Influence of Dark Brown Soil Respiration and Microbial Community under Cadmium Stress

Through laboratory simulation, the influence of cadmium on soil respiratory intensity and microbial community were studied by adding different concentrations of heavy metal cadmium. The results indicated that, the soil respiration had a signifi- cant weakening trend in the same culture days with increasing exogenous cadmium content; the soil respiration intensity was decreased obviously with the increase of culture time, especially after 14 d when the soil exogenous cadmium content was in the range of 0.5-3.0 mg/kg, while the soil respiration had not obvious variation over time when the exogenous cadmium content was in the range of 5.0-10.0 mg/kg. The soil microbial communities decreased significantly and were much lower than that of the control treatment in the same culture days with the increasing of soil exogenous cadmium content; the soil microbial community declined significantly with increasing of culture time for all exogenous cadmium treatments. The number of soil microbial communities in treatment with 10 mg/kg of exogenous cadmium were only 46.43%, 32.26%, 28.74%, 27.39% and 24.62% of that in control treatment on the 7th, 14th, 21st, 28th and 42rd of culture, respectively. It indicated that higher concen- tration of cadmium in dark brown soil had a significant inhibitory effect on soil mi- crobial growth.

Effects of continuous nitrogen addition on microbial properties and soil organic matter in a Larix gmelinii plantation in China

Continuous increases in anthropogenic nitrogen（N） deposition are likely to change soil microbial properties, and ultimately to affect soil carbon（C） storage.Temperate plantation forests play key roles in C sequestration, yet mechanisms underlying the influences of N deposition on soil organic matter accumulation are poorly understood. This study assessed the effect of N addition on soil microbial properties and soil organic matter distribution in a larch（Larix gmelinii） plantation. In a 9-year experiment in the plantation, N was applied at100 kg N ha-1 a-1 to study the effects on soil C and N mineralization, microbial biomass, enzyme activity, and C and N in soil organic matter density fractions, and organic matter chemistry. The results showed that N addition had no influence on C and N contents in whole soil. However,soil C in different fractions responded to N addition differently. Soil C in light fractions did not change with N addition, while soil C in heavy fractions increased significantly. These results suggested that more soil C in heavy fractions was stabilized in the N-treated soils. However,microbial biomass C and N and phenol oxidase activity decreased in the N-treated soils and thus soil C increased in heavy fractions. Although N addition reduced microbial biomass and phenol oxidase activity, it had little effect on soil C mineralization, hydrolytic enzyme activities, d13 C value in soil and C–H stretch, carboxylates and amides, and C–O stretch in soil organic matter chemistry measured by Fourier transform infrared spectra. We conclude that N addition（1） altered microbial biomass and activity without affecting soil C in light fractions and（2） resulted in an increase in soil C in heavy fractions and that this increase was controlled by phenol oxidase activity and soil N availability.

Afforestation with an age-sequence of Mongolian pine plantation promotes soil microbial residue accumulation in the Horqin Sandy Land, China

Land use change affects the balance of organic carbon(C)reserves and the global C cycle.Microbial residues are essential constituents of stable soil organic C(SOC).However,it remains unclear how microbial residue changes over time following afforestation.In this study,16-,23-,52-,and 62-year-old Mongolian pine stands and 16-year-old cropland were studied in the Horqin Sandy Land,China.We analyzed changes in SOC,amino sugar content,and microbial parameters to assess how microbial communities influence soil C transformation and preservation.The results showed that SOC storage increased with stand age in the early stage of afforestation but remained unchanged at about 1.27-1.29 kg/m2 after 52 a.Moreover,there were consistent increases in amino sugars and microbial residues with increasing stand age.As stand age increased from 16 to 62 a,soil pH decreased from 6.84 to 5.71,and the concentration of total amino sugars increased from 178.53 to 509.99 mg/kg.A significant negative correlation between soil pH and the concentration of specific and total amino sugars was observed,indicating that the effects of soil acidification promote amino sugar stabilization during afforestation.In contrast to the Mongolian pine plantation of the same age,the cropland accumulated more SOC and microbial residues because of fertilizer application.Across Mongolian pine plantation with different ages,there was no significant change in calculated contribution of bacterial or fungal residues to SOC,suggesting that fungi were consistently the dominant contributors to SOC with increasing time.Our results indicate that afforestation in the Horqin Sandy Land promotes efficient microbial growth and residue accumulation in SOC stocks and has a consistent positive impact on SOC persistence.

