Methylobacillus flagellatus KT contains a novel cbo-type cytochrome oxidase

AbstractThe o-type oxidase from the methanol-grown obligate methylotroph Methylobacillus flagellatus KT has been purified to homogeneity. The complex is composed of four subunits (57, 40, 35 and 30 kDa). It contains six haems (4C:1B:1O) and one copper atom per molecule. It is proposed that the haem O-CuB binuclear centre and a low-spin haem B are located in subunit I (57 kDa), two haems C reside in the cytochrome c homodimer (35 kDa), two haems C belong to the dihaem cytochrome c (30 kDa). The presented data provide evidence that cytochrome cbo is a novel representative of the haem–copper oxidase superfamily

The Kambarata 2 blast-fill dam, Kyrgyz Republic: blast event, geophysical monitoring and dam structure modelling

Abstract Background The blast-and earth-fill dam of the Kambarata 2 hydropower station is situated in the seismically active Central Tien Shan region of the Kyrgyz Republic. More than 70% of the dam volume was produced during a blast event on December 22, 2009. In 2010– 2011, dam construction was completed after earth filling on top of the blasted material and installing concrete and clay screens together with bentonite grouts. A geophysical survey had been completed in 2012–2013, mainly to monitor the resistivities inside the dam. ..

On the origin of ionising photons emitted by T Tauri stars

We address the issue of the production of Lyman continuum photons by T Tauri stars, in an attempt to provide constraints on theoretical models of disc photoionisation. By treating the accretion shock as a hotspot on the stellar surface we show that Lyman continuum photons are produced at a rate approximately three orders of magnitude lower than that produced by a corresponding black body, and that a strong Lyman continuum is only emitted for high mass accretion rates. When our models are extended to include a column of material accreting on to the hotspot we find that the accretion column is extremely optically thick to Lyman continuum photons. Further, we find that radiative recombination of hydrogen atoms within the column is not an efficient means of producing photons with energies greater than 13.6eV, and find that an accretion column of any conceivable height suppresses the emission of Lyman continuum photons to a level below or comparable to that expected from the stellar photosphere. The photospheric Lyman continuum is itself much too weak to affect disc evolution significantly, and we find that the Lyman continuum emitted by an accretion shock is similarly unable to influence disc evolution significantly. This result has important consequences for models which use photoionisation as a mechanism to drive the dispersal of circumstellar discs, essentially proving that an additional source of Lyman continuum photons must exist if disc photoionisation is to be significant.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Protoplanetary disc evolution and dispersal: the implications of X-ray photoevaportion

(Abridged) We explore the role of X-ray photoevaporation in the evolution and dispersal of viscously evolving T-Tauri discs. We show that the X-ray photoevaporation wind rates scale linearly with X-ray luminosity, such that the observed range of X-ray luminosities for solar-type T-Tauri stars (10e28-10e31 erg\s) gives rise to vigorous disc winds with rates of order 10e-10-10e-7 M_sun/yr. We use the wind solutions from radiation-hydrodynamic models, coupled to a viscous evolution model to construct a population synthesis model so that we may study the physical properties of evolving discs and so-called `transition discs'. Current observations of disc lifetimes and accretion rates can be matched by our model assuming a viscosity parameter alpha = 2.5e-3. Our models confirm that X-rays play a dominant role in the evolution and dispersal of protoplanetary discs giving rise to the observed diverse population of inner hole `transition' sources which include those with massive outer discs, those with gas in their inner holes and those with detectable accretion signatures. To help understand the nature of observed transition discs we present a diagnostic diagram based on accretion rates versus inner hole sizes that demonstrate that, contrary to recent claims, many of the observed accreting and non accreting transition discs can easily be explained by X-ray photoevaporation. Finally, we confirm the conjecture of Drake et al. (2009), that accretion is suppressed by the X-rays through `photoevaporation starved accretion' and predict this effect can give rise to a negative correlation between X-ray luminosity and accretion rate, as reported in the Orion data.Comment: Figure 12 and 13 have been updated. In the original version the results from an unused model run were plotted by mistak

From discs to planetesimals I: evolution of gas and dust discs

I review the processes that shape the evolution of protoplanetary discs around young, solar-mass stars. I first discuss observations of protoplanetary discs, and note in particular the constraints these observations place on models of disc evolution. The processes that affect the evolution of gas discs are then discussed, with the focus in particular on viscous accretion and photoevaporation, and recent models which combine the two. I then discuss the dynamics and growth of dust grains in discs, considering models of grain growth, the gas-grain interaction and planetesimal formation, and review recent research in this area. Lastly, I consider the so-called "transitional" discs, which are thought to be observed during disc dispersal. Recent observations and models of these systems are reviewed, and prospects for using statistical surveys to distinguish between the various proposed models are discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 9 figures. Refereed review chapter for proceedings of VLTI summer school on "Circumstellar discs and planets at very high angular resolution", to appear in New Astronomy Reviews. See http://www.vlti.org/ for more detail

