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- Barausse, Enrico, et al.
(author)
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Prospects for fundamental physics with LISA
- 2020
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In: General Relativity and Gravitation. - : SPRINGER/PLENUM PUBLISHERS. - 0001-7701 .- 1572-9532. ; 52:8
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Journal article (other academic/artistic)abstract
- In this paper, which is of programmatic rather than quantitative nature, we aim to further delineate and sharpen the future potential of the LISA mission in the area of fundamental physics. Given the very broad range of topics that might be relevant to LISA,we present here a sample of what we view as particularly promising fundamental physics directions. We organize these directions through a "science-first" approach that allows us to classify how LISA data can inform theoretical physics in a variety of areas. For each of these theoretical physics classes, we identify the sources that are currently expected to provide the principal contribution to our knowledge, and the areas that need further development. The classification presented here should not be thought of as cast in stone, but rather as a fluid framework that is amenable to change with the flow of new insights in theoretical physics.
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- Leebens-Mack, James H., et al.
(author)
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One thousand plant transcriptomes and the phylogenomics of green plants
- 2019
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In: Nature. - : Nature Publishing Group. - 0028-0836 .- 1476-4687. ; 574:7780, s. 679-
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Green plants (Viridiplantae) include around 450,000-500,000 species(1,2) of great diversity and have important roles in terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. Here, as part of the One Thousand Plant Transcriptomes Initiative, we sequenced the vegetative transcriptomes of 1,124 species that span the diversity of plants in a broad sense (Archaeplastida), including green plants (Viridiplantae), glaucophytes (Glaucophyta) and red algae (Rhodophyta). Our analysis provides a robust phylogenomic framework for examining the evolution of green plants. Most inferred species relationships are well supported across multiple species tree and supermatrix analyses, but discordance among plastid and nuclear gene trees at a few important nodes highlights the complexity of plant genome evolution, including polyploidy, periods of rapid speciation, and extinction. Incomplete sorting of ancestral variation, polyploidization and massive expansions of gene families punctuate the evolutionary history of green plants. Notably, we find that large expansions of gene families preceded the origins of green plants, land plants and vascular plants, whereas whole-genome duplications are inferred to have occurred repeatedly throughout the evolution of flowering plants and ferns. The increasing availability of high-quality plant genome sequences and advances in functional genomics are enabling research on genome evolution across the green tree of life.
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3. |
- Stephens, Lucas, et al.
(author)
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Archaeological assessment reveals Earth’s early transformation through land use
- 2019
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In: Science. - : American Association for the Advancement of Science. - 0036-8075 .- 1095-9203. ; 365:6456, s. 897-902
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Humans began to leave lasting impacts on Earth’s surface starting 10,000 to 8000 years ago. Through a synthetic collaboration with archaeologists around the globe, Stephens et al. compiled a comprehensive picture of the trajectory of human land use worldwide during the Holocene (see the Perspective by Roberts). Hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists transformed the face of Earth earlier and to a greater extent than has been widely appreciated, a transformation that was essentially global by 3000 years before the present.Science, this issue p. 897; see also p. 865Environmentally transformative human use of land accelerated with the emergence of agriculture, but the extent, trajectory, and implications of these early changes are not well understood. An empirical global assessment of land use from 10,000 years before the present (yr B.P.) to 1850 CE reveals a planet largely transformed by hunter-gatherers, farmers, and pastoralists by 3000 years ago, considerably earlier than the dates in the land-use reconstructions commonly used by Earth scientists. Synthesis of knowledge contributed by more than 250 archaeologists highlighted gaps in archaeological expertise and data quality, which peaked for 2000 yr B.P. and in traditionally studied and wealthier regions. Archaeological reconstruction of global land-use history illuminates the deep roots of Earth’s transformation and challenges the emerging Anthropocene paradigm that large-scale anthropogenic global environmental change is mostly a recent phenomenon.
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4. |
- Mann, Andrew W., et al.
(author)
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Zodiacal Exoplanets In Time (Zeit). III. A Short-Period Planet Orbiting A Pre-Main-Sequence Star In The Upper Scorpius Ob Association
- 2016
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In: Astronomical Journal. - : American Astronomical Society. - 0004-6256 .- 1538-3881. ; 152:3
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- We confirm and characterize a close-in (P-orb = 5.425 days), super-Neptune sized (5.04(-0.37)(+0.34) R-circle plus) planet transiting K2-33 (2MASS J16101473-1919095), a late-type (M3) pre-main-sequence (11 Myr old) star in the Upper Scorpius subgroup of the Scorpius-Centaurus OB association. The host star has the kinematics of a member of the Upper Scorpius OB association, and its spectrum contains lithium absorption, an unambiguous sign of youth (<20 Myr) in late-type dwarfs. We combine photometry from K2 and the ground-based MEarth project to refine the planet's properties and constrain the host star's density. We determine K2-33's bolometric flux and effective temperature from moderate-resolution spectra. By utilizing isochrones that include the effects of magnetic fields, we derive a precise radius (6%-7%) and mass (16%) for the host star, and a stellar age consistent with the established value for Upper Scorpius. Follow-up high-resolution imaging and Doppler spectroscopy confirm that the transiting object is not a stellar companion or a background eclipsing binary blended with the target. The shape of the transit, the constancy of the transit depth and periodicity over 1.5 yr, and the independence with wavelength rule out stellar variability or a dust cloud or debris disk partially occulting the star as the source of the signal; we conclude that it must instead be planetary in origin. The existence of K2-33b suggests that close-in planets can form in situ or migrate within similar to 10 Myr, e.g., via interactions with a disk, and that long-timescale dynamical migration such as by Lidov-Kozai or planet-planet scattering is not responsible for all short-period planets.
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