Inelastic Scattering of Dark Matter with Heavy Cosmic Rays

We investigate the impact of inelastic collisions between dark matter(DM)and heavy cosmic ray(CR)nuclei on CR propagation.We approximate the fragmentation cross-sections for DM-CR collisions using collider-measured proton-nuclei scattering cross-sections,allowing us to assess how these collisions affect the spectra of CR boron and carbon.We derive new CR spectra from DM-CR collisions by incorporating their cross-sections into the source terms and solving the diffusion equation for the complete network of reactions involved in generating secondary species.In a specific example with a coupling strength of b_(χ)=0.1 and a DM mass of m_(χ)=0.1 GeV,considering a simplified scenario where DM interacts exclusively with oxygen,a notable modification in the boron-to-carbon spectrum due to the DM-CR interaction is observed.Particularly,the peak within the spectrum,spanning from 0.1 to 10 GeV,experiences an enhancement of approximately 1.5 times.However,in a more realistic scenario where DM particles interact with all CRs,this peak can be amplified to twice its original value.Utilizing the latest data from AMS-02 and DAMPE on the boron-to-carbon ratio,we estimate a 95%upper limit for the effective inelastic cross-section of DM-proton as a function of DM mass.Our findings reveal that at m_(χ)?2 MeV,the effective inelastic cross-section between DM and protons must be less than O(10^(-32))cm^(2).

Implications of the Stellar Mass Density of High-z Massive Galaxies from JWST on Warm Dark Matter

A significant excess of the stellar mass density at high redshift has been discovered from the early data release of James Webb Space Telescope(JWST),and it may require a high star formation efficiency.However,this will lead to large number density of ionizing photons in the epoch of reionization(EoR),so that the reionization history will be changed,which can arise tension with the current EoR observations.Warm dark matter(WDM),via the free streaming effect,can suppress the formation of small-scale structure as well as low-mass galaxies.This provides an effective way to decrease the ionizing photons when considering a large star formation efficiency in high-z massive galaxies without altering the cosmic reionization history.On the other hand,the constraints on the properties of WDM can be derived from the JWST observations.In this work,we study WDM as a possible solution to reconcile the JWST stellar mass density of high-z massive galaxies and reionization history.We find that,the JWST high-z comoving cumulative stellar mass density alone has no significant preference for either CDM or WDM model.But using the observational data of other stellar mass density measurements and reionization history,we obtain that the WDM particle mass with mw=0.51_(-0.12)^(+0.22) keV and star formation efficiency parameter f_(*)^(0)> 0.39 in 2σ confidence level can match both the JWST high-z comoving cumulative stellar mass density and the reionization history.

A Dark Matter Theory by Quantum Gravitation for Galaxies and Clusters

This paper develops an original theory of dark matter in the current ΛCDM framework, whose main hypothesis is that DM is generated by the own gravitational field, according to an unknown quantum gravitational phenomenon. This work is the best version of the theory, which I have been developing and publishing since 2014. The hypothesis of DM by quantum gravitation, DMbQG hereafter, has two main consequences: the first one is that the law of DM generation has to be the same, in the halo region, for all the galaxies and the second one is that the haloes are unbounded, so the total DM goes up without limit as the gravitational field is unbounded as well. The first one consequence is backed by the fact that M31 and MW has a fitted function with the same power exponent for the rotation curve at the halo region and both giant galaxies are the only ones whose rotation curves at the halo region may be studied with accuracy. This paper is firstly developed all the theory with M31 rotation curve data up to Chapter 9. The most important formula of the theory is the called Direct mass, which calculates the total mass at a specific radius into the halo region. Chapter 10 is dedicated to apply the theory to Milky Way, it is calculated its total mass at different radius into the halo and such results have been validated successfully using the data of masses at different radius published by two researcher teams. In Chapter 11, it is calculated the direct mass for the Local Group, and it is shown how the DMbQG theory is able to calculate the total mass at 770 kpc, that the dynamical methods estimate to be 5×1012MΘ. In Chapter 12, it is shown a method to estimate the Direct mass formula for a cluster of galaxies, using only its virial mass and virial radius. By this method, it is estimated the parameter a2 of the Local Group, which match with the one calculated in previous chapter by a different method. Also are calculated the parameters a2 associated to Virgo and Coma clusters. In Chapter 13, it is demonstrated how the DE is able to counterbalance the DM at cluster scale, as the Direct mass grows up with the square root of radius whereas the DE grows up with the cubic power. The chapter is an introduction to the DMbQG theory for cluster of galaxies, which has been developed fully by the author in other works. This theory aims to be a powerful method to study DM in the halo region of galaxies and cluster of galaxies and conversely the measures in galaxies and clusters offer the possibility to validate the theory.

