Global climate is controlled by two factors, the amount of heat energy received from the sun (solar insolation) and the way that heat is distributed Earth's surface. Solar insolation varies on timescales of 10s to 100s of thousands of years due to changes in the path of Earth's orbit about the sun (Milankovitch cycles). Earth's internal boundary conditions, such as paleogeography, the presence/absence of polar icecaps, atmospheric/oceanic chemistry and sea level, provide distribution and feedback mechanisms for the incoming heat. Variations in these internal boundary conditions may happen abruptly or, as in the case of plate tectonics, take millions of years. We use geochemical and sedimentological techniques to investigate the response of ocean chemistry, regional aridity and atmospheric and oceanic circulation patterns to climate change during both greenhouse and icehouse climates. To explore the connection between orbitally-forced changes in solar insolation, continental aridity and wind, we generated a high-resolution dust record for ~58 Myr old deep-sea sediments from Shatsky Rise. Our data provide the first evidence of a correlation between dust flux to the deep sea and orbital cycles during the Early Paleogene, indicating dust supply (regional aridity) responded to orbital forcing during the last major interval of greenhouse climate. The change in dust flux was comparable to that during icehouse climates implying subtle variations in solar insolation have a similar impact on climate during intervals of over-all warmth as they do during glacial-interglacial states. The Carboniferous Period (359-299 Ma) marks a critical time in Earth's history when a series of tectonic and biological events caused a shift in the mean climate state from a global "greenhouse" to an "icehouse". Geochemical records extracted from sedimentary rocks deposited in shallow epicontinental seaways are increasingly being used to infer relationships between tectonism, carbon cycling and climate and therefore are assumed to reflect global ocean processes. We analyzed radiogenic isotopes in biogenic apatite along a North American transect to constrain the degree of geochemical coupling between the epicontinental seas and the open ocean. Our results argue strongly for decoupling of North American seaways from the open ocean by latest Mississippian time.

The structures of AgSin (n = 1 ¡V 16) clusters are investigated using first-principles calculations. Our studies suggest that AgSin clusters with n = 7, 10, and 15 are relatively stable isomers and that these clusters prefer to be exohedral rather than endohedral. Moreover, doping leaves the inner core structure of the clusters largely intact. Additionally, the plot of fragmentation energies as a function of silicon atoms shows that the AgSin are favored to dissociate into one Ag atom and Sin clusters. Alternative pathways exist for n > 7 (except n = 11 and 16) in which the AgSin cluster dissociates into a stable Si7 and a smaller fragment AgSin􀀀7. The AgSi11 and AgSi16 cluster dissociates into a stable Si10 and a small fragment AgSi. Lastly, our analysis indicates that doping of Ag atom significantly decreases the gaps between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital for n > 7.

The structures of AuSin (n = 1 - 16) clusters are investigated systematically using first-principles calculations. The lowest energy isomers exhibit preference toward exohedral rather than endohedral structure. Our studies suggest that AuSin clusters with n = 5 and 10 are relatively stable isomers. We found no significant alteration in the cluster¡¦s inner core structure for sizes n= 6, 7, 10, 11, 12, 14, and 15 even in the presence of doping. Moreover, analysis of fragmentation energies is presented in detail. Our studies further indicate that doping of Au atom significantly decreases the gaps between the highest occupied molecular orbital and the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital for n > 7. Additionally, we report on similar results obtained for CuSin (n = 1 - 16) and AgSin (n = 14, 15, and 16) and compared them with those on AuSin clusters. Next, the low energy isomers for certain sizes of CuSin (n = 10 -16 ) clusters are selected for further optimizations using Gaussian 03 package. We found that for CuSin (n = 12 - 16 ), the endohedral isomers have lower energies than their exohedral counterparts, consistent with a recent study by Janssens et al. [15] in which a similar trend was observed.

