Bocinsky, K.; Kintigh, K.; Kohler, T.; McPhillips, T.; Rush, J.

2016-12-01

Computational models are used to reconstruct and explain past environments and to predict likely future environments. For example, Bocinsky and Kohler have performed a 2,000-year reconstruction of the rain-fed maize agricultural niche in the US Southwest. The resulting academic publications not only contain traditional method descriptions, figures, etc. but also links to code and data for basic transparency and reproducibility. Examples include ResearchCompendia.org and the new project "Merging Science and Cyberinfrastructure Pathways: The Whole Tale." Provenance information provides a further critical element to understand a published study and to possibly extend or challenge the findings of the original authors. We present different notions and uses of provenance information using a computational archaeology example, e.g., the common use of "provenance for others" (for transparency and reproducibility), but also the more elusive but equally important use of "provenance for self". To this end, we distinguish prospective provenance (a.k.a. workflow) from retrospective provenance (a.k.a. data lineage) and show how combinations of both forms of provenance can be used to answer different kinds of important questions about a workflow and its execution. Since many workflows are developed using scripting or special purpose languages such as Python and R, we employ an approach and toolkit called YesWorkflow that brings provenance modeling, capture, and querying into the realm of scripting. YesWorkflow employs the basic W3C PROV standard, as well as the ProvONE extension for sharing and exchanging retrospective and prospective provenance information, respectively. Finally, we argue that the utility of provenance information should be maximized by developing different kinds provenance questions and queries during the early phases of computational workflow design and implementation.

The development of primordial black holes and a possibility of the black-holes dominant era

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Byalko, A.V.

1977-12-01

The equation, describing primordial black-holes (PBH) with small masses in a media with high density and temperature is suggested. Its solution for a single PBH-mass in an early stage of the universe is increasing when the temperature of the media is greater than PBH-temperature, and then descreasing due to the Hawking evaporation. The case of a great number of PBH with equal and extremely large masses is examined. We suggest that the evaporation process is symmetric with respect to particle-antiparticle creation and mainly baryons existed in the very beginning of the universe. Only one parameter zeta = N 0 (2PI 0 )sup(-3/2) (where N 0 is the PBH number in a 3 volume and PI 0 = d(a 2 /2)/dt| sub(t→0)) describes all the functions of time: PBH-mass m(t), the PBH average energy density, the rate of the cosmic expansion and the ratio of baryons to radiation densities α(t). Case of zeta -8 that only small PBH with maximum masses of order of 10 2 gr were existing and they died before t sub(fin) -- 10 -23 s. The process of collision of black holes is hot studied here. Case of any other PBH-masses destribution only decreases the values of m sub(max) and t sub(fin) if the final baryon-radiation ratio is fixed. (auth.)

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE)

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan; Chluba, Jens; Fixsen, Dale J.; Meyer, Stephan; Spergel, David

2016-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to open new windows on the early universe through measurements of the polarization and absolute frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE will measure the gravitational-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint in linear polarization, and characterize the thermal history of the universe through precision measurements of distortions in the blackbody spectrum. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning over 7 octaves in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). Multi-moded non-imaging optics feed a polarizing Fourier Transform Spectrometer to produce a set of interference fringes, proportional to the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from the two input beams. Multiple levels of symmetry and signal modulation combine to reduce systematic errors to negligible levels. PIXIE will map the full sky in Stokes I, Q, and U parameters with angular resolution 2.6 degrees and sensitivity 70 nK per 1degree square pixel. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r inflation to the nature of the first stars and the physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. We describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture required to measure the CMB to the limits imposed by astrophysical foregrounds.

Microcephalic Osteodysplastic Primordial Dwarfism, Type II: a Clinical Review.

Science.gov (United States)

Bober, Michael B; Jackson, Andrew P

2017-04-01

This review will provide an overview of the microcephalic primordial dwarfism (MPD) class of disorders and provide the reader comprehensive clinical review with suggested care guidelines for patients with microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism, type II (MOPDII). Over the last 15 years, significant strides have been made in the diagnosis, natural history, and management of MOPDII. MOPDII is the most common and well described form of MPD. The classic features of the MPD group are severe pre- and postnatal growth retardation, with marked microcephaly. In addition to these features, individuals with MOPDII have characteristic facies, skeletal dysplasia, abnormal dentition, and an increased risk for cerebrovascular disease and insulin resistance. Biallelic loss-of-function mutations in the pericentrin gene cause MOPDII, which is inherited in an autosomal recessive manner.

Statistical clustering of primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Carr, B J [Cambridge Univ. (UK). Inst. of Astronomy

1977-04-01

It is shown that Meszaros theory of galaxy formation, in which galaxies form from the density perturbations associated with the statistical fluctuation in the number density of primordial black holes, must be modified if the black holes are initially surrounded by regions of lower radiation density than average (as is most likely). However, even in this situation, the sort of effect Meszaros envisages does occur and could in principle cause galactic mass-scales to bind at the conventional time. In fact, the requirement that galaxies should not form prematurely implies that black holes could not have a critical density in the mass range above 10/sup 5/ M(sun). If the mass spectrum of primordial black holes falls off more slowly than m/sup -3/ (as expected), then the biggest black holes have the largest clustering effect. In this case the black hole clustering theory of galaxy formation reduces to the black hole seed theory of galaxy formation, in which each galaxy becomes bound under the gravitational influence of a single black hole nucleus. The seed theory could be viable only if the early Universe had a soft equation of state until a time exceeding 10/sup -4/ s or if something prevented black hole formation before 1 s.

Follistatin288 Regulates Germ Cell Cyst Breakdown and Primordial Follicle Assembly in the Mouse Ovary.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhengpin Wang

Full Text Available In mammals, the primordial follicle pool represents the entire reproductive potential of a female. The transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β family member activin (ACT contributes to folliculogenesis, although the exact mechanism is not known. The role of FST288, the strongest ACT-neutralizing isoform of follistatin (FST, during cyst breakdown and primordial follicle formation in the fetal mice ovary was assessed using an in vitro culture system. FST was continuously expressed in the oocytes as well as the cuboidal granulosa cells of growing follicles in perinatal mouse ovaries. Treatment with FST288 delayed germ cell nest breakdown, particularly near the periphery of the ovary, and dramatically decreased the percentage of primordial follicles. In addition, there was a dramatic decrease in proliferation of granulosa cells and somatic cell expression of Notch signaling was impaired. In conclusion, FST288 impacts germ cell nest breakdown and primordial follicle assembly by inhibiting somatic cell proliferation.

Mutations in XRCC4 cause primordial dwarfism without causing immunodeficiency.

Science.gov (United States)

Saito, Shinta; Kurosawa, Aya; Adachi, Noritaka

2016-08-01

In successive reports from 2014 to 2015, X-ray repair cross-complementing protein 4 (XRCC4) has been identified as a novel causative gene of primordial dwarfism. XRCC4 is indispensable for non-homologous end joining (NHEJ), the major pathway for repairing DNA double-strand breaks. As NHEJ is essential for V(D)J recombination during lymphocyte development, it is generally believed that abnormalities in XRCC4 cause severe combined immunodeficiency. Contrary to expectations, however, no overt immunodeficiency has been observed in patients with primordial dwarfism harboring XRCC4 mutations. Here, we describe the various XRCC4 mutations that lead to disease and discuss their impact on NHEJ and V(D)J recombination.

Super-horizon primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Harada, Tomohiro; Carr, B.J.

2005-01-01

We discuss a new class of solutions to the Einstein equations which describe a primordial black hole (PBH) in a flat Friedmann background. Such solutions arise if a Schwarzschild black hole is patched onto a Friedmann background via a transition region. They are possible providing the black hole event horizon is larger than the cosmological apparent horizon. Such solutions have a number of strange features. In particular, one has to define the black hole and cosmological horizons carefully and one then finds that the mass contained within the black hole event horizon decreases when the black hole is larger than the Friedmann cosmological apparent horizon, although its area always increases. These solutions involve two distinct future null infinities and are interpreted as the conversion of a white hole into a black hole. Although such solutions may not form from gravitational collapse in the same way as standard PBHs, there is nothing unphysical about them, since all energy and causality conditions are satisfied. Their conformal diagram is a natural amalgamation of the Kruskal diagram for the extended Schwarzschild solution and the conformal diagram for a black hole in a flat Friedmann background. In this paper, such solutions are obtained numerically for a spherically symmetric universe containing a massless scalar field, but it is likely that they exist for more general matter fields and less symmetric systems

Finite temperature effects in primordial inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Gelmini, G. B.; Nanopoulos, D. V.; Olive, K. A.

1983-11-01

We present a detailed study of a recently proposed model for primordial inflation based on an N=1 locally supersymmetric potential. For a large class of parameters with which all cosmological constraints are satisfied, the temperature corrections can be neglected during the inflation period. At higher temperatures, the minimum is not at the origin, but very close to it. Address after July 1, 1983: Theory Group, Fermilab, PO Box 500, Batavia, IL 60510, USA.

Proteomic Analysis of Fetal Ovaries Reveals That Primordial Follicle Formation and Transition Are Differentially Regulated

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Mengmeng Xu

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Primordial follicle formation represents a critical phase of the initiation of embryonic reproductive organ development, while the primordial follicle transition into primary follicle determines whether oestrus or ovulation will occur in female animals. To identify molecular mechanism of new proteins which are involved in ovarian development, we employed 2D-DIGE to compare the protein expression profiles of primordial follicles and primary follicles of fetal ovaries in pigs. Fetal ovaries were collected at distinct time-points of the gestation cycle (g55 and g90. The identified proteins at the g55 time-point are mainly involved in the development of anatomical structures [reticulocalbin-1 (RCN1, reticulocalbin-3 (RCN3], cell differentiation (actin, and stress response [heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (HNRNPK]. Meanwhile, at the g90 stage, the isolated proteins with altered expression levels were mainly associated with cell proliferation [major vault protein (MVP] and stress response [heat shock-related 70 kDa protein 2 (HSPA2]. In conclusion, our work revealed that primordial follicle formation is regulated by RCN1, RCN3, actin, and HNRNPK, while the primordial follicle transformation to primary follicle is regulated by MVP and HSPA2. Therefore, our results provide further information for the prospective understanding of the molecular mechanism(s involved in the regulation of the ovarian follicle development.

File Level Provenance Tracking in CMS

CERN Document Server

Jones, C D; Paterno, M; Sexton-Kennedy, L; Tanenbaum, W; Riley, D S

2009-01-01

The CMS off-line framework stores provenance information within CMS's standard ROOT event data files. The provenance information is used to track how each data product was constructed, including what other data products were read to do the construction. We will present how the framework gathers the provenance information, the efforts necessary to minimise the space used to store the provenance in the file and the tools that will be available to use the provenance.

Galaxy bispectrum, primordial non-Gaussianity and redshift space distortions

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Tellarini, Matteo; Ross, Ashley J.; Wands, David [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom); Tasinato, Gianmassimo, E-mail: matteo.tellarini@port.ac.uk, E-mail: ross.1333@osu.edu, E-mail: g.tasinato@swansea.ac.uk, E-mail: david.wands@port.ac.uk [Department of Physics, Swansea University, Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP (United Kingdom)

2016-06-01

Measurements of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial density field have the power to considerably improve our understanding of the physics of inflation. Indeed, if we can increase the precision of current measurements by an order of magnitude, a null-detection would rule out many classes of scenarios for generating primordial fluctuations. Large-scale galaxy redshift surveys represent experiments that hold the promise to realise this goal. Thus, we model the galaxy bispectrum and forecast the accuracy with which it will probe the parameter f {sub NL}, which represents the degree of primordial local-type non Gaussianity. Specifically, we address the problem of modelling redshift space distortions (RSD) in the tree-level galaxy bispectrum including f {sub NL}. We find novel contributions associated with RSD, with the characteristic large scale amplification induced by local-type non-Gaussianity. These RSD effects must be properly accounted for in order to obtain un-biased measurements of f {sub NL} from the galaxy bispectrum. We propose an analytic template for the monopole which can be used to fit against data on large scales, extending models used in the recent measurements. Finally, we perform idealised forecasts on σ {sub f} {sub N{sub L}}—the accuracy of the determination of local non-linear parameter f {sub NL}—from measurements of the galaxy bispectrum. Our findings suggest that current surveys can in principle provide f {sub NL} constraints competitive with Planck , and future surveys could improve them further.

Galaxy bispectrum, primordial non-Gaussianity and redshift space distortions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Tellarini, Matteo; Ross, Ashley J.; Wands, David; Tasinato, Gianmassimo

2016-01-01

Measurements of the non-Gaussianity of the primordial density field have the power to considerably improve our understanding of the physics of inflation. Indeed, if we can increase the precision of current measurements by an order of magnitude, a null-detection would rule out many classes of scenarios for generating primordial fluctuations. Large-scale galaxy redshift surveys represent experiments that hold the promise to realise this goal. Thus, we model the galaxy bispectrum and forecast the accuracy with which it will probe the parameter f NL , which represents the degree of primordial local-type non Gaussianity. Specifically, we address the problem of modelling redshift space distortions (RSD) in the tree-level galaxy bispectrum including f NL . We find novel contributions associated with RSD, with the characteristic large scale amplification induced by local-type non-Gaussianity. These RSD effects must be properly accounted for in order to obtain un-biased measurements of f NL from the galaxy bispectrum. We propose an analytic template for the monopole which can be used to fit against data on large scales, extending models used in the recent measurements. Finally, we perform idealised forecasts on σ f NL —the accuracy of the determination of local non-linear parameter f NL —from measurements of the galaxy bispectrum. Our findings suggest that current surveys can in principle provide f NL constraints competitive with Planck , and future surveys could improve them further.

Planck 2013 Results. XXIV. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ade, P. A. R.; Aghanim, N.; Armitage-Caplan, C.

2013-01-01

The Planck nominal mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps yield unprecedented constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG).Using three optimal bispectrum estimators, separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal, we obtain consistent values for the primordiallocal, equilateral, an...

Provenance management in Swift with implementation details.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gadelha, L. M. R; Clifford, B.; Mattoso, M.; Wilde, M.; Foster, I. (Mathematics and Computer Science); ( CLS-CI); (Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro); (National Lab. for Scientific Computing, Brazil); (Univ. of Chicago)

2011-04-01

The Swift parallel scripting language allows for the specification, execution and analysis of large-scale computations in parallel and distributed environments. It incorporates a data model for recording and querying provenance information. In this article we describe these capabilities and evaluate interoperability with other systems through the use of the Open Provenance Model. We describe Swift's provenance data model and compare it to the Open Provenance Model. We also describe and evaluate activities performed within the Third Provenance Challenge, which consisted of implementing a specific scientific workflow, capturing and recording provenance information of its execution, performing provenance queries, and exchanging provenance information with other systems. Finally, we propose improvements to both the Open Provenance Model and Swift's provenance system.

Ultrastructure of Sheep Primordial Follicles Cultured in the Presence of Indol Acetic Acid, EGF, and FSH

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Evelyn Rabelo Andrade

2011-01-01

Full Text Available The aim of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural characteristics of primordial follicles after culturing of sheep ovarian cortical slices in the presence of indol acetic acid (IAA, Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF, and FSH. To evaluate ultrastructure of primordial follicles cultured in MEM (control or in MEM containing IAA, EGF, and FSH, fragments of cultured tissue were processes for transmission electron microscopy. Except in the control, primordial follicles cultured in supplemented media for 6 d were ultrastructurally normal. They had oocyte with intact nucleus and the cytoplasm contained heterogeneous-sized lipid droplets and numerous round or elongated mitochondria with intact parallel cristae were observed. Rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER was rarely found. The granulosa cells cytoplasm contained a great number of mitochondria and abundant RER. In conclusion, the presence of IAA, EGF, and FSH helped to maintain ultrastructural integrity of sheep primordial follicles cultured in vitro.

Proven Weight Loss Methods

Science.gov (United States)

Fact Sheet Proven Weight Loss Methods What can weight loss do for you? Losing weight can improve your health in a number of ways. It can lower ... at www.hormone.org/Spanish . Proven Weight Loss Methods Fact Sheet www.hormone.org

Perchlorate Exposure Reduces Primordial Germ Cell Number in Female Threespine Stickleback.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Ann M Petersen

Full Text Available Perchlorate is a common aquatic contaminant that has long been known to affect thyroid function in vertebrates, including humans. More recently perchlorate has been shown to affect primordial sexual differentiation in the aquatic model fishes zebrafish and threespine stickleback, but the mechanism has been unclear. Stickleback exposed to perchlorate from fertilization have increased androgen levels in the embryo and disrupted reproductive morphologies as adults, suggesting that perchlorate could disrupt the earliest stages of primordial sexual differentiation when primordial germ cells (PGCs begin to form the gonad. Female stickleback have three to four times the number of PGCs as males during the first weeks of development. We hypothesized that perchlorate exposure affects primordial sexual differentiation by reducing the number of germ cells in the gonad during an important window of stickleback sex determination at 14-18 days post fertilization (dpf. We tested this hypothesis by quantifying the number of PGCs at 16 dpf in control and 100 mg/L perchlorate-treated male and female stickleback. Perchlorate exposure from the time of fertilization resulted in significantly reduced PGC number only in genotypic females, suggesting that the masculinizing effects of perchlorate observed in adult stickleback may result from early changes to the number of PGCs at a time critical for sex determination. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence of a connection between an endocrine disruptor and reduction in PGC number prior to the first meiosis during sex determination. These findings suggest that a mode of action of perchlorate on adult reproductive phenotypes in vertebrates, including humans, such as altered fecundity and sex reversal or intersex gonads, may stem from early changes to germ cell development.

Pregnancy in a woman with proportionate (primordial) dwarfism: a case report and literature review

OpenAIRE

Vance, C E; Desmond, M; Robinson, A; Johns, J; Zacharin, M; Savarirayan, R; König, K; Warrillow, S; Walker, S P

2012-01-01

Primordial dwarfism is a rare form of severe proportionate dwarfism which poses significant challenges in pregnancy. A 27-year-old with primordial dwarfism (height 97 cm, weight 22 kg) and coexisting morbidities of familial hypercholesterolaemia and hypertension presented to our unit. Early pregnancy was complicated by difficult blood pressure control, sinus tachycardia, biochemical hyperthyroidism and insulin-requiring gestational diabetes. Delivery was indicated at 24 weeks with uncontrolla...

Laboratory approaches of nuclear reactions involved in primordial and stellar nucleosynthesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rolfs, C.; California Inst. of Tech., Pasadena

1986-01-01

Laboratory-based studies of primordial and stellar nucleosynthesis are reviewed, with emphasis on the nuclear reactions induced by charged particles. The analytical approach used to investigate nuclear reactions associated with stellar reactions is described, as well as the experimental details and procedures used to investigate nuclear reactions induced by charged particles. The present knowledge of some of the key reactions involved in primordial nucleosynthesis is discussed, along with the progress and problems of nuclear reactions involved in the hydrogen and helium burning phases of a star. Finally, a description is given of new experimental techniques which might be useful for future experiments in the field of nuclear astrophysics. (U.K.)

Microwave background anisotropies and the primordial spectrum of cosmological density fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Suto, Yasushi; Gouda, Naoteru; Sugiyama, Naoshi

1990-01-01

Microwave background anisotropies in various cosmological scenarios are studied. In particular, the extent to which nonscale-invariant spectra of the primordial density fluctuations are consistent with the observational upper limits is examined. The resultant constraints are summarized as contours on (n, Omega)-plane, where n is the power-law index of the primordial spectrum of density fuctuations and Omega is the cosmological density parameter. They are compared also with the constraints from the cosmic Mach number test, recently proposed by Ostriker and Suto (1990). The parameter regions which pass both tests are not consistent with the theoretical prejudice inspired by the inflationary model. 44 refs

Active Provenance in Data-intensive Research

Science.gov (United States)

Spinuso, Alessandro; Mihajlovski, Andrej; Filgueira, Rosa; Atkinson, Malcolm

2017-04-01

Scientific communities are building platforms where the usage of data-intensive workflows is crucial to conduct their research campaigns. However managing and effectively support the understanding of the 'live' processes, fostering computational steering, sharing and re-use of data and methods, present several bottlenecks. These are often caused by the poor level of documentation on the methods and the data and how users interact with it. This work wants to explore how in such systems, flexibility in the management of the provenance and its adaptation to the different users and application contexts can lead to new opportunities for its exploitation, improving productivity. In particular, this work illustrates a conceptual and technical framework enabling tunable and actionable provenance in data-intensive workflow systems in support of reproducible science. It introduces the concept of Agile data-intensive systems to define the characteristic of our target platform. It shows a novel approach to the integration of provenance mechanisms, offering flexibility in the scale and in the precision of the provenance data collected, ensuring its relevance to the domain of the data-intensive task, fostering its rapid exploitation. The contributions address aspects of the scale of the provenance records, their usability and active role in the research life-cycle. We will discuss the use of dynamically generated provenance types as the approach for the integration of provenance mechanisms into a data-intensive workflow system. Enabling provenance can be transparent to the workflow user and developer, as well as fully controllable and customisable, depending from their expertise and the application's reproducibility, monitoring and validation requirements. The API that allows the realisation and adoption of a provenance type is presented, especially for what concerns the support of provenance profiling, contextualisation and precision. An actionable approach to provenance

Mutations in the pericentrin (PCNT) gene cause primordial dwarfism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rauch, Anita; Thiel, Christian T.; Schindler, Detlev; Wick, Ursula; Crow, Yanick J.; Ekici, Arif B.; van Essen, Anthonie J.; Goecke, Timm O.; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Chrzanowska, Krystyna H.; Zweier, Christiane; Brunner, Han G.; Becker, Kristin; Curry, Cynthia J.; Dallapiccola, Bruno; Devriendt, Koenraad; Doerfler, Arnd; Kinning, Esther; Megarbane, Andre; Meinecke, Peter; Semple, Robert K.; Spranger, Stephanie; Toutain, Annick; Trembath, Richard C.; Voss, Egbert; Wilson, Louise; Hennekam, Raoul; de Zegher, Francis; Doerr, Helmuth-Guenther; Reis, Andre

2008-01-01

Fundamental processes influencing human growth can be revealed by studying extreme short stature. Using genetic linkage analysis, we find that biallelic loss- of- function mutations in the centrosomal pericentrin ( PCNT) gene on chromosome 21q22.3 cause microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial

Pregnancy in a woman with proportionate (primordial) dwarfism: a case report and literature review.

Science.gov (United States)

Vance, C E; Desmond, M; Robinson, A; Johns, J; Zacharin, M; Savarirayan, R; König, K; Warrillow, S; Walker, S P

2012-09-01

Primordial dwarfism is a rare form of severe proportionate dwarfism which poses significant challenges in pregnancy. A 27-year-old with primordial dwarfism (height 97 cm, weight 22 kg) and coexisting morbidities of familial hypercholesterolaemia and hypertension presented to our unit. Early pregnancy was complicated by difficult blood pressure control, sinus tachycardia, biochemical hyperthyroidism and insulin-requiring gestational diabetes. Delivery was indicated at 24 weeks with uncontrollable hypertension, progressive renal impairment and intrauterine growth restriction. A caesarean section was performed under general anaesthesia, resulting in the delivery of a 486 g male infant. This case highlights the difficulties of managing pregnancy in a woman with primordial dwarfism. Her limited capacity to respond to the physiological demands of pregnancy created a life-threatening situation, culminating in profound preterm birth.

Identification of provenance rocks based on EPMA analyses of heavy minerals

Science.gov (United States)

Shimizu, M.; Sano, N.; Ueki, T.; Yonaga, Y.; Yasue, K. I.; Masakazu, N.

2017-12-01

Information on mountain building is significant in the field of geological disposal of high-level radioactive waste, because this affects long-term stability in groundwater flow system. Provenance analysis is one of effective approaches for understanding building process of mountains. Chemical compositions of heavy minerals, as well as their chronological data, can be an index for identification of provenance rocks. The accurate identification requires the measurement of as many grains as possible. In order to achieve an efficient provenance analysis, we developed a method for quick identification of heavy minerals using an Electron Probe Micro Analyzer (EPMA). In this method, heavy mineral grains extracted from a sample were aligned on a glass slide and mounted in a resin. Concentration of 28 elements was measured for 300-500 grains per sample using EPMA. To measure as many grains as possible, we prioritized swiftness of measurement over precision, configuring measurement time of about 3.5 minutes for each grain. Identification of heavy minerals was based on their chemical composition. We developed a Microsoft® Excel® spread sheet input criteria of mineral identification using a typical range of chemical compositions for each mineral. The grains of 110 wt.% total were rejected. The criteria of mineral identification were revised through the comparison between mineral identification by optical microscopy and chemical compositions of grains classified as "unknown minerals". Provenance rocks can be identified based on abundance ratio of identified minerals. If no significant difference of the abundance ratio was found among source rocks, chemical composition of specific minerals was used as another index. This method was applied to the sediments of some regions in Japan where provenance rocks had lithological variations but similar formation ages. Consequently, the provenance rocks were identified based on chemical compositions of heavy minerals resistant to

A Bayesian analysis of inflationary primordial spectrum models using Planck data

Science.gov (United States)

Santos da Costa, Simony; Benetti, Micol; Alcaniz, Jailson

2018-03-01

The current available Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data show an anomalously low value of the CMB temperature fluctuations at large angular scales (l power is not explained by the minimal ΛCDM model, and one of the possible mechanisms explored in the literature to address this problem is the presence of features in the primordial power spectrum (PPS) motivated by the early universe physics. In this paper, we analyse a set of cutoff inflationary PPS models using a Bayesian model comparison approach in light of the latest CMB data from the Planck Collaboration. Our results show that the standard power-law parameterisation is preferred over all models considered in the analysis, which motivates the search for alternative explanations for the observed lack of power in the CMB anisotropy spectrum.

Mutations in the pericentrin (PCNT) gene cause primordial dwarfism

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Rauch, Anita; Thiel, Christian T.; Schindler, Detlev; Wick, Ursula; Crow, Yanick J.; Ekici, Arif B.; van Essen, Anthonie J.; Goecke, Timm O.; Al-Gazali, Lihadh; Chrzanowska, Krystyna H.; Zweier, Christiane; Brunner, Han G.; Becker, Kristin; Curry, Cynthia J.; Dallapiccola, Bruno; Devriendt, Koenraad; Dörfler, Arnd; Kinning, Esther; Megarbane, André; Meinecke, Peter; Semple, Robert K.; Spranger, Stephanie; Toutain, Annick; Trembath, Richard C.; Voss, Egbert; Wilson, Louise; Hennekam, Raoul; de Zegher, Francis; Dörr, Helmuth-Günther; Reis, André

2008-01-01

Fundamental processes influencing human growth can be revealed by studying extreme short stature. Using genetic linkage analysis, we find that biallelic loss-of-function mutations in the centrosomal pericentrin (PCNT) gene on chromosome 21q22.3 cause microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism

Primordial helium abundance determination using sulphur as metallicity tracer

Science.gov (United States)

Fernández, Vital; Terlevich, Elena; Díaz, Angeles I.; Terlevich, Roberto; Rosales-Ortega, F. F.

2018-05-01

The primordial helium abundance YP is calculated using sulphur as metallicity tracer in the classical methodology (with YP as an extrapolation of Y to zero metals). The calculated value, YP, S = 0.244 ± 0.006, is in good agreement with the estimate from the Planck experiment, as well as, determinations in the literature using oxygen as the metallicity tracer. The chemical analysis includes the sustraction of the nebular continuum and of the stellar continuum computed from simple stellar population synthesis grids. The S+2 content is measured from the near infrared [SIII]λλ9069Å, 9532Å lines, while an ICF(S3 +) is proposed based on the Ar3 +/Ar2 + fraction. Finally, we apply a multivariable linear regression using simultaneously oxygen, nitrogen and sulphur abundances for the same sample to determine the primordial helium abundance resulting in YP - O, N, S = 0.245 ± 0.007.

Inflation, Reionization, and All That: The Primordial Inflation Explorer

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan J.

2012-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10(exp -3) at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. I describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture needed to detect the inflationary signature using only 4 semiconductor bolometers.

Testing the Standard Model with the Primordial Inflation Explorer

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan J.

2011-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to measure the gravity-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint on the linear polarization of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning 2.5 decades in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r < 10A{-3) at 5 standard deviations. The rich PIXIE data set will also constrain physical processes ranging from Big Bang cosmology to the nature of the first stars to physical conditions within the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. I describe the PIXIE instrument and mission architecture needed to detect the inflationary signature using only 4 semiconductor bolometers.

Primordial gravitational waves measurements and anisotropies of CMB polarization rotation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Si-Yu Li

2015-12-01

Full Text Available Searching for the signal of primordial gravitational waves in the B-modes (BB power spectrum is one of the key scientific aims of the cosmic microwave background (CMB polarization experiments. However, this could be easily contaminated by several foreground issues, such as the interstellar dust grains and the galactic cyclotron electrons. In this paper we study another mechanism, the cosmic birefringence, which can be introduced by a CPT-violating interaction between CMB photons and an external scalar field. Such kind of interaction could give rise to the rotation of the linear polarization state of CMB photons, and consequently induce the CMB BB power spectrum, which could mimic the signal of primordial gravitational waves at large scales. With the recently released polarization data of BICEP2 and the joint analysis data of BICEP2/Keck Array and Planck, we perform a global fitting analysis on constraining the tensor-to-scalar ratio r by considering the polarization rotation angle [α(nˆ] which can be separated into a background isotropic part [α¯] and a small anisotropic part [Δα(nˆ]. Since the data of BICEP2 and Keck Array experiments have already been corrected by using the “self-calibration” method, here we mainly focus on the effects from the anisotropies of CMB polarization rotation angle. We find that including Δα(nˆ in the analysis could slightly weaken the constraints on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r, when using current CMB polarization measurements. We also simulate the mock CMB data with the BICEP3-like sensitivity. Very interestingly, we find that if the effects of the anisotropic polarization rotation angle could not be taken into account properly in the analysis, the constraints on r will be dramatically biased. This implies that we need to break the degeneracy between the anisotropies of the CMB polarization rotation angle and the CMB primordial tensor perturbations, in order to measure the signal of primordial

Reconstruction of the primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations using multiple data sets

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Hunt, Paul; Sarkar, Subir

2014-01-01

Detailed knowledge of the primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations is essential both in order to elucidate the physical mechanism (`inflation') which generated it, and for estimating the cosmological parameters from observations of the cosmic microwave background and large-scale struc......Detailed knowledge of the primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations is essential both in order to elucidate the physical mechanism (`inflation') which generated it, and for estimating the cosmological parameters from observations of the cosmic microwave background and large...... content of the universe. Moreover the deconvolution problem is ill-conditioned so a regularisation scheme must be employed to control error propagation. We demonstrate that `Tikhonov regularisation' can robustly reconstruct the primordial spectrum from multiple cosmological data sets, a significant...... advantage being that both its uncertainty and resolution are then quantified. Using Monte Carlo simulations we investigate several regularisation parameter selection methods and find that generalised cross-validation and Mallow's Cp method give optimal results. We apply our inversion procedure to data from...

Influence of large local and non-local bispectra on primordial black hole abundance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Young, Sam; Regan, Donough; Byrnes, Christian T.

2016-01-01

Primordial black holes represent a unique probe to constrain the early universe on small scales—providing the only constraints on the primordial power spectrum on the majority of scales. However, these constraints are strongly dependent on even small amounts of non-Gaussianity, which is unconstrained on scales significantly smaller than those visible in the CMB. This paper goes beyond previous considerations to consider the effects of a bispectrum of the equilateral, orthogonal and local shapes with arbitrary magnitude upon the abundance of primordial black holes. Non-Gaussian density maps of the early universe are generated from a given bispectrum and used to place constraints on the small scale power spectrum. When small, we show that the skewness provides an accurate estimate for how the constraint depends on non-Gaussianity, independently of the shape of the bispectrum. We show that the orthogonal template of non-Gaussianity has an order of magnitude weaker effect on the constraints than the local and equilateral templates

Can massive primordial black holes be produced in mild waterfall hybrid inflation?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawasaki, Masahiro; Tada, Yuichiro

2016-01-01

We studied the possibility whether the massive primordial black holes (PBHs) surviving today can be produced in hybrid inflation. Though it is of great interest since such PBHs can be the candidate for dark matter or seeds of the supermassive black holes in galaxies, there have not been quantitatively complete works yet because of the non-perturbative behavior around the critical point of hybrid inflation. Therefore, combining the stochastic and δ N formalism, we numerically calculated the curvature perturbations in a non-perturbative way and found, without any specific assumption of the types of hybrid inflation, PBHs are rather overproduced when the waterfall phase of hybrid inflation continues so long that the PBH scale is well enlarged and the corresponding PBH mass becomes sizable enough.

Isotopic provenance analysis and terrane tectonics: a warning about sediment transport distances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bassett, K.N.

1999-01-01

temporary storage. Sediment from the Amazon River can be found in the Barbados trench. transported ∼2000 km northward by near shore currents after more than 2500 km by the Amazon River from source. It's interesting to note that while large fluvial systems are helpful for transporting sediment very large distances, it is also possible by other mechanisms. Both the Bengal fan and the Barbados sediment have been transported at least 1500 km by purely marine sediment transport mechanisms. Similar transport distances occur in the Hikurangi submarine channel off the eastern coast of New Zealand (Lewis, 1999). There fine sands are transported ∼2000 km northward into the Kermadec trench by sediment gravity flow and deep water currents. Such modern examples of long distance sediment transport should be kept in mind when interpreting details of terrane translation. The possibility that the fine grained fraction may have been transported 2000-3000 km from their source makes their provenance of very little use when attempting to resolve controversies where distances of tectonic translation are on the same order of magnitude (Insular and Torlesse Superterranes). Thus detailed histories of terrane translation are best developed using coarse rather than fine size tractions. Gravels are transported over 10s to 100s of kilometers rather than the 1000s of kilometers possible for fine grained sediments. In addition, more detailed isotopic and geochemical provenance analysis is possible due to the larger grain size available allowing more specific characterization of the source area. However, truly effective characterization of sediment source rocks can only be accomplished as part of multidisciplinary research projects that would include provenance analysis by a variety of methods combined with basin analysis to understand facies relations and sediment dispersal paths. Copyright (1999) Geological Society of Australia

Path integral methods for primordial density perturbations - sampling of constrained Gaussian random fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bertschinger, E.

1987-01-01

Path integrals may be used to describe the statistical properties of a random field such as the primordial density perturbation field. In this framework the probability distribution is given for a Gaussian random field subjected to constraints such as the presence of a protovoid or supercluster at a specific location in the initial conditions. An algorithm has been constructed for generating samples of a constrained Gaussian random field on a lattice using Monte Carlo techniques. The method makes possible a systematic study of the density field around peaks or other constrained regions in the biased galaxy formation scenario, and it is effective for generating initial conditions for N-body simulations with rare objects in the computational volume. 21 references

Resolving primordial physics through correlated signatures

OpenAIRE

Enqvist, Kari; Mulryne, David J.; Nurmi, Sami

2014-01-01

We discuss correlations among spectral observables as a new tool for differentiating between models for the primordial perturbation. We show that if generated in the isocurvature sector, a running of the scalar spectral index is correlated with the statistical properties of non-Gaussianities. In particular, we find a large running will inevitably be accompanied by a large running of $f_{\\rm NL}$ and enhanced $g_{\\rm NL}$, with $g_{\\rm NL}\\gg f_{\\rm NL}^2$. If the tensor to scalar ratio is lar...

The statistical clustering of primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Carr, B.J.

1977-01-01

It is shown that Meszaros theory of galaxy formation, in which galaxies form from the density perturbations associated with the statistical fluctuation in the number density of primordial black holes, must be modified if the black holes are initially surrounded by regions of lower radiation density than average (as is most likely). However, even in this situation, the sort of effect Meszaros envisages does occur and could in principle cause galactic mass-scales to bind at the conventional time. In fact, the requirement that galaxies should not form prematurely implies that black holes could not have a critical density in the mass range above 10 5 M(sun). If the mass spectrum of primordial black holes falls off more slowly than m -3 (as expected), then the biggest black holes have the largest clustering effect. In this case the black hole clustering theory of galaxy formation reduces to the black hole seed theory of galaxy formation, in which each galaxy becomes bound under the gravitational influence of a single black hole nucleus. The seed theory could be viable only if the early Universe had a soft equation of state until a time exceeding 10 -4 s or if something prevented black hole formation before 1 s. (orig.) [de

Primordial Molecular Cloud Material in Metal-Rich Carbonaceous Chondrites

Science.gov (United States)

Taylor, G. J.

2016-03-01

The menagerie of objects that make up our Solar System reflects the composition of the huge molecular cloud in which the Sun formed, a late addition of short-lived isotopes from an exploding supernova or stellar winds from a neighboring massive star, heating and/or alteration by water in growing planetesimals that modified and segregated the primordial components, and mixing throughout the Solar System. Outer Solar System objects, such as comets, have always been cold, hence minimizing the changes experienced by more processed objects. They are thought to preserve information about the molecular cloud. Elishevah Van Kooten (Natural History Museum of Denmark and the University of Copenhagen) and co-authors in Denmark and at the University of Hawai'i, measured the isotopic compositions of magnesium and chromium in metal-rich carbonaceous chondrites. They found that the meteorites preserve an isotopic signature of primordial molecular cloud materials, providing a potentially detailed record of the molecular cloud's composition and of materials that formed in the outer Solar System.

Planck 2013 Results. XXIV. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

CERN Document Server

Ade, P.A.R.; Armitage-Caplan, C.; Arnaud, M.; Ashdown, M.; Atrio-Barandela, F.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Banday, A.J.; Barreiro, R.B.; Bartlett, J.G.; Bartolo, N.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoit, A.; Benoit-Levy, A.; Bernard, J.P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bobin, J.; Bock, J.J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonavera, L.; Bond, J.R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F.R.; Bridges, M.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R.C.; Cardoso, J.F.; Catalano, A.; Challinor, A.; Chamballu, A.; Chiang, L.Y.; Chiang, H.C.; Christensen, P.R.; Church, S.; Clements, D.L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L.P.L.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Crill, B.P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davies, R.D.; Davis, R.J.; de Bernardis, P.; de Rosa, A.; de Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Delouis, J.M.; Desert, F.X.; Diego, J.M.; Dole, H.; Donzelli, S.; Dore, O.; Douspis, M.; Ducout, A.; Dunkley, J.; Dupac, X.; Efstathiou, G.; Elsner, F.; Ensslin, T.A.; Eriksen, H.K.; Fergusson, J.; Finelli, F.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Franceschi, E.; Galeotta, S.; Ganga, K.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Heraud, Y.; Gonzalez-Nuevo, J.; Gorski, K.M.; Gratton, S.; Gregorio, A.; Gruppuso, A.; Hansen, F.K.; Hanson, D.; Harrison, D.; Heavens, A.; Henrot-Versille, S.; Hernandez-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S.R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W.A.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Huffenberger, K.M.; Jaffe, T.R.; Jaffe, A.H.; Jones, W.C.; Juvela, M.; Keihanen, E.; Keskitalo, R.; Kisner, T.S.; Knoche, J.; Knox, L.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lacasa, F.; Lagache, G.; Lahteenmaki, A.; Lamarre, J.M.; Lasenby, A.; Laureijs, R.J.; Lawrence, C.R.; Leahy, J.P.; Leonardi, R.; Lesgourgues, J.; Lewis, A.; Liguori, M.; Lilje, P.B.; Linden-Vornle, M.; Lopez-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P.M.; Macias-Perez, J.F.; Maffei, B.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Mangilli, A.; Marinucci, D.; Maris, M.; Marshall, D.J.; Martin, P.G.; Martinez-Gonzalez, E.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; Matthai, F.; Mazzotta, P.; Meinhold, P.R.; Melchiorri, A.; Mendes, L.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschenes, M.A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Moss, A.; Munshi, D.; Naselsky, P.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C.B.; Norgaard-Nielsen, H.U.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Osborne, S.; Oxborrow, C.A.; Paci, F.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paoletti, D.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Peiris, H.V.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Perrotta, F.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pietrobon, D.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Ponthieu, N.; Popa, L.; Poutanen, T.; Pratt, G.W.; Prezeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.L.; Rachen, J.P.; Racine, B.; Rebolo, R.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Renzi, A.; Ricciardi, S.; Riller, T.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Roudier, G.; Rubino-Martin, J.A.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Seiffert, M.D.; Shellard, E.P.S.; Smith, K.; Spencer, L.D.; Starck, J.L.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sureau, F.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.S.; Sygnet, J.F.; Tauber, J.A.; Tavagnacco, D.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Van Tent, B.; Varis, J.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Vittorio, N.; Wade, L.A.; Wandelt, B.D.; White, M.; White, S.D.M.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.; Zonca, A.

2014-01-01

The Planck nominal mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) maps yield unprecedented constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). Using three optimal bispectrum estimators, separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal, we obtain consistent values for the primordial local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes, quoting as our final result fNL^local= 2.7+/-5.8, fNL^equil= -42+/-75, and fNL^ortho= -25+\\-39 (68% CL statistical). NG is detected in the data; using skew-C_l statistics we find a nonzero bispectrum from residual point sources, and the ISW-lensing bispectrum at a level expected in the LambdaCDM scenario. The results are based on comprehensive cross-validation of these estimators on Gaussian and non-Gaussian simulations, are stable across component separation techniques, pass an extensive suite of tests, and are confirmed by skew-C_l, wavelet bispectrum and Minkowski functional estimators. Beyond estimates of individual shape amplitudes, we present model-independent, 3-dimensional...

The safe use of a PTEN inhibitor for the activation of dormant mouse primordial follicles and generation of fertilizable eggs.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Deepak Adhikari

Full Text Available Primordial ovarian follicles, which are often present in the ovaries of premature ovarian failure (POF patients or are cryopreserved from the ovaries of young cancer patients who are undergoing gonadotoxic anticancer therapies, cannot be used to generate mature oocytes for in vitro fertilization (IVF. There has been very little success in triggering growth of primordial follicles to obtain fertilizable oocytes due to the poor understanding of the biology of primordial follicle activation.We have recently reported that PTEN (phosphatase and tensin homolog deleted on chromosome ten prevents primordial follicle activation in mice, and deletion of Pten from the oocytes of primordial follicles leads to follicular activation. Consequently, the PTEN inhibitor has been successfully used in vitro to activate primordial follicles in both mouse and human ovaries. These results suggest that PTEN inhibitors could be used in ovarian culture medium to trigger the activation of primordial follicle. To study the safety and efficacy of the use of such inhibitors, we activated primordial follicles from neonatal mouse ovaries by transient treatment with a PTEN inhibitor bpV(HOpic. These ovaries were then transplanted under the kidney capsules of recipient mice to generate mature oocytes. The mature oocytes were fertilized in vitro and progeny mice were obtained after embryo transfer.Long-term monitoring up to the second generation of progeny mice showed that the mice were reproductively active and were free from any overt signs or symptoms of chronic illnesses. Our results indicate that the use of PTEN inhibitors could be a safe and effective way of generating mature human oocytes for use in novel IVF techniques.

QCD pairing in primordial nuggets

Science.gov (United States)

Lugones, G.; Horvath, J. E.

2003-08-01

We analyze the problem of boiling and surface evaporation of quark nuggets in the cosmological quark-hadron transition. Recently, it has been shown that QCD pairing modifies the stability properties of strange quark matter. More specifically, strange quark matter in a color-flavor locked state was found to be absolutely stable for a much wider range of the parameters than ordinary unpaired strange quark matter (G. Lugones and J. E. Horvath, Phys. Rev. D, 66, 074017 (2002)). Assuming that primordial quark nuggets are actually formed we analyze the consequences of pairing on the rates of boiling and surface evaporation in order to determine whether they could have survived.

Resonant primordial gravitational waves amplification

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Chunshan Lin

2016-01-01

Full Text Available We propose a mechanism to evade the Lyth bound in models of inflation. We minimally extend the conventional single-field inflation model in general relativity (GR to a theory with non-vanishing graviton mass in the very early universe. The modification primarily affects the tensor perturbation, while the scalar and vector perturbations are the same as the ones in GR with a single scalar field at least at the level of linear perturbation theory. During the reheating stage, the graviton mass oscillates coherently and leads to resonant amplification of the primordial tensor perturbation. After reheating the graviton mass vanishes and we recover GR.

Molecular mechanisms governing primordial germ cell migration in zebrafish

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Doitsidou, M.

2005-01-01

In most sexually reproducing organisms primordial germ cells (pGCs) are specified early in development in places that are distinct from the region where the somatic part of the gonad develops. From their places of specification they have to migrate towards the site where they associate with somatic

Possibilities and limitations of using historic provenance tests to infer forest species growth responses to climate change

Science.gov (United States)

Laura P. Leites; Gerald E. Rehfeldt; Andrew P. Robinson; Nicholas L. Crookston; Barry Jaquish

2012-01-01

Under projected changes in global climate, the growth and survival of existing forests will depend on their ability to adjust physiologically in response to environmental change. Quantifying their capacity to adjust and whether the response is species- or population-specific is important to guide forest management strategies. New analyses of historic provenance tests...

Single field double inflation and primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kannike, K.; Marzola, L.; Raidal, M.; Veermäe, H., E-mail: kristjan.kannike@cern.ch, E-mail: luca.marzola@cern.ch, E-mail: martti.raidal@cern.ch, E-mail: hardi.veermae@cern.ch [National Institute of Chemical Physics and Biophysics, Rävala 10, 10143 Tallinn (Estonia)

2017-09-01

Within the framework of scalar-tensor theories, we study the conditions that allow single field inflation dynamics on small cosmological scales to significantly differ from that of the large scales probed by the observations of cosmic microwave background. The resulting single field double inflation scenario is characterised by two consequent inflation eras, usually separated by a period where the slow-roll approximation fails. At large field values the dynamics of the inflaton is dominated by the interplay between its non-minimal coupling to gravity and the radiative corrections to the inflaton self-coupling. For small field values the potential is, instead, dominated by a polynomial that results in a hilltop inflation. Without relying on the slow-roll approximation, which is invalidated by the appearance of the intermediate stage, we propose a concrete model that matches the current measurements of inflationary observables and employs the freedom granted by the framework on small cosmological scales to give rise to a sizeable population of primordial black holes generated by large curvature fluctuations. We find that these features generally require a potential with a local minimum. We show that the associated primordial black hole mass function is only approximately lognormal.

