Test of general relativity and measurement of the lense-thirring effect with two earth satellites

The Lense-Thirring effect, a tiny perturbation of the orbit of a particle caused by the spin of the attracting body, was accurately measured with the use of the data of two laser-ranged satellites, LAGEOS and LAGEOS II, and the Earth gravitational model EGM-96. The parameter &mgr;, which measures the strength of the Lense-Thirring effect, was found to be 1.1 +/- 0.2; general relativity predicts &mgr; identical with 1. This result represents an accurate test and measurement of one of the fundamental predictions of general relativity, that the spin of a body changes the geometry of the universe by generating space-time curvature.     

Strange floral attractors: pollinator attraction and the evolution of plant sexual systems

Individual plants of hummingbird-pollinated Besleria triflora display two flower morphs: staminate flowers, which have shortened styles and do not produce fruit, and hermaphrodite flowers. Experiments with B. triflora indicate that pollinator attraction can drive the evolution of a dimorphic plant sexual system. In field-manipulated plants, visitation increased at large floral displays; however, pollen receipt increased only when staminate flowers were used to enlarge the display. Laboratory experiments showed that staminate flowers do not remove pollen from visiting pollinators, effectively concentrating outcross pollen onto stigmas of fertile flowers. A dimorphic sexual system is favored because the morphology of staminate flowers enhances their role in pollinator attraction.     

Gravitation Theory: Empirical Status from Solar System Experiments: All observations to date are consistent with Einstein's general relativity theory of gravity

I have reviewed the historical and contemporary experiments that guide us in choosing a post-Newtonian, relativistic gravitational theory. The foundation experiments essentially constrain gravitation theory to be a metric theory in which matter couples solely to one gravitational field, the metric field, although other cosmological gravitational fields may exist. The metric field for any metric theory can be specified (for the solar system, for our present purposes) by a series of potential terms with several parameters. A variety of experiments specify (or put limits on) the numerical values of the seven parameters in the post-Newtonian metric field, and other such experiments have been planned. The empirical results, to date, yield values of the parameters that are consistent with the predictions of Einstein's general relativity.     

Extinct technetium in silicon carbide stardust grains: implications for stellar nucleosynthesis

The isotopic composition of ruthenium (Ru) in individual presolar silicon carbide (SiC) stardust grains bears the signature of s-process nucleosynthesis in asymptotic giant branch stars, plus an anomaly in 99Ru that is explained by the in situ decay of technetium isotope 99Tc in the grains. This finding, coupled with the observation of Tc spectral lines in certain stars, shows that the majority of presolar SiC grains come from low-mass asymptotic giant branch stars, and that the amount of 99Tc produced in such stars is insufficient to have left a detectable 99Ru anomaly in early solar system materials.     

Deep mixing of 3He: reconciling Big Bang and stellar nucleosynthesis

Low-mass stars, approximately 1 to 2 solar masses, near the Main Sequence are efficient at producing the helium isotope 3He, which they mix into the convective envelope on the giant branch and should distribute into the Galaxy by way of envelope loss. This process is so efficient that it is difficult to reconcile the low observed cosmic abundance of 3He with the predictions of both stellar and Big Bang nucleosynthesis. Here we find, by modeling a red giant with a fully three-dimensional hydrodynamic code and a full nucleosynthetic network, that mixing arises in the supposedly stable and radiative zone between the hydrogen-burning shell and the base of the convective envelope. This mixing is due to Rayleigh-Taylor instability within a zone just above the hydrogen-burning shell, where a nuclear reaction lowers the mean molecular weight slightly. Thus, we are able to remove the threat that 3He production in low-mass stars poses to the Big Bang nucleosynthesis of 3He.