Two modes of peri-interaction between an aldehyde group and a carboxylate anion in naphthalaldehydate salts

Crystal structures of the salts of 1,8-naphthalaldehydic acid (8-formyl-1-naphthoic acid) show one of two types of interaction between the functional groups. In the more commonly observed case, a carboxylate oxygen lies close to the aldehyde carbonyl carbon atom (O⋯C: 2.445–2.630 Å) and makes an n–pi* interaction. However, in two other cases the carboxylate group has rotated so that the aldehyde now directs its hydrogen atom at the face of the carboxylate group and forms a surprisingly short contact with the carbon atom (H⋯C: 2.29 and 2.42 Å). This interaction is likely to be electrostatic in nature

The Evolution of Optical Depth in the Ly-alpha Forest: Evidence Against Reionization at z~6

We examine the evolution of the IGM Ly-alpha optical depth distribution using the transmitted flux probability distribution function (PDF) in a sample of 63 QSOs spanning absorption redshifts 1.7 < z < 5.8. The data are compared to two theoretical optical depth distributions: a model distribution based on the density distribution of Miralda-Escude et al. (2000) (MHR00), and a lognormal distribution. We assume a uniform UV background and an isothermal IGM for the MHR00 model, as has been done in previous works. Under these assumptions, the MHR00 model produces poor fits to the observed flux PDFs at redshifts where the optical depth distribution is well sampled, unless large continuum corrections are applied. However, the lognormal optical depth distribution fits the data at all redshifts with only minor continuum adjustments. We use a simple parametrization for the evolution of the lognormal parameters to calculate the expected mean transmitted flux at z > 5.4. The lognormal optical depth distribution predicts the observed Ly-alpha and Ly-beta effective optical depths at z > 5.7 while simultaneously fitting the mean transmitted flux down to z = 1.6. If the evolution of the lognormal distribution at z < 5 reflects a slowly-evolving density field, temperature, and UV background, then no sudden change in the IGM at z ~ 6 due to late reionization appears necessary. We have used the lognormal optical depth distribution without any assumption about the underlying density field. If the MHR00 density distribution is correct, then a non-uniform UV background and/or IGM temperature may be required to produce the correct flux PDF. We find that an inverse temperature-density relation greatly improves the PDF fits, but with a large scatter in the equation of state index. [Abridged]Comment: 45 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Ap

A critical role for Cadherin6B in regulating avian neural crest emigration

Neural crest cells originate in the dorsal neural tube but subsequently undergo an epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), delaminate, and migrate to diverse locations in the embryo where they contribute to a variety of derivatives. Cadherins are a family of cell–cell adhesion molecules expressed in a broad range of embryonic tissues, including the neural tube. In particular, cadherin6B (Cad6B) is expressed in the dorsal neural tube prior to neural crest emigration but is then repressed by the transcription factor Snail2, expressed by premigratory and early migrating cranial neural crest cells. To examine the role of Cad6B during neural crest EMT, we have perturbed Cad6B protein levels in the cranial neural crest-forming region and have examined subsequent effects on emigration and migration. The results show that knock-down of Cad6B leads to premature neural crest cell emigration, whereas Cad6B overexpression disrupts migration. Our data reveal a novel role for Cad6B in controlling the proper timing of neural crest emigration and delamination from the neural tube of the avian embryo

An improved solar wind electron-density model for pulsar timing

Variations in the solar wind density introduce variable delays into pulsar timing observations. Current pulsar timing analysis programs only implement simple models of the solar wind, which not only limit the timing accuracy, but can also affect measurements of pulsar rotational, astrometric and orbital parameters. We describe a new model of the solar wind electron density content which uses observations from the Wilcox Solar Observatory of the solar magnetic field. We have implemented this model into the tempo2 pulsar timing package. We show that this model is more accurate than previous models and that these corrections are necessary for high precision pulsar timing applications.Comment: Accepted by ApJ, 13 pages, 4 figure

General Statistical properties of the CMB Polarization field

The distribution of the polarization of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) in the sky is determined by the hypothesis of random Gaussian distribution of the primordial density perturbations. This hypotheses is well motivated by the inflationary cosmology. Therefore, the test of consistency of the statistical properties of the CMB polarization field with the Gaussianity of primordial density fluctuations is a realistic way to study the nature of primordial inhomogeneities in the Universe. This paper contains the theoretical predictions of the general statistical properties of the CMB polarization field. All results obtained under assumption of the Gaussian nature of the signal. We pay the special attention to the following two problems. First, the classification and statistics of the singular points of the polarization field where polarization is equal to zero. Second, the topology of contours of the value of the degree of polarization. We have investigated the percolation properties for the zones of ``strong'' and ``weak'' polarization. We also have calculated Minkowski functionals for the CMB polarization field. All results are analytical.Comment: Latex, 22 pages, including 5 figure

Fundamental Discreteness Limitations of Cosmological N-Body Clustering Simulations

