1,270 research outputs found
The Arecibo Arp 220 Spectral Census I: Discovery of the Pre-Biotic Molecule Methanimine and New Cm-wavelength Transitions of Other Molecules
An on-going Arecibo line search between 1.1 and 10 GHz of the prototypical
starburst/megamaser galaxy, Arp 220, has revealed a spectrum rich in molecular
transitions. These include the ``pre-biotic'' molecules: methanimine
(CHNH) in emission, three direct l-type absorption lines of
HCN, and an absorption feature likely to be from either OH or formic
acid (HCOOH). In addition, we report the detection of two, possibly three,
transitions of 4-cm excited OH not previously detected in Arp~220
which are seen in absorption, and a possible absorption feature from the
6.668-GHz line of methanol. This marks the first distant extragalactic
detection of methanimine, a pre-biotic molecule. Also, if confirmed, the
possible methanol absorption line presented here would represent the first
extragalactic detection of methanol at a distance further than 10 Mpc. In
addition, the strong, previously undetected, cm-wave HCN direct
l-type lines will aid the study of dense molecular gas and active star-forming
regions in this starburst galaxy.Comment: 25 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in A
Regulation of anaerobic methane oxidation in sediments of the Black Sea
International audienceAnaerobic oxidation of methane (AOM) and sulfate reduction (SRR) were investigated in sediments of the western Black Sea, where methane transport is controlled by diffusion. To understand the regulation and dynamics of methane production and oxidation in the Black Sea, rates of methanogenesis, AOM, and SRR were determined using radiotracers in combination with pore water chemistry and stable isotopes. On the shelf of the Danube paleo-delta and the Dnjepr Canyon, AOM did not consume methane effectively and upwards diffusing methane created an extended sulfate-methane transition zone (SMTZ) that spread over more than 2.5 m and was located in formerly limnic sediment. Measurable AOM rates occurred mainly in the lower part of the SMTZ, sometimes even at depths where sulfate seemed to be unavailable. The inefficiency of methane oxidation appears to be linked to the limnic history of the sediment, since in all cores methane was completely oxidized at the limnic-marine transition. The upward tailing of methane was less pronounced in a core from the deep sea in the area of the Dnjepr Canyon, the only station with a SMTZ close to the marine deposits. Sulfate reduction rates were mostly extremely low, and in the SMTZ were even lower than AOM rates. Rates of bicarbonate-based methanogenesis were below detection limit in two of the cores, but ?13C values of methane indicate a biogenic origin. The most depleted ?13C-signal was found in the SMTZ of the core from the deep sea, most likely as a result of carbon recycling between AOM and methanogenesis
Non-equilibrium excitation of methanol in Galactic molecular clouds: multi-transitional observations at 2 mm
We observed 14 methanol transitions near lambda=2 mm in Galactic star-forming
regions. Broad, quasi-thermal J(0)-J(-1)E methanol lines near 157 GHz were
detected toward 73 sources. Together with the 6(-1)-5(0)E and 5(-2)-6(-1)E
lines at 133 GHz and the 7(1)-7(0)E line at 165 GHz, they were used to study
the methanol excitation. In the majority of the observed objects, the Class I
6(-1)-5(0)E transition is inverted, and the Class II 5(-2)-6(-1)E and
6(0)-6(-1)E transitions are overcooled. This is exactly as predicted by models
of low gain Class I masers. The absence of the inversion of Class II
transitions 5(-2)-6(-1)E and 6(0)-6(-1)E means that quasi-thermal methanol
emission in all objects arises in areas without a strong radiation field, which
is required for the inversion.Comment: 23 pages paper (uses aasms4.sty), 12 pages tables (uses apjpt4.sty),
10 Jpeg figures, submitted to the ApJ
Spin and orbital effects of Cooper pairs coupled to a single magnetic impurity
The Kondo effect strongly depends on spin and orbital degrees of freedom of
unconventional superconductivity. We focus on the Kondo effect in the -wave and -wave superconductors to compare the
magnetic properties of the spin-triplet and spin-singlet Cooper pairs. The
difference appears when both of the paired electrons couple to a local spin
directly. For the -wave, the ground state is always a spin doublet
for a local spin, and it is always a spin singlet for
. The latter is due to uniaxial spin anisotropy of the triplet
Cooper pair. For the -wave, the interchange of ground
states occurs, which resembles a competition between the Kondo effect and the
superconducting energy gap in s-wave superconductors. Thus the internal degrees
of freedom of Cooper pairs give a variety to the Kondo effect.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, RevTex, to be published in Phys. Rev.
