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YIVO news = Jedīʿōt fun JIWO : No. 200 Fall 2005 (2005)

YIVO news = Jedīʿōt fun JIWO : No. 199 Winter 2005 (2005)

Narratology beyond Literary Criticism : Mediality – Disciplinarity ; Introduction (2005)

Jan Christoph Meister Tom Kindt Wilhelm Schernus

A glance at the current situation in literary criticism shows that narratology, pronounced dead twenty years ago, is remarkably alive and well. This fact has been noted repeatedly and with understandable self-satisfaction in the recent literature on research into narrative theory. Just how astonishing this rebirth is, however, becomes apparent only when we step back from literary criticism and the humanities to take a wider historical view of the developments in academic and theoretical circles that preceded it. The deeply symbolic year of 1968 marked the fall of the academic ancient régime. Partly in anticipation of this and partly in response to it, a number of new leading disciplines were raised to power in western Europe as sources of hope for the future. However much they may have differed from one another in political purpose (in theoretical circles or beyond), linguistics, political economy, psychoanalysis, and structuralist semiology—to name but a few of the superdisciplines of the time—clearly belonged to one and the same paradigm in terms of how they conceived of themselves: throughout, they sought to reveal universal, ahistorical regularities in human thought and action in their respective fields.

Highly resolved observations of trace gases in the lowermost stratosphere and upper troposphere from the Spurt project: an overview (2005)

Andreas Engel Harald Bönisch Dominik Brunner Herbert Fischer Harald Franke Gebhard Günther Christian Thomas Gurk Michaela I. Hegglin Peter Hoor Rainer Königstedt Michael Krebsbach Rolf Maser Uwe Parchatka Thomas Peter Dieter Schell Cornelius Schiller Ulrich Schmidt Nicole Spelten T. Szabo Uwe Weers Heini Wernli Thomas Wetter Volkmar Wirth

During SPURT (Spurenstofftransport in der Tropopausenregion, trace gas transport in the tropopause region) we performed measurements of a wide range of trace gases with different lifetimes and sink/source characteristics in the northern hemispheric upper troposphere (UT) and lowermost stratosphere (LMS). A large number of in-situ instruments were deployed on board a Learjet 35A, flying at altitudes up to 13.7 km, at times reaching to nearly 380 K potential temperature. Eight measurement campaigns (consisting of a total of 36 flights), distributed over all seasons and typically covering latitudes between 35° N and 75° N in the European longitude sector (10° W–20° E), were performed. Here we present an overview of the project, describing the instrumentation, the encountered meteorological situations during the campaigns and the data set available from SPURT. Measurements were obtained for N2O, CH4, CO, CO2, CFC12, H2, SF6, NO, NOy, O3 and H2O. We illustrate the strength of this new data set by showing mean distributions of the mixing ratios of selected trace gases, using a potential temperature – equivalent latitude coordinate system. The observations reveal that the LMS is most stratospheric in character during spring, with the highest mixing ratios of O3 and NOy and the lowest mixing ratios of N2O and SF6. The lowest mixing ratios of NOy and O3 are observed during autumn, together with the highest mixing ratios of N2O and SF6 indicating a strong tropospheric influence. For H2O, however, the maximum concentrations in the LMS are found during summer, suggesting unique (temperature- and convection-controlled) conditions for this molecule during transport across the tropopause. The SPURT data set is presently the most accurate and complete data set for many trace species in the LMS, and its main value is the simultaneous measurement of a suite of trace gases having different lifetimes and physical-chemical histories. It is thus very well suited for studies of atmospheric transport, for model validation, and for investigations of seasonal changes in the UT/LMS, as demonstrated in accompanying and elsewhere published studies.

On the observation of mesospheric air inside the arctic stratospheric polar vortex in early 2003 (2005)

Andreas Engel Tanja Möbius Hans-Peter Haase Harald Bönisch Thomas Wetter Ulrich Schmidt Ingeborg Levin Thomas Reddmann Hermann Oelhaf Gerald Wetzel Katja Grunow Nathalie Huret Michel Pirre

During several balloon flights inside the Arctic polar vortex in early 2003, unusual trace gas distributions were observed, which indicate a strong influence of mesospheric air in the stratosphere. The tuneable diode laser (TDL) instrument SPIRALE (Spectroscopie InFrarouge par Absorption de Lasers Embarqués) measured unusually high CO values (up to 600 ppb) on 27 January at about 30 km altitude. The cryosampler BONBON sampled air masses with very high molecular Hydrogen, extremely low SF6 and enhanced CO values on 6 March at about 25 km altitude. Finally, the MIPAS (Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding) Fourier Transform Infra-Red (FTIR) spectrometer showed NOy values which are significantly higher than NOy* (the NOy derived from a correlation between N2O and NOy under undisturbed conditions), on 21 and 22 March in a layer centred at 22 km altitude. Thus, the mesospheric air seems to have been present in a layer descending from about 30 km in late January to 25 km altitude in early March and about 22 km altitude on 20 March. We present corroborating evidence from a model study using the KASIMA (KArlsruhe Simulation model of the Middle Atmosphere) model that also shows a layer of mesospheric air, which descended into the stratosphere in November and early December 2002, before the minor warming which occurred in late December 2002 lead to a descent of upper stratospheric air, cutting of a layer in which mesospheric air is present. This layer then descended inside the vortex over the course of the winter. The same feature is found in trajectory calculations, based on a large number of trajectories started in the vicinity of the observations on 6 March. Based on the difference between the mean age derived from SF6 (which has an irreversible mesospheric loss) and from CO2 (whose mesospheric loss is much smaller and reversible) we estimate that the fraction of mesospheric air in the layer observed on 6 March, must have been somewhere between 35% and 100%.

