Radiometric age evidences of a Triassic Thermal Event in the Southern Alps

In the Southern Alps several K/Ar age determinations point out the existence of a thermal event of Upper-Triassic age. Radiometric evidences concern overprinting on K/Ar ages of biotites belonging to hercynian periadriatic massives, and of muscovites of pegmatites in which also a Sr isotopic re-equilibration has taken place. Some evidences are also recognizable in ancient metamorphic basement. In the same time an extensive extrusive and intensive magmatic activity of alkaline affinity occurred. These facts are interpreted as predrift events shortly preceeding the set up of lower Jurassic oceanic conditions of alpine area.     

Cosmological origin of the lowest metallicity halo stars

We explore the predictions of the standard hierarchical clustering scenario of galaxy formation, regarding the numbers and metallicities of PopIII stars that are likely to be found within our Galaxy today. By PopIII we refer to stars formed at large redshift ( z >4), with low metallicities ([ Z /Z_⊙]<−2.5) and in small systems (total mass ≲ 2×10⁸ M_⊙) that are extremely sensitive to stellar feedback, and which through a prescribed merging history end up becoming part of the Milky Way today. An analytic, extended Press–Schechter formalism is used to obtain the mass functions of haloes which will host PopIII stars at a given redshift, and which will end up in Milky Way sized systems today. Each of these is modelled as a mini-galaxy, with a detailed treatment of the dark halo structure, angular momentum distribution, final gas temperature and disc instabilities, all of which determine the fraction of the baryons that are subject to star formation. The use of new primordial metallicity stellar evolutionary models allows us to trace the history of the stars formed, and give accurate estimates of their expected numbers today and their location in L /L_⊙ versus T /K Hertzsprung–Russell (HR) diagrams. A first comparison with observational data suggests that the initial mass function (IMF) of the first stars was increasingly high-mass weighted towards high redshifts, levelling off at z ≳9 at a characteristic stellar mass scale m _s=10–15 M_⊙.     

Intercomparison of Boron Isotope and Concentration Measurements. Part I: Selection, Preparation and Homogeneity Tests of the Intercomparison Materials

In 1999 the Istituto di Geoscienze e Georisorse (IGG), with the support of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), undertook the collection, preparation and distribution of eight geological materials intended for a blind interlaboratory comparison of measurements of boron isotopic composition and concentration. The materials came from Italian sources and consist of three natural waters (Mediterranean seawater and two groundwaters) and five rocks and minerals (tourmaline, basalt, obsidian, limestone and clay). The solid materials were crushed, milled and mixed, in preparation for distribution. Extensive assays performed at the IGG on these materials demonstrated that their boron isotopic and chemical compositions are homogeneous.
Additional homogeneity tests were carried out on solid material fragments at the GeoForschungsZentrum Potsdam, with the specific objective of investigating the suitability of some of them for the calibration in situ of micro-analytical techniques. Two materials, B4 (tourmaline) and B6 (obsidian), proved to be isotopically homogeneous and may become excellent references for in situ microanalyses of boron isotopes.
The materials described here were used as the basis of a major laboratory intercomparison study and are now available for further distribution from either the IAEA (solid materials) or the IGG (waters).     

Geochemical and geochronological data on Triassic volcanism of the Southern Alps of Lombardy (Italy): Genetic implications

Summary A widespread volcanism mainly consisting of pyroclastic products and lava flows is found in the Southern Alps of Lombardy. The volcanics are interbedded with Anisian-Ladinian carbonatic sequences and continental terrigenous or transitional deposits of Ladinian-Carnian age. The petrographic and geochemical data for this volcanism indicate a calc-alkaline affinity with characters similar to those of convergent continental margins. In this sector of the Alps the geological evidences show that in the middle Triassic general extensional movements were the dominant deformation event, and do not support the existence of a subduction zone during this period. The apparent contrast between the tectonic environment and the type of magmas erupted in the Anisian-Carnian is tentatively explained by partial melting during the early stage of rifting of an upper mantle deeply modified during the previous Hercynian orogenesis and contaminated by crustal material. This hypothesis is in agreement with the preliminary Sr isotopic ratios (0.705 and 0.709). K/Ar and Rb/Sr ages on biotites date the beginning of the volcanism at around 225 m.y.

