Questioning the Recent Observation of Quantum Hawking Radiation

A recent article [J. Steinhauer, Nat. Phys. 2016 , 12, 959] has reported the observation of quantum Hawking radiation and its entanglement in an analogue black hole. Here, the published evidence, its consistency with theoretical bounds, and the statistical significance of the results are analyzed. The analysis raises severe doubts on the observation of Hawking radiation.     

Stability and Capsizing of Ships in Random Sea – a Survey

This report is a survey of methods of stochastic and nonlinear dynamics in ship stability. After a brief introduction we describe the sea as a stationary random field. We then derive the general equations of motion of a ship from ‘first principles’, specializing to the case of the equations of motion for roll, heave and sway using strip theory from which eventually the ‘archetypal’ nonlinear random differential equation for the roll motion follows. This determines in particular how and where the stochasticity of the sea enters the equation. We then analyze simple nonlinear models of ship motion by means of the theory of random dynamical systems which amounts to studying invariant measures, Lyapunov exponents, random attractors and their (random) domain of attraction and to using stochastic bifurcation theory to describe qualitative changes.     

Radionuclide, Metal and Non-metal Levels in Percolated Water from Soils Fertilized with Phosphogypsum

Phosphogypsum (PG) is a by-product of the phosphate fertilizer industry, which is produced by precipitation during the wet process of phosphate rocks. While commercial uses, in agriculture and in manufacturing gypsum board and Portland cement, consume less than a few percent of this by-product, the vast majority is disposed of on land in gypsum. In Brazil, three main industries are responsible for the production and storage of about 5.5 × 10⁶ tons per year. PG may contain trace metals, non-metals, fluorides and natural radionuclides. Since, in Brazil, PG has been used for many years as soil amendment, it is important to know its availability, mainly in aquatic environments used for human consumption. In this case, more restrictive limits must be adopted. This work aimed to evaluate the mobility of metals in sand and clayey soils and, consequently, the contamination of drainage water through greenhouse-scale leaching and transport of toxic elements and radionuclides from soils fertilized with PG to crops. In general, it was observed that elemental concentrations were below the actual detection limit of the equipment for all conditions of interest, indicating a low mobility of the analyzed elements in the soil.