Infrared High-Resolution Spectroscopy of Post-AGB Circumstellar Disks. I. HR 4049 - The Winnowing Flow Observed?

High-resolution infrared spectroscopy in the 2.3-4.6 micron region is reported for the peculiar A supergiant, single-lined spectroscopic binary HR 4049. Lines from the CO fundamental and first overtone, OH fundamental, and several H2O vibration-rotation transitions have been observed in the near-infrared spectrum. The spectrum of HR 4049 appears principally in emission through the 3 and 4.6 micron region and in absorption in the 2 micron region. The 4.6 micron spectrum shows a rich 'forest' of emission lines. All the spectral lines observed in the 2.3-4.6 micron spectrum are shown to be circumbinary in origin. The presence of OH and H2O lines confirm the oxygen-rich nature of the circumbinary gas which is in contrast to the previously detected carbon-rich material. The emission and absorption line profiles show that the circumbinary gas is located in a thin, rotating layer near the dust disk. The properties of the dust and gas circumbinary disk and the spectroscopic orbit yield masses for the individual stars, M_AI~0.58 Msolar and M_MV~0.34 Msolar. Gas in the disk also has an outward flow with a velocity of $\gtrsim$ 1 km/s. The severe depletion of refractory elements but near-solar abundances of volatile elements observed in HR 4049 results from abundance winnowing. The separation of the volatiles from the grains in the disk and the subsequent accretion by the star are discussed. Contrary to prior reports, the HR 4049 carbon and oxygen isotopic abundances are typical AGB values: 12C/13C=6^{+9}_{-4} and 16O/17O>200.Comment: 42 pages, 14 figures, Accepted by Ap

Towards a Relativistic Description of Exotic Meson Decays

This work analyses hadronic decays of exotic mesons, with a focus on the lightest one, the $J^{PC}=1^{-+}$ $\pi_{1}$, in a fully relativistic formalism, and makes comparisons with non-relativistic results. We also discuss Coulomb gauge decays of normal mesons that proceed through their hybrid components. The relativistic spin wave functions of mesons and hybrids are constructed based on unitary representations of the Lorentz group. The radial wave functions are obtained from phenomenological considerations of the mass operator. Fully relativistic results (with Wigner rotations) differ significantly from non-relativistic ones. We also find that the decay channels $\pi_{1}\to\pi b_{1}, \pi f_{1}, KK_{1}$ are favored, in agreement with results obtained using other models.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figure

The Vector Meson Form Factor Analysis in Light-Front Dynamics

We study the form factors of vector mesons using a covariant fermion field theory model in $(3+1)$ dimensions. Performing a light-front calculation in the $q^+ =0$ frame in parallel with a manifestly covariant calculation, we note the existence of a nonvanishing zero-mode contribution to the light-front current $J^+$ and find a way of avoiding the zero-mode in the form factor calculations. Upon choosing the light-front gauge (\ep^+_{h=\pm}=0) with circular polarization and with spin projection $h=\uparrow\downarrow=\pm$, only the helicity zero to zero matrix element of the plus current receives zero-mode contributions. Therefore, one can obtain the exact light-front solution of the form factors using only the valence contribution if only the helicity components, $(h'h)=(++),(+-)$, and $(+0)$, are used. We also compare our results obtained from the light-front gauge in the light-front helicity basis (i.e. $h=\pm,0$) with those obtained from the non-LF gauge in the instant form linear polarization basis (i.e. $h=x,y,z$) where the zero-mode contributions to the form factors are unavoidable.Comment: 33 pages; typo in Eq.(15) is corrected; comment on Ref.[9] is corrected; version to appear in Phys. Rev.

Frame Dependence of Spin-One Angular Conditions in Light Front Dynamics

We elaborate the frame dependence of the angular conditions for spin-1 form factors. An extra angular condition is found in addition to the usual angular condition relating the four helicity amplitudes. Investigating the frame-dependence of the angular conditions, we find that the extra angular condition is in general as complicated as the usual one, although it becomes very simple in the $q^+ = 0$ frame involving only two helicity amplitudes. It is confirmed that the angular conditions are identical in frames that are connected by kinematical transformations. The high $Q^2$ behaviors of the physical form factors and the limiting behaviors in special reference frames are also discussed.Comment: 29 pages RevTeX. submitted to Phys. Rev.