Le besoin de connaître toujours plus finement les réservoirs (pétrole/gaz, stockage du CO2, des déchets...) se heurte au problème de la résolution temporelle (stratigraphique), notamment pour les séries sédimentaires continentales. Leur géométrie dépend essentiellement de trois facteurs: les variations du niveau marin (eustatisme), la tectonique et le climat. Cette étude vise à comprendre leur rôle respectif dans l'architecture des dépôts continentaux miocènes (~13,5-23 Ma) du bassin de Digne, dont la stratigraphie est bien établie. L'analyse séquentielle des dépôts nous a permis de distinguer une zone Nord où sept séquences de 3e ordre sont enregistrées, et une zone Sud où la tectonique locale en a fait disparaître deux. La tectonique régionale a joué sur l'amplitude et l'âge des séquences en regard des correspondances établies avec la charte eustatique. Ses effets traduisent le déplacement des dépôtcentres au cours du remplissage du bassin. L'influence du climat a joué à différentes échelles de temps. A celle de l'Optimum Climatique du Miocène (14,6-16,5 Ma), caractérisé par trois phénomènes globaux (l'excursion isotopique du 13C - Monterey Event; un maximum transgressif; le développement maximal de la mangrove à Avicennia). A celle des cycles de 3e ordre du Langhien-Serravallien, dont l'origine climato-eustatique est attestée par la comparaison du découpage séquentiel avec l'analyse pollinique. A l'échelle des cycles de Milankovitch, dont ceux d'excentricité ont été observés dans les incursions marines, les cycles de précession et d'obliquité ayant été reconnus dans la distribution et le développement des paléosols, par comparaison directe avec le signal d'insolation.

A study was undertaken to determine if light-weighting orbital launch vehicles (rockets) improves lifetime environmental impacts of the vehicle. Light-weighting is performed by a material substitution where metal structures in the rocket are replaced with carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP’s). It is uncertain whether light-weighting the rocket in the same way as traditional vehicles are light-weighted would provide similar environmental benefits. Furthermore, the rocket system is significantly different from traditional vehicles and undergoes an atypical lifecycle, making analysis non-trivial. Seventy rocket configurations were sized using a Parametric Rocket Sizing Model (PRSM) which was developed for this research. Four different propellant options, three staging options, and eighteen different lift capacities were considered. Each of these seventy rockets did not include CFRP’s, thus establishing a baseline. The seventy rockets were then light-weighted with CFRP’s, making a total of seventy pairs of rockets. An environmental Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) was performed on each of the rockets to determine lifetime environmental impacts. During the Life Cycle Inventory (LCI), a Carbon Fiber Production Model was developed to determine the environmental burdens of carbon fiber production and to address issues identified with carbon fiber’s embodied burdens. The results of the LCA were compared across all rockets to determine what effects light-weighting had on environmental impact. The final conclusion is that light-weighting reduces lifetime environmental impacts of Liquid Oxygen-Rocket Propellant 1 and Nitrogen Tetroxide-Unsymmetrical Dimethylhydrazine rockets, while it likely benefits Liquid Oxygen-Liquid Hydrogen rockets. Light-weighting increases lifetime environmental impacts of Solid Propellant rockets.

The effect of spin-orbit coupling had once been thought to be a minor perturbation to the low energy band structure that could be ignored. Instead, a surge in recent theoretical and experimental efforts have shown spin-orbit interactions to have significant consequences. The main objective of this thesis is to investigate the role of the orbital sector and crystal symmetries in governing the spin texture in materials that have strong spin- orbit interactions. This can be accessed through a combination of spin- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES and spin-ARPES), both of which are powerful techniques for probing the one-electron band structure plus interactions, and supported by density functional theory calculations (DFT). We focus first on a globally inversion asymmetric material, the layered semiconductor BiTeI, which hosts a giant spin-splitting of its bulk bands. We show that these spin-split bands develop a previously undiscovered, momentum-space ordering of the atomic orbitals. We demonstrate this orbital texture to be atomic element specific by exploiting resonant enhancements in ARPES. These orbital textures drive a hierarchy of spin textures that are then tied to the constituent atomic layers. This opens routes to controlling the spin-splitting through manipulation of the atomic orbitals. This is contrasted against a material where inversion symmetry is globally upheld but locally broken within each monolayer of a two layer unit cell. Through our ARPES and spin-ARPES measurements of 2H-NbSe2, we discover the first experimental evidence for a strong out-of-plane spin polarisation that persists up to the Fermi surface in this globally inversion sym- metric material. This is found to be intrinsically linked to the orbital character and dimensionality of the underlying bands. So far, previous theories underpinning this (and related) materials' collective phases assume a spin- degenerate Fermi sea. We therefore expect this spin-polarisation to play a role in determining the underlying mechanism for the charge density wave phase and superconductivity. Through these studies, this thesis then develops the importance of global versus local inversion symmetry breaking and uncovers how this is intricately tied to the underlying atomic orbital configuration.

