- Demolition drive in violence-hit Nuh continues; illegal structures on 2.6 acres of land razed Deccan Herald
- Nuh’s Unauthorised Sahara Family Restaurant Razed In Demolition Drive After Clashes The Indian Express
- Haryana Nuh Violence Live Updates:Internet ban to persist in Nuh until situation improves, says deputy commissioner Times of India
- Bulldozer Takes Down Over 600 Shantie As Bulldozer Action Continues In Riot Hit Nuh India Today
- Owaisi criticizes Haryana government for alleged bias in targeted demolitions amid communal tensions Times of India
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: structures
Octopath Traveler II details Ochette the Hunter, Castti the Apothecary, story structures, side stories, and game speed
Publisher Square Enix [5,093 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/square-enix”>Square Enix and developer Acquire [286 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/gungho-online-entertainment/acquire”>Acquire have released new information and screenshots for Octopath Traveler II [8 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/octopath-traveler-ii”>Octopath Traveler II introducing the tales of Ochette the Hunter and Castti the Apothecary, story structures, side stories, and game speed.
Get the details below.
■ Concept
About
This game is a brand-new entry in the Octopath Traveler [22 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/octopath-traveler”>Octopath Traveler series, the first installment of which was initially released in 2018 and sold over three million copies worldwide.
It takes the series’ HD-2D [20 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/series/hd-2d”>HD-2D graphics, a fusion of retro pixel art and 3D CG, to even greater heights. In the world of Solistia, eight new travelers venture forth into an exciting new era.
Where will you go? What will you do? Whose tale will you bring to life? Every path is yours to take. Embark on an Adventure [663 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/adventure”>adventure all your own.
New World, New Tales [1 article]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/companies/new-tales”>New Tales
The story takes place in Solistia, a land comprising an eastern and western continent divided by the sea.
It is a bustling era, wherein large vessels navigate busy sea routes and the power of steam gives birth to new technologies.
Some people thrill to glamorous stars of the stage and industry, while others are brought to tears by war, plague, and poverty.
In this faraway realm, eight travelers hailing from different regions venture forth for their own reasons. Step into their shoes and explore the land as you see fit.
■ Ochette, the Hunter (voiced by Suzie Yeung in English, Aya Hirano in Japanese)
Your name is Ochette, and you are a hunter. Your tale begins on the isle of Toto’haha alongside your fellow beastlings.
Despite your troubles with the human islanders, you live a carefree life. That is, until you learn of an encroaching calamity known as the Night of the Scarlet Moon.
“All right, Master Juvah. I’ll do it. I’ll find those Creatures of Legend and bring them back.”
Desperate to save your home, you set sail in search of those who can help..
■ Characters in Ochette’s Tale
Isle Warden, Juvah – Master (voiced by Jaimeson Price in English, Yasuhiro Mamiya in Japanese)
Ochette’s master and leader of the beastlings who live on Toto’haha. He hopes she will one day become a protector of the island.
Aka [2 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/aka”>Akala – Companion (voiced by Daman Mills in English, Ryo Sugisaki in Japanese)
A lajackal, radiant in the sun’s grace. He acts as both a younger and older brother to Ochette along her journey.
Mahima – Companion (voiced by Cristina Vee in English, Marie Miyake in Japanese)
A malamaowl, serene in the grace of the moon [8 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/games/moon”>moon. She acts as both a younger and older sister to Ochette along her journey.
■ Ochette’s Tale Begins in Toto’haha
Southeastern Solistia is dominated by an ocean dotted by countless islands of all shapes and sizes. The largest of these is Toto’haha, which was first encountered by continental pioneers twenty years ago. In its western reaches reside the beastlings, a petite people with fluffy tails.
On the east of Toto’haha lies the town of Tropu’hopu, which was established by the first continental pioneers to settle on the island. The harbor town’s proximity to New Delsta caused it to be developed as a resort for the wealthy. In addition, it produces many luxury goods, such as delicious coffee beans, and now serves as an important stop along the trade routes between eastern and western continents.
—Solistia’s Isles, Toto’haha
—Beasting Village
—Tropu’hopu, a stop along trade routes.
■ Ochette’s Path Actions
Provoke
Challenge townspeople to battle. Fail, and your reputation will suffer.
—Ochette can set a monster on a townsperson and initiate a battle. Win, and they will be knocked unconscious. But fail too many times and your reputation will suffer, which means you won’t be allowed to use any Path Actions.
Befriend
Take a townsperson along on your journey. You must have a specific item to befriend them.
—You will need specific items like jerky to befriend someone. Your new friend can be summoned to help you in battle.
■ Ochette’s Talents: Capture & Prepare
Ochette can capture monsters and even turn them into items by preparing them.
—Ochette can capture monsters. Her success rates increase when an enemy’s HP is lowered, their weaknesses are exposed, they are afflicted with status ailments, and/or if they are broken. After defeating a monster, Ochette also has a set chance of automatically capturing it.
—Captured monsters can be summoned in battle. Although there is a limit to the number of monsters Ochette can capture, they can be summoned as many times as needed, making them powerful allies. They can also compensate for the elements and skills that Ochette cannot use.
