380 research outputs found
Increasing permeability of phospholipid bilayer membranes to alanine with synthetic α-aminophosphonate carriers
A series of aminophosphonates was synthesized, and their ability to carry alanine, a model hydrophilic molecule, across phospholipid bilayer membranes was evaluated. Aminophosphonates facilitate the membrane transport at moderate rates, which make them a suitable platform for the design of carriers for continuous drug release devices. © 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved
Panoramic Views of the Cygnus Loop
We present a complete atlas of the Cygnus Loop supernova remnant in the light
of [O III] (5007), H alpha, and [S II] (6717, 6731). Despite its shell-like
appearance, the Cygnus Loop is not a current example of a Sedov-Taylor blast
wave. Rather, the optical emission traces interactions of the supernova blast
wave with clumps of gas. The surrounding interstellar medium forms the walls of
a cavity through which the blast wave now propagates, including a nearly
complete shell in which non-radiative filaments are detected. The Cygnus Loop
blast wave is not breaking out of a dense cloud, but is instead running into
confining walls. The interstellar medium dominates not only the appearance of
the Cygnus Loop but also the continued evolution of the blast wave. If this is
a typical example of a supernova remnant, then global models of the
interstellar medium must account for such significant blast wave deceleration.Comment: 28 pages AAS Latex, 28 black+white figures, 6 color figures. To be
published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie
Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi model and accelerating expansion
I discuss the spherically symmetric but inhomogeneous Lemaitre-Tolman- Bondi
(LTB) metric, which provides an exact toy model for an inhomogeneous universe.
Since we observe light rays from the past light cone, not the expansion of the
universe, spatial variation in matter density and Hubble rate can have the same
effect on redshift as acceleration in a perfectly homogeneous universe. As a
consequence, a simple spatial variation in the Hubble rate can account for the
distant supernova data in a dust universe without any dark energy. I also
review various attempts towards a semirealistic description of the universe
based on the LTB model.Comment: Invited Review for a special Gen. Rel. Grav. issue on Dark Energy. 17
pages, 3 figure
A Century of Cosmology
In the century since Einstein's anno mirabilis of 1905, our concept of the
Universe has expanded from Kapteyn's flattened disk of stars only 10 kpc across
to an observed horizon about 30 Gpc across that is only a tiny fraction of an
immensely large inflated bubble. The expansion of our knowledge about the
Universe, both in the types of data and the sheer quantity of data, has been
just as dramatic. This talk will summarize this century of progress and our
current understanding of the cosmos.Comment: Talk presented at the "Relativistic Astrophysics and Cosmology -
Einstein's Legacy" meeting in Munich, Nov 2005. Proceedings will be published
in the Springer-Verlag "ESO Astrophysics Symposia" series. 10 pages Latex
with 2 figure
Testing The Friedmann Equation: The Expansion of the Universe During Big-Bang Nucleosynthesis
In conventional general relativity, the expansion rate H of a
Robertson-Walker universe is related to the energy density by the Friedmann
equation. Aside from the present day, the only epoch at which we can constrain
the expansion history in a model-independent way is during Big-Bang
Nucleosynthesis (BBN). We consider a simple two-parameter characterization of
the behavior of H during BBN and derive constraints on this parameter space,
finding that the allowed region of parameter space is essentially
one-dimensional. We also study the effects of a large neutrino asymmetry within
this framework. Our results provide a simple way to compare an alternative
cosmology to the observational requirement of matching the primordial
abundances of the light elements.Comment: 18 pages, Final version to be published in Phys. Rev.
GMRT HI observations of the Eridanus group of galaxies
The GMRT HI 21cm-line observations of galaxies in the Eridanus group are
presented. The Eridanus group, at a distance of ~23 Mpc, is a loose group of
\~200 galaxies. The group extends more than 10 Mpc in projection. The velocity
dispersion of the galaxies in the group is ~240 km/s. The galaxies are
clustered into different sub-groups. The overall population mix of the group is
30% (E+S0) and 70% (Sp+Irr). The observations of 57 Eridanus galaxies were
carried out with the GMRT for ~200 hour. HI emission was detected from 31
galaxies. The channel rms of ~1.0 mJy beam^{-1} was achieved for most of the
image-cubes made with 4 hour of data. The corresponding HI column density
sensitivity (3-sigma) is ~1x10^{20} cm^{-2} for a velocity-width of ~13.4 km/s.
