ALBERT

Description: Animals in social groups can acquire information about the need for antipredator behavior by personally sampling the environment or from information provided by others. Use of such social information is expected to be adjusted according to its reliability, but experimental tests are rare and tend to focus just on alarm calls. We use detailed behavioral observations, acoustic analyses, and playback experiments to investigate how differences in sentinel dominance status affect the behavioral decisions of foraging dwarf mongooses ( Helogale parvula ). Dominant individuals acted as sentinels considerably more often than subordinate group members and used higher sentinel posts for guarding, making them potentially higher-quality sentinels in terms of experience and optimal positioning for predator detection. Surveillance calls produced during sentinel bouts contained vocal information about dominance status. Playback experiments showed that foragers used surveillance calls to detect sentinel presence and identity, and adjusted their vigilance behavior accordingly. When a dominant sentinel was on duty, compared with a subordinate groupmate, foragers increased reliance on social information, gathered less information through personal vigilance, and focused more on foraging. Our study contributes novel evidence that a major benefit of individual- and class-specific vocalizations is the potential to assess differences in caller information quality.

Description: Zircons from 15 crystal-rich monotonous intermediate ignimbrites and 1 crystal-poor rhyolite ignimbrite erupted during the 11–1 Ma Altiplano-Puna Volcanic Complex (APVC) ignimbrite flare-up record multiscale episodicity in the magmatic history of the shallowest levels (5–10 km beneath the surface) of the Altiplano-Puna Magma Body (APMB). This record reveals the construction of a subvolcanic batholith and its magmatic and eruptive tempo. More than 750 U-Pb ages of zircon rims and interiors of polished grains determined by secondary ion mass spectrometry define complex age spectra for each ignimbrite with a dominant peak of autocrysts and subsidiary antecryst peaks. Xenocrysts are rare. Weighted averages obtained by pooling the youngest analytically indistinguishable zircon ages mostly correspond to the dominant crystallization ages for zircons in the magma. These magmatic ages are consistent with eruptive stratigraphy, and fall into four groups defining distinct pulses (from older to younger, pulses 1 through 4) of magmatism that correlate with eruptive pulses, but indicate that magmatic construction in each pulse initiated at least 1 m.y. before eruptions began. Magmatism was initially distributed diffusely on the eastern and western flanks of the APVC, but spread out over much of the APVC as activity waxed before focusing in the central part during the peak of the flare-up. Each pulse consists of spatially distinct but temporally sequenced subpulses of magma that represent the construction of pre-eruptive magma reservoirs. Three nested calderas were the main eruptive loci during the peak of the flare-up from ca. 6 to 2.5 Ma. These show broadly synchronous magmatic development but some discordance in their later eruptive histories. These relations are interpreted to indicate that eruptive tempo is controlled locally from the top down, while magmatic tempo is a more systemic, deeper, bottom-up feature. Synchroneity in magmatic history at distinct upper crustal magmatic foci implicates a shared connection deeper within the APMB. Each ignimbrite records the development of a discrete magma. Zircon age distributions of individual ignimbrites become more complex with time, reflecting the carryover of antecrysts in successively younger magmas and attesting to upper crustal assimilation in the APVC. Although present, xenocrysts are rare, suggesting that inheritance is limited. This is attributed to basement assimilation under zircon-undersaturated conditions deeper in the APMB than the pre-eruptive levels, where antecrysts were incorporated in zircon-saturated conditions. Magmatic ages for individual ignimbrites are older than the 40 Ar/ 39 Ar eruption ages. This difference is interpreted as the average minimum Zr-saturated melt-present lifetime for APVC magmas, the magmatic duration or age. The average age of ca. 0.4 Ma indicates that thermochemical conditions for zircon saturation were maintained for several hundreds of thousands of years prior to eruption of APVC magmas. This is consistent with a narrow range of zircon saturation temperatures of 730–815 °C that record upper crustal conditions and Zr/Hf, Th/U, Eu/Eu*, and Ti that reveal protracted magma differentiation under secular cooling rates an order of magnitude slower than typical pluton cooling rates. In concert, these data all suggest that the pre-eruptive magma reservoirs were perched in a thermally and chemically buffered state during their long pre-eruptive lifetimes. Trace element variations suggest subtle differences in crystallinity, melt fraction, and melt composition within different zones of individual magma reservoirs. Significant volumes of plutonic rocks associated with ignimbrites are supported by geophysical data, the limited compositional range over 10 m.y., the thermal inertia of the magmatic systems, and the evidence of resurgent magmatism and uplift at the calderas and eruptive centers, the distribution of which defines a composite, episodically constructed subvolcanic batholith. The multiscale episodicity revealed by the zircon U-Pb ages of the APVC flare-up can be interpreted in the context of continental arc magmatic systems in general. The APVC ignimbrite flare-up as a whole is a secondary pulse of ~10 m.y., with magmatic pulses 1 through 4 reflecting tertiary pulses of ~2 m.y., and the individual ignimbrite zircon spectra defining quaternary pulses of 〈1 m.y. This hierarchy of pulses is thought to reflect how a magmatic front, driven by the primary mantle power input, propagates through the crust with individual magmatic events occurring over sequentially smaller spatial and faster temporal scales in the upper crust of the Central Andes from ~30 km to the surface.