—You can prepare captured monsters to turn them into useful items. This can be done at any time on the field, or when you have too many monsters in your party.
—Prepared items can be used for recovery, or even to befriend townspeople at night. The stronger the monster, the better the item, and the more powerful the people you can befriend.
■ Ochette’s Latent Power: Animal Instincts
When her latent power gauge is full, Ochette can let her inner beast loose and gain access to special skills.
—Ochette’s special skills include Beastly Claws, which assails all foes with a powerful physical attack, and Beastly Fangs, which unleashes a highly powerful physical attack on a single enemy.
—Animal Instincts’ skills do not consume any SP, making for simple and effective attacks.
■ Castti Florenz, the Apothecary (voiced by Sarah Weidenheft in English, Michiko Neya in Japanese)
Your name is Castti Florenz, and you are an apothecary. Your tale begins in a port town of the Harborlands.
Discovered adrift at sea, you awoke to the realization that you could not recall your own name. The only clues to your identity are your satchel and skills as an apothecary.
“I need to rediscover who I am. And…there’s something else. Something important I’m forgetting…”
Unable to ignore the nagging feeling within you, you embark on a journey to recover what you lost…
■ A Character in Castti’s Tale
Since Castti has lost her memories, her connections are shrouded in mystery.
Malaya (voiced by Heather Gonzalez in English, Megmumi Toyoguchi in Japanese)
A traveling apothecary who is awestruck by Castti, whose skills persist despite her memory loss. She is moved by Castti’s desire to help the townspeople and decides to lend her a helping hand.
■ Castti’s Adventure Begins in The Harborlands
Southern Solistia is home to long tracts of twisting coastline, along which one can find the bustling port of Canalbrine. During the Age of Exploration—roughly a hundred years ago—ships launched from this town’s piers would discover the sea routes that led to the eastern continent.
Canalbrine’s symbol is its colossal lighthouse, which guides ships from all corners of the world safely into its harbor. Erected roughly twenty years ago by a cadre of engineers who fled the destruction of the U, it boasts a unique design. Special ore was polished to a mirror sheen and fashioned into a reflector plate, and the light it emits can supposedly be seen all the way in New Delsta.
Today, Canalbrine’s church is an important launching point for proselytizers and evangelists who come from the eastern continent to spread the teachings of the Sacred Flame.
—The Harborland, a vast coastal region.
—The port town of Canalbrine.
—Canalbrine’s church.
■ Castti’s Path Actions
Inquire
Obtain information from townspeople. You must be the appropriate level to succeed.
—If Castti’s level is high enough, she can inquire to glean information from townspeople.
Soothe
Allay a townsperson’s pain, allowing them to sleep. You must have a specific item to soothe them.
—Castti can use specific items to soothe townspeople. The necessary item depends on who she is treating.
■ Castti’s Talent: Concoct
Castti can combine ingredients to craft healing and hazardous compounds.
–Castti can combine multiple ingredients to make healing and hazardous concoctions. You can boost to increase the number of ingredients and, depending on the compound, might even heal the entire party.
—Combine the right ingredients to assail an enemy’s weak points with a hazardous compound and you may be able to easily break them or inflict status ailments.
■ Castti’s Latent Power: Every Drop Counts
When her latent power gauge is full, Castti can concoct without expending any materials.
—Every Drop Counts allows Castti to concoct without using up any precious materials. At max boost, you can even conserve up to five materials in a single go. This is a useful power to have when aiding the party in both normal and boss battles.
■ Crossed Paths: Castti and Ochette
This installment includes Crossed Paths, which are stories involving two travelers.
Castti and Ochette arrive in the lively little village of Cropdale where they hear hunting has been poor lately. The two then head deep into the woods to investigate…
■ Different Stories, Different Structures
Each traveler’s tale has a different structure. Some have more than one objective, and you are free to choose how you want to proceed.
Throne, the thief, must decide whether to pursue Mother or Father first.
—If opting to pursue Father, Throne will make for the thieves’ town of Winterbloom where her target awaits.
—If choosing to pursue Mother, Throne will head to Oresrush to find clues on her target’s whereabouts.
The merchant, Partitio, can head to his next main story objective or follow the Scent of Commerce around the realm.
—You never know what treasures you may find during Partitio’s story..
The hunter, Ochette, must choose which companion to bring on her adventure.
—Either Mahinaor Akalā will help you on your journey. You cannot change your companion later, so choose wisely.
—Mahina
A malamaowl, serene in the grace of the moon.
She specializes in elemental attacks, and proactively assails the enemy’s weak points.
She is like a sister to Ochette.
–Akala
A lajackal, radiant in the sun’s grace.
He specializes in physical attacks, and proactively assails the enemy’s weak points.
He is like a brother to Ochette.
■ Side Stories
There are various side stories in addition to the eight main stories. Some problems have more than one solution, so utilize your Path Actions to help resolve the townspeople’s troubles.
—A merchant is at a loss when her horses suddenly go missing. Is there a way to help her before she must close her doors for good…?
