504 research outputs found
Atomic Parity Nonconservation: Electroweak Parameters and Nuclear Structure
There have been suggestions to measure atomic parity nonconservation (PNC)
along an isotopic chain, by taking ratios of observables in order to cancel
complicated atomic structure effects. Precise atomic PNC measurements could
make a significant contribution to tests of the Standard Model at the level of
one loop radiative corrections. However, the results also depend upon certain
features of nuclear structure, such as the spatial distribution of neutrons in
the nucleus. To examine the sensitivity to nuclear structure, we consider the
case of Pb isotopes using various recent relativistic and non-relativistic
nuclear model calculations. Contributions from nucleon internal weak structure
are included, but found to be fairly negligible. The spread among present
models in predicted sizes of nuclear structure effects may preclude using Pb
isotope ratios to test the Standard Model at better than a one percent level,
unless there are adequate independent tests of the nuclear models by various
alternative strong and electroweak nuclear probes. On the other hand,
sufficiently accurate atomic PNC experiments would provide a unique method to
measure neutron distributions in heavy nuclei.Comment: 44 pages, INT Preprint DOE/ER/40561-050-INT92-00-1
Constraints on Gamma-ray Emission from the Galactic Plane at 300 TeV
We describe a new search for diffuse ultrahigh energy gamma-ray emission
associated with molecular clouds in the galactic disk. The Chicago Air Shower
Array (CASA), operating in coincidence with the Michigan muon array (MIA), has
recorded over 2.2 x 10^{9} air showers from April 4, 1990 to October 7, 1995.
We search for gamma rays based upon the muon content of air showers arriving
from the direction of the galactic plane. We find no significant evidence for
diffuse gamma-ray emission, and we set an upper limit on the ratio of gamma
rays to normal hadronic cosmic rays at less than 2.4 x 10^{-5} at 310 TeV (90%
confidence limit) from the galactic plane region: (50 degrees < l < 200
degrees); -5 degrees < b < 5 degrees). This limit places a strong constraint on
models for emission from molecular clouds in the galaxy. We rule out
significant spectral hardening in the outer galaxy, and conclude that emission
from the plane at these energies is likely to be dominated by the decay of
neutral pions resulting from cosmic rays interactions with passive target gas
molecules.Comment: Astrophysical Journal, submitted, 11 pages, AASTeX Latex, 3
Postscript figure
Galaxy Zoo: the effect of bar-driven fuelling on the presence of an active galactic nucleus in disc galaxies
We study the influence of the presence of a strong bar in disc galaxies which host an active galactic nucleus (AGN). Using data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and morphological classifications from the Galaxy Zoo 2 project, we create a volume-limited sample of 19756 disc galaxies at 0.01<z<0.05 which have been visually examined for the presence of a bar. Within this sample, AGN host galaxies have a higher overall percentage of bars (51.8âperâcent) than inactive galaxies exhibiting central star formation (37.1âperâcent). This difference is primarily due to known effects: that the presence of both AGN and galactic bars is strongly correlated with both the stellar mass and integrated colour of the host galaxy. We control for this effect by examining the difference in AGN fraction between barred and unbarred galaxies in fixed bins of mass and colour. Once this effect is accounted for, there remains a small but statistically significant increase that represents 16âperâcent of the average barred AGN fraction. Using the /MBH ratio as a measure of AGN strength, we show that barred AGNs do not exhibit stronger accretion than unbarred AGNs at a fixed mass and colour. The data are consistent with a model in which bar-driven fuelling does contribute to the probability of an actively growing black hole, but in which other dynamical mechanisms must contribute to the direct AGN fuelling via smaller, non-axisymmetric perturbation
Galaxy Zoo: Are Bars Responsible for the Feeding of Active Galactic Nuclei at 0.2 < z < 1.0?