Description: We report a new subdwarf B pulsator, PG 1142-037, discovered during the first full-length campaign of K2 , the two-gyro mission of the Kepler space telescope. 14 periodicities have been detected between 0.9 and 2.5 hr with amplitudes below 0.35 parts-per-thousand. We have been able to associate all of the pulsations with low-degree, ≤ 2 modes. Follow-up spectroscopy of PG 1142 has revealed it to be in a binary with a period of 0.54 d. Phase-folding the K2 photometry reveals a two-component variation including both Doppler boosting and ellipsoidal deformation. Perhaps the most surprising and interesting result is the detection of an ellipsoidal, tidally distorted variable with no indication of rotationally induced pulsation multiplets. This indicates that the rotation period is longer than 45 d, even though the binary period is near 13 h.

Description: In many social species, groups of animals defend a shared territory against rival conspecifics. Intruders can be detected from a variety of cues, including fecal deposits, and the strength of response is expected to vary depending on the identity of the rival group. Previous studies examining differences in response to neighbor and stranger groups have focused on the immediate response to the relevant cues. Here, we investigated how simulated intrusions of rival groups affect both immediate responses and postinspection movement patterns. To do so, we used a fecal translocation experiment at latrine sites within the territories of dwarf mongoose Helogale parvula groups. Immediate responses were adjusted to the level of threat, with greater scent-marking behavior, time spent at the latrine, and group-member participation when groups were presented with fecal matter from out-group rivals relative to control (own group and herbivore) feces. Subsequent movement of the group was also affected by threat level, with a decrease in speed and distance covered following simulated intrusions by out-group rivals compared with control conditions. However, there were no significant differences in immediate responses or post-latrine movement patterns when comparing simulated neighbor and stranger intrusions. These results indicate that territorial intrusions can elicit not just an immediate change in behavior but more far-reaching consequences in terms of movement dynamics. They also raise the possibility that neighbor–stranger discrimination predictions are not necessarily as clear-cut as previously described.

Description: Author(s): M. Kern, J. Jeske, D. W. M. Lau, A. D. Greentree, F. Jelezko, and J. Twamley The cooling of solids by optical means only using anti-Stokes emission has a long history of research and achievements. Such cooling methods have many advantages ranging from no moving parts or fluids through to operation in vacuum and may have applications to cryosurgery. However, achieving large o… [Phys. Rev. B 95, 235306] Published Wed Jun 21, 2017

Description: The Kepler spacecraft observed ~150 000 stars over the course of its four-year mission, of which 18 were discovered to be pulsating subdwarf B stars, including KIC 2697388. We analyse three years of Kepler spacecraft short-cadence data as well as 21 low-resolution spectra of the pulsating subdwarf B star KIC 2697388. Our spectra have a radial-velocity scatter of 9.5 km s –1 , and while insufficient to completely rule out binarity, we rule out short-period, low-inclination orbits for KIC 2697388. From the short-cadence Kepler data, we detect 253 periodicities, most with periods from 1 to 2.5 h, which we associate with gravity-mode pulsations. Twenty-three periods were also detected in the short-period pressure-mode region. We applied standard seismic tools for mode identification, including asymptotic overtone period spacings and rotationally induced frequency multiplets. We classify 89 per cent of the periodicities with mode identifications; most of low degree ( ≤ 2), but 42 are identified as ≥ 3. Frequency multiplets provide a rotation period for the star of ~42 d. A unique feature is seen in KIC 2697388's data; in all ≥ 2 multiplets, the splittings decrease over the course of the observations. If the trend continues, ≥ 2 multiplets would become singlets within a decade.

Description: Context. Micrometeorites represent, at timescales shorter than a few million years, the dominant source of extraterrestrial matter at the surface of the Earth. Analyses of ultracarbonaceous micrometeorites recovered from Antarctica, known as UCAMMs reveal an exceptionally N-rich organic matter associated with spatially extended high D enrichments. Experiments show that this specific organic matter might have been formed in the outer solar system by energetic irradiation of N-rich icy surfaces. Aims. We experimentally investigate the hydrogen isotopic fractionation resulting from irradiation of normal and D-rich N2-CH4 ices by high energy ions, simulating the exposition to Galactic cosmic rays of icy bodies surfaces orbiting at large heliocentric distances. Methods. Films of N2-CH4 ices and a N2-CH4/CD4/N2-CH4 “sandwich” ice were exposed to 129Xe13+ ion beams at 92 and 88 MeV. The chemical evolution of the samples was monitored using in situ Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. After irradiation, targets were annealed to room temperature. The solid residues of the whole process left after ice sublimation were characterized in situ by infrared spectroscopy, and the hydrogen isotopic composition measured ex situ by imaging secondary ion mass spectrometry at the sub-micron scale (NanoSIMS). Results. Irradiation leads to the formation of new molecules and radicals. After annealing, the resulting poly-HCN-like macro-molecular residue exhibits an infrared spectrum close to that of UCAMMs. The residue resulting from irradiation of N2-CH4 ices does not exhibit a significant deuterium enrichment comparable to that found in extraterrestrial organic matter. The residue formed by irradiation of D-rich ices shows the formation of isotopic heterogeneities with localised hotspots and an extended contribution likely due to the diffusion of the radiolytic products from the D-rich layer. Conclusions. These results show that high-energy cosmic ray irradiation does not induce the large hydrogen isotopic fractionation observed at small spatial scale in interplanetary organics. By contrast, large D/H ratio heterogeneities at the sub-micron spatial scale in extraterrestrial organic matter can result from isotopically heterogeneous ices mixtures (i.e. condensed with different D/H ratios), which were transformed into refractory organic matter upon irradiation.