Dans cette thèse nous étudions l’existence et la stabilité orbitale de solutions ayant une norme prescrite pour deux types d’équations Schrödinger non linéaires dans , à savoir, une classe de systèmes non linéaires couplés de Schrödinger dans et une classe d’équations non linéaires de Schrödinger du quatrième ordre dans . Ces deux types d’équations non linéaires de Schrödinger surviennent dans de nombreuses applications en mathématiques et physique, et sont devenus une grande attention dans les années récentes. D’un point de vue physique, de telles solutions sont souvent référées comme des solutions normalisées, qui sont obtenues comme points critiques d’énergie fonctionnelle associée sous contrainte avec une norme. Les éléments clés de nos preuves sont les méthodes variationnelles. / In this thesis, we are concerned with the existence and orbital stability of solutions having prescribed -norm for two types of nonlinear Schrödinger equations in , namely a class of coupled nonlinear Schrödinger systems in and a class of fourth-order nonlinear Schrödinger equations in . These two types of nonlinear Schrödinger equations arise in a variety of mathematical and physical models, and have drawn wide attention to research in recent years. From a physical point of view, such solutions are often referred as normalized solutions, which correspond to critical points of the underlying energy functional restricted to -norm constraint. The main ingredients of our proofs are variational methods.

Made available in DSpace on 2015-03-13T17:08:39Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 AnaPJ_ate_cap4.pdf: 5254385 bytes, checksum: 3ac040e5f9ad13d1d9fc82f32f2f0abf (MD5) Previous issue date: 2006-08-25 / Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior / The tectonics activity on the southern border of Parna?ba Basin resulted in a wide range of brittle structures that affect siliciclastic sedimentary rocks. This tectonic activity and related faults, joints, and folds are poorly known. The main aims of this study were (1) to identify lineaments using several remotesensing systems, (2) to check how the interpretation based on these systems at several scales influence the identification of lineaments, and (3) to contribute to the knowledge of brittle tectonics in the southern border of the Parna?ba Basin. The integration of orbital and aerial systems allowed a multi-scale identification, classification, and quantification of lineaments. Maps of lineaments were elaborated in the following scales: 1:200,000 (SRTM Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission), 1:50,000 (Landsat 7 ETM+ satellite), 1:10,000 (aerial photographs) and 1:5,000 (Quickbird satellite). The classification of the features with structural significance allowed the determination of four structural sets: NW, NS, NE, and EW. They were usually identified in all remote-sensing systems. The NE-trending set was not easily identified in aerial photographs but was better visualized on images of medium-resolution systems (SRTM and Landsat 7 ETM+). The same behavior characterizes the NW-trending. The NS-and EW-trending sets were better identified on images from high-resolution systems (aerial photographs and Quickbird). The structural meaning of the lineaments was established after field work. The NEtrending set is associated with normal and strike-slip faults, including deformation bands. These are the oldest structures identified in the region and are related to the reactivation of Precambrian basement structures from the Transbrazilian Lineament. The NW-trending set represents strike-slip and subordinated normal faults. The high dispersion of this set suggests a more recent origin than the previous structures. The NW-trending set may be related to the Picos-Santa In?s Lineament. The NS-and EW-trending sets correspond to large joints (100 m 5 km long). The truncation relationships between these joint sets indicate that the EW-is older than the NS-trending set. The methodology developed by the present work is an excellent tool for the understanding of the regional and local tectonic structures in the Parna?ba basin. It helps the choice of the best remote-sensing system to identify brittle features in a poorly known sedimentary basin / A atividade tect?nica atuante na borda sudeste da Bacia do Parna?ba resultou em ampla gama de estruturas r?pteis que afetaram rochas sedimentares silicicl?sticas. Esta atividade tect?nica e as falhas, juntas e dobras s?o pouco conhecidas. Os principais objetivos deste estudo foram (1) identificar lineamentos atrav?s de sistemas de sensores remotos, (2) checar como a interpreta??o com base nestes sistemas em diversas escalas influencia a identifica??o de lineamentos, e (3) contribuir para o conhecimento da tect?nica r?ptil na borda sudeste da Bacia do Parna?ba. A integra??o de sistemas orbitais e a?reos permitiu a identifica??o, classifica??o e quantifica??o multi-escala de lineamentos. Mapas de lineamentos foram elaborados nas seguintes escalas: 1:200.000 (radar da SRTM Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission), 1:50.000 (sat?lite Landsat 7 ETM+), 1:10.000 (fotografias a?reas) e 1:5.000 (sat?lite Quickbird). A classifica??o das fei??es com significado estrutural possibilitou a determina??o de quatro conjuntos estruturais: NW, NS, NE, e EW. Eles geralmente foram identificados em todos os sistemas de sensores remotos. O conjunto NE n?o foi facilmente identificado nas fotografias a?reas. Este conjunto, bem como o NW, foram visualizados mais nitidamente nas imagens dos sistemas de m?dia resolu??o (SRTM e Landsat 7 ETM+). Os conjuntos NS e EW foram melhores identificados nos produtos de sensores de alta resolu??o (fotografias a?reas e sat?lite Quickbird). O significado estrutural dos lineamentos foi estabelecido ap?s o trabalho de campo. O conjunto NE est? associado a falhas normais e transcorrentes, inclusive bandas de deforma??o. Estas s?o as estruturas mais antigas identificadas na regi?o e s?o relacionadas ? reativa??o de estruturas do embasamento Pr?-Cambriano. O conjunto NW representa falhas trancorrentes e normais subordinadas. A dispers?o deste conjunto sugere uma origem mais recente que as estruturas inseridas no conjunto NE. O conjunto NW pode estar relacionado ao Lineamento Picos-Santa In?s. Os conjuntos NS e EW correspondem a juntas de grande porte (comprimentos de 100 m a 5 km). As rela??es de truncamento entre estes conjuntos de juntas indicam que o conjunto EW ? mais antigo que o NS. A metodologia desenvolvida pelo presente trabalho ? uma ferramenta excelente para o entendimento das estruturas regionais e locais na Bacia do Parna?ba. Isto auxilia na escolha do sistema de sensor remoto mais indicado para identificar fei??es r?pteis em uma bacia sedimentar pouco conhecida

