3,619 research outputs found
Hubble Space Telescope Observations of Field Ultracool Dwarfs at High Galactic Latitude
We present a sample of 17 newly discovered ultracool dwarf candidates later
than ~M8, drawn from 231.90 arcmin2 of {\it Hubble Space Telescope} Wide Field
Camera 3 infrared imaging. By comparing the observed number counts for
17.5<J_125<25.5 AB mag to an exponential disk model, we estimate a vertical
scale height of z_scl=290 +- 25 (random) +- 30 (systematic) pc for a binarity
fraction of f_b=0. While our estimate is roughly consistent with published
results, we suggest that the differences can be attributed to sample
properties, with the present sample containing far more substellar objects than
previous work. We predict the object counts should peak at J_{125}~24 AB mag
due to the exponentially-declining number density at the edge of the disc. We
conclude by arguing that trend in scale height with spectral type may breakdown
for brown dwarfs since they do not settle onto the main sequence.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, accepted to ApJ (v2 is consistent with
Referee changes
Quantum Collapse of a Small Dust Shell
The full quantum mechanical collapse of a small relativistic dust shell is
studied analytically, asymptotically and numerically starting from the exact
finite dimensional classical reduced Hamiltonian recently derived by
H\'aj{\'\i}\v{c}ek and Kucha\v{r}. The formulation of the quantum mechanics
encounters two problems. The first is the multivalued nature of the Hamiltonian
and the second is the construction of an appropriate self adjoint momentum
operator in the space of the shell motion which is confined to a half line. The
first problem is solved by identifying and neglecting orbits of small action in
order to obtain a single valued Hamiltonian. The second problem is solved by
introducing an appropriate lapse function. The resulting quantum mechanics is
then studied by means of analytical and numerical techniques. We find that the
region of total collapse has very small probability. We also find that the
solution concentrates around the classical Schwarzschild radius. The present
work obtains from first principles a quantum mechanics for the shell and
provides numerical solutions, whose behavior is explained by a detailed WKB
analysis for a wide class of collapsing shells.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, Revtex4 fil
Spectrophotometrically Identified stars in the PEARS-N and PEARS-S fields
Deep ACS slitless grism observations and identification of stellar sources
are presented within the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) North
and South fields which were obtained in the Probing Evolution And Reionization
Spectroscopically (PEARS) program. It is demonstrated that even low resolution
spectra can be a very powerful means to identify stars in the field, especially
low mass stars with stellar types M0 and later. The PEARS fields lay within the
larger GOODS fields, and we used new, deeper images to further refine the
selection of stars in the PEARS field, down to a magnitude of mz = 25 using a
newly developed stellarity parameter. The total number of stars with reliable
spectroscopic and morphological identification was 95 and 108 in the north and
south fields respectively. The sample of spectroscopically identified stars
allows constraints to be set on the thickness of the Galactic thin disk as well
as contributions from a thick disk and a halo component. We derive a thin disk
scale height, as traced by the population of M4 to M9 dwarfs along two
independent lines of sight, of h_thin = 370 +60/-65 pc. When including the more
massive M0 to M4 dwarf population, we derive h_thin = 300 +/- 70pc. In both
cases, we observe that we must include a combination of thick and halo
components in our models in order to account for the observed numbers of faint
dwarfs. The required thick disk scale height is typically h_thick=1000 pc and
the acceptable relative stellar densities of the thin disk to thick disk and
the thin disk to halo components are in the range of 0.00025<f_halo<0.0005 and
0.05<f_thick<0.08 and are somewhat dependent on whether the more massive M0 to
M4 dwarfs are included in our sample