Solving the Conundrum of Dark Matter and Dark Energy in Galaxy Clusters

This paper develops the Dark Matter by Quantum Gravitation theory, DMbQG theory hereafter, in clusters of galaxies in the cosmologic model ΛCDM of the Universe. Originally this theory was developed by the author for galaxies, especially using MW and M31 rotation curves. An important result got by the DMbQG theory is that the total mass associated to a galactic halo depend on the square root of radius, being its dominion unbounded. Apparently, this result would be absurd because of divergence of the total mass. As the DE is negligible at galactic scale, it is needed to extend the theory to clusters in order to study the capacity of DE to counterbalance to DM. Thanks this property, the DMbQG theory finds unexpected theoretical results. In this work, it is defined, the total mass as baryonic matter plus DM and the gravitating mass as the addition of the total mass plus the negative mass associated to dark energy. In clusters it is defined the zero gravity radius (RZG hereafter) as the radius needed by the dark energy to counterbalance the total mass. It has been found that the ratio RZG/RVIRIAL ≈ 7.3 and its Total mass associated at RZG is ≈2.7 MVIRIAL. In addition, it has been calculated that the sphere with the extended halo radius RE = 1.85 RZG has a ratio DM density versus DE density equal to 3/7 and its total mass associated at RE is ≈3.6 MVIRIAL. This works postulates that the factor 3.6 may equilibrate perfectly the strong imbalance between the Local mater density parameter (0.08) versus the current Global matter density one (0.3). Currently, this fact is a big conundrum in cosmology, see chapter 7. Also it has been found that the zero velocity radius, RZV hereafter, i.e. the cluster border because of the Hubble flow, is ≈0.6 RZG and its gravitating mass is ≈ 1.5 MVIR. By derivation of gravitating mass function, it is calculated that at 0.49 RZG, this function reaches its maximum whose value is ≈1.57 MVIR. Throughout the paper, some of these results have been validated with recent data published for the Virgo cluster. As Virgo is the nearest big cluster, it is the perfect benchmark to validate any new theory about DM and DE. These new theoretical findings offer to scientific community a wide number of tests to validate or reject the theory. The validation of DMbQG theory would mean to know the nature of DM that at the present, it is an important challenge for the astrophysics science.

Dark Matter and Dark Energy from Lattice Model of Universe

The article considers a conceptual universe model as a periodic lattice (network) with nodes defined by the wave function in a background-independent Hamiltonian based on their relations and interactions. This model gives rise to energy bands, similar to those in semiconductor solid-state models. In this context, valence band holes are described as dark matter particles with a heavy effective mass. The conducting band, with a spontaneously symmetry-breaking energy profile, contains particles with several times lighter effective mass, which can represent luminous matter. Some possible analogies with solid-state physics, such as the comparison between dark and luminous matter, are discussed. Additionally, tiny dark energy, as intrinsic lattice Casimir energy, is calculated for a lattice with a large number of lattice nodes.