—You can find the thief and Challenge him to a duel or Ambush him to get the horses back. Or…
—You can Allure or Guide a shorthanded rancher and introduce him to the merchant to help her find new employ.
■ Game Speed
In this installment, you can fast-forward event scenes and the automatic text speed at the touch of a button. You can also adjust the speed during battle, allowing you to enjoy the game at your preferred tempo.
—Event scenes and battles can be fast-forwarded to double their original speed, smoothing out leveling up and other Action [864 articles]” href=”https://www.gematsu.com/genres/action”>actions.
3.5 billion-year-old rock structures are one of the oldest signs of life on Earth
Layered rocks in Western Australia are some of Earth’s earliest known life, according to a new study.
The fossils in question are stromatolites, layered rocks that are formed by the excretions of photosynthetic microbes. The oldest stromatolites that scientists agree were made by living organisms date back 3.43 billion years, but there are older specimens, too. In the Dresser Formation of Western Australia, stromatolites dating back 3.48 billion years have been found.
However, billions of years have wiped away traces of organic matter in these older stromatolites, raising questions about whether they were really formed by microbes or whether they might have been made by other geological processes.
The new study’s verdict: It was ancient life.
“We were able to find certain specific microstructures within particular layers of these rocks that are strongly indicative of biological processes,” said Keyron Hickman-Lewis (opens in new tab), a paleontologist at the Natural History Museum in London, who led the research.
Related: Oldest animal life on Earth possibly discovered. And it’s related to your bath sponge.
Microbial mats
The findings could have implications for the search for life on Mars, Hickman-Lewis told Live Science. The stromatolites in the Dresser Formation are encrusted in iron oxide from the reaction of iron with oxygen in the atmosphere. Mars’ surface is similarly oxidized — thus the rusty orange color — but its rocks could hold similar structures left behind by ancient Martian life, Hickman-Lewis said.
Hickman-Lewis and his team examined Western Australian stromatolites first discovered in 2000 by study co-author Frances Westall (opens in new tab) at the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) in France. They used a variety of high-resolution 2D and 3D imaging techniques in order to peer into the layers of the stromatolite at a fine scale.
What they saw hinted at biological growth in all its messy glory. The researchers observed uneven layers, including little dome shapes that are indicative of photosynthesis, since microbes with the most access to the sun will grow more vigorously than those not as high in the structure. They also saw columnar structures that are typical in modern stromatolites, which are still found in a few locations around the globe.
“Microbial mats give you layers that are uneven in their thickness and tend to be wrinkly or crinkly or go up and down on very small spatial scales,” said Linda Kah (opens in new tab), a sedimentologist and geochemist at the University of Tennessee who was not involved in the new study. Putting all the structural clues together, she told Live Science, “you end up with what looks like the characteristics of a microbial mat.”
Martian microbes?
The evidence that the Dresser Formation stromatolites are signs of ancient life doesn’t make them the oldest life on the planet. That (possible) honor may go to stromatolites found in 3.7 billion-year-old rock in Greenland, or possibly to microfossils from Canada that might be as old as 4.29 billion years. It’s very difficult to distinguish biological life from non-organic processes in these very old rocks, however, so these finds and others from a similar timeframe are controversial.
Based on the minerals in the stromatolites, the Western Australia microbial mats probably formed in a shallow lagoon fed by hydrothermal vents that was also connected to the ocean, the researchers reported Nov. 4 in the journal Geology (opens in new tab).
The techniques used to study the Western Australian stromatolites could be useful for seeking life on Mars, Hickman-Lewis said, especially if Mars samples can be returned to Earth.
Scientists should “consider some of the analyses here as a trial run of the analyses we will have to do in around a decade’s time when we have materials from Mars.”
Mars moon mystery as strange structures found in ‘fearful’ Phobos
Europe’s Mars Express spacecraft has peered deeper into the subsurface of the Martian moon Phobos than ever before, finding hints of unknown structures that could be clues as to the moon’s origin.
Mars Express, which is a 19-year-veteran spacecraft in orbit around Mars, came within 51.6 miles (83 kilometers) of Phobos on Sept. 22, 2022 and was able to probe beneath the moon’s surface using upgraded software on its MARSIS instrument (Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionosphere Sounding).
Understanding the interior structure of Phobos could be key in solving the mystery of its origin. “We are still at an early stage in our analysis, but we have already seen possible signs of previously unknown features below the moon’s surface,” said Andrea Cicchetti, who is a member of the MARSIS science team at INAF, the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics, in a statement (opens in new tab).
Related: How the Mars Moon Phobos Got Its Grooves
Mars has two moons, named Phobos and Deimos after the gods of ‘fear’ and ‘panic’ in Greek mythology. Unlike the major moons of our solar system, Phobos and Deimos are tiny, just 16.7 miles (27 kilometers) and 9.3 miles (15 kilometers) across, respectively. They have a similar composition to carbonaceous C-type asteroids, and are irregularly shaped like asteroids too, which has led to the suspicion that they actually are rogue asteroids captured by Mars’ gravity. However, both Phobos and Deimos’ orbits around the red planet are over Mars’ equator and both orbits are extremely circular, which suggests they formed around Mars. If they had been captured, they would be expected to have more elliptical orbits in different planes.
