235 research outputs found
CO ice photodesorption: A wavelength-dependent study
UV-induced photodesorption of ice is a non-thermal evaporation process that
can explain the presence of cold molecular gas in a range of interstellar
regions. Information on the average UV photodesorption yield of astrophysically
important ices exists for broadband UV lamp experiments. UV fields around
low-mass pre-main sequence stars, around shocks and in many other astrophysical
environments are however often dominated by discrete atomic and molecular
emission lines. It is therefore crucial to consider the wavelength dependence
of photodesorption yields and mechanisms. In this work, for the first time, the
wavelength-dependent photodesorption of pure CO ice is explored between 90 and
170 nm. The experiments are performed under ultra high vacuum conditions using
tunable synchrotron radiation. Ice photodesorption is simultaneously probed by
infrared absorption spectroscopy in reflection mode of the ice and by
quadrupole mass spectrometry of the gas phase. The experimental results for CO
reveal a strong wavelength dependence directly linked to the vibronic
transition strengths of CO ice, implying that photodesorption is induced by
electronic transition (DIET). The observed dependence on the ice absorption
spectra implies relatively low photodesorption yields at 121.6 nm (Ly-alpha),
where CO barely absorbs, compared to the high yields found at wavelengths
coinciding with transitions into the first electronic state of CO (singulet Pi
at 150 nm); the CO photodesorption rates depend strongly on the UV profiles
encountered in different star formation environments.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, published in ApJ
Out of equilibrium stationary states, percolation, and sub-critical instabilities in a fully non conservative system
International audienceThe exploration of the phase diagram of a minimal model for barchan fields leads to the description of three distinct phases for the system: stationary, percolable and unstable. In the stationary phase the system always reaches an out of equilibrium, fluctuating, stationary state, independent of its initial conditions. This state has a large and continuous range of dynamics, from dilute – where dunes do not interact – to dense, where the system exhibits both spatial structuring and collective behavior leading to the selection of a particular size for the dunes. In the percolable phase, the system presents a percolation threshold when the initial density increases. This percolation is unusual, as it happens on a continuous space for moving, interacting, finite lifetime dunes. For extreme parameters, the system exhibits a sub-critical instability, where some of the dunes in the field grow without bound. We discuss the nature of the asymptotic states and their relations to well-known models of statistical physics
UV photodesorption of methanol in pure and CO-rich ices: desorption rates of the intact molecule and of the photofragments
Wavelength dependent photodesorption rates have been determined using
synchrotron radiation, for condensed pure and mixed methanol ice in the 7 -- 14
eV range. The VUV photodesorption of intact methanol molecules from pure
methanol ices is found to be of the order of 10 molecules/photon, that
is two orders of magnitude below what is generally used in astrochemical
models. This rate gets even lower ( 10 molecules/photon) when the
methanol is mixed with CO molecules in the ices. This is consistent with a
picture in which photodissociation and recombination processes are at the
origin of intact methanol desorption from pure CHOH ices. Such low rates
are explained by the fact that the overall photodesorption process is dominated
by the desorption of the photofragments CO, CH, OH, HCO and
CHO/CHOH, whose photodesorption rates are given in this study. Our
results suggest that the role of the photodesorption as a mechanism to explain
the observed gas phase abundances of methanol in cold media is probably
overestimated. Nevertheless, the photodesorption of radicals from methanol-rich
ices may stand at the origin of the gas phase presence of radicals such as
CHO, therefore opening new gas phase chemical routes for the formation of
complex molecules.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figures, 1 tabl
Indirect ultraviolet photodesorption from CO:N2 binary ices - an efficient grain-gas process
UV ice photodesorption is an important non-thermal desorption pathway in many
interstellar environments that has been invoked to explain observations of cold
molecules in disks, clouds and cloud cores. Systematic laboratory studies of
the photodesorption rates, between 7 and 14 eV, from CO:N2 binary ices, have
been performed at the DESIRS vacuum UV beamline of the synchrotron facility
SOLEIL. The photodesorption spectral analysis demonstrates that the
photodesorption process is indirect, i.e. the desorption is induced by a photon
absorption in sub-surface molecular layers, while only surface molecules are
actually desorbing. The photodesorption spectra of CO and N2 in binary ices
therefore depend on the absorption spectra of the dominant species in the
subsurface ice layer, which implies that the photodesorption efficiency and
energy dependence are dramatically different for mixed and layered ices
compared to pure ices. In particular, a thin (1-2 ML) N2 ice layer on top of CO
will effectively quench CO photodesorption, while enhancing N2 photodesorption
by a factors of a few (compared to the pure ices) when the ice is exposed to a
typical dark cloud UV field, which may help to explain the different
distributions of CO and N2H+ in molecular cloud cores. This indirect
photodesorption mechanism may also explain observations of small amounts of
complex organics in cold interstellar environments.Comment: 21 pages 5 figure
