1,352 research outputs found
Influence of a discontinuity on the spectral and fractal analysis of one-dimensional data
The analysis of a data area or segment containing steep transitions between regions with different textures (for example a cloud and its background) leads to addressing the problem of discontinuities and their impact on texture analysis. In that purpose, an original one-dimensional analytical model of spectrum and roughness function has been worked out, with a discontinuity between two fractal regions, each one specified by its average µ, standard deviation σ, spectral index β and Hurst exponent <i>H</i>. This has the advantage of not needing the generation of a fractal structure with a particular algorithm or random functions and clearly puts into evidence the role played by the average in generating spectral poles and side lobes. After validation of the model calibration, a parametric study is carried out in order to understand the influence of this discontinuity on the estimation of the spectral index β and the Hurst parameter <i>H</i>. It shows that for a pure µ-gap, <i>H</i> is well estimated everywhere, though overestimated, and β is overestimated in the anti-correlation range and saturates in the correlation range. For a pure σ-gap the retrieval of <i>H</i> is excellent everywhere and the behaviour of β is better than for a µ-gap, leading to less overestimation in the anti-correlation range. For a pure β-gap, saturation degrades measurements in the case of raw data and the medium with smaller spectral index is predominant in the case of trend-corrected data. For a pure <i>H</i>-gap, there is also dominance of the medium with smaller fractal exponent
Optical counterparts of undetermined type -ray Active Galactic Nuclei with blazar-like Spectral Energy Distributions
During its first four years of scientific observations, the Fermi Large Area
Telescope (Fermi-LAT) detected 3033 -ray sources above a 4
significance level. Although most of the extra-Galactic sources are active
galactic nuclei (AGN) of the blazar class, other families of AGNs are observed
too, while a still high fraction of detections () remains with
uncertain association or classification. According to the currently accepted
interpretation, the AGN -ray emission arises from inverse Compton (IC)
scattering of low energy photons by relativistic particles confined in a jet
that, in the case of blazars, is oriented very close to our line of sight.
Taking advantage of data from radio and X-ray wavelengths, which we expect to
be produced together with -rays, providing a much better source
localization potential, we focused our attention on a sample of -ray
Blazar Candidates of Undetermined Type (BCUs), starting a campaign of optical
spectroscopic observations. The main aims of our investigation include a census
of the AGN families that contribute to -ray emission and a study of
their redshift distribution, with the subsequent implications on the intrinsic
source power. We furthermore analyze which -ray properties can better
constrain the nature of the source, thus helping in the study of objects not
yet associated with a reliable low frequency counterpart. In this communication
we report on the instruments and techniques used to identify the optical
counterparts of -ray sources, we give an overview on the status of our
work, and we discuss the implications of a large scale study of -ray
emitting AGNs.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of the 10th Serbian Conference on
Spectral Line Shapes in Astrophysics. JOAA, accepte
A spectroscopic analysis of a sample of narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey
We revisited the spectroscopic characteristics of narrow-line Seyfert 1
galaxies (NLS1s) by analysing a homogeneous sample of 296 NLS1s at redshift
between 0.028 and 0.345, extracted from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS-DR7)
public archive. We confirm that NLS1s are mostly characterized by Balmer lines
with Lorentzian profiles, lower black hole masses and higher Eddington ratios
than classic broad-line Seyfert 1 (BLS1s), but they also appear to be active
galactic nuclei (AGNs) contiguous with BLS1s and sharing with them common
properties. Strong Fe II emission does not seem to be a distinctive property of
NLS1s, as low values of Fe II/H are equally observed in these AGNs. Our
data indicate that Fe II and Ca II kinematics are consistent with the one of
H. On the contrary, O I 8446 seems to be systematically
narrower and it is likely emitted by gas of the broad-line region more distant
from the ionizing source and showing different physical properties. Finally,
almost all NLS1s of our sample show radial motions of the narrow-line region
highly-ionised gas. The mechanism responsible for this effect is not yet clear,
but there are hints that very fast outflows require high continuum luminosities
(> erg/s) or high Eddington ratios (log(L/L)
> -0.1).Comment: 27 pages, 31 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
[O III] line properties in two samples of radio-emitting narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies
The [O III] 4959,5007 lines are a useful proxy to test the
kinematic of the narrow-line region (NLR) in active galactic nuclei (AGN). In
AGN, and particularly in narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies (NLS1s) these lines
often show few peculiar features, such as blue wings, often interpreted as
outflowing component, and a shift typically toward lower wavelengths of
the whole spectroscopic feature in some exceptional sources, the so-called blue
outliers, which are often associated to strong winds. We investigated the
incidence of these peculiarities in two samples of radio-emitting NLS1s, one
radio-loud and one radio-quiet. We also studied a few correlations between the
observational properties of the [O III] lines and those of the AGN. Our aim was
to understand the difference between radio-quiet and radio-loud NLS1s, which
may in turn provide useful information on the jet formation mechanism. We find
