518 research outputs found
Red Supergiants in the Disk of M81: Tracing the Spatial Distribution of Star Formation 25 Million Years in the Past
Near-infrared images are used to investigate the brightest red stars in the
disk of the nearby spiral galaxy M81. Red supergiants (RSGs) form a
well-defined sequence on the color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) that peaks near
M_K = -11.5; RSGs with this peak brightness are seen throughout all fields that
were studied, indicating that star formation occured over a large part of the
M81 disk only ~ 10 Myr in the past. The number of RSGs per unit integrated
K-band light is compared at various locations in the disk. We conclude that
star-forming activity in M81 during the past 10 - 25 Myr (1) was distributed
over a larger fraction of the disk than it is at the present day, and (2) was
not restricted to a given radial interval, but was distributed in a manner that
closely followed the stellar mass profile. Star counts indicate that the mean
SFR of M81 between 10 and 25 Myr in the past was ~ 0.1 solar masses per year,
which is not greatly different from the present day SFR estimated from Halpha
and FUV emission.Comment: 21 pages of text and 7 postscript figures; to appear in the PAS
Methods for Real-Time PCR-Based Diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae, Chlamydia psittaci, and Chlamydia abortus Infections in an Opened Molecular Diagnostic Platform.
The advances in molecular biology of the last decades have dramatically improved the field of diagnostic bacteriology. In particular, PCR-based technologies have impacted the diagnosis of infections caused by obligate intracellular bacteria such as pathogens from the Chlamydiacae family. Here, we describe a real-time PCR-based method using the Taqman technology for the diagnosis of Chlamydia pneumoniae, Chlamydia psittaci, and Chlamydia abortus infection. The method presented here can be applied to various clinical samples and can be adapted on opened molecular diagnostic platforms
Assessment of SARS-CoV-2 tests costs and reimbursement tariffs readjustments during the COVID-19 pandemic.
While laboratories have been facing limited supplies of reagents for diagnostic tests throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, national and international health plans, as well as billing costs, have been constantly adjusted in order to optimize the use of resources. We aimed to assess the impact of SARS-CoV-2 test costs and reimbursement tariff adjustments on diagnostic strategies in Switzerland to determine the advantages and disadvantages of different costs and resource saving plans.
We specifically assessed the cost of diagnostic SARS-COV-2 RT-PCR using five different approaches: i) in-house platform, ii) cobas 6800® (Roche, Basel, Switzerland), iii) GeneXpert® SARS-CoV-2 test (Cepheid, Sunnyvale, CA, USA), iv) VIASURE SARS-CoV-2 (N1 + N2) Real-Time PCR Detection Kit for BD MAX™ (Becton Dickinson, Franklin Lake, NJ, USA), v) cobas® Liat® SARS-CoV-2 & Influenza A/B (Roche, Basel, Switzerland). We compared these costs to the evolution of the reimbursement tariffs.
The cost of a single RT-PCR test varied greatly (as did the volume of tests performed), ranging from as high as 180 CHF per test at the beginning of the pandemic (February to April 2020) to as low as 82 CHF per test at the end of 2020. Depending on the time period within the pandemic, higher costs did not necessarily mean greater benefits for the laboratories. The costs of molecular reagents for rapid tests were higher than of those for classic RT-PCR platforms, but the rapid tests had reduced turnaround times (TATs), thus improving patient care and enabling more efficient implementation of isolation measures, as well as reducing the burden of possible nosocomial infections. At the same time, there were periods when the production or distribution of these reagents was insufficient, and only the use of several different molecular platforms allowed us to sustain the high number of tests requested.
Cost-saving plans need to be thoroughly assessed and constantly adjusted according to the epidemiological situation, the clinical context and the national resources in order to always guarantee that the highest performing diagnostic solutions are available. Not all cost-saving strategies guarantee good analytical performance
Searching for Trans Ethyl Methyl Ether in Orion KL
We report on the tentative detection of Ethyl Methyl Ether (tEME),
, through the identification of a large number of rotational
lines from each one of the spin states of the molecule towards Orion KL. We
also search for --n-propanol, , an isomer
of tEME in the same source. We have identified lines of both species in the
IRAM 30m line survey and in the ALMA Science Verification data. We have
obtained ALMA maps to establish the spatial distribution of these species.