Primordial power spectrum features and consequences

Science.gov (United States)

Goswami, G.

2014-03-01

The present Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy data is consistent with not only a power law scalar primordial power spectrum (PPS) with a small running but also with the scalar PPS having very sharp features. This has motivated inflationary models with such sharp features. Recently, even the possibility of having nulls in the power spectrum (at certain scales) has been considered. The existence of these nulls has been shown in linear perturbation theory. What shall be the effect of higher order corrections on such nulls? Inspired by this question, we have attempted to calculate quantum radiative corrections to the Fourier transform of the 2-point function in a toy field theory and address the issue of how these corrections to the power spectrum behave in models in which the tree-level power spectrum has a sharp dip (but not a null). In particular, we have considered the possibility of the relative enhancement of radiative corrections in a model in which the tree-level spectrum goes through a dip in power at a certain scale. The mode functions of the field (whose power spectrum is to be evaluated) are chosen such that they undergo the kind of dynamics that leads to a sharp dip in the tree level power spectrum. Next, we have considered the situation in which this field has quartic self interactions, and found one loop correction in a suitably chosen renormalization scheme. Thus, we have attempted to answer the following key question in the context of this toy model (which is as important in the realistic case): In the chosen renormalization scheme, can quantum radiative corrections be enhanced relative to tree-level power spectrum at scales, at which sharp dips appear in the tree-level spectrum?

Genetic Testing for Type 2 Diabetes in High-Risk Children: the Case for Primordial Prevention

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jennifer Wessel

2017-09-01

Full Text Available Extensive research now demonstrates that lifestyle modification can significantly lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes (T2D in high-risk adults. In children, the evidence for lifestyle modification is not as robust, but the rapidly rising rate of obesity in children coupled with the substantial difficulty in changing behaviors later in life illuminates the need to implement prevention efforts early in the life course of children. Genetic data can now be used early in the life course to identify children at high-risk of developing T2D before traditional clinical measures can detect the presence of prediabetes; a metabolic condition associated with obesity that significantly increases risk for developing T2D.  Such early detection of risk may enable the promotion of “primordial prevention” in which parents implement behavior change for their at risk children.  Young children with genetic risk are a novel target population.  Here we review the literature on genetic testing for prevention as it relates to chronic diseases and specifically use T2D as a model. We discuss the history of primordial prevention, the need for primordial prevention of T2D and the role genetic testing has in primordial prevention of high-risk families.

Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer: Status and Plans

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan

2009-01-01

The Primordial Inflation Polarization Explorer is a balloon-borne instrument to measure the polarization of the cosmic microwave background in order to detect the characteristic signature of gravity waves created during an inflationary epoch in the early universe. PIPER combines cold /I.G K\\ optics, 5120 bolometric detectors, and rapid polarization modulation using VPM grids to achieve both high sensitivity and excellent control of systematic errors. I will discuss the current status and plans for the PIPER instrument.

Trojan Horse cross section measurements and their impact on primordial nucleosynthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Pizzone, R. G.; Spartá, R.; Bertulani, C.; Spitaleri, C.; La Cognata, M.; Lamia, L.; Mukhamedzhanov, A.; Tumino, A.

2018-01-01

Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) nucleosynthesis requires several nuclear physics inputs and, among them, an important role is played by nuclear reaction rates. They are among the most important input for a quantitative description of the early Universe. An up-to-date compilation of direct cross sections of d(d,p)t, d(d,n)3He and 3He(d,p)4He reactions is given, being these ones among the most uncertain bare-nucleus cross sections. An intense experimental effort has been carried on in the last decade to apply the Trojan Horse Method (THM) to study reactions of relevance for the BBN and measure their astrophysical S(E)-factor. The result of these recent measurements is reviewed and compared with the available direct data. The reaction rates and the relative error for the four reactions of interest are then numerically calculated in the temperature ranges of relevance for BBN (0.01primordial nucleosynthesis calculations in order to evaluate their impact on the calculated primordial abundances of D, 3,4He and 7Li. These ones were then compared with the observational primordial abundance estimates in different astrophysical sites. A comparison was also performed with calculations using other reaction rates compilations available in literature.

Quantum origin of the primordial fluctuation spectrum and its statistics

Science.gov (United States)

Landau, Susana; León, Gabriel; Sudarsky, Daniel

2013-07-01

The usual account for the origin of cosmic structure during inflation is not fully satisfactory, as it lacks a physical mechanism capable of generating the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of our Universe, from an exactly homogeneous and isotropic initial state associated with the early inflationary regime. The proposal in [A. Perez, H. Sahlmann, and D. Sudarsky, Classical Quantum Gravity 23, 2317 (2006)] considers the spontaneous dynamical collapse of the wave function as a possible answer to that problem. In this work, we review briefly the difficulties facing the standard approach, as well as the answers provided by the above proposal and explore their relevance to the investigations concerning the characterization of the primordial spectrum and other statistical aspects of the cosmic microwave background and large-scale matter distribution. We will see that the new approach leads to novel ways of considering some of the relevant questions, and, in particular, to distinct characterizations of the non-Gaussianities that might have left imprints on the available data.

On the non-Gaussian correlation of the primordial curvature perturbation with vector fields

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Kumar Jain, Rajeev; Sloth, Martin Snoager

2013-01-01

We compute the three-point cross-correlation function of the primordial curvature perturbation generated during inflation with two powers of a vector field in a model where conformal invariance is broken by a direct coupling of the vector field with the inflaton. If the vector field is identified...... with the electromagnetic field, this correlation would be a non-Gaussian signature of primordial magnetic fields generated during inflation. We find that the signal is maximized for the flattened configuration where the wave number of the curvature perturbation is twice that of the vector field and in this limit...

Primordial large-scale electromagnetic fields from gravitoelectromagnetic inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Membiela, Federico Agustín; Bellini, Mauricio

2009-04-01

We investigate the origin and evolution of primordial electric and magnetic fields in the early universe, when the expansion is governed by a cosmological constant Λ0. Using the gravitoelectromagnetic inflationary formalism with A0 = 0, we obtain the power of spectrums for large-scale magnetic fields and the inflaton field fluctuations during inflation. A very important fact is that our formalism is naturally non-conformally invariant.

Primordial large-scale electromagnetic fields from gravitoelectromagnetic inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Membiela, Federico Agustin; Bellini, Mauricio

2009-01-01

We investigate the origin and evolution of primordial electric and magnetic fields in the early universe, when the expansion is governed by a cosmological constant Λ 0 . Using the gravitoelectromagnetic inflationary formalism with A 0 =0, we obtain the power of spectrums for large-scale magnetic fields and the inflaton field fluctuations during inflation. A very important fact is that our formalism is naturally non-conformally invariant.

Preservation of primordial follicles from lions by slow freezing and xenotransplantation of ovarian cortex into an immunodeficient mouse

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Wiedemann, C; Hribal, R; Ringleb, J

2012-01-01

follicles within the ovarian cortex survived culture when the original sample was from a young healthy lion collected immediately after euthanasia. Within the xenotransplants, the number of primordial follicles decreased after 28 days by 20%, but the relation between primordial and growing follicles changed...

Primordial black holes from single field models of inflation

CERN Document Server

Garcia-Bellido, Juan

Primordial black holes (PBH) have been shown to arise from high peaks in the matter power spectra of multi-field models of inflation. Here we show, with a simple toy model, that it is also possible to generate a peak in the curvature power spectrum of single-field inflation. We assume that the effective dynamics of the inflaton field presents a near-inflection point which slows down the field right before the end of inflation and gives rise to a prominent spike in the fluctuation power spectrum at scales much smaller than those probed by Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Large Scale Structure (LSS) observations. This peak will give rise, upon reentry during the radiation era, to PBH via gravitational collapse. The mass and abundance of these PBH is such that they could constitute the totality of the Dark Matter today. We satisfy all CMB and LSS constraints and predict a very broad range of PBH masses. Some of these PBH are light enough that they will evaporate before structure formation, leaving behind a ...

Relic gravitational waves from light primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dolgov, Alexander D.; Ejlli, Damian

2011-01-01

The energy density of relic gravitational waves (GWs) emitted by primordial black holes (PBHs) is calculated. We estimate the intensity of GWs produced at quantum and classical scattering of PBHs, the classical graviton emission from the PBH binaries in the early Universe, and the graviton emission due to PBH evaporation. If nonrelativistic PBHs dominated the cosmological energy density prior to their evaporation, the probability of formation of dense clusters of PBHs and their binaries in such clusters would be significant and the energy density of the generated gravitational waves in the present-day universe could exceed that produced by other known mechanisms. The intensity of these gravitational waves would be maximal in the GHz frequency band of the spectrum or higher and makes their observation very difficult by present detectors but also gives a rather good possibility to investigate it by present and future high-frequency gravitational waves electromagnetic detectors. However, the low-frequency part of the spectrum in the range f∼0.1-10 Hz may be detectable by the planned space interferometers DECIGO/BBO. For sufficiently long duration of the PBH matter-dominated stage, the cosmological energy fraction of GWs from inflation would be noticeably diluted.

The Cosmochemistry of Pluto: A Primordial Origin of Volatiles?

Science.gov (United States)

Glein, C. R.; Waite, J. H., Jr.

2017-12-01

Pluto is a wonderland of volatiles. Nitrogen, methane, and carbon monoxide are the principal volatiles that maintain its tenuous atmosphere, and they have also created a mesmerizing landscape of icy geological features, including Pluto's iconic "heart". Recent data, particularly those returned by the New Horizons mission [1-3], allow us to begin testing hypotheses for the cosmochemical origins of these world-shaping species on Pluto. Here, we investigate if Pluto's volatiles could have been accreted in its building blocks. We take both bottom-up and top-down approaches in testing this hypothesis in terms of mass balance. We estimate Pluto's primordial inventory of volatiles by scaling a range of cometary abundances up to the ice mass fraction of Pluto. We also make estimates of the present and lost inventories of volatiles based on surface observations and interpretations, as well as different scenarios of atmospheric photochemistry and escape. We find that, if primordial Pluto resembled a giant comet with respect to volatile abundances, then the initial volatile inventory would have been sufficient to account for the estimated present and lost inventories. This consistency supports a primordial origin for Pluto's volatiles. However, the observed ratio of CO/N2 in Pluto's atmosphere [4] is several orders of magnitude lower than the nominal cometary value. We are currently using phase equilibrium and rate models to explore if volatile layering in Sputnik Planitia, or the destruction of CO in a past or present subsurface ocean of liquid water could explain the apparent depletion of CO on Pluto. References: [1] Moore et al. (2016) Science 351, 1284. [2] Grundy et al. (2016) Science 351, aad9189. [3] Gladstone et al. (2016) Science 351, aad8866. [4] Lellouch et al. (2017) Icarus 286, 289.

Primordial germ cells and amnion development in the avian embryo

NARCIS (Netherlands)

De Melo Bernardo, Ana

2016-01-01

Primordial germ cells (PGCs) are the progenitors of the gametes, responsible for transmitting genetic information from generation to generation. Although there is a long history of gamete biology research, there is still a lot to be learned about many of the mechanisms underlying germ cell

Non-standard primordial fluctuations and nongaussianity in string inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, C.P.; Cicoli, M.; Gomez-Reino, M.; Tasinato, G.; Zavala, I.

2010-05-01

Inflationary scenarios in string theory often involve a large number of light scalar fields, whose presence can enrich the post-inflationary evolution of primordial fluctuations generated during the inflationary epoch. We provide a simple example of such post-inflationary processing within an explicit string-inflationary construction, using a Kaehler modulus as the inflaton within the framework of LARGE Volume Type-IIB string flux compactifications. We argue that inflationary models within this broad category often have a selection of scalars that are light enough to be cosmologically relevant, whose contributions to the primordial fluctuation spectrum can compete with those generated in the standard way by the inflaton. These models consequently often predict nongaussianity at a level, f NL ≅O(10), potentially observable by the Planck satellite, with a bi-spectrum maximized by triangles with squeezed shape in a string realization of the curvaton scenario. We argue that the observation of such a signal would robustly prefer string cosmologies such as these that predict a multi-field dynamics during the very early universe. (orig.)

Non-Standard Primordial Fluctuations and Nongaussianity in String Inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Burgess, C.P.; Cicoli, M.; Gomez-Reino, M.; Quevedo, F.; Tasinato, G.; Zavala, I.

2010-05-01

Inflationary scenarios in string theory often involve a large number of light scalar fields, whose presence can enrich the post-inflationary evolution of primordial fluctuations generated during the inflationary epoch. We provide a simple example of such post-inflationary processing within an explicit string-inflationary construction, using a Kaehler modulus as the inflaton within the framework of LARGE Volume Type-IIB string flux compactifications. We argue that inflationary models within this broad category often have a selection of scalars that are light enough to be cosmologically relevant, whose contributions to the primordial fluctuation spectrum can compete with those generated in the standard way by the inflaton. These models consequently often predict nongaussianity at a level, f NL ≅ O(10), potentially observable by the Planck satellite, with a bi-spectrum maximized by triangles with squeezed shape in a string realization of the curvaton scenario. We argue that the observation of such a signal would robustly prefer string cosmologies such as these that predict a multi-field dynamics during the very early universe. (author)

Primordial hadrosynthesis in the Little Bang

CERN Document Server

Heinz, Ulrich W

1999-01-01

The present status of soft hadron production in high energy heavy-ion collisions is summarized. In spite of strong evidence for extensive dynamical evolution and collective expansion of the fireball before freeze-out I argue that its chemical composition is hardly changed by hadronic final state interactions. The measured hadron yields thus reflect the primordial conditions at hadronization. The observed production pattern is consistent with statistical hadronization at the Hagedorn temperature from a state of uncorrelated, color deconfined quarks and antiquarks, but requires non-trivial chemical evolution of the fireball in a prehadronic (presumably QGP) stage before hadron formation.

MAJEWSKI OSTEODYSPLASTIC PRIMORDIAL DWARFISM TYPE II: CLINICAL FINDINGS AND DENTAL MANAGEMENT OF A CHILD PATIENT

OpenAIRE

Terlemez, Arslan; Altunsoy, Mustafa; Çelebi, Hakkı

2015-01-01

Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II) is an unusual autosomal recessive inherited form of primordial dwarfism, which is characterized by a small head diameter at birth, but which also progresses to severe microcephaly, progressive bony dysplasia, and characteristic facies and personality. This report presents a case of a five-year-old girl with MOPD II syndrome. The patient was referred to our clinic with the complaint of severe tooth pain at the left mandibular prima...

Ultrastructure of sheep primordial follicles cultured in the presence of indol acetic acid, EGF, and FSH

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Andrade, Evelyn Rabelo; Hyttel, Poul; Landim-Alvarenga, Fernanda Da Cruz

2011-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the ultrastructural characteristics of primordial follicles after culturing of sheep ovarian cortical slices in the presence of indol acetic acid (IAA), Epidermal Growth Factor (EGF), and FSH. To evaluate ultrastructure of primordial follicles cultured...... in MEM (control) or in MEM containing IAA, EGF, and FSH, fragments of cultured tissue were processes for transmission electron microscopy. Except in the control, primordial follicles cultured in supplemented media for 6¿d were ultrastructurally normal. They had oocyte with intact nucleus...... and the cytoplasm contained heterogeneous-sized lipid droplets and numerous round or elongated mitochondria with intact parallel cristae were observed. Rough endoplasmic reticulum (RER) was rarely found. The granulosa cells cytoplasm contained a great number of mitochondria and abundant RER. In conclusion...

Recording Process Documentation for Provenance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Groth, P.T.; Moreau, L

2009-01-01

Scientific and business communities are adopting large-scale distributed systems as a means to solve a wide range of resource-intensive tasks. These communities also have requirements in terms of provenance. We define the provenance of a result produced by a distributed system as the process that

Primordial large-scale electromagnetic fields from gravitoelectromagnetic inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Membiela, Federico Agustin [Departamento de Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, (7600) Mar del Plata (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) (Argentina)], E-mail: membiela@mdp.edu.ar; Bellini, Mauricio [Departamento de Fisica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad Nacional de Mar del Plata, Funes 3350, (7600) Mar del Plata (Argentina); Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas (CONICET) (Argentina)], E-mail: mbellini@mdp.edu.ar

2009-04-20

We investigate the origin and evolution of primordial electric and magnetic fields in the early universe, when the expansion is governed by a cosmological constant {lambda}{sub 0}. Using the gravitoelectromagnetic inflationary formalism with A{sub 0}=0, we obtain the power of spectrums for large-scale magnetic fields and the inflaton field fluctuations during inflation. A very important fact is that our formalism is naturally non-conformally invariant.

Reconstruction of a direction-dependent primordial power spectrum from Planck CMB data

Science.gov (United States)

Durakovic, Amel; Hunt, Paul; Mukherjee, Suvodip; Sarkar, Subir; Souradeep, Tarun

2018-02-01

We consider the possibility that the primordial curvature perturbation is direction-dependent. To first order this is parameterised by a quadrupolar modulation of the power spectrum and results in statistical anisotropy of the CMB, which can be quantified using `bipolar spherical harmonics'. We compute these for the Planck DR2-2015 SMICA map and estimate the noise covariance from Planck Full Focal Plane 9 simulations. A constant quadrupolar modulation is detected with 2.2 σ significance, dropping to 2σ when the primordial power is assumed to scale with wave number k as a power law. Going beyond previous work we now allow the spectrum to have arbitrary scale-dependence. Our non-parametric reconstruction then suggests several spectral features, the most prominent at k ~ 0.006 Mpc‑1. When a constant quadrupolar modulation is fitted to data in the range 0.005 <= k/Mpc‑1 <= 0.008, its preferred directions are found to be related to the cosmic hemispherical asymmetry and the CMB dipole. To determine the significance we apply two test statistics to our reconstructions of the quadrupolar modulation from data, against reconstructions of realisations of noise only. With a test statistic sensitive only to the amplitude of the modulation, the reconstructions from the multipole range 30 <= l <= 1200 are unusual with 2.1σ significance. With the second test statistic, sensitive also to the direction, the significance rises to 6.9σ. Our approach is easily generalised to include other data sets such as polarisation, large-scale structure and forthcoming 21-cm line observations which will enable these anomalies to be investigated further.

Implications of a primordial origin for the dispersion in D/H in quasar absorption systems.

Science.gov (United States)

Copi, C J; Olive, K A; Schramm, D N

1998-03-17

We explore the difficulties with a primordial origin of variations of D/H in quasar absorption systems. In particular we examine options such as a very large-scale inhomogeneity in the baryon content of the universe. We show that very large-scale (much larger than 1 Mpc) isocurvature perturbations are excluded by current cosmic microwave background observations. Smaller-scale ad hoc perturbations (approximately 1 Mpc) still may lead to a large dispersion in primordial abundances but are subject to other constraints.

DEHP exposure impairs mouse oocyte cyst breakdown and primordial follicle assembly through estrogen receptor-dependent and independent mechanisms

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mu, Xinyi [Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016 (China); Department of Histology and Embryology, College of Basic Medicine, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016 (China); Liao, Xinggui; Chen, Xuemei; Li, Yanli; Wang, Meirong; Shen, Cha; Zhang, Xue; Wang, Yingxiong; Liu, Xueqing [Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016 (China); He, Junlin, E-mail: hejunlin_11@aliyun.com [Laboratory of Reproductive Biology, Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016 (China)

2015-11-15

Highlights: • DEHP inhibits primordial folliculogenesis in vivo and in vitro. • Estrogen receptors participate in the effect of DEHP on early ovarian development. • DEHP exposure impairs the expression of Notch2 signaling components. • DEHP exposure disrupts the proliferation of pregranulosa precursor cells. - Abstract: Estrogen plays an essential role in the development of mammalian oocytes, and recent studies suggest that it also regulates primordial follicle assembly in the neonatal ovaries. During the last decade, potential exposure of humans and animals to estrogen-like endocrine disrupting chemicals has become a growing concern. In the present study, we focused on the effect of diethylhexyl phthalate (DEHP), a widespread plasticizer with estrogen-like activity, on germ-cell cyst breakdown and primordial follicle assembly in the early ovarian development of mouse. Neonatal mice injected with DEHP displayed impaired cyst breakdown. Using ovary organ cultures, we revealed that impairment was mediated through estrogen receptors (ERs), as ICI 182,780, an efficient antagonist of ER, reversed this DEHP-mediated effect. DEHP exposure reduced the expression of ERβ, progesterone receptor (PR), and Notch2 signaling components. Finally, DEHP reduced proliferation of pregranulosa precursor cells during the process of primordial folliculogenesis. Together, our results indicate that DEHP influences oocyte cyst breakdown and primordial follicle formation through several mechanisms. Therefore, exposure to estrogen-like chemicals during fetal or neonatal development may adversely influence early ovarian development.

Primordial black holes from passive density fluctuations

OpenAIRE

Lin, Chia-Min; Ng, Kin-Wang

2013-01-01

In this paper, we show that if passive fluctuations are considered, primordial black holes (PBHs) can be easily produced in the framework of single-field, slow-roll inflation models. The formation of PBHs is due to the blue spectrum of passive fluctuations and an enhancement of the spectral range which exits horizon near the end of inflation. Therefore the PBHs are light with masses $\\lesssim 10^{15}g$ depending on the number of e-folds when the scale of our observable universe leaves horizon...

Features in the primordial spectrum: New constraints from WMAP7 and ACT data and prospects for the Planck mission

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Benetti, Micol; Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Calabrese, Erminia; Melchiorri, Alessandro

2011-01-01

We update the constraints on possible features in the primordial inflationary density perturbation spectrum by using the latest data from the WMAP7 and ACT (Atacama Cosmology Telescope) cosmic microwave background experiments. The inclusion of new data significantly improves the constraints with respect to older work, especially to smaller angular scales. While we found no clear statistical evidence in the data for extensions to the simplest, featureless, inflationary model, models with a step provide a significantly better fit than standard featureless power-law spectra. We show that the possibility of a step in the inflationary potential like the one preferred by current data will soon be tested by the forthcoming temperature and polarization data from the Planck satellite mission.

PIXE characterization of Western Mediterranean and Anatolian obsidians and Neolithic provenance studies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Le Bourdonnec, F.-X.; Delerue, S.; Dubernet, S.; Moretto, Ph.; Calligaro, Th.; Dran, J.-C.; Poupeau, G.

2005-01-01

The possibility of non-destructive elemental analysis makes PIXE a very attractive technique in archaeological provenance studies. This technique has been fruitfully implemented on two different facilities to address the issue of obsidian provenance in the Mediterranean and in surrounding regions. At C2RMF, we took advantage of the possibility to analyze large archaeological pieces with the external micro-beam set-up. At CENBG, we used the nuclear microprobe providing a 5 μm beam diameter in large scans (700 x 700 μm 2 ) to control the homogeneity of elemental distribution. In both cases we dosed the same set of 13 elements: Na, Al, Si, K, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Zn, Ga, Rb, Sr and Zr. While at C2RMF, two Si(Li) detectors were used simultaneously to measure all elements at once with 3 MeV protons, at CENBG where only one detector was available, the light elements Na to Fe were determined with a 1.5 MeV beam, and the heavy ones, including Fe, with a beam energy of 2.7 MeV. In Western Mediterranean, it is possible with PIXE to differentiate all obsidian sources of archaeological significance. Examples are given of obsidian provenances from Neolithic sites of France and from the islands of Corsica and Sardinia. In the Near East, we can differentiate the Cappadocian and Eastern Anatolian obsidian sources used during the early Neolithic. This is illustrated by examples taken from Neolithic sites of the Middle Euphrates Valley (Syria)

Primordial black holes, cosmic rays and instrumental developments for the Cerenkov imager of the AMS space experiment

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Boudoul, G.

2003-09-01

The AMS experiment will be implemented on the International Space Station in 2006 for 3 years. It will study cosmic rays and should open a new window to look for dark matter and antimatter in the Universe. This work is, first, devoted to the experimental study of the Cherenkov (RICH) detector of AMS which will determine with a good accuracy the velocity and electric charge of the incoming particles. The chosen photodetectors, the electronic tests, the general schematics, the prototypes operating (including beam tests at CERN) are described into the details. The second part is made of theoretical investigations of some cosmic ray physics problems and to a possible exotic source: evaporating primordial black holes. The astrophysical, cosmological and gravitational (including speculative string gravity approaches) consequences of their possible existence are reviewed in details. (author)

The Effect of Aqueous Alteration on Primordial Noble Gases in CM Chondrites

Science.gov (United States)

Weimer, D.; Busemann, H.; Alexander, C. M. O'D.; Maden, C.

2017-07-01

We have analyzed 32 CM chondrites for their noble gas contents and isotopic compositions and calculated CRE ages. Correlated effects of parent body aqueous alteration with primordial noble gas contents were detected.

Inflation with primordial broken power law spectrum as an alternative to the concordance cosmological model

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pandolfi, Stefania; Giusarma, Elena; Lattanzi, Massimiliano; Melchiorri, Alessandro

2010-01-01

We consider cosmological models with a non-scale-invariant spectrum of primordial perturbations and assess whether they represent a viable alternative to the concordance ΛCDM model. We find that in the framework of a model selection analysis, the WMAP and 2dF data do not provide any conclusive evidence in favor of one or the other kind of model. However, when a marginalization over the entire space of nuisance parameters is performed, models with a modified primordial spectrum and Ω Λ =0 are strongly disfavored.

Digging Deeper: Observing Primordial Gravitational Waves below the Binary-Black-Hole-Produced Stochastic Background.

Science.gov (United States)

Regimbau, T; Evans, M; Christensen, N; Katsavounidis, E; Sathyaprakash, B; Vitale, S

2017-04-14

The merger rate of black hole binaries inferred from the detections in the first Advanced LIGO science run implies that a stochastic background produced by a cosmological population of mergers will likely mask the primordial gravitational wave background. Here we demonstrate that the next generation of ground-based detectors, such as the Einstein Telescope and Cosmic Explorer, will be able to observe binary black hole mergers throughout the Universe with sufficient efficiency that the confusion background can potentially be subtracted to observe the primordial background at the level of Ω_{GW}≃10^{-13} after 5 years of observation.

Data provenance assurance in the cloud using blockchain

Science.gov (United States)

Shetty, Sachin; Red, Val; Kamhoua, Charles; Kwiat, Kevin; Njilla, Laurent

2017-05-01

Ever increasing adoption of cloud technology scales up the activities like creation, exchange, and alteration of cloud data objects, which create challenges to track malicious activities and security violations. Addressing this issue requires implementation of data provenance framework so that each data object in the federated cloud environment can be tracked and recorded but cannot be modified. The blockchain technology gives a promising decentralized platform to build tamper-proof systems. Its incorruptible distributed ledger/blockchain complements the need of maintaining cloud data provenance. In this paper, we present a cloud based data provenance framework using block chain which traces data record operations and generates provenance data. We anchor provenance data records into block chain transactions, which provide validation on provenance data and preserve user privacy at the same time. Once the provenance data is uploaded to the global block chain network, it is extremely challenging to tamper the provenance data. Besides, the provenance data uses hashed user identifiers prior to uploading so the blockchain nodes cannot link the operations to a particular user. The framework ensures that the privacy is preserved. We implemented the architecture on ownCloud, uploaded records to blockchain network, stored records in a provenance database and developed a prototype in form of a web service.

Constraints on Primordial Non-Gaussianity from 800 000 Photometric Quasars.

Science.gov (United States)

Leistedt, Boris; Peiris, Hiranya V; Roth, Nina

2014-11-28

We derive robust constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) using the clustering of 800 000 photometric quasars from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey in the redshift range 0.5quasar halo bias at the largest scales, while discarding as little as possible of the data. The standard local-type PNG parameters f_{NL} and g_{NL} both imprint a k^{-2} scale-dependent effect in the bias. Constraining these individually, we obtain -49quasar clustering to the underlying dark matter. These are the strongest constraints obtained to date on PNG using a single population of large-scale structure tracers, and are already at the level of pre-Planck constraints from the cosmic microwave background. A conservative forecast for a Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST)-like survey incorporating mode projection yields σ(f_{NL})∼5-competitive with the Planck result-highlighting the power of upcoming large scale structure surveys to probe the initial conditions of the Universe.

Planck 2015 results: XVII. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ade, P. A R; Aghanim, N.; Arnaud, M.

2016-01-01

The Planck full mission cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and E-mode polarization maps are analysed to obtain constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity (NG). Using three classes of optimal bispectrum estimators – separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal – we obtain consiste...

Logical provenance in data-oriented workflows?

KAUST Repository

Ikeda, R.; Das Sarma, Akash; Widom, J.

2013-01-01

for general transformations, introducing the notions of correctness, precision, and minimality. We then determine when properties such as correctness and minimality carry over from the individual transformations' provenance to the workflow provenance. We

Seamless Provenance Representation and Use in Collaborative Science Scenarios

Science.gov (United States)

Missier, P.; Ludaescher, B.; Bowers, S.; Altintas, I.; Anand, M. K.; Dey, S.; Sarkar, A.; Shrestha, B.; Goble, C.

2010-12-01

The notion of sharing scientific data has only recently begun to gain ground in science, where data is still considered a private asset. There is growing evidence, however, that the benefits of scientific collaboration through early data sharing during the course of a science project may outgrow the risk of losing exclusive ownership of the data. As exemplar success stories are making the headlines[1], principles of effective information sharing have become the subject of e-science research. In particular, any piece of published data should be self-describing, to the extent necessary for consumers to determine its suitability for reuse in their own projects. This is accomplished by associating a body of formally specified and machine-processable metadata to the data. When data is produced and reused by independent groups, however, metadata interoperability issues emerge. This is the case for provenance, a form of metadata that describes the history of a data product, Y. Provenance is typically expressed as a graph-structured set of dependencies that account for the sequence of computational or interactive steps that led to Y, often starting from some primary, observational data. Traversing dependency graphs is one of the mechanisms used to answer questions on data reliability. In the context of the NSF DataONE project[2], we have been studying issues of provenance interoperability in scientific collaboration scenarios. Consider a first scientist, Alice, who publishes a data product X along with its provenance, and a second scientist who further transforms X into a new product Y, also along with its provenance. A third scientist, who is interested in Y, expects to be able to trace Y's history up to the inputs used by Alice. This is only possible, however, if provenance accumulates into a single, uniform graph that can be seamlessly traversed. This becomes problematic when provenance is captured using different tools and computational models (i.e. workflow systems

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE)

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan; Chluba, Jens; Fixsen, Dale J.; Meyer, Stephan; Spergel, David

2016-07-01

The Primordial Inflation Explorer is an Explorer-class mission to open new windows on the early universe through measurements of the polarization and absolute frequency spectrum of the cosmic microwave background. PIXIE will measure the gravitational-wave signature of primordial inflation through its distinctive imprint in linear polarization, and characterize the thermal history of the universe through precision measurements of distortions in the blackbody spectrum. PIXIE uses an innovative optical design to achieve background-limited sensitivity in 400 spectral channels spanning over 7 octaves in frequency from 30 GHz to 6 THz (1 cm to 50 micron wavelength). Multi-moded non-imaging optics feed a polarizing Fourier Transform Spectrometer to produce a set of interference fringes, proportional to the difference spectrum between orthogonal linear polarizations from the two input beams. Multiple levels of symmetry and signal modulation combine to reduce systematic errors to negligible levels. PIXIE will map the full sky in Stokes I, Q, and U parameters with angular resolution 2.6° and sensitivity 70 nK per 1° square pixel. The principal science goal is the detection and characterization of linear polarization from an inflationary epoch in the early universe, with tensor-to-scalar ratio r complements anticipated ground-based polarization measurements such as CMB- S4, providing a cosmic-variance-limited determination of the large-scale E-mode signal to measure the optical depth, constrain models of reionization, and provide a firm detection of the neutrino mass (the last unknown parameter in the Standard Model of particle physics). In addition, PIXIE will measure the absolute frequency spectrum to characterize deviations from a blackbody with sensitivity 3 orders of magnitude beyond the seminal COBE/FIRAS limits. The sky cannot be black at this level; the expected results will constrain physical processes ranging from inflation to the nature of the first stars and the

A Comparative Study of Argument from Primordial Nature and Argument from General Consensus on the Demonstration of Existence of God

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hamidreza Abdoli Mehrjardi

2014-08-01

Full Text Available Historical evidences suggest that human beings have been always in search of God in some form. Some believe that man is born with this divine sense. This ubiquitous quality of human beings is called primordial nature (fitrah. Many scholars have tried to demonstrate the existence of God through this shared quality of human individuals. In Islamic thought this latter intellectual effort has been designated as "argument from primordial nature" and in western theological and philosophical thought it is known as "argument from general consensus". Although these arguments have some differences in their general settings and attitudes; but they both resort to human general divine attitude to demonstrate the existence of God. In this essay we have sought to propound the views of those scholars who have dealt with this argument at length. Reflecting on the general form of the expositions shows that the expositions of argument from primordial nature and argument from general consensus cannot demonstrate the existence of God without basing themselves on the principle of causation or human existential poverty. Via comparative assessment of these two arguments we have turned to the critiques which have been leveled against them and laid bare their similarities and differences. Of course there are some differences between the argument from primordial nature in Islam and the argument from general consensus in west. This essay seeks to assay the key expositions which have been offered of these arguments in Islamic and western philosophies. It seems that among Moslem philosophers, Mulla Sadra from the early generation, Allameh Tabtabaei, Imam Khomeini, Jawadi Amuli and Mutahari from later generation, have paid more attention to this argument. Among western scholars one can mention William James, Charles Hodge, James Joyce, Paul Tillich and Seneca who have made more direct remarks on this argument. John Locke is also against this argument. This is why we have

Primordial germ cell biology at the beginning of the XXI century.

Science.gov (United States)

De Felici, Massimo

2009-01-01

At the XIV Workshop on the Development and Function of the Reproductive Organs held at the Congress Centre of the University of Rome Tor Vergata, Monteporzio Catone, Rome, Italy, the introduction to the first session entitled Mammalian primordial germ cells dedicated to the memory of Anne McLaren, was the occasion for a concise review of the state of art of research on the biology of primordial germ cells (PGCs). This great, unforgettable scientist, who died in a car accident in July 2007, dedicated most of her studies to this field over the last 25 years. Topics briefly reviewed in this Meeting Report are: 1) how the germ line is determined; 2) what are the mechanisms underlying PGC migration; 3) to what extent PGC survival, proliferation and differentiation are cell autonomous or environmentally controlled processes and 4) how the potential for totipotency is retained in PGCs.

INVESTIGATION OF PRIMORDIAL BLACK HOLE BURSTS USING INTERPLANETARY NETWORK GAMMA-RAY BURSTS

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ukwatta, T. N. [Director' s Postdoctoral Fellow, Space and Remote Sensing (ISR-2), Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545 (United States); Hurley, K. [University of California, Berkeley, Space Sciences Laboratory, 7 Gauss Way, Berkeley, CA 94720-7450 (United States); MacGibbon, J. H. [Department of Physics, University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL 32224 (United States); Svinkin, D. S.; Aptekar, R. L.; Golenetskii, S. V.; Frederiks, D. D.; Pal' shin, V. D. [Ioffe Physical Technical Institute, St. Petersburg, 194021 (Russian Federation); Goldsten, J. [Applied Physics Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723 (United States); Boynton, W. [Department of Planetary Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 (United States); Kozyrev, A. S. [Space Research Institute, 84/32, Profsoyuznaya, Moscow 117997 (Russian Federation); Rau, A.; Kienlin, A. von; Zhang, X. [Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik, Giessenbachstrasse, Postfach 1312, Garching, D-85748 (Germany); Connaughton, V. [University of Alabama in Huntsville, NSSTC, 320 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35805 (United States); Yamaoka, K. [Department of Physics and Mathematics, Aoyama Gakuin University, 5-10-1 Fuchinobe, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 229-8558 (Japan); Ohno, M. [Department of Physics, Hiroshima University, 1-3-1 Kagamiyama, Higashi-Hiroshima, Hiroshima 739-8526 (Japan); Ohmori, N. [Department of Applied Physics, University of Miyazaki, 1-1 Gakuen kibanadai-nishi, Miyazaki-shi, Miyazaki 889-2192 (Japan); Feroci, M. [INAF/IAPS-Roma, via Fosso del Cavaliere 100, I-00133, Roma (Italy); Frontera, F., E-mail: tilan@lanl.gov [Department of Physics and Earth Science, University of Ferrara, via Saragat 1, I-44122 Ferrara (Italy); and others

2016-07-20

The detection of a gamma-ray burst (GRB) in the solar neighborhood would have very important implications for GRB phenomenology. The leading theories for cosmological GRBs would not be able to explain such events. The final bursts of evaporating primordial black holes (PBHs), however, would be a natural explanation for local GRBs. We present a novel technique that can constrain the distance to GRBs using detections from widely separated, non-imaging spacecraft. This method can determine the actual distance to the burst if it is local. We applied this method to constrain distances to a sample of 36 short-duration GRBs detected by the Interplanetary Network (IPN) that show observational properties that are expected from PBH evaporations. These bursts have minimum possible distances in the 10{sup 13}–10{sup 18} cm (7–10{sup 5} au) range, which are consistent with the expected PBH energetics and with a possible origin in the solar neighborhood, although none of the bursts can be unambiguously demonstrated to be local. Assuming that these bursts are real PBH events, we estimate lower limits on the PBH burst evaporation rate in the solar neighborhood.

Merger rate of primordial black-hole binaries

Science.gov (United States)

Ali-Haïmoud, Yacine; Kovetz, Ely D.; Kamionkowski, Marc

2017-12-01

Primordial black holes (PBHs) have long been a candidate for the elusive dark matter (DM), and remain poorly constrained in the ˜20 - 100 M⊙ mass range. PBH binaries were recently suggested as the possible source of LIGO's first detections. In this paper, we thoroughly revisit existing estimates of the merger rate of PBH binaries. We compute the probability distribution of orbital parameters for PBH binaries formed in the early Universe, accounting for tidal torquing by all other PBHs, as well as standard large-scale adiabatic perturbations. We then check whether the orbital parameters of PBH binaries formed in the early Universe can be significantly affected between formation and merger. Our analytic estimates indicate that the tidal field of halos and interactions with other PBHs, as well as dynamical friction by unbound standard DM particles, do not do significant work on nor torque PBH binaries. We estimate the torque due to baryon accretion to be much weaker than previous calculations, albeit possibly large enough to significantly affect the eccentricity of typical PBH binaries. We also revisit the PBH-binary merger rate resulting from gravitational capture in present-day halos, accounting for Poisson fluctuations. If binaries formed in the early Universe survive to the present time, as suggested by our analytic estimates, they dominate the total PBH merger rate. Moreover, this merger rate would be orders of magnitude larger than LIGO's current upper limits if PBHs make a significant fraction of the dark matter. As a consequence, LIGO would constrain ˜10 - 300 M⊙ PBHs to constitute no more than ˜1 % of the dark matter. To make this conclusion fully robust, though, numerical study of several complex astrophysical processes—such as the formation of the first PBH halos and how they may affect PBH binaries, as well as the accretion of gas onto an extremely eccentric binary—is needed.

SEIS-PROV: Practical Provenance for Seismological Data

Science.gov (United States)

Krischer, L.; Smith, J. A.; Tromp, J.

2015-12-01

It is widely recognized that reproducibility is crucial to advance science, but at the same time it is very hard to actually achieve. This results in it being recognized but also mostly ignored by a large fraction of the community. A key ingredient towards full reproducibility is to capture and describe the history of data, an issue known as provenance. We present SEIS-PROV, a practical format and data model to store provenance information for seismological data. In a seismological context, provenance can be seen as information about the processes that generated and modified a particular piece of data. For synthetic waveforms the provenance information describes which solver and settings therein were used to generate it. When looking at processed seismograms, the provenance conveys information about the different time series analysis steps that led to it. Additional uses include the description of derived data types, such as cross-correlations and adjoint sources, enabling their proper storage and exchange. SEIS-PROV is based on W3C PROV (http://www.w3.org/TR/prov-overview/), a standard for generic provenance information. It then applies an additional set of constraints to make it suitable for seismology. We present a definition of the SEIS-PROV format, a way to check if any given file is a valid SEIS-PROV document, and two sample implementations: One in SPECFEM3D GLOBE (https://geodynamics.org/cig/software/specfem3d_globe/) to store the provenance information of synthetic seismograms and another one as part of the ObsPy (http://obspy.org) framework enabling automatic tracking of provenance information during a series of analysis and transformation stages. This, along with tools to visualize and interpret provenance graphs, offers a description of data history that can be readily tracked, stored, and exchanged.

Primordial black holes formation from particle production during inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Erfani, Encieh

2016-01-01

We study the possibility that particle production during inflation can source the required power spectrum for dark matter (DM) primordial black holes (PBH) formation. We consider the scalar and the gauge quanta production in inflation models, where in the latter case, we focus in two sectors: inflaton coupled i) directly and ii) gravitationally to a U(1) gauge field. We do not assume any specific potential for the inflaton field. Hence, in the gauge production case, in a model independent way we show that the non-production of DM PBHs puts stronger upper bound on the particle production parameter. Our analysis show that this bound is more stringent than the bounds from the bispectrum and the tensor-to-scalar ratio derived by gauge production in these models. In the scenario where the inflaton field coupled to a scalar field, we put an upper bound on the amplitude of the generated scalar power spectrum by non-production of PBHs. As a by-product we also show that the required scalar power spectrum for PBHs formation is lower when the density perturbations are non-Gaussian in comparison to the Gaussian density perturbations

Detecting primordial gravitational waves with circular polarization of the redshifted 21 cm line. II. Forecasts

Science.gov (United States)

Mishra, Abhilash; Hirata, Christopher M.

2018-05-01

In the first paper of this series, we showed that the CMB quadrupole at high redshifts results in a small circular polarization of the emitted 21 cm radiation. In this paper we forecast the sensitivity of future radio experiments to measure the CMB quadrupole during the era of first cosmic light (z ˜20 ). The tomographic measurement of 21 cm circular polarization allows us to construct a 3D remote quadrupole field. Measuring the B -mode component of this remote quadrupole field can be used to put bounds on the tensor-to-scalar ratio r . We make Fisher forecasts for a future Fast Fourier Transform Telescope (FFTT), consisting of an array of dipole antennas in a compact grid configuration, as a function of array size and observation time. We find that a FFTT with a side length of 100 km can achieve σ (r )˜4 ×10-3 after ten years of observation and with a sky coverage fsky˜0.7 . The forecasts are dependent on the evolution of the Lyman-α flux in the pre-reionization era, that remains observationally unconstrained. Finally, we calculate the typical order of magnitudes for circular polarization foregrounds and comment on their mitigation strategies. We conclude that detection of primordial gravitational waves with 21 cm observations is in principle possible, so long as the primordial magnetic field amplitude is small, but would require a very futuristic experiment with corresponding advances in calibration and foreground suppression techniques.

Primordial non-Gaussianity and power asymmetry with quantum gravitational effects in loop quantum cosmology

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Tao; Wang, Anzhong; Kirsten, Klaus; Cleaver, Gerald; Sheng, Qin

2018-02-01

Loop quantum cosmology provides a resolution of the classical big bang singularity in the deep Planck era. The evolution, prior to the usual slow-roll inflation, naturally generates excited states at the onset of the slow-roll inflation. It is expected that these quantum gravitational effects could leave its fingerprints on the primordial perturbation spectrum and non-Gaussianity, and lead to some observational evidences in the cosmic microwave background. While the impact of the quantum effects on the primordial perturbation spectrum has been already studied and constrained by current data, in this paper we continue to study such effects but now on the non-Gaussianity of the primordial curvature perturbations. We present detailed and analytical calculations of the non-Gaussianity and show explicitly that the corrections due to the quantum effects are at the same magnitude of the slow-roll parameters in the observable scales and thus are well within current observational constraints. Despite this, we show that the non-Gaussianity in the squeezed limit can be enhanced at superhorizon scales and it is these effects that can yield a large statistical anisotropy on the power spectrum through the Erickcek-Kamionkowski-Carroll mechanism.

Towards Forming a Primordial Protostar in a Cosmological AMR Simulation

Science.gov (United States)

Turk, Matthew J.; Abel, Tom; O'Shea, Brian W.

2008-03-01

Modeling the formation of the first stars in the universe is a well-posed problem and ideally suited for computational investigation.We have conducted high-resolution numerical studies of the formation of primordial stars. Beginning with primordial initial conditions appropriate for a ΛCDM model, we used the Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement code (Enzo) to achieve unprecedented numerical resolution, resolving cosmological scales as well as sub-stellar scales simultaneously. Building on the work of Abel, Bryan and Norman (2002), we followed the evolution of the first collapsing cloud until molecular hydrogen is optically thick to cooling radiation. In addition, the calculations account for the process of collision-induced emission (CIE) and add approximations to the optical depth in both molecular hydrogen roto-vibrational cooling and CIE. Also considered are the effects of chemical heating/cooling from the formation/destruction of molecular hydrogen. We present the results of these simulations, showing the formation of a 10 Jupiter-mass protostellar core bounded by a strongly aspherical accretion shock. Accretion rates are found to be as high as one solar mass per year.

The New BBN Model with the Photon Cooling, X Particle, and the Primordial Magnetic Field

Science.gov (United States)

Yamazaki, Dai G.; Kusakabe, Motohiko; Kajino, Toshitaka; Mathews, Grant. J.; Cheoun, Myung-Ki

The Big bang nucleosynthesis theory accurately reproduces the abundances of light elements in the Universe, except for 7Li abundance. Calculated 7Li abundance with the baryon to photon ratio fixed by the observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is inconsistent with the observed 7Li abundance on the surface of metal-poor halo stars, and this problem is called "Li problem". Previous studies proposing solutions of this 7Li problem include photon cooling (possibly via the Bose-Einstein condensation of a scalar particle), the decay of a long-lived X particle (possibly the next-to-lightest supersymmetric particle), or an energy density of a primordial magnetic field (PMF). We mention analyzed results of these solutions both separately and in concert, and the constraint on the X particles and the PMF parameters from observed light element abundances with likelihood analysis. We can discover parameter ranges of the X particles which can solve the Li problem and constrain the energy density of the PMF.