“Whether Mars’ two small moons are captured asteroids or made of material ripped from Mars during a collision is an open question,” said Colin Wilson, who is a scientist on the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission, in the same statement (opens in new tab).
MARSIS involves a 40-meter-long antenna beaming low frequency radio waves down to the surface. Most of the radio waves are reflected directly back from the surface, but some penetrate deeper, where they encounter transitions between layers of different composition and structure, and are reflected back by these boundaries. The stronger the reflection in the resulting ‘radargram’, the brighter the returning radio signal.
The radargram from across a narrow track on Phobos shows a bright line, split into two and labeled A–C and D–F respectively. The A–C section was captured using the old MARSIS software to compare with D–F, which utilizes the new software and which shows much more detail. The main bright line is the reflection from the surface of Phobos, but beneath that there is evidence for fainter lines that could just be interference, or ‘clutter,’ from features on the surface, but they could also be caused by structures below the surface.
MARSIS had been designed to probe Mars’ interior from an orbital distance of more than 155 miles (250 kilometers), but the recent software upgrade allows MARSIS to operate at much closer distances, permitting its use during close fly-bys of the moons.
Getting even closer to Phobos will provide radargrams with even greater resolution than that achieved here. The plan over the next few years is to employ MARSIS as close as 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) to Phobos.
“The orbit of Mars Express has been fine-tuned to get us as close to Phobos as possible during a handful of flybys between 2023 and 2025,” said Cicchetti.
Mars Express isn’t the only mission focused on Phobos. In September 2024, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) spacecraft. Much like JAXA’s Hayabusa2 mission to retrieve samples from the near-Earth asteroid Ryugu, MMX will capture at minimum 10 grams of regolith from Phobos’ surface. MMX will also deploy a small rover onto the surface, before venturing off to take a good look at Mars’ second moon, Deimos, and then returning to Earth with the precious Phobos samples that will be analyzed in scientists’ laboratories here on Earth.
Follow Keith Cooper on Twitter @21stCenturySETI (opens in new tab). Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in new tab) and on Facebook (opens in new tab).
Theoretical physicists argue that black holes admit vortex structures
Black holes are astronomical objects with extremely strong gravitational pulls from which not even light can escape. While the idea of bodies that would trap light has been around since the 18th century, the first direct observation of black holes took place in 2015.
Since then, physicists have conducted countless theoretical and experimental studies aimed at better understanding these fascinating cosmological objects. This had led to many discoveries and theories about the unique characteristics, properties, and dynamics of black holes.
Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and Max-Planck-Institut für Physik have recently carried out a theoretical study exploring the possible existence of vortices in black holes. Their paper, published in Physical Review Letters, shows that black holes should theoretically be able to admit vortex structures.
“Recently, a new quantum framework for black holes, namely in terms of Bose-Einstein condensates of gravitons (the quanta of gravity itself), has been introduced,” Florian Kühnel, one of the researchers who carried out the study, told Phys.org. “Up until our article was published, rotating black holes have not been thoroughly studied within this framework. However, they might not only exist, but also be the rule rather than the exception.”
Kühnel and his colleagues Gia Dvali and Michael Zantedeschi performed several calculations based on existing physics theories, particularly the recently devised quantum model of black holes based on Bose-Einstein graviton condensates. The key goal of their study was to examine rotating black holes on the quantum level, to determine whether they would actually admit vortex structures.
“Since rotating Bose-Einstein condensates have been subject to intense studies in laboratories, it is known that they admit vortex structure if rotating sufficiently fast,” Kühnel said. “We took this as an invitation to look for those structures also in models for rotating black holes—and indeed found them.”
Kühnel and his colleagues showed that a black hole with extremal spin can be described as a graviton condensate with vorticity. This is aligned with previous studies suggesting that extremal black holes are stable against the so-called Hawking evaporation (i.e., a black body radiation that is believed to be released outside of a black hole’s outermost surface, or event horizon).
In addition, the researchers showed that in the presence of mobile charges, the black hole’s overall vortex traps a magnetic flux of the gauge field, which would lead to signature emissions that could be observed experimentally. The team’s theoretical predictions could thus open new possibilities for the observation of new types of matter, including millicharged dark matter.
“Vorticity is an entirely new characteristic of black holes, which are on the classical level (i.e., if one closes one’s eyes on their quantum structure) fully characterized by three entities: mass, spin and charge,” Kühnel said. “This is what we learned from textbooks—until now. We showed that we need to add vorticity.”
The team’s theorized existence of vortices in black holes offers a possible explanation for the lack of Hawking radiation for maximally-rotating black holes. In the future, this theory could thus pave the way for new experimental observations and theoretical conclusions.
For instance, black hole vortex structures could explain the extremely strong magnetic fields emerging from active galactic nuclei in our universe. In addition, they could potentially be at the root of almost all known galactic magnetic fields.
“We have just recently established the field of black hole vorticity,” Kühnel added. “There is a wealth of important and exciting questions to address, including concerning those applications mentioned above. Furthermore, future gravitational-wave observations of merging black holes, each containing a vortex (of multiple of those), might open the door to these new and exciting quantum aspects of space-time.”
