846 research outputs found
Molecule mapping of HR8799b using OSIRIS on Keck: Strong detection of water and carbon monoxide, but no methane
Context. In 2015, Barman et al. (ApJ, 804, 61) presented detections of
absorption from water, carbon monoxide, and methane in the atmosphere of the
directly imaged exoplanet HR8799b using integral field spectroscopy (IFS) with
OSIRIS on the Keck II telescope. We recently devised a new method to analyse
IFU data, called molecule mapping, searching for high-frequency signatures of
particular molecules in an IFU data cube.
Aims. The aim of this paper is to use the molecule mapping technique to
search for the previously detected spectral signatures in HR8799b using the
same data, allowing a comparison of molecule mapping with previous methods.
Methods. The medium-resolution H- and K-band pipeline-reduced archival data
were retrieved from the Keck archive facility. Telluric and stellar lines were
removed from each spectrum in the data cube, after which the residuals were
cross-correlated with model spectra of carbon monoxide, water, and methane.
Results. Both carbon monoxide and water are clearly detected at high
signal-to-noise, however, methane is not retrieved.
Conclusions. Molecule mapping works very well on the OSIRIS data of exoplanet
HR8799b. However, it is not evident why methane is detected in the original
analysis, but not with the molecule mapping technique. Possible causes could be
the presence of telluric residuals, different spectral filtering techniques, or
the use of different methane models. We do note that in the original analysis
methane was only detected in the K-band, while the H-band methane signal could
be expected to be comparably strong. More sensitive observations with the JWST
will be capable of confirming or disproving the presence of methane in this
planet at high confidence.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures and 2 tables, accepted by A&
Unscheduled DNA synthesis in xeroderma pigmentosum cells after microinjection of yeast photoreactivating enzyme.
Photoreactivating enzyme (PRE) from yeast causes a light-dependent reduction of UV-induced unscheduled DNA synthesis (UDS) when injected into the cytoplasm of repair-proficieint human fibroblasts (Zwetsloot et al., 1985). This result indicates that the exogenous PRE monomerizers UV-induced dimers in these cells competing with the endogenous excision repair. In this paper we present the results of the injection of yeast PRE on (residual) UDS in fibroblasts from different excision-deficient XP-strains representing complementation groups A, C, D, E, F, H and I (all displaying more than 10% of the UDS of wild-type
A spectral survey of an ultra-hot Jupiter: Detection of metals in the transmission spectrum of KELT-9 b
Context: KELT-9 b exemplifies a newly emerging class of short-period gaseous
exoplanets that tend to orbit hot, early type stars - termed ultra-hot
Jupiters. The severe stellar irradiation heats their atmospheres to
temperatures of K, similar to the photospheres of dwarf stars. Due
to the absence of aerosols and complex molecular chemistry at such
temperatures, these planets offer the potential of detailed chemical
characterisation through transit and day-side spectroscopy. Studies of their
chemical inventories may provide crucial constraints on their formation process
and evolution history.
Aims: To search the optical transmission spectrum of KELT-9 b for absorption
lines by metals using the cross-correlation technique.
Methods: We analyse 2 transits observed with the HARPS-N spectrograph. We use
an isothermal equilibrium chemistry model to predict the transmission spectrum
for each of the neutral and singly-ionized atoms with atomic numbers between 3
and 78. Of these, we identify the elements that are expected to have spectral
lines in the visible wavelength range and use those as cross-correlation
templates.
Results: We detect absorption of Na I, Cr II, Sc II and Y II, and confirm
previous detections of Mg I, Fe I, Fe II and Ti II. In addition, we find
evidence of Ca I, Cr I, Co I, and Sr II that will require further observations
to verify. The detected absorption lines are significantly deeper than model
predictions, suggesting that material is transported to higher altitudes where
the density is enhanced compared to a hydrostatic profile. There appears to be
no significant blue-shift of the absorption spectrum due to a net day-to-night
side wind. In particular, the strong Fe II feature is shifted by km~s, consistent with zero. Using the orbital velocity of the
planet we revise the steller and planetary masses and radii.Comment: Submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysics on January 18, 2019. Accepted
on May 3, 2019. 26 pages, 11 figure
Molecular and functional analysis of the XPBC/ERCC-3 promoter: Transcription activity is dependent on the integrity of an Sp1 binding element.
