Compression of intensity interferometry signals

Correlations between photon currents from separate light-collectors provide information on the shape of the source. When the light-collectors are well separated, for example in space, transmission of these currents to a central correlator is limited by band-width. We study the possibility of compression of the photon fluxes and find that traditional compression methods have a similar chance of achieving this goal compared to compressed sensing.     

The ethno-class trajectory of new neighborhoods in Israel

The subject of this article falls within the debate on the development of new neighborhoods beyond the hub of the metropolis and how this relates to planning from below. It regards new neighborhoods as being increasingly shaped through deliberate action in the form of public policy at the state and local levels. However, it emphasizes the central role of the government establishment, national institutions and ideologies in walling out and exclusionary practices. Research into four representative new neighborhoods in Israel, which were planned under the new spatial regime of the 1990s, reveals patterns of discrimination and ethno-class stratification that enable the preservation of nationalism and ethnic logic as the main, yet concealed, axis organizing social and spatial life.     

Controls on calcium isotope fractionation in cultured planktic foraminifera, Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerinella siphonifera

Specimens of two species of planktic foraminifera, Globigerinoides ruber and Globigerinella siphonifera, were grown under controlled laboratory conditions at a range of temperatures (18-31 °C), salinities (32-44 psu) and pH levels (7.9-8.4). The shells were examined for their calcium isotope compositions (δ^44/40Ca) and strontium to calcium ratios (Sr/Ca) using Thermal Ionization Mass Spectrometry and Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry. Although the total variation in δ^44/40Ca (∼0.3‰) in the studied species is on the same order as the external reproducibility, the data set reveals some apparent trends that are controlled by more than one environmental parameter. There is a well-defined inverse linear relationship between δ^44/40Ca and Sr/Ca in all experiments, suggesting similar controls on these proxies in foraminiferal calcite independent of species. Analogous to recent results from inorganically precipitated calcite, we suggest that Ca isotope fractionation and Sr partitioning in planktic foraminifera are mainly controlled by precipitation kinetics. This postulation provides us with a unique tool to calculate precipitation rates and draws support from the observation that Sr/Ca ratios are positively correlated with average growth rates. At 25 °C water temperature, precipitation rates in G. siphonifera and G. ruber are calculated to be on the order of 2000 and 3000 μmol/m²/h, respectively. The lower δ^44/40Ca observed at ?29 °C in both species is consistent with increased precipitation rates at high water temperatures. Salinity response of δ^44/40Ca (and Sr/Ca) in G. siphonifera implies that this species has the highest precipitation rates at the salinity of its natural habitat, whereas increasing salinities appear to trigger higher precipitation rates in G. ruber. Isotope effects that cannot be explained by precipitation rate in planktic foraminifera can be explained by a biological control, related to a vacuolar pathway for supply of ions during biomineralization and a pH regulation mechanism in these vacuoles. In case of an additional pathway via cross-membrane transport, supplying light Ca for calcification, the δ^44/40Ca of the reservoir is constrained as −0.2‰ relative to seawater. Using a Rayleigh distillation model, we calculate that calcification occurs in a semi-open system, where less than half of the Ca supplied by vacuolization is utilized for calcite precipitation. Our findings are relevant for interpreting paleo-proxy data on δ^44/40Ca and Sr/Ca in foraminifera as well as understanding their biomineralization processes.     

Offline, multidetector intensity interferometers – II. Implications and applications

Intensity interferometry removes the stringent requirements on mechanical precision and atmospheric corrections that plague all amplitude interferometry techniques at the cost of severely limited sensitivity. A new idea we recently introduced, very high redundancy, alleviates this problem. It enables the relatively simple construction (∼1 cm mechanical precision) of a ground-based astronomical facility able to transform a two-dimensional field of point-like sources to a three-dimensional distribution of microarcsec resolved systems, each imaged in several optical bands. Each system will also have its high-resolution residual timing, high-quality (inside each band) spectra and light curve, emergent flux, effective temperature, polarization effects and perhaps some thermodynamic properties, all directly measured. All the above attributes can be measured in a single observation run of such a dedicated facility. We conclude that after three decades of abandonment, optical intensity interferometry deserves another review, also as a ground-based alternative to the science goals of space interferometers.     

