Large Deviations for Stochastic Evolution Equations with Small Multiplicative Noise

The Freidlin-Wentzell large deviation principle is established for the distributions of stochastic evolution equations with general monotone drift and small multiplicative noise. As examples, the main results are applied to derive the large deviation principle for different types of SPDE such as stochastic reaction-diffusion equations, stochastic porous media equations and fast diffusion equations, and the stochastic p-Laplace equation in Hilbert space. The weak convergence approach is employed in the proof to establish the Laplace principle, which is equivalent to the large deviation principle in our framework.Comment: 31 pages, published in Appl. Math. Opti

Climate Change and invasibility of the Antarctic benthos

Benthic communities living in shallow-shelf habitats in Antarctica (<100-m depth) are archaic in their structure and function. Modern predators, including fast-moving, durophagous (skeleton-crushing) bony fish, sharks, and crabs, are rare or absent; slow-moving invertebrates are the top predators; and epifaunal suspension feeders dominate many soft substratum communities. Cooling temperatures beginning in the late Eocene excluded durophagous predators, ultimately resulting in the endemic living fauna and its unique food-web structure. Although the Southern Ocean is oceanographically isolated, the barriers to biological invasion are primarily physiological rather than geographic. Cold temperatures impose limits to performance that exclude modern predators. Global warming is now removing those physiological barriers, and crabs are reinvading Antarctica. As sea temperatures continue to rise, the invasion of durophagous predators will modernize the shelf benthos and erode the indigenous character of marine life in Antarctica

Random attractors for degenerate stochastic partial differential equations

We prove the existence of random attractors for a large class of degenerate stochastic partial differential equations (SPDE) perturbed by joint additive Wiener noise and real, linear multiplicative Brownian noise, assuming only the standard assumptions of the variational approach to SPDE with compact embeddings in the associated Gelfand triple. This allows spatially much rougher noise than in known results. The approach is based on a construction of strictly stationary solutions to related strongly monotone SPDE. Applications include stochastic generalized porous media equations, stochastic generalized degenerate p-Laplace equations and stochastic reaction diffusion equations. For perturbed, degenerate p-Laplace equations we prove that the deterministic, infinite dimensional attractor collapses to a single random point if enough noise is added.Comment: 34 pages; The final publication is available at http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10884-013-9294-

Crystal Field Triplets: A New Route to Non-Fermi Liquid Physics

A model for crystal field triplet ground states on rare earth or actinide ions with dipolar and quadrupolar couplings to conduction electrons is studied for the first time with renormalization group methods. The quadrupolar coupling leads to a new nontrivial, non-Fermi liquid fixed point, which survives in an intermediate valence Anderson model. The calculated magnetic susceptibility displays one parameter scaling, going as $T^{-\alpha}$ ($\alpha \approx 0.4$) at intermediate temperatures, reminiscent of the non-Fermi liquid alloy UCu_{5-x}Pd_x.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, REVTe

Prioritization of fish communities with a view to conservation and restoration on a large scale European basin, the Loire (France)

The hierarchical organization of important sites for the conservation or the restoration of fish communities is a great challenge for managers, especially because of financial or time constraints. In this perspective, we developed a methodology, which is easy to implement in different locations. Based on the fish assemblage characteristics of the Loire basin (France), we created a synthetic conservation value index including the rarity, the conservation status and the species origin. The relationship between this new synthetic index and the Fish-Based Index allowed us to establish a classification protocol of the sites along the Loire including fish assemblages to be restored or conserved. Sites presenting disturbed fish assemblages, a low rarity index, few threatened species, and a high proportion of non-native species were considered as important for the restoration of fish biodiversity. These sites were found mainly in areas where the assemblages are typical of the bream zone, e.g. with a higher number of eurytopic and limnophilic species. On the contrary, important sites for conservation were defined as having an important conservation potential (high RI, a lot of threatened species, and few nonnatives fish species) and an undisturbed fish assemblage similar to the expected community if habitats are undisturbed. Important sites for conservation were found in the Loire basin’s medium reaches which host assemblages typical for the grayling and the barbell zones, e.g. with a higher number of rheophilic species. The synthetic conservation value index could be adapted and completed with other criteria according to management priorities and capacities

