2,870 research outputs found
The Calcium PhosphateâCalcium Carbonate System: Growth of Octacalcium Phosphate on Calcium Carbonates
The kinetics of nucleation and crystal growth of octacalcium phosphate [Ca8(PO4)6H2·5H2O, OCP] from calcium phosphate supersaturated solutions inoculated with seed crystals was investigated at 37 °C, pH 7.40, at conditions of constant solution supersaturation. Stable calcium phosphate solutions, supersaturated with respect to OCP and hydroxyapatite [Ca5(PO4)3OH, HAP] were inoculated with calcium carbonate-based bone cement powder consisting of mixed aragonite and calcite crystals and with well-characterized calcite seed crystals. On all substrates tested, OCP nucleated followed by crystal growth of the nuclei formed past the lapse of induction times, inversely proportional to the solution supersaturation. From the dependence of the induction time on the solution supersaturation with respect to OCP, a value of 10 mJ mâ2 was calculated for the nucleating phase. The rates of OCP crystal growth on the carbonate substrates showed linear dependence on the solution supersaturation that in combination with the independence from the fluid dynamics in the reactor suggested a surface diffusion-controlled mechanism. Moreover, the independence of the crystallization rates on the amount of the inoculating seed crystals suggested that nucleation and growth took place exclusively on the crystalline substrates. The transient calcium phosphate phase, OCP, was stabilized in our experiments, and it was the only phase growing at constant driving force, despite the fact the solutions were supersaturated with respect to HAP as well
Molecular gas and star formation in M81
We present IRAM 30m observations of the central 1.6 kpc of the spiral M81
galaxy. The molecular gas appears weak and with an unusual excitation physics.
We discuss a possible link between low CO emission and weak FUV surface
brightness.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in "Pathways through an eclectic
Universe", J. H. Knapen, T. J. Mahoney, and A. Vazdekis (Eds.), ASP Conf.
Ser., 200
Atomic Hydrogen Properties of AGN Host Galaxies: HI in 16 NUclei of GAlaxies (NUGA) Sources
We present a comprehensive spectroscopic imaging survey of the distribution
and kinematics of atomic hydrogen (HI) in 16 nearby spiral galaxies hosting low
luminosity AGN, observed with high spectral and spatial resolution (resolution:
~20 arcsec, 5 km/s) using the NRAO Very Large Array (VLA). The sample contains
a range of nuclear types, ranging from Seyfert to star-forming nuclei and was
originally selected for the NUclei of GAlaxies project (NUGA) - a spectrally
and spatially resolved interferometric survey of gas dynamics in nearby
galaxies designed to identify the fueling mechanisms of AGN and the relation to
host galaxy evolution. Here we investigate the relationship between the HI
properties of these galaxies, their environment, their stellar distribution and
their AGN type. The large-scale HI morphology of each galaxy is classified as
ringed, spiral, or centrally concentrated; comparison of the resulting
morphological classification with AGN type reveals that ring structures are
significantly more common in LINER than in Seyfert host galaxies, suggesting a
time evolution of the AGN activity together with the redistribution of the
neutral gas. Dynamically disturbed HI disks are also more prevalent in LINER
host galaxies than in Seyfert host galaxies. While several galaxies are
surrounded by companions (some with associated HI emission), there is no
correlation between the presence of companions and the AGN type
(Seyfert/LINER).Comment: 54 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in AJ. The
full-resolution version is available at
http://www.mpia.de/homes/haan/research.htm
Non-absorbing high-efficiency counter for itinerant microwave photons
Detecting an itinerant microwave photon with high efficiency is an
outstanding problem in microwave photonics and its applications. We present a
scheme to detect an itinerant microwave photon in a transmission line via the
nonlinearity provided by a transmon in a driven microwave resonator. With a
single transmon we achieve 84% distinguishability between zero and one
microwave photons and 90% distinguishability with two cascaded transmons by
performing continuous measurements on the output field of the resonator. We
also show how the measurement diminishes coherence in the photon number basis
thereby illustrating a fundamental principle of quantum measurement: the higher
the measurement efficiency, the faster is the decoherence
Are truncated stellar disks linked to the molecular gas density?