Modes of Neuronal Calcium Entry and Homeostasis following Cerebral Ischemia

One of the major instigators leading to neuronal cell death and brain damage following cerebral ischemia is calcium dysregulation. The neuron's inability to maintain calcium homeostasis is believed to be a result of increased calcium influx and impaired calcium extrusion across the plasma membrane. The need to better understand the cellular and biochemical mechanisms of calcium dysregulation contributing to neuronal loss following stroke/cerebral ischemia is essential for the development of new treatments in order to reduce ischemic brain injury. The aim of this paper is to provide a concise overview of the various calcium influx pathways in response to ischemia and how neuronal cells attempts to overcome this calcium overload

The mechanical response of lithographically defined break junctions

We present an experimental study on the mechanical response of lithographically defined break junctions by measuring atomic chain formation, tunneling traces and Gundlach oscillations. The calibration factor, i.e., the ratio between the electrode movement and the bending of the substrate, is found to be 2.5 times larger than expected from a simple mechanical model. This result is consistent with previous finite-element calculations. Comparing different samples, the mechanical response is found to be similar for electrode separations >4 angstrom. However, for smaller electrode separations significant sample-to-sample variations appear. These variations are ascribed to differences in the shape of the two electrodes on the atomic scale which cannot be controlled by the fabrication process

Job demands as risk factors of exposure to bullying at work: The moderating role of team-level conflict management climate

Conflict management climate is an important organizational resource that is theorized to prevent interpersonal frustration from escalating into harsh interpersonal conflicts and even workplace bullying. The present study investigates whether team-level perceptions of conflict management climate moderate the relationship between previously investigated psychosocial predictors of workplace bullying (i.e., role conflicts, workload, cognitive demands) and perceived exposure to bullying behaviors in the workplace. We collected data from crews on ferries operating on the Norwegian coastline consisting of 462 employees across 147 teams. As hypothesized, multilevel analyses showed positive main effects of role conflict and cognitive demands (but not workload) on exposure to bullying behaviors. Also, the hypothesized moderation effect of team-level conflict management climate on the relationship between individual-level job demands and exposure to bullying behaviors was significant for role conflict and cognitive demands, but not for workload. Specifically, the positive relationships between the two job demands and exposure to bullying behaviors were stronger for employees working in teams with a weak (vs. a strong) conflict management climate. These findings contribute to the bullying research field by showing that conflict management climate may buffer the impact of stressors on bullying behaviors, most likely by preventing interpersonal frustration from escalating into bullying situations

Fine structure splittings of excited P and D states in charmonium

It is shown that the fine structure splittings of the $2 ^3P_J$ and $3 ^3P_J$ excited states in charmonium are as large as those of the $1^3P_J$ state if the same $\alpha_s(\mu)\approx 0.36$ is used. The predicted mass $M(2 ^3P_0)=3.84$ GeV appears to be 120 MeV lower that the center of gravity of the $2 ^3P_J$ multiplet and lies below the $D\bar D^*$ threshold. Our value of $M(2 ^3P_0)$ is approximately 80 MeV lower than that from the paper by Godfrey and Isgur while the differences in the other masses are \la 20 MeV. Relativistic kinematics plays an important role in our analysis.Comment: 12 page

Time courses of urinary creatinine excretion, measured creatinine clearance and estimated glomerular filtration rate over 30 days of ICU admission

Purpose: Baseline urinary creatinine excretion (UCE) is associated with ICU outcome, but its time course is not known. Materials and methods: We determined changes in UCE, plasma creatinine, measured creatinine clearance (mCC) and estimated glomerular filtration (eGFR) in patients with an ICU-stay 30d without acute kidney injury stage 3. The Cockcroft-Gault, MDRD (modification of diet in renal disease) and CKD-EPI (chronic kidney disease epidemiology collaboration) equations were used. Results: In 248 patients with 5143 UCEs hospital mortality was 24%. Over 30d, UCE absolutely decreased in male survivors and non-survivors and female survivors and nonsurvivors by 0.19, 0.16, 0.10 and 0.05 mmol/d/d (all P < 0.001). Relative decreases in UCE were similar in all four groups: 1.3, 1.4, 1.2 and 0.9%/d respectively. Over 30d, mCC remained unchanged, but eGFR rose by 31% (CKD-EPI) and 73% (MDRD) and creatinine clearance estimated by Cockcroft-Gault by 59% (all P < 0.001). Conclusions: Over 1 month of ICU stay, UCE declined by 1%/d which may correspond to an equivalent decline in muscle mass. These rates of UCE decrease were similar in survivors, non-survivors, males and females underscoring the intransigent nature of this process. In contrast to measured creatinine clearance, estimates of eGFR progressively rose during ICU stay. (c) 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc

Single atom adhesion in optimized gold nanojunctions

We study the interaction between single apex atoms in a metallic contact, using the break junction geometry. By carefully 'training' our samples, we create stable junctions in which no further atomic reorganization takes place. This allows us to study the relation between the so-called jump out of contact (from contact to tunnelling regime) and jump to contact (from tunnelling to contact regime) in detail. Our data can be fully understood within a relatively simple elastic model, where the elasticity k of the electrodes is the only free parameter. We find 5 < k < 32 N/m. Furthermore, the interaction between the two apex atoms on both electrodes, observed as a change of slope in the tunnelling regime, is accounted for by the same model