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-12T18:01:22Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 arquivo2356_1.pdf: 8441876 bytes, checksum: 31a6f5c664996110b64b2134094cdd42 (MD5) license.txt: 1748 bytes, checksum: 8a4605be74aa9ea9d79846c1fba20a33 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico / Nesta tese, realizamos experiências relacionadas com o armazenamento de informação óptica em um ensemble de átomos frios de césio. A configuração experimental utilizada foi semelhante à de mistura de quatro ondas degenerada resolvida no tempo, usando a geometria conhecida como conjugação de fase óptica. Investigamos, tanto teórica quanto experimentalmente, diversos efeitos coerentes e mostramos explicitamente o armazenamento de uma grade de coerência entre os subníveis Zeeman pertencentes a um nível hiperfino do estado fundamental do césio. Analisamos o comportamento da energia dos pulsos gerados em função das intensidades dos campos envolvidos e observamos diferentes comportamentos de saturação. Em outro experimento, estudamos as correlações de energia entre diferentes modos temporais e espaciais gerados coerentemente pelo meio, o qual permitiu observar que os efeitos de emissão espontânea são predominantes quando cada transição do sistema é acessada com mesma intensidade de leitura. As larguras temporais dos modos envolvidos no processo mostraram ser invariantes quando a intensidade total de leitura se mantém constante. Realizamos também, usando um campo magnético externo, uma investigação sobre a evolução coerente do estado armazenado. Medimos a evolução temporal do sinal difratado em duas condições experimentais distintas: com o campo magnético externo aplicado paralelo e perpendicularmente à direção de propagação dos campos ópticos. Em ambos os casos, observamos uma série de collapses and revivals que estão intimamente relacionados com a precessão de Larmor da grade Zeeman armazenada em torno do campo magnético aplicado externamente. Finalmente, realizamos experiências envolvendo modos do campo eletromagnético que possuem momentum angular orbital (MAO). Demonstramos o armazenamento de estados de MAO e de suas superposições coerentes, bem como sua manipulação com campos magnéticos externos. Mostraremos que o MAO óptico pode ser armazenado, manipulado e recuperado coerentemente a partir do sistema atômico.

Space debris growth and an influx in space traffic will create a need for increased space traffic management. Due to orbital population density and likely future growth, the implementation of a slot architecture to Sun-synchronous orbit is considered in order to mitigate conjunctions among active satellites. This paper furthers work done in Sun-synchronous orbit slot architecture design and focuses on two main aspects. First, an in-depth relative motion analysis of satellites with respect to their assigned slots is presented. Then, a method for developing a slot architecture from a specific set of user defined inputs is derived.