Pulsar timing arrays and the challenge of massive black hole binary astrophysics

Pulsar timing arrays (PTAs) are designed to detect gravitational waves (GWs) at nHz frequencies. The expected dominant signal is given by the superposition of all waves emitted by the cosmological population of supermassive black hole (SMBH) binaries. Such superposition creates an incoherent stochastic background, on top of which particularly bright or nearby sources might be individually resolved. In this contribution I describe the properties of the expected GW signal, highlighting its dependence on the overall binary population, the relation between SMBHs and their hosts, and their coupling with the stellar and gaseous environment. I describe the status of current PTA efforts, and prospect of future detection and SMBH binary astrophysics.Comment: 18 pages, 4 figures. To appear in the Proceedings of the 2014 Sant Cugat Forum on Astrophysics. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings, ed. C.Sopuerta (Berlin: Springer-Verlag

Differentially expressed genes reflect disease-induced rather than disease-causing changes in the transcriptome.

Comparing transcript levels between healthy and diseased individuals allows the identification of differentially expressed genes, which may be causes, consequences or mere correlates of the disease under scrutiny. We propose a method to decompose the observational correlation between gene expression and phenotypes driven by confounders, forward- and reverse causal effects. The bi-directional causal effects between gene expression and complex traits are obtained by Mendelian Randomization integrating summary-level data from GWAS and whole-blood eQTLs. Applying this approach to complex traits reveals that forward effects have negligible contribution. For example, BMI- and triglycerides-gene expression correlation coefficients robustly correlate with trait-to-expression causal effects (r <sub>BMI </sub> = 0.11, P <sub>BMI </sub> = 2.0 × 10 <sup>-51</sup> and r <sub>TG </sub> = 0.13, P <sub>TG </sub> = 1.1 × 10 <sup>-68</sup> ), but not detectably with expression-to-trait effects. Our results demonstrate that studies comparing the transcriptome of diseased and healthy subjects are more prone to reveal disease-induced gene expression changes rather than disease causing ones

Solvable Models of Domain Walls in N=1 Supergravity

A class of exactly solvable models of domain walls are worked out in D=4 ${\cal N}=1$ supergravity. We develop a method to embed globally supersymmetric theories with exact BPS domain wall solutions into supergravity, by introducing a gravitationally deformed superpotential. The gravitational deformation is natural in the spirit of maintaining the K\"ahler invariance. The solutions of the warp factor and the Killing spinor are also obtained. We find that three distinct behaviors of warp factors arise depending on the value of a constant term in the superpotential : exponentially decreasing in both sides of the wall, flat in one side and decreasing in the other, and increasing in one side and decreasing in the other. Only the first possibility gives the localized massless graviton zero mode. Models with multi-walls and models with runaway vacua are also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures; Misprints in three formulas are correcte

Low Frequency Flickering of TT Arietis:Hard and Soft X-ray Emission Region

Using archival ASCA observations of TT Arietis, X-ray energy spectra and power spectra of the intensity time series are presented for the first time. The energy spectra are well-fitted by a two continuum plasma emission model with temperatures around 1 keV and 10 keV. A coherent feature at about 0.643 mHz appeared in the power spectra during the observation.Comment: 9 pages in PostScript including figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysics and Space Science, available at http://astroa.physics.metu.edu.tr/preprints.htm

Pulsar-wind nebulae and magnetar outflows: observations at radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray wavelengths

We review observations of several classes of neutron-star-powered outflows: pulsar-wind nebulae (PWNe) inside shell supernova remnants (SNRs), PWNe interacting directly with interstellar medium (ISM), and magnetar-powered outflows. We describe radio, X-ray, and gamma-ray observations of PWNe, focusing first on integrated spectral-energy distributions (SEDs) and global spectral properties. High-resolution X-ray imaging of PWNe shows a bewildering array of morphologies, with jets, trails, and other structures. Several of the 23 so far identified magnetars show evidence for continuous or sporadic emission of material, sometimes associated with giant flares, and a few possible "magnetar-wind nebulae" have been recently identified.Comment: 61 pages, 44 figures (reduced in quality for size reasons). Published in Space Science Reviews, "Jets and Winds in Pulsar Wind Nebulae, Gamma-ray Bursts and Blazars: Physics of Extreme Energy Release

Knowledge-based energy functions for computational studies of proteins

This chapter discusses theoretical framework and methods for developing knowledge-based potential functions essential for protein structure prediction, protein-protein interaction, and protein sequence design. We discuss in some details about the Miyazawa-Jernigan contact statistical potential, distance-dependent statistical potentials, as well as geometric statistical potentials. We also describe a geometric model for developing both linear and non-linear potential functions by optimization. Applications of knowledge-based potential functions in protein-decoy discrimination, in protein-protein interactions, and in protein design are then described. Several issues of knowledge-based potential functions are finally discussed.Comment: 57 pages, 6 figures. To be published in a book by Springe

Search for direct production of charginos and neutralinos in events with three leptons and missing transverse momentum in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the direct production of charginos and neutralinos in final states with three electrons or muons and missing transverse momentum is presented. The analysis is based on 4.7 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data delivered by the Large Hadron Collider and recorded with the ATLAS detector. Observations are consistent with Standard Model expectations in three signal regions that are either depleted or enriched in Z-boson decays. Upper limits at 95% confidence level are set in R-parity conserving phenomenological minimal supersymmetric models and in simplified models, significantly extending previous results