90 research outputs found
The Formation of Fragments at Corotation in Isothermal Protoplanetary Disks
Numerical hydrodynamics simulations have established that disks which are
evolved under the condition of local isothermality will fragment into small
dense clumps due to gravitational instabilities when the Toomre stability
parameter is sufficiently low. Because fragmentation through disk
instability has been suggested as a gas giant planet formation mechanism, it is
important to understand the physics underlying this process as thoroughly as
possible. In this paper, we offer analytic arguments for why, at low ,
fragments are most likely to form first at the corotation radii of growing
spiral modes, and we support these arguments with results from 3D hydrodynamics
simulations.Comment: 21 pages, 1 figur
The PTF Orion Project: a Possible Planet Transiting a T-Tauri Star
We report observations of a possible young transiting planet orbiting a
previously known weak-lined T-Tauri star in the 7-10 Myr old Orion-OB1a/25-Ori
region. The candidate was found as part of the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF)
Orion project. It has a photometric transit period of 0.448413 +- 0.000040
days, and appears in both 2009 and 2010 PTF data. Follow-up low-precision
radial velocity (RV) observations and adaptive optics imaging suggest that the
star is not an eclipsing binary, and that it is unlikely that a background
source is blended with the target and mimicking the observed transit. RV
observations with the Hobby-Eberly and Keck telescopes yield an RV that has the
same period as the photometric event, but is offset in phase from the transit
center by approximately -0.22 periods. The amplitude (half range) of the RV
variations is 2.4 km/s and is comparable with the expected RV amplitude that
stellar spots could induce. The RV curve is likely dominated by stellar spot
modulation and provides an upper limit to the projected companion mass of M_p
sin i_orb < 4.8 +- 1.2 M_Jup; when combined with the orbital inclination, i
orb, of the candidate planet from modeling of the transit light curve, we find
an upper limit on the mass of the planetary candidate of M_p < 5.5 +- 1.4
M_Jup. This limit implies that the planet is orbiting close to, if not inside,
its Roche limiting orbital radius, so that it may be undergoing active mass
loss and evaporation.Comment: Corrected typos, minor clarifications; minor updates/corrections to
affiliations and bibliography. 35 pages, 10 figures, 3 tables. Accepted to
Ap
Catching Element Formation In The Act
Gamma-ray astronomy explores the most energetic photons in nature to address
some of the most pressing puzzles in contemporary astrophysics. It encompasses
a wide range of objects and phenomena: stars, supernovae, novae, neutron stars,
stellar-mass black holes, nucleosynthesis, the interstellar medium, cosmic rays
and relativistic-particle acceleration, and the evolution of galaxies. MeV
gamma-rays provide a unique probe of nuclear processes in astronomy, directly
measuring radioactive decay, nuclear de-excitation, and positron annihilation.
The substantial information carried by gamma-ray photons allows us to see
deeper into these objects, the bulk of the power is often emitted at gamma-ray
energies, and radioactivity provides a natural physical clock that adds unique
information. New science will be driven by time-domain population studies at
gamma-ray energies. This science is enabled by next-generation gamma-ray
instruments with one to two orders of magnitude better sensitivity, larger sky
coverage, and faster cadence than all previous gamma-ray instruments. This
transformative capability permits: (a) the accurate identification of the
gamma-ray emitting objects and correlations with observations taken at other
wavelengths and with other messengers; (b) construction of new gamma-ray maps
of the Milky Way and other nearby galaxies where extended regions are
distinguished from point sources; and (c) considerable serendipitous science of
scarce events -- nearby neutron star mergers, for example. Advances in
technology push the performance of new gamma-ray instruments to address a wide
set of astrophysical questions.Comment: 14 pages including 3 figure
Angular Momentum and the Formation of Stars and Black Holes
The formation of compact objects like stars and black holes is strongly
constrained by the requirement that nearly all of the initial angular momentum
of the diffuse material from which they form must be removed or redistributed
during the formation process. The mechanisms that may be involved and their
implications are discussed for (1) low-mass stars, most of which probably form
in binary or multiple systems; (2) massive stars, which typically form in
clusters; and (3) supermassive black holes that form in galactic nuclei. It is
suggested that in all cases, gravitational interactions with other stars or
mass concentrations in a forming system play an important role in
redistributing angular momentum and thereby enabling the formation of a compact
object. If this is true, the formation of stars and black holes must be a more
complex, dynamic, and chaotic process than in standard models. The
