H2 molecule in strong magnetic fields

The Pauli-Hamiltonian of a molecule with fixed nuclei in a strong constant magnetic field is asymptotic, in norm-resolvent sense, to an effective Hamiltonian which has the form of a multi-particle Schr\"odinger operator with interactions given by one-dimensional \delta-potentials. We study this effective Hamiltonian in the case of the H2 -molecule and establish existence of the ground state. We also show that the inter-nuclear equilibrium distance tends to 0 as the field-strength tends to infinity

454-Pyrosequencing: A Molecular Battiscope for Freshwater Viral Ecology

Viruses, the most abundant biological entities on the planet, are capable of infecting organisms from all three branches of life, although the majority infect bacteria where the greatest degree of cellular diversity lies. However, the characterization and assessment of viral diversity in natural environments is only beginning to become a possibility. Through the development of a novel technique for the harvest of viral DNA and the application of 454 pyrosequencing, a snapshot of the diversity of the DNA viruses harvested from a standing pond on a cattle farm has been obtained. A high abundance of viral genotypes (785) were present within the virome. The absolute numbers of lambdoid and Shiga toxin (Stx) encoding phages detected suggested that the depth of sequencing had enabled recovery of only ca. 8% of the total virus population, numbers that agreed within less than an order of magnitude with predictions made by rarefaction analysis. The most abundant viral genotypes in the pond were bacteriophages (93.7%). The predominant viral genotypes infecting higher life forms found in association with the farm were pathogens that cause disease in cattle and humans, e.g. members of the Herpesviridae. The techniques and analysis described here provide a fresh approach to the monitoring of viral populations in the aquatic environment, with the potential to become integral to the development of risk analysis tools for monitoring the dissemination of viral agents of animal, plant and human diseases

From AMANDA to IceCube

The first string of the neoteric high energy neutrino telescope IceCube successfully began operating in January 2005. It is anticipated that upon completion the new detector will vastly increase the sensitivity and extend the reach of AMANDA to higher energies. A discussion of the IceCube's discovery potential for extra-terrestrial neutrinos, together with the prospects of new physics derived from the ongoing AMANDA research will be the focus of this paper. Preliminary results of the first antarctic high energy neutrino telescope AMANDA searching in the muon neutrino channel for localized and diffuse excess of extra-terrestrial neutrinos will be reviewed using data collected between 2000 and 2003. Neutrino flux limits obtained with the all-flavor dedicated UHE and cascade analyses will be described. A first neutrino spectrum above one TeV in agreement with atmospheric neutrino flux expectations and no extra-terrestrial contribution will be presented, followed by a discussion of a limit for neutralino CDM candidates annihilating in the center of the Sun.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures Invited talk contribution at 5th International Conference on Non-accelerator New Physics (NANP 05), Dubna, Russia, 20-25 Jun 200

Gamma Ray Bursts: recent results and connections to very high energy Cosmic Rays and Neutrinos

Gamma-ray bursts are the most concentrated explosions in the Universe. They have been detected electromagnetically at energies up to tens of GeV, and it is suspected that they could be active at least up to TeV energies. It is also speculated that they could emit cosmic rays and neutrinos at energies reaching up to the $10^{18}-10^{20}$ eV range. Here we review the recent developments in the photon phenomenology in the light of \swift and \fermi satellite observations, as well as recent IceCube upper limits on their neutrino luminosity. We discuss some of the theoretical models developed to explain these observations and their possible contribution to a very high energy cosmic ray and neutrino background.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures. Text of a plenary lecture at the PASCOS 12 conference, Merida, Yucatan, Mexico, June 2012; to appear in J.Phys. (Conf. Series

Syk tyrosine kinase is critical for B cell antibody responses and memory B cell survival

Signals from the BCR are required for Ag-specific B cell recruitment into the immune response. Binding of Ag to the BCR induces phosphorylation of immune receptor tyrosine-based activation motifs in the cytoplasmic domains of the CD79a and CD79b signaling subunits, which subsequently bind and activate the Syk protein tyrosine kinase. Earlier work with the DT40 chicken B cell leukemia cell line showed that Syk was required to transduce BCR signals to proximal activation events, suggesting that Syk also plays an important role in the activation and differentiation of primary B cells during an immune response. In this study, we show that Syk-deficient primary mouse B cells have a severe defect in BCR-induced activation, proliferation, and survival. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Syk is required for both T-dependent and T-independent Ab responses, and that this requirement is B cell intrinsic. In the absence of Syk, Ag fails to induce differentiation of naive B cells into germinal center B cells and plasma cells. Finally, we show that the survival of existing memory B cells is dependent on Syk. These experiments demonstrate that Syk plays a critical role in multiple aspects of B cell Ab responses