Black holes gain new powers when they spin fast enough
More information:
Gia Dvali et al, Vortices in Black Holes, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061302
Gia Dvali et al, Vortices in Black Holes, Physical Review Letters (2022). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.129.061302
© 2022 Science X Network
Citation:
Theoretical physicists argue that black holes admit vortex structures (2022, September 9)
retrieved 9 September 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-09-theoretical-physicists-black-holes-vortex.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Mosquito Fire balloons to over 6,000 acres, destroys structures
A fast-growing wildfire tearing through tinder-dry vegetation in the Sierra Nevada Range near the town of Foresthill grew another 1,100 acres overnight and continues to threaten multiple communities, important infrastructure and hundreds of homes, Cal Fire said Thursday morning.
The Mosquito Fire shows no signs of slowing down and by sunrise had already pumped out a massive smoke cloud that towered above Placer County, signaling extreme fire activity on the ground.
Cal Fire said “critical infrastructure” is threatened, including the Placer County Water Agency pump station and dam, Placer County Fire Repeater Site, 230 kV transmission lines, Sugar Pine Dam and community drinking water supply, Ralston hydroelectric powerhouse and cellular and microwave transmission towers.
Multiple reports and photos posted on social media Wednesday evening indicated that flames devoured some homes, structures and cars in Michigan Bluff, a historic Gold Rush town about seven miles east of Foresthill overlooking the North and Middle forks of the American River.
The fire started in the Tahoe National Forest at 6:27 p.m. on Sept. 6 near Oxbow Reservoir 3 miles east of Foresthill amid a record-breaking heat wave in California that sent temperatures soaring above 100 degrees for several days straight. Hundreds of people were forced to flee their homes and evacuations remain in place Thursday morning. (The live evacuation map is the best source for updated evacuation information.) The fire is burning through vegetation that was left parched and highly flammable after days of scorching weather. The acreage burned went from 5,705 acres on Wednesday night to 6,870 acres on Thursday morning.
Brent Wachter, a fire meteorologist at the U.S. Forest Service’s Geographic Coordination Center in Redding, said the extreme dryness of the landscape was evident in the overnight hours after the fire first broke out. Fires often calm down after sunset when winds subside and temperatures drop, but the Mosquito Fire continued to burn — and the same thing happened last night.
“That’s how flammable the fuels are. Fires are even growing actively overnight,” Wachter told SFGATE on Wednesday.
Smoke from the fire spread across the Sierra foothills and flooded the Lake Tahoe basin. Placer County’s health department issued an air quality advisory warning of unhealthy air through Sept. 9.
This is a developing story and details will be added as they become available.
People watch from a distance as the Mosquito Fire burns near Michigan Bluff in unincorporated Placer County, Calif. Wednesday, Sept. 7, 2022.
Stephen Lam/San Francisco Chronicle via AP
California’s Mosquito Fire ignited near Oxbow Reservoir 3 miles east of Foresthill on Sept. 6, 2022.
Cal FireCalifornia’s Oak Fire destroys at least 55 structures as it burns more than 17,000 acres near Yosemite National Park
Crews made progress in their effort to rein in the fire Monday, slowing the burn’s expansion after the blaze exploded over the weekend, though it is still just 16 percent contained, state fire management agency Cal Fire said. More than 2,400 structures are still threatened, according to the agency.
“It was a successful day for aircraft and firefighters, resulting in minimal growth on the fire,” Cal Fire said Monday evening, adding, “Crews continue to construct control lines and extinguish hot spots along existing lines.”
Nearly 3,000 fire personnel are tackling the blaze, deploying air and land efforts including two dozen helicopters, 302 fire engines and 82 bull dozers, according to Cal Fire’s Monday night update.
But challenging terrain and abundant dry vegetation fueling the fire has complicated efforts to tamp down its growth, Cal Fire spokesperson Captain Keith Wade told CNN Monday.
“The footprint out here, the acreage of available fuels to burn when the fire gets going, along with the available topography — the canyons, the drainages — the wind that flows through these areas, can make the fire behavior erratic and it can explode … the ferociousness of that fire at times can be intense,” Wade said.
So far this month, there have been 23 wildfires in California, according to Cal Fire, but only three have exceeded 500 acres. None have come close to the mass destruction of the Oak Fire, due in part to the exceedingly dry conditions in the area, Wade said.
“I think the real difference that firefighters are experiencing on this one is how dry everything is, it’s definitely been (drier) as the years have been going on,” he said. “We’ve noticed that there seems to be less precipitation, less moisture and the available fuel load is definitely out there.”
The fire’s rapid growth has also made evacuation efforts more difficult, Cal Fire Battalion Chief Jon Heggie told CNN Monday, noting that officials and law enforcement are doing their best to notify residents when they need to leave.
“The reality is, it’s moving so quickly, it’s not giving people a lot of time and they are sometimes just going to have to evacuate with the shirts on their back,” Heggie said.
The incremental progress made by fire crews has allowed officials to reduce evacuation orders in some areas to fire advisements, Cal Fire said.
