418 research outputs found
The activity of Main Belt comets
Main Belt comets represent a recently discovered class of objects. They are
quite intriguing because, while having a Tisserand invariant value higher than
3, are showing cometary activity. We study the activity of the Main Belt comets
making the assumption that they are icy-bodies and that the activity has been
triggered by an impact. We determine the characteristics of this activity and
if the nowadays impact rate in the Main Asteroid Belt is compatible with the
hypothesis of an activity triggered by a recent impact. Due to the fact that
the Main Belt comets can be considered as a kind of comets, we apply a thermal
evolution model developed for icy bodies in order to simulate their activity.
We also apply a model to derive the impact rate, with respect to the size of
the impactor, in the Main Belt. We demonstrate that a stable activity can
result from a recent impact, able to expose ice-rich layers, and that the
impact rate in the Main Belt is compatible with this explanation.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Water in Comet 2/2003 K4 (LINEAR) with Spitzer
We present sensitive 5.5 to 7.6 micron spectra of comet C/2003 K4 (LINEAR)
obtained on 16 July 2004 (r_{h} = 1.760 AU, Delta_{Spitzer} = 1.409 AU, phase
angle 35.4 degrees) with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The nu_{2} vibrational
band of water is detected with a high signal-to-noise ratio (> 50). Model
fitting to the best spectrum yields a water ortho-to-para ratio of 2.47 +/-
0.27, which corresponds to a spin temperature of 28.5^{+6.5}_{-3.5} K. Spectra
acquired at different offset positions show that the rotational temperature
decreases with increasing distance from the nucleus, which is consistent with
evolution from thermal to fluorescence equilibrium. The inferred water
production rate is (2.43 +/- 0.25) \times 10^{29} molec. s^{-1}. The spectra do
not show any evidence for emission from PAHs and carbonate minerals, in
contrast to results reported for comets 9P/Tempel 1 and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp).
However, residual emission is observed near 7.3 micron the origin of which
remains unidentified.Comment: 33 pages, including 11 figures, 2 tables, ApJ 2007 accepte
Bioelectrical impedance analysis in patients with posterior vitreous detachment
OBJECTIVE: the purpose of the study is to assess body hydration in patients with posterior vitreous detachment (PVD) by bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). PVD, one of the most common eye diseases, is associated in both research and the collective image with reduced daily water intake, but this finding is not supported by strong evidence in the literature. PATIENTS AND METHODS: based on spectral domain optical coherence tomography (SD-OCT) evaluation, different PVD stages are identified: absent posterior vitreous detachment, partial posterior vitreous detachment (P-PVD), or complete posterior vitreous detachment (C-PVD). BIA is a simple, non-invasive bedside method used to assess body composition. patients underwent BIA and completed a floaters symptoms. 30 patients were enrolled and divided into two groups according to the degree of vitreous detachment, in P-PVD (n=12) and C-PVD (n=18). patients underwent BIA and completed a floaters symptoms questionnaire. BIA measured the resistance (R), reactance (Xc), phase angle (PhA), total body water (TBW), extracellular water (ECW), fat mass (FM), fat-free mass (FFM), and body cell mass Index (BCMI). finally, patients received a test to assess adherence to the mediterranean diet (mediterranean diet test score, MDTS) with the addition of daily water intake. RESULTS: relevant data were obtained from the BIA evaluation: the values of R and Xc were lower in the P-PVD group than C-PVD group (respectively 417.08±58.12 Ω vs. 476.94±51.29 Ω p=0.006 and 41.33±8.23 Ω vs. 50.61±7.98 Ω p=0.004). instead, patients in the P-PVD group reported higher values of TBW and ECW than C-PVD group (respectively 44.13±7.57 L vs. 37.96±6.27 L p=0.021 and 21.03±4.06 L vs. 17.24±2.63 L p=0.004). CONCLUSIONS: In the present study, we reported a significant correlation between vitreous pathology and anthropometric and BIA measurements
Mesosiderites on Vesta: A Hyperspectral VIS-NIR Investigation
The discussion about the mesosiderite origin is an open issue since several years. Mesosiderites are mixtures of silicate mineral fragments or clasts, embedded in a FeNi metal matrix. Silicates are very similar in mineralogy and texture to howardites [1]. This led some scientists to conclude that mesosiderites could come from the same parent parent asteroid of the howardite, eucrite and diogenite (HED) meteorites [2, 3]. Other studies found a number of differences between HEDs and mesosiderite silicates that could be explained only by separate parent asteroids [4]. Recently, high precision oxygen isotope measurements of m esosiderites silicate fraction were found to be isotopically identical to the HEDs, requiring common parent body, i.e. 4 Vesta [5]. Another important element in favor of a common origin was given by the identification of a centimeter-sized mesosiderite clast in a howardite (Dar al Gani 779): a metal-rich inclusion with fragments of olivine, anorthite, and orthopyroxene plus minor amounts of chromite, tridymite, and troilite [6]. The Dawn mission with its instruments, the Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIR) [7], the Framing Camera [8] and the Gamma-Ray and Neutron Detector (GRaND) [9] confirmed that Vesta has a composition fully compatible with HED meteorites [10]. We investigate here the possibility to discern mesosiderite rich locations on the surface of Vesta by means of hyperspectral IR images