We know that the slope of the radial, stellar light distribution in galaxies
is well described by an exponential decline and this distribution is often
truncated at a break radius (). We don't have a clear understanding for
the origin of these outer truncations and several hypotheses have been proposed
to explain them. We want to test the various theories with direct observations
of the cold molecular gas for a few truncated galaxies in comparison with the
non-truncated ones. The answer to the existence of a possible link between
truncated stellar disks and the molecular gas density cannot be obtained from
CO maps in the literature, because so far there are no galaxies with a clear
truncation observed in CO at high resolution.Comment: 3 pages, 6 figures, to appear in Astrophysics and Space Science
(Apss), special issue of "Science with ALMA: a new era for Astrophysics"
conference, ed. Dr. Bachille
Polar ring galaxies as tests of gravity
Polar ring galaxies are ideal objects with which to study the
three-dimensional shapes of galactic gravitational potentials since two
rotation curves can be measured in two perpendicular planes. Observational
studies have uncovered systematically larger rotation velocities in the
extended polar rings than in the associated host galaxies. In the dark matter
context, this can only be explained through dark halos that are systematically
flattened along the polar rings. Here, we point out that these objects can also
be used as very effective tests of gravity theories, such as those based on
Milgromian dynamics (MOND). We run a set of polar ring models using both
Milgromian and Newtonian dynamics to predict the expected shapes of the
rotation curves in both planes, varying the total mass of the system, the mass
of the ring with respect to the host, as well as the size of the hole at the
center of the ring. We find that Milgromian dynamics not only naturally leads
to rotation velocities being typically higher in the extended polar rings than
in the hosts, as would be the case in Newtonian dynamics without dark matter,
but that it also gets the shape and amplitude of velocities correct. Milgromian
dynamics thus adequately explains this particular property of polar ring
galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 8 Figures, 1 Table, Accepted for publication by MNRA
Why Buckling Stellar Bars Weaken in Disk Galaxies
Young stellar bars in disk galaxies experience a vertical buckling
instability which terminates their growth and thickens them, resulting in a
characteristic peanut/boxy shape when viewed edge on. Using N-body simulations
of galactic disks embedded in live halos, we have analyzed the bar structure
throughout this instability and found that the outer third of the bar dissolves
completely while the inner part (within the vertical inner Lindblad resonance)
becomes less oval. The bar acquires the frequently observed peanut/boxy-shaped
isophotes. We also find that the bar buckling is responsible for a mass
injection above the plane, which is subsequently trapped by specific 3-D
families of periodic orbits of particular shapes explaining the observed
isophotes, in line with previous work. Using a 3-D orbit analysis and surfaces
of sections, we infer that the outer part of the bar is dissolved by a rapidly
widening stochastic region around its corotation radius -- a process related to
the bar growth. This leads to a dramatic decrease in the bar size, decrease in
the overall bar strength and a mild increase in its pattern speed, but is not
expected to lead to a complete bar dissolution. The buckling instability
appears primarily responsible for shortening the secular diffusion timescale to
a dynamical one when building the boxy isophotes. The sufficiently long
timescale of described evolution, ~1 Gyr, can affect the observed bar fraction
in local universe and at higher redshifts, both through reduced bar strength
and the absence of dust offset lanes in the bar.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, ApJ Letters, in pres
Dynamics of a classical Hall system driven by a time-dependent Aharonov--Bohm flux
We study the dynamics of a classical particle moving in a punctured plane
under the influence of a strong homogeneous magnetic field, an electrical
background, and driven by a time-dependent singular flux tube through the hole.
We exhibit a striking classical (de)localization effect: in the far past the
trajectories are spirals around a bound center; the particle moves inward
towards the flux tube loosing kinetic energy. After hitting the puncture it
becomes ``conducting'': the motion is a cycloid around a center whose drift is
outgoing, orthogonal to the electric field, diffusive, and without energy loss
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