Primordial-like enzymes from bacteria with reduced genomes.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferla, Matteo P; Brewster, Jodi L; Hall, Kelsi R; Evans, Gary B; Patrick, Wayne M

2017-08-01

The first cells probably possessed rudimentary metabolic networks, built using a handful of multifunctional enzymes. The promiscuous activities of modern enzymes are often assumed to be relics of this primordial era; however, by definition these activities are no longer physiological. There are many fewer examples of enzymes using a single active site to catalyze multiple physiologically-relevant reactions. Previously, we characterized the promiscuous alanine racemase (ALR) activity of Escherichia coli cystathionine β-lyase (CBL). Now we have discovered that several bacteria with reduced genomes lack alr, but contain metC (encoding CBL). We characterized the CBL enzymes from three of these: Pelagibacter ubique, the Wolbachia endosymbiont of Drosophila melanogaster (wMel) and Thermotoga maritima. Each is a multifunctional CBL/ALR. However, we also show that CBL activity is no longer required in these bacteria. Instead, the wMel and T. maritima enzymes are physiologically bi-functional alanine/glutamate racemases. They are not highly active, but they are clearly sufficient. Given the abundance of the microorganisms using them, we suggest that much of the planet's biochemistry is carried out by enzymes that are quite different from the highly-active exemplars usually found in textbooks. Instead, primordial-like enzymes may be an essential part of the adaptive strategy associated with streamlining. © 2017 The Authors. Molecular Microbiology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

Provenance trials of larch in Siberia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milyutin, L.I. [V.N. Sukachev Inst. of Forest SB RAS, Krasnoyarsk (Russian Federation)

1995-12-31

Some results of provenance trials of larch in Siberia are given. These provenance trials were established in the last thirty years by efforts of V.N. Sukaczev Inst. of Forest. Provenances and species of larch were tested in some field trials distributed over Siberia between Lat. N 52 deg and 66 deg, Long. E 88 deg and 113 deg: near Krasnoyarsk, in Republic Khakasia (an altitudes of 800 and 1200 metres), in the Lower Yenisei near Turukhansk, in the west and south regions of Krasnoyarsk territory, in the Upper Lena, near Chita. 2 refs

Archives and societal provenance Australian essays

CERN Document Server

Piggott, Michael

2012-01-01

Records and archival arrangements in Australia are globally relevant because Australia's indigenous people represent the oldest living culture in the world, and because modern Australia is an ex-colonial society now heavily multicultural in outlook. Archives and Societal Provenance explores this distinctiveness using the theoretical concept of societal provenance as propounded by Canadian archival scholars led by Dr Tom Nesmith. The book's seventeen essays blend new writing and re-workings of earlier work, comprising the fi rst text to apply a societal provenance perspective to a national sett

Provenance trials of larch in Siberia

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Milyutin, L I [V.N. Sukachev Inst. of Forest SB RAS, Krasnoyarsk (Russian Federation)

1996-12-31

Some results of provenance trials of larch in Siberia are given. These provenance trials were established in the last thirty years by efforts of V.N. Sukaczev Inst. of Forest. Provenances and species of larch were tested in some field trials distributed over Siberia between Lat. N 52 deg and 66 deg, Long. E 88 deg and 113 deg: near Krasnoyarsk, in Republic Khakasia (an altitudes of 800 and 1200 metres), in the Lower Yenisei near Turukhansk, in the west and south regions of Krasnoyarsk territory, in the Upper Lena, near Chita. 2 refs

Thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect in the intergalactic medium with primordial magnetic fields

Science.gov (United States)

Minoda, Teppei; Hasegawa, Kenji; Tashiro, Hiroyuki; Ichiki, Kiyotomo; Sugiyama, Naoshi

2017-12-01

The presence of ubiquitous magnetic fields in the universe is suggested from observations of radiation and cosmic ray from galaxies or the intergalactic medium (IGM). One possible origin of cosmic magnetic fields is the magnetogenesis in the primordial universe. Such magnetic fields are called primordial magnetic fields (PMFs), and are considered to affect the evolution of matter density fluctuations and the thermal history of the IGM gas. Hence the information of PMFs is expected to be imprinted on the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) through the thermal Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (tSZ) effect in the IGM. In this study, given an initial power spectrum of PMFs as P (k )∝B1Mpc 2knB , we calculate dynamical and thermal evolutions of the IGM under the influence of PMFs, and compute the resultant angular power spectrum of the Compton y -parameter on the sky. As a result, we find that two physical processes driven by PMFs dominantly determine the power spectrum of the Compton y -parameter; (i) the heating due to the ambipolar diffusion effectively works to increase the temperature and the ionization fraction, and (ii) the Lorentz force drastically enhances the density contrast on small scale just after the recombination epoch. These facts result in making the anisotropies of the CMB temperature on small scales, and we find that the signal goes up to 10 μ K2 around ℓ˜106 with B1 Mpc=0.1 nG and nB=0.0 . Therefore, CMB measurements on such small scales may provide a hint for the existence of the PMFs.

Expression of ErbB3-binding protein-1 (EBP1 during primordial follicle formation: role of estradiol-17ß.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Anindit Mukherjee

Full Text Available The formation of primordial follicles involves the interaction between the oocytes and surrounding somatic cells, which differentiate into granulosa cells. Estradiol-17ß (E promotes primordial follicle formation in vivo and in vitro; however, the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. The expression of an ERBB3-binding protein 1 (EBP1 is downregulated in 8-day old hamster ovaries concurrent with the increase in serum estradiol levels and the formation of primordial follicles. The objectives of the present study were to determine the spatio-temporal expression and putative E regulation of EBP1 in ovarian cells during perinatal development with respect to primordial follicle formation. Hamster EBP1 nucleic acid and amino acid sequences were more than 93% and 98% similar, respectively, to those of mouse and human, and contained nucleolar localization signal, RNA-binding domain and several phosphorylation sites. EBP1 protein was present in somatic cells and oocytes from E15, and declined in oocytes by P1 and in somatic cells by P5. Thereafter, EBP1 expression increased through P7 with a transient decline on P8 primarily in interstitial cells. EBP1 mRNA levels mirrored protein expression pattern. E treatment on P1 and P4 upregulated EBP1 expression by P8 whereas E treatment on P4 downregulated it by 72 h suggesting a compensatory upregulation due to E pretreatment. Treatment with an FSH-antiserum, which suppressed primordial follicle formation, prevented the decline in EBP1 levels, and the effect was reversed by E treatment. Therefore, the results provide the first evidence that EBP1 may play an important role in mediating the effect of E in the differentiation of somatic cells into granulosa cells during primordial follicle formation.

The atmospheric Cherenkov technique in searches for exploding primordial black holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Danaher, S.; Fegan, D.J.; Porter, N.A.; Weekes, T.C.

1981-01-01

The Cherenkov technique has been used with a number of detectors, ranging from 1.5 m 2 mirrors to the Central Receiver Test Facility of 8400 m 2 . Limits have been set to the flux of primordial black holes for various models of the evaporation process. (author)

Spectrum evolution of primordial cosmic turbulence

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Futamase, T.; Matsuda, T.

1980-01-01

The evolution of primordial cosmic turbulence prior to the epoch of plasma recombination is investigated numerically using the Wiener-Hermite expansion technique which gives reasonable results for laboratory turbulence. It is found that the Kolmogorov spectrum is established only within a narrow range of wavenumber space for reasonable parameter sets, because the expansion of the Universe has a tendency to suppress an energy cascade from larger eddies to smaller ones. The present result does not agree with that obtained by Kurskov and Ozernoi, who computed the decay of turbulence in a fictitious non-expanding frame using the Heisenberg closure hypothesis, while it was done in a physical frame in the present work. (author)

Rewarming the Primordial Soup: Revisitations and Rediscoveries in Prebiotic Chemistry.

Science.gov (United States)

Saladino, Raffaele; Šponer, Judit E; Šponer, Jiří; Di Mauro, Ernesto

2018-01-04

A short history of Campbell's primordial soup: In this essay we try to disclose some of the historical connections between the studies that have contributed to our current understanding of the emergence of catalytic RNA molecules and their components from an inanimate matter. © 2017 The Authors. Published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA.

The statistics of maxima in primordial density perturbations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Peacock, J.A.; Heavens, A.F.

1985-01-01

An investigation has been made of the hypothesis that protogalaxies/protoclusters form at the sites of maxima in a primordial field of normally distributed density perturbations. Using a mixture of analytic and numerical techniques, the properties of the maxima, have been studied. The results provide a natural mechanism for biased galaxy formation in which galaxies do not necessarily follow the large-scale density. Methods for obtained the true autocorrelation function of the density field and implications for Microwave Background studies are discussed. (author)

Tracing primordial black holes in nonsingular bouncing cosmology

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Chen, Jie-Wen, E-mail: chjw@mail.ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Liu, Junyu, E-mail: junyu@mail.ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Department of Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125 (United States); Xu, Hao-Lan, E-mail: xhl1995@mail.ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China); Institut d' Astrophysique de Paris, UMR 7095-CNRS, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, 98 bis boulevard Arago, 75014 Paris (France); Cai, Yi-Fu, E-mail: yifucai@ustc.edu.cn [CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, Department of Astronomy, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026 (China)

2017-06-10

We in this paper investigate the formation and evolution of primordial black holes (PBHs) in nonsingular bouncing cosmologies. We discuss the formation of PBH in the contracting phase and calculate the PBH abundance as a function of the sound speed and Hubble parameter. Afterwards, by taking into account the subsequent PBH evolution during the bouncing phase, we derive the density of PBHs and their Hawking radiation. Our analysis shows that nonsingular bounce models can be constrained from the backreaction of PBHs.

Dark energy and dark matter from primordial QGP

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Vaidya, Vaishali, E-mail: vaidvavaishali24@gmail.com; Upadhyaya, G. K., E-mail: gopalujiain@yahoo.co.in [School of Studies in Physics, Vikram University Ujjain (India)

2015-07-31

Coloured relics servived after hadronization might have given birth to dark matter and dark energy. Theoretical ideas to solve mystery of cosmic acceleration, its origin and its status with reference to recent past are of much interest and are being proposed by many workers. In the present paper, we present a critical review of work done to understand the earliest appearance of dark matter and dark energy in the scenario of primordial quark gluon plasma (QGP) phase after Big Bang.

Primordial soup was edible: abiotically produced Miller-Urey mixture supports bacterial growth.

Science.gov (United States)

Xie, Xueshu; Backman, Daniel; Lebedev, Albert T; Artaev, Viatcheslav B; Jiang, Liying; Ilag, Leopold L; Zubarev, Roman A

2015-09-28

Sixty years after the seminal Miller-Urey experiment that abiotically produced a mixture of racemized amino acids, we provide a definite proof that this primordial soup, when properly cooked, was edible for primitive organisms. Direct admixture of even small amounts of Miller-Urey mixture strongly inhibits E. coli bacteria growth due to the toxicity of abundant components, such as cyanides. However, these toxic compounds are both volatile and extremely reactive, while bacteria are highly capable of adaptation. Consequently, after bacterial adaptation to a mixture of the two most abundant abiotic amino acids, glycine and racemized alanine, dried and reconstituted MU soup was found to support bacterial growth and even accelerate it compared to a simple mixture of the two amino acids. Therefore, primordial Miller-Urey soup was perfectly suitable as a growth media for early life forms.

Proliferating Cell Nuclear Antigen (PCNA) Regulates Primordial Follicle Assembly by Promoting Apoptosis of Oocytes in Fetal and Neonatal Mouse Ovaries

Science.gov (United States)

Zhang, Yuanwei; Jiang, Xiaohua; Zhang, Huan; Ma, Tieliang; Zheng, Wei; Sun, Rui; Shen, Wei; Sha, Jiahao; Cooke, Howard J.; Shi, Qinghua

2011-01-01

Primordial follicles, providing all the oocytes available to a female throughout her reproductive life, assemble in perinatal ovaries with individual oocytes surrounded by granulosa cells. In mammals including the mouse, most oocytes die by apoptosis during primordial follicle assembly, but factors that regulate oocyte death remain largely unknown. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), a key regulator in many essential cellular processes, was shown to be differentially expressed during these processes in mouse ovaries using 2D-PAGE and MALDI-TOF/TOF methodology. A V-shaped expression pattern of PCNA in both oocytes and somatic cells was observed during the development of fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries, decreasing from 13.5 to 18.5 dpc and increasing from 18.5 dpc to 5 dpp. This was closely correlated with the meiotic prophase I progression from pre-leptotene to pachytene and from pachytene to diplotene when primordial follicles started to assemble. Inhibition of the increase of PCNA expression by RNA interference in cultured 18.5 dpc mouse ovaries strikingly reduced the apoptosis of oocytes, accompanied by down-regulation of known pro-apoptotic genes, e.g. Bax, caspase-3, and TNFα and TNFR2, and up-regulation of Bcl-2, a known anti-apoptotic gene. Moreover, reduced expression of PCNA was observed to significantly increase primordial follicle assembly, but these primordial follicles contained fewer guanulosa cells. Similar results were obtained after down-regulation by RNA interference of Ing1b, a PCNA-binding protein in the UV-induced apoptosis regulation. Thus, our results demonstrate that PCNA regulates primordial follicle assembly by promoting apoptosis of oocytes in fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries. PMID:21253613

Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA regulates primordial follicle assembly by promoting apoptosis of oocytes in fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Bo Xu

Full Text Available Primordial follicles, providing all the oocytes available to a female throughout her reproductive life, assemble in perinatal ovaries with individual oocytes surrounded by granulosa cells. In mammals including the mouse, most oocytes die by apoptosis during primordial follicle assembly, but factors that regulate oocyte death remain largely unknown. Proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA, a key regulator in many essential cellular processes, was shown to be differentially expressed during these processes in mouse ovaries using 2D-PAGE and MALDI-TOF/TOF methodology. A V-shaped expression pattern of PCNA in both oocytes and somatic cells was observed during the development of fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries, decreasing from 13.5 to 18.5 dpc and increasing from 18.5 dpc to 5 dpp. This was closely correlated with the meiotic prophase I progression from pre-leptotene to pachytene and from pachytene to diplotene when primordial follicles started to assemble. Inhibition of the increase of PCNA expression by RNA interference in cultured 18.5 dpc mouse ovaries strikingly reduced the apoptosis of oocytes, accompanied by down-regulation of known pro-apoptotic genes, e.g. Bax, caspase-3, and TNFα and TNFR2, and up-regulation of Bcl-2, a known anti-apoptotic gene. Moreover, reduced expression of PCNA was observed to significantly increase primordial follicle assembly, but these primordial follicles contained fewer granulosa cells. Similar results were obtained after down-regulation by RNA interference of Ing1b, a PCNA-binding protein in the UV-induced apoptosis regulation. Thus, our results demonstrate that PCNA regulates primordial follicle assembly by promoting apoptosis of oocytes in fetal and neonatal mouse ovaries.

Multicollector High Precision Resolution of Primordial Kr and Xe in Mantle CO2 Well Gases

Science.gov (United States)

Holland, G.; Ballentine, C.; Cassidy, M.

2008-12-01

Noble gas isotopes in magmatic CO2 well gases provide a unique insight into mantle volatile origin and dynamics [1-3]. Previous work has resolved mantle 20Ne/22Ne ratios consistent with a solar wind irradiated meteoritic source for mantle He and Ne [1]. This is distinct from Solar Wind values that might be expected if the primary mechanism of terrestrial mantle volatile acquisition was through the gravitational capture of solar nebula gases [see 4]. Within the CO2 well gases a primordial component has also been resolved in the non- radiogenic Xe isotopic composition [2,3]. Using multicollector mass spectrometry we have observed a 124Xe/130Xe excess of 1.85 percent over air plus/minus 0.17 percent for the least air contaminated samples. At this level of precision we are for the first time able to differentiate between a trapped meteoritic origin (average carbonaceous chondrite or Q Xe) rather than Solar Wind origin as the primordial Xe component. The well gases also contain Kr which, in the least air contaminated sample, have a correlated 86Kr/82Kr excess of 0.55 percent over air plus/minus 0.04 percent. Whilst mass dependent fractionation can theoretically produce correlated excesses in 124Xe-128Xe and 82Kr-86Kr isotopes, no fractionation from air is observed in 38Ar/36Ar [3] and the Kr excesses are in the opposite sense to that of Xe. From 136Xe excesses, Kr fission yield from Pu and U can be calculated and subtracted from the Kr isotopic signature. This fission-corrected signature is most reasonably explained as a primordial component. This is the first time that primordial Kr has ever been resolved in a terrestrial sample. The primordial Kr isotopic signature is distinct from Solar Wind Kr and is consistent with the primordial Kr also originating as a trapped component within meteorites. We are now able to demonstrate that both the light (He and Ne) and Heavy (Kr and Xe) noble gas origin in the terrestrial mantle is consistent with a trapped component during the

Formation of primordial black holes from non-Gaussian perturbations produced in a waterfall transition

Science.gov (United States)

Bugaev, Edgar; Klimai, Peter

2012-05-01

We consider the process of primordial black hole (PBH) formation originated from primordial curvature perturbations produced during waterfall transition (with tachyonic instability), at the end of hybrid inflation. It is known that in such inflation models, rather large values of curvature perturbation amplitudes can be reached, which can potentially cause a significant PBH production in the early Universe. The probability distributions of density perturbation amplitudes in this case can be strongly non-Gaussian, which requires a special treatment. We calculated PBH abundances and PBH mass spectra for the model and analyzed their dependence on model parameters. We obtained the constraints on the parameters of the inflationary potential, using the available limits on βPBH.

Search for gravitational waves from primordial black hole binary coalescences in the galactic halo

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Abbott, B.; Anderson, S.B.; Araya, M.; Armandula, H.; Asiri, F.; Barish, B.C.; Barnes, M.; Barton, M.A.; Bhawal, B.; Billingsley, G.; Black, E.; Blackburn, K.; Bogue, L.; Bork, R.; Brown, D.A.; Busby, D.; Cardenas, L.; Chandler, A.; Chapsky, J.; Charlton, P.

2005-01-01

We use data from the second science run of the LIGO gravitational-wave detectors to search for the gravitational waves from primordial black hole binary coalescence with component masses in the range 0.2-1.0M · . The analysis requires a signal to be found in the data from both LIGO observatories, according to a set of coincidence criteria. No inspiral signals were found. Assuming a spherical halo with core radius 5 kpc extending to 50 kpc containing nonspinning black holes with masses in the range 0.2-1.0M · , we place an observational upper limit on the rate of primordial black hole coalescence of 63 per year per Milky Way halo (MWH) with 90% confidence

Lightweight Provenance Service for High-Performance Computing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dai, Dong; Chen, Yong; Carns, Philip; Jenkins, John; Ross, Robert

2017-09-09

Provenance describes detailed information about the history of a piece of data, containing the relationships among elements such as users, processes, jobs, and workflows that contribute to the existence of data. Provenance is key to supporting many data management functionalities that are increasingly important in operations such as identifying data sources, parameters, or assumptions behind a given result; auditing data usage; or understanding details about how inputs are transformed into outputs. Despite its importance, however, provenance support is largely underdeveloped in highly parallel architectures and systems. One major challenge is the demanding requirements of providing provenance service in situ. The need to remain lightweight and to be always on often conflicts with the need to be transparent and offer an accurate catalog of details regarding the applications and systems. To tackle this challenge, we introduce a lightweight provenance service, called LPS, for high-performance computing (HPC) systems. LPS leverages a kernel instrument mechanism to achieve transparency and introduces representative execution and flexible granularity to capture comprehensive provenance with controllable overhead. Extensive evaluations and use cases have confirmed its efficiency and usability. We believe that LPS can be integrated into current and future HPC systems to support a variety of data management needs.

Data Provenance and Data Management in eScience

CERN Document Server

Bai, Quan; Giugni, Stephen; Williamson, Darrell; Taylor, John

2013-01-01

eScience allows scientific research to be carried out in highly distributed environments. The complex nature of the interactions in an eScience infrastructure, which often involves a range of instruments, data, models, applications, people and computational facilities, suggests there is a need for data provenance and data management (DPDM). The W3C Provenance Working Group defines the provenance of a resource as a “record that describes entities and processes involved in producing and delivering or otherwise influencing that resource”. It has been widely recognised that provenance is a critical issue to enable sharing, trust, authentication and reproducibility of eScience process.   Data Provenance and Data Management in eScience identifies the gaps between DPDM foundations and their practice within eScience domains including clinical trials, bioinformatics and radio astronomy. The book covers important aspects of fundamental research in DPDM including provenance representation and querying. It also expl...

Irradiation sensibility of different provenances of Jatropha curcas L. seeds

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yang Qing; Xu Congheng; Peng Daiping; Duan Zhubiao; Han Lei; Sun Qixiang; Peng Zhenhua

2007-01-01

The irradiation sensibility of 10 provenances of Jatropha curcas L. seeds to 60 Co γ-rays was studied. The results showed that the relationship between relative germination rate of the seeds and the doses of irradiation was negative correlation, and the difference of relative germination rate among different doses treatment was significant at 5% probability level or highly significant at 1% probability level. For seeds of different provenances, the correlation coefficient of linear regression was from -0.89--0.96, and the medial lethal doses (LD 50) of 10 provinces was from 127 Gy to 184 Gy. According to the LD 50, we could divided 10 provinces of J. curcas L. into sensitive provenance, transitional provenances and obtuse provenances. The provenances of Yuanjiang , Yunan (184 Gy) belonged to sensitive provenance; the provenances of Zhenfeng, Guizhou (127 Gy) and the provenances of Yuedong, Hainan (141 Gy) belonged to obtuse provenance; other 7 provenances belonged to transitional provenances. The results provided important experiment basis for germ plasma resources innovation of J. curcas L. (authors)

Non-Gaussian initial conditions in ΛCDM: Newtonian, relativistic, and primordial contributions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bruni, Marco; Hidalgo, Juan Carlos; Meures, Nikolai; Wands, David

2014-01-01

The goal of the present paper is to set initial conditions for structure formation at nonlinear order, consistent with general relativity, while also allowing for primordial non-Gaussianity. We use the nonlinear continuity and Raychaudhuri equations, which together with the nonlinear energy constraint, determine the evolution of the matter density fluctuation in general relativity. We solve this equations at first and second order in a perturbative expansion, recovering and extending previous results derived in the matter-dominated limit and in the Newtonian regime. We present a second-order solution for the comoving density contrast in a ΛCDM universe, identifying nonlinear contributions coming from the Newtonian growing mode, primordial non-Gaussianity and intrinsic non-Gaussianity, due to the essential nonlinearity of the relativistic constraint equations. We discuss the application of these results to initial conditions in N-body simulations, showing that relativistic corrections mimic a non-zero nonlinear parameter f NL

Can cathodoluminescence of feldspar be used as provenance indicator?

Science.gov (United States)

Scholonek, Christiane; Augustsson, Carita

2016-05-01

We have studied feldspar from crystalline rocks for its textural and spectral cathodoluminescence (CL) characteristics with the aim to reveal their provenance potential. We analyzed ca. 60 rock samples of plutonic, volcanic, metamorphic, and pegmatitic origin from different continents and of 16 Ma to 2 Ga age for their feldspar CL textures and ca. 1200 feldspar crystals from these rocks for their CL color spectra. Among the analyzed rocks, igneous feldspar is most commonly zoned, whereby oscillatory zoning can be confirmed to be typical for volcanic plagioclase. The volcanic plagioclase also less commonly contains twin lamellae that are visible in CL light than crystals from other rock types. Alkali feldspar, particularly from igneous and pegmatitic rocks, was noted to be most affected by alteration features, visible as dark spots, lines and irregular areas. The size of all textural features of up to ca. 150 μm, in combination with possible alteration in both the source area and the sedimentary system, makes the CL textures of feldspar possible to use for qualitative provenance research only. We observed alkali feldspar mostly to luminesce in a bluish color and sometimes in red, and plagioclase in green to yellow. The corresponding CL spectra are dominated by three apparent intensity peaks at 440-520 nm (mainly blue), 540-620 nm (mainly green) and 680-740 nm (red to infrared). A dominance of the peak in the green wavelength interval over the blue one for plagioclase makes CL particularly useful for the differentiation of plagioclase from alkali feldspar. An apparent peak position in red to infrared at < 710 nm for plagioclase mainly is present in mafic rocks. Present-day coastal sand from Peru containing feldspar with the red to infrared peak position mainly exceeding 725 nm for northern Peruvian sand and a larger variety for sand from southern Peru illustrates a discriminative effect of different source areas. We conclude that the provenance application

Schwinger-Keldysh diagrammatics for primordial perturbations

Science.gov (United States)

Chen, Xingang; Wang, Yi; Xianyu, Zhong-Zhi

2017-12-01

We present a systematic introduction to the diagrammatic method for practical calculations in inflationary cosmology, based on Schwinger-Keldysh path integral formalism. We show in particular that the diagrammatic rules can be derived directly from a classical Lagrangian even in the presence of derivative couplings. Furthermore, we use a quasi-single-field inflation model as an example to show how this formalism, combined with the trick of mixed propagator, can significantly simplify the calculation of some in-in correlation functions. The resulting bispectrum includes the lighter scalar case (mcase (m>3H/2) that has not been explicitly computed for this model. The latter provides a concrete example of quantum primordial standard clocks, in which the clock signals can be observably large.

Primordial nucleosynthesis in the new cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cyburt, R.H.

2003-01-01

Big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) and the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies independently predict the universal baryon density. Comparing their predictions will provide a fundamental test on cosmology. Using BBN and the CMB together, we will be able to constrain particle physics, and predict the primordial, light element abundances. These future analyses hinge on new experimental and observational data. New experimental data on nuclear cross sections will help reduce theoretical uncertainties in BBN's predictions. New observations of light element abundances will further sharpen BBN's probe of the baryon density. Observations from the MAP and PLANCK satellites will measure the fluctuations in the CMB to unprecedented accuracy, allowing the precise determination of the baryon density. When combined, this data will present us with the opportunity to perform precision cosmology

Provenance tracking in the ViroLab Virtual Laboratory

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Baliś, B.; Bubak, M.; Wach, J.

2008-01-01

Provenance describes the process which led to the creation of a piece of data. Tracking provenance of experiment results is essential in modern environments which support conducting of in silico experiments. We present a provenance tracking approach developed as part of the virtual laboratory of the

The quark-hadron phase transition and primordial nucleosynthesis

Science.gov (United States)

Hogan, Craig J.

1987-01-01

After presenting the current view of the processes taking place during the cosmological transition from 'quark soup' to normal hadron matter, attention is given to what happens to cosmological nucleosynthesis in the presence of small-scale baryon inhomogeneities. The QCD phase transition is among the plausible sources of this inhomogeneity. It is concluded that the formation of primordial 'quark nuggets' and other cold exotica requires very low entropy regions at the outset, and that even the more modest nonlinearities perturbing nucleosynthesis probably require some ingredient in addition to a quiescent, mildly supercooled transition.

Evidence of Primordial Clustering around the QSO SDSS J1030+0524 at z=6.28

Science.gov (United States)

Stiavelli, M.; Djorgovski, S. G.; Pavlovsky, C.; Scarlata, C.; Stern, D.; Mahabal, A.; Thompson, D.; Dickinson, M.; Panagia, N.; Meylan, G.

2005-03-01

We present tentative evidence of primordial clustering, manifested as an excess of color-selected objects in the field of the QSO SDSS J1030+0524 at redshift z=6.28. We have selected objects red in i775-z850 on the basis of Hubble Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging of a field centered on the QSO. Compared to data at comparable depth obtained by the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey, we find an excess of objects with i775-z850>=1.5 in the QSO field. The significance of the detection is estimated to be ~97% on the basis of the counts alone and increases to 99.4% if one takes into account the color distribution. If confirmed, this would represent the highest redshift example of galaxy clustering and would have implications on models for the growth of structure. Bias-driven clustering of first luminous objects forming in the highest peaks of the primordial density field is expected in most models of early structure formation. The redshift of one of the candidates has been found to be z=5.970 by our spectroscopy with the Keck I Low Resolution Imaging Spectrometer, confirming the validity of our color selection. Based, in part, on data obtained at the W. M. Keck Observatory, which is operated as a scientific partnership between the California Institute of Technology, the University of California, and NASA, and was made possible by the generous financial support of the W. M. Keck Foundation.

Secure Location Provenance for Mobile Devices

Science.gov (United States)

2015-07-01

A malicious user should not be able to hide a temporary off-track movement from the claimed location provenance. • A malicious user may want to...Seltzer, “Provenance-aware storage systems,” in Proc. of USENIX ATC. USENIX Association, May 2006, pp. 43–56. [48] D. Bhagwat, L. Chiticariu, W.-C. Tan

Primordial black holes from passive density fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lin, Chia-Min; Ng, Kin-Wang

2013-01-01

In this Letter, we show that if passive fluctuations are considered, primordial black holes (PBHs) can be easily produced in the framework of single-field, slow-roll inflation models. The formation of PBHs is due to the blue spectrum of passive fluctuations and an enhancement of the spectral range which exits horizon near the end of inflation. Therefore the PBHs are light with masses ≲10 15 g depending on the number of e-folds when the scale of our observable universe leaves horizon. These PBHs are likely to have evaporated and cannot be a candidate for dark matter but they may still affect the early universe.

Provenance Usage in the OceanLink Project

Science.gov (United States)

Narock, T.; Arko, R. A.; Carbotte, S. M.; Chandler, C. L.; Cheatham, M.; Fils, D.; Finin, T.; Hitzler, P.; Janowicz, K.; Jones, M.; Krisnadhi, A.; Lehnert, K. A.; Mickle, A.; Raymond, L. M.; Schildhauer, M.; Shepherd, A.; Wiebe, P. H.

2014-12-01

A wide spectrum of maturing methods and tools, collectively characterized as the Semantic Web, is helping to vastly improve thedissemination of scientific research. The OceanLink project, an NSF EarthCube Building Block, is utilizing semantic technologies tointegrate geoscience data repositories, library holdings, conference abstracts, and funded research awards. Provenance is a vital componentin meeting both the scientific and engineering requirements of OceanLink. Provenance plays a key role in justification and understanding when presenting users with results aggregated from multiple sources. In the engineering sense, provenance enables the identification of new data and the ability to determine which data sources to query. Additionally, OceanLink will leverage human and machine computation for crowdsourcing, text mining, and co-reference resolution. The results of these computations, and their associated provenance, will be folded back into the constituent systems to continually enhance precision and utility. We will touch on the various roles provenance is playing in OceanLink as well as present our use of the PROV Ontology and associated Ontology Design Patterns.

Search for Primordial Black Holes with the Whipple Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Linton, Eric

2005-04-01

Stephen Hawking's prediction that black holes should radiate like black bodies has several important consequences, including the possibility for the detection of small (˜10^15 g) black holes created in the very early universe. The detection of such primordial black holes (PBHs) would not only validate Hawking's theory, but would provide useful insights into the history of the early universe. A search through 5.5 years of archival data from the Whipple Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope was made for TeV gamma-ray bursts on 1 s, 3 s, and 5 s timescales. Based on a null result, an upper-limit on the evaporation rate of PBHs of 2.69 x10^6 pc-3 yr^- 1 (99% CL) was made, assuming the Standard Model of particle physics. When combined with the results of an earlier search through Whipple data, this limit was lowered to 1.33 x10^6 pc-3 yr-1, which is nearly a factor of 2 better than the previous limit at this energy range.

Curvature profiles as initial conditions for primordial black hole formation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Polnarev, Alexander G; Musco, Ilia

2007-01-01

This work is part of an ongoing research programme to study possible primordial black hole (PBH) formation during the radiation-dominated era of the early universe. Working within spherical symmetry, we specify an initial configuration in terms of a curvature profile, which represents initial conditions for the large amplitude metric perturbations, away from the homogeneous Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model, which are required for PBH formation. Using an asymptotic quasi-homogeneous solution, we relate the curvature profile with the density and velocity fields, which at an early enough time, when the length scale of the configuration is much larger than the cosmological horizon, can be treated as small perturbations of the background values. We present general analytic solutions for the density and velocity profiles. These solutions enable us to consider in a self-consistent way the formation of PBHs in a wide variety of cosmological situations with the cosmological fluid being treated as an arbitrary mixture of different components with different equations of state. We obtain the analytical solutions for the density and velocity profiles as functions of the initial time. We then use two different parametrizations for the curvature profile and follow numerically the evolution of initial configurations

A Provenance Tracking Model for Data Updates

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Gabriel Ciobanu

2012-08-01

Full Text Available For data-centric systems, provenance tracking is particularly important when the system is open and decentralised, such as the Web of Linked Data. In this paper, a concise but expressive calculus which models data updates is presented. The calculus is used to provide an operational semantics for a system where data and updates interact concurrently. The operational semantics of the calculus also tracks the provenance of data with respect to updates. This provides a new formal semantics extending provenance diagrams which takes into account the execution of processes in a concurrent setting. Moreover, a sound and complete model for the calculus based on ideals of series-parallel DAGs is provided. The notion of provenance introduced can be used as a subjective indicator of the quality of data in concurrent interacting systems.

Cosmic microwave background bispectrum from primordial magnetic fields on large angular scales.

Science.gov (United States)

Seshadri, T R; Subramanian, Kandaswamy

2009-08-21

Primordial magnetic fields lead to non-Gaussian signals in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) even at the lowest order, as magnetic stresses and the temperature anisotropy they induce depend quadratically on the magnetic field. In contrast, CMB non-Gaussianity due to inflationary scalar perturbations arises only as a higher-order effect. We propose a novel probe of stochastic primordial magnetic fields that exploits the characteristic CMB non-Gaussianity that they induce. We compute the CMB bispectrum (b(l1l2l3)) induced by such fields on large angular scales. We find a typical value of l1(l1 + 1)l3(l3 + 1)b(l1l2l3) approximately 10(-22), for magnetic fields of strength B0 approximately 3 nG and with a nearly scale invariant magnetic spectrum. Observational limits on the bispectrum allow us to set upper limits on B0 approximately 35 nG.

Primordial linkage of β2-microglobulin to the MHC.

Science.gov (United States)

Ohta, Yuko; Shiina, Takashi; Lohr, Rebecca L; Hosomichi, Kazuyoshi; Pollin, Toni I; Heist, Edward J; Suzuki, Shingo; Inoko, Hidetoshi; Flajnik, Martin F

2011-03-15

β2-Microglobulin (β2M) is believed to have arisen in a basal jawed vertebrate (gnathostome) and is the essential L chain that associates with most MHC class I molecules. It contains a distinctive molecular structure called a constant-1 Ig superfamily domain, which is shared with other adaptive immune molecules including MHC class I and class II. Despite its structural similarity to class I and class II and its conserved function, β2M is encoded outside the MHC in all examined species from bony fish to mammals, but it is assumed to have translocated from its original location within the MHC early in gnathostome evolution. We screened a nurse shark bacterial artificial chromosome library and isolated clones containing β2M genes. A gene present in the MHC of all other vertebrates (ring3) was found in the bacterial artificial chromosome clone, and the close linkage of ring3 and β2M to MHC class I and class II genes was determined by single-strand conformational polymorphism and allele-specific PCR. This study satisfies the long-held conjecture that β2M was linked to the primordial MHC (Ur MHC); furthermore, the apparent stability of the shark genome may yield other genes predicted to have had a primordial association with the MHC specifically and with immunity in general.

LabelFlow Framework for Annotating Workflow Provenance

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Pinar Alper

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Scientists routinely analyse and share data for others to use. Successful data (reuse relies on having metadata describing the context of analysis of data. In many disciplines the creation of contextual metadata is referred to as reporting. One method of implementing analyses is with workflows. A stand-out feature of workflows is their ability to record provenance from executions. Provenance is useful when analyses are executed with changing parameters (changing contexts and results need to be traced to respective parameters. In this paper we investigate whether provenance can be exploited to support reporting. Specifically; we outline a case-study based on a real-world workflow and set of reporting queries. We observe that provenance, as collected from workflow executions, is of limited use for reporting, as it supports queries partially. We identify that this is due to the generic nature of provenance, its lack of domain-specific contextual metadata. We observe that the required information is available in implicit form, embedded in data. We describe LabelFlow, a framework comprised of four Labelling Operators for decorating provenance with domain-specific Labels. LabelFlow can be instantiated for a domain by plugging it with domain-specific metadata extractors. We provide a tool that takes as input a workflow, and produces as output a Labelling Pipeline for that workflow, comprised of Labelling Operators. We revisit the case-study and show how Labels provide a more complete implementation of reporting queries.

Provenance-based refresh in data-oriented workflows

KAUST Repository

Ikeda, Robert; Salihoglu, Semih; Widom, Jennifer

2011-01-01

We consider a general workflow setting in which input data sets are processed by a graph of transformations to produce output results. Our goal is to perform efficient selective refresh of elements in the output data, i.e., compute the latest values of specific output elements when the input data may have changed. We explore how data provenance can be used to enable efficient refresh. Our approach is based on capturing one-level data provenance at each transformation when the workflow is run initially. Then at refresh time provenance is used to determine (transitively) which input elements are responsible for given output elements, and the workflow is rerun only on that portion of the data needed for refresh. Our contributions are to formalize the problem setting and the problem itself, to specify properties of transformations and provenance that are required for efficient refresh, and to provide algorithms that apply to a wide class of transformations and workflows. We have built a prototype system supporting the features and algorithms presented in the paper. We report preliminary experimental results on the overhead of provenance capture, and on the crossover point between selective refresh and full workflow recomputation. © 2011 ACM.

Cosmological cosmic rays: Sharpening the primordial lithium problem

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Prodanovic, Tijana; Fields, Brian D.

2007-01-01

Cosmic structure formation leads to large-scale shocked baryonic flows which are expected to produce a cosmological population of structure-formation cosmic rays (SFCRs). Interactions between SFCRs and ambient baryons will produce lithium isotopes via α+α→ 6,7 Li. This pre-galactic (but nonprimordial) lithium should contribute to the primordial 7 Li measured in halo stars and must be subtracted in order to arrive to the true observed primordial lithium abundance. In this paper we point out that the recent halo star 6 Li measurements can be used to place a strong constraint to the level of such contamination, because the exclusive astrophysical production of 6 Li is from cosmic-ray interactions. We find that the putative 6 Li plateau, if due to pre-galactic cosmic-ray interactions, implies that SFCR-produced lithium represents Li SFCR /Li plateau ≅15% of the observed elemental Li plateau. Taking the remaining plateau Li to be cosmological 7 Li, we find a revised (and slightly worsened) discrepancy between the Li observations and big bang nucleosynthesis predictions by a factor of 7 Li BBN / 7 Li plateau ≅3.7. Moreover, SFCRs would also contribute to the extragalactic gamma-ray background (EGRB) through neutral pion production. This gamma-ray production is tightly related to the amount of lithium produced by the same cosmic rays; the 6 Li plateau limits the pre-galactic (high-redshift) SFCR contribution to be at the level of I γ π SFCR /I EGRB < or approx. 5% of the currently observed EGRB

The PBase Scientific Workflow Provenance Repository

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Víctor Cuevas-Vicenttín

2014-10-01

Full Text Available Scientific workflows and their supporting systems are becoming increasingly popular for compute-intensive and data-intensive scientific experiments. The advantages scientific workflows offer include rapid and easy workflow design, software and data reuse, scalable execution, sharing and collaboration, and other advantages that altogether facilitate “reproducible science”. In this context, provenance – information about the origin, context, derivation, ownership, or history of some artifact – plays a key role, since scientists are interested in examining and auditing the results of scientific experiments. However, in order to perform such analyses on scientific results as part of extended research collaborations, an adequate environment and tools are required. Concretely, the need arises for a repository that will facilitate the sharing of scientific workflows and their associated execution traces in an interoperable manner, also enabling querying and visualization. Furthermore, such functionality should be supported while taking performance and scalability into account. With this purpose in mind, we introduce PBase: a scientific workflow provenance repository implementing the ProvONE proposed standard, which extends the emerging W3C PROV standard for provenance data with workflow specific concepts. PBase is built on the Neo4j graph database, thus offering capabilities such as declarative and efficient querying. Our experiences demonstrate the power gained by supporting various types of queries for provenance data. In addition, PBase is equipped with a user friendly interface tailored for the visualization of scientific workflow provenance data, making the specification of queries and the interpretation of their results easier and more effective.

PAV ontology: provenance, authoring and versioning.

Science.gov (United States)

Ciccarese, Paolo; Soiland-Reyes, Stian; Belhajjame, Khalid; Gray, Alasdair Jg; Goble, Carole; Clark, Tim

2013-11-22

Provenance is a critical ingredient for establishing trust of published scientific content. This is true whether we are considering a data set, a computational workflow, a peer-reviewed publication or a simple scientific claim with supportive evidence. Existing vocabularies such as Dublin Core Terms (DC Terms) and the W3C Provenance Ontology (PROV-O) are domain-independent and general-purpose and they allow and encourage for extensions to cover more specific needs. In particular, to track authoring and versioning information of web resources, PROV-O provides a basic methodology but not any specific classes and properties for identifying or distinguishing between the various roles assumed by agents manipulating digital artifacts, such as author, contributor and curator. We present the Provenance, Authoring and Versioning ontology (PAV, namespace http://purl.org/pav/): a lightweight ontology for capturing "just enough" descriptions essential for tracking the provenance, authoring and versioning of web resources. We argue that such descriptions are essential for digital scientific content. PAV distinguishes between contributors, authors and curators of content and creators of representations in addition to the provenance of originating resources that have been accessed, transformed and consumed. We explore five projects (and communities) that have adopted PAV illustrating their usage through concrete examples. Moreover, we present mappings that show how PAV extends the W3C PROV-O ontology to support broader interoperability. The initial design of the PAV ontology was driven by requirements from the AlzSWAN project with further requirements incorporated later from other projects detailed in this paper. The authors strived to keep PAV lightweight and compact by including only those terms that have demonstrated to be pragmatically useful in existing applications, and by recommending terms from existing ontologies when plausible. We analyze and compare PAV with related

Lifting primordial non-Gaussianity above the noise

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Welling, Yvette; Woude, Drian van der; Pajer, Enrico

2016-01-01

Primordial non-Gaussianity (PNG) in Large Scale Structures is obfuscated by the many additional sources of non-linearity. Within the Effective Field Theory approach to Standard Perturbation Theory, we show that matter non-linearities in the bispectrum can be modeled sufficiently well to strengthen current bounds with near future surveys, such as Euclid. We find that the EFT corrections are crucial to this improvement in sensitivity. Yet, our understanding of non-linearities is still insufficient to reach important theoretical benchmarks for equilateral PNG, while, for local PNG, our forecast is more optimistic. We consistently account for the theoretical error intrinsic to the perturbative approach and discuss the details of its implementation in Fisher forecasts.

Zearalenone exposure impairs ovarian primordial follicle formation via down-regulation of Lhx8 expression in vitro

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhang, Guo-Liang [College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A& F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100 (China); Sun, Xiao-Feng [Institute of Reproductive Sciences, College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong 266109 (China); Feng, Yan-Zhong [Institute of Animal Sciences, Heilongjiang Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150086 (China); Li, Bo [Chengguo Station of Animal Husbandry and Veterinary, Laizhou 261437 (China); Li, Ya-Peng; Yang, Fan [Institute of Reproductive Sciences, College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong 266109 (China); Nyachoti, Charles Martin [Department of Animal Science, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 (Canada); Shen, Wei [Institute of Reproductive Sciences, College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong 266109 (China); Sun, Shi-Duo, E-mail: ssdsm@tom.com [College of Animal Science and Technology, Northwest A& F University, Yangling, Shaanxi 712100 (China); Li, Lan, E-mail: lilan9600@126.com [Institute of Reproductive Sciences, College of Animal Science and Technology, Qingdao Agricultural University, Qingdao, Shandong 266109 (China)

2017-02-15

Zearalenone (ZEA) is an estrogenic mycotoxin mainly produced as a secondary metabolite by numerous species of Fusarium. Previous work showed that ZEA had a negative impact on domestic animals with regard to reproduction. The adverse effects and the mechanisms of ZEA on mammalian ovarian folliculogenesis remain largely unknown, particularly its effect on primordial follicle formation. Thus, we investigated the biological effects of ZEA exposure on murine ovarian germ cell cyst breakdown and primordial follicle assembly. Our results demonstrated that newborn mouse ovaries exposed to 10 or 30 μM ZEA in vitro had significantly less germ cell numbers compared to the control group. Moreover, the presence of ZEA in vitro increased the numbers of TUNEL and γH2AX positive cells within mouse ovaries and the ratio of mRNA levels of the apoptotic genes Bax/Bcl-2. Furthermore, ZEA exposure reduced the mRNA of oocyte specific genes such as LIM homeobox 8 (Lhx8), newborn ovary homeobox (Nobox), spermatogenesis and oogenesis helix-loop-helix (Sohlh2), and factor in the germline alpha (Figlα) in a dose dependent manner. Exposure to ZEA led to remarkable changes in the Lhx8 3′-UTR DNA methylation dynamics in oocytes and severely impaired folliculogenesis in ovaries after transplantation under the kidney capsules of immunodeficient mice. In conclusion, ZEA exposure impairs mouse primordial follicle formation in vitro. - Highlights: • First time to evaluate the impact of ZEA on primordial follicle formation • ZEA exposure increases oocyte apoptosis and delays germ cell cyst breakdown. • ZEA exposure impairs the expression of LHX8 by affecting its DNA methylation.

Cosmology on ultralarge scales with intensity mapping of the neutral hydrogen 21 cm emission: limits on primordial non-Gaussianity.

Science.gov (United States)

Camera, Stefano; Santos, Mário G; Ferreira, Pedro G; Ferramacho, Luís

2013-10-25

The large-scale structure of the Universe supplies crucial information about the physical processes at play at early times. Unresolved maps of the intensity of 21 cm emission from neutral hydrogen HI at redshifts z=/~1-5 are the best hope of accessing the ultralarge-scale information, directly related to the early Universe. A purpose-built HI intensity experiment may be used to detect the large scale effects of primordial non-Gaussianity, placing stringent bounds on different models of inflation. We argue that it may be possible to place tight constraints on the non-Gaussianity parameter f(NL), with an error close to σ(f(NL))~1.

Primordial inhomogeneities in the expanding universe. I - Density and velocity distributions of galaxies in the vicinities of rich clusters

Science.gov (United States)

Silk, J.; Wilson, M. L.

1979-01-01

The density profiles and Hubble flow deviations in the vicinities of rich galaxy clusters are derived for a variety of models of initial density and velocity perturbations at the recombination epoch. The galaxy correlation function, measured with respect to the Abell clusters, is used to normalize the theoretical models. The angular scales of the required primordial inhomogeneities are calculated. It is found that the resulting density profiles around rich clusters are surprisingly insensitive to the shape of the initial perturbations and also to the cosmological density parameter, Omega. However, it is shown that the distribution of galaxy radial velocities can provide a possible means of deriving Omega.