At least 3,000 people were forced to flee their homes over the weekend, per a Saturday news release from Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office. An evacuation shelter has been set up at Mariposa Elementary School for displaced residents.
Mariposa county has been under a state of emergency since Saturday, when Newsom announced the proclamation.
Southern California fire officials have been expecting this summer to bring an especially challenging fire season due to the increased frequency of wildfires and the dry, hot conditions in much of the state.
Heggie attributed the Oak Fire’s “velocity and intensity” to the state’s prolonged drought and human-caused climate change.
“What I can tell you is this is a direct result of what is climate change,” he said. “You can’t have a 10-year drought in California and expect things to be the same. And we are now paying the price for that 10-year drought and that climate change.”
California is among the western states that have been suffering under a prolonged megadrought that has been heavily exacerbated by the climate crisis.
“That dead fuel that’s a result from that climate change and that drought is what’s driving these, what we are now calling, ‘mega fires,'” Heggie said.
It’s not just the Western US dealing with extreme fire conditions. Wildfires around the globe have intensified and become more commonplace, according to a report from the UN Environment Programme. The report’s analysis found that the number of extreme wildfire events will increase by 30% by 2050.
The report suggested it’s time we “learn to live with fire,” urging authorities and policymakers to cooperate with local communities to use Indigenous knowledge and invest in planning and prevention efforts.
CNN’s Poppy Harlow, Taylor Romine, Stella Chan, Sara Smart, Rachel Ramirez contributed to this report.
MIT Physicists Discover a Family of “Magic” Superconducting Graphene Structures
An illustration showing superconducting Cooper pairs in magic-angle multilayer graphene family. The adjacent layers are twisted in an alternating fashion. Credit: Ella Maru Studio
The discovery could inform the design of practical superconducting devices.
When it comes to
Graphene is a single-
Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms arranged in a two-dimensional honeycomb lattice nanostructure is one of the most well-known 2D-materials. When you take two stacked layers of graphene and twist them at the magic angle, all kinds of powerful properties can emerge such as superconductivity and ferromagnetism.
In 2018,
This new discovery could serve as a blueprint for designing practical, room-temperature superconductors. If the properties among family members could be replicated in other, naturally conductive materials, they could be harnessed, for instance, to deliver electricity without dissipation losses or build magnetically levitating trains that run with no friction.
MIT physicists have established twisted graphene as a new “family” of robust superconductors, each member consisting of alternating graphene layers, stacked at precise angles. Credit: Courtesy of the researchers
“The magic-angle graphene system is now a legitimate ‘family,’ beyond a couple of systems,” says lead author Jeong Min (Jane) Park, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Physics. “Having this family is particularly meaningful because it provides a way to design robust superconductors.”
Park’s MIT co-authors include Yuan Cao, Li-Qiao Xia, Shuwen Sun, and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor of Physics, along with Kenji Watanabe and Takashi Taniguchi of the National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan.
“No limit”
Jarillo-Herrero’s group was the first to discover magic-angle graphene, in the form of a bilayer structure of two graphene sheets placed one atop the other and slightly offset at a precise angle of 1.1 degrees. This twisted configuration, known as a moiré superlattice, transformed the material into a strong and persistent superconductor at ultralow temperatures.
The researchers also found that the material exhibited a type of electronic structure known as a “flat band,” in which the material’s electrons have the same energy, regardless of their momentum. In this flat band state, and at ultracold temperatures, the normally frenetic electrons collectively slow down enough to pair up in what are known as Cooper pairs — essential ingredients of superconductivity that can flow through the material without resistance.
While the researchers observed that twisted bilayer graphene exhibited both superconductivity and a flat band structure, it wasn’t clear whether the former arose from the latter.
“There was no proof a flat band structure led to superconductivity,” Park says. “Other groups since then have produced other twisted structures from other materials that have some flattish band, but they didn’t really have robust superconductivity. So we wondered: Could we produce another flat band superconducting device?”
As they considered this question, a group from Harvard University derived calculations that confirmed mathematically that three graphene layers, twisted at 1.6 degrees, would exhibit also flat bands, and suggested they may superconduct. They went on to show there should be no limit to the number of graphene layers that exhibit superconductivity, if stacked and twisted in just the right way, at angles they also predicted. Finally, they proved they could mathematically relate every multilayer structure to a common flat band structure — strong proof that a flat band may lead to robust superconductivity.
“They worked out there may be this entire hierarchy of graphene structures, to infinite layers, that might correspond to a similar mathematical expression for a flat band structure,” Park says.
Shortly after that work, Jarillo-Herrero’s group found that, indeed, superconductivity and a flat band emerged in twisted trilayer graphene — three graphene sheets, stacked like a cheese sandwich, the middle cheese layer shifted by 1.6 degrees with respect to the sandwiched outer layers. But the trilayer structure also showed subtle differences compared to its bilayer counterpart.
“That made us ask, where do these two structures fit in terms of the whole class of materials, and are they from the same family?” Park says.
An unconventional family
In the current study, the team looked to level up the number of graphene layers. They fabricated two new structures, made from four and five graphene layers, respectively. Each structure is stacked alternately, similar to the shifted cheese sandwich of twisted trilayer graphene.
