993 research outputs found
The WFC3 Galactic Bulge Treasury Program: Relative Ages of Bulge Stars of High and Low Metallicity
Indexación: Scopus.The Hubble Space Telescope/WFC3 multiband photometry spanning from the UV to the near-IR of four fields in the Galactic bulge, together with that for six template globular and open clusters, are used to photometrically tag the metallicity [Fe/H] of stars in these fields after proper-motion rejecting most foreground disk contaminants. Color-magnitude diagrams and luminosity functions (LF) are then constructed, in particular for the most metal-rich and most metal-poor stars in each field. We do not find any significant difference between the I-band and H-band LFs, hence turnoff luminosity and age of the metal-rich and metal-poor components therefore appear essentially coeval. In particular, we find that no more than ∼3% of the metal-rich component can be ∼5 Gyr old, or younger. Conversely, theoretical LFs match well to the observed ones for an age of ∼10 Gyr. Assuming this age is representative for the bulk of bulge stars, we then recall the observed properties of star-forming galaxies at 10 Gyr lookback time, i.e., at z ∼ 2, and speculate about bulge formation in that context. We argue that bar formation and buckling instabilities leading to the observed boxy/peanut, X-shaped bulge may have arisen late in the history of the Milky Way Galaxy, once its gas fraction had decreased compared to the high values typical of high-redshift galaxies. This paper follows the public release of the photometric and astrometric catalogs of the measured stars in the four fields. © 2018. The American Astronomical Society
Model for tumour growth with treatment by continuous and pulsed chemotherapy
Peer reviewedPreprin
Doping dependence of the superconducting gap in Bi2Sr2CaCu2O{8 + delta}
Bi2Sr2CaCu2O{8 + \delta} crystals with varying hole concentrations (0.12 < p
< 0.23) were studied to investigate the effects of doping on the symmetry and
magnitude of the superconducting gap. Electronic Raman scattering experiments
that sample regions of the Fermi surface near the diagonal (B_{2g}) and
principal axes (B_{1g}) of the Brillouin Zone have been utilized. The frequency
dependence of the Raman response function at low energies is found to be linear
for B_{2g} and cubic for B_{1g} (T< T_c). The latter observations have led us
to conclude that the doping dependence of the superconducting gap is consistent
with d_{x^2-y^2} symmetry, for slightly underdoped and overdoped crystals.
Studies of the pair-breaking peak found in the B_{1g} spectra demonstrate that
the magnitude of the maximum gap decreases monotonically with increasing hole
doping, for p > 0.12. Based on the magnitude of the B_{1g} renormalization, it
is found that the number of quasiparticles participating in pairing increases
monotonically with increased doping. On the other hand, the B_{2g} spectra show
a weak "pair-breaking peak" that follows a parabolic-like dependence on hole
concentration, for 0.12 < p < 0.23.Comment: 9 pages REvTex document including 8 eps figures; new table II;
changes to Fig. 5 and tex
Understorey plant community and light availability in conifer plantations and natural hardwood forests in Taiwan
Questions: What are the effects of replacing mixed species natural forests with Cryptomeria japonica plantations on understorey plant functional and species diversity? What is the role of the understorey light environment in determining understorey diversity and community in the two types of forest?
Location: Subtropical northeast Taiwan.
Methods: We examined light environments using hemispherical photography, and diversity and composition of understorey plants of a 35‐yr C. japonica plantation and an adjacent natural hardwood forest.
Results: Understorey plant species richness was similar in the two forests, but the communities were different; only 18 of the 91 recorded understorey plant species occurred in both forests. Relative abundance of plants among different functional groups differed between the two forests. Relative numbers of shade‐tolerant and shade‐intolerant seedling individuals were also different between the two forest types with only one shade‐intolerant seedling in the plantation compared to 23 seedlings belonging to two species in the natural forest. In the natural forest 11 species of tree seedling were found, while in the plantation only five were found, and the seedling density was only one third of that in the natural forest. Across plots in both forests, understorey plant richness and diversity were negatively correlated with direct sunlight but not indirect sunlight, possibly because direct light plays a more important role in understorey plant growth.