that the NLR gas is much more perturbed in radio-loud than in radio-quiet
NLS1s. In particular the NLR dynamics in -ray emitting NLS1s appears to
be highly disturbed, and this might be a consequence of interaction with the
relativistic jet. The less frequently perturbed NLR in radio-quiet NLS1s
suggests instead that these sources likely do not harbor a fully developed
relativistic jet. Nonetheless blue-outliers in radio-quiet NLS1s are observed,
and we interpret them as a product of strong winds.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication on Astronomy
& Astrophysic
High resolution spectroscopy of the extended narrow-line region of IC 5063 and NGC 7212
We studied the properties of the gas of the extended narrow line region
(ENLR) of two Seyfert 2 galaxies: IC 5063 and NGC 7212. We analysed high
resolution spectra to investigate how the main properties of this region depend
on the gas velocity. We divided the emission lines in velocity bins and we
calculated several line ratios. Diagnostic diagrams and SUMA composite models
(photo-ionization + shocks), show that in both galaxies there might be evidence
of shocks significantly contributing in the gas ionization at high |V|, even
though photo-ionization from the active nucleus remains the main ionization
mechanism. In IC 5063 the ionization parameter depends on V and its trend might
be explained assuming an hollow bi-conical shape for the ENLR, with one of the
edges aligned with the galaxy disk. On the other hand, NGC 7212 does not show
any kind of dependence. The models show that solar O/H relative abundances
reproduce the observed spectra in all the analysed regions. They also revealed
an high fragmentation of the gas clouds, suggesting that the complex kinematics
observed in these two objects might be caused by interaction between the ISM
and high velocity components, such as jets.Comment: 29 pages, 32 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Detecting Extrasolar Planets with Integral Field Spectroscopy
Observations of extrasolar planets using Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS),
if coupled with an extreme Adaptive Optics system and analyzed with a
Simultaneous Differential Imaging technique (SDI), are a powerful tool to
detect and characterize extrasolar planets directly; they enhance the signal of
the planet and, at the same time, reduces the impact of stellar light and
consequently important noise sources like speckles. In order to verify the
efficiency of such a technique, we developed a simulation code able to test the
capabilities of this IFS-SDI technique for different kinds of planets and
telescopes, modelling the atmospheric and instrumental noise sources. The first
results obtained by the simulations show that many significant extrasolar
planet detections are indeed possible using the present 8m-class telescopes
within a few hours of exposure time. The procedure adopted to simulate IFS
observations is presented here in detail, explaining in particular how we
obtain estimates of the speckle noise, Adaptive Optics corrections, specific
instrumental features, and how we test the efficiency of the SDI technique to
increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the planet detection. The most important
results achieved by simulations of various objects, from 1 M_J to brown dwarfs
of 30 M_J, for observations with an 8 meter telescope, are then presented and
discussed.Comment: 60 pages, 37 figures, accepted in PASP, 4 Tables adde
Ionization history of the cosmic plasma in the light of the recent CBI and future PLANCK data
The paper is devoted to the methods of determination of the cosmological
parameters from recent CMB observations. We show that the more complex models
of kinetics of recombination with a few "missing" parameters describing the
recombination process provide better agreement between measured and expected
characteristics of the CMB anisotropy. In particular, we consider the external
sources of the Ly-{alpha} and Ly-{c} radiation and the model with the strong
clustering of baryonic component. These factors can constrain the estimates of
the cosmological parameters usually discussed. We demonstrate also that the
measurements of polarization can improve these estimates and, for the precision
expected for the PLANCK mission, allow to discriminate a wide class of models.Comment: 25 pages, 7 figures, extended and corrected after the referee report.
Accepted in Ap
Diversidade de rizóbios que nodulam o feijoeiro (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) sob diferentes sistemas de manejo de solo em Campo Belo do Sul, SC.
Developmental nmda receptor dysregulation in the infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis mouse model
Protein palmitoylation and depalmitoylation alter protein function. This post-translational modification is critical for synaptic transmission and plasticity. Mutation of the depalmitoylating enzyme palmitoyl-protein thioesterase 1 (PPT1) causes infantile neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (CLN1), a pediatric neurodegenerative disease. However, the role of protein depalmitoylation in synaptic maturation is unknown. Therefore, we studied synapse development in Ppt1-/- mouse visual cortex. We demonstrate that the developmental N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) subunit switch from GluN2B to GluN2A is stagnated in Ppt1-/- mice. Correspondingly, Ppt1-/- neurons exhibit immature evoked NMDAR currents and dendritic spine morphology in vivo. Further, dissociated Ppt1-/- cultured neurons show extrasynaptic, diffuse calcium influxes and enhanced vulnerability to NMDA-induced excitotoxicity, reflecting the predominance of GluN2B-containing receptors. Remarkably, Ppt1-/- neurons demonstrate hyperpalmitoylation of GluN2B as well as Fyn kinase, which regulates surface retention of GluN2B. Thus, PPT1 plays a critical role in postsynapse maturation by facilitating the GluN2 subunit switch and proteostasis of palmitoylated proteins
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