Whereas tEME mainly arises from the compact ridge component of Orion,
Gt-n-propanol appears at the emission peak of ethanol (south hot core). The
derived column densities of these species at the location of their emission
peaks are and
for tEME and Gt-n-propanol,
respectively. The rotational temperature is for both molecules. We
also provide maps of , , , , and
to compare the distribution of these organic saturated O-bearing
species containing methyl and ethyl groups in this region. Abundance ratios of
related species and upper limits to the abundances of non-detected ethers are
provided. We derive an abundance ratio in the
compact ridge of Orion.Comment: Accepted in A&A Letter
Widespread HCO emission in the M82's nuclear starburst
We present a high-resolution (~ 5'') image of the nucleus of M82 showing the
presence of widespread emission of the formyl radical (HCO). The HCO map, the
first obtained in an external galaxy, reveals the existence of a structured
disk of ~ 650 pc full diameter. The HCO distribution in the plane mimics the
ring morphology displayed by other molecular/ionized gas tracers in M82. More
precisely, rings traced by HCO, CO and HII regions are nested, with the HCO
ring lying in the outer edge of the molecular torus. Observations of HCO in
galactic clouds indicate that the abundance of HCO is strongly enhanced in the
interfaces between the ionized and molecular gas. The surprisingly high overall
abundance of HCO measured in M82 (X(HCO) ~ 4x10^{-10}) indicates that its
nuclear disk can be viewed as a giant Photon Dominated Region (PDR) of ~ 650 pc
size. The existence of various nested gas rings, with the highest HCO abundance
occurring at the outer ring (X(HCO) ~ 0.8x10^{-9}), suggests that PDR chemistry
is propagating in the disk. We discuss the inferred large abundances of HCO in
M82 in the context of a starburst evolutionary scenario, picturing the M82
nucleus as an evolved starburst.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures, to appear in ApJ Letters; corrected list of
author
Evidence for the Large-Scale Dissociation of Molecular Gas in the Inner Spiral Arms of M81
We compare the detailed distributions of HI, H alpha, and 150 nm far-UV
continuum emission in the spiral arms of M81 at a resolution of 9" (linear
resolution 150 pc at 3.7 Mpc distance). The bright H alpha emission peaks are
always associated with peaks in the far-UV emission. The converse is not always
true; there are many regions of far-UV emission with little corresponding H
alpha. The HI and the far-UV are always closely associated, in the sense that
the HI is often brightest around the edges of the far-UV emission. The effects
of extinction on the morphology are small, even in the far-UV. Extensive far-UV
emission, often with little corresponding H alpha, indicates the presence of
many ``B-stars'', which produce mostly non-ionizing UV photons. These far-UV
photons dissociate a small fraction of an extensive layer of H_2 into HI. The
observed morphology can be understood if ``chimneys'' are common in the spiral
arms of M81, where holes are blown out of the galactic disk, exposing the
bright HII regions and the corresponding far-UV associated with vigorous star
formation. These ``naked'' star-forming regions show little obscuration. H_2 is
turned into HI by UV photons impinging on the interior surfaces of these
chimneys. The intensity of the far-UV radiation measured by UIT can dissociate
the underlying H_2 with a typical density of ~10 H nucleii cm**-3 to produce
the observed amount of HI in the spiral arms of M81. Except for thin surface
layers locally heated in these photo-dissociation regions close to the far-UV
sources, the bulk of the molecular gas in the inner disk of M81 is apparently
too cold to produce much 12CO(1-0) emission.Comment: 12 pages, Latex. 8 postscript files. Better quality versions of the
figures available from ftp://star.herts.ac.uk/pub/Knapen/m81uv . Accepted,
Ap
Exposing elusive cationic magnesium-chloro aggregates in aluminate complexes through donor control
The cationic magnesium moiety of magnesium organohalo aluminate complexes, relevant to rechargeable Mg battery electrolytes, typically takes the thermodynamically favourable dinuclear [Mg2Cl3]+ form in the solid-state. We now report that judicious choice of Lewis donor allows the deliberate synthesis and isolation of the hitherto only postulated mononuclear [MgCl]+ and trinuclear [Mg3Cl5]+ modifications, forming a comparable series with a common aluminate anion [(Dipp)(Me3Si)NAlCl3]. By pre-forming the Al-N bond prior to introduction of the Mg source, a consistently reproducible protocol is reported. Usage of the green solvent 2-methyltetrahydrofuran in place of THF in the context of Mg/Al battery electrolyte type complexes is also promoted
The Discovery of a Molecular Complex in the Tidal Arms near NGC 3077
We present the discovery of a giant molecular complex (r=350 pc, M_ vir=10^7
M_sun) in the tidal arms south-east of NGC 3077, a member of the M 81 triplet.