A new 500 kb haplotype associated with high CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers predicts a less severe expression of hereditary hemochromatosis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Hereditary Hemochromatosis(HH) is a common genetic disorder of iron overload where the large majority of patients are homozygous for one ancestral mutation in the <it>HFE </it>gene. In spite of this remarkable genetic homogeneity, the condition is clinically heterogeneous, varying from a severe disease to an asymptomatic phenotype with only abnormal biochemical parameters. The recent recognition of the variable penetrance of the HH mutation in different large population studies demands the need to search for new modifiers of its phenotypic expression. The present study follows previous observations that MHC class-I linked genetic markers, associated with the setting of CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers, could be clinically relevant modifiers of the phenotypic expression in HH, and aimed to find new markers that could be used as more reliable prognostic variables.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Haplotype analysis, including seven genetic markers within a 1 Mb region around the microsatellite D6S105 was performed in a group of 56 previously characterized C282Y homozygous Portuguese patients. Parameters analyzed in this study were total body iron stores, clinical manifestations related with HH and immunological parameters (total lymphocyte numbers, CD4+ and CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers). An independent group of 10 C282Y homozygous patients from Vancouver, Canada, were also included in this study and analyzed for the same parameters.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A highly conserved ancestral haplotype defined by the SNP markers PGBD1-A, ZNF193-A, ZNF165-T (designated as A-A-T) was found associated with both abnormally low CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers and the development of a severe clinical expression of HH. In a small proportion of patients, another conserved haplotype defined by the SNP markers PGBD1-G, ZNF193-G, ZNF165-G (designated as G-G-G) was found associated with high CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers and a milder clinical expression. Remarkably, the two conserved haplotypes defined in Portuguese patients were also observed in the geographically different population of Canadian patients, also predicting CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers and the severity of disease.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These results may have important implications not only for approaching the question of the penetrance of the hemochromatosis gene in different world populations but also to further narrow the region of interest to find a candidate gene involved in the setting of CD8+ T-lymphocyte numbers in humans.</p
Tumorâstroma interactions differentially alter drug sensitivity based on the origin of stromal cells
Due to tumor heterogeneity, most believe that effective treatments should be tailored to the features of an individual tumor or tumor subclass. It is still unclear, however, what information should be considered for optimal disease stratification, and most prior work focuses on tumor genomics. Here, we focus on the tumor microenvironment. Using a largeâscale coculture assay optimized to measure drugâinduced cell death, we identify tumorâstroma interactions that modulate drug sensitivity. Our data show that the chemoâinsensitivity typically associated with aggressive subtypes of breast cancer is not observed if these cells are grown in 2D or 3D monoculture, but is manifested when these cells are cocultured with stromal cells, such as fibroblasts. Furthermore, we find that fibroblasts influence drug responses in two distinct and divergent manners, associated with the tissue from which the fibroblasts were harvested. These divergent phenotypes occur regardless of the drug tested and result from modulation of apoptotic priming within tumor cells. Our study highlights unexpected diversity in tumorâstroma interactions, and we reveal new principles that dictate how fibroblasts alter tumor drug responses
The Effect of low Momentum Quantum Fluctuations on a Coherent Field Structure
In the present work the evolution of a coherent field structure of the
Sine-Gordon equation under quantum fluctuations is studied. The basic equations
are derived from the coherent state approximation to the functional
Schr\"odinger equation for the field. These equations are solved asymptotically
and numerically for three physical situations. The first is the study of the
nonlinear mechanism responsible for the quantum stability of the soliton in the
presence of low momentum fluctuations. The second considers the scattering of a
wave by the Soliton. Finally the third problem considered is the collision of
Solitons and the stability of a breather.
It is shown that the complete integrability of the Sine-Gordon equation
precludes fusion and splitting processes in this simplified model.
