123 research outputs found
Radiation properties of extreme nulling pulsar J1502-5653
We report on radiation properties of extreme nulling pulsar J1502-5653, by
analyzing the data acquired from the Parkes 64-m telescope at 1374 MHz. The
radio emission from this pulsar exhibits sequences of several tens to several
hundreds consecutive burst pulses, separated by null pulses, and the appearance
of the emission seems quasi-periodic. The null fraction from the data is
estimated to be 93.6%. No emission is detected in the integrated profile of all
null pulses. Systematic modulations of pulse intensity and phase are found at
the beginning of burst-pulse sequences just after null. The intensity usually
rises to a maximum for the first few pulses, then declines exponentially
afterwards, and becomes stable after few tens of pulse periods. The peak phase
appears at later longitudes for the first pulse, then drifts to earlier
longitudes rapidly, and then systematic drifting gradually vanishes while the
intensity becomes stable. In this pulsar, the intensity variation and phase
modulation of pulses are correlated in a short duration after the emission
starts following a null. Observed properties of the pulsar are compared with
other nulling pulsars published previously, and the possible explanation for
phase modulation is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by MNRA
PSR J1829+2456: a relativistic binary pulsar
We report the discovery of a new binary pulsar, PSR J1829+2456, found during
a mid-latitude drift-scan survey with the Arecibo telescope. Our initial timing
observations show the 41-ms pulsar to be in a 28-hr, slightly eccentric, binary
orbit. The advance of periastron, omegadot = 0.28 +/- 0.01 deg/yr is derived
from our timing observations spanning 200 days. Assuming that the advance of
periastron is purely relativistic and a reasonable range of neutron star masses
for PSR J1829+2456 we constrain the companion mass to be between 1.22 Msun and
1.38 Msun, making it likely to be another neutron star. We also place a firm
upper limit on the pulsar mass of 1.38 Msun. The expected coalescence time due
to gravitational-wave emission is long (~60 Gyr) and this system will not
significantly impact upon calculations of merger rates that are relevant to
upcoming instruments such as LIGO.Comment: Accepted MNRAS, 5 pages, 3 figure
A Modified Scalar-Tensor-Vector Gravity Theory and the Constraint on its Parameters
A gravity theory called scalar-tensor-vector gravity (STVG) has been recently
developed and succeeded in solar system, astrophysical and cosmological scales
without dark matter [J. W. Moffat, J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys. 03, 004 (2006)].
However, two assumptions have been used: (i) , where and
are and in the Schwarzschild coordinates (static and
spherically symmetric); (ii) scalar field in the solar system. These
two assumptions actually imply that the standard parametrized post-Newtonian
parameter . In this paper, we relax these two assumptions and study
STVG further by using the post-Newtonian (PN) approximation approach. With
abandoning the assumptions, we find in general cases of STVG.
Then, a version of modified STVG (MSTVG) is proposed through introducing a
coupling function of scalar field G: . We have derived the metric
and equations of motion (EOM) in 1PN for general matter without specific
equation of state and point masses firstly. Subsequently, the secular
periastron precession of binary pulsars in harmonic coordinates
is given. After discussing two PPN parameters ( and ) and two
Yukawa parameters ( and ), we use of four
binary pulsars data (PSR B1913+16, PSR B1534+12, PSR J0737-3039 and PSR
B2127+11C) to constrain the Yukawa parameters for MSTVG:
m and if
we fix .Comment: 39 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PR
The Binary Pulsar PSR 1908+00 in NGC 6760
We present orbital parameters of the 3.6 ms binary pulsar 1908 +00 in the globular cluster NGC 6760. The orbital period is 3.4 hr, and the mass function is 3 x 10^6 M_⊙ , implying a minimum companion mass of 0.018 M_⊙ . The companion is probably degenerate; and if it is hydrogen, it is close to overflowing its Roche lobe. The only other millisecond binary radio pulsar systems with orbital period < 10 hr and mass function below 10-3 M_⊙ are the eclipsing pulsar 1957+20 and 1744-24A, and the very low mass binary 0021-721.
