146 research outputs found
Evolution of Global Relativistic Jets: Collimations and Expansion with kKHI and the Weibel Instability
One of the key open questions in the study of relativistic jets is their
interaction with the environment. Here, we study the initial evolution of both
electron-proton and electron-positron relativistic jets, focusing on their
lateral interaction with the ambient plasma. We trace the generation and
evolution of the toroidal magnetic field generated by both kinetic
Kelvin-Helmholtz (kKH) and Mushroom instabilities (MI). This magnetic field
collimates the jet. We show that in electron-proton jet, electrons are
perpendicularly accelerated with jet collimation. The magnetic polarity
switches from the clockwise to anti-clockwise in the middle of jet, as the
instabilities weaken. For the electron-positron jet, we find strong mixture of
electron-positron with the ambient plasma, that results in the creation of a
bow shock. Merger of magnetic field current filaments generate density bumps
which initiate a forward shock. The strong mixing between jet and ambient
particles prevents full development of the jet on the studied scale. Our
results therefore provide a direct evidence for both jet collimation and
particle acceleration in the created bow shock. Differences in the magnetic
field structures generated by electron-proton and electron-positron jets may
contribute to observable differences in the polarized properties of emission by
electrons.Comment: 25 pages, 12 figures, ApJ, accepte
Particle Acceleration in Relativistic Electron-positron Jets with Helical Magnetic Fields
The properties of relativistic jets, their interaction with the ambient
environment and particle acceleration due to kinetic instabilities are studied
self-consistently with Particle-in-Cell (PIC) simulations. In this work we
study how a relativistic electron-positron jet containing a helical magnetic
field evolves by focusing on its interaction with the external ambient plasma.
Particularly, 3D PIC simulations are performed using a longer simulation system
than previous studies with an embedded helical magnetic field. An important key
issue in this work is how such a magnetic field affects an electron-positron
jet and how this excites kinetic instabilities such as the Weibel instability
(WI), the kinetic Kelvin-Helmholtz instability (kKHI) and others by further
focusing on how particles accelerate. We do find that kinetic instabilities
along with generated magnetic turbulence are present and consequently
accelerate particles. At the linear stage we observe recollimation-like
features at the center of the simulated jet and later-on as the
electron-positron jet evolves, the magnetic fields generated by the
instabilities become untangled and reorganized into a new topology near the
non-linear phase. We additionally report indications of reconnection near the
end of the non-linear stage, before the magnetic-field becomes untangled, as
electrons get accelerated by multiple magnetic islands in the jet. In the
present study the untangled magnetic field becomes turbulent without any
reformation as it happened in our previous study of an electron-proton jet,
which we will use to additionally compare the present results, obtaining
important insights about the nature of these phenomena applicable to
high-energy astrophysical environments such as Active Galactic Nuclei jets and
Gamma-ray bursts.Comment: 12 pages, 24 figures, submitted to MNRAS Journa
Atypical Neurogenesis in Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells From Autistic Individuals
BACKGROUND: Autism is a heterogeneous collection of disorders with a complex molecular underpinning. Evidence from postmortem brain studies have indicated that early prenatal development may be altered in autism. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) generated from individuals with autism with macrocephaly also indicate prenatal development as a critical period for this condition. But little is known about early altered cellular events during prenatal stages in autism. METHODS: iPSCs were generated from 9 unrelated individuals with autism without macrocephaly and with heterogeneous genetic backgrounds, and 6 typically developing control individuals. iPSCs were differentiated toward either cortical or midbrain fates. Gene expression and high throughput cellular phenotyping was used to characterize iPSCs at different stages of differentiation. RESULTS: A subset of autism-iPSC cortical neurons were RNA-sequenced to reveal autism-specific signatures similar to postmortem brain studies, indicating a potential common biological mechanism. Autism-iPSCs differentiated toward a cortical fate displayed impairments in the ability to self-form into neural rosettes. In addition, autism-iPSCs demonstrated significant differences in rate of cell type assignment of cortical precursors and dorsal and ventral forebrain precursors. These cellular phenotypes occurred in the absence of alterations in cell proliferation during cortical differentiation, differing from previous studies. Acquisition of cell fate during midbrain differentiation was not different between control- and autism-iPSCs. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our data indicate that autism-iPSCs diverge from control-iPSCs at a cellular level during early stage of neurodevelopment. This suggests that unique developmental differences associated with autism may be established at early prenatal stages
The Pierre Auger Observatory III: Other Astrophysical Observations
Astrophysical observations of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays with the Pierre
Auger ObservatoryComment: Contributions to the 32nd International Cosmic Ray Conference,
Beijing, China, August 201
Measurement of the Depth of Maximum of Extensive Air Showers above 10^18 eV
We describe the measurement of the depth of maximum, Xmax, of the
longitudinal development of air showers induced by cosmic rays. Almost four
thousand events above 10^18 eV observed by the fluorescence detector of the
Pierre Auger Observatory in coincidence with at least one surface detector
station are selected for the analysis. The average shower maximum was found to
evolve with energy at a rate of (106 +35/-21) g/cm^2/decade below 10^(18.24 +/-
0.05) eV and (24 +/- 3) g/cm^2/decade above this energy. The measured
shower-to-shower fluctuations decrease from about 55 to 26 g/cm^2. The
interpretation of these results in terms of the cosmic ray mass composition is
briefly discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication by PR
Operations of and Future Plans for the Pierre Auger Observatory
Technical reports on operations and features of the Pierre Auger Observatory,
including ongoing and planned enhancements and the status of the future
northern hemisphere portion of the Observatory. Contributions to the 31st
International Cosmic Ray Conference, Lodz, Poland, July 2009.Comment: Contributions to the 31st ICRC, Lodz, Poland, July 200
Anisotropy and chemical composition of ultra-high energy cosmic rays using arrival directions measured by the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Collaboration has reported evidence for anisotropy in the
distribution of arrival directions of the cosmic rays with energies
eV. These show a correlation with the distribution
of nearby extragalactic objects, including an apparent excess around the
direction of Centaurus A. If the particles responsible for these excesses at
are heavy nuclei with charge , the proton component of the
sources should lead to excesses in the same regions at energies . We here
report the lack of anisotropies in these directions at energies above
(for illustrative values of ). If the anisotropies
above are due to nuclei with charge , and under reasonable
assumptions about the acceleration process, these observations imply stringent
constraints on the allowed proton fraction at the lower energies
The exposure of the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory
The Pierre Auger Observatory is a detector for ultra-high energy cosmic rays.
It consists of a surface array to measure secondary particles at ground level
and a fluorescence detector to measure the development of air showers in the
atmosphere above the array. The "hybrid" detection mode combines the
information from the two subsystems. We describe the determination of the
hybrid exposure for events observed by the fluorescence telescopes in
coincidence with at least one water-Cherenkov detector of the surface array. A
detailed knowledge of the time dependence of the detection operations is
crucial for an accurate evaluation of the exposure. We discuss the relevance of
monitoring data collected during operations, such as the status of the
fluorescence detector, background light and atmospheric conditions, that are
used in both simulation and reconstruction.Comment: Paper accepted by Astroparticle Physic
- …