Methanol Masers as Tracers of Circumstellar Disks
We show that in many methanol maser sources the masers are located in lines,
with a velocity gradient along them which suggests that the masers are situated
in edge-on circumstellar, or protoplanetary, disks. We present VLBI
observations of the methanol maser source G309.92+0.48, in the 12.2 GHz
transition, which confirm previous observations that the masers in this source
lie along a line. We show that such sources are not only linear in space but,
in many cases, also have a linear velocity gradient. We then model these and
other data in both the 6.7 GHz and the 12.2 GHz transition from a number of
star formation regions, and show that the observed spatial and velocity
distribution of methanol masers, and the derived Keplerian masses, are
consistent with a circumstellar disk rotating around an OB star. We consider
this and other hypotheses, and conclude that about half of these methanol
masers are probably located in edge-on circumstellar disks around young stars.
This is of particular significance for studies of circumstellar disks because
of the detailed velocity information available from the masers.Comment: 38 pages, 13 figures accepted by Ap
Low energy properties of M-state tunneling systems in metals: New candidates for non-Fermi-liquid systems
We construct a generalized multiplicative renormalization group
transformation to study the low energy dynamics of a heavy particle tunneling
among different positions and interacting with independent conduction
electron channels. Using a -expansion we show that this M-level scales
towards a fixed point equivalent to the channel
Coqblin-Schrieffer model. Solving numerically the scaling equations we find
that a realistic M-level system scales close to this fixed point (FP) and its
Kondo temperature is in the experimentally observable range .Comment: 11 Latex pages, to appear in Phys. Rev. Lett, Figures available from
the author by reques
Regulating Clothing Outwork: A Sceptic's View
By applying the strategies of international anti-sweatshop campaigns to the Australian context, recent regulations governing home-based clothing production hold retailers
responsible for policing the wages and employment conditions of clothing outworkers who manufacture clothing on their behalf. This paper argues that the new approach
oversimplifies the regulatory challenge by assuming (1) that Australian clothing production is organised in a hierarchical ‘buyer-led’ linear structure in which core
retail firms have the capacity to control their suppliers’ behaviour; (2) that firms act as unitary moral agents; and (3) that interventions imported from other times and places
are applicable to the contemporary Australian context. After considering some alternative regulatory approaches, the paper concludes that the new regulatory strategy effectively privatises responsibility for labour market conditions – a development that cries out for further debate
Masers and Outflows in the W3(OH)/W3(H2O) region
Methanol masers and molecular shock tracers were observed in the
W3(OH)/W3(HO) region with the BIMA array and the Onsala 20m radiotelescope.
Characteristics of the outflows in the region are discussed. A model of the
W3(OH) methanol maser formation region is constructed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, numerous journal misprints are correcte
Pedestrian Approach to the Two-Channel Kondo Model
We reformulate the two-channel Kondo model to explicitly remove the
unscattered charge degrees of freedom. This procedure permits us to move the
non-Fermi liquid fixed point to infinite coupling where we can apply a
perturbative strong-coupling expansion. The fixed point Hamiltonian involves a
three-body Majorana zero mode whose scattering effects give rise to marginal
self-energies. The compactified model is the N=3 member of a family of "O(N)"
Kondo models that can be solved by semiclassical methods in the large
limit. For odd , {\em fermionic} "Kink" fluctuations about the
mean-field theory generate a fermionic -body bound-state which
asymptotically decouples at low energies. For N=3, our semi-classical methods
fully recover the non-Fermi liquid physics of the original two channel model.
Using the same methods, we find that the corresponding O(3) Kondo lattice model
develops a spin-gap and a gapless band of coherently propagating three-body
bound-states. Its strong-coupling limit offers a rather interesting realization
of marginal Fermi liquid behavior.Comment: 17 pages, Revtex 3.0. Replaced with fully compiled postscript file
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