The 3-sigma detection limit of HI mass is ~1.2x10^{7} M_sun for a line-width of
50 km/s. Total HI images, HI velocity fields, global HI line profiles, HI mass
surface densities, HI disk parameters and HI rotation curves are presented. The
velocity fields are analysed separately for the approaching and the receding
sides of the galaxies. This data will be used to study the HI and the radio
continuum properties, the Tully-Fisher relations, the dark matter halos, and
the kinematical and HI lopsidedness in galaxies.Comment: 75 pages including HI atlas; Accepted for publication in Journal of
Astroph. & Astron. March, 200
APEX CO(3-2) observations of NGC6822
We observed the CO(3-2) emission of the emission-line regions HubbleI,
HubbleV, HubbleX, Holmberg 18, and the stellar emission-line object S28 in
NGC6822 with the ESO Atacama Pathfinder Experiment (APEX) 12m telescope as part
of its science verification. The very low system temperature of 130-180K
enabled us to achieve detections in 4 single pointings and in a high spatial
resolution 70''x70'' map of HubbleV. We compare the spectra with HI
observations, obtained with the Australia Telescope Compact Array, of the same
regions. In combination with previous multi-line CO observations, we perform a
preliminary investigation of the physical conditions in HubbleV using a simple
LTE model. We estimate the mass of the HubbleV region and the H_2/I_CO(3-2)
conversion factor. Also, we show that HubbleV is located very near the
line-width versus size relation traced by the Milky Way and LMC molecular
clouds.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the Astronomy &
Astrophysics Letters special issue on the APEX science verificatio
Search for LBV Candidates in the M33 Galaxy
A total of 185 luminous blue variable (LBV) candidates with V < 18.5 and B-V
< 0.35 are selected based on the photometrical Survey of Local Group Galaxies
made by P. Massey et al. 2006. The candidates were selected using aperture
photometry of H-alpha images. The primary selection criterion is that the
prospective candidate should be a blue star with H-aplha emission. In order not
to miss appreciably reddened LBV candidates, we compose an additional list of
25 presumably reddened (0.35 < B-V < 1.2, V < 18.5) emission star candidates. A
comparison with the list of known variables in the M33 galaxy showed 29% of our
selected candidates to be photometrically variable. We also find our list to
agree well with the lists of emission-line objects obtained in earlier papers
using different methods.Comment: 6 figure
The isolated interacting galaxy pair NGC 5426/27 (Arp 271)
We present H alpha observations of the isolated interacting galaxy pair NGC
5426/27 using the scanning Fabry-Perot interferometer PUMA. The velocity field,
various kinematical parameters and rotation curve for each galaxy were derived.
The FWHM map and the residual velocities map were also computed to study the
role of non-circular motions of the gas. Most of these motions can be
associated with the presence of spiral arms and structure such as central bars.
We found a small bar-like structure in NGC 5426, a distorted velocity field for
NGC 5427 and a bridge-like feature between both galaxies which seems to be
associated with NGC 5426. Using the observed rotation curves, a range of
possible masses was computed for each galaxy. These were compared with the
orbital mass of the pair derived from the relative motion of the participants.
The rotation curve of each galaxy was also used to fit different mass
distribution models considering the most common theoretical dark halo models.
An analysis of the interaction process is presented and a possible 3D scenario
for this encounter is also suggested.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figures, to be published in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Structure of the Galaxies in the NGC 80 Group
BV-bands photometric data obtained at the 6-m telescope of the Special
Astrophysical Observatory are used to analyze the structure of 13 large disk
galaxies in the NGC 80 group. Nine of the 13 galaxies under consideration are
classified by us as lenticular galaxies. The stellar populations in the
galaxies are very different, from old ones with ages of T>10 Gyrs (IC 1541) to
relatively young, with the ages of T<2-3 Gyr (IC 1548, NGC 85). In one case,
current star formation is known (UCM 0018+2216). In most of the galaxies, more
precisely in all of them more luminous than M(B) -18, two-tiered
(`antitruncated') stellar disks are detected, whose radial surface brightness
profiles can be fitted by two exponential segments with different scalelengths
-- shorter near the center and longer at the periphery. All dwarf S0 galaxies
with single-scalelength exponential disks are close companions to giant
galaxies. Except for this fact, no dependence of the properties of S0 galaxies
on distance from the center of the group is found. Morphological traces of
minor merger are found in the lenticular galaxy NGC 85. Basing on the last two
points, we conclude that the most probable mechanisms for the transformation of
spirals into lenticular galaxies in groups are gravitational ones, namely,
minor mergers and tidal interactions.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, slightly improved version of the paper published
in the December, 2009, issue of the Astronomy Report
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