gravitational interactions that redistribute angular momentum tend to couple
the mass of a forming object to the mass of the system, and this may have
important implications for mass ratios in binaries, the upper stellar IMF in
clusters, and the masses of supermassive black holes in galaxies.Comment: Accepted by Reports on Progress in Physic
Early genome size increase in urodeles
AbstractUrodeles have the largest genomes among extant tetrapods, varying greatly between metamorphic and neotenic species, which have the smallest and the largest genomes of the group, respectively. The evolutionary tempo and mode of genome size expansion in urodeles are poorly documented, especially because genome size does not directly fossilize. Consequently, the ancestral state for genome size, and therefore, the polarity of its evolution in urodeles are uncertain. However, recent studies have demonstrated that osteocyte (lacuna) size is correlated with genome size. Below, we present histological data, on osteocyte lacuna size from one of the oldest known stem-urodeles, Marmorerpeton, from the Middle Jurassic (Bathonian, 166–168Ma), as well as on five extant urodele species. Our analysis of these taxa, coupled with previously published data, suggests that stem-urodeles had already evolved large genomes, typical of extant urodeles by the Bathonian
Integrated ocean carbon research: a summary of ocean carbon research, and vision of coordinated ocean carbon research and observations for the next decade
Simbologia e hereditariedade na formação de uma Grundgestalt: a primeira das Quatro Canções Op.2 de Berg
Quantitative Serial MRI of the Treated Fibroid Uterus
There are no long-term medical treatments for uterine fibroids, and non-invasive biomarkers are needed to evaluate novel therapeutic interventions. The aim of this study was to determine whether serial dynamic contrast-enhanced MRI (DCE-MRI) and magnetization transfer MRI (MT-MRI) are able to detect changes that accompany volume reduction in patients administered GnRH analogue drugs, a treatment which is known to reduce fibroid volume and perfusion. Our secondary aim was to determine whether rapid suppression of ovarian activity by combining GnRH agonist and antagonist therapies results in faster volume reduction.Forty women were assessed for eligibility at gynaecology clinics in the region, of whom thirty premenopausal women scheduled for hysterectomy due to symptomatic fibroids were randomized to three groups, receiving (1) GnRH agonist (Goserelin), (2) GnRH agonist+GnRH antagonist (Goserelin and Cetrorelix) or (3) no treatment. Patients were monitored by serial structural, DCE-MRI and MT-MRI, as well as by ultrasound and serum oestradiol concentration measurements from enrolment to hysterectomy (approximately 3 months).A volumetric treatment effect assessed by structural MRI occurred by day 14 of treatment (9% median reduction versus 9% increase in untreated women; P = 0.022) and persisted throughout. Reduced fibroid perfusion and permeability assessed by DCE-MRI occurred later and was demonstrable by 2-3 months (43% median reduction versus 20% increase respectively; P = 0.0093). There was no apparent treatment effect by MT-MRI. Effective suppression of oestradiol was associated with early volume reduction at days 14 (P = 0.041) and 28 (P = 0.0061).DCE-MRI is sensitive to the vascular changes thought to accompany successful GnRH analogue treatment of uterine fibroids and should be considered for use in future mechanism/efficacy studies of proposed fibroid drug therapies. GnRH antagonist administration does not appear to accelerate volume reduction, though our data do support the role of oestradiol suppression in GnRH analogue treatment of fibroids.ClinicalTrials.gov NCT00746031
Federated learning enables big data for rare cancer boundary detection.
Although machine learning (ML) has shown promise across disciplines, out-of-sample generalizability is concerning. This is currently addressed by sharing multi-site data, but such centralization is challenging/infeasible to scale due to various limitations. Federated ML (FL) provides an alternative paradigm for accurate and generalizable ML, by only sharing numerical model updates. Here we present the largest FL study to-date, involving data from 71 sites across 6 continents, to generate an automatic tumor boundary detector for the rare disease of glioblastoma, reporting the largest such dataset in the literature (n = 6, 314). We demonstrate a 33% delineation improvement for the surgically targetable tumor, and 23% for the complete tumor extent, over a publicly trained model. We anticipate our study to: 1) enable more healthcare studies informed by large diverse data, ensuring meaningful results for rare diseases and underrepresented populations, 2) facilitate further analyses for glioblastoma by releasing our consensus model, and 3) demonstrate the FL effectiveness at such scale and task-complexity as a paradigm shift for multi-site collaborations, alleviating the need for data-sharing
Author Correction: Federated learning enables big data for rare cancer boundary detection.
10.1038/s41467-023-36188-7NATURE COMMUNICATIONS14
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