The Origin, Properties and Detection of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

The pictures from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) suggest that massive galaxies were already at the beginning of the expansion of the Universe because there was too short time to create them. It is consistent with the new cosmology presented within the Scale-Symmetric Theory (SST). The phase transitions of the initial inflation field described in SST lead to the Protoworld—its core was built of dark matter (DM). We show that the DAMA/LIBRA annual-modulation amplitude forced by the change of the Earth’s velocity (i.e. baryonic-matter (BM) velocity) in relation to the spinning DM field in our Galaxy’s halo should be very low. We calculated that in the DM-BM weak interactions are created single and entangled spacetime condensates with a lowest mass/energy of 0.807 keV—as the Higgs boson they can decay to two photons, so we can indirectly detect DM. Our results are consistent with the averaged DAMA/LIBRA/COSINE-100 curve describing the dependence of the event rate on the photon energy in single-hit events. We calculated the mean dark-matter-halo (DMH) mass around quasars, we also described the origin of the plateaux in the rotation curves for the massive spiral galaxies, the role of DM-loops in magnetars, the origin of CMB, the AGN-jet and galactic-halo production, and properties of dark energy (DE).

Constraints on Asymmetric Dark Matter in Quintessence Model

The modified cosmology like quintessence model with kination phase predicted the Hubble expansion rate of the universe before Big Bang Nucleosynthesis is different from the standard cosmological scenario. The modified expansion rate leaves its imprint on the relic density of asymmetric dark matter. In this work, we review the calculation of relic density of asymmetric WIMP dark matter in the standard cosmological scenario and quintessence model with kination phase. Then we use the Planck data to find constraints on the annihilation cross section and the mass of the asymmetric dark matter in those models.

New Approach to Synchronize General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics with Constant “K”-Resulting Dark Matter as a New Fundamental Force Particle

Planck scale plays a vital role in describing fundamental forces. Space time describes strength of fundamental force. In this paper, Einstein’s general relativity equation has been described in terms of contraction and expansion forces of space time. According to this, the space time with Planck diameter is a flat space time. This is the only diameter of space time that can be used as signal transformation in special relativity. This space time diameter defines the fundamental force which belongs to that space time. In quantum mechanics, this space time diameter is only the quantum of space which belongs to that particular fundamental force. Einstein’s general relativity equation and Planck parameters of quantum mechanics have been written in terms of equations containing a constant “K”, thus found a new equation for transformation of general relativity space time in to quantum space time. In this process of synchronization, there is a possibility of a new fundamental force between electromagnetic and gravitational forces with Planck length as its space time diameter. It is proposed that dark matter is that fundamental force carrying particle. By grand unification equation with space-time diameter, we found a coupling constant as per standard model “αs” for that fundamental force is 1.08 × 10-23. Its energy calculated as 113 MeV. A group of experimental scientists reported the energy of dark matter particle as 17 MeV. Thorough review may advance science further.

Dynamic Spacetime: Key to the Mysteries of Dark Matter and Dark Energy

Physics is a branch of science to study matter and its motion in space and time. Development of physics usually upgrades human perspective and understanding of the space and time. Einstein successfully developed special and general theories of relativity and creatively promoted our perspective of spacetime from Newton’s absolute space and time to his relative spacetime. Based on redshift and distance measurements of galaxies and distant type Ia supernovae, cosmologists have suggested that our universe is expanding at an ever-increasing rate driven by a mysterious dark energy. Recently, the author has proposed that spacetime is dynamic. Spacetime is said to be absolute if it is independent of matter and motion, relative if it is affected by matter and motion, and dynamic if it mutually interacts with matter and motion. In dynamic spacetime, not only do matter and motion distort spacetime, but they are also affected by the distorted spacetime. Spacetime to be dynamic is a consequence of a deep insight to Mach’s principle, which tells us that the inertia of an object results from the gravitational interaction by the rest of the universe. Reaction of dynamic spacetime on a traveling light causes light redshift. Reaction of dynamic spacetime on a fast moving neutrino slows down the neutrino. The derived redshift-distance relation perfectly explained the measurements of distant type Ia supernovae and gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and also naturally obtained Hubble’s law as an approximate relation at small redshift. This explanation of cosmological redshift as the opposition of dynamic spacetime does not mandate the universe to be expanding and accelerating, so that it does not need the universe to be initiated from a Big Bang and driven out mainly by a mysterious dark energy. Extremely slowed down neutrinos in dynamic spacetime, when they are gravitationally trapped around clusters, galaxies, and any celestial objects, would play the role of dark matter in explaining the velocity-radius relations of galaxy’s or cluster’s rotations.