The DESAM toolbox: spectral analysis of musical audio
International audienceIn this paper is presented the DESAM Toolbox, a set of Matlab functions dedicated to the estimation of widely used spectral models for music signals. Although those models can be used in Music Information Retrieval (MIR) tasks, the core functions of the toolbox do not focus on any specific application. It is rather aimed at providing a range of state-of-the-art signal processing tools that decompose music files according to different signal models, giving rise to different ``mid-level'' representations. After motivating the need for such a toolbox, this paper offers an overview of the overall organization of the toolbox, and describes all available functionalities
RIPK1 protects from TNF-α-mediated liver damage during hepatitis
Cell death of hepatocytes is a prominent characteristic in the pathogenesis of liver disease, while hepatolysis is a starting point of inflammation in hepatitis and loss of hepatic function. However, the precise molecular mechanisms of hepatocyte cell death, the role of the cytokines of hepatic microenvironment and the involvement of intracellular kinases, remain unclear. Tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) is a key cytokine involved in cell death or survival pathways and the role of RIPK1 has been associated to the TNF-alpha-dependent signaling pathway. We took advantage of two different deficient mouse lines, the RIPK1 kinase dead knock-in mice (Ripk1K45A) and the conditional knockout mice lacking RIPK1 only in liver parenchymal cells (Ripk1LPC-KO), to characterize the role of RIPK1 and TNF-alpha in hepatitis induced by concanavalin A (ConA). Our results show that RIPK1 is dispensable for liver homeostasis under steady-state conditions but in contrast, RIPK1 kinase activity contributes to caspase-independent cell death induction following ConA injection and RIPK1 also serves as a scaffold, protecting hepatocytes from massive apoptotic cell death in this model. In the Ripk1LPC-KO mice challenged with ConA, TNF-alpha triggers apoptosis, responsible for the observed severe hepatitis. Mechanism potentially involves both TNF-independent canonical NF-kappa B activation, as well as TNF-dependent, but canonical NF-kappa B-independent mechanisms. In conclusion, our results suggest that RIPK1 kinase activity is a pertinent therapeutic target to protect liver against excessive cell death in liver diseases
A lucky imaging multiplicity study of exoplanet host stars
To understand the influence of additional wide stellar companions on planet
formation, it is necessary to determine the fraction of multiple stellar
systems amongst the known extrasolar planet population. We target recently
discovered radial velocity exoplanetary systems observable from the northern
hemisphere and with sufficiently high proper motion to detect stellar
companions via direct imaging. We utilize the Calar Alto 2.2m telescope in
combination with its lucky imaging camera AstraLux. 71 planet host stars have
been observed so far, yielding one new low-mass (0.239 \pm 0.022M\odot) stellar
companion, 4.5 arcsec (227AU of projected separation) northeast of the planet
host star HD185269, detected via astrometry with AstraLux. We also present
follow-up astrometry on three previously discovered stellar companions, showing
for the first time common proper motion of the 0.5 arcsec companion to
HD126614. Additionally, we determined the achieved detection limits for all
targets, which allows us to characterize the detection space of possible
further companions of these stars
Ruprecht 147: The oldest nearby open cluster as a new benchmark for stellar astrophysics
Ruprecht 147 is a hitherto unappreciated open cluster that holds great
promise as a standard in fundamental stellar astrophysics. We have conducted a
radial velocity survey of astrometric candidates with Lick, Palomar, and MMT
observatories and have identified over 100 members, including 5 blue
stragglers, 11 red giants, and 5 double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s). We
estimate the cluster metallicity from spectroscopic analysis, using
Spectroscopy Made Easy (SME), and find it to be [M/H] = +0.07 \pm 0.03. We have
obtained deep CFHT/MegaCam g'r'i' photometry and fit Padova isochrones to the
(g' - i') and 2MASS (J - K) CMDs using the \tau^2 maximum-likelihood procedure
of Naylor (2009), and an alternative method using 2D cross-correlations
developed in this work. We find best fits for isochrones at age t = 2.5 \pm
0.25 Gyr, m - M = 7.35 \pm 0.1, and A_V = 0.25 \pm 0.05, with additional
uncertainty from the unresolved binary population and possibility of
differential extinction across this large cluster. The inferred age is heavily
dependent by our choice of stellar evolution model: fitting Dartmouth and
PARSEC models yield age parameters of 3 Gyr and 3.25 Gyr respectively. At
approximately 300 pc and 3 Gyr, Ruprecht 147 is by far the oldest nearby star
cluster.Comment: 31 pages, 21 figures, 6 tables. Comments welcom
Dynamic phase diagram of the REM
By studying the two-time overlap correlation function, we give a
comprehensive analysis of the phase diagram of the Random Hopping Dynamics of
the Random Energy Model (REM) on time-scales that are exponential in the
volume. These results are derived from the convergence properties of the clock
process associated to the dynamics and fine properties of the simple random
walk in the -dimensional discrete cube.Comment: This paper is in large part based on the unpublished work
arXiv:1008.3849. In particular, the analysis of the overlap correlation
function is new as well as the study of the high temperature and short
time-scale transition line between aging and stationarit
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