1,476 research outputs found
PPAK Integral Field Spectroscopy survey of the Orion Nebula: Data Release
We present a low-resolution spectroscopic survey of the Orion nebula which
data we release for public use. In this article, we intend to show the possible
applications of this dataset analyzing some of the main properties of the
nebula. We perform an integral field spectroscopy mosaic of an area of ~5' X 6'
centered on the Trapezium region of the nebula, including the ionization front
to the south-east. The analysis of the line fluxes and line ratios of both the
individual and integrated spectra allowed us to determine the main
characteristics of the ionization throughtout the nebula.The final dataset
comprises 8182 individual spectra, which sample each one a circular area of
\~2.7" diameter. The data can be downloaded as a single row-stacked spectra
fits file plus a position table or as an interpolated datacube with a final
sampling of 1.5"/pixel. The integrated spectrum across the field-of-view was
used to obtain the main integrated properties of the nebula, including the
electron density and temperature, the dust extinction, the Halpha integrated
flux (after correcting for dust reddening), and the main diagnostic line
ratios. The individual spectra were used to obtain line intensity maps of the
different detected lines. These maps were used to study the distribution of the
ionized hydrogen, the dust extinction, the electron density and temperature,
and the helium and oxygen abundance...Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publishing in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Berry's phase and Quantum Dynamics of Ferromagnetic Solitons
We study spin parity effects and the quantum propagation of solitons (Bloch
walls) in quasi-one dimensional ferromagnets. Within a coherent state path
integral approach we derive a quantum field theory for nonuniform spin
configurations. The effective action for the soliton position is shown to
contain a gauge potential due to the Berry phase and a damping term caused by
the interaction between soliton and spin waves. For temperatures below the
anisotropy gap this dissipation reduces to a pure soliton mass renormalization.
The gauge potential strongly affects the quantum dynamics of the soliton in a
periodic lattice or pinning potential. For half-integer spin, destructive
interference between soliton states of opposite chirality suppresses nearest
neighbor hopping. Thus the Brillouin zone is halved, and for small mixing of
the chiralities the dispersion reveals a surprising dynamical correlation: Two
subsequent band minima belong to different chirality states of the soliton. For
integer spin, the Berry phase is inoperative and a simple tight-binding
dispersion is obtained. Finally it is shown that external fields can be used to
interpolate continuously between the Bloch wall dispersions for half-integer
and integer spin.Comment: 20 pages, RevTex 3.0 (twocolumn), to appear in Phys. Rev. B 53, 3237
(1996), 4 PS figures available upon reques
The Nature and Origin of Low-Redshift O VI Absorbers
The O VI ion observed in quasar absorption line spectra is the most
accessible tracer of the cosmic metal distribution in the low redshift (z<0.5)
intergalactic medium (IGM). We explore the nature and origin of O VI absorbers
using cosmological hydrodynamic simulations including galactic outflows. We
consider the effects of ionization background variations, non-equilibrium
ionization and cooling, uniform metallicity, and small-scale (sub-resolution)
turbulence. Our main results are 1) IGM O VI is predominantly photo-ionized
with T= 10^(4.2+/-0.2) K. A key reason for this is that O VI absorbers
preferentially trace over-enriched regions of the IGM at a given density, which
enhances metal-line cooling such that absorbers can cool within a Hubble time.
As such, O VI is not a good tracer of the WHIM. 2) The predicted O VI
properties fit observables only if sub-resolution turbulence is added. The
required turbulence increases with O VI absorber strength such that stronger
absorbers arise from more recent outflows with turbulence dissipating on the
order of a Hubble time. The amount of turbulence is consistent with other
examples of turbulence observed in the IGM and galactic halos. 3) Metals traced
by O VI and H I do not trace exactly the same baryons, but reside in the same
large-scale structure. Observed alignment statistics are reproduced in our
simulations. 4) Photo-ionized O VI traces gas in a variety of environments, and
is not directly associated with the nearest galaxy, though is typically nearest
to ~0.1L* galaxies. Weaker O VI components trace some of the oldest cosmic
metals. 5) Very strong absorbers are more likely to be collisionally ionized,
tracing more recent enrichment (<2 Gyr) within or near galactic halos.Comment: 33 pages, 18 figures, accepted to MNRAS. Two new figures adde
Measurement of the Forward-Backward Asymmetry in the B -> K(*) mu+ mu- Decay and First Observation of the Bs -> phi mu+ mu- Decay
We reconstruct the rare decays , , and in a data sample
corresponding to collected in collisions at
by the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron
Collider. Using and decays we report the branching ratios. In addition, we report
the measurement of the differential branching ratio and the muon
forward-backward asymmetry in the and decay modes, and the
longitudinal polarization in the decay mode with respect to the squared
dimuon mass. These are consistent with the theoretical prediction from the
standard model, and most recent determinations from other experiments and of
comparable accuracy. We also report the first observation of the {\mathcal{B}}(B^0_s \to