Intercomparison of field measurements of nitrous acid (HONO) during the SHARP campaign

Because of the importance of HONO as a radical reservoir, consistent and accurate measurements of its concentration are needed. As part of SHARP (Study of Houston Atmospheric Radical Precursors), time series of HONO were obtained by six different measurement techniques on the roof of the Moody Tower at the University of Houston. Techniques used were long path differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS), stripping coil-visible absorption photometry (SC-AP), long path absorption photometry (LOPAP® ), mist chamber/ion chromatography (MC-IC), quantum cascade-tunable infrared laser differential absorption spectroscopy (QC-TILDAS), and ion drift-chemical ionization mass spectrometry (ID-CIMS). Various combinations of techniques were in operation from 15 April through 31 May 2009. All instruments recorded a similar diurnal pattern of HONO concentrations with higher median and mean values during the night than during the day. Highest values were observed in the final 2 weeks of the campaign. Inlets for the MC-IC, SC-AP, and QC-TILDAS were collocated and agreed most closely with each other based on several measures. Largest differences between pairs of measurements were evident during the day for concentrations ~100 parts per trillion (ppt). Above ~ 200 ppt, concentrations from the SC-AP, MC-IC, and QC-TILDAS converged to within about 20%, with slightly larger discrepancies when DOAS was considered. During the first 2 weeks, HONO measured by ID-CIMS agreed with these techniques, but ID-CIMS reported higher values during the afternoon and evening of the final 4 weeks, possibly from interference from unknown sources. A number of factors, including building related sources, likely affected measured concentrations

The WISE gamma-ray strip parametrization: the nature of the gamma-ray Active Galactic Nuclei of Uncertain type

Despite the large number of discoveries made recently by Fermi, the origins of the so called unidentified gamma-ray sources remain unknown. The large number of these sources suggests that among them there could be a population that significantly contributes to the isotropic gamma-ray background and is therefore crucial to understand their nature. The first step toward a complete comprehension of the unidentified gamma-ray source population is to identify those that can be associated with blazars, the most numerous class of extragalactic sources in the gamma-ray sky. Recently, we discovered that blazars can be recognized and separated from other extragalactic sources using the infrared (IR) WISE satellite colors. The blazar population delineates a remarkable and distinctive region of the IR color-color space, the WISE blazar strip. In particular, the subregion delineated by the gamma-ray emitting blazars is even narrower and we named it as the WISE Gamma-ray Strip (WGS). In this paper we parametrize the WGS on the basis of a single parameter s that we then use to determine if gamma-ray Active Galactic Nuclei of the uncertain type (AGUs) detected by Fermi are consistent with the WGS and so can be considered blazar candidates. We find that 54 AGUs out of a set 60 analyzed have IR colors consistent with the WGS; only 6 AGUs are outliers. This result implies that a very high percentage (i.e., in this sample about 90%) of the AGUs detected by Fermi are indeed blazar candidates.Comment: 22 pages, 13 figures, Astrophysical Journal in pres

Matching Dynamics with Constraints

We study uncoordinated matching markets with additional local constraints that capture, e.g., restricted information, visibility, or externalities in markets. Each agent is a node in a fixed matching network and strives to be matched to another agent. Each agent has a complete preference list over all other agents it can be matched with. However, depending on the constraints and the current state of the game, not all possible partners are available for matching at all times. For correlated preferences, we propose and study a general class of hedonic coalition formation games that we call coalition formation games with constraints. This class includes and extends many recently studied variants of stable matching, such as locally stable matching, socially stable matching, or friendship matching. Perhaps surprisingly, we show that all these variants are encompassed in a class of "consistent" instances that always allow a polynomial improvement sequence to a stable state. In addition, we show that for consistent instances there always exists a polynomial sequence to every reachable state. Our characterization is tight in the sense that we provide exponential lower bounds when each of the requirements for consistency is violated. We also analyze matching with uncorrelated preferences, where we obtain a larger variety of results. While socially stable matching always allows a polynomial sequence to a stable state, for other classes different additional assumptions are sufficient to guarantee the same results. For the problem of reaching a given stable state, we show NP-hardness in almost all considered classes of matching games.Comment: Conference Version in WINE 201

Direct photons in d+Au collisions at s_(NN)**(1/2)=200GeV with STAR

Results are presented of an ongoing analysis of direct photon production in s_(NN)=200GeV deuteron-gold collisions with the STAR experiment at RHIC. A significant excess of direct photons is observed near mid-rapidity 0<y<1 and found to be consistent with next-to-leading order pQCD calculations including the contribution from fragmentation photons.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, HotQuarks 200