Saturn S-IB stage Final static test report, stage S-IB-4

Acceptance static test firing data for Saturn flight stage S-IB-

Adaptive Optics Images of Kepler Objects of Interest

All transiting planets are at risk of contamination by blends with nearby, unresolved stars. Blends dilute the transit signal, causing the planet to appear smaller than it really is, or produce a false positive detection when the target star is blended with eclipsing binary stars. This paper reports on high spatial-resolution adaptive optics images of 90 Kepler planetary candidates. Companion stars are detected as close as 0.1 arcsec from the target star. Images were taken in the near-infrared (J and Ks bands) with ARIES on the MMT and PHARO on the Palomar Hale 200-inch. Most objects (60%) have at least one star within 6 arcsec separation and a magnitude difference of 9. Eighteen objects (20%) have at least one companion within 2 arcsec of the target star; 6 companions (7%) are closer than 0.5 arcsec. Most of these companions were previously unknown, and the associated planetary candidates should receive additional scrutiny. Limits are placed on the presence of additional companions for every system observed, which can be used to validate planets statistically using the BLENDER method. Validation is particularly critical for low-mass, potentially Earth-like worlds, which are not detectable with current-generation radial velocity techniques. High-resolution images are thus a crucial component of any transit follow-up program.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted to A

Results from the CUORE experiment

Neutrinoless double beta decay (0νββ) is a rare, second-order nuclear transition that occurs only if neutrinos are massive Majorana particles or through new physics beyond Standard Model. This process explicitly violates the lepton number (L) by two units and, therefore, the observation of 0νββ would demonstrate that L is not a symmetry of nature. Combined with flavour mixing and cosmological measurements, it can provide unique contraints on neutrino mass scale and establish whether neutrinos are Dirac or Majorana particles. The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is an experiment located at the LNGS searching for 0νββ decay of 130Te. CUORE exploits the bolometric technique to reach high resolution around the Q-value (2527.5 keV). It consists of an array of 988 natural TeO2 cubic crystals grouped into 19 towers. With a total active mass of 742 kg (∼206 kg of 130Te), CUORE is operated at very low temperature with a new 3He/4He refrigerator. Data taking started at the beginning of 2017. After a brief introduction on the detector and the way data analysis is performed, I describe CUORE first results for the search of the 0νββ decay that were published in March 2018

Results from the CUORE experiment

The Cryogenic Underground Observatory for Rare Events (CUORE) is the first bolometric experiment searching for neutrinoless double beta decay that has been able to reach the 1-ton scale. In this talk we present the neutrinoless doube beta decay results of CUORE from examining a total TeO2 exposure of 86.3 kg yr, characterized by an effective energy resolution of 7.7 keV FWHM and a background in the region of interest of 0.014 counts/(keV kg yr). In this physics run, CUORE placed a lower limit on the decay half-life of 130Te > 1.3×1025 yr (90% C.L.). We then discuss the additional improvements in the detector performance achieved in 2018 and the latest update on the evaluation of the background budget

GATA-3 Dose-Dependent Checkpoints in Early T Cell Commitment

GATA-3 expression is crucial for T cell development and peaks during commitment to the T cell lineage, midway through the CD4CD8 (double-negative [DN]) stages 1–3. We used RNA interference and conditional deletion to reduce GATA-3 protein acutely at specific points during T cell differentiation in vitro. Even moderate GATA-3 reduction killed DN1 cells, delayed progression to the DN2 stage, skewed DN2 gene regulation, and blocked appearance of the DN3 phenotype. Although a Bcl-2 transgene rescued DN1 survival and improved DN2 cell generation, it did not restore DN3 differentiation. Gene expression analyses (quantitative PCR, RNA sequencing) showed that GATA-3–deficient DN2 cells quickly upregulated genes, including Spi1 (PU.1) and Bcl11a, and downregulated genes, including Cpa3, Ets1, Zfpm1, Bcl11b, Il9r, and Il17rb with gene-specific kinetics and dose dependencies. These targets could mediate two distinct roles played by GATA-3 in lineage commitment, as revealed by removing wild-type or GATA-3–deficient early T lineage cells from environmental Notch signals. GATA-3 worked as a potent repressor of B cell potential even at low expression levels, so that only full deletion of GATA-3 enabled pro–T cells to reveal B cell potential. The ability of GATA-3 to block B cell development did not require T lineage commitment factor Bcl11b. In prethymic multipotent precursors, however, titration of GATA-3 activity using tamoxifen-inducible GATA-3 showed that GATA-3 inhibits B and myeloid developmental alternatives at different threshold doses. Furthermore, differential impacts of a GATA-3 obligate repressor construct imply that B and myeloid development are inhibited through distinct transcriptional mechanisms. Thus, the pattern of GATA-3 expression sequentially produces B lineage exclusion, T lineage progression, and myeloid-lineage exclusion for commitment

