The eight micron band of silicon monoxide in the expanding cloud around VY Canis Majoris

Observations of vibration-rotation transitions of silicon monoxide in VY CMa show that the lines originate in accelerating, expanding, and cool (600 K) layers of a circumstellar cloud at a distance of roughly 0.15 minutes from the central star. The central stellar velocity, as estimated from observed SiO P Cygni line profiles, is somewhat redshifted from the midpoint of the maser emission features. Most of the silicon is probably in the form of dust grains. The isotopic ratios of silicon are nearly terrestrial

Velocity resolved spectroscopy of molecular hydrogen emission in NGC6240

NGC6240 is a member of the class of luminous galaxies which emit a significant fraction of their total light in the infrared. Based on its highly disturbed morphology, Fosbury and Wall (1979) suggested that the system may be a merger of two gas rich galaxies. It has two nuclei separated by 2 arcsec which are visible in the near infrared and at radio wavelengths and CO observations show that the galaxy contains a large mass of molecular gas. Unusually strong H2 emission lines dominate the near infrared spectrum of this galaxy. The galaxy emits approximately 4x10(exp 7) solar luminosity in the 2.12 micron v = 1 to 0 S(1) line alone, an order of magnitude more than other merging or starburst galaxies. To provide a better understanding of the physical processes responsible for the H2 emission from NGC6240 we have begun a program to obtain high spectral resolution observations using the echelle in CGS4 on the UKIRT. Preliminary data which were obtained in February 1991 are presented here. It is intended to obtain further observations with twice the spatial and spectral resolution in June of this year

Optimal Tc_c of cuprates: role of screening and reservoir layers

We explore the role of charge reservoir layers (CRLs) on the superconducting transition temperature of cuprate superconductors. Specifically, we study the effect of CRLs with efficient short distance dielectric screening coupled capacitively to copper oxide metallic layers. We argue that dielectric screening at short distances and at frequencies of the order of the superconducting gap, but small compared to the Fermi energy can significantly enhance T$_c$, the transition temperature of an unconventional superconductor. We discuss the relevance of our qualitative arguments to a broader class of unconventional superconductors.Comment: 8 Pages, 4 figure

Evolution-guided functional analyses reveal diverse antiviral specificities encoded by IFIT1 genes in mammals.

IFIT (interferon-induced with tetratricopeptide repeats) proteins are critical mediators of mammalian innate antiviral immunity. Mouse IFIT1 selectively inhibits viruses that lack 2'O-methylation of their mRNA 5' caps. Surprisingly, human IFIT1 does not share this antiviral specificity. Here, we resolve this discrepancy by demonstrating that human and mouse IFIT1 have evolved distinct functions using a combination of evolutionary, genetic and virological analyses. First, we show that human IFIT1 and mouse IFIT1 (renamed IFIT1B) are not orthologs, but are paralogs that diverged >100 mya. Second, using a yeast genetic assay, we show that IFIT1 and IFIT1B proteins differ in their ability to be suppressed by a cap 2'O-methyltransferase. Finally, we demonstrate that IFIT1 and IFIT1B have divergent antiviral specificities, including the discovery that only IFIT1 proteins inhibit a virus encoding a cap 2'O-methyltransferase. These functional data, combined with widespread turnover of mammalian IFIT genes, reveal dramatic species-specific differences in IFIT-mediated antiviral repertoires

Atmospheric Analysis of the M/L- and M/T-Dwarf Binary Systems LHS 102 and Gliese 229

We present 0.9-2.5um spectroscopy with R~800 and 1.12-1.22um spectroscopy with R~5800 for the M dwarfs Gl 229A and LHS 102A, and for the L dwarf LHS 102B. We also report IZJHKL' photometry for both components of the LHS 102 system, and L' photometry for Gl 229A. The data are combined with previously published spectroscopy and photometry to produce flux distributions for each component of the kinematically old disk M/L-dwarf binary system LHS 102 and the kinematically young disk M/T-dwarf binary system Gliese 229. The data are analyzed using synthetic spectra generated by the latest "AMES-dusty" and "AMES-cond" models by Allard & Hauschildt. Although the models are not able to reproduce the overall slope of the infrared flux distribution of the L dwarf, most likely due to the treatment of dust in the photosphere, the data for the M dwarfs and the T dwarf are well matched. We find that the Gl 229 system is metal-poor despite having kinematics of the young disk, and that the LHS 102 system has solar metallicity. The observed luminosities and derived temperatures and gravities are consistent with evolutionary model predictions if the Gl 229 system is very young (age ~30 Myr) with masses (A,B) of (0.38,>0.007)M(sun), and the LHS 102 system is older, aged 1-10 Gyr with masses (A,B) of (0.19,0.07)M(sun).Comment: 29 pages incl. 13 figures and 5 tables;; accepted for publication in MNRA