1,642 research outputs found
Modeling the Radio Background from the First Black Holes at Cosmic Dawn: Implications for the 21 cm Absorption Amplitude
We estimate the 21 cm Radio Background from accretion onto the first
intermediate-mass Black Holes between and .
Combining potentially optimistic, but plausible, scenarios for black hole
formation and growth with empirical correlations between luminosity and
radio-emission observed in low-redshift active galactic nuclei, we find that a
model of black holes forming in molecular cooling halos is able to produce a 21
cm background that exceeds the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) at though models involving larger halo masses are not entirely excluded. Such
a background could explain the surprisingly large amplitude of the 21 cm
absorption feature recently reported by the EDGES collaboration. Such black
holes would also produce significant X-ray emission and contribute to the
keV soft X-ray background at the level of
erg sec cm deg, consistent with existing constraints. In
order to avoid heating the IGM over the EDGES trough, these black holes would
need to be obscured by Hydrogen column depths of . Such black holes would avoid violating contraints on
the CMB optical depth from Planck if their UV photon escape fractions were
below , which would be a natural result of
imposed by an unheated IGM.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted to ApJ, replacement to match submitted
versio
Corneal cross-linking versus standard care in children with keratoconus - a randomised, multicentre, observer-masked trial of efficacy and safety (KERALINK): a statistical analysis plan
Background: The KERALINK trial tests the hypothesis that corneal cross-linking (CXL) treatment reduces the
progression of keratoconus in comparison to standard care in patients aged 10–16 years. This article describes the
statistical analysis plan for this trial as an update to the published protocol. It is written before the end of the
patient follow-up, while the outcome of the trial is still unknown.
Design and methods: KERALINK is a randomised controlled, observer-masked, multicentre trial in progressive
keratoconus comparing epithelium-off CXL with standard care, including spectacles or contact lenses as necessary
for best-corrected acuity. Keratoconus is a disorder of the shape of the cornea in which the normally round domeshaped clear front window of the eye (cornea) thins progressively leading to a cone-like bulge. This impairs the
ability of the eye to focus properly, causing reduced vision which requires spectacle or contact lens wear or, in a
minority of patients, eventually corneal replacement by a transplant for best vision. The primary outcome measure
is the between-group difference in K2 at 18 months adjusted for K2 at baseline examination. K2 is the value of the
steepest corneal meridian as measured on Pentacam topography. Secondary outcomes are keratoconus
progression, time to keratoconus progression, visual acuity, refraction, apical corneal thickness and adverse events.
Patient-reported effects will be explored by questionnaires. We describe in detail the statistical aspects of KERALINK:
the outcome measures, the sample size calculation, general analysis principles, the planned descriptive statistics and
statistical models, and planned subgroup and sensitivity analyses.
Discussion: The KERALINK statistical analysis will provide comprehensive and precise information on the relative
effectiveness of the two treatments. The plan will be implemented in May 2020 when follow-up for the trial is completed.
Trial registration: EudraCT, 2016-001460-11. Registered on 19 May 201
Health news sharing is reflected in distributed reward-related brain activity
Neuroimaging has identified individual brain regions, but not yet whole-brain patterns, that correlate with the population impact of health messaging. We used neuroimaging to measure whole-brain responses to health news articles across two studies. Beyond activity in core reward value-related regions (ventral striatum, ventromedial prefrontal cortex), our approach leveraged whole-brain responses to each article, quantifying expression of a distributed pattern meta-analytically associated with reward valuation. The results indicated that expression of this whole-brain pattern was associated with population-level sharing of these articles beyond previously identified brain regions and self-report variables. Further, the efficacy of the meta-analytic pattern was not reducible to patterns within core reward value-related regions but rather depended on larger-scale patterns. Overall, this work shows that a reward-related pattern of whole-brain activity is related to health information sharing, advancing neuroscience models of the mechanisms underlying the spread of health information through a population
The imprints of primordial non-gaussianities on large-scale structure: scale dependent bias and abundance of virialized objects
We study the effect of primordial nongaussianity on large-scale structure,
focusing upon the most massive virialized objects. Using analytic arguments and
N-body simulations, we calculate the mass function and clustering of dark
matter halos across a range of redshifts and levels of nongaussianity. We
propose a simple fitting function for the mass function valid across the entire
range of our simulations. We find pronounced effects of nongaussianity on the
clustering of dark matter halos, leading to strongly scale-dependent bias. This
suggests that the large-scale clustering of rare objects may provide a
sensitive probe of primordial nongaussianity. We very roughly estimate that
upcoming surveys can constrain nongaussianity at the level |fNL| <~ 10,
competitive with forecasted constraints from the microwave background.Comment: 16 pages, color figures, revtex4. v2: added references and an
equation. submitted to PRD. v3: simplified derivation, additional reference
Limitation of energy deposition in classical N body dynamics
Energy transfers in collisions between classical clusters are studied with
Classical N Body Dynamics calculations for different entrance channels. It is
shown that the energy per particle transferred to thermalised classical
clusters does not exceed the energy of the least bound particle in the cluster
in its ``ground state''. This limitation is observed during the whole time of
the collision, except for the heaviest system.Comment: 13 pages, 15 figures, 1 tabl
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