1,175 research outputs found
The census of complex organic molecules in the solar type protostar IRAS16293-2422
Complex Organic Molecules (COMs) are considered crucial molecules, since they
are connected with organic chemistry, at the basis of the terrestrial life.
More pragmatically, they are molecules in principle difficult to synthetize in
the harsh interstellar environments and, therefore, a crucial test for
astrochemical models. Current models assume that several COMs are synthesised
on the lukewarm grain surfaces (30-40 K), and released in the gas
phase at dust temperatures 100 K. However, recent detections of COMs
in 20 K gas demonstrate that we still need important pieces to
complete the puzzle of the COMs formation. We present here a complete census of
the oxygen and nitrogen bearing COMs, previously detected in different ISM
regions, towards the solar type protostar IRAS16293-2422. The census was
obtained from the millimeter-submillimeter unbiased spectral survey TIMASSS.
Six COMs, out of the 29 searched for, were detected: methyl cyanide, ketene,
acetaldehyde, formamide, dimethyl ether, and methyl formate. The multifrequency
analysis of the last five COMs provides clear evidence that they are present in
the cold (30 K) envelope of IRAS16293-2422, with abundances 0.03-2
. Our data do not allow to support the hypothesis that the
COMs abundance increases with increasing dust temperature in the cold envelope,
as expected if COMs were predominately formed on the lukewarm grain surfaces.
Finally, when considering also other ISM sources, we find a strong correlation
over five orders of magnitude, between the methyl formate and dimethyl ether
and methyl formate and formamide abundances, which may point to a link between
these two couples of species, in cold and warm gas
B70/B7-2 is identical to CD86 and is the major functional ligand for CD28 expressed on human dendritic cells.
Dendritic cells comprise a system of highly efficient antigen-presenting cells involved in the initiation of T cell responses. Herein, we investigated the role of the CD28 pathway during alloreactive T cell proliferation induced by dendritic-Langerhans cells (D-Lc) generated by culturing human cord blood CD34+ progenitor cells with granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor and tumor necrosis factor alpha. In addition to expressing CD80 (B7/BB1), a subset of D-Lc expressed B70/B7-2. Binding of the CTLA4-Ig fusion protein was completely inhibited by a combination of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against CD80 and B70/B7-2, indicating the absence of expression of a third ligand for CD28/CTLA-4. It is interesting to note that mAbs against CD86 completely prevented the binding of CTLA4-Ig in the presence of mAbs against CD80 and bound to a B70/B7-2-transfected fibroblast cell line, demonstrating that the B70/B7-2 antigen is identical to CD86. CD28 triggering was essential during D-Lc-induced alloreaction as it was inhibited by mAbs against CD28 (9 out of 11 tested). However, none of six anti-CD80 mAbs demonstrated any activity on the D-Lc-induced alloreaction, though some were previously described as inhibitory in assays using CD80-transfected cell lines. In contrast, a mAb against CD86 (IT-2) was found to suppress the D-Lc-dependent alloreaction by 70%. This inhibitory effect was enhanced to > or = 90% when a combination of anti-CD80 and anti-CD86 mAbs was used. The present results demonstrate that D-Lc express, in addition to CD80, the other ligand for CTLA-4, CD86 (B70/B7-2), which plays a primordial role during D-Lc-induced alloreaction
Upper limit for the D2H+ ortho-to-para ratio in the prestellar core 16293E (CHESS)
The H3+ ion plays a key role in the chemistry of dense interstellar gas
clouds where stars and planets are forming. The low temperatures and high
extinctions of such clouds make direct observations of H3+ impossible, but lead
to large abundances of H2D+ and D2H+, which are very useful probes of the early
stages of star and planet formation. The ground-state rotational ortho-D2H+
111-000 transition at 1476.6 GHz in the prestellar core 16293E has been
searched for with the Herschel/HIFI instrument, within the CHESS (Chemical
HErschel Surveys of Star forming regions) Key Program. The line has not been
detected at the 21 mK km/s level (3 sigma integrated line intensity). We used
the ortho-H2D+ 110-111 transition and para-D2H+ 110-101 transition detected in
this source to determine an upper limit on the ortho-to-para D2H+ ratio as well
as the para-D2H+/ortho-H2D+ ratio from a non-LTE analysis. The comparison