These pulsars are ablating their companions and may be the progenitors of isolated millisecond pulsars. PSR 1908+00 shows no evidence for long-duration eclipses as are seen in 1744-24A, but short-duration eclipses
as in 1957 + 20 are not excluded
On the Pulse Intensity Modulation of PSR B0823+26
We investigate the radio emission behaviour of PSR B0823+26, a pulsar which
is known to undergo pulse nulling, using an 153-d intensive sequence of
observations. The pulsar is found to exhibit both short (~min) and unusually
long-term (~hours or more) nulls, which not only suggest that the source
possesses a distribution of nulling timescales, but that it may also provide a
link between conventional nulling pulsars and longer-term intermittent pulsars.
Despite seeing evidence for periodicities in the pulsar radio emission, we are
uncertain whether they are intrinsic to the source, due to the influence of
observation sampling on the periodicity analysis performed. Remarkably, we find
evidence to suggest that the pulsar may undergo pre-ignition periods of
'emission flickering', that is rapid changes between radio-on (active) and -off
(null) emission states, before transitioning to a steady radio-emitting phase.
We find no direct evidence to indicate that the object exhibits any change in
spin-down rate between its radio-on and -off emission modes. We do, however,
place an upper limit on this variation to be <= 6 % from simulations. This
indicates that emission cessation in pulsars does not necessarily lead to large
changes in spin-down rate. Moreover, we show that such changes in spin-down
rate will not be discernible in the majority of objects which exhibit
short-term (<= 1 d) emission cessation. In light of this, we predict that many
pulsars could exhibit similar magnetospheric and emission properties to PSR
B0823+26, but which have not yet been observed.Comment: 13 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS; 1 reference
correcte
Coalescing Binary Neutron Stars
Coalescing compact binaries with neutron star or black hole components
provide the most promising sources of gravitational radiation for detection by
the LIGO/VIRGO/GEO/TAMA laser interferometers now under construction. This fact
has motivated several different theoretical studies of the inspiral and
hydrodynamic merging of compact binaries. Analytic analyses of the inspiral
waveforms have been performed in the Post-Newtonian approximation. Analytic and
numerical treatments of the coalescence waveforms from binary neutron stars
have been performed using Newtonian hydrodynamics and the quadrupole radiation
approximation. Numerical simulations of coalescing black hole and neutron star
binaries are also underway in full general relativity. Recent results from each
of these approaches will be described and their virtues and limitations
summarized.Comment: Invited Topical Review paper to appear in Classical and Quantum
Gravity, 35 pages, including 5 figure
Post-Newtonian SPH calculations of binary neutron star coalescence. II. Binary mass ratio, equation of state, and spin dependence
Using our new Post-Newtonian SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamics) code, we
study the final coalescence and merging of neutron star (NS) binaries. We vary
the stiffness of the equation of state (EOS) as well as the initial binary mass
ratio and stellar spins. Results are compared to those of Newtonian
calculations, with and without the inclusion of the gravitational radiation
reaction. We find a much steeper decrease in the gravity wave peak strain and
luminosity with decreasing mass ratio than would be predicted by simple
point-mass formulae. For NS with softer EOS (which we model as simple
polytropes) we find a stronger gravity wave emission, with a
different morphology than for stiffer EOS (modeled as polytropes as
in our previous work). We also calculate the coalescence of NS binaries with an
irrotational initial condition, and find that the gravity wave signal is
relatively suppressed compared to the synchronized case, but shows a very
significant second peak of emission. Mass shedding is also greatly reduced, and
occurs via a different mechanism than in the synchronized case. We discuss the
implications of our results for gravity wave astronomy with laser
interferometers such as LIGO, and for theoretical models of gamma-ray bursts
(GRBs) based on NS mergers.Comment: RevTeX, 38 pages, 24 figures, Minor Corrections, to appear in Phys.