Dark Matter Particles May Never Be Directly Detected by Instruments—A Dark Matter Mechanism That Does Not Exceed the Standard Model Framework

A dark matter mechanism within the framework of the standard model (SM) of particle physics is proposed in this article that the essence of dark matter may be the excited virtual particle field by the gravitational field of ordinary matter, which contains virtual photons, virtual positive and negative electron pairs, virtual gluons, virtual positive and negative quark pairs, virtual neutrinos etc. In this mechanism, there are two basic assumptions: 1) the stronger the gravitational field of ordinary matter, the greater the excited energy (mass) density of virtual particle field;2) The excited virtual particle field is generally very weak in self-interaction. The virtual particle field excited by gravity can exhibit the properties of dark matter and may become a dark matter candidate. Based on this new dark matter mechanism, the hydrodynamic equations and cosmic perturbation equations describing cosmic matter are improved, and this may be meaningful for solving the challenges faced by the standard cosmological model (Lambda-CDM or LCDM) and developing and perfecting LCDM model.

Measurements of the Dark Matter Mass, Temperature and Spin

We summarize several measurements of the dark matter temperature-to-mass ratio, or equivalently, of the comoving root-mean-square thermal velocity of warm dark matter particles vhrms(1). The most reliable determination of this parameter comes from well measured rotation curves of dwarf galaxies by the LITTLE THINGS collaboration: vhrms(1)=406±69 m/s. Complementary and consistent measurements are obtained from rotation curves of spiral galaxies measured by the SPARC collaboration, density runs of giant elliptical galaxies, galaxy ultra-violet luminosity distributions, galaxy stellar mass distributions, first galaxies, and reionization. Having measured vhrms(1), we then embark on a journey to the past that leads to a consistent set of measured dark matter properties, including mass, temperature and spin.

Dark Matter Density Profiles of Selected Spiral Galaxies

Understanding the dark matter distribution throughout a galaxy can provide insight into its elusive nature. Numerous density profiles, such as the Navarro, Frenk and White model, have been created in an attempt to study this distribution through analyzing orbital velocities of luminous matter and modeling dark matter distributions to explain these observations. However, we are interested in a simple model to consider the significant fluctuations in rotation curves at larger radii. Therefore, our model is much simpler compared to those previously mentioned. Our model used all the observational data available for four selected galactic rotation curves. These data present a significant variation in the orbital velocity of matter at the same distances. By running real observational data through our model, we show that the density of the dark matter within them shows real complex structure, which is not suggested by other computational models. Our aim of this paper is to model this structure and then speculate as to the cause and implications of these density fluctuations.

Are James Webb Space Telescope Observations Consistent with Warm Dark Matter?

We compare observed with predicted distributions of galaxy stellar masses M* and galaxy rest-frame ultra-violet luminosities per unit bandwidth LUV, in the redshift range z=2 to 13. The comparison is presented as a function of the comoving warm dark matter free-streaming cut-off wavenumber kfs. For this comparison the theory is a minimal extension of the Press-Schechter formalism with only two parameters: the star formation efficiency, and a proportionality factor between the star formation rate per galaxy and LUV. These two parameters are fixed to their values obtained prior to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. The purpose of this comparison is to identify if, and where, detailed astrophysical evolution is needed to account for the new JWST observations.

Extinction of Light in the Galactic Halo: First Observational Evidence of the Interaction of Light and Dark Matter

We study the distribution of quasars on the celestial sphere according to ground-based SDSS and space-based WISE and Gaia observations. All distributions as a function of galactic latitude, b, exhibit a decrease in quasar frequency well outside the dust in and near the galactic plane. We prove that the observed decrease in quasar frequency at high galactic latitudes is not accompanied by reddening, meaning that it can not be caused by dust. The scattering of light by the circumgalactic gas is negligible because the Thomson scattering cross section is very small. We conclude the observed scattering of light must be caused by dark matter in the galactic halo. We determine the mass and charge of dark matter particles. If the dark matter particle is a fermion its mass, mDMand charge eDM=δe, where e is the elementary charge are: mDM=3.2×10−2eV and δ=3.856×10−5. If however the dark matter particle is spinless then: mDM=0.511eV and δ=2.132×10−4. These values for the charge of a dark matter particle are orders of magnitude higher than the upper limit of the neutrino charge according to laboratory experiments. Consequently, dark matter particles are not charged neutrinos. Since dark matter particles are charged, they must emit and absorb electromagnetic radiation. However, PDM~δ2, or: PDM~1.487×10−9Pe, where Peis the power output of a single electron.