The approximate results obtained are non-perturbative in nature, and are
valid for the full nonlinear interaction in the limit of low momentum
fluctuations. It is also found that these approximate results are in good
agreement with full numerical solutions of the governing equations. This
suggests that a similar approach could be used for the baby Skyrme model, which
is not completely integrable. In this case the higher space dimensionality and
the internal degrees of freedom which prevent the integrability will be
responsable for fusion and splitting processes. This work provides a starting
point in the numerical solution of the full quantum problem of the interaction
of the field with a fluctuation.Comment: 15 pages, 9 (ps) figures, Revtex file. Some discussion expanded but
conclusions unchanged. Final version to appear in PR
Detection of brown dwarf-like objects in the core of NGC3603
We use near-infrared data obtained with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on the
Hubble Space Telescope to identify objects having the colors of brown dwarfs
(BDs) in the field of the massive galactic cluster NGC 3603. These are
identified through use of a combination of narrow and medium band filters
spanning the J and H bands, and which are particularly sensitive to the
presence of the 1.3-1.5{\mu}m H2O molecular band - unique to BDs. We provide a
calibration of the relationship between effective temperature and color for
both field stars and for BDs. This photometric method provides effective
temperatures for BDs to an accuracy of {\pm}350K relative to spectroscopic
techniques. This accuracy is shown to be not significantly affected by either
stellar surface gravity or uncertainties in the interstellar extinction. We
identify nine objects having effective temperature between 1700 and 2200 K,
typical of BDs, observed J-band magnitudes in the range 19.5-21.5, and that are
strongly clustered towards the luminous core of NGC 3603. However, if these are
located at the distance of the cluster, they are far too luminous to be normal
BDs. We argue that it is unlikely that these objects are either artifacts of
our dataset, normal field BDs/M-type giants or extra-galactic contaminants and,
therefore, might represent a new class of stars having the effective
temperatures of BDs but with luminosities of more massive stars. We explore the
interesting scenario in which these objects would be normal stars that have
recently tidally ingested a Hot Jupiter, the remnants of which are providing a
short-lived extended photosphere to the central star. In this case, we would
expect them to show the signature of fast rotation.Comment: 26 Pages, 8 Figures, Accepted for publication on Ap
Nucleosynthesis Constraints on a Massive Gravitino in Neutralino Dark Matter Scenarios
The decays of massive gravitinos into neutralino dark matter particles and
Standard Model secondaries during or after Big-Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) may
alter the primordial light-element abundances. We present here details of a new
suite of codes for evaluating such effects, including a new treatment based on
PYTHIA of the evolution of showers induced by hadronic decays of massive,
unstable particles such as a gravitino. We also develop an analytical treatment
of non-thermal hadron propagation in the early universe, and use this to derive
analytical estimates for light-element production and in turn on decaying
particle lifetimes and abundances. We then consider specifically the case of an
unstable massive gravitino within the constrained minimal supersymmetric
extension of the Standard Model (CMSSM). We present upper limits on its
possible primordial abundance before decay for different possible gravitino
masses, with CMSSM parameters along strips where the lightest neutralino
provides all the astrophysical cold dark matter density. We do not find any
CMSSM solution to the cosmological Li7 problem for small m_{3/2}. Discounting
this, for m_{1/2} ~ 500 GeV and tan beta = 10 the other light-element
abundances impose an upper limit m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma < 3 \times 10^{-12}
GeV to < 2 \times 10^{-13} GeV for m_{3/2} = 250 GeV to 1 TeV, which is similar
in both the coannihilation and focus-point strips and somewhat weaker for tan
beta = 50, particularly for larger m_{1/2}. The constraints also weaken in
general for larger m_{3/2}, and for m_{3/2} > 3 TeV we find a narrow range of
m_{3/2} n_{3/2}/n_\gamma, at values which increase with m_{3/2}, where the Li7
abundance is marginally compatible with the other light-element abundances.Comment: 74 pages, 40 Figure
Pest suppression by ant biodiversity is modified by pest biodiversity
Summary 1. Agroecosystems are often complex ecosystems with diverse food webs. Changes in food web complexity may have important context-dependent consequences for pest control strategies. 2. The success of predator introductions to suppress pests may depend on the diversity of pests. For crops with diverse pest assemblages, it is hypothesized that diverse predator communities are needed to suppress diverse pest assemblages below damaging levels. 3. In this study, we compare the ability of ant predator monocultures and polycultures to suppress single-and diverse-(three species) pest assemblages in a coffee foodweb. We use a factorial experiment that compared treatments of predator and pest diversity to understand the impact of pest diversity on multiple predator effects. 4. We show that predator polycultures enhanced pest risk relative to predator monocultures significantly more in the diverse-pest treatment relative to in the single-pest treatments for two of three pest species. Further, we show that pest diversity significantly reduced pest risk in all predator treatments except for the predator polyculture treatment. 5. These results suggest that pest diversity may reduce the efficiency of single predator species at suppressing pest damage, but do not limit multiple predator species. This in turn leads to stronger effects of predator diversity with greater pest diversity. These results highlight the need to consider foodweb complexity, such as pest diversity, when designing and implementing biology control programs
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