Constraints on the ionizing flux emitted by T Tauri stars

We present the results of an analysis of ultraviolet observations of T Tauri Stars (TTS). By analysing emission measures taken from the literature we derive rates of ionizing photons from the chromospheres of 5 classical TTS in the range ~10^41-10^44 photons/s, although these values are subject to large uncertainties. We propose that the HeII/CIV line ratio can be used as a reddening-independent indicator of the hardness of the ultraviolet spectrum emitted by TTS. By studying this line ratio in a much larger sample of objects we find evidence for an ionizing flux which does not decrease, and may even increase, as TTS evolve. This implies that a significant fraction of the ionizing flux from TTS is not powered by the accretion of disc material onto the central object, and we discuss the significance of this result and its implications for models of disc evolution. The presence of a significant ionizing flux in the later stages of circumstellar disc evolution provides an important new constraint on disc photoevaporation models.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA

Semisimplicity of the quantum cohomology for smooth Fano toric varieties associated with facet symmetric polytopes

The degree zero part of the quantum cohomology algebra of a smooth Fano toric symplectic manifold is determined by the superpotential function, W, of its moment polytope. In particular, this algebra is semisimple, i.e. splits as a product of fields, if and only if all the critical points of W are non-degenerate. In this paper we prove that this non-degeneracy holds for all smooth Fano toric varieties with facet-symmetric duals to moment polytopes.Comment: 16 pages; corrected version, published in Electron. Res. Announc. Math. Sc

Two populations of transition discs?

We examine the distribution of transition discs as a function of mm flux. We confirm that as expected in any model in which most primordial discs turn into transition discs and in which mm flux declines with time, transition discs have lower mm fluxes on average than primordial discs. However, we find that the incidence of transition discs does not, as expected, fall monotonically towards large mm fluxes and we investigate the hypothesis that these mm bright transition discs may have a distinct physical origin. We find that mm bright transition discs occupy a separate region of parameter space. Transition discs in the bright mm sub-sample have systematically higher accretion rates and inner hole radii than those in the faint mm sub-sample, along with being systematically weighted to earlier spectral types.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted version: mnras letter

Theoretical spectra of photoevaporating protoplanetary discs: An atlas of atomic and low-ionisation emission lines

We present a calculation of the atomic and low-ionisation emission line spectra of photoevaporating protoplanetary discs. Line luminosities and profiles are obtained from detailed photoionisation calculations of the disc and wind structures surrounding young active solar-type stars. The disc and wind density and velocity fields were obtained from the recently developed radiation-hydrodynamic models of Owen et al., that include stellar X-ray and EUV irradiation of protoplanetary discs at various stages of clearing, from primordial sources to inner hole sources of various hole sizes. Our models compare favourably with currently available observations, lending support to an X-ray driven photoevaporation model for disc dispersal. In particular, we find that X-rays drive a warm, predominantly neutral flow where the OI 6300A line can be produced by neutral hydrogen collisional excitation. Our models can, for the first time, provide a very good match to both luminosities and profiles of the low-velocity component of the OI 6300A line and other forbidden lines observed by Hartigan et al., which covered a large sample of T-Tauri stars. We find that the OI 6300A and the NeII 12.8um lines are predominantly produced in the X-ray-driven wind and thus appear blue-shifted by a few km/s for some of the systems when observed at non-edge-on inclinations. We note however that blue-shifts are only produced under certain conditions: X-ray luminosity, spectral shape and inner hole size all affect the location of the emitting region and the physical conditions in the wind. We caution therefore that while a blueshifted line is a tell-tale sign of an outflow, the lack of a blueshift should not be necessarily interpreted as a lack of outflow.Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, accepted to be published in MNRAS - changes in the revised version: reference list update

The blue stragglers formed via mass transfer in old open clusters

In this paper, we present the simulations for the primordial blue stragglers in the old open cluster M67 based on detailed modelling of the evolutionary processes. The principal aim is to discuss the contribution of mass transfer between the components of close binaries to the blue straggler population in M67. First, we followed the evolution of a binary of 1.4M$_\odot$+0.9M$_\odot$. The synthetic evolutionary track of the binary system revealed that a primordial blue straggler had a long lifetime in the observed blue straggler region of color-magnitude diagram. Second, a grid of models for close binary systems experiencing mass exchange were computed from 1Gyr to 6Gyr in order to account for primordial blue-straggler formation in a time sequence. Based on such a grid, Monte-Carlo simulations were applied for the old open cluster M67. Adopting appropriate orbital parameters, 4 primordial blue stragglers were predicted by our simulations. This was consistent with the observational fact that only a few blue stragglers in M67 were binaries with short orbital periods. An upper boundary of the primordial blue stragglers in the color-magnitude diagram (CMD) was defined and could be used to distinguish blue stragglers that were not formed via mass exchange. Using the grid of binary models, the orbital periods of the primordial BSs could be predicted. Compared with the observations, it is clear that the mechanism discussed in this work alone cannot fully predict the blue straggler population in M67. There must be several other processes also involved in the formation of the observed blue stragglers in M67.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, A&A accepte