The team kept the structures in a refrigerator below 1 kelvin (about -273 degrees
The team carried out simulations of each structure type, seeking an explanation for the differences between family members. They concluded that the fact that twisted bilayer graphene’s superconductivity dies out under certain magnetic conditions is simply because all of its physical layers exist in a “nonmirrored” form within the structure. In other words, there are no two layers in the structure that are mirror opposites of each other, whereas graphene’s multilayer siblings exhibit some sort of mirror symmetry. These findings suggest that the mechanism driving electrons to flow in a robust superconductive state is the same across the twisted graphene family.
“That’s quite important,” Park notes. “Without knowing this, people might think bilayer graphene is more conventional compared to multilayer structures. But we show that this entire family may be unconventional, robust superconductors.”
Reference: “Robust superconductivity in magic-angle multilayer graphene family” by Jeong Min Park, Yuan Cao, Li-Qiao Xia, Shuwen Sun, Kenji Watanabe, Takashi Taniguchi and Pablo Jarillo-Herrero, 7 July 2022, Nature Materials.
DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01287-1
This research was supported, in part, by the U.S. Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the Gordon and Betty Moore Fundation, the Ramon Areces Foundation, and the CIFAR Program on Quantum Materials.
Physicists discover a ‘family’ of robust, superconducting graphene structures
When it comes to graphene, it appears that superconductivity runs in the family.
Graphene is a single-atom-thin material that can be exfoliated from the same graphite that is found in pencil lead. The ultrathin material is made entirely from carbon atoms that are arranged in a simple hexagonal pattern, similar to that of chicken wire. Since its isolation in 2004, graphene has been found to embody numerous remarkable properties in its single-layer form.
In 2018, MIT researchers found that if two graphene layers are stacked at a very specific “magic” angle, the twisted bilayer structure could exhibit robust superconductivity, a widely sought material state in which an electrical current can flow through with zero energy loss. Recently, the same group found a similar superconductive state exists in twisted trilayer graphene—a structure made from three graphene layers stacked at a precise, new magic angle.
Now the team reports that—you guessed it—four and five graphene layers can be twisted and stacked at new magic angles to elicit robust superconductivity at low temperatures. This latest discovery, published this week in Nature Materials, establishes the various twisted and stacked configurations of graphene as the first known “family” of multilayer magic-angle superconductors. The team also identified similarities and differences between graphene family members.
The findings could serve as a blueprint for designing practical, room-temperature superconductors. If the properties among family members could be replicated in other, naturally conductive materials, they could be harnessed, for instance, to deliver electricity without dissipation or build magnetically levitating trains that run without friction.
“The magic-angle graphene system is now a legitimate ‘family,’ beyond a couple of systems,” says lead author Jeong Min (Jane) Park, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Physics. “Having this family is particularly meaningful because it provides a way to design robust superconductors.”
‘No limit’
Jarillo-Herrero’s group was the first to discover magic-angle graphene, in the form of a bilayer structure of two graphene sheets placed one atop the other and slightly offset at a precise angle of 1.1 degrees. This twisted configuration, known as a moiré superlattice, transformed the material into a strong and persistent superconductor at ultralow temperatures.
The researchers also found that the material exhibited a type of electronic structure known as a “flat band,” in which the material’s electrons have the same energy, regardless of their momentum. In this flat band state, and at ultracold temperatures, the normally frenetic electrons collectively slow down enough to pair up in what are known as Cooper pairs—essential ingredients of superconductivity that can flow through the material without resistance.
While the researchers observed that twisted bilayer graphene exhibited both superconductivity and a flat band structure, it wasn’t clear whether the former arose from the latter.
“There was no proof a flat band structure led to superconductivity,” Park says. “Other groups since then have produced other twisted structures from other materials that have some flattish band, but they didn’t really have robust superconductivity. So we wondered: Could we produce another flat band superconducting device?”
As they considered this question, a group from Harvard University derived calculations that confirmed mathematically that three graphene layers, twisted at 1.6 degrees, would exhibit also flat bands, and suggested they may superconduct. They went on to show there should be no limit to the number of graphene layers that exhibit superconductivity, if stacked and twisted in just the right way, at angles they also predicted. Finally, they proved they could mathematically relate every multilayer structure to a common flat band structure—strong proof that a flat band may lead to robust superconductivity.
“They worked out there may be this entire hierarchy of graphene structures, to infinite layers, that might correspond to a similar mathematical expression for a flat band structure,” Park says.
Shortly after that work, Jarillo-Herrero’s group found that, indeed, superconductivity and a flat band emerged in twisted trilayer graphene—three graphene sheets, stacked like a cheese sandwich, the middle cheese layer shifted by 1.6 degrees with respect to the sandwiched outer layers. But the trilayer structure also showed subtle differences compared to its bilayer counterpart.
“That made us ask, where do these two structures fit in terms of the whole class of materials, and are they from the same family?” Park says.