Microbial Changes in the Fluorescence Character of Natural Organic Matter from a Wastewater Source

Natural Organic Matter (NOM) is a mixture of aromatic and aliphatic organic compounds of natural origin in any type of aquatic system. Human activities impact the constituents of NOM, from its production to its fate, particularly in the treatment of domestic waste waters. In this work, the impact of microorganisms isolated from a Waste Water Treatment Plant (WWTP) was investigated to determine the fate of NOM fractions in raw sewage, using fluorescence spectroscopy. Wastewater samples were taken at three different times from a WWTP, and incubated for 4 days under two treatments: 1) “raw sewage”, and 2) “spiked”, i.e., the same raw sewage, spiked with bacteria previously isolated from the WWTP. The incubated waters were analyzed by fluorescence spectroscopy, digitally resolved into NOM components: humic- and fulvic-like, and two types of protein-like, i.e., tryptophan- and tyrosine-like, using a Parallel Factor Analysis routine (PARAFAC). The results demonstrate that the “spiked” samples showed the largest changes with incubation time. The signals of the tryptophan- and tyrosine-like components decreased, suggesting a net microbial digestion of proteinaceous material. In contrast, the fulvic-like signals, and to some extent, the humic-like signals increased, suggesting the production of the associated molecular materials during the incubation period. This study provides direct evidence of human impact on the make-up of NOM: the cultures of microbes found at a WWTP consume the proteinaceous material, whereas humic-like and fulvic-like materials are produced.

Dark Matter Particle Explorer: The First Chinese Cosmic Ray and Hard γ-ray Detector in Space

The Dark Matter Particle Explorer(DAMPE) mission is one of the five scientific space science missions within the framework of the Strategic Pioneer Program on Space Science of the Chinese Academy of Science(CAS) approved in 2011. The main scientific objective of DAMPE is to detect electrons and photons in the range of 5 GeV–10 TeV with unprecedented energy resolution(1.5% at 100 GeV) in order to identify possible Dark Matter(DM) signatures. It will also measure the flux of nuclei up to above 500 TeV with excellent energy resolution(40% at 800 GeV), which will bring new insights to the origin and propagation high energy cosmic rays. With its excellent photon detection capability, the DAMPE mission is well placed for new discoveries in high energy-ray astronomy as well.

Distribution of Soil Enzyme Activities and Microbial Biomass Along a Latitudinal Gradient in Farmlands of Songliao Plain,Northeast China

Soil enzymes activities and microbial biomass have an important influence on nutrient cycling. The spatial distribution of soil enzymes activities and microbial biomass were examined along a latitudinal gradient in farmlands of Songliao Plain, Northeast China to assess the impact of climatic changes along the latitudinal transect on nutrient cycling in agroecosystems. Top soils （0-20 cm depth） were sampled in fields at 7 locations from north （Hallun） to south （Dashiqiao） in the end of October 2005 after maize harvest. The contents of total C, N, and P, C/N, available N, and available P increased with the latitude. The activities of invertase and acid phosphatase, microbial biomass （MB） C and N, and MBC/MBN were significantly correlated with latitude （P 〈 0.05, r^2 = 0.198, 0.635, 0.558, 0.211 and 0.317, respectively）, that is, increasing with the latitude. Significant positive correlations （P 〈 0.05） were observed between invertase activity and the total N and available P, and between acid phosphatase activity and the total C, C/N, available N, total P and available P. The urease, acid phosphatase, and dehydrogenase activities were significantly correlated with the soil pH and electrical conductivity （EC） （P 〈 0.05）. MBC and MBN were positively correlated with the total C, C/N, and available P （P 〈 0.05）. The MBC/MBN ratio was positively correlated with the total C, total N, C/N, and available N （P 〈 0.05）. The spatial distribution of soil enzyme activities and microbial biomass resulted from the changes in soil properties such as soil organic matter, soil pH, and EC, partially owing to variations in temperature and rainfall along the latitudinal gradient.