\phi\mu^+\mu^-) = [1.44 \pm 0.33 \pm 0.46] \times 10^{-6}27 \pm 6B^0_s$ decay observed.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurements of the properties of Lambda_c(2595), Lambda_c(2625), Sigma_c(2455), and Sigma_c(2520) baryons
We report measurements of the resonance properties of Lambda_c(2595)+ and
Lambda_c(2625)+ baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+ pi+ pi- as well as
Sigma_c(2455)++,0 and Sigma_c(2520)++,0 baryons in their decays to Lambda_c+
pi+/- final states. These measurements are performed using data corresponding
to 5.2/fb of integrated luminosity from ppbar collisions at sqrt(s) = 1.96 TeV,
collected with the CDF II detector at the Fermilab Tevatron. Exploiting the
largest available charmed baryon sample, we measure masses and decay widths
with uncertainties comparable to the world averages for Sigma_c states, and
significantly smaller uncertainties than the world averages for excited
Lambda_c+ states.Comment: added one reference and one table, changed order of figures, 17
pages, 15 figure
Search for a New Heavy Gauge Boson Wprime with Electron + missing ET Event Signature in ppbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV
We present a search for a new heavy charged vector boson decaying
to an electron-neutrino pair in collisions at a center-of-mass
energy of 1.96\unit{TeV}. The data were collected with the CDF II detector
and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.3\unit{fb}^{-1}. No
significant excess above the standard model expectation is observed and we set
upper limits on . Assuming standard
model couplings to fermions and the neutrino from the boson decay to
be light, we exclude a boson with mass less than
1.12\unit{TeV/}c^2 at the 95\unit{%} confidence level.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures Submitted to PR
Vagus nerve stimulation paired with rehabilitation for upper limb motor impairment and function after chronic ischemic stroke: subgroup analysis of the randomized, blinded, pivotal, VNS-REHAB device trial
Background:
Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) paired with rehabilitation improved upper extremity impairment and function in a recent pivotal, randomized, triple-blind, sham-controlled trial in people with chronic arm weakness after stroke.
Objective:
We aimed to determine whether treatment effects varied across candidate subgroups, such as younger age or less injury.
Methods:
Participants were randomized to receive rehabilitation paired with active VNS or rehabilitation paired with sham stimulation (Control). The primary outcome was the change in impairment measured by the Fugl–Meyer Assessment Upper Extremity (FMA-UE) score on the first day after completion of 6-weeks in-clinic therapy. We explored the effect of VNS treatment by sex, age (≥62 years), time from stroke (>2 years), severity (baseline FMA-UE score >34), paretic side of body, country of enrollment (USA vs UK) and presence of cortical involvement of the index infarction. We assessed whether there was any interaction with treatment.
Findings:
The primary outcome increased by 5.0 points (SD 4.4) in the VNS group and by 2.4 points (SD 3.8) in the Control group (P = .001, between group difference 2.6, 95% CI 1.03-4.2). The between group difference was similar across all subgroups and there were no significant treatment interactions. There was no important difference in rates of adverse events across subgroups.
Conclusion:
The response was similar across subgroups examined. The findings suggest that the effects of paired VNS observed in the VNS-REHAB trial are likely to be consistent in wide range of stroke survivors with moderate to severe upper extremity impairment
Common Variation in Vitamin D Pathway Genes Predicts Circulating 25-Hydroxyvitamin D Levels among African Americans
Vitamin D is implicated in a wide range of health outcomes, and although environmental predictors of vitamin D levels are known, the genetic drivers of vitamin D status remain to be clarified. African Americans are a group at particularly high risk for vitamin D insufficiency but to date have been virtually absent from studies of genetic predictors of circulating vitamin D levels. Within the Southern Community Cohort Study, we investigated the association between 94 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in five vitamin D pathway genes (GC, VDR, CYP2R1, CYP24A1, CYP27B1) and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) levels among 379 African American and 379 Caucasian participants. We found statistically significant associations with three SNPs (rs2298849 and rs2282679 in the GC gene, and rs10877012 in the CYP27B1 gene), although only for African Americans. A genotype score, representing the number of risk alleles across the three SNPs, alone accounted for 4.6% of the variation in serum vitamin D among African Americans. A genotype score of 5 (vs. 1) was also associated with a 7.1 ng/mL reduction in serum 25(OH)D levels and a six-fold risk of vitamin D insufficiency (<20 ng/mL) (odds ratio 6.0, p = 0.01) among African Americans. With African ancestry determined from a panel of 276 ancestry informative SNPs, we found that high risk genotypes did not cluster among those with higher African ancestry. This study is one of the first to investigate common genetic variation in relation to vitamin D levels in African Americans, and the first to evaluate how vitamin D-associated genotypes vary in relation to African ancestry. These results suggest that further evaluation of genetic contributors to vitamin D status among African Americans may help provide insights regarding racial health disparities or enable the identification of subgroups especially in need of vitamin D-related interventions
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