3,035 research outputs found
The Chemsex study: drug use in sexual settings among gay and bisexual men in Lambeth, Southwark and Lewisham
Negative Komar Mass of Single Objects in Regular, Asymptotically Flat Spacetimes
We study two types of axially symmetric, stationary and asymptotically flat
spacetimes using highly accurate numerical methods. The one type contains a
black hole surrounded by a perfect fluid ring and the other a rigidly rotating
disc of dust surrounded by such a ring. Both types of spacetime are regular
everywhere (outside of the horizon in the case of the black hole) and fulfil
the requirements of the positive energy theorem. However, it is shown that both
the black hole and the disc can have negative Komar mass. Furthermore, there
exists a continuous transition from discs to black holes even when their Komar
masses are negative.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, document class iopart. v2: changes made
(including title) to coincide with published versio
Subdwarf B binaries in the Edinburgh-Cape Survey
We give an update of the results of a campaign to obtain orbital solutions of
subdwarf B stars from the Edinburgh-Cape survey (Stobie et al. 1997). To date
we have obtained blue spectra of 40 subdwarf B stars from the Edinburgh-Cape
catalogue using the grating spectrograph at the 1.9m Radcliffe telescope at the
South African Astronomical Observatory. We find that 17 out of these 40 are
certain binaries with a few other objects showing radial velocity variations of
small amplitude. The binary fraction found in our sample, after correcting for
our binary detection efficiency, is 48%. We have secured the orbital parameters
for 4 of the 17 systems and narrowed down the orbits of another 7 to a small
range of periods.Comment: To appear in Baltic Astronomy. Proceedings of the Second Meeting on
Hot Subdwarf Stars, La Palma, June 2005. Four pages, three figure
GRB 170817A-GW170817-AT 2017gfo and the observations of NS-NS, NS-WD and WD-WD mergers
The LIGO-Virgo Collaboration has announced the detection of GW170817 and has
associated it with GRB 170817A. These signals have been followed after 11 hours
by the optical and infrared emission of AT 2017gfo. The origin of this complex
phenomenon has been attributed to a neutron star-neutron star (NS-NS) merger.
In order to probe this association we confront our current understanding of the
gravitational waves and associated electromagnetic radiation with four observed
GRBs originating in binaries composed of different combinations NSs and white
dwarfs (WDs). We consider 1) GRB 090510 the prototype of NS-NS merger leading
to a black hole (BH); 2) GRB 130603B the prototype of a NS-NS merger leading to
massive NS (MNS) with an associated kilonova; 3) GRB 060614 the prototype of a
NS-WD merger leading to a MNS with an associated kilonova candidate; 4) GRB
170817A the prototype of a WD-WD merger leading to massive WD with an
associated AT 2017gfo-like emission. None of these systems support the above
mentioned association. The clear association between GRB 170817A and AT 2017gfo
has led to introduce a new model based on on a new subfamily of GRBs
originating from WD-WD mergers. We show how this novel model is in agreement
with the exceptional observations in the optical, infrared, X- and gamma-rays
of GRB 170817A-AT 2017gfo.Comment: version accepted for publication in JCAP. Missing references adde
General Relativistic Radiant Shock Waves in the Post-Quasistatic Approximation
An evolution of radiant shock wave front is considered in the framework of a
recently presented method to study self-gravitating relativistic spheres, whose
rationale becomes intelligible and finds full justification within the context
of a suitable definition of the post-quasistatic approximation. The spherical
matter configuration is divided into two regions by the shock and each side of
the interface having a different equation of state and anisotropic phase. In
order to simulate dissipation effects due to the transfer of photons and/or
neutrinos within the matter configuration, we introduce the flux factor, the
variable Eddington factor and a closure relation between them. As we expected
the strength of the shock increases the speed of the fluid to relativistic
values and for some critical ones is larger than light speed. In addition, we
find that energy conditions are very sensible to the anisotropy, specially the
strong one. As a special feature of the model, we find that the contribution of
the matter and radiation to the radial pressure are the same order of magnitude
as in the mant as in the core, moreover, in the core radiation pressure is
larger than matter pressure.Comment: To appear in Journal of Physics:Conference Series:"XXIX Spanish
Relativity Meeting (ERE 2006): Einstein's Legacy: From the Theoretical
Paradise to Astrophysical Observations
JPCam: A 1.2Gpixel camera for the J-PAS survey
JPCam is a 14-CCD mosaic camera, using the new e2v 9k-by-9k 10microm-pixel
