480 research outputs found
Enhanced Production of Neutron-Rich Rare Isotopes in Peripheral Collisions at Fermi Energies
A large enhancement in the production of neutron-rich projectile residues is
observed in the reactions of a 25 MeV/nucleon 86Kr beam with the neutron rich
124Sn and 64Ni targets relative to the predictions of the EPAX parametrization
of high-energy fragmentation, as well as relative to the reaction with the less
neutron-rich 112Sn target. The data demonstrate the significant effect of the
target neutron-to-proton ratio (N/Z) in peripheral collisions at Fermi
energies. A hybrid model based on a deep-inelastic transfer code (DIT) followed
by a statistical de-excitation code appears to account for part of the observed
large cross sections. The DIT simulation indicates that the production of the
neutron-rich nuclides in these reactions is associated with peripheral nucleon
exchange. In such peripheral encounters, the neutron skins of the neutron-rich
124Sn and 64Ni target nuclei may play an important role. From a practical
viewpoint, such reactions between massive neutron-rich nuclei offer a novel and
attractive synthetic avenue to access extremely neutron-rich rare isotopes
towards the neutron-drip line.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
SIGMA and XTE observations of the soft X-ray transient XTEJ1755-324
We present observations of the X-ray transient XTEJ1755-324 performed during
summer 1997 with the XTE satellite and with the SIGMA hard X-ray telescope
onboard the GRANAT observatory. The source was first detected in soft X-rays
with XTE on July 25 1997 with a rather soft X-ray spectrum and its outburst was
monitored in soft X-rays up to November 1997. On September 16 it was first
detected in hard X-rays by the French soft gamma ray telescope SIGMA during a
Galactic Center observation. The flux was stronger on September 16 and 17
reaching a level of about 110 mCrab in the 40-80 keV energy band. On the same
days the photon index of the spectrum was determined to be alpha =-2.3 +/- 0.9
(1 sigma error) while the 40-150 keV luminosity was about 8 x 10^{36} erg/s for
a distance of 8.5 kpc. SIGMA and XTE results on this source indicate that this
source had an ultrasoft-like state during its main outburst and a harder
secondary outburst in September. These characteristics make the source similar
to X-Nova Muscae 1991, a well known black hole candidate.Comment: 19 pages LaTeX, 6 Postscript figures included, Accepted by
Astrophysical Journa
Proton drip-line nuclei in Relativistic Hartree-Bogoliubov theory
Ground-state properties of spherical even-even nuclei and
are described in the framework of Relativistic Hartree Bogoliubov
(RHB) theory. The model uses the NL3 effective interaction in the mean-field
Lagrangian, and describes pairing correlations by the pairing part of the
finite range Gogny interaction D1S. Binding energies, two-proton separation
energies, and proton radii that result from fully self-consistent RHB
solutions are compared with experimental data. The model predicts the location
of the proton drip-line. The isospin dependence of the effective spin-orbit
potential is discussed, as well as pairing properties that result from the
finite range interaction in the channel.Comment: 12 pages, RevTex, 10 p.s figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Properties Of The Hard X-ray Radiation From The Black Hole Candidates: Cygnus X-1 And 1E1740.7-2942
The entire dataset of the GRANAT/SIGMA observations of Cyg X-1 and
1E1740.7-2942 in 1990-1994 was analyzed in order to search for correlations
between primary observational characteristics of the hard X-ray (40-200 keV)
emission - hard X-ray luminosity, hardness of the spectrum (quantified in terms
of the best-fit thermal bremsstrahlung temperature kT) and the RMS of
short-term flux variations. Although no strict point-to-point correlations were
detected certain general tendencies are evident. It was found that for Cyg X-1
the spectral hardness is in general positively correlated with relative
amplitude of short-term variability. The correlation of similar kind was found
for X-ray transient GRO J0422+32 (X-ray Nova Persei 1992). For both sources an
approximate correlation between kT and L_X was found. At low hard X-ray
luminosity - below 10E37 erg/sec - kT increases with L_X. At higher luminosity
the spectral hardness depends weaker or does not depend at all on the hard
X-ray luminosity. The low luminosity end of these approximate correlations (low
kT and low RMS) corresponds to extended episodes of very low hard X-ray flux