We explore some of the effects that discreteness and two-body scattering may have on N-body simulations with ``realistic'' cosmological initial conditions. We use an identical subset of particles from the initial conditions for a $128^3$ Particle-Mesh (PM) calculation as the initial conditions for a variety P$^3$M and Tree code runs. We investigate the effect of mass resolution (the mean interparticle separation) since most ``high resolution'' codes only have high resolution in gravitational force. The phase-insensitive two--point statistics, such as the power spectrum (autocorrelation) are somewhat affected by these variations, but phase-sensitive statistics show greater differences. Results converge at the mean interparticle separation scale of the lowest mass-resolution code. As more particles are added, but the force resolution is held constant, the P$^3$M and the Tree runs agree more and more strongly with each other and with the PM run which had the same initial conditions. This shows high particle density is necessary for correct time evolution, since many different results cannot all be correct. However, they do not so converge to a PM run which continued the fluctuations to small scales. Our results show that ignoring them is a major source of error on comoving scales of the missing wavelengths. This can be resolved by putting in a high particle density. Since the codes never agree well on scales below the mean comoving interparticle separation, we find little justification for quantitative predictions on this scale. Some measures vary by 50%, but others can be off by a factor of three or more. Our results suggest possible problems with the density of galaxy halos, formation of early generation objects such as QSO absorber clouds, etc.Comment: Revised version to be published in Astrophysical Journal. One figure changed; expanded discussion, more information on code parameters. Latex, 44 pages, including 19 figures. Higher resolution versions of Figures 10-15 available at: ftp://kusmos.phsx.ukans.edu/preprints/nbod

Extended quantum conditional entropy and quantum uncertainty inequalities

Quantum states can be subjected to classical measurements, whose incompatibility, or uncertainty, can be quantified by a comparison of certain entropies. There is a long history of such entropy inequalities between position and momentum. Recently these inequalities have been generalized to the tensor product of several Hilbert spaces and we show here how their derivations can be shortened to a few lines and how they can be generalized. All the recently derived uncertainty relations utilize the strong subadditivity (SSA) theorem; our contribution relies on directly utilizing the proof technique of the original derivation of SSA.Comment: 4 page

On the spatial distribution of dark matter halos

We study the spatial distribution of dark matter halos in the Universe in terms of their number density contrast, related to the underlying dark matter fluctuation via a non-local and non-linear bias random field. The description of the matter dynamics is simplified by adopting the `truncated' Zel'dovich approximation to obtain both analytical results and simulated maps. The halo number density field in our maps and its probability distribution reproduce with excellent accuracy those of halos in a high-resolution N-body simulation with the same initial conditions. Our non-linear and non-local bias prescription matches the N-body halo distribution better than any Eulerian linear and local bias.Comment: 4 pages, LaTeX (uses emulateapj; included psfig.tex), 3 figures, 1 table. Shortened version, matching the size requirements of ApJ Letters. Accepted for publicatio

The Line-of-Sight Proximity Effect and the Mass of Quasar Host Halos

We show that the Lyman-alpha optical depth statistics in the proximity regions of quasar spectra depend on the mass of the dark matter halos hosting the quasars. This is owing to both the overdensity around the quasars and the associated infall of gas toward them. For a fiducial quasar host halo mass of (3.0+/-1.6) h^-1 x 10^12 Msun, as inferred by Croom et al. from clustering in the 2dF QSO Redshift Survey, we show that estimates of the ionizing background (Gamma^bkg) from proximity effect measurements could be biased high by a factor of ~2.5 at z=3 owing to neglecting these effects alone. The clustering of galaxies and other active galactic nuclei around the proximity effect quasars enhances the local background, but is not expected to skew measurements by more than a few percent. Assuming the measurements of Gamma^bkg based on the mean flux decrement in the Ly-alpha forest to be free of bias, we demonstrate how the proximity effect analysis can be inverted to measure the mass of the dark matter halos hosting quasars. In ideal conditions, such a measurement could be made with a precision comparable to the best clustering constraints to date from a modest sample of only about 100 spectra. We discuss observational difficulties, including continuum flux estimation, quasar systematic redshift determination, and quasar variability, which make accurate proximity effect measurements challenging in practice. These are also likely to contribute to the discrepancies between existing proximity effect and flux decrement measurements of Gamma^bkg.Comment: 25 pages, including 14 figures, accepted by Ap

The Statistics of Density Peaks and the Column Density Distribution of the Lyman-Alpha Forest

We develop a method to calculate the column density distribution of the Lyman-alpha forest for column densities in the range $10^{12.5} - 10^{14.5} cm^{-2}$. The Zel'dovich approximation, with appropriate smoothing, is used to compute the density and peculiar velocity fields. The effect of the latter on absorption profiles is discussed and it is shown to have little effect on the column density distribution. An approximation is introduced in which the column density distribution is related to a statistic of density peaks (involving its height and first and second derivatives along the line of sight) in real space. We show that the slope of the column density distribution is determined by the temperature-density relation as well as the power spectrum on scales $2 h Mpc^{-1} < k < 20 h Mpc^{-1}$. An expression relating the three is given. We find very good agreement between the column density distribution obtained by applying the Voigt-profile-fitting technique to the output of a full hydrodynamic simulation and that obtained using our approximate method for a test model. This formalism then is applied to study a group of CDM as well as CHDM models. We show that the amplitude of the column density distribution depends on the combination of parameters $(\Omega_b h^2)^2 T_0^{-0.7} J_{HI}^{-1}$, which is not well-constrained by independent observations. The slope of the distribution, on the other hand, can be used to distinguish between different models: those with a smaller amplitude and a steeper slope of the power spectrum on small scales give rise to steeper distributions, for the range of column densities we study. Comparison with high resolution Keck data is made.Comment: match accepted version; discussion added: the effect of the shape of the power spectrum on the slope of the column density distributio