San Francisco State University

About: San Francisco State University is a education organization based out in San Francisco, California, United States. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Planet. The organization has 5669 authors who have published 11433 publications receiving 408075 citations. The organization is also known as: San Francisco State & San Francisco State Normal School.

High-eccentricity planets from the Anglo-Australian Planet Search

Abstract: We report Doppler measurements of the stars HD 187085 and HD 20782 which indicate two high eccentricity low-mass companions to the stars. We find HD 187085 has a Jupiter-mass companion with a �1000 d orbit. Our formal ‘best fit’ solution suggests an eccentricity of 0.47, however, it does not sample the periastron passage of the companion and we find that orbital solutions with eccentricities between 0.1 and 0.8 give only slightly poorer fits (based on RMS and � 2) and are thus plausible. Observations made during periastron passage in 2007 June should allow for the reliable determination of the orbital eccentricity for the companion to HD 187085. Our dataset for HD 20782 does sample periastron and so the orbit for its companion can be more reliably determined. We find the companion to HD 20782 has M sin i = 1.77±0.22 MJup, an orbital period of 595.86±0.03 d and an orbit with an eccentricity of 0.92±0.03. The detection of such high-eccentricity (and relatively low velocity amplitude) exoplanets appears to be facilitated by the long-term precision of the Anglo-Australian Planet Search. Looking at exoplanet detections as a whole, we find that those with higher eccentricity seem to have relatively higher velocity amplitudes indicating higher mass planets and/or an observational bias against the detection of high eccentricity systems.

Seasonal fluctuations in zinc speciation within a contaminated wetland.

Abstract: The cycling of common sorbents such as metal (hydr)oxides, carbonates, and sulfides in redox-active environments influences the partitioning of associated trace elements such as zinc. Consequently, fluctuations in redox status may in part determine the availability and mobility of Zn and other trace elements. This research examines changes in Zn speciation in a contaminated wetland soil that undergoes seasonal flooding. X-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) was employed to identify and quantify Zn species from soil cores collected over a 1-year cycle as a function of water depth, location, and soil depth. Zinc associated with (hydr)oxide phases in dry, oxidized soils and with sulfides and carbonates in flooded systems. An increase in water level was accompanied by a reversible change in Zn fractionation toward ZnS and ZnCO3. However, a small, recalcitrant fraction of Zn associated with (hydr)oxides remained even when the soils were exposed to highly reducing conditions. Water depth and redox potential were ...