16-channel detectors, to be deployed on a dedicated 2.55m wide-field telescope
at the OAJ (Observatorio Astrofisico de Javalambre) in Aragon, Spain. The
camera is designed to perform a Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) survey of
the northern sky. The J-PAS survey strategy will use 54 relatively narrow-band
(~13.8nm) filters equi-spaced between 370 and 920nm plus 3 broad-band filters
to achieve unprecedented photometric red-shift accuracies for faint galaxies
over ~8000 square degrees of sky. The cryostat, detector mosaic and read
electronics is being supplied by e2v under contract to J-PAS while the
mechanical structure, housing the shutter and filter assembly, is being
designed and constructed by a Brazilian consortium led by INPE (Instituto
Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais). Four sets of 14 filters are placed in the
ambient environment, just above the dewar window but directly in line with the
detectors, leading to a mosaic having ~10mm gaps between each CCD. The massive
500mm aperture shutter is expected to be supplied by the Argelander-Institut
fur Astronomie, Bonn. We will present an overview of JPCam, from the filter
configuration through to the CCD mosaic camera. A brief outline of the main
J-PAS science projects will be included.Comment: 11 pages and 9 figure
Neutrino oscillations within the induced gravitational collapse paradigm of long gamma-ray bursts
FAPESP - FUNDAĂĂO DE AMPARO Ă PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SĂO PAULOThe induced gravitational collapse paradigm of long gamma-ray bursts associated with supernovae (SNe) predicts a copious neutrino-antineutrino (nu(nu) over bar) emission owing to the hypercritical accretion process of SN ejecta onto a neutron star (NS) binary companion. The neutrino emission can reach luminosities of up to 10(57) MeV. s(-1), mean neutrino energies of 20 MeV, and neutrino densities of 10(31) cm(-3). Along their path from the vicinity of the NS surface outward, such neutrinos experience flavor transformations dictated by the neutrino-to-electron-density ratio. We determine the neutrino and electron on the accretion zone and use them to compute the neutrino flavor evolution. For normal and inverted neutrino mass hierarchies and within the two-flavor formalism (nu(e)nu(x)), we estimate the final electronic and nonelectronic neutrino content after two oscillation processes: (1) neutrino collective effects due to neutrino self-interactions where the neutrino density dominates, and (2) the Mikheyev-Smirnov-Wolfenstein effect, where the electron density dominates. We find that the final neutrino content is composed by similar to 55% (similar to 62%) of electronic neutrinos, i.e., nu(e) + (nu) over bar (e), for the normal (inverted) neutrino mass hierarchy. The results of this work are the first step toward the characterization of a novel source of astrophysical MeV neutrinos in addition to core-collapse SNe and, as such, deserve further attention.8522119FAPESP - FUNDAĂĂO DE AMPARO Ă PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SĂO PAULOFAPESP - FUNDAĂĂO DE AMPARO Ă PESQUISA DO ESTADO DE SĂO PAULO2016/00799-7AgĂȘncias de fomento estrangeiras apoiaram essa pesquisa, mais informaçÔes acesse artig
A fully automatic gridding method for cDNA microarray images
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Processing cDNA microarray images is a crucial step in gene expression analysis, since any errors in early stages affect subsequent steps, leading to possibly erroneous biological conclusions. When processing the underlying images, accurately separating the sub-grids and spots is extremely important for subsequent steps that include segmentation, quantification, normalization and clustering.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose a parameterless and fully automatic approach that first detects the sub-grids given the entire microarray image, and then detects the locations of the spots in each sub-grid. The approach, first, detects and corrects rotations in the images by applying an affine transformation, followed by a polynomial-time optimal multi-level thresholding algorithm used to find the positions of the sub-grids in the image and the positions of the spots in each sub-grid. Additionally, a new validity index is proposed in order to find the correct number of sub-grids in the image, and the correct number of spots in each sub-grid. Moreover, a refinement procedure is used to correct possible misalignments and increase the accuracy of the method.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Extensive experiments on real-life microarray images and a comparison to other methods show that the proposed method performs these tasks fully automatically and with a very high degree of accuracy. Moreover, unlike previous methods, the proposed approach can be used in various type of microarray images with different resolutions and spot sizes and does not need any parameter to be adjusted.</p
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