We present a new study investigating whether active galactic nuclei (AGN)
beyond the local universe are preferentially fed via large-scale bars. Our
investigation combines data from Chandra and Galaxy Zoo: Hubble (GZH) in the
AEGIS, COSMOS, and GOODS-S surveys to create samples of face-on, disc galaxies
at 0.2 < z < 1.0. We use a novel method to robustly compare a sample of 120 AGN
host galaxies, defined to have 10^42 erg/s < L_X < 10^44 erg/s, with inactive
control galaxies matched in stellar mass, rest-frame colour, size, Sersic
index, and redshift. Using the GZH bar classifications of each sample, we
demonstrate that AGN hosts show no statistically significant enhancement in bar
fraction or average bar likelihood compared to closely-matched inactive
galaxies. In detail, we find that the AGN bar fraction cannot be enhanced above
the control bar fraction by more than a factor of two, at 99.7% confidence. We
similarly find no significant difference in the AGN fraction among barred and
non-barred galaxies. Thus we find no compelling evidence that large-scale bars
directly fuel AGN at 0.2<z<1.0. This result, coupled with previous results at
z=0, implies that moderate-luminosity AGN have not been preferentially fed by
large-scale bars since z=1. Furthermore, given the low bar fractions at z>1,
our findings suggest that large-scale bars have likely never directly been a
dominant fueling mechanism for supermassive black hole growth.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables, accepted by MNRA
Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Energy Spectrum and Composition from 10^{17} to 10^{18.3} eV Using a Hybrid Fluorescence Technique
We study the spectrum and average mass composition of cosmic rays with
primary energies between 10^{17} eV and 10^{18} eV using a hybrid detector
consisting of the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) prototype and the MIA muon
array. Measurements have been made of the change in the depth of shower maximum
as a function of energy. A complete Monte Carlo simulation of the detector
response and comparisons with shower simulations leads to the conclusion that
the cosmic ray intensity is changing f rom a heavier to a lighter composition
in this energy range. The spectrum is consistent with earlier Fly's Eye
measurements and supports the previously found steepening near 4 \times 10^{17}
eV .Comment: 39 pages, 15 figures, in revtex4 epsf style, submited to AP
Galaxy Zoo Supernovae
This paper presents the first results from a new citizen science project:
Galaxy Zoo Supernovae. This proof of concept project uses members of the public
to identify supernova candidates from the latest generation of wide-field
imaging transient surveys. We describe the Galaxy Zoo Supernovae operations and
scoring model, and demonstrate the effectiveness of this novel method using
imaging data and transients from the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF). We
examine the results collected over the period April-July 2010, during which
nearly 14,000 supernova candidates from PTF were classified by more than 2,500
individuals within a few hours of data collection. We compare the transients
selected by the citizen scientists to those identified by experienced PTF
scanners, and find the agreement to be remarkable - Galaxy Zoo Supernovae
performs comparably to the PTF scanners, and identified as transients 93% of
the ~130 spectroscopically confirmed SNe that PTF located during the trial
period (with no false positive identifications). Further analysis shows that
only a small fraction of the lowest signal-to-noise SN detections (r > 19.5)
are given low scores: Galaxy Zoo Supernovae correctly identifies all SNe with >
8{\sigma} detections in the PTF imaging data. The Galaxy Zoo Supernovae project
has direct applicability to future transient searches such as the Large
Synoptic Survey Telescope, by both rapidly identifying candidate transient
events, and via the training and improvement of existing machine classifier
algorithms.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, accepted MNRA
Recommended from our members
Diallyl disulfide-induced apoptosis in a breast-cancer cell line (MCF-7) may be caused by inhibition of histone de-acetylation
The health benefits of garlic have been proven by epidemiological and experimental studies. Diallyl disulphide (DADS), the major organosulfur compound found in garlic oil, is known to lower the incidence of breast cancer both in vitro and in vivo. The studies reported here demonstrate that DADS induces apoptosis in the MCF-7 breast-cancer cell line through interfering with cell-cycle growth phases in a way that increases the sub-G0 population and substantially halts DNA synthesis. DADS also induces phosphatidylserine (PS) translocation from the inner to the outer leaflet of the plasma membrane and activates caspase-3. Further studies revealed that DADS modulates the cellular levels of Bax, Bcl-2, Bcl-xL and Bcl-w in a dose-dependent manner, suggesting the involvement of Bcl-2 family proteins in DADS induced apoptosis. Histone deacetylation inhibitors (HDACi) are known to suppress cancer growth and induce apoptosis in cancer cells. Here it is shown that DADS has HDACi properties in MCF-7 cells as it lowers the removal of an acetyl group from an acetylated substrate and induces histone-4 (H4) hyper-acetylation. The data thus indicate that the HDACi properties of DADS may be responsible for the induction of apoptosis in breast cancer cells
A Multi-Component Measurement of the Cosmic Ray Composition Between 10^{17} eV and 10^{18} eV
The average mass composition of cosmic rays with primary energies between
eV and eV has been studied using a hybrid detector consisting
of the High Resolution Fly's Eye (HiRes) prototype and the MIA muon array.
Measurements have been made of the change in the depth of shower maximum,
, and in the change in the muon density at a fixed core location,
, as a function of energy. The composition has also been
evaluated in terms of the combination of and . The
results show that the composition is changing from a heavy to lighter mix as
the energy increases.Comment: 14 pages including 3 figures in revtex epsf style, submited to PR
Search for Ultra High Energy (UHE) Îł-ray counterparts of BATSE 3B catalog events
We search for a Ultra High Energy (E>1014âeV)(E>1014eV) counterpart source to cosmic Îł-ray bursts detected with the BATSE detectors. Using the 3B catalog positions, we examine 115 candidate bursts with the CASA-MIA detector for UHE Îł-ray emission at or near the time of the observed Îł-ray burst. No statistically significant excess of Îł-rays is found from any of the candidate event regions. Based upon these results, we calculate the flux limits for UHE emission from these candidate event regions. Typical 95% confidence level flux limits are about 6Ă10â12âÎłââcmâ2âsecâ16Ă10â12Îłcmâ2secâ1 at a Îł-ray detection threshold of 160 TeV. © 1996 American Institute of Physics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/87368/2/598_1.pd
- âŠ