The complex is clearly detected in the 12CO (J=1-0) transition at five
independent positions. The position relative to NGC 3077, the systemic velocity
(v_hel=14km/s) and the cloud averaged line width (15km/s) indicate that the
object is not related to Galactic cirrus but is extragalactic. The tidal HI arm
where the molecular complex is located has an total HI mass of M_HI=3x10^8
M_sun. This tidal material was presumably stripped off the outer parts of NGC
3077 during the closest encounter with M 81, about 3x10^8 years ago. After the
complex detected along a torn-out spiral arm of M 81 by Brouillet et al., it is
the second of its kind reported so far. Based on published optical
observations, we have no evidence for on--going star formation in the newly
detected molecular complex. Since the system has all the ingredients to form
stars in the future, we speculate that it might eventually resemble the young
dwarf galaxies in the M 81 group.Comment: 12 pages (including 3 figures), accepted for publication in the ApJ
Letter
Atomic Carbon in M82: Physical conditions derived from simultaneous observations of the [CI] fine structure submillimeter wave transitions
We report the first extragalactic detection of the neutral carbon [CI]
3P2-3P1 fine structure line at 809 GHz. The line was observed towards M82
simultaneously with the 3P1-3P0 line at 492 GHz, providing a precise
measurement of the J=2-1/J=1-0 integrated line ratio of 0.96 (on a [K km s^-1]
-scale). This ratio constrains the [CI] emitting gas to have a temperature of
at least 50 K and a density of at least 10^4 cm^-3. Already at this minimum
temperature and density, the beam averaged CI-column density is large, 2.1
10^18 cm^-2, confirming the high CI/CO abundance ratio of approximately 0.5
estimated earlier from the 492 GHz line alone. We argue that the [CI] emission
from M82 most likely arises in clouds of linear size around a few pc with a
density of about 10^4 cm^-3 or slightly higher and temperatures of 50 K up to
about 100 K.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, ApJL in press, postscript also available at
ftp://apollo.ph1.uni-koeln.de/pub/stutzki/m82_pap.ps.gz
e-mail-contact:[email protected]
The Eastern Arm of M83 Revisited: High-Resolution Mapping of 12CO 1-0 Emission
We have used the Owens Valley Millimeter Array to map 12CO (J=1-0) along a
3.5 kpc segment of M83's eastern spiral arm at resolutions of 6.5"x3.5", 10",
and 16". The CO emission in most of this segment lies along the sharp dust lane
demarking the inner edge of the spiral arm, but beyond a certain point along
the arm the emission shifts downstream from the dust lane to become better
aligned with the young stars seen in blue and H-beta images. This morphology
resembles that of the western arm of M100. Three possibilities, none of which
is wholly satisfactory, are considered to explain the deviation of the CO arm
from the dust lane: heating of the CO by UV radiation from young stars, heating
by low-energy cosmic rays, and a molecular medium consisting of two (diffuse
and dense) components which react differently to the density wave. Regardless,
the question of what CO emission traces along this spiral arm is a complicated
one. Strong tangential streaming is observed where the arm crosses the
kinematic major axis of the galaxy, implying that the shear becomes locally
prograde in the arms. Inferred from the streaming is a very high gas surface
density of about 230 solar masses/pc**2 and an arm-interarm contrast greater
than 2.3 in the part of the arm near the major axis. Using two different
criteria, we find that the gas at this location is well above the threshold for
gravitational instability -- much more clearly so than in either M51 or M100.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 25 pages, 5 figures. Manuscript in
LaTeX, figures in pdf. Fig 3 in colo
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