Two novel POC1A mutations in the primordial dwarfism, SOFT syndrome: Clinical homogeneity but also unreported malformations.

Science.gov (United States)

Barraza-García, Jimena; Iván Rivera-Pedroza, Carlos; Salamanca, Luis; Belinchón, Alberta; López-González, Vanesa; Sentchordi-Montané, Lucía; del Pozo, Ángela; Santos-Simarro, Fernando; Campos-Barros, Ángel; Lapunzina, Pablo; Guillén-Navarro, Encarna; González-Casado, Isabel; García-Miñaur, Sixto; Heath, Karen E

2016-01-01

Primordial dwarfism encompasses rare conditions characterized by severe intrauterine growth retardation and growth deficiency throughout life. Recently, three POC1A mutations have been reported in six families with the primordial dwarfism, SOFT syndrome (Short stature, Onychodysplasia, Facial dysmorphism, and hypoTrichosis). Using a custom-designed Next-generation sequencing skeletal dysplasia panel, we have identified two novel homozygous POC1A mutations in two individuals with primordial dwarfism. The severe growth retardation and the facial profiles are strikingly similar between our patients and those described previously. However, one of our patients was diagnosed with severe foramen magnum stenosis and subglottic tracheal stenosis, malformations not previously associated with this syndrome. Our findings confirm that POC1A mutations cause SOFT syndrome and that mutations in this gene should be considered in patients with severe pre- and postnatal short stature, symmetric shortening of long bones, triangular facies, sparse hair and short, thickened distal phalanges. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Big Data Provenance: Challenges, State of the Art and Opportunities.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Jianwu; Crawl, Daniel; Purawat, Shweta; Nguyen, Mai; Altintas, Ilkay

2015-01-01

Ability to track provenance is a key feature of scientific workflows to support data lineage and reproducibility. The challenges that are introduced by the volume, variety and velocity of Big Data, also pose related challenges for provenance and quality of Big Data, defined as veracity. The increasing size and variety of distributed Big Data provenance information bring new technical challenges and opportunities throughout the provenance lifecycle including recording, querying, sharing and utilization. This paper discusses the challenges and opportunities of Big Data provenance related to the veracity of the datasets themselves and the provenance of the analytical processes that analyze these datasets. It also explains our current efforts towards tracking and utilizing Big Data provenance using workflows as a programming model to analyze Big Data.

The Symbiotic Relationship between Scientific Workflow and Provenance (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Stephan, E.

2010-12-01

The purpose of this presentation is to describe the symbiotic nature of scientific workflows and provenance. We will also discuss the current trends and real world challenges facing these two distinct research areas. Although motivated differently, the needs of the international science communities are the glue that binds this relationship together. Understanding and articulating the science drivers to these communities is paramount as these technologies evolve and mature. Originally conceived for managing business processes, workflows are now becoming invaluable assets in both computational and experimental sciences. These reconfigurable, automated systems provide essential technology to perform complex analyses by coupling together geographically distributed disparate data sources and applications. As a result, workflows are capable of higher throughput in a shorter amount of time than performing the steps manually. Today many different workflow products exist; these could include Kepler and Taverna or similar products like MeDICI, developed at PNNL, that are standardized on the Business Process Execution Language (BPEL). Provenance, originating from the French term Provenir “to come from”, is used to describe the curation process of artwork as art is passed from owner to owner. The concept of provenance was adopted by digital libraries as a means to track the lineage of documents while standards such as the DublinCore began to emerge. In recent years the systems science community has increasingly expressed the need to expand the concept of provenance to formally articulate the history of scientific data. Communities such as the International Provenance and Annotation Workshop (IPAW) have formalized a provenance data model. The Open Provenance Model, and the W3C is hosting a provenance incubator group featuring the Proof Markup Language. Although both workflows and provenance have risen from different communities and operate independently, their mutual

The Primordial Soup Algorithm : a systematic approach to the specification of parallel parsers

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Janssen, Wil; Janssen, W.P.M.; Poel, Mannes; Sikkel, Nicolaas; Zwiers, Jakob

1992-01-01

A general framework for parallel parsing is presented, which allows for a unitied, systematic approach to parallel parsing. The Primordial Soup Algorithm creates trees by allowing partial parse trees to combine arbitrarily. By adding constraints to the general algorithm, a large, class of parallel

Model-based Abstraction of Data Provenance

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Probst, Christian W.; Hansen, René Rydhof

2014-01-01

to bigger models, and the analyses adapt accordingly. Our approach extends provenance both with the origin of data, the actors and processes involved in the handling of data, and policies applied while doing so. The model and corresponding analyses are based on a formal model of spatial and organisational......Identifying provenance of data provides insights to the origin of data and intermediate results, and has recently gained increased interest due to data-centric applications. In this work we extend a data-centric system view with actors handling the data and policies restricting actions....... This extension is based on provenance analysis performed on system models. System models have been introduced to model and analyse spatial and organisational aspects of organisations, to identify, e.g., potential insider threats. Both the models and analyses are naturally modular; models can be combined...

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type 1.

Science.gov (United States)

Ferrell, Steven; Johnson, Aaron; Pearson, Waylon

2016-06-16

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type 1 (MOPD1) is an uncommon cause of microcephaly and intrauterine growth retardation in a newborn. Early identifying features include but are not limited to sloping forehead, micrognathia, sparse hair, including of eyebrows and short limbs. Immediate radiological findings may include partial or complete agenesis of the corpus callosum, interhemispheric cyst and shallow acetabula leading to dislocation. Genetic testing displaying a mutation in RNU4ATAC gene is necessary for definitive diagnosis. Early identification is important as MOPD1 is an autosomal recessive condition and could present in subsequent pregnancies. The purpose of this case is to both identify and describe some common physical findings related to MOPD1. We present a case of MOPD1 in a girl born to non-consanguineous parents that was distinct for subglottic stenosis and laryngeal cleft. 2016 BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.

Constraints on models with a break in the primordial power spectrum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Li Hong, E-mail: hongli@mail.ihep.ac.c [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, P.O. Box 918-4, Beijing 100049 (China); Theoretical Physics Center for Science Facilities (TPCSF), Chinese Academy of Science (China); Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100190 (China); Xia Junqing [Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati, Via Bonomea 265, I-34136 Trieste (Italy); Brandenberger, Robert [Department of Physics, McGill University, 3600 University Street, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T8 (Canada); Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, P.O. Box 918-4, Beijing 100049 (China); Theoretical Physics Center for Science Facilities (TPCSF), Chinese Academy of Science (China); Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100190 (China); Zhang Xinmin [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, P.O. Box 918-4, Beijing 100049 (China); Theoretical Physics Center for Science Facilities (TPCSF), Chinese Academy of Science (China)

2010-07-05

One of the characteristics of the 'Matter Bounce' scenario, an alternative to cosmological inflation for producing a scale-invariant spectrum of primordial adiabatic fluctuations on large scales, is a break in the power spectrum at a characteristic scale, below which the spectral index changes from n{sub s}=1 to n{sub s}=3. We study the constraints which current cosmological data place on the location of such a break, and more generally on the position of the break and the slope at length scales smaller than the break. The observational data we use include the WMAP five-year data set (WMAP5), other CMB data from BOOMERanG, CBI, VSA, and ACBAR, large-scale structure data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, their luminous red galaxies sample), Type Ia Supernovae data (the 'Union' compilation), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Lyman-{alpha} forest power spectrum (Ly{alpha}) data. We employ the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the features in the primordial power spectrum which are motivated by the matter bounce model. We give an upper limit on the length scale where the break in the spectrum occurs.

Constraints on models with a break in the primordial power spectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Hong; Xia Junqing; Brandenberger, Robert; Zhang Xinmin

2010-01-01

One of the characteristics of the 'Matter Bounce' scenario, an alternative to cosmological inflation for producing a scale-invariant spectrum of primordial adiabatic fluctuations on large scales, is a break in the power spectrum at a characteristic scale, below which the spectral index changes from n s =1 to n s =3. We study the constraints which current cosmological data place on the location of such a break, and more generally on the position of the break and the slope at length scales smaller than the break. The observational data we use include the WMAP five-year data set (WMAP5), other CMB data from BOOMERanG, CBI, VSA, and ACBAR, large-scale structure data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, their luminous red galaxies sample), Type Ia Supernovae data (the 'Union' compilation), and the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Lyman-α forest power spectrum (Lyα) data. We employ the Markov Chain Monte Carlo method to constrain the features in the primordial power spectrum which are motivated by the matter bounce model. We give an upper limit on the length scale where the break in the spectrum occurs.

Provenance-Based Debugging and Drill-Down in Data-Oriented Workflows

KAUST Repository

Ikeda, Robert

2012-04-01

Panda (for Provenance and Data) is a system that supports the creation and execution of data-oriented workflows, with automatic provenance generation and built-in provenance tracing operations. Workflows in Panda are arbitrary a cyclic graphs containing both relational (SQL) processing nodes and opaque processing nodes programmed in Python. For both types of nodes, Panda generates logical provenance - provenance information stored at the processing-node level - and uses the generated provenance to support record-level backward tracing and forward tracing operations. In our demonstration we use Panda to integrate, process, and analyze actual education data from multiple sources. We specifically demonstrate how Panda\\'s provenance generation and tracing capabilities can be very useful for workflow debugging, and for drilling down on specific results of interest. © 2012 IEEE.

Biasing and the search for primordial non-Gaussianity beyond the local type

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gleyzes, Jérôme; De Putter, Roland; Doré, Olivier [California Institute of Technology, 1200 E California Blvd, Pasadena, CA 91125 (United States); Green, Daniel, E-mail: jerome.l.gleyzes@jpl.nasa.gov, E-mail: rdputter@caltech.edu, E-mail: drgreen@cita.utoronto.ca, E-mail: olivier.p.dore@jpl.nasa.gov [Department of Physics, University of California, 366 LeConte hall, Berkeley, CA 94720 (United States)

2017-04-01

Primordial non-Gaussianity encodes valuable information about the physics of inflation, including the spectrum of particles and interactions. Significant improvements in our understanding of non-Gaussanity beyond Planck require information from large-scale structure. The most promising approach to utilize this information comes from the scale-dependent bias of halos. For local non-Gaussanity, the improvements available are well studied but the potential for non-Gaussianity beyond the local type, including equilateral and quasi-single field inflation, is much less well understood. In this paper, we forecast the capabilities of large-scale structure surveys to detect general non-Gaussianity through galaxy/halo power spectra. We study how non-Gaussanity can be distinguished from a general biasing model and where the information is encoded. For quasi-single field inflation, significant improvements over Planck are possible in some regions of parameter space. We also show that the multi-tracer technique can significantly improve the sensitivity for all non-Gaussianity types, providing up to an order of magnitude improvement for equilateral non-Gaussianity over the single-tracer measurement.

Constraining the primordial power spectrum from SNIa lensing dispersion

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ben-Dayan, Ido [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Kalaydzhyan, Tigran [State Univ. of New York, Stony Brook, NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy

2013-09-15

The (absence of detecting) lensing dispersion of Supernovae type Ia (SNIa) can be used as a novel and extremely efficient probe of cosmology. In this preliminary example we analyze its consequences for the primordial power spectrum. The main setback is the knowledge of the power spectrum in the non-linear regime, 1 Mpc{sup -1}primordial power spectrum. The probe extends our handle on the spectrum to a total of 12-15 inflation e-folds. These constraints are so strong that they are already ruling out a large portion of the parameter space allowed by PLANCK for running {alpha}{identical_to}dn{sub s}/d ln k and running of running {beta}{identical_to}d{sup 2}n{sub s}/d ln k{sup 2}. The bounds follow a linear relation to a very good accuracy. A conservative bound disfavours any enhancement above the line {beta}(k{sub 0})=0.032-0.41{alpha}(k{sub 0}) and a realistic estimate disfavours any enhancement above the line {beta}(k{sub 0})=0.019-0.45{alpha}(k{sub 0}).

Mutation in WDR4 impairs tRNA m(7)G46 methylation and causes a distinct form of microcephalic primordial dwarfism.

Science.gov (United States)

Shaheen, Ranad; Abdel-Salam, Ghada M H; Guy, Michael P; Alomar, Rana; Abdel-Hamid, Mohamed S; Afifi, Hanan H; Ismail, Samira I; Emam, Bayoumi A; Phizicky, Eric M; Alkuraya, Fowzan S

2015-09-28

Primordial dwarfism is a state of extreme prenatal and postnatal growth deficiency, and is characterized by marked clinical and genetic heterogeneity. Two presumably unrelated consanguineous families presented with an apparently novel form of primordial dwarfism in which severe growth deficiency is accompanied by distinct facial dysmorphism, brain malformation (microcephaly, agenesis of corpus callosum, and simplified gyration), and severe encephalopathy with seizures. Combined autozygome/exome analysis revealed a novel missense mutation in WDR4 as the likely causal variant. WDR4 is the human ortholog of the yeast Trm82, an essential component of the Trm8/Trm82 holoenzyme that effects a highly conserved and specific (m(7)G46) methylation of tRNA. The human mutation and the corresponding yeast mutation result in a significant reduction of m(7)G46 methylation of specific tRNA species, which provides a potential mechanism for primordial dwarfism associated with this lesion, since reduced m(7)G46 modification causes a growth deficiency phenotype in yeast. Our study expands the number of biological pathways underlying primordial dwarfism and adds to a growing list of human diseases linked to abnormal tRNA modification.

Exploring telicity and transitivity in primordial thought language and body boundary imagery.

Science.gov (United States)

Cariola, Laura A

2014-12-01

Linguistics research on 'unconscious knowledge' related to the right brain-hemisphere represents a shift from the prevalent scientific investigation of the linguistic processes of grammatical structures associated with the dominant 'verbal' left brain-hemisphere. This study explores the relationship among primordial thought language, body boundary awareness and syntactic features--i.e., telicity, perfectivity and transitivity-in autobiographical narratives of everyday and dream memories. The results showed that event descriptions with atelic predicates and intransitive structures were more frequent in dream recall than in narratives of everyday memories. Primordial thought language and body boundary awareness, however, decreased with atelic predicates and transitive structures, which might indicate both the tendency of events to describe result states, such as achievements and accomplishments, as a means to bring about an unconscious wish fulfilment and the emphasis on event arguments to be realised without the inclusion of an external object. In narratives of everyday memories, penetration imagery increased with imperfective verb forms and decreased with perfective verb forms, and emotion lexis increased with atelic predicates and transitive structures, but not in dream memories.

Limits to the primordial helium abundance in the baryon-inhomogeneous big bang

Science.gov (United States)

Mathews, G. J.; Schramm, D. N.; Meyer, B. S.

1993-01-01

The parameter space for baryon inhomogeneous big bang models is explored with the goal of determining the minimum helium abundance obtainable in such models while still satisfying the other light-element constraints. We find that the constraint of (D + He-3)/H less than 10 exp -4 restricts the primordial helium mass fraction from baryon-inhomogeneous big bang models to be greater than 0.231 even for a scenario which optimizes the effects of the inhomogeneities and destroys the excess lithium production. Thus, this modification to the standard big bang as well as the standard homogeneous big bang model itself would be falsifiable by observation if the primordial He-4 abundance were observed to be less than 0.231. Furthermore, a present upper limit to the observed helium mass fraction of Y(obs)(p) less than 0.24 implies that the maximum baryon-to-photon ratio allowable in the inhomogeneous models corresponds to eta less than 2.3 x 10 exp -9 (omega(b) h-squared less than 0.088) even if all conditions are optimized.

Novel Microcephalic Primordial Dwarfism Disorder Associated with Variants in the Centrosomal Protein Ninein

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Dauber, Andrew; LaFranchi, Stephen H.; Maliga, Zoltan

2012-01-01

Context: Microcephalic primordial dwarfism (MPD) is a rare, severe form of human growth failure in which growth restriction is evident in utero and continues into postnatal life. Single causative gene defects have been identified in a number of patients with MPD, and all involve genes fundamental...

Sphingosine-1-phosphate prevents chemotherapy-induced human primordial follicle death.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Fang; Turan, Volkan; Lierman, Sylvie; Cuvelier, Claude; De Sutter, Petra; Oktay, Kutluk

2014-01-01

Can Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), a ceramide-induced death pathway inhibitor, prevent cyclophosphamide (Cy) or doxorubicin (Doxo) induced apoptotic follicle death in human ovarian xenografts? S1P can block human apoptotic follicle death induced by both drugs, which have differing mechanisms of cytotoxicity. S1P has been shown to decrease the impact of chemotherapy and radiation on germinal vesicle oocytes in animal studies but no human translational data exist. Experimental human ovarian xenografting to test the in vivo protective effect of S1P on primordial follicle survival in the chemotherapy setting. The data were validated by assessing the same protective effect in the ovaries of xenografted mice in parallel. Xenografted mice were treated with Cy (75 mg/kg), Cy+S1P (200 μM), Doxo (10 mg/kg), Doxo+S1P or vehicle only (Control). S1P was administered via continuous infusion using a mini-osmotic pump beginning 24 h prior to and ending 72 h post-chemotherapy. Grafts were then recovered and stained with anti-caspase 3 antibody for the detection of apoptosis in primordial follicles. The percentage of apoptotic to total primordial follicles was calculated in each group. Both Cy and Doxo resulted in a significant increase in apoptotic follicle death in human ovarian xenografts compared with controls (62.0 ± 3.9% versus 25.7 ± 7.4%, P 0.05). The findings from the ovaries of the severe combined immunodeficient mice mirrored the findings with human tissue. The functionality of the rescued human ovarian follicles needs to be evaluated in future studies though the studies in rodents showed that rescued oocytes can result in healthy offspring. In addition, the impact of S1P on cancer cells should be further studied. S1P and its future analogs hold promise for preserving fertility by pharmacological means for patients undergoing chemotherapy. This research is supported by NIH's NICHD and NCI (5R01HD053112-06 and 5R21HD061259-02) and the Flemish Foundation for Scientific

Provenance an introduction to PROV

CERN Document Server

Moreau, Luc

2013-01-01

The World Wide Web is now deeply intertwined with our lives, and has become a catalyst for a data deluge, making vast amounts of data available online, at a click of a button. With Web 2.0, users are no longer passive consumers, but active publishers and curators of data. Hence, from science to food manufacturing, from data journalism to personal well-being, from social media to art, there is a strong interest in provenance, a description of what influenced an artifact, a data set, a document, a blog, or any resource on the Web and beyond. Provenance is a crucial piece of information that can

Primordial lithium: New reaction rates, new abundances, new constraints

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kawano, L.; Schramm, D.; Steigman, G.

1986-12-01

Newly measured nuclear reaction rates for 3 H(α,γ) 7 Li (higher than previous values) and 7 Li(p,α) 4 He (lower than previous values) are shown to increase the 7 Li yield from big bang nucleosynthesis for lower baryon to photon ratio (eta ≤ 4 x 10 -10 ); the yield for higher eta is not affected. New, independent determinations of Li abundances in extreme Pop II stars are in excellent agreement with the earlier work of the Spites and give continued confidence in the use of 7 Li in big bang baryon density determinations. The new 7 Li constraints imply a lower limit on eta of 2 x 10 -10 and an upper limit of 5 x 10 -10 . This lower limit to eta is concordant with that obtained from considerations of D + 3 He. The upper limit is consistent with, but even more restrictive than, the D bound. With the new rates, any observed primordial Li/H ratio below 10 -10 would be inexplicable by the standard big bang nucleosynthesis. A review is made of the strengths and possible weaknesses of utilizing conclusions drawn from big bang lithium considerations. An appendix discusses the null effect of a factor of 32 increase in the experimental rate for the D(d,γ) 4 He reaction. 28 refs., 1 fig

Mini-PROven. Reduced emissions from small and medium-size coke ovens thanks to single-chamber pressure control; Mini-PROven. Emissionsreduzierung an kleinen und mittleren Koksoefen mit einer Einzelkammerdruckregelung

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Huhn, Friedrich; Krebber, Frank; Kuehn-Gajdzik, Joanna; Ueberschaer, Kerstin [ThyssenKrupp Uhde GmbH, Dortmund (Germany). Coke Plant Technologies Div.

2012-07-01

For environment and occupational health reasons it is becoming increasingly important for coke plants to be operated with the lowest possible level of emissions. In the past, changing pressure conditions in each individual oven, with particularly high values at the beginning of the coking period, often resulted in considerable emissions at the oven closures. To prevent this happening on modern large-scale ovens, ThyssenKrupp Uhde developed the PROven trademark (Pressure Regulated Oven), a single-chamber pressure control system which regulates the pressure in the individual coke chambers down to a constantly low level. In the meantime, after many years of successful service, the system has been upgraded in both its design and process engineering. The result is Mini-PROven, which in future can also be retro-fitted to old small and medium-size coke oven batteries in the interest of better environmental protection. (orig.)

Implications for Primordial Non-Gaussianity ($f_{NL}$) from weak lensing masses of high-z galaxy clusters

CERN Document Server

Jimenez, Raul

2009-01-01

The recent weak lensing measurement of the dark matter mass of the high-redshift galaxy cluster XMMUJ2235.3-2557 of (8.5 +- 1.7) x 10^{14} Msun at z=1.4, indicates that, if the cluster is assumed to be the result of the collapse of dark matter in a primordial gaussian field in the standard LCDM model, then its abundance should be 3-10 if the non-Gaussianity parameter f^local_NL is in the range 150-200. This value is comparable to the limit for f_NL obtained by current constraints from the CMB. We conclude that mass determination of high-redshift, massive clusters can offer a complementary probe of primordial non-gaussianity.

The impact of seeds provenance and nursery provenance method on Austrian pine (Pinus nigra Arn. seedlings quality

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Vladan Ivetić

2013-12-01

Full Text Available The influence of seed provenances and seedling production methods on quality of one and two years old seedlings of Austrian pine were investigated. Seeds from three provenances of Austrian pine (Goc, Studenica and Sargan were used for seedlings production, combined with three production methods: (i the modified seedbeds (bare-root, (ii the container type Plantagrah II and (iii the container type Gocko. Provenance, as well as the combined influence of provenance and production method had minimal influence on the variability of one and two years old Austrian pine seedlings. Nevertheless, the production method had the highest influence. The production system, besides its importance in nursery, will have a high influence on seedlings growth during the first year after planting. Considering the results of this study (e.g. the highest values of the diameter, number of lateral roots, shoot and root dry weight, and quality index and the lowest value of SQ and satisfactory value of S:R, we can conclude that the seedlings produced in container type Gocko led to the highest seedlings quality, recommended especially for afforestation on hard sites.     

Provenance research: investigation of genetic diversity associated with geography

Science.gov (United States)

Robert Z. Callaham

1963-01-01

Provenance in forestry refers to the population of trees growing at n particular place of origin. Provenance research defines the genetic and environmental components of phenotypic variation associated with geographic source. Information on provenance is important in assuring sources of seed to give well-adapted, productive trees and in directing breeding of...

Utilizing Provenance in Reusable Research Objects

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Zhihao Yuan

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Science is conducted collaboratively, often requiring the sharing of knowledge about computational experiments. When experiments include only datasets, they can be shared using Uniform Resource Identifiers (URIs or Digital Object Identifiers (DOIs. An experiment, however, seldom includes only datasets, but more often includes software, its past execution, provenance, and associated documentation. The Research Object has recently emerged as a comprehensive and systematic method for aggregation and identification of diverse elements of computational experiments. While a necessary method, mere aggregation is not sufficient for the sharing of computational experiments. Other users must be able to easily recompute on these shared research objects. Computational provenance is often the key to enable such reuse. In this paper, we show how reusable research objects can utilize provenance to correctly repeat a previous reference execution, to construct a subset of a research object for partial reuse, and to reuse existing contents of a research object for modified reuse. We describe two methods to summarize provenance that aid in understanding the contents and past executions of a research object. The first method obtains a process-view by collapsing low-level system information, and the second method obtains a summary graph by grouping related nodes and edges with the goal to obtain a graph view similar to application workflow. Through detailed experiments, we show the efficacy and efficiency of our algorithms.

Tidal capture of a primordial black hole by a neutron star: implications for constraints on dark matter

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pani, Paolo [CENTRA, Departamento de Física, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Avenida Rovisco Pais 1, Lisboa, 1049 Portugal (Portugal); Loeb, Abraham, E-mail: paolo.pani@tecnico.ulisboa.pt, E-mail: aloeb@cfa.harvard.edu [Institute for Theory and Computation, Harvard-Smithsonian CfA, 60 Garden Street, Cambridge, MA, 02138 (United States)

2014-06-01

In a close encounter with a neutron star, a primordial black hole can get gravitationally captured by depositing a considerable amount of energy into nonradial stellar modes of very high angular number l. If the neutron-star equation of state is sufficiently stiff, we show that the total energy loss in the point-particle approximation is formally divergent. Various mechanisms — including viscosity, finite-size effects and the elasticity of the crust — can damp high-l modes and regularize the total energy loss. Within a short time, the black hole is trapped inside the star and disrupts it by rapid accretion. Estimating these effects, we predict that the existence of old neutron stars in regions where the dark-matter density ρ{sub DM}∼>10{sup 2}(σ/km s{sup −1}) GeV cm{sup −3} (where σ is the dark-matter velocity dispersion) limits the abundance of primordial black holes in the mass range 10{sup 17} g∼primordial black holes cannot be the dominant dark matter constituent.

Bridging the provenance gap: opportunities and challenges tracking in and ex silico provenance in sUAS workflows

Science.gov (United States)

Thomer, A.

2017-12-01

Data provenance - the record of the varied processes that went into the creation of a dataset, as well as the relationships between resulting data objects - is necessary to support the reusability, reproducibility and reliability of earth science data. In sUAS-based research, capturing provenance can be particularly challenging because of the breadth and distributed nature of the many platforms used to collect, process and analyze data. In any given project, multiple drones, controllers, computers, software systems, sensors, cameras, imaging processing algorithms and data processing workflows are used over sometimes long periods of time. These platforms and processing result in dozens - if not hundreds - of data products in varying stages of readiness-for-analysis and sharing. Provenance tracking mechanisms are needed to make the relationships between these many data products explicit, and therefore more reusable and shareable. In this talk, I discuss opportunities and challenges in tracking provenance in sUAS-based research, and identify gaps in current workflow-capture technologies. I draw on prior work conducted as part of the IMLS-funded Site-Based Data Curation project in which we developed methods of documenting in and ex silico (that is, computational and non-computation) workflows, and demonstrate this approaches applicability to research with sUASes. I conclude with a discussion of ontologies and other semantic technologies that have potential application in sUAS research.

Low-Metallicity Blue Compact Dwarfs as Templates for Primordial Star Formation

OpenAIRE

Hunt, L. K.; Hirashita, H.; Thuan, T. X.; Izotov, Y. I.; Vanzi, L.

2003-01-01

Understanding how galaxies formed their first stars is a vital cosmological question, but the study of high-redshift objects, caught in the act of forming their first stars, is difficult. Here we argue that two extremely low-metallicity Blue Compact Dwarf galaxies (BCDs), IZw18 and SBS0335-052, could be local templates for primordial star formation, since both lack evolved ($> $1 Gyr) stellar populations; but they form stars differently.

The Formation of Primordial Luminous Objects

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ripamonti, Emanuele; Kapteyn Astron. Inst., Groningen; Abel, Tom; KIPAC, Menlo Park

2005-01-01

The scientific belief that the universe evolves in time is one of the legacies of the theory of the Big Bang. The concept that the universe has an history started to attract the interest of cosmologists soon after the first formulation of the theory: already Gamow (1948; 1949) investigated how and when galaxies could have been formed in the context of the expanding Universe. However, the specific topic of the formation (and of the fate) of the first objects dates to two decades later, when no objects with metallicities as low as those predicted by primordial nucleosynthesis (Z ∼ -10 ∼ 10 -8 Z # circle d ot#) were found. Such concerns were addressed in two seminal papers by Peebles and Dicke (1968; hereafter PD68) and by Doroshkevich, Zel'Dovich and Novikov (1967; hereafter DZN67), introducing the idea that some objects could have formed before the stars we presently observe. (1) Both PD68 and DZN67 suggest a mass of ∼ 10 5 M # circle d ot# for the first generation of bound systems, based on the considerations on the cosmological Jeans length (Gamow 1948; Peebles 1965) and the possible shape of the power spectrum. (2) They point out the role of thermal instabilities in the formation of the proto-galactic bound object, and of the cooling of the gas inside it; in particular, PD68 introduces H 2 cooling and chemistry in the calculations about the contraction of the gas. (3) Even if they do not specifically address the occurrence of fragmentation, these papers make two very different assumptions: PD68 assumes that the gas will fragment into ''normal'' stars to form globular clusters, while DZN67 assumes that fragmentation does not occur, and that a single ''super-star'' forms. (4) Finally, some feedback effects as considered (e.g. Peebles and Dicke considered the effects of supernovae). Today most of the research focuses on the issues when fragmentation may occur, what objects are formed and how they influence subsequent structure formation. In these notes we will

Simultaneous effect of modified gravity and primordial non-Gaussianity in large scale structure observations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mirzatuny, Nareg; Khosravi, Shahram; Baghram, Shant; Moshafi, Hossein

2014-01-01

In this work we study the simultaneous effect of primordial non-Gaussianity and the modification of the gravity in f(R) framework on large scale structure observations. We show that non-Gaussianity and modified gravity introduce a scale dependent bias and growth rate functions. The deviation from ΛCDM in the case of primordial non-Gaussian models is in large scales, while the growth rate deviates from ΛCDM in small scales for modified gravity theories. We show that the redshift space distortion can be used to distinguish positive and negative f NL in standard background, while in f(R) theories they are not easily distinguishable. The galaxy power spectrum is generally enhanced in presence of non-Gaussianity and modified gravity. We also obtain the scale dependence of this enhancement. Finally we define galaxy growth rate and galaxy growth rate bias as new observational parameters to constrain cosmology

Provenance-Based Debugging and Drill-Down in Data-Oriented Workflows

KAUST Repository

Ikeda, Robert; Cho, Junsang; Fang, Charlie; Salihoglu, Semih; Torikai, Satoshi; Widom, Jennifer

2012-01-01

Panda (for Provenance and Data) is a system that supports the creation and execution of data-oriented workflows, with automatic provenance generation and built-in provenance tracing operations. Workflows in Panda are arbitrary a cyclic graphs

Data Provenance and Trust

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Stratis D Viglas

2013-07-01

Full Text Available The Oxford Dictionary defines provenance as “the place of origin, or earliest known history of something.” The term, when transferred to its digital counterpart, has morphed into a more general meaning. It is not only used to refer to the origin of a digital artefact but also to its changes over time. By changes in this context we may not only refer to its digital snapshots but also to the processes that caused and materialised the change. As an example, consider a database record r created at point in time t0; an update u to that record at time t1 causes it to have a value r’. In terms of provenance, we do not only want to record the snapshots (t0, r and (t1, r’ but also the transformation u that when applied to (t0, r results in (t1, r’, that is u(t0, r = (t1, r’.

3D simulations with boosted primordial power spectra and ultracompact minihalos

Science.gov (United States)

Gosenca, Mateja; Adamek, Julian; Byrnes, Christian T.; Hotchkiss, Shaun

2017-12-01

We perform three-dimensional simulations of structure formation in the early Universe, when boosting the primordial power spectrum on ˜kpc scales. We demonstrate that our simulations are capable of producing power-law profiles close to the steep ρ ∝r-9 /4 halo profiles that are commonly assumed to be a good approximation to ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs). However, we show that for more realistic initial conditions in which halos are neither perfectly symmetric nor isolated the steep power-law profile is disrupted, and we find that the Navarro-Frenk-White profile is a better fit to most halos. In the presence of background fluctuations, even extreme, nearly spherical initial conditions do not remain exceptional. Nonetheless, boosting the amplitude of initial fluctuations causes all structures to form earlier and thus at larger densities. With a sufficiently large amplitude of fluctuations, we find that values for the concentration of typical halos in our simulations can become very large. However, despite the signal coming from dark matter annihilation inside the cores of these halos being enhanced, it is still orders of magnitude smaller compared to the usually assumed UCMH profile. The upper bound on the primordial power spectrum from the nonobservation of UCMHs should therefore be reevaluated.

Primordial clays on Mars formed beneath a steam or supercritical atmosphere.

Science.gov (United States)

Cannon, Kevin M; Parman, Stephen W; Mustard, John F

2017-12-06

On Mars, clay minerals are widespread in terrains that date back to the Noachian period (4.1 billion to 3.7 billion years ago). It is thought that the Martian basaltic crust reacted with liquid water during this time to form hydrated clay minerals. Here we propose, however, that a substantial proportion of these clays was formed when Mars' primary crust reacted with a dense steam or supercritical atmosphere of water and carbon dioxide that was outgassed during magma ocean cooling. We present experimental evidence that shows rapid clay formation under conditions that would have been present at the base of such an atmosphere and also deeper in the porous crust. Furthermore, we explore the fate of a primordial clay-rich layer with the help of a parameterized crustal evolution model; we find that the primordial clay is locally disrupted by impacts and buried by impact-ejected material and by erupted volcanic material, but that it survives as a mostly coherent layer at depth, with limited surface exposures. These exposures are similar to those observed in remotely sensed orbital data from Mars. Our results can explain the present distribution of many clays on Mars, and the anomalously low density of the Martian crust in comparison with expectations.

Primordial dwarfism: overview of clinical and genetic aspects.

Science.gov (United States)

Khetarpal, Preeti; Das, Satrupa; Panigrahi, Inusha; Munshi, Anjana

2016-02-01

Primordial dwarfism is a group of genetic disorders which include Seckel Syndrome, Silver-Russell Syndrome, Microcephalic Osteodysplastic Primordial Dwarfism types I/III, II and Meier-Gorlin Syndrome. This genetic disorder group is characterized by intra-uterine growth retardation and post-natal growth abnormalities which occur as a result of disorganized molecular and genomic changes in embryonic stage and, thus, it represents a unique area to study growth and developmental abnormalities. Lot of research has been carried out on different aspects; however, a consolidated review that discusses an overall spectrum of this disorder is not accessible. Recent research in this area points toward important molecular and cellular mechanisms in human body that regulate the complexity of growth process. Studies have emerged that have clearly associated with a number of abnormal chromosomal, genetic and epigenetic alterations that can predispose an embryo to develop PD-associated developmental defects. Finding and associating such fundamental changes to its subtypes will help in re-examination of alleged functions at both cellular and developmental levels and thus reveal the intrinsic mechanism that leads to a balanced growth. Although such findings have unraveled a subtle understanding of growth process, we further require active research in terms of identification of reliable biomarkers for different subtypes as an immediate requirement for clinical utilization. It is hoped that further study will advance the understanding of basic mechanisms regulating growth relevant to human health. Therefore, this review has been written with an aim to present an overview of chromosomal, molecular and epigenetic modifications reported to be associated with different subtypes of this heterogenous disorder. Further, latest findings with respect to clinical and molecular genetics research have been summarized to aid the medical fraternity in their clinical utility, for diagnosing disorders

Big Data Provenance: Challenges, State of the Art and Opportunities

OpenAIRE

Wang, Jianwu; Crawl, Daniel; Purawat, Shweta; Nguyen, Mai; Altintas, Ilkay

2015-01-01

Ability to track provenance is a key feature of scientific workflows to support data lineage and reproducibility. The challenges that are introduced by the volume, variety and velocity of Big Data, also pose related challenges for provenance and quality of Big Data, defined as veracity. The increasing size and variety of distributed Big Data provenance information bring new technical challenges and opportunities throughout the provenance lifecycle including recording, querying, sharing and ut...

Bicycling to Work and Primordial Prevention of Cardiovascular Risk

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøntved, Anders; Koivula, Robert W; Johansson, Ingegerd

2016-01-01

of incident obesity, hypertension, hypertriglyceridemia, and impaired glucose tolerance, comparing individuals who commuted to work by bicycle with those who used passive modes of transportation. We also examined the relationship of change in commuting mode with incidence of these clinical risk factors......% CI 0.74-0.91) compared with participants not cycling to work at both times points or who switched from cycling to other modes of transport during follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest that commuting by bicycle to work is an important strategy for primordial prevention of clinical cardiovascular...... risk factors among middle-aged men and women....

Entity Linking Leveraging the GeoDeepDive Cyberinfrastructure and Managing Uncertainty with Provenance.

Science.gov (United States)

Maio, R.; Arko, R. A.; Lehnert, K.; Ji, P.

2017-12-01

Unlocking the full, rich, network of links between the scientific literature and the real world entities to which data correspond - such as field expeditions (cruises) on oceanographic research vessels and physical samples collected during those expeditions - remains a challenge for the geoscience community. Doing so would enable data reuse and integration on a broad scale; making it possible to inspect the network and discover, for example, all rock samples reported in the scientific literature found within 10 kilometers of an undersea volcano, and associated geochemical analyses. Such a capability could facilitate new scientific discoveries. The GeoDeepDive project provides negotiated access to 4.2+ million documents from scientific publishers, enabling text and document mining via a public API and cyberinfrastructure. We mined this corpus using entity linking techniques, which are inherently uncertain, and recorded provenance information about each link. This opens the entity linking methodology to scrutiny, and enables downstream applications to make informed assessments about the suitability of an entity link for consumption. A major challenge is how to model and disseminate the provenance information. We present results from entity linking between journal articles, research vessels and cruises, and physical samples from the Petrological Database (PetDB), and incorporate Linked Data resources such as cruises in the Rolling Deck to Repository (R2R) catalog where possible. Our work demonstrates the value and potential of the GeoDeepDive cyberinfrastructure in combination with Linked Data infrastructure provided by the EarthCube GeoLink project. We present a research workflow to capture provenance information that leverages the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) recommendation PROV Ontology.

Primordial and Stellar Nucleosynthesis Chemical Evolution of Galaxies

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chiosi, Cesare

2010-01-01

Following a brief introduction to early Universe cosmology, we present in some detail the results of primordial nucleosynthesis. Then we summarize the basic theory of nuclear reactions in stars and sketch the general rules of stellar evolution. We shortly review the subject of supernova explosions both by core collapse in massive stars (Type II) and carbon-deflagration in binary systems when one of the components is a White Dwarf accreting mass from the companion (Type Ia). We conclude the part dedicated to nucleosynthesis with elementary notions on the s- and r-process. Finally, we shortly address the topic of galactic chemical evolution and highlight some simple solutions aimed at understanding the main observational data on abundances and abundance ratios.

Primordial Pb, radiogenic Pb and lunar soil maturity

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reed, G.W. Jr.; Jovanovic, S.

1978-01-01

The soil maturity index I/sub s//FeO does not apply to either 204 Pb/sub r/ or C/sub hyd/; both are directly correlated with the submicron Fe 0 (I/sub s/) content. They act as an index of soil maturity which is independent of soil composition. In contrast to primordial Pb, radiogenic Pb is lost during soil maturation. Radiogenic Pb is present in mineral grains and may be lost by solar wind sputtering (or volatilization) and not resupplied. 204 Pb coating grain surfaces acts as a reservoir to provide the 204 Pb being extracted in the Fe 0 formation process. Venting or some other volatile source may replenish the surface 204 Pb. 1 figure

Preliminary Study on the Provenance Interpretation of Obsidian Artifacts using Neutron Activation Analysis

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Jin, Mi Eun; Jwa, Yong Joo [Gyeongsang National University, Jinju (Korea, Republic of); Sun, Gwang Min; Baek, Ha Ni; Moon, Jong Hwa; Chung, Yong Sam [KAERI, Daejeon (Korea, Republic of)

2016-05-15

In the case that the obsidian artifacts are treated as a prehistoric cultural property, we cannot analyze them using destructive analytical methods. In this study, we compared geochemical data obtained by NAA with that by the other method, and examined the applicability of the NAA method to interpret the provenance of the obsidian artifacts. Both the NAA and the LA-ICP-MS data show a general similarity in elemental variation. In particular, it is possible to distinguish Baekdusan obsidians from Kyushu obsidians. This kind of contrast between the Baekdusan and the Kyushu obsidians would reflect the different magma composition at the different tectonic and geologic settings. In general the geochemical composition of obsidian is closely related to the accompanied volcanic rocks. For more detailed estimation of obsidian provenance, we should use the geochemical compositions of obsidians as well as volcanic rocks.

Les Houches 1999 Summer School, Session 71 : The Primordial Universe

CERN Document Server

Schäffer, R; Silk, J; David, F

2000-01-01

This book reviews the interconnection of cosmology and particle physics over the last decade. It provides introductory courses in supersymmetry, superstring and M-theory, responding to an increasing interest to evaluate the cosmological consequences of these theories. Based on a series of extended courses providing an introduction to the physics of the very early universe, in the light of the most recent advances in our understanding of the fundamental interactions, it reviews all the classical issues (inflation, primordial fluctuations, dark matter, baryogenesis), but also introduces the most

Innocent Until Proven Guilty

Science.gov (United States)

Case, Catherine; Whitaker, Douglas

2016-01-01

In the criminal justice system, defendants accused of a crime are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Statistical inference in any context is built on an analogous principle: The null hypothesis--often a hypothesis of "no difference" or "no effect"--is presumed true unless there is sufficient evidence against it. In this…

Meier-Gorlin syndrome: Growth and secondary sexual development of a microcephalic primordial dwarfism disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Munnik, Sonja A.; Otten, Barto J.; Schoots, Jeroen; Bicknell, Louise S.; Aftimos, Salim; Al-Aama, Jumana Y.; van Bever, Yolande; Bober, Michael B.; Borm, George F.; Clayton-Smith, Jill; Deal, Cheri L.; Edrees, Alaa Y.; Feingold, Murray; Fryer, Alan; van Hagen, Johanna M.; Hennekam, Raoul C.; Jansweijer, Maaike C. E.; Johnson, Diana; Kant, Sarina G.; Opitz, John M.; Ramadevi, A. Radha; Reardon, Willie; Ross, Alison; Sarda, Pierre; Schrander-Stumpel, Constance T. R. M.; Sluiter, A. Erik; Temple, I. Karen; Terhal, Paulien A.; Toutain, Annick; Wise, Carol A.; Wright, Michael; Skidmore, David L.; Samuels, Mark E.; Hoefsloot, Lies H.; Knoers, Nine V. A. M.; Brunner, Han G.; Jackson, Andrew P.; Bongers, Ernie M. H. F.

2012-01-01

MeierGorlin syndrome (MGS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by primordial dwarfism, microtia, and patellar aplasia/hypoplasia. Recently, mutations in the ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6 genes, encoding components of the pre-replication complex, have been identified. This complex

Meier-Gorlin syndrome: Growth and secondary sexual development of a microcephalic primordial dwarfism disorder

NARCIS (Netherlands)

de Munnik, S.A.; Otten, B.J.; Schoots, J.; Bicknell, L.S.; Aftimos, S.; Al-Aama, J.Y.; van Bever, Y.; Bober, M.B.; Borm, G.F.; Clayton-Smith, J.; Deal, C.L.; Edrees, A.Y.; Feingold, M.; Fryer, A.; van Hagen, J.M.; Hennekam, R.C.M.; Jansweijer, M.C.E.; Johnson, D.; Kant, S.G.; Opitz, J.M.; Ramadevi, A.R.; Reardon, W.; Ross, A.; Sarda, P.; Schrander-Stumpel, C.T.R.M.; Sluiter, A.E.; Temple, I.K.; Terhal, P.A.; Toutain, A.; Wise, C.A.; Wright, M.; Skidmore, D.L.; Samuels, M.E.; Hoefsloot, L.H.; Knoers, N.V.A.M.; Brunner, H.G.; Jackson, A.P.; Bongers, M.H.F.

2012-01-01

Meier-Gorlin syndrome (MGS) is a rare autosomal recessive disorder characterized by primordial dwarfism, microtia, and patellar aplasia/hypoplasia. Recently, mutations in the ORC1, ORC4, ORC6, CDT1, and CDC6 genes, encoding components of the pre-replication complex, have been identified. This

Red, Straight, no bends: primordial power spectrum reconstruction from CMB and large-scale structure

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Ravenni, Andrea [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia ' ' G. Galilei' ' , Università degli Studi di Padova, via Marzolo 8, I-35131, Padova (Italy); Verde, Licia; Cuesta, Antonio J., E-mail: andrea.ravenni@pd.infn.it, E-mail: liciaverde@icc.ub.edu, E-mail: ajcuesta@icc.ub.edu [Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (IEEC-UB), Martí i Franquès 1, E08028 Barcelona (Spain)

2016-08-01

We present a minimally parametric, model independent reconstruction of the shape of the primordial power spectrum. Our smoothing spline technique is well-suited to search for smooth features such as deviations from scale invariance, and deviations from a power law such as running of the spectral index or small-scale power suppression. We use a comprehensive set of the state-of the art cosmological data: Planck observations of the temperature and polarisation anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background, WiggleZ and Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 7 galaxy power spectra and the Canada-France-Hawaii Lensing Survey correlation function. This reconstruction strongly supports the evidence for a power law primordial power spectrum with a red tilt and disfavours deviations from a power law power spectrum including small-scale power suppression such as that induced by significantly massive neutrinos. This offers a powerful confirmation of the inflationary paradigm, justifying the adoption of the inflationary prior in cosmological analyses.

Tracing where and who provenance in Linked Data: A calculus

OpenAIRE

Dezani-Ciancaglini, Mariangiola; Horne, Ross; Sassone, Vladimiro

2012-01-01

Linked Data provides some sensible guidelines for publishing and consuming data on the Web. Data published on the Web has no inherent truth, yet its quality can often be assessed based on its provenance. This work introduces a new approach to provenance for Linked Data. The simplest notion of provenance-viz., a named graph indicating where the data is now-is extended with a richer provenance format. The format reflects the behaviour of processes interacting with Linked Data, tracing where the...

Neutrino burst of white dwarf being absorbed by a primordial black hole

CERN Document Server

Tikhomirov, V V

2003-01-01

Primordial black holes (PBHS) of masses M>=5x10 sup 4 g are able to absorb white dwarfs (WD), giving rise to formation of black holes of WD masses. The WD absorption is accomplained by up to 10 sup 5 sup 2 erg neutrino bursts which can be readily detected by modern neutrino detectors. We calculate time characteristics of such a burst in this paper. (authors)

Restful Implementation of Catalogue Service for Geospatial Data Provenance

Science.gov (United States)

Jiang, L. C.; Yue, P.; Lu, X. C.