The human XPBC/ERCC-3 gene, which corrects the excision-repair defect in xeroderma pigmentosum group B cells and the UV-sensitive CHO mutant 27-1 cells, appears to be expressed constitutively in various cell types and tissues. We have analysed the structure and functionality of the XPBC/ERCC-3 promoter. Transcription of the XPBC/ERCC-3 gene is initiated from heterogeneous sites, with a major startpoint mapped at position -54 (relative to the translation start codon ATG). The promoter region does not possess classical TATA and CAAT elements, but it is GC-rich and contains three putative Sp1-binding sites. In addition, there are two elements related to the cyclic AMP (cAMP)-response element (CRE) and the 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate-response element (TRE) in the 5'-flanking reg
The Mantis Network III: Expanding the limits of chemical searches within ultra hot-Jupiters. New detections of Ca I, V I, Ti I, Cr I, Ni I, Sr II, Ba II, and Tb II in KELT-9 b
Cross-correlation spectroscopy is an invaluable tool in the study of
exoplanets. However, aliasing between spectral lines makes it vulnerable to
systematic biases. This work strives to constrain the aliases of the
cross-correlation function to provide increased confidence in the detections of
elements in the atmospheres of ultra-hot Jupiters (UHJs) observed with
high-resolution spectrographs. We use a combination of archival transit
observations of the UHJ KELT-9 b obtained with the HARPS-N and CARMENES
spectrographs and show that it is possible to leverage each instrument's
strengths to produce robust detections at substantially reduced
signal-to-noise. Aliases that become present at low signal-to-noise regimes are
constrained through a linear regression model. We confirm previous detections
of H I, Na I, Mg I, Ca II, Sc II, Ti II, Cr II, Fe I, and Fe II, and detect
eight new species Ca I, Cr I, Ni I, Sr II, Tb II at the 5 level and Ti
I, V I, Ba II above the 3 level. Ionised terbium (Tb II) has never
before been seen in an exoplanet atmosphere. We further conclude that a
5 threshold may not provide a reliable measure of confidence when used
to claim detections, unless the systematics in the cross-correlation function
caused by aliases are taken into account.Comment: Accepted for publication on the 1st of April 202
Detached-Eddy Simulation of the Vortical Flowfield about the VFE-2 DeltaWing
The numerical simulation of the flow around a 65° delta wing configuration with rounded leading edges is presented. For the numerical simulation the Cobalt Code uses a cell-centered unstructured hybrid mesh approach. Several numerical results are presented for the steady RANS equations as well as for DES and DDES hybrid approaches. The simulations are done as part of the NATO RTO/AVT 113 working group focusing on experimental and numerical research on delta wing configurations with rounded leading edges. Within this paper the focus is related to the dual primary vortex flow topology, especially the sensitivity of the flow to angle of attack and Reynolds number effects. Reasonable results are obtained with both steady RANS and SA-DDES simulations. The results are compared and verified by experimental data, including surface pressure and pressure sensitive paint results. The impact of transition is assessed, and recommendations for improving future simulations are made
Genomic characterization of the human DNA excision repair gene ERCC-1.
In this report the genomic characterization of the human excision repair gene ERCC-1 is presented. The gene consists of 10 exons spread over approximately 15 kb. By means of a transfection assay the ERCC-1 promoter was confined to a region of + 170 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site. Classical promoter elements like CAAT, TATA and GC-boxes are absent from this region. Furthermore, ERCC-1 transcription is not UV-inducible. A possible explanation is provided for the previously reported alternative splicing of exon VIII. Analysis of ERCC-1 cDNA clones revealed the occurrence of differential polyadenylation which gives ERCC-1 transcripts of 3.4 and 3.8 kb in addition to the major 1.1 kb mRNA. Apparent evolutionary conservation of differential polyadenylation of ERCC-1 transcripts suggests a possible role for this mode of RNA processing in the ERCC-1 repair function
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