nanoscale characterisation of hybrid photovoltaic cells based on c61 capped cdse qds
Hybrid solar cells based on 1,2 methanofullerene (C61) capped CdSe and poly (3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) were been investigated through a range of techniques. High resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) was used to characterize size, morphology and crystal structure of as-grown and C61-capped CdSe quantum dots. Cross sectional lamellar specimens were prepared from full photovoltaic devices using a focused ion beam milling approach. The sections were analysed by high angle annular dark field imaging in scanning TEM mode to determine the morphology of the device, in particular the intermixing of P3HT and capped quantum dots
First mineralogical maps of 4 Vesta
Before Dawn arrived at 4 Vesta only very low spatial resolution (~50 km) albedo and color maps were available from HST data. Also ground-based color and spectroscopic data were utilized as a first attempt to map Vesta’s mineralogical diversity [1-4]. The VIR spectrometer [5] onboard Dawn has ac-quired hyperspectral data while the FC camera [6] ob-tained multi-color data of the Vestan surface at very high spatial resolutions, allowing us to map complex geologic, morphologic units and features. We here re-port about the results obtained from a preliminary global mineralogical map of Vesta, based on data from the Survey orbit. This map is part of an iterative map-ping effort; the map is refined with each improvement in resolution
Thermal maps and properties of comet 67P as derived from Rosetta/VIRTIS data
After a 10-year cruise, the Rosetta
spacecraft began a close exploration of its main target,
comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, in July 2014.
Since then, the Visible InfraRed Thermal Imaging
Spectrometer (VIRTIS) acquired hyperspectral
images of the comet’s surface with an unprecedented
spatial resolution. VIRTIS data are routinely used to
map the surface composition and to retrieve surface
temperatures on the dayside of the comet.
The thermal behavior of the surface of comet 67P
is related to composition and physical properties that
provide information about the nature and evolution of
those materials.
Here we present temperature maps of comet 67P
that were observed by Rosetta under different illumination conditions and different local solar times
Non-Abelian Vortices, Super-Yang-Mills Theory and Spin(7)-Instantons
We consider a complex vector bundle E endowed with a connection A over the
eight-dimensional manifold R^2 x G/H, where G/H = SU(3)/U(1)xU(1) is a
homogeneous space provided with a never integrable almost complex structure and
a family of SU(3)-structures. We establish an equivalence between G-invariant
solutions A of the Spin(7)-instanton equations on R^2 x G/H and general
solutions of non-Abelian coupled vortex equations on R^2. These vortices are
BPS solitons in a d=4 gauge theory obtained from N=1 supersymmetric Yang-Mills
theory in ten dimensions compactified on the coset space G/H with an
SU(3)-structure. The novelty of the obtained vortex equations lies in the fact
that Higgs fields, defining morphisms of vector bundles over R^2, are not
holomorphic in the generic case. Finally, we introduce BPS vortex equations in
N=4 super Yang-Mills theory and show that they have the same feature.Comment: 14 pages; v2: typos fixed, published versio
Mapping Vesta: First Results from Dawn’s Survey Orbit
The geologic objectives of the Dawn Mission [1] are
to derive Vesta’s shape, map the surface geology,
understand the geological context and contribute to
the determination of the asteroids’ origin and
evolution.Geomorphology and distribution of surface features
will provide evidence for impact cratering, tectonic activity, volcanism, and regolith processes. Spectral
measurements of the surface will provide evidence of
the compositional characteristics of geological units.
Age information, as derived from crater sizefrequency
distributions, provides the stratigraphic
context for the structural and compositional mapping
results, thus revealing the geologic history of Vesta.
We present here the first results of the Dawn mission
from data collected during the approach to Vesta, and
its first discrete orbit phase – the Survey Orbit, which
lasts 21 days after the spacecraft had established a
circular polar orbit at a radius of ~3000 km with a
beta angle of 10°-15°
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