An unconventional family
In the current study, the team looked to level up the number of graphene layers. They fabricated two new structures, made from four and five graphene layers, respectively. Each structure is stacked alternately, similar to the shifted cheese sandwich of twisted trilayer graphene.
The team kept the structures in a refrigerator below 1 kelvin (about -273 degrees Celsius), ran electrical current through each structure, and measured the output under various conditions, similar to tests for their bilayer and trilayer systems.
Overall, they found that both four- and five-layer twisted graphene also exhibit robust superconductivity and a flat band. The structures also shared other similarities with their three-layer counterpart, such as their response under a magnetic field of varying strength, angle, and orientation.
These experiments showed that twisted graphene structures could be considered a new family, or class of common superconducting materials. The experiments also suggested there may be a black sheep in the family: The original twisted bilayer structure, while sharing key properties, also showed subtle differences from its siblings. For instance, the group’s previous experiments showed the structure’s superconductivity broke down under lower magnetic fields and was more uneven as the field rotated, compared to its multilayer siblings.
The team carried out simulations of each structure type, seeking an explanation for the differences between family members. They concluded that the fact that twisted bilayer graphene’s superconductivity dies out under certain magnetic conditions is simply because all of its physical layers exist in a “nonmirrored” form within the structure. In other words, there are no two layers in the structure that are mirror opposites of each other, whereas graphene’s multilayer siblings exhibit some sort of mirror symmetry. These findings suggest that the mechanism driving electrons to flow in a robust superconductive state is the same across the twisted graphene family.
“That’s quite important,” Park notes. “Without knowing this, people might think bilayer graphene is more conventional compared to multilayer structures. But we show that this entire family may be unconventional, robust superconductors.”
Unusual superconductivity observed in twisted trilayer graphene
More information:
Jeong Min Park et al, Robust superconductivity in magic-angle multilayer graphene family, Nature Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01287-1
Jeong Min Park et al, Robust superconductivity in magic-angle multilayer graphene family, Nature Materials (2022). DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01287-1
Provided by
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Citation:
Physicists discover a ‘family’ of robust, superconducting graphene structures (2022, July 8)
retrieved 10 July 2022
from https://phys.org/news/2022-07-physicists-family-robust-superconducting-graphene.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
Andover, Kansas tornado: 50-100 structures damaged in the Wichita area, officials say
Worst hit appeared to be the town of Andover, which is about 14 miles east of Wichita.
“We’re currently rescuing people from their homes because they’re unable to navigate the debris,” Wichita Fire Chief Tammy Snow told CNN in a phone interview.
Snow added that 12 people suffered minor injuries.
An estimated 50 to 100 structures were damaged in the Wichita area, Jim Jonas, the city’s director of communications, told CNN in a phone interview.
One such structure was the YMCA community center in Andover, city administrator Jennifer McCausland said. In addition, “several homes and cars were damaged,” she told CNN in a phone interview. “The biggest struggle right now is to get the roads clear.”
Employees and customers at Braum’s Ice Cream & Dairy Store hid in the bathroom as the tornado passed nearby, which cut their power.
“We could see it right across from our business,” said Sierra Dobbie, a store manager. “It was pretty scary. I work with a bunch of kids, and I needed to get them to a safe spot.”
Law enforcement were doing door-to-door check-ins on Andover residents, according to Chad Crittenden, a spokesperson for the Kansas Highway Patrol.
“We are uncertain about the extent of the damage, emergency crews are responding,” the police department said on Facebook.
The National Weather Service in Wichita said it will send out teams Saturday to conduct damage surveys.
“Our thoughts and prayers go out to those impacted by tornadoes this evening,” the local NWS said in a tweet.
The twister was one of multiple tornadoes to touch down in Kansas, according to Gov. Laura Kelly, who declared a state of disaster emergency.
“We have learned from past experience that we can’t wait for the storm to hit before we respond,” Kelly said. “By taking these steps early we are able to more quickly react when the counties ask for assistance.”
As of 1:25 a.m. ET Saturday, there were more than 20,000 homes and businesses without power in Kansas, according to PowerOutage.us.
In all, 15 tornadoes — 14 of which were across Kansas or Nebraska — were reported Friday, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Storm Prediction Center. The other tornado was in Florida, the center said.
Additionally, there have been more than 70 reports of wind damage and over 50 reports of hail.
In Enterprise, Kansas, there was hail up to four inches in diameter.
Drought woes in the West
Meanwhile, the West is in the grips of one of the worst droughts in decades, and the fire season has not only started early, but has been setting records.
Since January, over a million acres have burned, well above the year-to-date average of around 632,000 acres. New Mexico has been especially hit hard with 5 large fires currently burning, and the forecast for the next couple of days offers no chance of a break.
New Mexico has already reached its annual rate of fire activity and it’s only April.
“Our season started earlier than in the past,” says Andrew Church, a National Weather Service meteorologist with the Albuquerque office.
“Because of climate change and the mega-drought across the western US, there’s just no moisture in the soil anymore,” he goes on to say.
CNN’s Chad Myers, Monica Garrett, Haley Brink, Paradise Afshar, Michelle Watson, Caroline Kucera, Leslie Perrot and Rebekah Riess contributed to this report.