2013-10-01

Provenance, also known as lineage, is important in understanding the derivation history of data products. Geospatial data provenance helps data consumers to evaluate the quality and reliability of geospatial data. In a service-oriented environment, where data are often consumed or produced by distributed services, provenance could be managed by following the same service-oriented paradigm. The Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC) Catalogue Service for the Web (CSW) is used for the registration and query of geospatial data provenance by extending ebXML Registry Information Model (ebRIM). Recent advance of the REpresentational State Transfer (REST) paradigm has shown great promise for the easy integration of distributed resources. RESTful Web Service aims to provide a standard way for Web clients to communicate with servers based on REST principles. The existing approach for provenance catalogue service could be improved by adopting the RESTful design. This paper presents the design and implementation of a catalogue service for geospatial data provenance following RESTful architecture style. A middleware named REST Converter is added on the top of the legacy catalogue service to support a RESTful style interface. The REST Converter is composed of a resource request dispatcher and six resource handlers. A prototype service is developed to demonstrate the applicability of the approach.

Growth and provenance variation of Pinus caribaea var ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

CAMCORE has visited 33 populations of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis in Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Quintana Roo, Mexico. Seed collections have been made in 29 provenances from 1, 325 mother trees. A total of 21 provenances and sources of Pinus caribaea var. hondurensis were ...

Development of steroid signaling pathways during primordial follicle formation in the human fetal ovary.

Science.gov (United States)

Fowler, Paul A; Anderson, Richard A; Saunders, Philippa T; Kinnell, Hazel; Mason, J Ian; Evans, Dean B; Bhattacharya, Siladitya; Flannigan, Samantha; Franks, Stephen; Monteiro, Ana; O'Shaughnessy, Peter J

2011-06-01

Ovarian primordial follicle formation is critical for subsequent human female fertility. It is likely that steroid, and especially estrogen, signaling is required for this process, but details of the pathways involved are currently lacking. The aim was to identify and characterize key members of the steroid-signaling pathway expressed in the second trimester human fetal ovary. We conducted an observational study of the female fetus, quantifying and localizing steroid-signaling pathway members. The study was conducted at the Universities of Aberdeen, Edinburgh, and Glasgow. Ovaries were collected from 43 morphologically normal human female fetuses from women undergoing elective termination of second trimester pregnancies. We measured mRNA transcript levels and immunolocalized key steroidogenic enzymes and steroid receptors, including those encoded by ESR2, AR, and CYP19A1. Levels of mRNA encoding the steroidogenic apparatus and steroid receptors increased across the second trimester. CYP19A1 transcript increased 4.7-fold during this period with intense immunostaining for CYP19A detected in pregranulosa cells around primordial follicles and somatic cells around oocyte nests. ESR2 was localized primarily to germ cells, but androgen receptor was exclusively expressed in somatic cells. CYP17A1 and HSD3B2 were also localized to oocytes, whereas CYP11A1 was detected in oocytes and some pregranulosa cells. The human fetal ovary expresses the machinery to produce and detect multiple steroid signaling pathways, including estrogenic signaling, with the oocyte acting as a key component. This study provides a step-change in our understanding of local dynamics of steroid hormone signaling during the key period of human primordial follicle formation.

New X-ray bound on density of primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Inoue, Yoshiyuki [Institute of Space and Astronautical Science JAXA, 3-1-1 Yoshinodai, Chuo-ku, Sagamihara, Kanagawa 252-5210 (Japan); Kusenko, Alexander, E-mail: yinoue@astro.isas.jaxa.jp, E-mail: kusenko@ucla.edu [Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095-1547 (United States)

2017-10-01

We set a new upper limit on the abundance of primordial black holes (PBH) based on existing X-ray data. PBH interactions with interstellar medium should result in significant fluxes of X-ray photons, which would contribute to the observed number density of compact X-ray objects in galaxies. The data constrain PBH number density in the mass range from a few M {sub ⊙} to 2× 10{sup 7} M {sub ⊙}. PBH density needed to account for the origin of black holes detected by LIGO is marginally allowed.

Primordial Evolution in the Finitary Process Soup

Science.gov (United States)

Görnerup, Olof; Crutchfield, James P.

A general and basic model of primordial evolution—a soup of reacting finitary and discrete processes—is employed to identify and analyze fundamental mechanisms that generate and maintain complex structures in prebiotic systems. The processes—ɛ-machines as defined in computational mechanics—and their interaction networks both provide well defined notions of structure. This enables us to quantitatively demonstrate hierarchical self-organization in the soup in terms of complexity. We found that replicating processes evolve the strategy of successively building higher levels of organization by autocatalysis. Moreover, this is facilitated by local components that have low structural complexity, but high generality. In effect, the finitary process soup spontaneously evolves a selection pressure that favors such components. In light of the finitary process soup's generality, these results suggest a fundamental law of hierarchical systems: global complexity requires local simplicity.

Primordial beryllium as a big bang calorimeter.

Science.gov (United States)

Pospelov, Maxim; Pradler, Josef

2011-03-25

Many models of new physics including variants of supersymmetry predict metastable long-lived particles that can decay during or after primordial nucleosynthesis, releasing significant amounts of nonthermal energy. The hadronic energy injection in these decays leads to the formation of ⁹Be via the chain of nonequilibrium transformations: Energy(h)→T, ³He→⁶He, ⁶Li→⁹Be. We calculate the efficiency of this transformation and show that if the injection happens at cosmic times of a few hours the release of O(10 MeV) per baryon can be sufficient for obtaining a sizable ⁹Be abundance. The absence of a plateau structure in the ⁹Be/H abundance down to a O(10⁻¹⁴) level allows one to use beryllium as a robust constraint on new physics models with decaying or annihilating particles.

The Search for Primordial Molecular Cloud Matter

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

van Kooten, Elishevah M M E

evolution. Some of the least altered, most primitive meteorites can give us clues to the original make-up of the interstellar molecular cloud from which the Sun and its surrounding planets formed, thus, permitting us to trace Solar System formation from its most early conditions. Using state......Our Solar System today presents a somewhat static picture compared to the turbulent start of its existence. Meteorites are the left-over building blocks of planet formation and allow us to probe the chemical and physical processes that occurred during the first few million years of Solar System...... prebiotic species such as amino acids, determining the formation pathways of this organic matter is of utmost importance to understanding the habitability of Earth as well as exoplanetary systems. Hence, further detailed analyses of organic matter in some of the meteorites with primordial signatures have...

A new spin on primordial hydrogen recombination and a refined model for spinning dust radiation

Science.gov (United States)

Ali-Haimoud, Yacine

2011-08-01

This thesis describes theoretical calculations in two subjects: the primordial recombination of the electron-proton plasma about 400,000 years after the Big Bang and electric dipole radiation from spinning dust grains in the present-day interstellar medium. Primordial hydrogen recombination has recently been the subject of a renewed attention because of the impact of its theoretical uncertainties on predicted cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy power spectra. The physics of the primordial recombination problem can be divided into two qualitatively different aspects. On the one hand, a detailed treatment of the non-thermal radiation field in the optically thick Lyman lines is required for an accurate recombination history near the peak of the visibility function. On the other hand, stimulated recombinations and out-of equilibrium effects are important at late times and a multilevel calculation is required to correctly compute the low-redshift end of the ionization history. Another facet of the problem is the requirement of computational efficiency, as a large number of recombination histories must be evaluated in Markov chains when analyzing CMB data. In this thesis, an effective multilevel atom method is presented, that speeds up multilevel atom computations by more than 5 orders of magnitude. The impact of previously ignored radiative transfer effects is quantified, and explicitly shown to be negligible. Finally, the numerical implementation of a fast and highly accurate primordial recombination code partly written by the author is described. The second part of this thesis is devoted to one of the potential galactic foregrounds for CMB experiments: the rotational emission from small dust grains. The rotational state of dust grains is described, first classically, and assuming that grains are rotating about their axis of greatest inertia. This assumption is then lifted, and a quantum-mechanical calculation is presented for disk-like grains with a

CMB lensing forecasts for constraining the primordial perturbations: adding to the CMB temperature and polarization information

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kasanda, Simon Muya; Moodley, Kavilan, E-mail: simon.muya.kasanda@gmail.com, E-mail: moodleyk41@ukzn.ac.za [Astrophysics and Cosmology Research Unit and School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer Science, University of KwaZulu-Natal, University Road, Durban, 4041 (South Africa)

2014-12-01

We forecast how current (PLANCK) and future (PRISM) cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments constrain the adiabatic mode and its admixtures with primordial isocurvature modes. The forecasts are based on measurements of the reconstructed CMB lensing potential and lensing-induced CMB B-mode polarization anisotropies in combination with the CMB temperature and E-mode polarization anisotropies. We first study the characteristic features of the CMB temperature, polarization and lensing spectra for adiabatic and isocurvature modes. We then consider how information from the CMB lensing potential and B-mode polarization induced by lensing can improve constraints on an admixture of adiabatic and three correlated isocurvature modes. We find that the CMB lensing spectrum improves constraints on isocurvature modes by at most 10% for the PLANCK and PRISM experiments. The limited improvement is a result of the low amplitude of isocurvature lensing spectra and cancellations between these spectra that render them only slightly detectable. There is a larger gain from using the lensing-induced B-mode polarization spectrum measured by PRISM. In this case constraints on isocurvature mode amplitudes improve by as much as 40% relative to the CMB temperature and E-mode polarization constraints. The addition of both lensing and lensing-induced B-mode polarization information constrains isocurvature mode amplitudes at the few percent level or better. In the case of admixtures of the adiabatic mode with one or two correlated isocurvature modes we find that constraints at the percent level or better are possible. We investigate the dependence of our results to various assumptions in our analysis, such as the inclusion of dark energy parameters, the CMB temperature-lensing correlation, and the presence of primordial tensor modes, and find that these assumptions do not significantly change our main results.

Lensing of 21-cm fluctuations by primordial gravitational waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Book, Laura; Kamionkowski, Marc; Schmidt, Fabian

2012-05-25

Weak-gravitational-lensing distortions to the intensity pattern of 21-cm radiation from the dark ages can be decomposed geometrically into curl and curl-free components. Lensing by primordial gravitational waves induces a curl component, while the contribution from lensing by density fluctuations is strongly suppressed. Angular fluctuations in the 21-cm background extend to very small angular scales, and measurements at different frequencies probe different shells in redshift space. There is thus a huge trove of information with which to reconstruct the curl component of the lensing field, allowing tensor-to-scalar ratios conceivably as small as r~10(-9)-far smaller than those currently accessible-to be probed.

Provenance variation in Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh. in California

Science.gov (United States)

B.M. Emery; F. Thomas Ledig

1987-01-01

In California, the Lake Albacutya provenance of river red gum was clearly superior in volume growth to 22 other provenances collected throughout the range of the species in Australia. It had at least 2.5 times the volume of the plantation mean at 5.5 years, consistent with its performance in other countries with Mediterranean climates like California's. Other...

PRIMORDIAL GRAVITATIONAL WAVES AND RESCATTERED ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION IN THE COSMIC MICROWAVE BACKGROUND

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, Dong-Hoon [Basic Science Research Institute, Ewha Womans University, Seoul 03760 (Korea, Republic of); Trippe, Sascha, E-mail: ki13130@gmail.com, E-mail: trippe@astro.snu.ac.kr [Department of Physics and Astronomy, Seoul National University, Seoul 08826 (Korea, Republic of)

2016-10-20

Understanding the interaction of primordial gravitational waves (GWs) with the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) plasma is important for observational cosmology. In this article, we provide an analysis of an apparently as-yet-overlooked effect. We consider a single free electric charge and suppose that it can be agitated by primordial GWs propagating through the CMB plasma, resulting in periodic, regular motion along particular directions. Light reflected by the charge will be partially polarized, and this will imprint a characteristic pattern on the CMB. We study this effect by considering a simple model in which anisotropic incident electromagnetic (EM) radiation is rescattered by a charge sitting in spacetime perturbed by GWs, and becomes polarized. As the charge is driven to move along particular directions, we calculate its dipole moment to determine the leading-order rescattered EM radiation. The Stokes parameters of the rescattered radiation exhibit a net linear polarization. We investigate how this polarization effect can be schematically represented out of the Stokes parameters. We work out the representations of gradient modes (E-modes) and curl modes (B-modes) to produce polarization maps. Although the polarization effect results from GWs, we find that its representations, the E- and B-modes, do not practically reflect the GW properties such as strain amplitude, frequency, and polarization states.

Primordial black hole production in Critical Higgs Inflation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Jose María Ezquiaga

2018-01-01

Full Text Available Primordial Black Holes (PBH arise naturally from high peaks in the curvature power spectrum of near-inflection-point single-field inflation, and could constitute today the dominant component of the dark matter in the universe. In this letter we explore the possibility that a broad spectrum of PBH is formed in models of Critical Higgs Inflation (CHI, where the near-inflection point is related to the critical value of the RGE running of both the Higgs self-coupling λ(μ and its non-minimal coupling to gravity ξ(μ. We show that, for a wide range of model parameters, a half-domed-shaped peak in the matter spectrum arises at sufficiently small scales that it passes all the constraints from large scale structure observations. The predicted cosmic microwave background spectrum at large scales is in agreement with Planck 2015 data, and has a relatively large tensor-to-scalar ratio that may soon be detected by B-mode polarization experiments. Moreover, the wide peak in the power spectrum gives an approximately lognormal PBH distribution in the range of masses 0.01–100M⊙, which could explain the LIGO merger events, while passing all present PBH observational constraints. The stochastic background of gravitational waves coming from the unresolved black-hole-binary mergers could also be detected by LISA or PTA. Furthermore, the parameters of the CHI model are consistent, within 2σ, with the measured Higgs parameters at the LHC and their running. Future measurements of the PBH mass spectrum could allow us to obtain complementary information about the Higgs couplings at energies well above the EW scale, and thus constrain new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Primordial black hole production in Critical Higgs Inflation

Science.gov (United States)

Ezquiaga, Jose María; García-Bellido, Juan; Ruiz Morales, Ester

2018-01-01

Primordial Black Holes (PBH) arise naturally from high peaks in the curvature power spectrum of near-inflection-point single-field inflation, and could constitute today the dominant component of the dark matter in the universe. In this letter we explore the possibility that a broad spectrum of PBH is formed in models of Critical Higgs Inflation (CHI), where the near-inflection point is related to the critical value of the RGE running of both the Higgs self-coupling λ (μ) and its non-minimal coupling to gravity ξ (μ). We show that, for a wide range of model parameters, a half-domed-shaped peak in the matter spectrum arises at sufficiently small scales that it passes all the constraints from large scale structure observations. The predicted cosmic microwave background spectrum at large scales is in agreement with Planck 2015 data, and has a relatively large tensor-to-scalar ratio that may soon be detected by B-mode polarization experiments. Moreover, the wide peak in the power spectrum gives an approximately lognormal PBH distribution in the range of masses 0.01- 100M⊙, which could explain the LIGO merger events, while passing all present PBH observational constraints. The stochastic background of gravitational waves coming from the unresolved black-hole-binary mergers could also be detected by LISA or PTA. Furthermore, the parameters of the CHI model are consistent, within 2σ, with the measured Higgs parameters at the LHC and their running. Future measurements of the PBH mass spectrum could allow us to obtain complementary information about the Higgs couplings at energies well above the EW scale, and thus constrain new physics beyond the Standard Model.

Provenance and recycling of Arabian desert sand

Science.gov (United States)

Garzanti, Eduardo; Vermeesch, Pieter; Andò, Sergio; Vezzoli, Giovanni; Valagussa, Manuel; Allen, Kate; Kadi, Khalid A.; Al-Juboury, Ali I. A.

2013-05-01

This study seeks to determine the ultimate origin of aeolian sand in Arabian deserts by high-resolution petrographic and heavy-mineral techniques combined with zircon U-Pb geochronology. Point-counting is used here as the sole method by which unbiased volume percentages of heavy minerals can be obtained. A comprehensive analysis of river and wadi sands from the Red Sea to the Bitlis-Zagros orogen allowed us to characterize all potential sediment sources, and thus to quantitatively constrain provenance of Arabian dune fields. Two main types of aeolian sand can be distinguished. Quartzose sands with very poor heavy-mineral suites including zircon occupy most of the region comprising the Great Nafud and Rub' al-Khali Sand Seas, and are largely recycled from thick Lower Palaeozoic quartzarenites with very minor first-cycle contributions from Precambrian basement, Mesozoic carbonate rocks, or Neogene basalts. Instead, carbonaticlastic sands with richer lithic and heavy-mineral populations characterize coastal dunes bordering the Arabian Gulf from the Jafurah Sand Sea of Saudi Arabia to the United Arab Emirates. The similarity with detritus carried by the axial Tigris-Euphrates system and by transverse rivers draining carbonate rocks of the Zagros indicates that Arabian coastal dunes largely consist of far-travelled sand, deposited on the exposed floor of the Gulf during Pleistocene lowstands and blown inland by dominant Shamal northerly winds. A dataset of detrital zircon U-Pb ages measured on twelve dune samples and two Lower Palaeozoic sandstones yielded fourteen identical age spectra. The age distributions all show a major Neoproterozoic peak corresponding to the Pan-African magmatic and tectonic events by which the Arabian Shield was assembled, with minor late Palaeoproterozoic and Neoarchean peaks. A similar U-Pb signature characterizes also Jafurah dune sands, suggesting that zircons are dominantly derived from interior Arabia, possibly deflated from the Wadi al

Diverging Drought Resistance of Scots Pine Provenances Revealed by Infrared Thermography

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Hannes Seidel

2016-08-01

Full Text Available With recent climate changes, Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L. forests have been affected by die-off events. Assisted migration of adapted provenances mitigates drought impacts and promotes forest regeneration. Although suitable provenances are difficult to identify by traditional ecophysiological techniques, which are time consuming and invasive, plant water status can be easily assessed by infrared thermography. Thus, we examined the stress responses of 2-year-old potted Scots pine seedlings from six provenances (Bulgaria, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, and Spain based on two thermal indices (crop water stress index and stomatal conductance index. Both indices were derived from infrared images during a six-week drought/control treatment in a greenhouse in the summer of 2013. The pines were monitored during the stress and subsequent recovery period. After controlling for fluctuating environmental conditions, soil moisture or treatment-specific water supply was the most important driver of drought stress. The stress magnitude and response to soil water deficit depended on provenance. Under moderate drought conditions, pines from western and eastern Mediterranean provenances (Bulgaria, France, and Spain expressed lower stress levels than those from both continental provenances (Germany and Poland. In pines from the Spanish and Bulgarian provenances, the stress level differences were significantly lower than in continental pines. Moreover, pines from continental provenances were less resilient (showed less recovery after the stress period than Mediterranean pines. Under extreme drought, all provenances were equally stressed with almost no significant differences in their thermal indices. Provenance-specific differences in drought resistance, which are associated with factors such as summer precipitation at the origin of Scots pine seedlings, may offer promising tracks of adaptation to future drought risks.

Growth and Survival Variation among Scots Pine (Pinus sylvestris L. Provenances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Süleyman Gülcü

2017-01-01

Full Text Available Tree height, basal diameter, and survival were examined in thirteen-year-old provenance test established by 30 seed sources of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L. at two exotic sites of the species in Southern part of Turkey. Variations within provenance and among provenances and relations among the traits were estimated to compare Scots pine provenance and two other native species. Averages of tree height and basal diameter were 350 cm and 52.7 mm in Aydogmus site and 385 cm and 51.2 mm in Kemer site, respectively. There were large differences within and among provenances for the characters. Sites were similar (p>0.05 for the characters, while there were significant differences (p≤0.05 among provenances within site according to results of variance analysis (ANOVA. Scots pine provenances were higher and had more thickness than that of black pine (Pinus nigra Arnold and Taurus cedar (Cedrus libani A. Rich. which were natural species of the region. There were positive and significant (p<0.05 correlations between height and basal diameter in the species. Average survivals were 56% and 35% of the provenances in the sites. They were 71% and 11% in black pine and 53% in Taurus cedar for the sites respectively.

Primordial nucleosynthesis as a probe of particle physics and cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Walker, T.P.

1987-01-01

In this dissertation, the author uses the success of the standard model of big-bang nucleosynthesis to examine the effects of interacting particle species and the effect of varying coupling constants, predicted by theories set in extra dimensions, on primordial nucleosynthesis. A review is given of the standard model and of the abundances of the light elements expected to be produced in the early Universe. The weakest piece of the concordance between the standard model of big-bang nucleosynthesis and observation is the production and primordial abundance of 7 Li. Therefore he discusses the production of 7 Li in astrophysical environments other than the early Universe and shows that the predictions of big-bang nucleosynthesis, when supplemented by those due to astrophysical sources, are in good agreement with observation. He then shows that the effect on big-bang nucleosynthesis of an additional particle species which remains coupled to either photons or light neutrinos can be quite different from that predicted by the equivalent number of neutrino species parameterization, which does work for decoupled additional species. In particular he considers the case of an additional axion-like particle and shows that its effect is to decrease the amount of 4 He produced in the big-bang. In addition, he considers the effects of varying coupling constants on 4 He production in the big-bang and shows that constraining Y p = 0.24 ± 0.01 leads to a constraint on the time variation of the fine-structure constant of |dln α/dt| ≤ x 10 -14

Data Provenance for Agent-Based Models in a Distributed Memory

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Delmar B. Davis

2018-04-01

Full Text Available Agent-Based Models (ABMs assist with studying emergent collective behavior of individual entities in social, biological, economic, network, and physical systems. Data provenance can support ABM by explaining individual agent behavior. However, there is no provenance support for ABMs in a distributed setting. The Multi-Agent Spatial Simulation (MASS library provides a framework for simulating ABMs at fine granularity, where agents and spatial data are shared application resources in a distributed memory. We introduce a novel approach to capture ABM provenance in a distributed memory, called ProvMASS. We evaluate our technique with traditional data provenance queries and performance measures. Our results indicate that a configurable approach can capture provenance that explains coordination of distributed shared resources, simulation logic, and agent behavior while limiting performance overhead. We also show the ability to support practical analyses (e.g., agent tracking and storage requirements for different capture configurations.

DataONE: A Data Federation with Provenance Support

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cao, Yang [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jones, Christopher [National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara; Cuevas-Vicenttin, Victor [ Universidad Popular Autónoma del Estado de Puebla, Puebla, Mexico; Jones, Matthew B. [National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara; Ludascher, Bertram [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; McPhillips, Timothy [University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Missier, Paolo [Newcastle University, UK; Schwalm, Christopher [Woods Hole Research Center (WHRC), Massachusetts; Slaughter, Peter [National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara; Vieglais, Dave [University of Kansas; Walker, Lauren [National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, Santa Barbara

2016-01-01

DataONE is a federated data network focusing on earth and environmental science data. We present the provenance and search features of DataONE by means of an example involving three earth scientists who interact through a DataONE Member Node. DataONE provenance systems enable reproducible research and facilitate proper attribution of scientific results transitively across generations of derived data products.

The excess flux in the cosmic submillimeter background radiation and the primordial deuterium abundance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dermer, C.D.; Guessoum, N.; National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Greenbelt, MD

1989-01-01

Recent measurements of the cosmic background radiation (CBR) show an enhanced flux in the submillimeter regime, compared to the spectrum of a 2.7 K blackbody. Thermal Comptonization of the relic radiation by a hot nonrelativistic plasma has long been known to produce distortions in the CBR spectrum, similar to what has now been observed. Heating of the primeval plasma to temperatures T ∼ 10 6 - 10 8 K could result from the injection of subcosmic ray protons at epoch z ∼ 10--100. The intensity of the subcosmic ray flux that provide conditions needed to explain the submillimeter excess by thermal Comptonization also leads to the production of cosmologically significant amounts of deuterium in collisions between subcosmic ray protons and primordial protons and α-particles. However, the amount of lithium produced through α-α reactions is in conflict with the observed Li abundance. If lithium is depleted, for example, by processing through Population II stars, arguments for the baryon content of the universe based on primordial deuterium and He abundances are weakened. 12 refs., 1 fig., 1 tab

Antimicrobial stewardship initiatives throughout Europe: proven value for money

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Edwin J.M. Oberjé

2017-03-01

Full Text Available Antimicrobial stewardship is recognized as a key component to stop the current European spread of antimicrobial resistance. It has also become evident that antimicrobial resistance is a problem that cannot be tackled by single institutions or physicians. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance needs rigorous actions at ward level, institution level, national level and at supra-national levels. Countries can learn from each other and possibly transplant best practices across borders to prevent antimicrobial resistance. The aim of this study is to highlight some of the success stories of proven cost-effective interventions, and to describe the actions that have been taken, the outcomes that have been found, and the difficulties that have been met. In some cases we came across substantial scope for real-life cost savings. Although the best approach to effectively hinder the spread of antimicrobial resistance remains unclear and may vary significantly among settings, several EU-wide examples demonstrate that cost-effective antimicrobial stewardship is possible. Such examples can encourage others to implement (the most cost-effective elements in their system.

The Observational Determination of the Primordial Helium Abundance: a Y2K Status Report

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Skillman, Evan D.

I review observational progress and assess the current state of the determination of the primordial helium abundance, Yp. At present there are two determinations with non-overlapping errors. My impression is that the errors have been under-estimated in both studies. I review recent work on errors assessment and give suggestions for decreasing systematic errors in future studies.

Detection of Primordial Magnetic Fields in TeV gamma-ray data

Science.gov (United States)

Wingler, A.

The analysis of the time-variable flux of γ-ray photons from extragalactic sources is currently the only proposed way to directly determine the magnetic field strengths in intergalactic space - far away from galaxies and clusters (in the cosmological "voids") - in the range below about 10,10 Gauss (Plaga 1995). Remnant magnetic fields with field strengths much below this, which may well have formed in early cosmological times, could exist in these voids. Due to their interaction with infrared photons TeV gamma-rays induce pair production in intergalactic space. The electrons and positrons are deflected by ambient magnetic fields and produce γ-rays via inverse Compton scattering that are delayed with respect to the original photons in an energy-dependent, characteristic manner. A standard method to identify these delayed events in a data sample of a source with a variable VHE γ-ray flux (as available from several Cherenkov telescope experiments for the high-emission phase of the AGN Mrk 501 in 1997) is described. Monte-Carlo simulations of existing data sets (taking into backgrounds and instrumental limitations) are used to explore how sensitive data sets similar to the existing ones are to primordial magnetic fields. We find that about 22000 (15000) events from a source with characteristics similar to Mrk 501 are needed to detect a primordial B field of 3 (10) atto Gauss (10,18 G) with a 3 significance.

Hypomorphism in human NSMCE2 linked to primordial dwarfism and insulin resistance.

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Payne, Felicity; Colnaghi, Rita; Rocha, Nuno; Seth, Asha; Harris, Julie; Carpenter, Gillian; Bottomley, William E; Wheeler, Eleanor; Wong, Stephen; Saudek, Vladimir; Savage, David; O'Rahilly, Stephen; Carel, Jean-Claude; Barroso, Inês; O'Driscoll, Mark; Semple, Robert

2014-09-01

Structural maintenance of chromosomes (SMC) complexes are essential for maintaining chromatin structure and regulating gene expression. Two the three known SMC complexes, cohesin and condensin, are important for sister chromatid cohesion and condensation, respectively; however, the function of the third complex, SMC5-6, which includes the E3 SUMO-ligase NSMCE2 (also widely known as MMS21) is less clear. Here, we characterized 2 patients with primordial dwarfism, extreme insulin resistance, and gonadal failure and identified compound heterozygous frameshift mutations in NSMCE2. Both mutations reduced NSMCE2 expression in patient cells. Primary cells from one patient showed increased micronucleus and nucleoplasmic bridge formation, delayed recovery of DNA synthesis, and reduced formation of foci containing Bloom syndrome helicase (BLM) after hydroxyurea-induced replication fork stalling. These nuclear abnormalities in patient dermal fibroblast were restored by expression of WT NSMCE2, but not a mutant form lacking SUMO-ligase activity. Furthermore, in zebrafish, knockdown of the NSMCE2 ortholog produced dwarfism, which was ameliorated by reexpression of WT, but not SUMO-ligase-deficient NSMCE. Collectively, these findings support a role for NSMCE2 in recovery from DNA damage and raise the possibility that loss of its function produces dwarfism through reduced tolerance of replicative stress.

Associating uncertainty with datasets using Linked Data and allowing propagation via provenance chains

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Car, Nicholas; Cox, Simon; Fitch, Peter

2015-04-01

With earth-science datasets increasingly being published to enable re-use in projects disassociated from the original data acquisition or generation, there is an urgent need for associated metadata to be connected, in order to guide their application. In particular, provenance traces should support the evaluation of data quality and reliability. However, while standards for describing provenance are emerging (e.g. PROV-O), these do not include the necessary statistical descriptors and confidence assessments. UncertML has a mature conceptual model that may be used to record uncertainty metadata. However, by itself UncertML does not support the representation of uncertainty of multi-part datasets, and provides no direct way of associating the uncertainty information - metadata in relation to a dataset - with dataset objects.We present a method to address both these issues by combining UncertML with PROV-O, and delivering resulting uncertainty-enriched provenance traces through the Linked Data API. UncertProv extends the PROV-O provenance ontology with an RDF formulation of the UncertML conceptual model elements, adds further elements to support uncertainty representation without a conceptual model and the integration of UncertML through links to documents. The Linked ID API provides a systematic way of navigating from dataset objects to their UncertProv metadata and back again. The Linked Data API's 'views' capability enables access to UncertML and non-UncertML uncertainty metadata representations for a dataset. With this approach, it is possible to access and navigate the uncertainty metadata associated with a published dataset using standard semantic web tools, such as SPARQL queries. Where the uncertainty data follows the UncertML model it can be automatically interpreted and may also support automatic uncertainty propagation . Repositories wishing to enable uncertainty propagation for all datasets must ensure that all elements that are associated with uncertainty

Medical management of moyamoya disease and recurrent stroke in an infant with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II).

Science.gov (United States)

Kılıç, Esra; Utine, Eda; Unal, Sule; Haliloğlu, Göknur; Oğuz, Kader Karli; Cetin, Mualla; Boduroğlu, Koray; Alanay, Yasemin

2012-10-01

We report an infant diagnosed with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II at age 8 months, who experienced cerebrovascular morbidities related to this entity. Molecular analysis identified c.2609+1 G>A, intron 14, homozygous splice site mutation in the pericentrin gene. At age 18 months, she developed recurrent strokes and hemiparesis. Brain magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance angiography showed abnormal gyral pattern, cortical acute infarcts, bilateral stenosis of the internal carotid arteries and reduced flow on the cerebral arteries, consistent with moyamoya disease. In Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II, life expectancy is reduced because of high risk of stroke secondary to cerebral vascular anomalies (aneurysms, moyamoya disease). Periodic screening for vascular events is recommended in individuals with Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II every 12-18 months following diagnosis. Our patient was medically managed with low molecular weight heparin followed with aspirin prophylaxis, in addition to carbamazepine and physical rehabilitation. We report an infant with moyamoya disease and recurrent stroke presenting 10 months after diagnosis (at age 18 months), and discuss the outcome of nonsurgical medical management. The presented case is the second youngest case developing stroke and moyamoya disease.

Effect of primordial non-Gaussianities on galaxy clusters scaling relations

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Trindade, A. M. M.; da Silva, Antonio

2017-07-01

Galaxy clusters are a valuable source of cosmological information. Their formation and evolution depends on the underlying cosmology and on the statistical nature of the primordial density fluctuations. Here we investigate the impact of primordial non-Gaussianities (PNG) on the scaling properties of galaxy clusters. We performed a series of hydrodynamic N-body simulations featuring adiabatic gas physics and different levels of non-Gaussianity within the Λ cold dark matter framework. We focus on the T-M, S-M, Y-M and YX-M scalings relating the total cluster mass with temperature, entropy and Sunyaev-Zeld'ovich integrated pressure that reflect the thermodynamic state of the intracluster medium. Our results show that PNG have an impact on cluster scalings laws. The scalings mass power-law indexes are almost unaffected by the existence of PNG, but the amplitude and redshift evolution of their normalizations are clearly affected. Changes in the Y-M and YX-M normalizations are as high as 22 per cent and 16 per cent when fNL varies from -500 to 500, respectively. Results are consistent with the view that positive/negative fNL affect cluster profiles due to an increase/decrease of cluster concentrations. At low values of fNL, as suggested by present Planck constraints on a scale invariant fNL, the impact on the scaling normalizations is only a few per cent. However, if fNL varies with scale, PNG may have larger amplitudes at clusters scales; thus, our results suggest that PNG should be taken into account when cluster data are used to infer or forecast cosmological parameters from existing or future cluster surveys.

Globular cluster seeding by primordial black hole population

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Dolgov, A. [ITEP, Bol. Cheremushkinsaya ul., 25, 117218 Moscow (Russian Federation); Postnov, K., E-mail: dolgov@fe.infn.it, E-mail: kpostnov@gmail.com [Sternberg Astronomical Institute, Moscow M.V. Lomonosov State University, Universitetskij pr., 13, Moscow 119234 (Russian Federation)

2017-04-01

Primordial black holes (PBHs) that form in the early Universe in the modified Affleck-Dine (AD) mechanism of baryogenesis should have intrinsic log-normal mass distribution of PBHs. We show that the parameters of this distribution adjusted to provide the required spatial density of massive seeds (≥ 10{sup 4} M {sub ⊙}) for early galaxy formation and not violating the dark matter density constraints, predict the existence of the population of intermediate-mass PBHs with a number density of 0∼ 100 Mpc{sup −3}. We argue that the population of intermediate-mass AD PBHs can also seed the formation of globular clusters in galaxies. In this scenario, each globular cluster should host an intermediate-mass black hole with a mass of a few thousand solar masses, and should not obligatorily be immersed in a massive dark matter halo.

Nuclear Physics Solutions to the Primordial Lithium Problem

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Williams E.

2012-10-01

Full Text Available The primordial lithium problem is one of the major outstanding issues in the standard model of the Big Bang. Measurements of the baryon to photon ratio in the cosmic microwave background constrain model predictions, giving abundances of 7Li two to four times larger than observed via spectroscopic measurements of metal-poor stars. In an attempt to reconcile this discrepancy, significant effort has been directed at measuring reaction cross sections of light nuclei at astrophysically relevant energies. However, there remain reaction cross sections with large uncertainties, and some that have not yet been measured. Particularly relevant are those involving the destruction of 7Be, a progenitor of 7Li. Key issues that can be improved by nuclear physics input will be highlighted, and the applicability of detectors and event reconstruction techniques recently developed at the ANU will be discussed.

Angular momentum transfer in primordial discs and the rotation of the first stars

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Hirano, Shingo; Bromm, Volker

2018-05-01

We investigate the rotation velocity of the first stars by modelling the angular momentum transfer in the primordial accretion disc. Assessing the impact of magnetic braking, we consider the transition in angular momentum transport mode at the Alfvén radius, from the dynamically dominated free-fall accretion to the magnetically dominated solid-body one. The accreting protostar at the centre of the primordial star-forming cloud rotates with close to breakup speed in the case without magnetic fields. Considering a physically motivated model for small-scale turbulent dynamo amplification, we find that stellar rotation speed quickly declines if a large fraction of the initial turbulent energy is converted to magnetic energy (≳ 0.14). Alternatively, if the dynamo process were inefficient, for amplification due to flux freezing, stars would become slow rotators if the pre-galactic magnetic field strength is above a critical value, ≃10-8.2 G, evaluated at a scale of nH = 1 cm-3, which is significantly higher than plausible cosmological seed values (˜10-15 G). Because of the rapid decline of the stellar rotational speed over a narrow range in model parameters, the first stars encounter a bimodal fate: rapid rotation at almost the breakup level, or the near absence of any rotation.

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE): A Nulling Polarimeter for Cosmic Microwave Background Observations

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Kogut, Alan J.; Fixsen, D. J.; Chuss, D. T.; Dotson, J.; Dwek, E.; Halpern, M.; Hinshaw, G. F.; Meyer, S. M.; Moseley, S. H.; Seiffert, M. D.;

Does the Chemothermal Instability Have Any Role in the Fragmentation of Primordial Gas

Science.gov (United States)

Dutta, Jayanta

2015-10-01

The collapse of the primordial gas in the density regime ˜108-1010 cm-3 is controlled by the three-body H2 formation process, in which the gas can cool faster than free-fall time—a condition proposed as the chemothermal instability. We investigate how the heating and cooling rates are affected during the rapid transformation of atomic to molecular hydrogen. With a detailed study of the heating and cooling balance in a 3D simulation of Pop III collapse, we follow the chemical and thermal evolution of the primordial gas in two dark matter minihalos. The inclusion of sink particles in modified Gadget-2 smoothed particle hydrodynamics code allows us to investigate the long-term evolution of the disk that fragments into several clumps. We find that the sum of all the cooling rates is less than the total heating rate after including the contribution from the compressional heating (pdV). The increasing cooling rate during the rapid increase of the molecular fraction is offset by the unavoidable heating due to gas contraction. We conclude that fragmentation occurs because H2 cooling, the heating due to H2 formation and compressional heating together set a density and temperature structure in the disk that favors fragmentation, not the chemothermal instability.

DOES THE CHEMOTHERMAL INSTABILITY HAVE ANY ROLE IN THE FRAGMENTATION OF PRIMORDIAL GAS

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Dutta, Jayanta

2015-01-01

The collapse of the primordial gas in the density regime ∼10 8 −10 10 cm −3 is controlled by the three-body H 2 formation process, in which the gas can cool faster than free-fall time—a condition proposed as the chemothermal instability. We investigate how the heating and cooling rates are affected during the rapid transformation of atomic to molecular hydrogen. With a detailed study of the heating and cooling balance in a 3D simulation of Pop III collapse, we follow the chemical and thermal evolution of the primordial gas in two dark matter minihalos. The inclusion of sink particles in modified Gadget-2 smoothed particle hydrodynamics code allows us to investigate the long-term evolution of the disk that fragments into several clumps. We find that the sum of all the cooling rates is less than the total heating rate after including the contribution from the compressional heating (pdV). The increasing cooling rate during the rapid increase of the molecular fraction is offset by the unavoidable heating due to gas contraction. We conclude that fragmentation occurs because H 2 cooling, the heating due to H 2 formation and compressional heating together set a density and temperature structure in the disk that favors fragmentation, not the chemothermal instability

Primordial radionuclides in soil and their contributions to absorbed dose rate in air

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Moriones, C.R.; Duran, E.B.; Cruz, F.M. de la

1989-01-01

The predominant primordial radionuclides in soil which give rise to terrestrial radiation (external irradiation) were analyzed by gamma spectrometry. 40 K has the highest average activity mass concentration, i.e. 212 Bq kg -1 . 238 U and 232 Th concentrations are much lower and are only 14 and 16 Bq kg -1 respectively. Based on conversion factors given in the UNSCEAR Report (1988), the absorbed dose rates in air at one meter above the ground surface per unit activity mass concentration of primordial radionuclides were calculated. The average per caput absorbed dose rate in air received by Filipinos due to terrestrial radiation is 23 nGy h -1 . The relative contribution of 232 Th series to the total absorbed dose rate is highest, followed closely by 40 K. The contribution of 238 U series is only about one-half that of the 232 Th series. Based on the results obtained, the terrestrial component of the average per caput exposure dose rate due to natural radiation sources is 2.64 μR h -1 or roughly 3 μR h -1 . This leads to an annual average effective dose equivalent to 202 μSv. (Author). 5 annexes; 4 figs.; 3 tabs.; 6 refs

Multi-Method Provenance Analysis of Namibian Desert Sand

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Vermeesch, P.; Garzanti, E.

2014-12-01

Mineralogical, geochemical and geochronological provenance proxies each have their own strengths and weaknesses: a. Bulk geochemistry, framework petrography and heavy mineral compositions can differentiate between source areas characterised by different lithologies, but are sensitive to hydraulic sorting and chemical alteration. b. Detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology is insensitive to winnowing effects, but is 'blind' to lithologies devoid of zircon and cannot differentiate between first cycle and recycled sediments. c. Cosmogenic neon isotopes can be used to identify different generations of surface exposure while simultaneously tracking different magmatic sources. The challenge is then to combine these different proxies into a self consistent story, and do so in as objective a manner as possible. We here present a case study of Namibia's Namib Sand Sea and Skeleton Coast ergs, in which all the aforementioned methods have been combined using a three-way multidimensional scaling (aka INDividual Differences SCALing or INDSCAL) analysis: 1. Each of the datasets was represented by a 'dissimilarity matrix' of pairwise distances between samples. 2. The set of these matrices was fed into the INDSCAL algorithm, which produces two pieces of graphical output: the 'group configuration', which is a scatter plot or 'map' in which similar samples plot close together and dissimilar samples plot far apart, and the 'proxy weights', in which not the samples but the proxies are plotted according to the weight they attached to the 'group configuration' axes. The INDSCAL map of the Namibia dataset indicates that (a) long-shore drift of Orange River sediments dominates the coastal sediment compositions all along the Namibian coast until Angola, and (b) that light and heavy minerals tell complementary parts of the provenance story.

Nonthermal production of dark matter from primordial black holes

Science.gov (United States)

Allahverdi, Rouzbeh; Dent, James; Osinski, Jacek

2018-03-01

We present a scenario for nonthermal production of dark matter from evaporation of primordial black holes. A period of very early matter domination leads to formation of black holes with a maximum mass of ≃2 ×108 g , whose subsequent evaporation prior to big bang nucleosynthesis can produce all of the dark matter in the Universe. We show that the correct relic abundance can be obtained in this way for thermally underproduced dark matter in the 100 GeV-10 TeV mass range. To achieve this, the scalar power spectrum at small scales relevant for black hole formation should be enhanced by a factor of O (105) relative to the scales accessible by the cosmic microwave background experiments.

Climate Data Provenance Tracking for Just-In-Time Computation

Science.gov (United States)

Fries, S.; Nadeau, D.; Doutriaux, C.; Williams, D. N.

2016-12-01

The "Climate Data Management System" (CDMS) was created in 1996 as part of the Climate Data Analysis Tools suite of software. It provides a simple interface into a wide variety of climate data formats, and creates NetCDF CF-Compliant files. It leverages the NumPy framework for high performance computation, and is an all-in-one IO and computation package. CDMS has been extended to track manipulations of data, and trace that data all the way to the original raw data. This extension tracks provenance about data, and enables just-in-time (JIT) computation. The provenance for each variable is packaged as part of the variable's metadata, and can be used to validate data processing and computations (by repeating the analysis on the original data). It also allows for an alternate solution for sharing analyzed data; if the bandwidth for a transfer is prohibitively expensive, the provenance serialization can be passed in a much more compact format and the analysis rerun on the input data. Data provenance tracking in CDMS enables far-reaching and impactful functionalities, permitting implementation of many analytical paradigms.

Primordial nucleosynthesis in the Rh = ct cosmology: pouring cold water on the simmering Universe

Science.gov (United States)

Lewis, Geraint F.; Barnes, Luke A.; Kaushik, Rajesh

2016-07-01

Primordial nucleosynthesis is rightly hailed as one of the great successes of the standard cosmological model. Here we consider the initial forging of elements in the recently proposed Rh = ct universe, a cosmology that demands linear evolution of the scale factor. Such a universe cools extremely slowly compared to standard cosmologies, considerably depleting the available neutrons during nucleosynthesis; this has significant implications for the resultant primordial abundances of elements, predicting a minuscule quantity of helium which is profoundly at odds with observations. The production of helium can be enhanced in such a `simmering universe' by boosting the baryon to photon ratio, although more than an order of magnitude increase is required to bring the helium mass fraction into accordance with observations. However, in this scenario, the prolonged period of nucleosynthesis results of the efficient cooking of lighter into heavier elements, impacting the resultant abundances of all elements so that, other than hydrogen and helium, there are virtually no light elements present in the universe. Without the addition of substantial new physics in the early universe, it is difficult to see how the Rh = ct universe can be considered a viable cosmological model.

Exposure to Endocrine Disruptor Induces Transgenerational Epigenetic Deregulation of MicroRNAs in Primordial Germ Cells

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Brieno-Enriguez, M. A.; García-López, J.; Cárdenas, D.B.; Guibert, S.; Cleroux, E.; Děd, Lukáš; de Dios Hourcade, J.; Pěknicová, Jana; Weber, M.; del Mazo, J.

2015-01-01

Roč. 10, č. 4 (2015) E-ISSN 1932-6203 R&D Projects: GA ČR(CZ) GAP503/12/1834; GA MŠk(CZ) ED1.1.00/02.0109 Institutional support: RVO:86652036 Keywords : endocrine disruptor * epigenetic s * primordial germ cells * vinclozolin * TUNEL analysis * methylation Subject RIV: EB - Genetics ; Molecular Biology Impact factor: 3.057, year: 2015

Probing Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter with Gravitational Waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Kovetz, Ely D

2017-09-29

Primordial black holes (PBHs) have long been suggested as a candidate for making up some or all of the dark matter in the Universe. Most of the theoretically possible mass range for PBH dark matter has been ruled out with various null observations of expected signatures of their interaction with standard astrophysical objects. However, current constraints are significantly less robust in the 20  M_{⊙}≲M_{PBH}≲100  M_{⊙} mass window, which has received much attention recently, following the detection of merging black holes with estimated masses of ∼30  M_{⊙} by LIGO and the suggestion that these could be black holes formed in the early Universe. We consider the potential of advanced LIGO (aLIGO) operating at design sensitivity to probe this mass range by looking for peaks in the mass spectrum of detected events. To quantify the background, which is due to black holes that are formed from dying stars, we model the shape of the stellar-black-hole mass function and calibrate its amplitude to match the O1 results. Adopting very conservative assumptions about the PBH and stellar-black-hole merger rates, we show that ∼5  yr of aLIGO data can be used to detect a contribution of >20  M_{⊙} PBHs to dark matter down to f_{PBH}99.9% confidence level. Combined with other probes that already suggest tension with f_{PBH}=1, the obtainable independent limits from aLIGO will thus enable a firm test of the scenario that PBHs make up all of dark matter.