occurred during SIGMA observations.Comment: 6 pages, 7 figures, uses mn.sty, epsf.sty, psfig.tex; Accepted for
publication in MNRAS; Also available at
http://hea.iki.rssi.ru/~sik/PAPERS/mnras97.ps.gz (gzipped PostScript
Proton drip-line nuclei in relativistic mean-field theory
The position of the two-proton drip line has been calculated for even-even
nuclei with in the framework of the relativistic mean-field
(RMF) theory. The current model uses the NL3 effective interaction in the
mean-field Lagrangian and describes pairing correlations in the
Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer (BCS) formalism. The predictions of the RMF theory
are compared with those of the Hartree-Fock+BCS approach (with effective force
Skyrme SIII) and the finite-range droplet model (FRDM) and with the available
experimental information.Comment: 18 pages, RevTeX, 2 p.s figures, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Genomics and metagenomics of trimethylamine-utilizing Archaea in the human gut microbiome
International audienceThe biological significance of Archaea in the human gut microbiota is largely unclear. We recently reported genomic and biochemical analyses of the Methanomassiliicoccales, a novel order of methanogenic Archaea dwelling in soil and the animal digestive tract. We now show that these Methanomassiliicoccales are present in published microbiome data sets from eight countries. They are represented by five Operational Taxonomic Units present in at least four cohorts and phylogenetically distributed into two clades. Genes for utilizing trimethylamine (TMA), a bacterial precursor to an atherosclerogenic human metabolite, were present in four of the six novel Methanomassiliicoccales genomes assembled from ELDERMET metagenomes. In addition to increased microbiota TMA production capacity in long-term residential care subjects, abundance of TMA-utilizing Methanomassiliicoccales correlated positively with bacterial gene count for TMA production and negatively with fecal TMA concentrations. The two large Methanomassiliicoccales clades have opposite correlations with host health status in the ELDERMET cohort and putative distinct genomic signatures for gut adaptation
A Cherenkov imager for charge measurements of Nuclear Cosmic Rays in the CREAM II instrument
A proximity focusing Cherenkov imager for the charge measurement of nuclear cosmic rays in the CREAM II instrument, called CHERCAM, is under construction. This imager consists of a silica aerogel radiator plane facing a detector plane equipped with standard photomultipliers. The two planes are separated by a minimal ring expansion gap. The Cherenkov light yield is proportional to the squared charge of the detected particle. The expected relative light collection accuracy is in the few percents range. It should lead to single element separation over the range of nuclear charge Z of main interest 1 Z \approx$ 26
First detection of a VHE gamma-ray spectral maximum from a Cosmic source: H.E.S.S. discovery of the Vela X nebula
The Vela supernova remnant (SNR) is a complex region containing a number of
sources of non-thermal radiation. The inner section of this SNR, within 2
degrees of the pulsar PSR B0833-45, has been observed by the H.E.S.S. gamma-ray
atmospheric Cherenkov detector in 2004 and 2005. A strong signal is seen from
an extended region to the south of the pulsar, within an integration region of
radius 0.8 deg. around the position (RA = 08h 35m 00s, dec = -45 deg. 36'
J2000.0). The excess coincides with a region of hard X-ray emission seen by the
ROSAT and ASCA satellites. The observed energy spectrum of the source between
550 GeV and 65 TeV is well fit by a power law function with photon index = 1.45
+/- 0.09(stat) +/- 0.2(sys) and an exponential cutoff at an energy of 13.8 +/-
2.3(stat) +/- 4.1(sys) TeV. The integral flux above 1 TeV is (1.28 +/- 0.17
(stat) +/- 0.38(sys)) x 10^{-11} cm^{-2} s^{-1}. This result is the first clear
measurement of a peak in the spectral energy distribution from a VHE gamma-ray
source, likely related to inverse Compton emission. A fit of an Inverse Compton
model to the H.E.S.S. spectral energy distribution gives a total energy in
non-thermal electrons of ~2 x 10^{45} erg between 5 TeV and 100 TeV, assuming a
distance of 290 parsec to the pulsar. The best fit electron power law index is
2.0, with a spectral break at 67 TeV.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysics letter
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