Loss of the xeroderma pigmentosum group B protein binding site impairs p210 BCR/ABL1 leukemogenic activity

Previous studies have demonstrated that p210 BCR/ABL1 interacts directly with the xeroderma pigmentosum group B (XPB) protein, and that XPB is phosphorylated on tyrosine in cells that express p210 BCR/ABL1. In the current study, we have constructed a p210 BCR/ABL1 mutant that can no longer bind to XPB. The mutant has normal kinase activity and interacts with GRB2, but can no longer phosphorylate XPB. Loss of XPB binding is associated with reduced expression of c-MYC and reduced transforming potential in ex-vivo clonogenicity assays, but does not affect nucleotide excision repair in lymphoid or myeloid cells. When examined in a bone marrow transplantation (BMT) model for chronic myelogenous leukemia, mice that express the mutant exhibit attenuated myeloproliferation and lymphoproliferation when compared with mice that express unmodified p210 BCR/ABL1. Thus, the mutant-transplanted mice show predominantly neutrophilic expansion and altered progenitor expansion, and have significantly extended lifespans. This was confirmed in a BMT model for B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia, wherein the majority of the mutant-transplanted mice remain disease free. These results suggest that the interaction between p210 BCR/ABL1 and XPB can contribute to disease progression by influencing the lineage commitment of lymphoid and myeloid progenitors

Low-Temperature Physics

Contains reports on five research projects

Effective Symmetries of the Minimal Supermultiplet of N = 8 Extended Worldline Supersymmetry

A minimal representation of the N = 8 extended worldline supersymmetry, known as the `ultra-multiplet', is closely related to a family of supermultiplets with the same, E(8) chromotopology. We catalogue their effective symmetries and find a Spin(4) x Z(2) subgroup common to them all, which explains the particular basis used in the original construction. We specify a constrained superfield representation of the supermultiplets in the ultra-multiplet family, and show that such a superfield representation in fact exists for all adinkraic supermultiplets. We also exhibit the correspondences between these supermultiplets, their Adinkras and the E(8) root lattice bases. Finally, we construct quadratic Lagrangians that provide the standard kinetic terms and afford a mixing of an even number of such supermultiplets controlled by a coupling to an external 2-form of fluxes.Comment: 13 Figure

An Infrared Divergence Problem in the cosmological measure theory and the anthropic reasoning

An anthropic principle has made it possible to answer the difficult question of why the observable value of cosmological constant ($\Lambda\sim 10^{-47}$ GeV${}^4$) is so disconcertingly tiny compared to predicted value of vacuum energy density $\rho_{SUSY}\sim 10^{12}$ GeV${}^4$. Unfortunately, there is a darker side to this argument, as it consequently leads to another absurd prediction: that the probability to observe the value $\Lambda=0$ for randomly selected observer exactly equals to 1. We'll call this controversy an infrared divergence problem. It is shown that the IRD prediction can be avoided with the help of a Linde-Vanchurin {\em singular runaway measure} coupled with the calculation of relative Bayesian probabilities by the means of the {\em doomsday argument}. Moreover, it is shown that while the IRD problem occurs for the {\em prediction stage} of value of $\Lambda$, it disappears at the {\em explanatory stage} when $\Lambda$ has already been measured by the observer.Comment: 9 pages, RevTe

Shallow water marine sediment bacterial community shifts along a natural CO2 gradient in the Mediterranean Sea off Vulcano, Italy.

The effects of increasing atmospheric CO(2) on ocean ecosystems are a major environmental concern, as rapid shoaling of the carbonate saturation horizon is exposing vast areas of marine sediments to corrosive waters worldwide. Natural CO(2) gradients off Vulcano, Italy, have revealed profound ecosystem changes along rocky shore habitats as carbonate saturation levels decrease, but no investigations have yet been made of the sedimentary habitat. Here, we sampled the upper 2 cm of volcanic sand in three zones, ambient (median pCO(2) 419 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 3.77), moderately CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 592 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 2.96), and highly CO(2)-enriched (median pCO(2) 1611 μatm, minimum Ω(arag) 0.35). We tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of seawater pCO(2) would cause significant shifts in sediment bacterial community composition, as shown recently in epilithic biofilms at the study site. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing of the V1 to V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a shift in community composition with increasing pCO(2). The relative abundances of most of the dominant genera were unaffected by the pCO(2) gradient, although there were significant differences for some 5 % of the genera present (viz. Georgenia, Lutibacter, Photobacterium, Acinetobacter, and Paenibacillus), and Shannon Diversity was greatest in sediments subject to long-term acidification (>100 years). Overall, this supports the view that globally increased ocean pCO(2) will be associated with changes in sediment bacterial community composition but that most of these organisms are resilient. However, further work is required to assess whether these results apply to other types of coastal sediments and whether the changes in relative abundance of bacterial taxa that we observed can significantly alter the biogeochemical functions of marine sediments