Observations of meteoritic material and implications for aerosol nucleation in the winter Arctic lower stratosphere derived from in situ particle measurements (2005)

Joachim Curtius Ralf Weigel Hermann-Josef Vössing Heini Wernli Anja Sabine Werner C.-Michael Volk Paul Konopka Michael Krebsbach Cornelius Schiller Anke Roiger Hans Schlager Volker Dreiling Stephan Borrmann

Number concentrations of total and non-volatile aerosol particles with size diameters >0.01 µm as well as particle size distributions (0.4–23 µm diameter) were measured in situ in the Arctic lower stratosphere (10–20.5 km altitude). The measurements were obtained during the campaigns European Polar Stratospheric Cloud and Lee Wave Experiment (EUPLEX) and Envisat-Arctic-Validation (EAV). The campaigns were based in Kiruna, Sweden, and took place from January to March 2003. Measurements were conducted onboard the Russian high-altitude research aircraft Geophysica using the low-pressure Condensation Nucleus Counter COPAS (COndensation PArticle Counter System) and a modified FSSP 300 (Forward Scattering Spectrometer Probe). Around 18–20 km altitude typical total particle number concentrations nt range at 10–20 cm−3 (ambient conditions). Correlations with the trace gases nitrous oxide (N2O) and trichlorofluoromethane (CFC-11) are discussed. Inside the polar vortex the total number of particles >0.01 µm increases with potential temperature while N2O is decreasing which indicates a source of particles in the above polar stratosphere or mesosphere. A separate channel of the COPAS instrument measures the fraction of aerosol particles non-volatile at 250°C. Inside the polar vortex a much higher fraction of particles contained non-volatile residues than outside the vortex (~24% outside vortex). This is most likely due to a strongly increased fraction of meteoritic material in the particles which is transported downward from the mesosphere inside the polar vortex. The high fraction of non-volatile residual particles gives therefore experimental evidence for downward transport of mesospheric air inside the polar vortex. It is also shown that the fraction of non-volatile residual particles serves directly as a suitable experimental vortex tracer. Nanometer-sized meteoritic smoke particles may also serve as nuclei for the condensation of gaseous sulfuric acid and water in the polar vortex and these additional particles may be responsible for the increase in the observed particle concentration at low N2O. The number concentrations of particles >0.4 µm measured with the FSSP decrease markedly inside the polar vortex with increasing potential temperature, also a consequence of subsidence of air from higher altitudes inside the vortex. Another focus of the analysis was put on the particle measurements in the lowermost stratosphere. For the total particle density relatively high number concentrations of several hundred particles per cm3 at altitudes below ~14 km were observed in several flights. To investigate the origin of these high number concentrations we conducted air mass trajectory calculations and compared the particle measurements with other trace gas observations. The high number concentrations of total particles in the lowermost stratosphere are probably caused by transport of originally tropospheric air from lower latitudes and are potentially influenced by recent particle nucleation.

Australasian Arachnology, Number 71, April 2005 (2005)

Nearly 20 years after the first meeting of the Society in Tunanda in 1986 and more than 10 years after the Internationonal Arachnological Congress in Brisbane, in 1993, there will be another ‘reunion’ of the Australasian Arachnological Society. As part of the Combined Australian Entomological Society, Society of Australian Systematic Biologists and Invertebrate Biodiversity and Conservation Conference (Australian National University, Canberra) from 4-9 December 2005, we are organizing a symposium ‘Australasian Arachnology – Evolution, Ecology and Conservation’ Currently, there are two sessions earmarked for this symposium, however, the final format will be determined by the number of participants. Please register your interest with the conference organisers. A call of abstracts will be sent out in June (for details please check: http://www.invertebrates2005.com).

Australasian Arachnology, Number 72, August 2005 (2005)

Just days before this newsletter went to the printer, the Australasian Arachnological Society launched its own website: www.australasian-arachnology.org It was a great effort from all involved, but two people in particular (who are not even directly involved with our society) deserve a special mention: Randolf Manderbach (web programming) and Thomas García Godines (graphic design) professionally developed and programmed the lay-out of our website, for free! Thanks to both of them! You will find further acknowledgements and some information in regard to the ‘philosophy’ of our site in an introductory article on page 4. Similar to this newsletter, the website will prosper only through contributions and feedback from all of you!

The QCD phase diagram at zero and small baryon density (2005)

Owe Philipsen

I review recent developments in determining the QCD phase diagram by means of lattice simulations. Since the invention of methods to side-step the sign problem a few years ago, a number of additional variants have been proposed, and progress has been made towards understanding some of the systematics involved. All available techniques agree on the transition temperature as a function of density in the regime mq/T <~1. There are by now four calculations with signals for a critical point, two of them at similar parameter values and with consistent results. However, it also emerges that the location of the critical point is exceedingly quark mass sensitive. At the same time sizeable finite volume, cut-off and step size effects have been uncovered, demanding additional investigations with exact algorithms on larger and finer lattices before quantitative conclusions can be drawn. Depending on the sign of these corrections, there is ample room for the eventual phase diagram to look as expected or also quite different, with no critical point at all.

The pseudoparticle approach for solving path integrals in gauge theories (2005)

Marc Wagner Frieder Lenz

We present a numerical technique for calculating path integrals in non-compact U(1) and SU(2) gauge theories. The gauge fields are represented by a superposition of pseudoparticles of various types with their amplitudes and color orientations as degrees of freedom. Applied to Maxwell theory this technique results in a potential which is in excellent agreement with the Coulomb potential. For SU(2) Yang-Mills theory the same technique yields clear evidence of confinement. Varying the coupling constant exhibits the same scaling behavior for the string tension, the topological susceptibility and the critical temperature while their dimensionless ratios are similar to those obtained in lattice calculations.

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