between our chemical modeling and the observations suggests that the CO
depletion must be high (larger than 100), with a density between 5e5 and 1e6
cm-3. Also the upper limit on the ortho-D2H+ line is consistent with a low gas
temperature (~ 11 K) with a ortho-to-para ratio of 6 to 9, i.e. 2 to 3 times
higher than the value estimated from the chemical modeling, making it
impossible to detect this high frequency transition with the present state of
the art receivers.Comment: Accepted in A&
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ISO Detection of CO<sup>+</sup> toward the protostar IRAS 16293-2422
In this letter we report the detection of eight high-N rotational transitions of CO+ towards a low mass protostar, IRAS 16293-2422. The source was observed with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer on board the Infrared Space Observatory. This is the first time that CO+ has been detected in a low luminosity source and the first time that high-N lines have been detected in any source. The detection of these lines was not predicted by models and consequently, their interpretation is a challenge. We discuss the possibility that the observed CO+ emission originates in the dense inner regions illuminated by the UV field created in the accretion shock (formed by infalling material), and conclude that this is an improbable explanation. We have also considered the possibility that a strong, dissociative J-shock at ~ 500 AU from the star is the origin of the CO+ emission. This model predicts CO+ column densities in rough agreement with the observations if the magnetic field is ~ 1 mG and the shock velocity is 100 km s-1
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Detection of CO<sup>+</sup> with ISO towards the protostar IRAS16293-242
We observed the low luminosity (and low mass) protostar IRAS16293-2422 with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer on board the Infrared Space Observatory. The observed line spectrum is very reach and shows transitions of several molecules and atoms. Here we report the detection of eight high-N rotational transitions of CO+. This is the first time that CO+ has been detected in a low luminosity source and the first time that high-N lines have been detected in any source. The detection of these lines was not predicted by models and consequently, their interpretation is a challenge. We discuss the possibility that the observed CO+ emission originates in the dense inner regions illuminated by the UV field created in the accretion shock (formed by infalling material), and conclude that this is an improbable explanation. We have also considered the possibility that a strong, dissociative J-shock at ~500 AU from the star is the origin of the CO+ emission. This model predicts CO+ column densities in rough agreement with the observations if the magnetic field is ~1 mG and the shock velocity is 100 km s-1
Deuterium and N fractionation in NH during the formation of a Sun-like star
Although chemical models predict that the deuterium fractionation in
NH is a good evolutionary tracer in the star formation process, the
fractionation of nitrogen is still a poorly understood process. Recent models
have questioned the similar evolutionary trend expected for the two
fractionation mechanisms in NH, based on a classical scenario in which
ion-neutral reactions occurring in cold gas should have caused an enhancement
of the abundance of ND, NNH, and NNH. In the
framework of the ASAI IRAM-30m large program, we have investigated the
fractionation of deuterium and N in NH in the best known
representatives of the different evolutionary stages of the Sun-like star
formation process. The goal is to ultimately confirm (or deny) the classical
"ion-neutral reactions" scenario that predicts a similar trend for D and
N fractionation. We do not find any evolutionary trend of the
N/N ratio from both the NNH and NNH
isotopologues. Therefore, our findings confirm that, during the formation of a
Sun-like star, the core evolution is irrelevant in the fractionation of
N. The independence of the N/N ratio with time, found also
in high-mass star-forming cores, indicates that the enrichment in N
revealed in comets and protoplanetary disks is unlikely to happen at core
scales. Nevertheless, we have firmly confirmed the evolutionary trend expected
for the H/D ratio, with the NH/ND ratio decreasing before the
pre-stellar core phase, and increasing monotonically during the protostellar
phase. We have also confirmed clearly that the two fractionation mechanisms are
not related.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
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