Conclusions: We report lower species and functional diversity and higher light availability in a natural hardwood forest than an adjacent 30‐yr C. japonica plantation, possibly due to the increased dominance of shade‐intolerant species associated with higher light availability. To maintain plant diversity, management efforts must be made to prevent localized losses of shade‐adapted understorey plants
S4 Flavor Symmetry and Fermion Masses: Towards a Grand Unified theory of Flavor
Pursuing a bottom-up approach to explore which flavor symmetry could serve as
an explanation of the observed fermion masses and mixings, we discuss an
extension of the standard model (SM) where the flavor structure for both quarks
and leptons is determined by a spontaneously broken S4 and the requirement that
its particle content is embeddable simultaneously into the conventional SO(10)
grand unified theory (GUT) and a continuous flavor symmetry G_f like SO(3)_f or
SU(3)_f. We explicitly provide the Yukawa and the Higgs sector of the model and
show its viability in two numerical examples which arise as small deviations
from rank one matrices. In the first case, the corresponding mass matrix is
democratic and in the second one only its 2-3 block is non-vanishing. We
demonstrate that the Higgs potential allows for the appropriate vacuum
expectation value (VEV) configurations in both cases, if CP is conserved. For
the first case, the chosen Yukawa couplings can be made natural by invoking an
auxiliary Z2 symmetry. The numerical study we perform shows that the best-fit
values for the lepton mixing angles theta_12 and theta_23 can be accommodated
for normal neutrino mass hierarchy. The results for the quark mixing angles
turn out to be too small. Furthermore the CP-violating phase delta can only be
reproduced correctly in one of the examples. The small mixing angle values are
likely to be brought into the experimentally allowed ranges by including
radiative corrections. Interestingly, due to the S4 symmetry the mass matrix of
the right-handed neutrinos is proportional to the unit matrix.Comment: 27 pages, published version with minor change
Generation of vortices and observation of Quantum Turbulence in an oscillating Bose-Einstein Condensate
We report on the experimental observation of vortex formation and production
of tangled vortex distribution in an atomic BEC of Rb-87 atoms submitted to an
external oscillatory perturbation. The oscillatory perturbations start by
exciting quadrupolar and scissors modes of the condensate. Then regular
vortices are observed finally evolving to a vortex tangle configuration. The
vortex tangle is a signature of the presence of a turbulent regime in the
cloud. We also show that this turbulent cloud has suppression of the aspect
ratio inversion typically observed in quantum degenerate bosonic gases during
free expansion.Comment: to appear in JLTP - QFS 200
Modified gravity without dark matter
On an empirical level, the most successful alternative to dark matter in
bound gravitational systems is the modified Newtonian dynamics, or MOND,
proposed by Milgrom. Here I discuss the attempts to formulate MOND as a
modification of General Relativity. I begin with a summary of the
phenomenological successes of MOND and then discuss the various covariant
theories that have been proposed as a basis for the idea. I show why these
proposals have led inevitably to a multi-field theory. I describe in some
detail TeVeS, the tensor-vector-scalar theory proposed by Bekenstein, and
discuss its successes and shortcomings. This lecture is primarily pedagogical
and directed to those with some, but not a deep, background in General
RelativityComment: 28 pages, 10 figures, lecture given at Third Aegean Summer School,
The Invisible Universe: Dark Matter and Dark Energy, minor errors corrected,
references update
Statistical properties of power-law random banded unitary matrices in the delocalization-localization transition regime
Power-law random banded unitary matrices (PRBUM), whose matrix elements decay
in a power-law fashion, were recently proposed to model the critical statistics
of the Floquet eigenstates of periodically driven quantum systems. In this
work, we numerically study in detail the statistical properties of PRBUM
ensembles in the delocalization-localization transition regime. In particular,
implications of the delocalization-localization transition for the fractal
dimension of the eigenvectors, for the distribution function of the eigenvector
components, and for the nearest neighbor spacing statistics of the eigenphases
are examined. On the one hand, our results further indicate that a PRBUM
ensemble can serve as a unitary analog of the power-law random Hermitian matrix
model for Anderson transition. On the other hand, some statistical features
unseen before are found from PRBUM. For example, the dependence of the fractal
dimension of the eigenvectors of PRBUM upon one ensemble parameter displays
features that are quite different from that for the power-law random Hermitian
matrix model. Furthermore, in the time-reversal symmetric case the nearest
neighbor spacing distribution of PRBUM eigenphases is found to obey a
semi-Poisson distribution for a broad range, but display an anomalous level
repulsion in the absence of time-reversal symmetry.Comment: 10 pages + 13 fig
Randomly barcoded transposon mutant libraries for gut commensals I: Strategies for efficient library construction.
Randomly barcoded transposon mutant libraries are powerful tools for studying gene function and organization, assessing gene essentiality and pathways, discovering potential therapeutic targets, and understanding the physiology of gut bacteria and their interactions with the host. However, construction of high-quality libraries with uniform representation can be challenging. In this review, we survey various strategies for barcoded library construction, including transposition systems, methods of transposon delivery, optimal library size, and transconjugant selection schemes. We discuss the advantages and limitations of each approach, as well as factors to consider when selecting a strategy. In addition, we highlight experimental and computational advances in arraying condensed libraries from mutant pools. We focus on examples of successful library construction in gut bacteria and their application to gene function studies and drug discovery. Given the need for understanding gene function and organization in gut bacteria, we provide a comprehensive guide for researchers to construct randomly barcoded transposon mutant libraries
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