Limits of Thought in the Light of Nature and Divinity. A Return to Ancient Thought or the Quest for the Being of Primordial Thinking in the Later Heidegger

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Viktor Okorokov

2018-02-01

Full Text Available Question about the essence of thought itself may be formulated in two ways: is it a manifestation of the existential presence or a habit to considerate a Universe as a representation of its rational core? Among various methods of inquiry of essential nature of thought, I would emphasize a Martin Heidegger’s approach, which was represented in his late papers. I mean, widely accepted in oriental culture but almost forgotten in European intellectual tradition approach which considers thought as luminous and light-bearing logos – the fundamental origin and principle of the Universe. The problem of logos appearance in primordial chaos and discovery of the thought origins, on Heidegger’s opinion, becomes the crucial matter of his “fundamental ontology”. Heidegger is confident that the problem of transformation of primordial chaos into well-ordered (by “logos” Universe was the most significant topic which the ancient philosophers (Anaximander, Heraclitus, and Parmenides were focused on. My research, represented in this article, discovers European philosopher’s acceptation and reception of the ancient interpretation of primordial thought as a “divine light”. My conclusion is that all classical European philosophical ontological theories (since the first philosophers to Plato, Aristotle, post-Aristotelian thinkers, and to the contemporary philosophers may be considered as the different varieties of interpretation of the primordial (given by gods luminous thinking itself and became a simulation of the primordial nature of thought. Another conclusion is, that origins of mentioned above ancient philosophical inquiries on the divine-light essence of primordial thinking, may be found in earlier, than Heidegger thinks, texts composed by Homer, Hesiod, and perhaps even in the religious philosophical texts of the Orient heritage (India, Egypt, Mesopotamia, and other ancient states, created before the sixth century BC.

Primordial Non-Gaussianity in the Large-Scale Structure of the Universe

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Vincent Desjacques

2010-01-01

generated the cosmological fluctuations observed today. Any detection of significant non-Gaussianity would thus have profound implications for our understanding of cosmic structure formation. The large-scale mass distribution in the Universe is a sensitive probe of the nature of initial conditions. Recent theoretical progress together with rapid developments in observational techniques will enable us to critically confront predictions of inflationary scenarios and set constraints as competitive as those from the Cosmic Microwave Background. In this paper, we review past and current efforts in the search for primordial non-Gaussianity in the large-scale structure of the Universe.

Magnification bias as a novel probe for primordial magnetic fields

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Camera, S.; Fedeli, C.; Moscardini, L.

2014-01-01

In this paper we investigate magnetic fields generated in the early Universe. These fields are important candidates at explaining the origin of astrophysical magnetism observed in galaxies and galaxy clusters, whose genesis is still by and large unclear. Compared to the standard inflationary power spectrum, intermediate to small scales would experience further substantial matter clustering, were a cosmological magnetic field present prior to recombination. As a consequence, the bias and redshift distribution of galaxies would also be modified. Hitherto, primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) have been tested and constrained with a number of cosmological observables, e.g. the cosmic microwave background radiation, galaxy clustering and, more recently, weak gravitational lensing. Here, we explore the constraining potential of the density fluctuation bias induced by gravitational lensing magnification onto the galaxy-galaxy angular power spectrum. Such an effect is known as magnification bias. Compared to the usual galaxy clustering approach, magnification bias helps in lifting the pathological degeneracy present amongst power spectrum normalisation and galaxy bias. This is because magnification bias cross-correlates galaxy number density fluctuations of nearby objects with weak lensing distortions of high-redshift sources. Thus, it takes advantage of the gravitational deflection of light, which is insensitive to galaxy bias but powerful in constraining the density fluctuation amplitude. To scrutinise the potentiality of this method, we adopt a deep and wide-field spectroscopic galaxy survey. We show that magnification bias does contain important information on primordial magnetism, which will be useful in combination with galaxy clustering and shear. We find we shall be able to rule out at 95.4% CL amplitudes of PMFs larger than 5 × 10 −4 nG for values of the PMF power spectral index n B ∼ 0

Effect of nuclear reaction rates on primordial abundances

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mishra, Abhishek; Basu, D.N.

2011-01-01

The theoretical predictions of the primordial abundances of elements in the big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) are dominated by uncertainties in the input nuclear reaction rates. The effect of modifying these reaction rates on light element abundance yields in BBN by replacing the thirty-five reaction rates out of the existing eighty-eight has been investigated. Also the study have been taken of these yields as functions of evolution time or temperature. Here it has been found that using these new reaction rates results in only a little increase in helium mass fraction over that obtained previously in BBN calculations. This allows insights into the role of the nuclear reaction rates in the setting of the neutron-to-proton ratio during the BBN epoch. We observe that most of these nuclear reactions have minimal effect on the standard BBN abundance yields of 6 Li and 7 Li

Fagus sylvatica L. provenances maintain different leaf metabolic profiles and functional response

Science.gov (United States)

Aranda, Ismael; Sánchez-Gómez, David; de Miguel, Marina; Mancha, Jose Antonio; Guevara, María Angeles; Cadahía, Estrella; Fernández de Simón, María Brígida

2017-07-01

Most temperate forest tree species will suffer important environmental changes as result of the climate change. Adaptiveness to local conditions could change at different sites in the future. In this context, the study of intra-specific variability is important to clarify the singularity of different local populations. Phenotypic differentiation between three beech provenances covering a wide latitudinal range (Spain/ES, Germany/DE and Sweden/SE), was studied in a greenhouse experiment. Non-target leaf metabolite profiles and ecophysiological response was analyzed in well-watered and water stressed seedlings. There was a provenance-specific pattern in the relative concentrations of some leaf metabolites regardless watering treatment. The DE and SE from the center and north of the distribution area of the species showed a clear differentiation from the ES provenance in the relative concentration of some metabolites. Thus the ES provenance from the south maintained larger relative concentration of some organic and amino acids (e.g. fumaric and succinic acids or valine and isoleucine), and in some secondary metabolites (e.g. kaempferol, caffeic and ferulic acids). The ecophysiological response to mild water stress was similar among the three provenances as a consequence of the moderate water stress applied to seedlings, although leaf N isotope composition (δ15N) and leaf C:N ratio were higher and lower respectively in DE than in the other two provenances. This would suggest potential differences in the capacity to uptake and post-process nitrogen according to provenance. An important focus of the study was to address for the first time inter-provenance leaf metabolic diversity in beech from a non-targeted metabolic profiling approach that allowed differentiation of the three studied provenances.

Sterile neutrinos, lepton asymmetries, primordial elements: How much of each?

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Chu Yizen; Cirelli, Marco

2006-01-01

We investigate quantitatively the extent to which having a primordial leptonic asymmetry (n ν ≠n ν ) relaxes the bounds on light sterile neutrinos imposed by BBN and LSS. We adopt a few assumptions that allow us to solve the neutrino evolution equations over a broad range of mixing parameters and asymmetries. For the general cases of sterile mixing with the electron or muon neutrino, we identify the regions that can be reopened. For the particular case of a LSND-like sterile neutrino, soon to be rejected or confirmed by MiniBooNE, we find that an asymmetry of the order of 10 -4 is needed to lift the conflicts with cosmology

Effects of temperature and drought manipulations on seedlings of Scots pine provenances.

Science.gov (United States)

Taeger, S; Sparks, T H; Menzel, A

2015-03-01

Rising temperatures and more frequent and severe climatic extremes as a consequence of climate change are expected to affect growth and distribution of tree species that are adapted to current local conditions. Species distribution models predict a considerable loss of habitats for Pinus sylvestris. These models do not consider possible intraspecific differences in response to drought and warming that could buffer those impacts. We tested 10 European provenances of P. sylvestris, from the southwestern to the central European part of the species distribution, for their response to warming and to drought using a factorial design. In this common-garden experiment the air surrounding plants was heated directly to prevent excessive soil heating, and drought manipulation, using a rain-out shelter, permitted almost natural radiation, including high light stress. Plant responses were assessed as changes in phenology, growth increment and biomass allocation. Seedlings of P. sylvestris revealed a plastic response to drought by increased taproot length and root-shoot ratios. Strongest phenotypic plasticity of root growth was found for southwestern provenances, indicating a specific drought adaptation at the cost of overall low growth of aboveground structures even under non-drought conditions. Warming had a minor effect on growth but advanced phenological development and had a contrasting effect on bud biomass and diameter increment, depending on water availability. The intraspecific variation of P. sylvestris provenances could buffer climate change impacts, although additional factors such as the adaptation to other climatic extremes have to be considered before assisted migration could become a management option. © 2014 German Botanical Society and The Royal Botanical Society of the Netherlands.

The Primordial Role of Stories in Human Self-Creation

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Arran Gare

2007-08-01

Full Text Available We now have a paradoxical situation where the place and status of stories is in decline within the humanities, while scientists are increasingly recognizing their importance. Here the attitude towards narratives of these scientists is defended. It is argued that stories play a primordial role in human self-creation, underpinning more abstract discourses such as mathematics, logic and science. To uphold the consistency of this claim, this thesis is defended by telling a story of the evolution of European culture from Ancient Greece to the present, including an account of the rise of the notion of culture and its relation to the development of history, thereby showing how stories function to justify beliefs, situate people as agents within history and orient them to create the future.

Provenance of pottery determined by soil physicochemical and chemometric methods: A case study from Frederiksgave, Ghana

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Rasmussen, Lars Holm; Bredwa-Mensah, Y.; Borggaard, Ole K.

2009-01-01

Frederiksgave, together with potsherds from two likely production sites at Ga and Dangme Shai, were investigated by visual inspection, total element analysis and X-ray diffraction and the results analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA) and cluster analysis. The investigation clearly showed...... that the Frederiksgave pots were not locally produced but came from other production sites indicating trading interaction between the plantation and surrounding settlements. One sample undoubtedly originated from Dangme Shai and another one must have been produced at a third (unknown) site. The provenance...... of the remaining samples is uncertain, but possibly three of them came from Ga and maybe one from Dangme Shai. Ill-defined compositional variation at Dangme Shai and Ga sites is thought to be the main reason for the observed difficulties in tracing the precise provenance of the Frederiksgave samples....

Pharmacists' Perception of the Sale of Non-Clinically Proven Health ...

African Journals Online (AJOL)

Pharmacists' Perception of the Sale of Non-Clinically Proven Health Supplements in Penang, Malaysia. ... A total of 10.7 % respondents indicated that the sale of non-clinically proven products result in high profit. Only 25.0 % of the pharmacists ... Keywords: Perception, Health promotion, Urban poor, Health supplements.

The influence of primordial magnetic fields on the spherical collapse model in cosmology

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Shibusawa, Y.; Ichiki, K.; Kadota, K.

2014-01-01

Despite the ever growing observational evidence for the existence of the large scale magnetic fields, their origin and the evolution are not fully understood. If the magnetic fields are of primordial origin, they result in the generation of the secondary matter density perturbations and the previous studies show that such density perturbations enhance the number of dark matter halos. We extend the conventional spherical collapse model by including the Lorentz force which has not been implemented in the previous analysis to study the evolution of density perturbations produced by primordial magnetic fields. The critical over-density δ c characterizing the halo mass function turns out to be a bigger value, δ c ≅ 1.78, than the conventional one δ c ≅ 1.69 for the perturbations evolved only by the gravitational force. The difference in δ c between our model and the fully matter dominated cosmological model is small at a low redshift and, hence, only the high mass tail of the mass function is affected by the magnetic fields. At a high redshift, on the other hand, the difference in δ c becomes large enough to suppress the halo abundance over a wide range of mass scales. The halo abundance is reduced for instance by as large a factor as ∼10 5 at z=9

Model-based Abstraction of Data Provenance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Probst, Christian W.; Hansen, René Rydhof

Identifying provenance of data provides insights to the origin of data and intermediate results, and has recently gained increased interest due to data-centric applications. In this work we extend a data-centric system view with actors handling the data and policies restricting actions. This

DEEP MIPS OBSERVATIONS OF THE IC 348 NEBULA: CONSTRAINTS ON THE EVOLUTIONARY STATE OF ANEMIC CIRCUMSTELLAR DISKS AND THE PRIMORDIAL-TO-DEBRIS DISK TRANSITION

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Currie, Thayne; Kenyon, Scott J.

2009-01-01

We describe new, deep MIPS photometry and new high signal-to-noise optical spectroscopy of the 2.5 Myr old IC 348 Nebula. To probe the properties of the IC 348 disk population, we combine these data with previous optical/infrared photometry and spectroscopy to identify stars with gas accretion, to examine their mid-IR colors, and to model their spectral energy distributions. IC 348 contains many sources in different evolutionary states, including protostars and stars surrounded by primordial disks, two kinds of transitional disks, and debris disks. Most disks surrounding early/intermediate spectral-type stars (>1.4 M sun at 2.5 Myr) are debris disks; most disks surrounding solar and subsolar-mass stars are primordial disks. At the 1-2 σ level, more massive stars also have a smaller frequency of gas accretion and smaller mid-IR luminosities than lower-mass stars. These trends are suggestive of a stellar mass-dependent evolution of disks, where most disks around high/intermediate-mass stars shed their primordial disks on rapid, 2.5 Myr timescales. The frequency of MIPS-detected transitional disks is ∼15%-35% for stars plausibly more massive than 0.5 M sun . The relative frequency of transitional disks in IC 348 compared to that for 1 Myr old Taurus and 5 Myr old NGC 2362 is consistent with a transition timescale that is a significant fraction of the total primordial disk lifetime.

Limits on the Mass and Abundance of Primordial Black Holes from Quasar Gravitational Microlensing

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mediavilla, E. [Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, Vía Láctea S/N, La Laguna E-38200, Tenerife (Spain); Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Calderón-Infante, J. [Departamento de Física Teórica y del Cosmos, Universidad de Granada, Campus de Fuentenueva, E-18071 Granada (Spain); Muñoz, J. A.; Vives-Arias, H. [Departamento de Astronomía y Astrofísica, Universidad de Valencia, E-46100 Burjassot, Valencia (Spain)

2017-02-20

The idea that dark matter can be made of intermediate-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) in the 10 M {sub ⊙} ≲ M ≲ 200 M {sub ⊙} range has recently been reconsidered, particularly in the light of the detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO experiment. The existence of even a small fraction of dark matter in black holes should nevertheless result in noticeable quasar gravitational microlensing. Quasar microlensing is sensitive to any type of compact objects in the lens galaxy, to their abundance, and to their mass. We have analyzed optical and X-ray microlensing data from 24 gravitationally lensed quasars to estimate the abundance of compact objects in a very wide range of masses. We conclude that the fraction of mass in black holes or any type of compact objects is negligible outside of the 0.05 M {sub ⊙} ≲ M ≲ 0.45 M {sub ⊙} mass range and that it amounts to 20% ± 5% of the total matter, in agreement with the expected masses and abundances of the stellar component. Consequently, the existence of a significant population of intermediate-mass PBHs appears to be inconsistent with current microlensing observations. Therefore, primordial massive black holes are a very unlikely source of the gravitational radiation detected by LIGO.

Extracting foreground-obscured μ-distortion anisotropies to constrain primordial non-Gaussianity

Science.gov (United States)

Remazeilles, M.; Chluba, J.

2018-04-01

Correlations between cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature, polarization and spectral distortion anisotropies can be used as a probe of primordial non-Gaussianity. Here, we perform a reconstruction of μ-distortion anisotropies in the presence of Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds, applying the so-called Constrained ILC component separation method to simulations of proposed CMB space missions (PIXIE, LiteBIRD, CORE, PICO). Our sky simulations include Galactic dust, Galactic synchrotron, Galactic free-free, thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect, as well as primary CMB temperature and μ-distortion anisotropies, the latter being added as correlated field. The Constrained ILC method allows us to null the CMB temperature anisotropies in the reconstructed μ-map (and vice versa), in addition to mitigating the contaminations from astrophysical foregrounds and instrumental noise. We compute the cross-power spectrum between the reconstructed (CMB-free) μ-distortion map and the (μ-free) CMB temperature map, after foreground removal and component separation. Since the cross-power spectrum is proportional to the primordial non-Gaussianity parameter, fNL, on scales k˜eq 740 Mpc^{-1}, this allows us to derive fNL-detection limits for the aforementioned future CMB experiments. Our analysis shows that foregrounds degrade the theoretical detection limits (based mostly on instrumental noise) by more than one order of magnitude, with PICO standing the best chance at placing upper limits on scale-dependent non-Gaussianity. We also discuss the dependence of the constraints on the channel sensitivities and chosen bands. Like for B-mode polarization measurements, extended coverage at frequencies ν ≲ 40 GHz and ν ≳ 400 GHz provides more leverage than increased channel sensitivity.

Growth dynamics variation of different larch provenances under the mountain conditions in Poland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kulej, M. [Univ. of Agriculture, Cracow (Poland). Section of Seed Production and Selection

1995-12-31

The results of 25-year investigations based on measurements and statistical analysis concerning the growth dynamics variation of larch provenances from the entire area of Poland are reported in this paper. This is the first larch provenance experiment in Poland under mountain conditions. The results obtained showed a significant variability among the provenances tested as regards the basic growth characters (height, d.b.h., growth index) at the age of 5, 8, 11, 15, 20 and 25 years. The larch from Klodzko and Proszkow turned out to be the best in respect of growth during the entire 25-years period. Decidedly bad were provenances from Marcule, Grojec, Rawa mazowiecka and Kroscienko. We cannot forecast the future growth of larch when trees are 5-years old since such prognosis may carry an error. However, on the basis of the results obtained it may be concluded that when trees are about 8 years old the stabilization of the position of individual provenances as regards growth takes place. The height growth curves for the individual provenances during the 25-years period (with exception of the provenance from Marcule) fall within the interval {+-} 0,5S from the compensated curve for the entire population studied. All larch provenances in the experiment had reached the height growth culmination. A greatest differentiation in respect of this character occurred in case of the provenances from Sudetes. 27 refs, 4 figs, 8 tabs

Growth dynamics variation of different larch provenances under the mountain conditions in Poland

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kulej, M [Univ. of Agriculture, Cracow (Poland). Section of Seed Production and Selection

1996-12-31

The results of 25-year investigations based on measurements and statistical analysis concerning the growth dynamics variation of larch provenances from the entire area of Poland are reported in this paper. This is the first larch provenance experiment in Poland under mountain conditions. The results obtained showed a significant variability among the provenances tested as regards the basic growth characters (height, d.b.h., growth index) at the age of 5, 8, 11, 15, 20 and 25 years. The larch from Klodzko and Proszkow turned out to be the best in respect of growth during the entire 25-years period. Decidedly bad were provenances from Marcule, Grojec, Rawa mazowiecka and Kroscienko. We cannot forecast the future growth of larch when trees are 5-years old since such prognosis may carry an error. However, on the basis of the results obtained it may be concluded that when trees are about 8 years old the stabilization of the position of individual provenances as regards growth takes place. The height growth curves for the individual provenances during the 25-years period (with exception of the provenance from Marcule) fall within the interval {+-} 0,5S from the compensated curve for the entire population studied. All larch provenances in the experiment had reached the height growth culmination. A greatest differentiation in respect of this character occurred in case of the provenances from Sudetes. 27 refs, 4 figs, 8 tabs

Novel teleost CD4-bearing cell populations provide insights into the evolutionary origins and primordial roles of CD4+ lymphocytes and CD4+ macrophages

OpenAIRE

Takizawa, Fumio; Magadan, Susana; Parra, David; Xu, Zhen; Koryt����, Tom����; Boudinot, Pierre; Sunyer, J. Oriol

2016-01-01

Tetrapods contain a single CD4 co-receptor with four immunoglobulin domains that likely arose from a primordial two-domain ancestor. Notably, teleost fish contain two CD4 genes. Like tetrapod CD4, CD4-1 of rainbow trout includes four immunoglobulin domains while CD4-2 contains only two. Since CD4-2 is reminiscent of the prototypic two-domain CD4 co-receptor, we hypothesized that by characterizing the cell types bearing CD4-1 and CD4-2, we would shed light into the evolution and primordial rol...

Automated Generation of Technical Documentation and Provenance for Reproducible Research

Science.gov (United States)

Jolly, B.; Medyckyj-Scott, D.; Spiekermann, R.; Ausseil, A. G.

2017-12-01

Data provenance and detailed technical documentation are essential components of high-quality reproducible research, however are often only partially addressed during a research project. Recording and maintaining this information during the course of a project can be a difficult task to get right as it is a time consuming and often boring process for the researchers involved. As a result, provenance records and technical documentation provided alongside research results can be incomplete or may not be completely consistent with the actual processes followed. While providing access to the data and code used by the original researchers goes some way toward enabling reproducibility, this does not count as, or replace, data provenance. Additionally, this can be a poor substitute for good technical documentation and is often more difficult for a third-party to understand - particularly if they do not understand the programming language(s) used. We present and discuss a tool built from the ground up for the production of well-documented and reproducible spatial datasets that are created by applying a series of classification rules to a number of input layers. The internal model of the classification rules required by the tool to process the input data is exploited to also produce technical documentation and provenance records with minimal additional user input. Available provenance records that accompany input datasets are incorporated into those that describe the current process. As a result, each time a new iteration of the analysis is performed the documentation and provenance records are re-generated to provide an accurate description of the exact process followed. The generic nature of this tool, and the lessons learned during its creation, have wider application to other fields where the production of derivative datasets must be done in an open, defensible, and reproducible way.

Lowering the Barrier to Reproducible Research by Publishing Provenance from Common Analytical Tools

Science.gov (United States)

Jones, M. B.; Slaughter, P.; Walker, L.; Jones, C. S.; Missier, P.; Ludäscher, B.; Cao, Y.; McPhillips, T.; Schildhauer, M.

2015-12-01

Scientific provenance describes the authenticity, origin, and processing history of research products and promotes scientific transparency by detailing the steps in computational workflows that produce derived products. These products include papers, findings, input data, software products to perform computations, and derived data and visualizations. The geosciences community values this type of information, and, at least theoretically, strives to base conclusions on computationally replicable findings. In practice, capturing detailed provenance is laborious and thus has been a low priority; beyond a lab notebook describing methods and results, few researchers capture and preserve detailed records of scientific provenance. We have built tools for capturing and publishing provenance that integrate into analytical environments that are in widespread use by geoscientists (R and Matlab). These tools lower the barrier to provenance generation by automating capture of critical information as researchers prepare data for analysis, develop, test, and execute models, and create visualizations. The 'recordr' library in R and the `matlab-dataone` library in Matlab provide shared functions to capture provenance with minimal changes to normal working procedures. Researchers can capture both scripted and interactive sessions, tag and manage these executions as they iterate over analyses, and then prune and publish provenance metadata and derived products to the DataONE federation of archival repositories. Provenance traces conform to the ProvONE model extension of W3C PROV, enabling interoperability across tools and languages. The capture system supports fine-grained versioning of science products and provenance traces. By assigning global identifiers such as DOIs, reseachers can cite the computational processes used to reach findings. And, finally, DataONE has built a web portal to search, browse, and clearly display provenance relationships between input data, the software

Primordial Black Holes from Supersymmetry in the Early Universe.

Science.gov (United States)

Cotner, Eric; Kusenko, Alexander

2017-07-21

Supersymmetric extensions of the standard model generically predict that in the early Universe a scalar condensate can form and fragment into Q balls before decaying. If the Q balls dominate the energy density for some period of time, the relatively large fluctuations in their number density can lead to formation of primordial black holes (PBH). Other scalar fields, unrelated to supersymmetry, can play a similar role. For a general charged scalar field, this robust mechanism can generate black holes over the entire mass range allowed by observational constraints, with a sufficient abundance to account for all dark matter in some parameter ranges. In the case of supersymmetry the mass range is limited from above by 10^{23}  g. We also comment on the role that topological defects can play for PBH formation in a similar fashion.

Primordial helium abundance from CMB: A constraint from recent observations and a forecast

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ichikawa, Kazuhide; Sekiguchi, Toyokazu; Takahashi, Tomo

2008-01-01

We studied a constraint on the primordial helium abundance Y p from current and future observations of CMB. Using the currently available data from WMAP, ACBAR, CBI, and BOOMERANG, we obtained the constraint as Y p =0.25 -0.07 +0.10 at 68% confidence level. We also provide a forecast for the Planck experiment using the Markov chain Monte Carlo approach. In addition to forecasting the constraint on Y p , we investigate how assumptions for Y p affect constraints on the other cosmological parameters.

Primordial Terrestrial Xe from the Viewpoint of CFF-Xe

Science.gov (United States)

Meshik, A. P.; Shukolyukov, Yu. A.; Jessberger, E. K.

1995-09-01

We have already reported [7, 23] on the non-linear isotope mass-fractionation of fission Xe by migration of the precursors I, Te, Sn, and Sb and simultaneous fission of heavy nuclei. Xe with anomalous isotopic pattern was found in a number of meteorites and terrestrial materials and was named CFF-Xe (Chemically Fractionated Fission Xe). It is characterized by an up eightfold ^132Xe and ^131Xe excesses coupled with smaller ^134Xe and ^129Xe excesses. The present work is aimed to estimate the role of CFF-Xe in the terrestrial lithosphere and specifically deals with the problem of the isotopic composition of primordial terrestrial Xe. Due to variations of the migration conditions the isotopic structure of CFF-Xe is not well established and is even not reproducible in the same rock [2]. Nevertheless, we have tried to estimate the composition of CFF-Xe by investigating all available isotopic data of Xe of presumable mantle origin. This is Xe in MORB [29, 1, 12] and ocean island glasses [1, 28], in diamonds [17], in volcanic rocks [29, 8, 9, 21], in volcanic glasses from pillow basalts [16, 6], continental igneous rocks [1, 24, 10, 22], carbonatites and granitoids [1] as well as Xe in natural gases [3, 24, 11, 4, 15]. All data are plotted Fig. 1 where we also suggest end members of the observed scattering. Optimized slopes of CFF-lines are shown as well as the position of the initial points which we regard as primordial terrestrial Xe (Xe0). The isotopic composition of CFF-Xe and Xe0 are given in Tab. 1. The abundances of ^124Xe and ^126Xe in mantle derived samples are very uncertain, but since ^128Xe/^130Xe in Xea and Xe0 is very similar we propose the same ^124Xe/^130Xe and ^126Xe/^130Xe ratios for both Xea and Xe0. If so, AVCC-Xe is simply Xe0 with an admixture of L-Xe, and atmospheric xenon Xea consists of Xe0, CFF-Xe and a small amount of fission Xe (92.5%Xe0 + 5.3%CFF-Xe + 2.2%XeF). Thus, a number of old problems in xenology are removed. The hypothetic components U

Wood structural differences between northern and southern beech provenances growing at a moderate site.

Science.gov (United States)

Eilmann, B; Sterck, F; Wegner, L; de Vries, S M G; von Arx, G; Mohren, G M J; den Ouden, J; Sass-Klaassen, U

2014-08-01

Planting provenances originating from southern to northern locations has been discussed as a strategy to speed up species migration and mitigate negative effects of climate change on forest stability and productivity. Especially for drought-susceptible species such as European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.), the introduction of drought-tolerant provenances from the south could be an option. Yet, beech has been found to respond plastically to environmental conditions, suggesting that the climate on the plantation site might be more important for tree growth than the genetic predisposition of potentially drought-adapted provenances. In this study, we compared the radial growth, wood-anatomical traits and leaf phenology of four beech provenances originating from southern (Bulgaria, France) and northern locations (Sweden, the Netherlands) and planted in a provenance trial in the Netherlands. The distribution of precipitation largely differs between the sites of origin. The northern provenances experience a maximum and the southern provenances experience a minimum of rainfall in summer. We compared tree productivity and the anatomy of the water-conducting system for the period from 2000 to 2010, including the drought year 2003. In addition, tree mortality and the timing of leaf unfolding in spring were analysed for the years 2001, 2007 and 2012. Comparison of these traits in the four beech provenances indicates the influence of genetic predisposition and local environmental factors on the performance of these provenances under moderate site conditions. Variation in radial growth was controlled by environment, although the growth level slightly differed due to genetic background. The Bulgarian provenance had an efficient water-conducting system which was moreover unaffected by the drought in 2003, pointing to a high ability of this provenance to cope well with dry conditions. In addition, the Bulgarian provenance showed up as most productive in terms of height and radial

The dormant and the fully competent oocyte: comparing the transcriptome of human oocytes from primordial follicles and in metaphase II

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Grøndahl, Marie Louise; Borup, Rehannah; Vikeså, Jonas

2013-01-01

Oocytes become enclosed in primordial follicles during fetal life and remain dormant there until activation followed by growth and meiotic resumption. Current knowledge about the molecular pathways involved in oogenesis is incomplete. This study identifies the specific transcriptome of the human...... oocyte in the quiescent state and at the pinnacle of maturity at ovulation. In silico bioinformatic comparisons were made between the transcriptome of human oocytes from dormant primordial follicles and that of human metaphase II (MII) oocytes and granulosa cells and unique gene expression profiles were...... identified as well as functional and pathway enrichments associated with the oocytes from the two developmental hallmarks. A total of 729 genes were highly enriched in oocytes from primodial follicles and 1456 genes were highly enriched in MII oocytes (>10-fold, P...

Water use efficiency studies of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd provenances in Sudan

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Mustafa, A.F.; Elamin, K.H.; Salih, A.A.

1996-01-01

An experiment was conducted in 1989 to screen Acacia senegal L. Willd provenances collected from within the natural gum belt for high water use efficiency. Thirteen provenances were tested for water use efficiency and consequently 6 out of them were selected for further screening. The selection was based on their performance in the preliminary screening. Both the preliminary and the detailed study revealed that provenances 7, 3 and 11 combine high dry matter production with high water use efficiency. Water use efficiency and dry matter production appears to be negatively correlated with root length density and root/shoot ratios. Provenances 7 which exhibited the highest water use efficiency and dry matter yield had the lowest root/shoot ratio and also a low root length density. Based on these studies provenance 7 can be considered a suitable candidate for introduction into gum-belt of Sudan through for rehabilitation of this region. (author). 5 refs, 1 fig., 3 tabs

Water use efficiency studies of Acacia senegal (L.) Willd provenances in Sudan

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Mustafa, A F; Elamin, K H [Forestry Research Section, Wad Medani (Sudan); Salih, A A [Soil Science Section, Wad Medani (Sudan)

1996-07-01

An experiment was conducted in 1989 to screen Acacia senegal L. Willd provenances collected from within the natural gum belt for high water use efficiency. Thirteen provenances were tested for water use efficiency and consequently 6 out of them were selected for further screening. The selection was based on their performance in the preliminary screening. Both the preliminary and the detailed study revealed that provenances 7, 3 and 11 combine high dry matter production with high water use efficiency. Water use efficiency and dry matter production appears to be negatively correlated with root length density and root/shoot ratios. Provenances 7 which exhibited the highest water use efficiency and dry matter yield had the lowest root/shoot ratio and also a low root length density. Based on these studies provenance 7 can be considered a suitable candidate for introduction into gum-belt of Sudan through for rehabilitation of this region. (author). 5 refs, 1 fig., 3 tabs.

Nonalbumin proteinuria predominates in biopsy-proven tenofovir nephrotoxicity.

Science.gov (United States)

Sise, Meghan E; Hirsch, Jamie S; Canetta, Pietro A; Herlitz, Leal; Mohan, Sumit

2015-05-15

Tenofovir disoproxil fumarate (TDF) nephrotoxicity is characterized by proximal renal tubular injury and dysmorphic mitochondria resulting in proteinuria, orthoglycemic glycosuria, and other markers of proximal tubular dysfunction. The objective of this study was to determine the pattern of proteinuria in patients with biopsy-proven TDF nephrotoxicity. Retrospective chart review. Patients with biopsy-proven TDF nephrotoxicity were identified and their medical charts and biopsy reports were reviewed. Comparison was made with HIV-infected patients not on TDF who underwent kidney biopsy. We identified 43 biopsy-proven cases of TDF nephrotoxicity; mean age 54.7 ± 0.4 years, 53% men, 42% whites. Thirty-seven cases reported proteinuria by dipstick of which only 60% had at least 2+ proteinuria. Twenty-seven patients had urine protein quantified by either 24-h collection or spot urine protein-to-creatinine ratio; median proteinuria was 1742 mg/day [interquartile range (IQR) 1200-2000 mg] and 1667 mg/g creatinine (IQR 851-1967 mg/g), respectively. Ten patients had concurrent urinary albumin measured, with a median 236 mg/g creatinine (IQR 137-343 mg/g). The mean urine albumin-to-urine protein ratio (uAPR) was 0.17 (IQR 0.14-0.19), confirming that TDF nephrotoxicity is primarily associated with nonalbumin proteinuria. Control cases had a uAPR of 0.65 (IQR 0.55-0.79) P < 0.001. Histopathology showed the predominance of proximal tubular injury with characteristic mitochondrial abnormalities. In the largest published cohort of patients with biopsy-proven TDF nephrotoxicity, we show that low uAPR is a reliable feature of this disease. Because of the predominance of nonalbumin proteinuria, dipstick urinalysis may be unreliable in TDF nephrotoxicity.

Searching for primordial non-Gaussianity in Planck CMB maps using a combined estimator

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Novaes, C.P.; Wuensche, C.A. [Divisão de Astrofísica, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais, Av. dos Astronautas 1758, São José dos Campos 12227-010, SP (Brazil); Bernui, A. [Observatório Nacional, Rua General José Cristino 77, São Cristóvão, 20921-400, Rio de Janeiro, RJ (Brazil); Ferreira, I.S., E-mail: camilapnovaes@gmail.com, E-mail: bernui@on.br, E-mail: ivan@fis.unb.br, E-mail: ca.wuensche@inpe.br [Instituto de Física, Universidade de Brasília, Campus Universitário Darcy Ribeiro, Asa Norte, 70919-970, Brasília, DF (Brazil)

2014-01-01

The extensive search for deviations from Gaussianity in cosmic microwave background radiation (CMB) data is very important due to the information about the very early moments of the universe encoded there. Recent analyses from Planck CMB data do not exclude the presence of non-Gaussianity of small amplitude, although they are consistent with the Gaussian hypothesis. The use of different techniques is essential to provide information about types and amplitudes of non-Gaussianities in the CMB data. In particular, we find interesting to construct an estimator based upon the combination of two powerful statistical tools that appears to be sensitive enough to detect tiny deviations from Gaussianity in CMB maps. This estimator combines the Minkowski functionals with a Neural Network, maximizing a tool widely used to study non-Gaussian signals with a reinforcement of another tool designed to identify patterns in a data set. We test our estimator by analyzing simulated CMB maps contaminated with different amounts of local primordial non-Gaussianity quantified by the dimensionless parameter f{sub  NL}. We apply it to these sets of CMB maps and find ∼> 98% of chance of positive detection, even for small intensity local non-Gaussianity like f{sub  NL} = 38±18, the current limit from Planck data for large angular scales. Additionally, we test the suitability to distinguish between primary and secondary non-Gaussianities: first we train the Neural Network with two sets, one of nearly Gaussian CMB maps (|f{sub  NL}| ≤ 10) but contaminated with realistic inhomogeneous Planck noise (i.e., secondary non-Gaussianity) and the other of non-Gaussian CMB maps, that is, maps endowed with weak primordial non-Gaussianity (28 ≤ f{sub  NL} ≤ 48); after that we test an ensemble composed of CMB maps either with one of these non-Gaussian contaminations, and find out that our method successfully classifies ∼ 95% of the tested maps as being CMB maps containing primordial or

Testing a direction-dependent primordial power spectrum with observations of the cosmic microwave background

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ma Yinzhe; Efstathiou, George; Challinor, Anthony

2011-01-01

Statistical isotropy is often assumed in cosmology and should be tested rigorously against observational data. We construct simple quadratic estimators to reconstruct asymmetry in the primordial power spectrum from CMB temperature and polarization data and verify their accuracy using simulations with quadrupole power asymmetry. We show that the Planck mission, with its millions of signal-dominated modes of the temperature anisotropy, should be able to constrain the amplitude of any spherical multipole of a scale-invariant quadrupole asymmetry at the 0.01 level (2σ). Almost independent constraints can be obtained from polarization at the 0.03 level after four full-sky surveys, providing an important consistency test. If the amplitude of the asymmetry is large enough, constraining its scale dependence should become possible. In scale-free quadrupole models with 1% asymmetry, consistent with the current limits from WMAP temperature data (after correction for beam asymmetries), Planck should constrain the spectral index q of power-law departures from asymmetry to Δq=0.3. Finally, we show how to constrain models with axisymmetry in the same framework. For scale-free quadrupole models, Planck should constrain the direction of the asymmetry to a 1σ accuracy of about 2 degrees using one year of temperature data.

Cosmological Signature of the Standard Model Higgs Vacuum Instability: Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, J. R.; Racco, D.; Riotto, A.

2018-03-01

For the current central values of the Higgs boson and top quark masses, the standard model Higgs potential develops an instability at a scale of the order of 1 011 GeV . We show that a cosmological signature of such instability could be dark matter in the form of primordial black holes seeded by Higgs fluctuations during inflation. The existence of dark matter might not require physics beyond the standard model.

Primordial black hole detection through diffractive microlensing

Science.gov (United States)

Naderi, T.; Mehrabi, A.; Rahvar, S.

2018-05-01

Recent observations of gravitational waves motivate investigations for the existence of primordial black holes (PBHs). We propose the observation of gravitational microlensing of distant quasars for the range of infrared to the submillimeter wavelengths by sublunar PBHs as lenses. The advantage of observations in the longer wavelengths, comparable to the Schwarzschild radius of the lens (i.e., Rsch≃λ ) is the detection of the wave optics features of the gravitational microlensing. The observation of diffraction pattern in the microlensing light curve of a quasar can break the degeneracy between the lens parameters and determine directly the lens mass as well as the distance of the lens from the observer. We estimate the wave optics optical-depth, also calculate the rate of ˜0.1 to ˜0.3 event per year per a quasar, assuming that hundred percent of dark matter is made of sublunar PBHs. Also, we propose a long-term survey of quasars with the cadence of almost one hour to few days to resolve the wave optics features of the light curves to discover PBHs and determine the fraction of dark matter made of sublunar PBHs as well as their mass function.

Changing provenance of late Cenozoic sediments in the Jianghan Basin

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Lei Shao

2015-07-01

Full Text Available The Yangtze River is one of the most important components of the East Asia river system. In this study, sediments in the Jianghan Basin, middle Yangtze River, were selected for trace element and rare earth element (REE measurements, in order to decipher information on the change of sediment provenance and evolution of the Yangtze River. According to the elemental variations, the late Cenozoic sediments of the Jianghan Basin could be divided into four parts. During 2.68–2.28 Ma and 1.25–0 Ma, provenance of the sediments was consistent, whereas sediments were derived from variable sources during 2.28–1.25 Ma. Comparison of the elemental compositions between the Pliocene and Quaternary sediments revealed a change in sediment source from a more felsic source area to a more basic source area around the Pliocene–Quaternary boundary. Input from the Emeishan LIP should account for this provenance change. Based on the provenance analysis of sediments in the Jianghan Basin, we infer that the Yangtze River developed into a large river with its drainage basin extended to the Emeishan LIP no later than the Pliocene–Quaternary boundary.

Berry phase of primordial scalar and tensor perturbations in single-field inflationary models

Science.gov (United States)

Balajany, Hamideh; Mehrafarin, Mohammad

2018-06-01

In the framework of the single-field slow-roll inflation, we derive the Hamiltonian of the linear primordial scalar and tensor perturbations in the form of time-dependent harmonic oscillator Hamiltonians. We find the invariant operators of the resulting Hamiltonians and use their eigenstates to calculate the adiabatic Berry phase for sub-horizon modes in terms of the Lewis-Riesenfeld phase. We conclude by discussing the discrepancy in the results of Pal et al. (2013) [21] for these Berry phases, which is resolved to yield agreement with our results.

Screening for cerebrovascular disease in microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II): an evidence-based proposal.

Science.gov (United States)

Perry, Luke D; Robertson, Fergus; Ganesan, Vijeya

2013-04-01

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (OMIM 210720) is a rare autosomal recessive condition frequently associated with early-onset cerebrovascular disease. Presymptomatic detection and intervention could prevent the adverse consequences associated with this. We reviewed published cases of microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II to ascertain prevalence and characteristics of cerebrovascular disease and use these data to propose an evidence-based approach to cerebrovascular screening. Of 147 cases identified, 47 had cerebrovascular disease (32%), including occlusive arteriopathy (including moyamoya) and cerebral aneurysmal disease. Occlusive disease occurred in younger individuals, and progression can be both rapid and clinically silent. A reasonable screening approach would be magnetic resonance imaging and angiography of the cervical and intracranial circulation at diagnosis, repeated at yearly intervals until 10 years, and every 2 years thereafter, unless clinical concerns occur earlier. At present it would appear that this needs to be life-long. Families and professionals should be alerted to the potential significance of neurologic symptoms and measures should be taken to maintain good vascular health in affected individuals. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

SPINS OF LARGE ASTEROIDS: A HINT OF A PRIMORDIAL DISTRIBUTION IN THEIR SPIN RATES

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Steinberg, Elad; Sari, Re’em [The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Jerusalem (Israel)

2015-04-15

The Asteroid Belt and the Kuiper Belt are relics from the formation of our solar system. Understanding the size and spin distribution of the two belts is crucial for a deeper understanding of the formation of our solar system and the dynamical processes that govern it. In this paper, we investigate the effect of collisions on the evolution of the spin distribution of asteroids and KBOs. We find that the power law nature of the impactors’ size distribution leads to a Lévy distribution of the spin rates. This results in a power law tail in the spin distribution, in stark contrast to the usually quoted Maxwellian distribution. We show that for bodies larger than 10 km, collisions alone lead to spin rates peaking at 0.15–0.5 revolutions per day. Comparing that to the observed spin rates of large asteroids (R > 50 km), we find that the spins of large asteroids, peaking at ∼1–2 revolutions per day, are dominated by a primordial component that reflects the formation mechanism of the asteroids. Similarly, the Kuiper Belt has undergone virtually no collisional spin evolution, assuming current densities. Collisions contribute a spin rate of ∼0.01 revolutions per day, thus the observed fast spin rates of KBOs are also primordial in nature.

Environmentally induced transgenerational epigenetic reprogramming of primordial germ cells and the subsequent germ line.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Michael K Skinner

Full Text Available A number of environmental factors (e.g. toxicants have been shown to promote the epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease and phenotypic variation. Transgenerational inheritance requires the germline transmission of altered epigenetic information between generations in the absence of direct environmental exposures. The primary periods for epigenetic programming of the germ line are those associated with primordial germ cell development and subsequent fetal germline development. The current study examined the actions of an agricultural fungicide vinclozolin on gestating female (F0 generation progeny in regards to the primordial germ cell (PGC epigenetic reprogramming of the F3 generation (i.e. great-grandchildren. The F3 generation germline transcriptome and epigenome (DNA methylation were altered transgenerationally. Interestingly, disruptions in DNA methylation patterns and altered transcriptomes were distinct between germ cells at the onset of gonadal sex determination at embryonic day 13 (E13 and after cord formation in the testis at embryonic day 16 (E16. A larger number of DNA methylation abnormalities (epimutations and transcriptional alterations were observed in the E13 germ cells than in the E16 germ cells. These observations indicate that altered transgenerational epigenetic reprogramming and function of the male germline is a component of vinclozolin induced epigenetic transgenerational inheritance of disease. Insights into the molecular control of germline transmitted epigenetic inheritance are provided.

Primordial spectra of slow-roll inflation at second-order with the Gauss-Bonnet correction

Science.gov (United States)

Wu, Qiang; Zhu, Tao; Wang, Anzhong

2018-05-01

The slow-roll inflation for a single scalar field that couples to the Gauss-Bonnet (GB) term represents an important higher-order curvature correction inspired by string theory. With the arrival of the era of precision cosmology, it is expected that the high-order corrections become more and more important. In this paper we study the observational predictions of the slow-roll inflation with the GB term by using the third-order uniform asymptotic approximation method. We calculate explicitly the primordial power spectra, spectral indices, running of the spectral indices for both scalar and tensor perturbations, and the ratio between tensor and scalar spectra. These expressions are all written in terms of the Hubble and GB coupling flow parameters and expanded up to the next-to-leading order in the slow-roll expansions so they represent the most accurate results obtained so far in the literature. In addition, by studying the theoretical predictions of the scalar spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio with the Planck 2015 constraints in a model with power-law potential and GB coupling, we show that the second-order corrections are important in the future measurements. We expect that the understanding of the GB corrections in the primordial spectra and their constraints by forthcoming observational data will provide clues for the UV complete theory of quantum gravity, such as the string/M-theory.

An Inference-Based Framework to Manage Data Provenance in Geoscience Applications

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huq, M.R.; Apers, Peter M.G.; Wombacher, Andreas

2013-01-01

Data provenance allows scientists to validate their model as well as to investigate the origin of an unexpected value. Furthermore, it can be used as a replication recipe for output data products. However, capturing provenance requires enormous effort by scientists in terms of time and training.

The Primordial Inflation Explorer (PIXIE) Mission

Science.gov (United States)

Kogut, Alan J.; Chuss, David T.; Dotson, Jessie L.; Fixsen, Dale J.; Halpern, Mark; Hinshaw, Gary F.; Meyer, Stephan M.; Moseley, S. Harvey; Seiffert, Michael D.; Spergel, David N.;

A new mutation of the PCNT gene in a Colombian patient with microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II: a case report.

Science.gov (United States)

Pachajoa, Harry; Ruiz-Botero, Felipe; Isaza, Carolina

2014-06-13

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism is a syndrome characterized by the presence of intrauterine growth restriction, post-natal growth deficiency and microcephaly. Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II is the most distinctive syndrome in this group of entities. Individuals affected by this disease present at an adult height of less than 100 cm, a post-pubertal head circumference of 40 cm or less, mild mental retardation, an outgoing personality and bone dysplasia. We report the first case of a five-year-old Colombian boy of mixed race ancestry (mestizo), with clinical features of microcephaly, prominent and narrow nose, arched palate, amelogenesis imperfecta, short stature, tall and narrow pelvis, disproportionate shortening of fore-arms and legs, and mild coxa vara. Analysis of the PCNT gene by sequencing showed the presence of a nucleotide change in exon 10, c. 1468C>T, evidencing a new mutation not reported in the literature for microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism. The new mutation identified in this case could be associated with the severity of the phenotypic expression of the disease, resulting in the extreme short stature of the patient. Further studies are required to reach an explanation that can justify such findings, and it is vital to emphasize the importance of detection and follow-up by the epidemiological surveillance groups in birth defects and rare diseases.