Intra-shell boron isotope ratios in the symbiont-bearing benthic foraminiferan Amphistegina lobifera: Implications for δB vital effects and paleo-pH reconstructions

The boron isotope composition of marine carbonates is considered to be a seawater pH proxy. Nevertheless, the use of δ¹¹B has some limitations such as the knowledge of the fractionation factor (α_4-3) between boric acid and the borate ion and the amplitude of “vital effects” on this proxy that are not well constrained. Using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) we have examined the internal variability of the boron isotope ratio in the shallow water, symbionts bearing foraminiferan Amphistegina lobifera. Specimens were cultured at constant temperature (24 ± 0.1 °C) in seawater with pH ranging between 7.90 and 8.45. Intra-shell boron isotopes showed large variability with an upper limit value of ≈30‰. Our results suggest that the fractionation factor α_4-3 of 0.97352 (Klochko et al., 2006) is in better agreement with our experiments and with direct pH measurements in seawater vacuoles associated with the biomineralization process in these foraminifera. Despite the large variability of the skeletal pH values in each cultured specimen, it is possible to link the lowest calculated pH values to the experimental culture pH values while the upper pH limit is slightly below 9. This variability can be interpreted as follows: foraminifera variably increase the pH at the biomineralization site to about 9. This increase above ambient seawater pH leads to a range in δ¹¹B (Δ¹¹B) for each seawater pH. This Δ¹¹B is linearly correlated with the culture seawater pH with a slope of −13.1 per pH unit, and is independent of the fractionation factor α_4-3, or the δ¹¹B_sw through time. It may also be independent of the pK_B (the dissociation constant of boric acid) value. Therefore, Δ¹¹B in foraminifera can potentially reconstruct paleo-pH of seawater.     

Geomagnetic field intensity: How high can it get? How fast can it change? Constraints from Iron Age copper slag

The intensity of the geomagnetic field varies over different time scales. Yet, constraints on the maximum intensity of the field as well as for its maximum rate of change are inadequate due to poor temporal resolution and large uncertainties in the geomagnetic record. The purpose of this study is to place firm limits on these fundamental properties by constructing a high-resolution archaeointensity record of the Levant from the 11th century to the early 9th century BCE, a period over which the geomagnetic field reached its maximum intensity in Eurasia over the past 50,000 years. We investigate a ¹⁴C-dated sequence of ten layers of slag material, which accumulated within an ancient industrial waste mound of an Iron Age copper-smelting site in southern Israel. Depositional stratigraphy constrains relative ages of samples analyzed for paleointensity, and ¹⁴C dates from different horizons of the mound constrain the age of the whole sequence. The analysis yielded 35 paleointenisty data points with accuracy better than 94% and precision better than 6%, covering a period of less than 350 years, most probably 200 years. We construct a new high-resolution quasi-continuous archaeointensity curve of the Levant that displays two dramatic spikes in geomagnetic intensity, each corresponding to virtual axial dipole moment (VADM) in excess of 200 ZAm². The geomagnetic spikes rise and fall over a period of less than 30 years and are associated with VADM fluctuations of at least 70 ZAm². Thus, the Levantine archaeomagnetic record places new constraints on maximum geomagnetic intensity as well as for its rate of change. Yet, it is not clear whether the geomagnetic spikes are local non-dipolar features or a geomagnetic dipolar phenomenon.     

Ground-based calibration of the TAUVEX flight model

We describe in detail the procedures used for the ground testing and calibration of the flight model of the TAUVEX space telescope. We present the measurements done for this purpose, the various assumptions adopted during the ground calibration process, the results obtained, and provide a first approximation to the real performance of the experiment. The results of the ground-based calibration are that the system complies with the predicted performance in all aspects except for the total throughput, which is a factor of ∼5 smaller than expected. However, the instrument sensitivity measurement is highly uncertain due to known limitations of the available equipment and a more accurate calibration will be performed in orbit.     

Experimental paleotemperature equation for planktonic foraminifera

Small live individuals of Globigerinoides sacculifer which were cultured in the laboratory reached maturity and produced garnets. Fifty to ninety percent of their skeleton weight was deposited under controlled water temperature (14° to 30°C) and water isotopic composition, and a correction was made to account for the isotopic composition of the original skeleton using control groups.Comparison of. the actual growth temperatures with the calculated temperature based on paleotemperature equations for inorganic CaCO₃ indicate that the foraminifera precipitate their CaCO₃ in isotopic equilibrium. Comparison with equations developed for biogenic calcite give a similarly good fit. Linear regression with Craig's (1965) equation yields: $\text{t = ?0.07 + 1.01}\text{t}\text{?}\text{(r= 0.95)}$ where t is the actual growth temperature and $\text{t}\text{?}$ Is the calculated paleotemperature. The intercept and the slope of this linear equation show that the familiar paleotemperature equation developed originally for mollusca carbonate, is equally applicable for the planktonic foraminifer G. sacculifer.Second order regression of the culture temperature and the delta difference (δ¹⁸Oc ? δ¹⁸Ow) yield a correlation coefficient of r = 0.95: $\text{t}\text{?}\text{= 17.0 ? 4.52(δ}{}^{18}\text{Oc ? δ}{}^{18}\text{Ow) + 0.03(δ}{}^{18}\text{Oc ? δ}{}^{18}\text{Ow)}{}^2$$\text{t}\text{?}\text{, δ}{}^{18}\text{Oc}$ and δ¹⁸Ow are the estimated temperature, the isotopic composition of the shell carbonate and the sea water respectively.A possible cause for nonequilibnum isotopic compositions reported earlier for living planktonic foraminifera is the improper combustion of the organic matter.