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Zusammenfassung In den Südalpen der Lombardei befindet sich ein weitverbreiteter Vulkanismus, der hauptsächlich aus pyroklastischen Produkten und Lavaströmen besteht. Vulkanische Produkte sind mit anisisch-ladinischen beckenartigen Karbonat-Schichtfolgen oder mit ladinisch-karnischen kontinental-terrestrischen oder Übergangsablagerungen eingebettet. Die petrographischen und geochemischen Daten für diesen Vulkanismus weisen auf eine den konvergenten Kontinentalschelfen ähnliche kalkalkaline Affinität hin. In diesem Sektor der Alpen zeigen die geologischen Beobachtungen, daß die dominanten Verformungsereignisse der mittleren Trias allgemeine Dehnungsbewegungen waren und weisen nicht auf die Existenz einer Subduktionszone zu dieser Zeit hin. Der scheinbare Widerspruch zwischen dem tektonischen Milieu und dem im Anis bis Karn ausgeworfenen Magmatyp wird versuchsweise mit einer Teilaufschmelzung eines während der vorhergehenden herzynischen Orogenese tief veränderten und mit Krustenmaterial verunreinigten oberen Mantels während der Frühphase einer Grabenbildung erklärt. Diese Hypothese ist im Einklang mit den präliminaren Sr-Isotopenverhältnissen (0.705 und 0.709). K/Ar und Rb/Sr Altersmessungen an Biotiten datieren den Anfang der vulkanischen Tätigkeit um 225 Ma.

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Résumé Un volcanisme très répandu constitué surtout par des produits pyroclastiques et par des coulées de lave se trouve dans les Alpes Méridionales en Lombardie. Ces produits volcaniques sont intercalés dans la série carbonatique du bassin d'âge Anisien-Ladinien et dans les dépôts terrigènes continentaux ou transitionnels d'âge Ladinien-Carnien. Les données pétrographiques et géochimiques de ces produits volcaniques montrent une affinité calcoalcaline avec des caractères semblables à ceux des marges continentales convergentes. Dans le Trias moyen de cette partie des Alpes, les données géologiques indiquent que le motif dominant de la déformation est un mouvement d'extension très répandu, tandis qu'il n'y a aucune évidence de l'existence d'une zone de subduction durant cette période. Le contraste entre le style tectonique et le type de magma mis en place dans l'Anisien-Carnien, peut être expliqué par une fusion partielle du manteau supérieur pendant un stade précoce d'effondrement modifié intensément pendant la précédente orogenèse hercynienne et contaminé par des matériaux d'origine crustale. Cette hypothèse est en accord avec des données préliminaires des rapports isotopiques du Sr (0.705 et 0.709). Des âges K/Ar et Rb/Sr sur des biotites donnent 225 m.a. environ pour le début de l'activité volcanique.

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Gravitational wave signals from the collapse of the first stars

We study the gravitational wave emission from the first stars, which are assumed to be very massive objects (VMOs). We take into account various feedback (both radiative and stellar) effects regulating the collapse of objects in the early Universe and thus derive the VMO initial mass function and formation rate. If the final fate of VMOs is to collapse, leaving very massive black hole remnants, then the gravitational waves emitted during each collapse would be seen as a stochastic background. The predicted spectral strain amplitude in a critical density cold dark matter (CDM) universe peaks in the frequency range ν ≈5×10⁻⁴–5×10⁻³ Hz, where it has a value in the range ≈10⁻²⁰–10⁻¹⁹ Hz^−1/2, and might be detected by the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna ( LISA ). The expected emission rate is roughly 4000 event yr⁻¹, resulting in a stationary discrete sequence of bursts, i.e. a shot-noise signal.     

Cosmological radiative transfer codes comparison project – I. The static density field tests

Radiative transfer (RT) simulations are now at the forefront of numerical astrophysics. They are becoming crucial for an increasing number of astrophysical and cosmological problems; at the same time their computational cost has come within reach of currently available computational power. Further progress is retarded by the considerable number of different algorithms (including various flavours of ray tracing and moment schemes) developed, which makes the selection of the most suitable technique for a given problem a non-trivial task. Assessing the validity ranges, accuracy and performances of these schemes is the main aim of this paper, for which we have compared 11 independent RT codes on five test problems: (0) basic physics; (1) isothermal H  ii region expansion; (2) H  ii region expansion with evolving temperature; (3) I-front trapping and shadowing by a dense clump and (4) multiple sources in a cosmological density field. The outputs of these tests have been compared and differences analysed. The agreement between the various codes is satisfactory although not perfect. The main source of discrepancy appears to reside in the multifrequency treatment approach, resulting in different thicknesses of the ionized-neutral transition regions and the temperature structure. The present results and tests represent the most complete benchmark available for the development of new codes and improvement of existing ones. To further this aim all test inputs and outputs are made publicly available in digital form.