Provenance for Runtime Workflow Steering and Validation in Computational Seismology

Science.gov (United States)

Spinuso, A.; Krischer, L.; Krause, A.; Filgueira, R.; Magnoni, F.; Muraleedharan, V.; David, M.

2014-12-01

Provenance systems may be offered by modern workflow engines to collect metadata about the data transformations at runtime. If combined with effective visualisation and monitoring interfaces, these provenance recordings can speed up the validation process of an experiment, suggesting interactive or automated interventions with immediate effects on the lifecycle of a workflow run. For instance, in the field of computational seismology, if we consider research applications performing long lasting cross correlation analysis and high resolution simulations, the immediate notification of logical errors and the rapid access to intermediate results, can produce reactions which foster a more efficient progress of the research. These applications are often executed in secured and sophisticated HPC and HTC infrastructures, highlighting the need for a comprehensive framework that facilitates the extraction of fine grained provenance and the development of provenance aware components, leveraging the scalability characteristics of the adopted workflow engines, whose enactment can be mapped to different technologies (MPI, Storm clusters, etc). This work looks at the adoption of W3C-PROV concepts and data model within a user driven processing and validation framework for seismic data, supporting also computational and data management steering. Validation needs to balance automation with user intervention, considering the scientist as part of the archiving process. Therefore, the provenance data is enriched with community-specific metadata vocabularies and control messages, making an experiment reproducible and its description consistent with the community understandings. Moreover, it can contain user defined terms and annotations. The current implementation of the system is supported by the EU-Funded VERCE (http://verce.eu). It provides, as well as the provenance generation mechanisms, a prototypal browser-based user interface and a web API built on top of a NoSQL storage

QEMSCAN+LA-ICP-MS: a 'big data' generator for sedimentary provenance analysis

Science.gov (United States)

Vermeesch, Pieter; Rittner, Martin; Garzanti, Eduardo

2017-04-01

Angola. In addition to these geological findings, the first applications of QEMSCAN+LA-ICP-MS highlight some key advantages of the new workflow over traditional provenance analysis: (a) the new method not only increases sample throughput but also improves data quality by reducing significant biases associated with mineral separation and grain selection; (b) the three case studies highlight the importance of zircon 'fertility' for interpreting detrital zircon U-Pb datasets, and the ability of QEMSCAN to quantify this crucial parameter semi-automatically; (c) QEMSCAN+LA-ICP-MS provides an opportunity to add textural information to detrital geochronology and, for example, quantify possible grain-size dependence of U-Pb age distributions. But besides these advantages, the three case studies also reveal a number of limitations: (a) mineral identification by QEMSCAN is not as reliable as commonly achieved by human observers; (b) heavy mineral compositions obtained by QEMSCAN cannot easily be compared with conventional point counting data; and (c) apparent grain sizes can be greatly affected by polishing artefacts. In conclusion, QEMSCAN+LA-ICP-MS is a transformational new technique for provenance analysis but should be used with caution, in combination with conventional petrographic and heavy mineral techniques.

Scientific Reproducibility in Biomedical Research: Provenance Metadata Ontology for Semantic Annotation of Study Description.

Science.gov (United States)

Sahoo, Satya S; Valdez, Joshua; Rueschman, Michael

2016-01-01

Scientific reproducibility is key to scientific progress as it allows the research community to build on validated results, protect patients from potentially harmful trial drugs derived from incorrect results, and reduce wastage of valuable resources. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recently published a systematic guideline titled "Rigor and Reproducibility " for supporting reproducible research studies, which has also been accepted by several scientific journals. These journals will require published articles to conform to these new guidelines. Provenance metadata describes the history or origin of data and it has been long used in computer science to capture metadata information for ensuring data quality and supporting scientific reproducibility. In this paper, we describe the development of Provenance for Clinical and healthcare Research (ProvCaRe) framework together with a provenance ontology to support scientific reproducibility by formally modeling a core set of data elements representing details of research study. We extend the PROV Ontology (PROV-O), which has been recommended as the provenance representation model by World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), to represent both: (a) data provenance, and (b) process provenance. We use 124 study variables from 6 clinical research studies from the National Sleep Research Resource (NSRR) to evaluate the coverage of the provenance ontology. NSRR is the largest repository of NIH-funded sleep datasets with 50,000 studies from 36,000 participants. The provenance ontology reuses ontology concepts from existing biomedical ontologies, for example the Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms (SNOMED CT), to model the provenance information of research studies. The ProvCaRe framework is being developed as part of the Big Data to Knowledge (BD2K) data provenance project.

Provenance variations of scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) in the Southern PART of Turkey

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gulcu, S.; Bilir, N.

2015-01-01

Tree height, basal diameter, stem form, number, angle and diameter of branches were assessed in eight-year-old provenance test established by 30 seed sources of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) at Aydogmus and Kemer experimental sites of Southern part of Turkey. Growth of the provenances was also compared to two native species (Taurus cedar- Cedrus libani A. Rich and Black pine-Pinus nigra Arnold.) of the region. Variations within provenance and among provenances, and relations among the traits were estimated. There were large differences (p <= 0.05) within provenance and among provenances for the traits, while sites showed similar (0.05 <= p) performance for tree height and stem form. For instance, average of tree height was 181 cm and varied between 138.3 cm and 229.8 cm in provenances of Aydogmus site, it was 184 cm and ranged from 130 cm to 246.1 cm in that of Kemer site. Averages of tree height of a provenance were 144.4 cm in Aydogmus and 194.5 cm in Kemer. Individual tree height of the provenance varied between 69 cm and 267 cm, and ranged from 51 cm to 280 cm in sites. Averages of tree height were 143.2 cm in Black pine 145.6 cm in Taurus cedar which were natural species of the region. There were mostly positive and significant (p <= 0.05) correlations among the traits. Results of the study were discussed for new plantations and breeding of the species. (author)

Cosmological Signature of the Standard Model Higgs Vacuum Instability: Primordial Black Holes as Dark Matter.

Science.gov (United States)

Espinosa, J R; Racco, D; Riotto, A

2018-03-23

For the current central values of the Higgs boson and top quark masses, the standard model Higgs potential develops an instability at a scale of the order of 10^{11}  GeV. We show that a cosmological signature of such instability could be dark matter in the form of primordial black holes seeded by Higgs fluctuations during inflation. The existence of dark matter might not require physics beyond the standard model.

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II) with multiple vascular complications misdiagnosed as Dubowitz syndrome

OpenAIRE

Dieks, Jana-Katharina; Baumer, Alessandra; Wilichowski, Ekkehard; Rauch, Anita; Sigler, Matthias

2014-01-01

To date, the genetic basis of Dubowitz syndrome (short stature, microcephaly, facial abnormalities, eczema) is unknown and vascular complications are not known to be associated with this syndrome. In microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II; disproportionate short statue, microcephaly, facial abnormalities), however, cerebral aneurysms and other vascular abnormalities are frequent complications. MOPD II is a genetic disorder caused by mutations in the pericentrin (PC...

PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Zhu, D.; Cheng, H.S.; Lin, J.W.; Yang, F.J.

2006-01-01

This paper reports the PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain made in 7-10th century. The chemical compositions of Jun celadon samples made at Juntai, Linru and Hunyuan kilns, the white-glazed porcelain samples made at Ding, Huangye and Dangyangyu kilns, and the Ru celadon samples made at Qiangliang Temple were measured by external-beam PIXE, and the factor analysis was applied for identifying their provenances. Experimental results show that the porcelain products made at different kilns can be distinguished according to the compositional differences measured by PIXE

PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Zhu, D. [Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433 (China); Cheng, H.S. [Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433 (China)]. E-mail: hscheng@fudan.edu.cn; Lin, J.W. [Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433 (China); Yang, F.J. [Institute of Modern Physics, Fudan University, 220 Handan Road, Shanghai 200433 (China)

2006-08-15

This paper reports the PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain made in 7-10th century. The chemical compositions of Jun celadon samples made at Juntai, Linru and Hunyuan kilns, the white-glazed porcelain samples made at Ding, Huangye and Dangyangyu kilns, and the Ru celadon samples made at Qiangliang Temple were measured by external-beam PIXE, and the factor analysis was applied for identifying their provenances. Experimental results show that the porcelain products made at different kilns can be distinguished according to the compositional differences measured by PIXE.

PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, D.; Cheng, H. S.; Lin, J. W.; Yang, F. J.

2006-08-01

This paper reports the PIXE study on the provenance of Chinese ancient porcelain made in 7-10th century. The chemical compositions of Jun celadon samples made at Juntai, Linru and Hunyuan kilns, the white-glazed porcelain samples made at Ding, Huangye and Dangyangyu kilns, and the Ru celadon samples made at Qiangliang Temple were measured by external-beam PIXE, and the factor analysis was applied for identifying their provenances. Experimental results show that the porcelain products made at different kilns can be distinguished according to the compositional differences measured by PIXE.

Using Blockchain and smart contracts for secure data provenance management

OpenAIRE

Ramachandran, Aravind; Kantarcioglu, Dr. Murat

2017-01-01

Blockchain technology has evolved from being an immutable ledger of transactions for cryptocurrencies to a programmable interactive the environment for building distributed reliable applications. Although, blockchain technology has been used to address various challenges, to our knowledge none of the previous work focused on using blockchain to develop a secure and immutable scientific data provenance management framework that automatically verifies the provenance records. In this work, we le...

Reduced bispectrum seeded by helical primordial magnetic fields

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hortúa, Héctor Javier [Universidad Nacional de Colombia-Bogotá, Facultad de Ciencias, Departamento de Física, Carrera 30 Calle 45-03, C.P. 111321 Bogotá (Colombia); Castañeda, Leonardo, E-mail: hjhortuao@unal.edu.co, E-mail: lcastanedac@unal.edu.co [Grupo de Gravitación y Cosmología, Observatorio Astronómico Nacional, Universidad Nacional de Colombia, cra 45 No 26-85, Edificio Uriel Gutierréz, Bogotá, D.C. (Colombia)

2017-06-01

In this paper, we investigate the effects of helical primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) reduced bispectrum. We derive the full three-point statistics of helical magnetic fields and numerically calculate the even contribution in the collinear configuration. We then numerically compute the CMB reduced bispectrum induced by passive and compensated PMF modes on large angular scales. There is a negative signal on the bispectrum due to the helical terms of the fields and we also observe that the biggest contribution to the bispectrum comes from the non-zero IR cut-off for causal fields, unlike the two-point correlation case. For negative spectral indices, the reduced bispectrum is enhanced by the passive modes. This gives a lower value of the upper limit for the mean amplitude of the magnetic field on a given characteristic scale. However, high values of IR cut-off in the bispectrum, and the helical terms of the magnetic field relaxes this bound. This demonstrates the importance of the IR cut-off and helicity in the study of the nature of PMFs from CMB observations.

Effective field theory of statistical anisotropies for primordial bispectrum and gravitational waves

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Rostami, Tahereh; Karami, Asieh; Firouzjahi, Hassan, E-mail: t.rostami@ipm.ir, E-mail: karami@ipm.ir, E-mail: firouz@ipm.ir [School of Astronomy, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), P.O. Box 19395-5531, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2017-06-01

We present the effective field theory studies of primordial statistical anisotropies in models of anisotropic inflation. The general action in unitary gauge is presented to calculate the leading interactions between the gauge field fluctuations, the curvature perturbations and the tensor perturbations. The anisotropies in scalar power spectrum and bispectrum are calculated and the dependence of these anisotropies to EFT couplings are presented. In addition, we calculate the statistical anisotropy in tensor power spectrum and the scalar-tensor cross correlation. Our EFT approach incorporates anisotropies generated in models with non-trivial speed for the gauge field fluctuations and sound speed for scalar perturbations such as in DBI inflation.

Forecasts for CMB μ and i-type spectral distortion constraints on the primordial power spectrum on scales 8∼4 Mpc−1 with the future Pixie-like experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Khatri, Rishi; Sunyaev, Rashid A.

2013-01-01

Silk damping at redshifts 1.5 × 10 4 ∼ 6 erases CMB anisotropies on scales corresponding to the comoving wavenumbers 8∼ 4 Mpc −1 (10 5 ∼ 8 ). This dissipated energy is gained by the CMB monopole, creating distortions from a blackbody in the CMB spectrum of the μ-type and the i-type. We study, using Fisher matrices, the constraints we can get from measurements of these spectral distortions on the primordial power spectrum from future experiments such as Pixie, and how these constraints change as we change the frequency resolution and the sensitivity of the experiment. We show that the additional information in the shape of the i-type distortions, in combination with the μ-type distortions, allows us to break the degeneracy between the amplitude and the spectral index of the power spectrum on these scales and leads to much tighter constraints. We quantify the information contained in both the μ-type distortions and the i-type distortions taking into account the partial degeneracy with the y-type distortions and the temperature of the blackbody part of the CMB. We also calculate the constraints possible on the primordial power spectrum when the spectral distortion information is combined with the CMB anisotropies measured by the WMAP, SPT, ACT and Planck experiments

Provenance Representation in the Global Change Information System (GCIS)

Science.gov (United States)

Tilmes, Curt

2012-01-01

Global climate change is a topic that has become very controversial despite strong support within the scientific community. It is common for agencies releasing information about climate change to be served with Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests for everything that led to that conclusion. Capturing and presenting the provenance, linking to the research papers, data sets, models, analyses, observation instruments and satellites, etc. supporting key findings has the potential to mitigate skepticism in this domain. The U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) is now coordinating the production of a National Climate Assessment (NCA) that presents our best understanding of global change. We are now developing a Global Change Information System (GCIS) that will present the content of that report and its provenance, including the scientific support for the findings of the assessment. We are using an approach that will present this information both through a human accessible web site as well as a machine readable interface for automated mining of the provenance graph. We plan to use the developing W3C PROV Data Model and Ontology for this system.

On the issue of the ζ series convergence and loop corrections in the generation of observable primordial non-Gaussianity in slow-roll inflation: I. The bispectrum

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cogollo, Heiner R S; Rodríguez, Yeinzon; Valenzuela-Toledo, César A

2008-01-01

We show in this paper that it is possible to attain very high, including observable, values for the level of non-Gaussianity f NL associated with the bispectrum B ζ of the primordial curvature perturbation ζ, in a subclass of small-field slow-roll models of inflation with canonical kinetic terms. Such a result is obtained by taking care of loop corrections both in the spectrum P ζ and in the bispectrum B ζ . Sizable values for f NL arise even if ζ is generated during inflation. Five issues are considered when constraining the available parameter space: (1) We must ensure that we are in a perturbative regime so that the ζ series expansion, and its truncation, are valid. (2) We must apply the correct condition for the (possible) loop dominance in B ζ and/or P ζ . (3) We must satisfy the spectrum normalization condition. (4) We must satisfy the spectral tilt constraint. (5) We must have enough inflation to solve the horizon problem

Planck 2015 results. XVII. Constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity

CERN Document Server

Ade, P.A.R.; Arnaud, M.; Arroja, F.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Ballardini, M.; Banday, A.J.; Barreiro, R.B.; Bartolo, N.; Basak, S.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bock, J.J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonavera, L.; Bond, J.R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F.R.; Boulanger, F.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R.C.; Calabrese, E.; Cardoso, J.F.; Catalano, A.; Challinor, A.; Chamballu, A.; Chiang, H.C.; Christensen, P.R.; Church, S.; Clements, D.L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L.P.L.; Combet, C.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Crill, B.P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davies, R.D.; Davis, R.J.; de Bernardis, P.; De Rosa, A.; De Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Désert, F.X.; Diego, J.M.; Dole, H.; Donzelli, S.; Doré, O.; Douspis, M.; Ducout, A.; Dupac, X.; Efstathiou, G.; Elsner, F.; Enßlin, T.A.; Eriksen, H.K.; Fergusson, J.; Finelli, F.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Fraisse, A.A.; Franceschi, E.; Frejsel, A.; Galeotta, S.; Galli, S.; Ganga, K.; Gauthier, C.; Ghosh, T.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; Gjerløw, E.; González-Nuevo, J.; Górski, K.M.; Gratton, S.; Gregorio, A.; Gruppuso, A.; Gudmundsson, J.E.; Hamann, J.; Hansen, F.K.; Hanson, D.; Harrison, D.L.; Heavens, A.; Helou, G.; Henrot-Versillé, S.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S.R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W.A.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Huang, Z.; Huffenberger, K.M.; Hurier, G.; Jaffe, A.H.; Jaffe, T.R.; Jones, W.C.; Juvela, M.; Keihänen, E.; Keskitalo, R.; Kim, J.; Kisner, T.S.; Knoche, J.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lacasa, F.; Lagache, G.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lamarre, J.M.; Lasenby, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Lawrence, C.R.; Leonardi, R.; Lesgourgues, J.; Levrier, F.; Lewis, A.; Liguori, M.; Lilje, P.B.; Linden-Vørnle, M.; López-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P.M.; Macías-Pérez, J.F.; Maggio, G.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Mangilli, A.; Marinucci, D.; Maris, M.; Martin, P.G.; Martínez-González, E.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; McGehee, P.; Meinhold, P.R.; Melchiorri, A.; Mendes, L.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschênes, M.A.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Moss, A.; Münchmeyer, M.; Munshi, D.; Murphy, J.A.; Naselsky, P.; Nati, F.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C.B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H.U.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Oxborrow, C.A.; Paci, F.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paoletti, D.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Peiris, H.V.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Perrotta, F.; Pettorino, V.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pietrobon, D.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Popa, L.; Pratt, G.W.; Prézeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.L.; Rachen, J.P.; Racine, B.; Rebolo, R.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Renzi, A.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Rossetti, M.; Roudier, G.; Rubiño-Martín, J.A.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savelainen, M.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Seiffert, M.D.; Shellard, E.P.S.; Shiraishi, M.; Smith, K.; Spencer, L.D.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sutter, P.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.S.; Sygnet, J.F.; Tauber, J.A.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Troja, A.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; van Tent, B.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Wade, L.A.; Wandelt, B.D.; Wehus, I.K.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.; Zonca, A.

2016-01-01

The Planck full mission cosmic microwave background(CMB) temperature and E-mode polarization maps are analysed to obtain constraints on primordial non-Gaussianity(NG). Using three classes of optimal bispectrum estimators - separable template-fitting (KSW), binned, and modal - we obtain consistent values for the local, equilateral, and orthogonal bispectrum amplitudes, quoting as our final result from temperature alone fNL^local=2.5+\\-5.7, fNL^equil=-16+\\-70 and fNL^ortho=-34+\\-33(68%CL). Combining temperature and polarization data we obtain fNL^local=0.8+\\-5.0, fNL^equil=-4+\\-43 and fNL^ortho=-26+\\-21 (68%CL). The results are based on cross-validation of these estimators on simulations, are stable across component separation techniques, pass an extensive suite of tests, and are consistent with Minkowski functionals based measurements. The effect of time-domain de-glitching systematics on the bispectrum is negligible. In spite of these test outcomes we conservatively label the results including polarization da...

Small-scale structure and 21cm fluctuations by primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gong, Jinn-Ouk; Kitajima, Naoya, E-mail: jinn-ouk.gong@apctp.org, E-mail: kitajima.naoya@f.mbox.nagoya-u.ac.jp [Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Pohang 37673 (Korea, Republic of)

2017-08-01

We discuss early structure formation of small scales sourced by primordial black holes (PBHs) which constitute a small part of present cold dark matter component. We calculate the mass function and power spectrum of haloes originated from the Poisson fluctuations of PBH number and show that the number of small haloes is significantly modified in the presence of PBHs even if their fraction accounts for only 10{sup −4}–10{sup −3} of total dark matter abundance. We then compute the subsequent 21cm signature from those haloes. We find that PBHs can provide major contributions at high redshifts within the detectability of future experiments such as Square Kilometer Array, and provide a forecast constraint on the PBH fraction.

Primordial black holes from scalar field evolution in the early universe

Science.gov (United States)

Cotner, Eric; Kusenko, Alexander

2017-11-01

Scalar condensates with large expectation values can form in the early universe, for example, in theories with supersymmetry. The condensate can undergo fragmentation into Q-balls before decaying. If the Q-balls dominate the energy density for some period of time, statistical fluctuations in their number density can lead to formation of primordial black holes (PBH). In the case of supersymmetry the mass range is limited from above by 1 023 g . For a general charged scalar field, this robust mechanism can generate black holes over a much broader mass range, including the black holes with masses of 1-100 solar masses, which is relevant for LIGO observations of gravitational waves. Topological defects can lead to formation of PBH in a similar fashion.

A Search for Microsecond Gamma Ray Bursts From Primordial Black Holes

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Krennrich, Frank

2004-01-01

The project is called SGARFACE (Short Gamma Ray Front Air Cherenkov Experiment) and is an atmospheric Cherenkov detector to provide sensitivity to short bursts of gamma rays of extraterrestrial origin. The detector is an addition to the Whipple 10m gamma ray telescope on Mt. Hopkins in southern Arizona and uses a digital trigger module for recognizing Cherenkov light flashes from gamma ray bursts. The digital trigger modules have been designed, tested and constructed at Iowa State University and have been installed at the Whipple 10m telescope. Operation of the experiment started in March 2003 and data collecting will likely continue until spring of 2005. A final results paper addressing a search for primordial black holes is likely to be finished by summer of 2005

Formation of Low-Mass X-Ray Binaries. II. Common Envelope Evolution of Primordial Binaries with Extreme Mass Ratios

Science.gov (United States)

Kalogera, Vassiliki; Webbink, Ronald F.

1998-01-01

We study the formation of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) through helium star supernovae in binary systems that have each emerged from a common envelope phase. LMXB progenitors must satisfy a large number of evolutionary and structural constraints, including survival through common envelope evolution, through the post-common envelope phase, where the precursor of the neutron star becomes a Wolf-Rayet star, and survival through the supernova event. Furthermore, the binaries that survive the explosion must reach interaction within a Hubble time and must satisfy stability criteria for mass transfer. These constraints, imposed under the assumption of a symmetric supernova explosion, prohibit the formation of short-period LMXBs transferring mass at sub-Eddington rates through any channel in which the intermediate progenitor of the neutron star is not completely degenerate. Barring accretion-induced collapse, the existence of such systems therefore requires that natal kicks be imparted to neutron stars. We use an analytical method to synthesize the distribution of nascent LMXBs over donor masses and orbital periods and evaluate their birthrate and systemic velocity dispersion. Within the limitations imposed by observational incompleteness and selection effects, and our neglect of secular evolution in the LMXB state, we compare our results with observations. However, our principal objective is to evaluate how basic model parameters (common envelope ejection efficiency, rms kick velocity, primordial mass ratio distribution) influence these results. We conclude that the characteristics of newborn LMXBs are primarily determined by age and stability constraints and the efficiency of magnetic braking and are largely independent of the primordial binary population and the evolutionary history of LMXB progenitors (except for extreme values of the average kick magnitude or of the common envelope ejection efficiency). Theoretical estimates of total LMXB birthrates are not credible

Affective Neuronal Selection:The Nature of the Primordial Emotion Systems

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George F R Ellis

2013-01-01

Full Text Available Based on studies in affective neuroscience and evolutionary psychiatry, a tentative new proposal is made here as to the nature and identification of primordial emotional systems. Our model stresses phylogenetic origins of emotional systems, which we believe is necessary for a full understanding of the functions of emotions and additionally suggests that emotional organising systems play a role in sculpting the brain during ontogeny. Nascent emotional systems thus affect cognitive development. A second proposal concerns two additions to the affective systems identified by Panksepp. We suggest there is substantial evidence for a primary emotional organising programme dealing with power, rank, dominance and subordination which instantiates competitive and territorial behaviour and is an evolutionary contributor to self-esteem in humans. A programme underlying disgust reactions which originally functioned in ancient vertebrates to protect against infection and toxins is also suggested.

Issues on generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Emami, Razieh; Firouzjahi, Hassan, E-mail: emami@mail.ipm.ir, E-mail: firouz@mail.ipm.ir [School of Physics, Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (IPM), P.O. Box 19395-5531, Tehran (Iran, Islamic Republic of)

2012-01-01

We revisit the idea of generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation in models of inflation with gauge fields. To be specific we consider the charged hybrid inflation model where the waterfall field is charged under a U(1) gauge field so the surface of end of inflation is controlled both by inflaton and the gauge fields. Using δN formalism properly we find that the anisotropies generated at the end of inflation from the gauge field fluctuations are exponentially suppressed on cosmological scales. This is because the gauge field evolves exponentially during inflation while in order to generate appreciable anisotropies at the end of inflation the spectator gauge field has to be frozen. We argue that this is a generic feature, that is, one can not generate observable anisotropies at the end of inflation within an FRW background.

Issues on generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Emami, Razieh; Firouzjahi, Hassan

2012-01-01

We revisit the idea of generating primordial anisotropies at the end of inflation in models of inflation with gauge fields. To be specific we consider the charged hybrid inflation model where the waterfall field is charged under a U(1) gauge field so the surface of end of inflation is controlled both by inflaton and the gauge fields. Using δN formalism properly we find that the anisotropies generated at the end of inflation from the gauge field fluctuations are exponentially suppressed on cosmological scales. This is because the gauge field evolves exponentially during inflation while in order to generate appreciable anisotropies at the end of inflation the spectator gauge field has to be frozen. We argue that this is a generic feature, that is, one can not generate observable anisotropies at the end of inflation within an FRW background

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism (MOPD type I with severe anemia and MRI brain findings of MOPD type II

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Rabah M. Shawky

2017-10-01

Full Text Available We report a 4 month old male, 4th in order of birth of healthy consanguineous Egyptian parents with typical characteristics of microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism most probably belongs to type I (MOPD I. The patient had intrauterine growth retardation, sparse scalp hair, sparse eyebrows and eyelashes, high arched palate, micrognathia, low set ears, short neck, clenched fists, groove between thumb and palm of hand, arachnodactyly, flexion contractures of elbow and knee. He also had thin dry skin with marked decreased subcutaneous fat and prominent superficial veins over chest and abdomen and mild hypertrichosis over lower back and buttocks. However, the patient had severe anemia and MRI brain findings revealed global hypovolemic brain changes in the form of dilated ventricles and widened cortical sulci, multiple old vascular insults and aneurismal dilatation of right internal carotid artery (ICA which are consistent with MOPD II. Keywords: Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type I, Intrauterine growth retardation, Dilatation of internal carotid artery, Severe anemia, Skeletal anomalies, Subcutaneous fat, Superficial veins on skin, Aneurysm of internal carotid artery

Primordial black holes survive SN lensing constraints

Science.gov (United States)

García-Bellido, Juan; Clesse, Sébastien; Fleury, Pierre

2018-06-01

It has been claimed in [arxiv:1712.02240] that massive primordial black holes (PBH) cannot constitute all of the dark matter (DM), because their gravitational-lensing imprint on the Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae (SN) would be incompatible with present observations. In this note, we critically review those constraints and find several caveats on the analysis. First of all, the constraints on the fraction α of PBH in matter seem to be driven by a very restrictive choice of priors on the cosmological parameters. In particular, the degeneracy between Ωm and α was ignored and thus, by fixing Ωm, transferred the constraining power of SN magnitudes to α. Furthermore, by considering more realistic physical sizes for the type-Ia supernovae, we find an effect on the SN lensing magnification distribution that leads to significantly looser constraints. Moreover, considering a wide mass spectrum of PBH, such as a lognormal distribution, further softens the constraints from SN lensing. Finally, we find that the fraction of PBH that could constitute DM today is bounded by fPBH < 1 . 09(1 . 38) , for JLA (Union 2.1) catalogs, and thus it is perfectly compatible with an all-PBH dark matter scenario in the LIGO band.

Data Provenance Inference in Logic Programming: Reducing Effort of Instance-driven Debugging

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Huq, M.R.; Mileo, Alessandra; Wombacher, Andreas

Data provenance allows scientists in different domains validating their models and algorithms to find out anomalies and unexpected behaviors. In previous works, we described on-the-fly interpretation of (Python) scripts to build workflow provenance graph automatically and then infer fine-grained

Provenance data in social media

CERN Document Server

Barbier, Geoffrey; Gundecha, Pritam

2013-01-01

Social media shatters the barrier to communicate anytime anywhere for people of all walks of life. The publicly available, virtually free information in social media poses a new challenge to consumers who have to discern whether a piece of information published in social media is reliable. For example, it can be difficult to understand the motivations behind a statement passed from one user to another, without knowing the person who originated the message. Additionally, false information can be propagated through social media, resulting in embarrassment or irreversible damages. Provenance data

Preheating of the Universe by cosmic rays from primordial supernovae at the beginning of cosmic reionization

Science.gov (United States)

Sazonov, S.; Sunyaev, R.

2015-12-01

The 21-cm signal from the cosmic reionization epoch can shed light on the history of heating of the primordial intergalactic medium (IGM) at z ˜ 30-10. It has been suggested that X-rays from the first accreting black holes could significantly heat the Universe at these early epochs. Here we propose another IGM heating mechanism associated with the first stars. As known from previous work, the remnants of powerful supernovae (SNe) ending the lives of massive Population III stars could readily expand out of their host dark matter minihaloes into the surrounding IGM, aided by the preceding photo-evaporation of the halo's gas by the UV radiation from the progenitor star. We argue that during the evolution of such a remnant, a significant fraction of the SN kinetic energy can be put into low-energy (E ≲ 30 MeV) cosmic rays that will eventually escape into the IGM. These subrelativistic cosmic rays could propagate through the Universe and heat the IGM by ˜10-100 K by z ˜ 15, before more powerful reionization/heating mechanisms associated with the first galaxies and quasars came into play. Future 21-cm observations could thus constrain the energetics of the first SNe and provide information on the magnetic fields in the primordial IGM.

Self-Consistent Generation of Primordial Continental Crust in Global Mantle Convection Models

Science.gov (United States)

Jain, C.; Rozel, A.; Tackley, P. J.

2017-12-01

We present the generation of primordial continental crust (TTG rocks) using self-consistent and evolutionary thermochemical mantle convection models (Tackley, PEPI 2008). Numerical modelling commonly shows that mantle convection and continents have strong feedbacks on each other. However in most studies, continents are inserted a priori while basaltic (oceanic) crust is generated self-consistently in some models (Lourenco et al., EPSL 2016). Formation of primordial continental crust happened by fractional melting and crystallisation in episodes of relatively rapid growth from late Archean to late Proterozoic eras (3-1 Ga) (Hawkesworth & Kemp, Nature 2006) and it has also been linked to the onset of plate tectonics around 3 Ga. It takes several stages of differentiation to generate Tonalite-Trondhjemite-Granodiorite (TTG) rocks or proto-continents. First, the basaltic magma is extracted from the pyrolitic mantle which is both erupted at the surface and intruded at the base of the crust. Second, it goes through eclogitic transformation and then partially melts to form TTGs (Rudnick, Nature 1995; Herzberg & Rudnick, Lithos 2012). TTGs account for the majority of the Archean continental crust. Based on the melting conditions proposed by Moyen (Lithos 2011), the feasibility of generating TTG rocks in numerical simulations has already been demonstrated by Rozel et al. (Nature, 2017). Here, we have developed the code further by parameterising TTG formation. We vary the ratio of intrusive (plutonic) and extrusive (volcanic) magmatism (Crisp, Volcanol. Geotherm. 1984) to study the relative volumes of three petrological TTG compositions as reported from field data (Moyen, Lithos 2011). Furthermore, we systematically vary parameters such as friction coefficient, initial core temperature and composition-dependent viscosity to investigate the global tectonic regime of early Earth. Continental crust can also be destroyed by subduction or delamination. We will investigate

A new search for primordial black hole evaporations using the Whipple gamma-ray telescope

Science.gov (United States)

Linton, E. T.; Atkins, R. W.; Badran, H. M.; Blaylock, G.; Boyle, P. J.; Buckley, J. H.; Byrum, K. L.; Carter-Lewis, D. A.; Celik, O.; Chow, Y. C. K.; Cogan, P.; Daniel, M. K.; Dowdall, C.; Falcone, A. D.; Fegan, D. J.; Fegan, S. J.; Finley, J. P.; Fortin, P.; Guiterrez, K. J.; Hall, J.; Hanna, D.; Holder, J.; Horan, D.; Hughes, S. B.; Humensky, T. B.; Jung, I.; Kenny, G. E.; Kertzman, M.; Kieda, D. B.; Kildea, J.; Knapp, J.; Krawczynski, H.; Lang, M. J.; LeBohec, S.; Maier, G.; Moriarty, P.; Ong, R. A.; Perkins, J. S.; Pizlo, F.; Pohl, M.; Quinn, J.; Ragan, K.; Rebillot, P. F.; Reynolds, P. T.; Sembroski, G. H.; Steele, D.; Swordy, S. P.; Valcarcel, L.; Wakely, S. P.; Weekes, T. C.; White, R. J.

2006-01-01

Stephen Hawking's prediction that black holes should radiate like black bodies has several important consequences, including the possibility of the detection of small (~1015 g) black holes created in the very early universe. The detection of such primordial black holes (PBHs) would be an important discovery, not only confirming Hawking's theory, but also providing valuable insights into the history of the early universe. A search through 5.5 years of archival data from the Whipple Atmospheric Cerenkov Telescope is made for TeV gamma-ray bursts on 1, 3, and 5 s timescales. On the basis of a null result from this direct search for PBH evaporations, an upper limit of 1.08 × 106 pc-3 yr-1 (99% CL) is set on the PBH evaporation rate in the local region of the galaxy, assuming the Standard Model of particle physics. This is more than a factor of two better than the previous limit at this energy range and includes longer timescales than have previously been explored. Comparison of this result with previous limits on the fraction of the critical density comprised by PBHs, Ωpbh, depends strongly on assumptions made about PBH clustering; in models predicting strong PBH clustering, the limit in this work could be as many as ten orders of magnitude more stringently than those set by diffuse MeV gamma-ray observations.

Retrospective analysis of 104 histologically proven adult brainstem gliomas: clinical symptoms, therapeutic approaches and prognostic factors

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Reithmeier, Thomas; Kuzeawu, Aanyo; Hentschel, Bettina; Loeffler, Markus; Trippel, Michael; Nikkhah, Guido

2014-01-01

Adult brainstem gliomas are rare primary brain tumors (<2% of gliomas). The goal of this study was to analyze clinical, prognostic and therapeutic factors in a large series of histologically proven brainstem gliomas. Between 1997 and 2007, 104 patients with a histologically proven brainstem glioma were retrospectively analyzed. Data about clinical course of disease, neuropathological findings and therapeutic approaches were analyzed. The median age at diagnosis was 41 years (range 18-89 years), median KPS before any operative procedure was 80 (range 20-100) and median survival for the whole cohort was 18.8 months. Histopathological examinations revealed 16 grade I, 31 grade II, 42 grade III and 14 grade IV gliomas. Grading was not possible in 1 patient. Therapeutic concepts differed according to the histopathology of the disease. Median overall survival for grade II tumors was 26.4 months, for grade III tumors 12.9 months and for grade IV tumors 9.8 months. On multivariate analysis the relative risk to die increased with a KPS ≤ 70 by factor 6.7, with grade III/IV gliomas by the factor 1.8 and for age ≥ 40 by the factor 1.7. External beam radiation reduced the risk to die by factor 0.4. Adult brainstem gliomas present with a wide variety of neurological symptoms and postoperative radiation remains the cornerstone of therapy with no proven benefit of adding chemotherapy. Low KPS, age ≥ 40 and higher tumor grade have a negative impact on overall survival

Federated provenance of oceanographic research cruises: from metadata to data

Science.gov (United States)

Thomas, Rob; Leadbetter, Adam; Shepherd, Adam

2016-04-01

more formally in data journals. Use of the SPARQL 1.1 standard allows queries to be federated across these endpoints to create a distributed network of provenance documents. Future research directions will add further nodes to the federated network of oceanographic research cruise provenance to determine the true scalability of this approach, and will involve analysis of and possible evolution of the data release lifecycle ontology. References Nitin Arora et al., 2006. Information object design pattern for modeling domain specific knowledge. 1st ECOOP Workshop on Domain-Specific Program Development. Simon Cox, 2015. Pitfalls in alignment of observation models resolved using PROV as an upper ontology. Abstract IN33F-07 presented at the American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting, 14-18 December, San Francisco. Adam Leadbetter & Justin Buck, 2015. Where did my data layer come from?" The semantics of data release. Geophysical Research Abstracts 17, EGU2015-3746-1. Xiaogang Ma et al., 2014. Ontology engineering in provenance enablement for the National Climate Assessment. Environmental Modelling & Software 61, 191-205. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envsoft.2014.08.002

Persistent identifiers for web service requests relying on a provenance ontology design pattern

Science.gov (United States)

Car, Nicholas; Wang, Jingbo; Wyborn, Lesley; Si, Wei

2016-04-01

Delivering provenance information for datasets produced from static inputs is relatively straightforward: we represent the processing actions and data flow using provenance ontologies and link to stored copies of the inputs stored in repositories. If appropriate detail is given, the provenance information can then describe what actions have occurred (transparency) and enable reproducibility. When web service-generated data is used by a process to create a dataset instead of a static inputs, we need to use sophisticated provenance representations of the web service request as we can no longer just link to data stored in a repository. A graph-based provenance representation, such as the W3C's PROV standard, can be used to model the web service request as a single conceptual dataset and also as a small workflow with a number of components within the same provenance report. This dual representation does more than just allow simplified or detailed views of a dataset's production to be used where appropriate. It also allow persistent identifiers to be assigned to instances of a web service requests, thus enabling one form of dynamic data citation, and for those identifiers to resolve to whatever level of detail implementers think appropriate in order for that web service request to be reproduced. In this presentation we detail our reasoning in representing web service requests as small workflows. In outline, this stems from the idea that web service requests are perdurant things and in order to most easily persist knowledge of them for provenance, we should represent them as a nexus of relationships between endurant things, such as datasets and knowledge of particular system types, as these endurant things are far easier to persist. We also describe the ontology design pattern that we use to represent workflows in general and how we apply it to different types of web service requests. We give examples of specific web service requests instances that were made by systems

Specification of primordial germ cells in medaka (Oryzias latipes

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Raz Erez

2007-01-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Primordial germ cells (PGCs give rise to gametes that are responsible for the development of a new organism in the next generation. Two modes of germ line specification have been described: the inheritance of asymmetrically-localized maternally provided cytoplasmic determinants and the induction of the PGC fate by other cell types. PGCs specification in zebrafish appears to depend on inheritance of germ plasm in which several RNA molecules such as vasa and nanos reside. Whether the specification mode of PGCs found in zebrafish is general for other fish species was brought into question upon analysis of olvas expression – the vasa homologue in another teleost, medaka (Oryzias latipes. Here, in contrast to the findings in zebrafish, the PGCs are found in a predictable position relative to a somatic structure, the embryonic shield. This finding, coupled with the fact that vasa mRNA, which is localized to the germ plasm of zebrafish but does not label a similar structure in medaka opened the possibility of fundamentally different mechanisms governing PGC specification in these two fish species. Results In this study we addressed the question concerning the mode of PGC specification in medaka using embryological experiments, analysis of RNA stability in the PGCs and electron microscopy observations. Dramatic alterations in the somatic environment, i.e. induction of a secondary axis or mesoderm formation alteration, did not affect the PGC number. Furthermore, the PGCs of medaka are capable of protecting specific RNA molecules from degradation and could therefore exhibit a specific mRNA expression pattern controlled by posttrancriptional mechanisms. Subsequent analysis of 4-cell stage medaka embryos using electron microscopy revealed germ plasm-like structures located at a region corresponding to that of zebrafish germ plasm. Conclusion Taken together, these results are consistent with the idea that in medaka the inheritance of

Primordial black holes as dark matter: constraints from compact ultra-faint dwarfs

Science.gov (United States)

Zhu, Qirong; Vasiliev, Eugene; Li, Yuexing; Jing, Yipeng

2018-05-01

The ground-breaking detections of gravitational waves from black hole mergers by LIGO have rekindled interest in primordial black holes (PBHs) and the possibility of dark matter being composed of PBHs. It has been suggested that PBHs of tens of solar masses could serve as dark matter candidates. Recent analytical studies demonstrated that compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies can serve as a sensitive test for the PBH dark matter hypothesis, since stars in such a halo-dominated system would be heated by the more massive PBHs, their present-day distribution can provide strong constraints on PBH mass. In this study, we further explore this scenario with more detailed calculations, using a combination of dynamical simulations and Bayesian inference methods. The joint evolution of stars and PBH dark matter is followed with a Fokker-Planck code PHASEFLOW. We run a large suite of such simulations for different dark matter parameters, then use a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach to constrain the PBH properties with observations of ultra-faint galaxies. We find that two-body relaxation between the stars and PBH drives up the stellar core size, and increases the central stellar velocity dispersion. Using the observed half-light radius and velocity dispersion of stars in the compact ultra-faint dwarf galaxies as joint constraints, we infer that these dwarfs may have a cored dark matter halo with the central density in the range of 1-2 M⊙pc - 3, and that the PBHs may have a mass range of 2-14 M⊙ if they constitute all or a substantial fraction of the dark matter.

Obsidian provenance research in the Americas.

Science.gov (United States)

Glascock, Michael D

2002-08-01

The characterization of archaeological materials to support provenance research has grown rapidly over the past few decades. Volcanic obsidian has several unique properties that make it the ideal archaeological material for studying prehistoric trade and exchange. This Account describes our laboratory's development of a systematic methodology for the characterization of obsidian sources and artifacts from Mesoamerica and other regions of North and South America in support of archaeological research.

Synergistic effect of melatonin and ghrelin in preventing cisplatin-induced ovarian damage via regulation of FOXO3a phosphorylation and binding to the p27Kip1 promoter in primordial follicles.

Science.gov (United States)

Jang, Hoon; Na, Younghwa; Hong, Kwonho; Lee, Sangho; Moon, Sohyeon; Cho, Minha; Park, Miseon; Lee, Ok-Hee; Chang, Eun Mi; Lee, Dong Ryul; Ko, Jung Jae; Lee, Woo Sik; Choi, Youngsok

2017-10-01

Premature ovarian failure during chemotherapy is a serious problem for young women with cancer. To preserve the fertility of these patients, approaches to prevent chemotherapy-induced ovarian failure are needed. In a previous study, we reported that melatonin treatment prevents the depletion of the dormant follicle pool via repression of the simultaneous activation of dormant primordial follicles by cisplatin. However, melatonin's protective effect was only partial and thus insufficient. In this study, we found that the hormone ghrelin enhances the protective effect of melatonin against cisplatin-induced ovarian failure in mouse model. Co-administration of melatonin and ghrelin more effectively prevented cisplatin-induced follicle disruption. Simultaneous treatment with melatonin and ghrelin almost restored the number of primordial follicles and the corpus luteum in cisplatin-treated ovaries, compared with single administration. We found melatonin and ghrelin receptors on the cell membrane of premature oocytes of primordial follicles. In addition, melatonin and ghrelin co-administration inhibited the cisplatin-induced phosphorylation of PTEN and FOXO3a that induces cytoplasmic translocation of FOXO3a. Inhibition of FOXO3a phosphorylation by melatonin and ghrelin increased the binding affinity of FOXO3a for the p27 Kip1 promoter in primordial follicles. Co-administration of melatonin and ghrelin in cisplatin-treated ovaries restored the expression of p27 Kip1 , which is critical for retention of the dormant status of primordial follicles. In conclusion, these findings suggest that melatonin and ghrelin co-administration is suitable for use as a fertoprotective adjuvant therapy during cisplatin chemotherapy in young female cancer patients. © 2017 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

New constraints on oscillations in the primordial spectrum of inflationary perturbations

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Hamann, J.; Covi, L. [Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Hamburg (Germany); Melchiorri, A. [Univ. di Roma La Sapienza (Italy). Dipt. di Fisica and Sezione INFN; Slosar, A. [Oxford Univ. (United Kingdom). Dept. of Astrophysics]|[Ljubljana Univ. (Slovenia). Faculty of Mathematics and Physics

2007-01-15

We revisit the problem of constraining steps in the inflationary potential with cosmological data. We argue that a step in the inflationary potential produces qualitatively similar oscillations in the primordial power spectrum, independently of the details of the inflationary model. We propose a phenomenological description of these oscillations and constrain these features using a selection of cosmological data including the baryonic peak data from the correlation function of luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our results show that degeneracies of the oscillation with standard cosmological parameters are virtually non-existent. The inclusion of new data severely tightens the constraints on the parameter space of oscillation parameters with respect to older work. This confirms that extensions to the simplest inflationary models can be successfully constrained using cosmological data. (orig.)

New constraints on oscillations in the primordial spectrum of inflationary perturbations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Hamann, J.; Covi, L.; Melchiorri, A.; Slosar, A.; Ljubljana Univ.

2007-01-01

We revisit the problem of constraining steps in the inflationary potential with cosmological data. We argue that a step in the inflationary potential produces qualitatively similar oscillations in the primordial power spectrum, independently of the details of the inflationary model. We propose a phenomenological description of these oscillations and constrain these features using a selection of cosmological data including the baryonic peak data from the correlation function of luminous red galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Our results show that degeneracies of the oscillation with standard cosmological parameters are virtually non-existent. The inclusion of new data severely tightens the constraints on the parameter space of oscillation parameters with respect to older work. This confirms that extensions to the simplest inflationary models can be successfully constrained using cosmological data. (orig.)

Aerodynamic properties of fractal grains: implications for the primordial solar nebula

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Meakin, P.; Donn, B.

1988-01-01

Under conditions in the primordial solar nebula and dense interstellar clouds, small grains have low relative velocities. This is the condition for efficient sticking and formation of fractal aggregates. A calculation of the ratio of cross section, sigma, to number of primary particles, N, for fractal clusters yielded 1n sigma/N = 0.2635 + 0.5189N sup (-0.1748). This ratio decreases slowly with N and approaches a constant for large N. Under the usual assumption of collisions producing spherical compact, uniform density aggregates, sigma/N varies as N sup -1/3 and decreases rapidly. Fractal grains are therefore much more closely coupled to the gas than are compact aggregates. This has a significant effect on the aerodynamic behavior of aggregates and consequently on their evolution and that of the nebula

Mutations in CENPE define a novel kinetochore-centromeric mechanism for microcephalic primordial dwarfism.