Search for Top Squark Pair Production in the Dielectron Channel

This report describes the first search for top squark pair production in the channel stop_1 stopbar_1 -> b bbar chargino_1 chargino_1 -> ee+jets+MEt using 74.9 +- 8.9 pb^-1 of data collected using the D0 detector. A 95% confidence level upper limit on sigma*B is presented. The limit is above the theoretical expectation for sigma*B for this process, but does show the sensitivity of the current D0 data set to a particular topology for new physics.Comment: Five pages, including three figures, submitted to PRD Brief Report

Measurement of the WW Boson Mass

A measurement of the mass of the $W$ boson is presented based on a sample of 5982 $W \rightarrow e \nu$ decays observed in $p\overline{p}$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 1.8~TeV with the D\O\ detector during the 1992--1993 run. From a fit to the transverse mass spectrum, combined with measurements of the $Z$ boson mass, the $W$ boson mass is measured to be $M_W = 80.350 \pm 0.140 (stat.) \pm 0.165 (syst.) \pm 0.160 (scale) GeV/c^2$.Comment: 12 pages, LaTex, style Revtex, including 3 postscript figures (submitted to PRL

Particle-species dependent modification of jet-induced correlations in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV

We report PHENIX measurements of the correlation of a trigger hadron at intermediate transverse momentum (2.5<p_{T,trig}<4 GeV/c), with associated mesons or baryons at lower p_{T,assoc}, in Au+Au collisions at sqrt(s_NN) = 200 GeV. The jet correlations for both baryons and mesons show similar shape alterations as a function of centrality, characteristic of strong modification of the away-side jet. The ratio of jet-associated baryons to mesons for this jet increases with centrality and p_{T,assoc} and, in the most central collisions, reaches a value similar to that for inclusive measurements. This trend is incompatible with in-vacuum fragmentation, but could be due to jet-like contributions from correlated soft partons which recombine upon hadronization.Comment: 344 authors, 4 pages text, RevTeX, 4 figures. Submitted to Physical Review Letters. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

High p_T Direct Photon and pi^0 Triggered Azimuthal Jet Correlations in sqrt(s)=200 GeV p+p Collisions

Correlations of charged hadrons of 1 < pT < 10 GeV/c with high pT direct photons and pi^ 0 mesons in the range 5 <pT < 15 GeV/c are used to study jet fragmentation in the photon+jet and di-jet channels, respectively. The magnitude of the partonic transverse momentum, kT, is obtained by comparing to a model incorporating a Gaussian kT smearing. The sensitivity of the associated charged hadron spectra to the underlying fragmentation function is tested and the data are compared to calculations using recent global fit results. The shape of the direct photon-associated hadron spectrum as well as its charge asymmetry are found to be consistent with a sample dominated by quark-gluon Compton scattering. No significant evidence of fragmentation photon correlated production is observed within experimental uncertainties.Comment: 431 authors, 18 pages, 18 figures, 4 tables, RevTeX-4. Submitted to Physical Review D. Plain text data tables for the points plotted in figures for this and previous PHENIX publications are (or will be) publicly available at http://www.phenix.bnl.gov/papers.htm

Climate warming, marine protected areas and the ocean-scale integrity of coral reef ecosystems

Coral reefs have emerged as one of the ecosystems most vulnerable to climate variation and change. While the contribution of a warming climate to the loss of live coral cover has been well documented across large spatial and temporal scales, the associated effects on fish have not. Here, we respond to recent and repeated calls to assess the importance of local management in conserving coral reefs in the context of global climate change. Such information is important, as coral reef fish assemblages are the most species dense vertebrate communities on earth, contributing critical ecosystem functions and providing crucial ecosystem services to human societies in tropical countries. Our assessment of the impacts of the 1998 mass bleaching event on coral cover, reef structural complexity, and reef associated fishes spans 7 countries, 66 sites and 26 degrees of latitude in the Indian Ocean. Using Bayesian meta-analysis we show that changes in the size structure, diversity and trophic composition of the reef fish community have followed coral declines. Although the ocean scale integrity of these coral reef ecosystems has been lost, it is positive to see the effects are spatially variable at multiple scales, with impacts and vulnerability affected by geography but not management regime. Existing no-take marine protected areas still support high biomass of fish, however they had no positive affect on the ecosystem response to large-scale disturbance. This suggests a need for future conservation and management efforts to identify and protect regional refugia, which should be integrated into existing management frameworks and combined with policies to improve system-wide resilience to climate variation and change