Rev.
The radii of the nearby K5V and K7V stars 61 Cyg A & B - CHARA/FLUOR interferometry and CESAM2k modeling
Context: The main sequence binary star 61 Cyg (K5V+K7V) is our nearest
stellar neighbour in the northern hemisphere. This proximity makes it a
particularly well suited system for very high accuracy interferometric radius
measurements. Aims: Our goal is to constrain the poorly known evolutionary
status and age of this bright binary star. Methods: We obtained high accuracy
interferometric observations in the infrared K' band, using the CHARA/FLUOR
instrument. We then computed evolutionary models of 61 Cyg A & B with the
CESAM2k code. As model constraints, we used a combination of observational
parameters from classical observation methods (photometry, spectroscopy) as
well as our new interferometric radii. Results: The measured limb darkened disk
angular diameters are theta_LD(A) = 1.775 +/- 0.013 mas and theta_LD(B) = 1.581
+/- 0.022 mas, respectively for 61 Cyg A and B. Considering the high accuracy
parallaxes available, these values translate into photospheric radii of R(A) =
0.665 +/- 0.005 Rsun and R(B) = 0.595 +/- 0.008 Rsun. The new radii constrain
efficiently the physical parameters adopted for the modeling of both stars,
allowing us to predict asteroseismic frequencies based on our best-fit models.
Conclusions: The CESAM2k evolutionary models indicate an age around 6 Gyrs and
are compatible with small values of the mixing length parameter. The
measurement of asteroseismic oscillation frequencies in 61 Cyg A & B would be
of great value to improve the modeling of this important fiducial stellar
system, in particular to better constrain the masses.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 8 page
Characterization of a Legionella pneumophila gene encoding a lipoprotein antigen
A prominent 19kDa surface antigen of Legionella pneumophila , cloned in Escherichia coli , was found to be intimately associated with peptidoglycan. The DNA region encoding this antigen was mapped on an 11.9kb plasmid by means of deletion analysis and transposon mutagenesis. PhoA + gene fusions, generated by Tn phoA insertions into this region, confirmed the presence of a gene encoding a secreted protein. PhoA + transposon insertions were also associated with loss of the 19 kDa antigen in immunoassay s using a monoclonal antibody (mAb1E9) and the replacement of the 19kDa antigen with larger fusion proteins in immunoblots using Legionella immune serum. A 1540bp PstI fragment carrying the gene was sequenced, and the open reading frame encoding the antigen was identified. The gene encodes a polypeptide 176 amino acid residues long and 18913Da in size. The presence of a signal sequence of 22 amino acids with a consensus sequence for cleavage by signal peptidase II indicates that the antigen is a lipoprotein, and striking similarity with peptidoglycan-associated lipoproteins (PALs) from E. coli (51% amino acid homology) and Haemophilus influenzae (55% homology) is noted. We conclude that the 19kDa antigen of L. pneumophila is the structural equivalent of the PAL found in other Gram-negative species and suggest that its post-translational acylation may explain its potency as an immunogen.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75712/1/j.1365-2958.1991.tb00824.x.pd
Single molecule tracking fluorescence microscopy in mitochondria reveals highly dynamic but confined movement of Tom40
Tom40 is an integral protein of the mitochondrial outer membrane, which as the central component of the Translocase of the Outer Membrane (TOM) complex forms a channel for protein import. We characterize the diffusion properties of individual Tom40 molecules fused to the photoconvertable fluorescent protein Dendra2 with millisecond temporal resolution. By imaging individual Tom40 molecules in intact isolated yeast mitochondria using photoactivated localization microscopy with sub-diffraction limited spatial precision, we demonstrate that Tom40 movement in the outer mitochondrial membrane is highly dynamic but confined in nature, suggesting anchoring of the TOM complex as a whole
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