A New High Resolution CO Map of the inner 2.'5 of M51 I. Streaming Motions and Spiral Structure

[Abridged] The Owens Valley mm-Array has been used to map the CO 1--0 emission in the inner 2'.5 of the grand design spiral galaxy M51 at 2''-3'' resolution. The molecular spiral arms are revealed with unprecedented clarity: supermassive cloud complexes, Giant Molecular Associations, are for the first time resolved both along and perpendicular to the arms. Major complexes occur symmetrically opposite each other in the two major arms. Streaming motions can be studied in detail along the major and minor axes of M51. The streaming velocities are very large, 60-150 km/s. For the first time, sufficient resolution to resolve the structure in the molecular streaming motions is obtained. Our data support the presence of galactic shocks in the arms of M51. In general, velocity gradients across arms are higher by a factor of 2-10 than previously found. They vary in steepness along the spiral arms, becoming particularly steep in between GMAs. The steep gradients cause conditions of strong reverse shear in several regions in the arms, and thus the notion that shear is generally reduced by streaming motions in spiral arms will have to be modified. Of the three GMAs studied on the SW arm, only one shows reduced shear. We find an expansion in the NE molecular arm at 25'' radius SE of the center. This broadening occurs right after the end of the NE arm at the Inner Lindblad Resonance. Bifurcations in the molecular spiral arm structure, at a radius of 73'', may be evidence of a secondary compression of the gas caused by the 4/1 ultraharmonic resonance. Inside the radius of the ILR, we detect narrow (~ 5'') molecular spiral arms possibly related to the K-band arms found in the same region. We find evidence of non-circular motions in the inner 20'' which are consistent with gas on elliptical orbits in a bar.Comment: 29 pages, 15 figures, uses latex macros for ApJ; accepted for publication in Ap

Light Collimation and Focussing by a Thin Flat Metallic Slab

We present experimental and theoretical work showing that a flat metallic slab can collimate and focus light impinging on the slab from a punctual source. The effect is optimised when the radiation is around the bulk, not at the surface, plasma frequency. And the smaller the imaginary part of the permittivity is, the better the collimation. Experiments for Ag in the visible as well as calculations are presented. We also discuss the interesting case of the Aluminium whose imaginary part of the permittivity is very small at the plasma frequency in UV radiation. Generalization to other materials and radiations are also discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. To be published on Optics Lette

Stochastic modelling of intermittent scrape-off layer plasma fluctuations

Single-point measurements of fluctuations in the scrape-off layer of magnetized plasmas are generally found to be dominated by large-amplitude bursts which are associated with radial motion of blob-like structures. A stochastic model for these fluctuations is presented, with the plasma density given by a random sequence of bursts with a fixed wave form. Under very general conditions, this model predicts a parabolic relation between the skewness and kurtosis moments of the plasma fluctuations. In the case of exponentially distributed burst amplitudes and waiting times, the probability density function for the fluctuation amplitudes is shown to be a Gamma distribution with the scale parameter given by the average burst amplitude and the shape parameter given by the ratio of the burst duration and waiting times.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Measurement of the Higgs Boson Mass with a Linear e+e- Collider

The potential of a linear e+e- collider operated at a centre-of-mass energy of 350 GeV is studied for the measurement of the Higgs boson mass. An integrated luminosity of 500 fb-1 is assumed. For Higgs boson masses of 120, 150 and 180 GeV the uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass measurement is estimated to be 40, 65 and 70 MeV, respectively. The effects of beam related systematics, namely a bias in the beam energy measurement, the beam energy spread and the luminosity spectrum due to beamstrahlung, on the precision of the Higgs boson mass measurement are investigated. In order to keep the systematic uncertainty on the Higgs boson mass well below the level of the statistical error, the beam energy measurement must be controlled with a relative precision better than 10-4.Comment: 19 pages, 10 Figure

Exploring the molecular chemistry and excitation in obscured luminous infrared galaxies: An ALMA mm-wave spectral scan of NGC 4418

We obtained an ALMA Cycle 0 spectral scan of the dusty LIRG NGC 4418, spanning a total of 70.7 GHz in bands 3, 6, and 7. We use a combined local thermal equilibrium (LTE) and non-LTE (NLTE) fit of the spectrum in order to identify the molecular species and derive column densities and excitation temperatures. We derive molecular abundances and compare them with other Galactic and extragalactic sources by means of a principal component analysis. We detect 317 emission lines from a total of 45 molecular species, including 15 isotopic substitutions and six vibrationally excited variants. Our LTE/NLTE fit find kinetic temperatures from 20 to 350 K, and densities between 10$^5$ and 10$^7$ cm$^{-3}$. The spectrum is dominated by vibrationally excited HC$_3$N, HCN, and HNC, with vibrational temperatures from 300 to 450 K. We find high abundances of HC$_3$N, SiO, H$_2$S, and c-HCCCH and a low CH$_3$OH abundance. A principal component analysis shows that NGC 4418 and Arp 220 share very similar molecular abundances and excitation, which clearly set them apart from other Galactic and extragalactic environments. The similar molecular abundances observed towards NCG 4418 and Arp 220 are consistent with a hot gas-phase chemistry, with the relative abundances of SiO and CH$_3$OH being regulated by shocks and X-ray driven dissociation. The bright emission from vibrationally excited species confirms the presence of a compact IR source, with an effective diameter $$350 K. The molecular abundances and the vibrationally excited spectrum are consistent with a young AGN/starburst system. We suggest that NGC 4418 may be a template for a new kind of chemistry and excitation, typical of compact obscured nuclei (CON). Because of the narrow line widths and bright molecular emission, NGC 4418 is the ideal target for further studies of the chemistry in CONs.Comment: accepted by A&A on 29/06/201

Modeling and Optimization of Lactic Acid Synthesis by the Alkaline Degradation of Fructose in a Batch Reactor

The present work deals with the determination of the optimal operating conditions of lactic acid synthesis by the alkaline degradation of fructose. It is a complex transformation for which detailed knowledge is not available. It is carried out in a batch or semi-batch reactor. The ‘‘Tendency Modeling’’ approach, which consists of the development of an approximate stoichiometric and kinetic model, has been used. An experimental planning method has been utilized as the database for model development. The application of the experimental planning methodology allows comparison between the experimental and model response. The model is then used in an optimization procedure to compute the optimal process. The optimal control problem is converted into a nonlinear programming problem solved using the sequencial quadratic programming procedure coupled with the golden search method. The strategy developed allows simultaneously optimizing the different variables, which may be constrained. The validity of the methodology is illustrated by the determination of the optimal operating conditions of lactic acid production