Science.gov (United States)

Mirzaa, Ghayda M; Vitre, Benjamin; Carpenter, Gillian; Abramowicz, Iga; Gleeson, Joseph G; Paciorkowski, Alex R; Cleveland, Don W; Dobyns, William B; O'Driscoll, Mark

2014-08-01

Defects in centrosome, centrosomal-associated and spindle-associated proteins are the most frequent cause of primary microcephaly (PM) and microcephalic primordial dwarfism (MPD) syndromes in humans. Mitotic progression and segregation defects, microtubule spindle abnormalities and impaired DNA damage-induced G2-M cell cycle checkpoint proficiency have been documented in cell lines from these patients. This suggests that impaired mitotic entry, progression and exit strongly contribute to PM and MPD. Considering the vast protein networks involved in coordinating this cell cycle stage, the list of potential target genes that could underlie novel developmental disorders is large. One such complex network, with a direct microtubule-mediated physical connection to the centrosome, is the kinetochore. This centromeric-associated structure nucleates microtubule attachments onto mitotic chromosomes. Here, we described novel compound heterozygous variants in CENPE in two siblings who exhibit a profound MPD associated with developmental delay, simplified gyri and other isolated abnormalities. CENPE encodes centromere-associated protein E (CENP-E), a core kinetochore component functioning to mediate chromosome congression initially of misaligned chromosomes and in subsequent spindle microtubule capture during mitosis. Firstly, we present a comprehensive clinical description of these patients. Then, using patient cells we document abnormalities in spindle microtubule organization, mitotic progression and segregation, before modeling the cellular pathogenicity of these variants in an independent cell system. Our cellular analysis shows that a pathogenic defect in CENP-E, a kinetochore-core protein, largely phenocopies PCNT-mutated microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism-type II patient cells. PCNT encodes a centrosome-associated protein. These results highlight a common underlying pathomechanism. Our findings provide the first evidence for a kinetochore-based route to

Quantum diffusion during inflation and primordial black holes

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pattison, Chris; Assadullahi, Hooshyar; Wands, David [Institute of Cosmology and Gravitation, University of Portsmouth, Dennis Sciama Building, Burnaby Road, Portsmouth, PO1 3FX (United Kingdom); Vennin, Vincent, E-mail: hooshyar.assadullahi@port.ac.uk, E-mail: christopher.pattison@port.ac.uk, E-mail: vincent.vennin@port.ac.uk, E-mail: david.wands@port.ac.uk [Laboratoire Astroparticule et Cosmologie, Université Denis Diderot Paris 7, 75013 Paris (France)

2017-10-01

We calculate the full probability density function (PDF) of inflationary curvature perturbations, even in the presence of large quantum backreaction. Making use of the stochastic-δ N formalism, two complementary methods are developed, one based on solving an ordinary differential equation for the characteristic function of the PDF, and the other based on solving a heat equation for the PDF directly. In the classical limit where quantum diffusion is small, we develop an expansion scheme that not only recovers the standard Gaussian PDF at leading order, but also allows us to calculate the first non-Gaussian corrections to the usual result. In the opposite limit where quantum diffusion is large, we find that the PDF is given by an elliptic theta function, which is fully characterised by the ratio between the squared width and height (in Planck mass units) of the region where stochastic effects dominate. We then apply these results to the calculation of the mass fraction of primordial black holes from inflation, and show that no more than ∼ 1 e -fold can be spent in regions of the potential dominated by quantum diffusion. We explain how this requirement constrains inflationary potentials with two examples.

Complete depletion of primordial germ cells in an All-female fish leads to Sex-biased gene expression alteration and sterile All-male occurrence.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Wei; Li, Shi-Zhu; Li, Zhi; Wang, Yang; Li, Xi-Yin; Zhong, Jian-Xiang; Zhang, Xiao-Juan; Zhang, Jun; Zhou, Li; Gui, Jian-Fang

2015-11-18

Gynogenesis is one of unisexual reproduction modes in vertebrates, and produces all-female individuals with identical genetic background. In sexual reproduction vertebrates, the roles of primordial germ cells on sexual dimorphism and gonadal differentiation have been largely studied, and two distinct functional models have been proposed. However, the role of primordial germ cells remains unknown in unisexual animals, and it is also unclear whether the functional models in sexual reproduction animals are common in unisexual animals. To solve these puzzles, we attempt to utilize the gynogenetic superiority of polyploid Carassius gibelio to create a complete germ cell-depleted gonad model by a similar morpholino-mediated knockdown approach used in other examined sexual reproduction fishes. Through the germ cell-depleted gonad model, we have performed comprehensive and comparative transcriptome analysis, and revealed a complete alteration of sex-biased gene expression. Moreover, the expression alteration leads to up-regulation of testis-biased genes and down-regulation of ovary-biased genes, and results in the occurrence of sterile all-males with testis-like gonads and secondary sex characteristics in the germ cell-depleted gynogenetic Carassius gibelio. Our current results have demonstrated that unisexual gynogenetic embryos remain keeping male sex determination information in the genome, and the complete depletion of primordial germ cells in the all-female fish leads to sex-biased gene expression alteration and sterile all-male occurrence.

Physiological response to drought stress in Camptotheca acuminata seedlings from two provenances

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Yeqing eYing

2015-05-01

Full Text Available Drought stress is a key environmental factor limiting the growth and productivity of plants. The purpose of this study was to investigate the physiological responses of Camptotheca acuminata (C. acuminata to different drought stresses and compare the drought tolerance between the provenances Kunming (KM and Nanchang (NC, which are naturally distributed in different rainfall zones with annual rainfalls of 1000-1100 mm and 1600-1700 mm, respectively. We determined relative water content (RWC, chlorophyll content (Chl(a+b, net photosynthesis (Pn, gas exchange parameters, relative leakage conductivity (REC, malondialdehyde (MDA content and superoxide dismutase (SOD and peroxidase (POD activities of C. acuminata seedlings under both moderate (50% of maximum field capacity and severe drought stress (30% of maximum field capacity. As the degree of water stress increased, RWC, Chl(a+b content, Pn, stomatal conductance (Gs, transpiration rate (Tr and intercellular CO2 concentration (Ci values decreased, but water use efficiency (WUE, REC, MDA content and SOD and POD activities increased in provenances KM and NC. Under moderate and severe drought stress, provenance KM had higher RWC, Chl(a+b, Pn, WUE, SOD and POD and lower Gs, Tr, Ci and REC in leaves than provenance NC. The results indicated that provenance KM may maintain stronger drought tolerance via improvements in water-retention capacity, antioxidant enzyme activity and membrane integrity.

Mid-Infrared Observations of Possible Intergalactic Star Forming Regions in the Leo Ring

Science.gov (United States)

Giroux, Mark; Smith, B.; Struck, C.

2011-05-01

Within the Leo group of galaxies lies a gigantic loop of intergalactic gas known as the Leo Ring. Not clearly associated with any particular galaxy, its origin remains uncertain. It may be a primordial intergalactic cloud alternatively, it may be a collision ring, or have a tidal origin. Combining archival Spitzer images of this structure with published UV and optical data, we investigate the mid-infrared properties of possible knots of star formation in the ring. These sources are very faint in the mid-infrared compared to star forming regions in the tidal features of interacting galaxies. This suggests they are either deficient in dust, or they may not be associated with the ring.

Jumping the gun: Smoking constituent BaP causes premature primordial follicle activation and impairs oocyte fusibility through oxidative stress

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Sobinoff, A.P.; Pye, V.; Nixon, B.; Roman, S.D.; McLaughlin, E.A.

2012-01-01

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is an ovotoxic constituent of cigarette smoke associated with pre-mature ovarian failure and decreased rates of conception in IVF patients. Although the overall effect of BaP on female fertility has been documented, the exact molecular mechanisms behind its ovotoxicity remain elusive. In this study we examined the effects of BaP exposure on the ovarian transcriptome, and observed the effects of in vivo exposure on oocyte dysfunction. Microarray analysis of BaP cultured neonatal ovaries revealed a complex mechanism of ovotoxicity involving a small cohort of genes associated with follicular growth, cell cycle progression, and cell death. Histomorphological and immunohistochemical analysis supported these results, with BaP exposure causing increased primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia in vitro and in vivo. Functional analysis of oocytes obtained from adult Swiss mice treated neonatally revealed significantly increased levels of mitochondrial ROS/lipid peroxidation, and severely reduced sperm-egg binding and fusion in both low (1.5 mg/kg/daily) and high (3 mg/kg/daily) dose treatments. Our results reveal a complex mechanism of BaP induced ovotoxicity involving developing follicle atresia and accelerated primordial follicle activation, and suggest short term neonatal BaP exposure causes mitochondrial leakage resulting in reduced oolemma fluidity and impaired fertilisation in adulthood. This study highlights BaP as a key compound which may be partially responsible for the documented effects of cigarette smoke on follicular development and sub-fertility. -- Highlights: ► BaP exposure up-regulates canonical pathways linked with follicular growth/atresia. ► BaP causes primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia. ► BaP causes oocyte mitochondrial ROS and lipid peroxidation, impairing fertilisation. ► Short term neonatal BaP exposure compromises adult oocyte quality.

Jumping the gun: Smoking constituent BaP causes premature primordial follicle activation and impairs oocyte fusibility through oxidative stress

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Sobinoff, A.P.; Pye, V. [Reproductive Science Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW2308 (Australia); Nixon, B.; Roman, S.D. [Reproductive Science Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW2308 (Australia); ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW2308 (Australia); McLaughlin, E.A., E-mail: eileen.mclaughlin@newcastle.edu.au [Reproductive Science Group, School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW2308 (Australia); ARC Centre of Excellence in Biotechnology and Development, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW2308 (Australia)

2012-04-01

Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) is an ovotoxic constituent of cigarette smoke associated with pre-mature ovarian failure and decreased rates of conception in IVF patients. Although the overall effect of BaP on female fertility has been documented, the exact molecular mechanisms behind its ovotoxicity remain elusive. In this study we examined the effects of BaP exposure on the ovarian transcriptome, and observed the effects of in vivo exposure on oocyte dysfunction. Microarray analysis of BaP cultured neonatal ovaries revealed a complex mechanism of ovotoxicity involving a small cohort of genes associated with follicular growth, cell cycle progression, and cell death. Histomorphological and immunohistochemical analysis supported these results, with BaP exposure causing increased primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia in vitro and in vivo. Functional analysis of oocytes obtained from adult Swiss mice treated neonatally revealed significantly increased levels of mitochondrial ROS/lipid peroxidation, and severely reduced sperm-egg binding and fusion in both low (1.5 mg/kg/daily) and high (3 mg/kg/daily) dose treatments. Our results reveal a complex mechanism of BaP induced ovotoxicity involving developing follicle atresia and accelerated primordial follicle activation, and suggest short term neonatal BaP exposure causes mitochondrial leakage resulting in reduced oolemma fluidity and impaired fertilisation in adulthood. This study highlights BaP as a key compound which may be partially responsible for the documented effects of cigarette smoke on follicular development and sub-fertility. -- Highlights: ► BaP exposure up-regulates canonical pathways linked with follicular growth/atresia. ► BaP causes primordial follicle activation and developing follicle atresia. ► BaP causes oocyte mitochondrial ROS and lipid peroxidation, impairing fertilisation. ► Short term neonatal BaP exposure compromises adult oocyte quality.

Performance of Australian provenances of Eucalyptus grandis and Eucalyptus saligna in Hawaii

Science.gov (United States)

Roger G. Skolmen

1986-01-01

Australian provenances of Eucalyptus grandis and E. saligna were compared at four locations on the island of Hawaii to seek seed sources better than those in current use which were introduced earlier from unrecorded locations in Australia. A broad range of latitude and elevation was represented among the provenances. At all four...

The formation of spiral galaxies: adiabatic compression with Young's algorithm and the relation of dark matter haloes to their primordial antecedents

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Katz, Harley; McGaugh, Stacy S.; Sellwood, J. A.; de Blok, W. J. G.

We utilize Young's algorithm to model the adiabatic compression of the dark matter haloes of galaxies in the THINGS survey to determine the relationship between the halo fit to the rotation curve and the corresponding primordial halo prior to compression. Young's algorithm conserves radial action

Provenance of Earth Science Datasets - How Deep Should One Go?

Science.gov (United States)

Ramapriyan, H.; Manipon, G. J. M.; Aulenbach, S.; Duggan, B.; Goldstein, J.; Hua, H.; Tan, D.; Tilmes, C.; Wilson, B. D.; Wolfe, R.; Zednik, S.

2015-12-01

For credibility of scientific research, transparency and reproducibility are essential. This fundamental tenet has been emphasized for centuries, and has been receiving increased attention in recent years. The Office of Management and Budget (2002) addressed reproducibility and other aspects of quality and utility of information from federal agencies. Specific guidelines from NASA (2002) are derived from the above. According to these guidelines, "NASA requires a higher standard of quality for information that is considered influential. Influential scientific, financial, or statistical information is defined as NASA information that, when disseminated, will have or does have clear and substantial impact on important public policies or important private sector decisions." For information to be compliant, "the information must be transparent and reproducible to the greatest possible extent." We present how the principles of transparency and reproducibility have been applied to NASA data supporting the Third National Climate Assessment (NCA3). The depth of trace needed of provenance of data used to derive conclusions in NCA3 depends on how the data were used (e.g., qualitatively or quantitatively). Given that the information is diligently maintained in the agency archives, it is possible to trace from a figure in the publication through the datasets, specific files, algorithm versions, instruments used for data collection, and satellites, as well as the individuals and organizations involved in each step. Such trace back permits transparency and reproducibility.

Primordial Black Holes and r-Process Nucleosynthesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Fuller, George M; Kusenko, Alexander; Takhistov, Volodymyr

2017-08-11

We show that some or all of the inventory of r-process nucleosynthesis can be produced in interactions of primordial black holes (PBHs) with neutron stars (NSs) if PBHs with masses 10^{-14}  M_{⊙}

Gravitational wave bursts from Primordial Black Hole hyperbolic encounters

CERN Document Server

Garcia-Bellido, Juan

2017-01-01

We propose that Gravitational Wave (GW) bursts with millisecond durations can be explained by the GW emission from the hyperbolic encounters of Primordial Black Holes in dense clusters. These bursts are single events, with the bulk of the released energy happening during the closest approach, and emitted in frequencies within the AdvLIGO sensitivity range. We provide expressions for the shape of the GW emission in terms of the peak frequency and amplitude, and estimate the rates of these events for a variety of mass and velocity configurations. We study the regions of parameter space that will allow detection by both AdvLIGO and, in the future, LISA. We find for realistic configurations, with total mass M∼60 M⊙, relative velocities v∼0.01c, and impact parameters b∼10−3 AU, for AdvLIGO an expected event rate is O(10) events/yr/Gpc^3 with millisecond durations. For LISA, the typical duration is in the range of minutes to hours and the event-rate is O(10^3) events/yr/Gpc^3 for both 10^3 M⊙ IMBH and 1...

New cosmic microwave background constraint to primordial gravitational waves.

Science.gov (United States)

Smith, Tristan L; Pierpaoli, Elena; Kamionkowski, Marc

2006-07-14

Primordial gravitational waves (GWs) with frequencies > or approximately equal to 10(-15) Hz contribute to the radiation density of the Universe at the time of decoupling of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). This affects the CMB and matter power spectra in a manner identical to massless neutrinos, unless the initial density perturbation for the GWs is nonadiabatic, as may occur if such GWs are produced during inflation or some post-inflation phase transition. In either case, current observations provide a constraint to the GW amplitude that competes with that from big-bang nucleosynthesis (BBN), although it extends to much lower frequencies (approximately 10(-15) Hz rather than the approximately 10(-10) Hz from BBN): at 95% confidence level, omega(gw)h(2)

Planck 2015 results. XIX. Constraints on primordial magnetic fields

CERN Document Server

Ade, P.A.R.; Arnaud, M.; Arroja, F.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Ballardini, M.; Banday, A.J.; Barreiro, R.B.; Bartolo, N.; Battaner, E.; Benabed, K.; Benoît, A.; Benoit-Lévy, A.; Bernard, J.-P.; Bersanelli, M.; Bielewicz, P.; Bock, J.J.; Bonaldi, A.; Bonavera, L.; Bond, J.R.; Borrill, J.; Bouchet, F.R.; Bucher, M.; Burigana, C.; Butler, R.C.; Calabrese, E.; Cardoso, J.-F.; Catalano, A.; Chamballu, A.; Chiang, H.C.; Chluba, J.; Christensen, P.R.; Church, S.; Clements, D.L.; Colombi, S.; Colombo, L.P.L.; Combet, C.; Couchot, F.; Coulais, A.; Crill, B.P.; Curto, A.; Cuttaia, F.; Danese, L.; Davies, R.D.; Davis, R.J.; de Bernardis, P.; de Rosa, A.; de Zotti, G.; Delabrouille, J.; Désert, F.-X.; Diego, J.M.; Dolag, K.; Dole, H.; Donzelli, S.; Doré, O.; Douspis, M.; Ducout, A.; Dupac, X.; Efstathiou, G.; Elsner, F.; Enßlin, T.A.; Eriksen, H.K.; Fergusson, J.; Finelli, F.; Florido, E.; Forni, O.; Frailis, M.; Fraisse, A.A.; Franceschi, E.; Frejsel, A.; Galeotta, S.; Galli, S.; Ganga, K.; Giard, M.; Giraud-Héraud, Y.; Gjerløw, E.; González-Nuevo, J.; Górski, K.M.; Gratton, S.; Gregorio, A.; Gruppuso, A.; Gudmundsson, J.E.; Hansen, F.K.; Hanson, D.; Harrison, D.L.; Helou, G.; Henrot-Versillé, S.; Hernández-Monteagudo, C.; Herranz, D.; Hildebrandt, S.R.; Hivon, E.; Hobson, M.; Holmes, W.A.; Hornstrup, A.; Hovest, W.; Huffenberger, K.M.; Hurier, G.; Jaffe, A.H.; Jaffe, T.R.; Jones, W.C.; Juvela, M.; Keihänen, E.; Keskitalo, R.; Kim, J.; Kisner, T.S.; Knoche, J.; Kunz, M.; Kurki-Suonio, H.; Lagache, G.; Lähteenmäki, A.; Lamarre, J.-M.; Lasenby, A.; Lattanzi, M.; Lawrence, C.R.; Leahy, J.P.; Leonardi, R.; Lesgourgues, J.; Levrier, F.; Liguori, M.; Lilje, P.B.; Linden-Vørnle, M.; López-Caniego, M.; Lubin, P.M.; Macías-Pérez, J.F.; Maggio, G.; Maino, D.; Mandolesi, N.; Mangilli, A.; Maris, M.; Martin, P.G.; Martínez-González, E.; Masi, S.; Matarrese, S.; McGehee, P.; Meinhold, P.R.; Melchiorri, A.; Mendes, L.; Mennella, A.; Migliaccio, M.; Mitra, S.; Miville-Deschênes, M.-A.; Molinari, D.; Moneti, A.; Montier, L.; Morgante, G.; Mortlock, D.; Moss, A.; Munshi, D.; Murphy, J.A.; Naselsky, P.; Nati, F.; Natoli, P.; Netterfield, C.B.; Nørgaard-Nielsen, H.U.; Noviello, F.; Novikov, D.; Novikov, I.; Oppermann, N.; Oxborrow, C.A.; Paci, F.; Pagano, L.; Pajot, F.; Paoletti, D.; Pasian, F.; Patanchon, G.; Perdereau, O.; Perotto, L.; Perrotta, F.; Pettorino, V.; Piacentini, F.; Piat, M.; Pierpaoli, E.; Pietrobon, D.; Plaszczynski, S.; Pointecouteau, E.; Polenta, G.; Popa, L.; Pratt, G.W.; Prézeau, G.; Prunet, S.; Puget, J.-L.; Rachen, J.P.; Rebolo, R.; Reinecke, M.; Remazeilles, M.; Renault, C.; Renzi, A.; Ristorcelli, I.; Rocha, G.; Rosset, C.; Rossetti, M.; Roudier, G.; Rubiño-Martín, J.A.; Ruiz-Granados, B.; Rusholme, B.; Sandri, M.; Santos, D.; Savelainen, M.; Savini, G.; Scott, D.; Seiffert, M.D.; Shellard, E.P.S.; Shiraishi, M.; Spencer, L.D.; Stolyarov, V.; Stompor, R.; Sudiwala, R.; Sunyaev, R.; Sutton, D.; Suur-Uski, A.-S.; Sygnet, J.-F.; Tauber, J.A.; Terenzi, L.; Toffolatti, L.; Tomasi, M.; Tristram, M.; Tucci, M.; Tuovinen, J.; Umana, G.; Valenziano, L.; Valiviita, J.; Van Tent, B.; Vielva, P.; Villa, F.; Wade, L.A.; Wandelt, B.D.; Wehus, I.K.; Yvon, D.; Zacchei, A.

2016-01-01

We predict and investigate four types of imprint of a stochastic background of primordial magnetic fields (PMFs) on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies: the impact of PMFs on the CMB spectra; the effect on CMB polarization induced by Faraday rotation; magnetically-induced non-Gaussianities; and the magnetically-induced breaking of statistical isotropy. Overall, Planck data constrain the amplitude of PMFs to less than a few nanogauss. In particular, individual limits coming from the analysis of the CMB angular power spectra, using the Planck likelihood, are $B_{1\\,\\mathrm{Mpc}}< 4.4$ nG (where $B_{1\\,\\mathrm{Mpc}}$ is the comoving field amplitude at a scale of 1 Mpc) at 95% confidence level, assuming zero helicity, and $B_{1\\,\\mathrm{Mpc}}< 5.6$ nG when we consider a maximally helical field. For nearly scale-invariant PMFs we obtain $B_{1\\,\\mathrm{Mpc}}<2.1$ nG and $B_{1\\,\\mathrm{Mpc}}<0.7$ nG if the impact of PMFs on the ionization history of the Universe is included in the analysis...

Non-primordial origin of the cosmic background radiation and pregalactic density fluctuations

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Froehlich, H.E.; Mueller, V.; Oleak, H.

1984-01-01

Assumptions of a tepid Universe and a smaller primordial contribution to the 3 K background are made to show that Pop III stars may be responsible for the 3 K background and cosmic ray entropy. The 3 K background would be caused by thermalized stellar radiation produced by metallized intergalactic dust formed in first generation stars. A range of mass scales and amplification factors of density perturbations in the early Universe is examined below the Jeans mass for gravitational instabilities. The density perturbations that could have been present at small enough mass scales could have survived and generated sonic modes that propagated through the plasma era and, when combined with additional gravitationally unstable entropy disturbances after recombination, triggered the formation of Pop III stars. 13 references

Origin of structure: statistical characterization of the primordial density fluctuations and the collapse of the wave function

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

León, Gabriel [Departamento de Física, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Ciudad Universitaria - Pab. I, Buenos Aires 1428 (Argentina); Sudarsky, Daniel, E-mail: gleon@df.uba.ar, E-mail: sudarsky@nucleares.unam.mx [Instituto de Ciencias Nucleares, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, México D.F. 04510, México (Mexico)

2015-06-01

The statistical properties of the primordial density perturbations has been considered in the past decade as a powerful probe of the physical processes taking place in the early universe. Within the inflationary paradigm, the properties of the bispectrum are one of the keys that serves to discriminate among competing scenarios concerning the details of the origin of cosmological perturbations. However, all of the scenarios, based on the conventional approach to the so-called ''quantum-to-classical transition'' during inflation, lack the ability to point out the precise physical mechanism responsible for generating the inhomogeneity and anisotropy of our universe starting from and exactly homogeneous and isotropic vacuum state associated with the early inflationary regime. In past works, we have shown that the proposals involving a spontaneous dynamical reduction of the quantum state provide plausible explanations for the birth of said primordial inhomogeneities and anisotropies. In the present manuscript we show that, when considering within the context of such proposals, the characterization of the spectrum and bispectrum turn out to be quite different from those found in the traditional approach, and in particular, some of the statistical features, must be treated in a different way leading to some rather different conclusions.

Towards Provenance and Traceability in CRISTAL for HEP

CERN Document Server

Shamdasani, Jetendr; McClatchey, Richard

2014-01-01

This paper discusses the CRISTAL object lifecycle management system and its use in provenance data management and the traceability of system events. This software was initially used to capture the construction and calibration of the CMS ECAL detector at CERN for later use by physicists in their data analysis. Some further uses of CRISTAL in different projects (CMS, neuGRID and N4U) are presented as examples of its flexible data model. From these examples, applications are drawn for the High Energy Physics domain and some initial ideas for its use in data preservation HEP are outlined in detail in this paper. Currently investigations are underway to gauge the feasibility of using the N4U Analysis Service or a derivative of it to address the requirements of data and analysis logging and provenance capture within the HEP long term data analysis environment.

The standard and degenerate primordial nucleosynthesis versus recent experimental data

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Esposito, S.; Mangano, G.; Miele, G.; Pisanti, O.

2000-01-01

We report the results on Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) based on an updated code, with accuracy of the order of 0.1% on He4 abundance, compared with the predictions of other recent similar analysis. We discuss the compatibility of the theoretical results, for vanishing neutrino chemical potentials, with the observational data. Bounds on the number of relativistic neutrinos and baryon abundance are obtained by a likelihood analysis. We also analyze the effect of large neutrino chemical potentials on primordial nucleosynthesis, motivated by the recent results on the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation spectrum. The BBN exclusion plots for electron neutrino chemical potential and the effective number of relativistic neutrinos are reported. We find that the standard BBN seems to be only marginally in agreement with the recent BOOMERANG and MAXIMA-1 results, while the agreement is much better for degenerate BBN scenarios for large effective number of neutrinos, N ν ∼ 10. (author)

U-Pb systematics in iron meteorites: uniformity of primordial lead

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Goepel, C.; Manhes, G.; Allegre, C.J.

1985-01-01

Pb isotopic compositions and U-Pb abundances were determined in the metal phase of six iron meteorites: Canyon Diablo IA, Toluca IA, Odessa IA, Youndegin IA, Deport IA and Mundrabilla An. Prior to complete dissolution, samples were subjected to a series of leachings and partial dissolutions. Isotopic compositions and abundances of the etched Pb indicate a contamination by terrestrial Pb which is attributable to previous cutting of the meteorite. Pb isotopic compositions measured in the decontaminated samples are identical within 0.2% and essentially confirm the primordial Pb value defined by Tatsumoto et al. (1973). These data invalidate more radiogenic Pb isotopic compositions published for iron meteorites, which are the result of terrestrial Pb contamination introduced mainly by analytical procedure. Our results support the idea of a solar nebula which was isotopically homogeneous for Pb 4.55 Ga ago. The new upper limit for U-abundance in iron meteorites, 0.001 ppb, is in agreement with its expected thermodynamic solubility in the metal phase. (author)

Proven Alternatives for Aboveground Treatment of Arsenic in Groundwater

Science.gov (United States)

This issue paper, developed for EPA's Engineering Forum, identifies and summarizes experiences with proven aboveground treatment alternatives for arsenic in groundwater, and provides information on their relative effectiveness and cost.

Mutations in ORC1, encoding the largest subunit of the origin recognition complex, cause microcephalic primordial dwarfism resembling Meier-Gorlin syndrome.

Science.gov (United States)

Bicknell, Louise S; Walker, Sarah; Klingseisen, Anna; Stiff, Tom; Leitch, Andrea; Kerzendorfer, Claudia; Martin, Carol-Anne; Yeyati, Patricia; Al Sanna, Nouriya; Bober, Michael; Johnson, Diana; Wise, Carol; Jackson, Andrew P; O'Driscoll, Mark; Jeggo, Penny A

2011-02-27

Studies into disorders of extreme growth failure (for example, Seckel syndrome and Majewski osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II) have implicated fundamental cellular processes of DNA damage response signaling and centrosome function in the regulation of human growth. Here we report that mutations in ORC1, encoding a subunit of the origin recognition complex, cause microcephalic primordial dwarfism resembling Meier-Gorlin syndrome. We establish that these mutations disrupt known ORC1 functions including pre-replicative complex formation and origin activation. ORC1 deficiency perturbs S-phase entry and S-phase progression. Additionally, we show that Orc1 depletion in zebrafish is sufficient to markedly reduce body size during rapid embryonic growth. Our data suggest a model in which ORC1 mutations impair replication licensing, slowing cell cycle progression and consequently impeding growth during development, particularly at times of rapid proliferation. These findings establish a novel mechanism for the pathogenesis of microcephalic dwarfism and show a surprising but important developmental impact of impaired origin licensing.

Striking hematological abnormalities in patients with microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II): a potential role of pericentrin in hematopoiesis.

Science.gov (United States)

Unal, Sule; Alanay, Yasemin; Cetin, Mualla; Boduroglu, Koray; Utine, Eda; Cormier-Daire, Valerie; Huber, Celine; Ozsurekci, Yasemin; Kilic, Esra; Simsek Kiper, Ozlem Pelin; Gumruk, Fatma

2014-02-01

Microcephalic osteodysplastic primordial dwarfism type II (MOPD II) is a rare primordial dwarfism that is similar to Seckel syndrome. Seckel syndrome is known to be associated with various hematological abnormalities; however, hematological findings in MOPD II patients have not been previously reported. The present study aimed to describe the hematological findings in a series of eight patients with MOPD II from a single center. The study included eight patients with MOPD II that were analyzed via molecular testing, and physical and laboratory examinations. Molecular testing showed that seven of the eight patients had pericentrin (PCNT) gene mutations. Hematological evaluation showed that 7 (87.5%) patients had thrombocytosis, 6 (75%) had leukocytosis, 5 (62.5%) had both leukocytosis and thrombocytosis, and 2 (25%) had anemia. We report leukocytosis and thrombocytosis as a common hematologic abnormality in patients with MOPD II. The present findings may improve our understanding of the potential function of the PCNT gene in hematopoietic cell proliferation and differentiation. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Preliminary results on time-resolved ion beam induced luminescence applied to the provenance study of lapis lazuli

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Czelusniak, C. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Palla, L. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Pisa and Università di Pisa, Largo B. Pontecorvo 3, I-56127 Pisa (Italy); Massi, M. [Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Carraresi, L.; Giuntini, L. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Re, A.; Lo Giudice, A. [Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Torino & INFN Sezione di Torino, Via Giuria 1, 10125 Torino (Italy); Pratesi, G. [Museo di Storia Naturale, Università di Firenze, Via G. La Pira 4, 50121 Firenze (Italy); Mazzinghi, A. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Ruberto, C. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Dipartimento di Chimica, Università di Firenze, Via della Lastruccia 1, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); Castelli, L. [Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare (INFN), Sezione di Firenze, Via Sansone 1, I-50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Firenze (Italy); and others

2016-03-15

This work will present preliminary results concerning the use of time-resolved ion beam induced luminescence applied to provenance studies of lapis lazuli. Measurements were performed at the pulsed beam facility at LABEC laboratory in Florence. Lapis lazuli is a semi-precious gemstone, used as ornament since the early civilizations that can be found in few places on Earth. The importance of this work lies in understanding the origin of various samples of lapis lazuli, from which it may be possible to gain insight into trade routes from ancient times. The samples studied in this work originated from Chile, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, and Siberia. The stones were irradiated with 3 MeV protons and the resulting luminescence was detected by a photomultiplier tube, whose output was acquired using a sampling digitizer VME module (CAEN/V1720). Wavelength discrimination was performed at 430 nm utilizing a range of beam currents. The results showed that, by changing the beam current intensity, one can study different features of lapis lazuli, and this may aid in distinguishing lapis lazuli from different provenances.

Preliminary results on time-resolved ion beam induced luminescence applied to the provenance study of lapis lazuli

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Czelusniak, C.; Palla, L.; Massi, M.; Carraresi, L.; Giuntini, L.; Re, A.; Lo Giudice, A.; Pratesi, G.; Mazzinghi, A.; Ruberto, C.; Castelli, L.

2016-01-01

This work will present preliminary results concerning the use of time-resolved ion beam induced luminescence applied to provenance studies of lapis lazuli. Measurements were performed at the pulsed beam facility at LABEC laboratory in Florence. Lapis lazuli is a semi-precious gemstone, used as ornament since the early civilizations that can be found in few places on Earth. The importance of this work lies in understanding the origin of various samples of lapis lazuli, from which it may be possible to gain insight into trade routes from ancient times. The samples studied in this work originated from Chile, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Myanmar, and Siberia. The stones were irradiated with 3 MeV protons and the resulting luminescence was detected by a photomultiplier tube, whose output was acquired using a sampling digitizer VME module (CAEN/V1720). Wavelength discrimination was performed at 430 nm utilizing a range of beam currents. The results showed that, by changing the beam current intensity, one can study different features of lapis lazuli, and this may aid in distinguishing lapis lazuli from different provenances.

Proven commercial reactor types: an introduction to their principal advantages and disadvantages

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Alesso, H.P.

1981-01-01

This study deals with the principal advantages and disadvantages of the five types of proven commercial reactors. A description of each class of commercial reactor (light water, gas-cooled, and heavy water) and their proven reactors is followed by a comparison of reactor types on the basis of technical merit, economics of operation, availability of technology, and associated political issues. (author)

On the issue of the {zeta} series convergence and loop corrections in the generation of observable primordial non-Gaussianity in slow-roll inflation: I. The bispectrum

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cogollo, Heiner R S; Rodriguez, Yeinzon; Valenzuela-Toledo, Cesar A, E-mail: heiner.sarmiento@ciencias.uis.edu.co, E-mail: yeinzon.rodriguez@uan.edu.co, E-mail: cavalto@ciencias.uis.edu.co [Escuela de Fisica, Universidad Industrial de Santander, Ciudad Universitaria, Bucaramanga (Colombia)

2008-08-15

We show in this paper that it is possible to attain very high, including observable, values for the level of non-Gaussianity f{sub NL} associated with the bispectrum B{sub {zeta}} of the primordial curvature perturbation {zeta}, in a subclass of small-field slow-roll models of inflation with canonical kinetic terms. Such a result is obtained by taking care of loop corrections both in the spectrum P{sub {zeta}} and in the bispectrum B{sub {zeta}}. Sizable values for f{sub NL} arise even if {zeta} is generated during inflation. Five issues are considered when constraining the available parameter space: (1) We must ensure that we are in a perturbative regime so that the {zeta} series expansion, and its truncation, are valid. (2) We must apply the correct condition for the (possible) loop dominance in B{sub {zeta}} and/or P{sub {zeta}}. (3) We must satisfy the spectrum normalization condition. (4) We must satisfy the spectral tilt constraint. (5) We must have enough inflation to solve the horizon problem.

Statistical tests for the Gaussian nature of primordial fluctuations through CBR experiments

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Luo, X.

1994-01-01

Information about the physical processes that generate the primordial fluctuations in the early Universe can be gained by testing the Gaussian nature of the fluctuations through cosmic microwave background radiation (CBR) temperature anisotropy experiments. One of the crucial aspects of density perturbations that are produced by the standard inflation scenario is that they are Gaussian, whereas seeds produced by topological defects left over from an early cosmic phase transition tend to be non-Gaussian. To carry out this test, sophisticated statistical tools are required. In this paper, we will discuss several such statistical tools, including multivariant skewness and kurtosis, Euler-Poincare characteristics, the three-point temperature correlation function, and Hotelling's T 2 statistic defined through bispectral estimates of a one-dimensional data set. The effect of noise present in the current data is discussed in detail and the COBE 53 GHz data set is analyzed. Our analysis shows that, on the large angular scale to which COBE is sensitive, the statistics are probably Gaussian. On the small angular scales, the importance of Hotelling's T 2 statistic is stressed, and the minimum sample size required to test Gaussianity is estimated. Although the current data set available from various experiments at half-degree scales is still too small, improvement of the data set by roughly a factor of 2 will be enough to test the Gaussianity statistically. On the arc min scale, we analyze the recent RING data through bispectral analysis, and the result indicates possible deviation from Gaussianity. Effects of point sources are also discussed. It is pointed out that the Gaussianity problem can be resolved in the near future by ground-based or balloon-borne experiments

High slope waste dumps – a proven possibility

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Igor Svrkota

2013-11-01

Full Text Available This paper is an overview of dumping operations on High Slope Waste Dump at Veliki Krivelj open pit copper mine, RTB Bor, Serbia. The High Slope Waste Dump in Bor is the highest single slope waste dump in the world with the slope height of 405 m. The paper gives the basics and limitations of the designed dumping technology, the redesigned technology, gives an overview of the 13 year long operation and gathered experiences and addresses the main issues of dumping operations in high slope conditions as well as the present condition of the High Slope Waste Dump.

Towards Automatic Capturing of Manual Data Processing Provenance

NARCIS (Netherlands)

Wombacher, Andreas; Huq, M.R.

2011-01-01

Often data processing is not implemented by a work ow system or an integration application but is performed manually by humans along the lines of a more or less specified procedure. Collecting provenance information during manual data processing can not be automated. Further, manual collection of

Scab susceptibility of a provenance collection of pecan

Science.gov (United States)

Scab (caused by Fusicladium effusum) is the most economically destructive disease of pecan in the Southeast US. Epidemics are favored by rainfall and high humidity. A provenance collection of ~950 pecan trees from 19 locations representing the native range of the species is located in Byron, Georgia...

EFFECTS OF COLD STRATIFICATION AND GA3 ON GERMINATION OF ARBUTUS UNEDO SEEDS OF THREE PROVENANCES.

Science.gov (United States)

Pipinis, Elias; Stampoulidis, Athanasios; Milios, Elias; Kitikidou, Kyriaki; Radoglou, Kalliopi

2017-01-01

Arbutus unedo is a valuable Mediterranean shrub as an ornamental plant as well as fruit tree. Fresh fruits of A. unedo are a good source of antioxidants, of vitamins C, E and carotenoids and also are characterized by the high content of mineral elements. The effects of gibberellic acid (GA 3 ) and cold stratification (CS) on seed germination performance were investigated in A. unedo seeds collected from three provenances in the Northern part of Greece. Seeds of each provenance were soaked in solutions of GA 3 (500, 1000 or 2000 ppm) for 24 h and subsequently were subjected to CS at 3 - 5°C for 0, 1, 2, and 3 months. Non-stratified seeds of the three A. unedo provenances which were not treated with GA 3 solutions exhibited very low germination. However, seed germination was significantly improved after a one-month period of CS. Similarly, the non-stratified seeds of all three provenances became non-dormant after the treatment with 2000 ppm GA 3 and they germinated at high percentages. However, in untreated seeds with GA3, after a one-month CS period the seeds of the Pieria provenance exhibited higher germination percentage than that of Rodopi provenance seeds. Furthermore, in non-stratified seeds, the Pieria provenance seeds treated with GA3 germinated at higher percentages and more rapidly than those of the other two provenances. The results indicated that untreated seeds exhibited very low germination at 20/25°C. However, in all three provenances seed germinability was significantly improved by a one-month period of CS or treatment of seeds with 2000 ppm GA3. Furthermore, there was a considerable variability among seed provenances in response to the treatments which were applied.

Pre-Big Bang, fundamental Physics and noncyclic cosmologies. Possible alternatives to standard concepts and laws

Science.gov (United States)

Gonzalez-Mestres, L.

2014-04-01

Detailed analyses of WMAP and Planck data can have significant implications for noncyclic pre-Big Bang approaches incorporating a new fundamental scale beyond the Planck scale and, potentially, new ultimate constituents of matter with unconventional basic properties as compared to standard particles. Cosmic-ray experiments at the highest energies can also yield relevant information. Hopefully, future studies will be able to deal with alternatives: i) to standard physics for the structure of the physical vacuum, the nature of space-time, the validity of quantum field theory and conventional symmetries, the interpretation of string-like theories...; ii) to standard cosmology concerning the origin and evolution of our Universe, unconventional solutions to the cosmological constant problem, the validity of inflationary scenarios, the need for dark matter and dark energy... Lorentz-like symmetries for the properties of matter can then be naturally stable space-time configurations resulting from more general primordial scenarios that incorporate physics beyond the Planck scale and describe the formation and evolution of the physical vacuum. A possible answer to the question of the origin of half-integer spins can be provided by a primordial spinorial space-time with two complex coordinates instead of the conventional four real ones, leading to a really new cosmology. We discuss basic questions and phenomenological topics concerning noncyclic pre-Big Bang cosmologies and potentially related physics.

Provenance evolution in the northern South China Sea and its implication of paleo-drainage systems from Eocene to Miocene

Science.gov (United States)

Cui, Y.; Shao, L.; Qiao, P.

2017-12-01

Geochemistry analysis and detrital zircon U-Pb geochronology aim to fully investigate the "source to sink" patterns of northern South China Sea (SCS) from Eocene to Miocene. Evolutional history of the surrounding drainage system has been highly focused on, in comparison to sedimentary characteristics of the SCS basins. Rapid local provenances were prevailed while large-scale fluvial transport remained to evolve during Eocene. Since early Oligocene, sediments from the South China were more abundantly delivered to the northeastern Pearl River Mouth Basin in addition to Dongsha volcanism supplement. Aside from intrabasinal provenances, long-distance transport started to play significant role in Zhu1 Depression, possibly reaching western and southern Baiyun Sag, partially. Western Qiongdongnan Basin might accept sediments from central Vietnam with its eastern area more affected from Hainan Island and Southern Uplift. In the late Oligocene, due to drastic sea-level changes and rapid exhumation, mafic to altramafic sediments were transported in abundance to Central Depression from Kontum Massif, while multiple provenances casted integrated influence on eastern sedimentary sequences. Southern Baiyun Sag was also affected by an increased supplement from the west Shenhu Uplift or even central Vietnam. Overall pattern did not change greatly since early Miocene, but long-distance transport has become dominant in the northern SCS. Under controlled by regional tectonic cycles, Pearl River gradually evolved into the present scale and exerted its influence on basinal provenances by several stages. Zhu1 Depression was partially delivered sediments from its tributaries in early Oligocene while northern Zhu2 Depression has not been provided abundant materials until late Oligocene. Meanwhile, although detailed transportation routine remains uncertain and controversial, an impressive paleo-channel spanning the whole Qiongdongnan Basin was presumed to supply huge amount of mafic to

Black and red granites in the Egyptian Antiquity Museum of Turin. A minero-petrographic and provenance study.

Science.gov (United States)

Serra, M.; Borghi, A.; Vaggelli, G.; D'Amicone, E.; Vigna, L.

2009-04-01

The University of Turin, in cooperation with the Egyptian Antiquity Museum, has recently undertaken several projects aimed at developing a scientific approach to the analysis of ancient Egyptian finds. In particular, a straightforward project to investigate the stony handcrafts preserved in the statuary rooms started in 2006 to obtain their systematic petrographic classification and their possible geological sources. The main intent of the project was to understand the provenance of the materials used in Pharaonic period, setting the base for the identification of the ancient quarry sites and for a correct interpretation of the extraction and working techniques, in order to provide fundamental information about economical and social development of Egyptian civilization through historical times. The choice to focus attention on black and red granites came from the statement of the percentage relevance (40 of the 54 sculptures actually exposed) of these materials in the statuary rooms. Moreover, especially for black granites, the need of detailed minero-petrographic analysis arose from the difficulty in making a macroscopic classification of the fine-grained dark-coloured rock varieties. Therefore, five black granite statues, belonging to the Drovetti collection were sampled in a micro-invasive way: three sculptures of goddess Sekhmet (cat. 260, 251, 247), the statue of Ramses II (cat. 1380) and the statue of goddess Hathor (cat. 694). The choice to analyse even three of the twenty-one statues of goddess Sekhmet (cat. 247, cat. 251, cat. 260), originally located in the same Egyptian temple but ichnographically different, derived from the need of answering the archaeological questions about their provenance. On the other hand, the opportunity of studying the fine-grained black rocks used for the sculptures of goddess Hathor (cat. 694) and of Ramses II in Majesty (cat. 1380), symbol of the Egyptian museum of Turin, provided the opportunity to analyse and classify the

Tracking and Establishing Provenance of Earth Science Datasets: A NASA-Based Example

Science.gov (United States)

Ramapriyan, Hampapuram K.; Goldstein, Justin C.; Hua, Hook; Wolfe, Robert E.

2016-01-01

Information quality is of paramount importance to science. Accurate, scientifically vetted and statistically meaningful and, ideally, reproducible information engenders scientific trust and research opportunities. Not surprisingly, federal bodies (e.g., NASA, NOAA, USGS) have very strictly affirmed the importance of information quality in their product requirements. So-called Highly Influential Scientific Assessments (HISA) such as The Third US National Climate Assessment (NCA3) published in 2014 undergo a very rigorous review process to ensure transparency and credibility. To support the transparency of such reports, the U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP) has developed the Global Change Information System (GCIS). A recent activity was performed to trace the provenance as completely as possible for all NCA3 figures that were predominantly based on NASA data. This poster presents the mechanics of that project and the lessons learned from that activity.

Facilitating Scientific Research through Workflows and Provenance on the DataONE Cyberinfrastructure (Invited)

Science.gov (United States)

Ludaescher, B.; Cuevas-Vicenttín, V.; Missier, P.; Dey, S.; Kianmajd, P.; Wei, Y.; Koop, D.; Chirigati, F.; Altintas, I.; Belhajjame, K.; Bowers, S.

2013-12-01

Provenance data has numerous applications in science. Two key ones are 1) replication: facilitate the repeatable derivation of results and 2) discovery: enable the location of data based on processing history and derivation relationships. The following scenario illustrates a typical use of provenance data. Alice, a climate scientist, has developed a VisTrails workflow to prepare Gross Primary Productivity (GPP) data. After verifying that the workflow generates data in the desired form, she uses the ReproZip tool to create a reproducible package that will enable other scientists to re-run the workflow without having to install and configure the particular libraries she is using. In addition, she exports the provenance information of the workflow execution and customizes it through a tool such as the ProvExplorer, in order to eliminate the information she regards as superfluous. She then creates and shares a DataONE data package containing the data she prepared, the ReproZip package, the customized provenance, and additional science/system metadata. Both the customized provenance and metadata are indexed by the DataONE Cyberinfrastructure (CI) for discovery purposes. Bob, another climate scientist, is looking for a benchmark GPP data to validate the Terrestrial Biosphere Model (TBM) he has developed. Searching the DataONE repository he finds Alice's data package. He retrieves its ReproZip package, customizes it (e.g. changing the spatial resolution), and re-runs it to generate the benchmark data in the form he desires. The newly generated data is then used as input for his own model evaluation workflow. His workflow generates residual maps and a Taylor diagram that enable him to evaluate the similarity between the results of his model and the benchmark data. At this point, Bob can also make use of the tools Alice used to publish his results as another discoverable and reproducible data package. In order to support these capabilities, we propose to extend the Data