Molecular Hydrogen Emission Lines in Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer Observations of Mira B

We present new Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) observations of Mira A's wind-accreting companion star, Mira B. We find that the strongest lines in the FUSE spectrum are H2 lines fluoresced by H I Lyman-alpha. A previously analyzed Hubble Space Telescope (HST) spectrum also shows numerous Lyman-alpha fluoresced H2 lines. The HST lines are all Lyman band lines, while the FUSE H2 lines are mostly Werner band lines, many of them never before identified in an astrophysical spectrum. We combine the FUSE and HST data to refine estimates of the physical properties of the emitting H2 gas. We find that the emission can be reproduced by an H2 layer with a temperature and column density of T=3900 K and log N(H2)=17.1, respectively. Another similarity between the HST and FUSE data, besides the prevalence of H2 emission, is the surprising weakness of the continuum and high temperature emission lines, suggesting that accretion onto Mira B has weakened dramatically. The UV fluxes observed by HST on 1999 August 2 were previously reported to be over an order of magnitude lower than those observed by HST and the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) from 1979--1995. Analysis of the FUSE data reveals that Mira B was still in a similarly low state on 2001 November 22.Comment: 23 pages, 6 figures; AASTEX v5.0 plus EPSF extensions in mkfig.sty; accepted by Ap

Triatomic continuum resonances for large negative scattering lengths

We study triatomic systems in the regime of large negative scattering lengths which may be more favorable for the formation of condensed trimers in trapped ultracold monoatomic gases as the competition with the weakly bound dimers is absent. The manipulation of the scattering length can turn an excited weakly bound Efimov trimer into a continuum resonance. Its energy and width are described by universal scaling functions written in terms of the scattering length and the binding energy, $B_3$, of the shallowest triatomic molecule. For $a^{-1}<-0.0297 \sqrt{m B_3/\hbar^2}$ the excited Efimov state turns into a continuum resonance.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Extremely high energy hadron and gamma-ray families(3). Core structure of the halo of superfamily

The study of the core structure seen in the halo of Mini-Andromeda 3(M.A.3), which was observed in the Chacaltaya emulsion chamber, is presented. On the assumption that lateral distribution of darkness of the core is exponential type, i.e., D=D0exp(-R/r0), subtraction of D from halo darkness is performed until the cores are gone. The same quantity on cores obtained by this way are summarized. The analysis is preliminary and is going to be developed

Molecular Basis for poly(A) RNP Architecture and Recognition by the Pan2-Pan3 Deadenylase

The stability of eukaryotic mRNAs is dependent on a ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex of poly(A)-binding proteins (PABPC1/Pab1) organized on the poly(A) tail. This poly(A) RNP not only protects mRNAs from premature degradation but also stimulates the Pan2-Pan3 deadenylase complex to catalyze the first step of poly(A) tail shortening. We reconstituted this process in vitro using recombinant proteins and show that Pan2-Pan3 associates with and degrades poly(A) RNPs containing two or more Pab1 molecules. The cryo-EM structure of Pan2-Pan3 in complex with a poly(A) RNP composed of 90 adenosines and three Pab1 protomers shows how the oligomerization interfaces of Pab1 are recognized by conserved features of the deadenylase and thread the poly(A) RNA substrate into the nuclease active site. The structure reveals the basis for the periodic repeating architecture at the 3' end of cytoplasmic mRNAs. This illustrates mechanistically how RNA-bound Pab1 oligomers act as rulers for poly(A) tail length over the mRNAs' lifetime.We would like to thank ... the MPIB cryo-EM, and core facilities ..

Probing the Efimov discrete scaling in atom-molecule collision

The discrete Efimov scaling behavior, well-known in the low-energy spectrum of three-body bound systems for large scattering lengths (unitary limit), is identified in the energy dependence of atom-molecule elastic cross-section in mass imbalanced systems. That happens in the collision of a heavy atom with mass $m_H$ with a weakly-bound dimer formed by the heavy atom and a lighter one with mass $m_L \ll m_H$. Approaching the heavy-light unitary limit the $s-$wave elastic cross-section $\sigma$ will present a sequence of zeros/minima at collision energies following closely the Efimov geometrical law. Our results open a new perspective to detect the discrete scaling behavior from low-energy scattering data, which is timely in view of the ongoing experiments with ultra-cold binary mixtures having strong mass asymmetries, such as Lithium and Caesium or Lithium and Ytterbium

On-demand single-photon state generation via nonlinear absorption

We propose a method for producing on-demand single-photon states based on collision-induced exchanges of photons and unbalanced linear absorption between two single-mode light fields. These two effects result in an effective nonlinear absorption of photons in one of the modes, which can lead to single photon states. A quantum nonlinear attenuator based on such a mechanism can absorb photons in a normal input light pulse and terminate the absorption at a single-photon state. Because the output light pulses containing single photons preserve the properties of the input pulses, we expect this method to be a means for building a highly controllable single photon source.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, to appear in PRA. To be published in PR

New Measurement of the Relative Scintillation Efficiency of Xenon Nuclear Recoils Below 10 keV

Liquid xenon is an important detection medium in direct dark matter experiments, which search for low-energy nuclear recoils produced by the elastic scattering of WIMPs with quarks. The two existing measurements of the relative scintillation efficiency of nuclear recoils below 20 keV lead to inconsistent extrapolations at lower energies. This results in a different energy scale and thus sensitivity reach of liquid xenon dark matter detectors. We report a new measurement of the relative scintillation efficiency below 10 keV performed with a liquid xenon scintillation detector, optimized for maximum light collection. Greater than 95% of the interior surface of this detector was instrumented with photomultiplier tubes, giving a scintillation yield of 19.6 photoelectrons/keV electron equivalent for 122 keV gamma rays. We find that the relative scintillation efficiency for nuclear recoils of 5 keV is 0.14, staying constant around this value up to 10 keV. For higher energy recoils we measure a value around 20%, consistent with previously reported data. In light of this new measurement, the XENON10 experiment's results on spin-independent WIMP-nucleon cross section, which were calculated assuming a constant 0.19 relative scintillation efficiency, change from $8.8\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ to $9.9\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ for WIMPs of mass 100 GeV/c$^2$, and from $4.4\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ to $5.6\times10^{-44}$ cm$^2$ for WIMPs of mass 30 GeV/c$^2$.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figure