588 research outputs found
A multiscale regularized restoration algorithm for XMM-Newton data
We introduce a new multiscale restoration algorithm for images with few
photons counts and its use for denoising XMM data. We use a thresholding of the
wavelet space so as to remove the noise contribution at each scale while
preserving the multiscale information of the signal. Contrary to other
algorithms the signal restoration process is the same whatever the signal to
noise ratio is. Thresholds according to a Poisson noise process are indeed
computed analytically at each scale thanks to the use of the unnormalized Haar
wavelet transform. Promising preliminary results are obtained on X-ray data for
Abell 2163 with the computation of a temperature map.Comment: To appear in the Proceedings of `Galaxy Clusters and the High
Redshift Universe Observed in X-rays', XXIth Moriond Astrophysics Meeting
(March 2001), Eds. Doris Neumann et a
New Structure In The Shapley Supercluster
We present new radial velocities for 189 galaxies in a 91 sq. deg region of
the Shapley supercluster measured with the FLAIR-II spectrograph on the UK
Schmidt Telescope. The data reveal two sheets of galaxies linking the major
concentrations of the supercluster. The supercluster is not flattened in
Declination as was suggested previously and it may be at least 30 percent
larger than previously thought with a correspondingly larger contribution to
the motion of the Local Group.Comment: LaTex: 2 pages, 1 figure, includes conf_iap.sty style file. To appear
in proceedings of The 14th IAP Colloquium: Wide Field Surveys in Cosmology,
held in Paris, 1998 May 26--30, eds. S.Colombi, Y.Mellie
\u3cem\u3eiac\u3c/em\u3e Gene Expression in the Indole-3-Acetic Acid-Degrading Soil Bacterium \u3cem\u3eEnterobacter soli\u3c/em\u3e LF7
We show for soil bacterium Enterobacter soli LF7 that the possession of an indole-3-acetic acid catabolic (iac) gene cluster is causatively linked to the ability to utilize the plant hormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) as a carbon and energy source. Genome-wide transcriptional profiling by mRNA sequencing revealed that these iac genes, chromosomally arranged as iacHABICDEFG and coding for the transformation of IAA to catechol, were the most highly induced (\u3e29-fold) among the relatively few (iac cluster were genes for a major facilitator superfamily protein (mfs) and enzymes of the β-ketoadipate pathway (pcaIJD-catBCA), which channels catechol into central metabolism. This entire iacHABICDEFG-mfs-pcaIJD-catBCA gene set was constitutively expressed in an iacR deletion mutant, confirming the role of iacR, annotated as coding for a MarR-type regulator and located upstream of iacH, as a repressor of iac gene expression. In E. soli LF7 carrying the DNA region upstream of iacH fused to a promoterless gfp gene, green fluorescence accumulated in response to IAA at concentrations as low as 1.6 μM. The iacH promoter region also responded to chlorinated IAA, but not other aromatics tested, indicating a narrow substrate specificity. In an iacR deletion mutant, gfp expression from the iacH promoter region was constitutive, consistent with the predicted role of iacR as a repressor. A deletion analysis revealed putative −35/−10 promoter sequences upstream of iacH, as well as a possible binding site for the IacR repressor
Spectral Properties of Holstein and Breathing Polarons
We calculate the spectral properties of the one-dimensional Holstein and
breathing polarons using the self-consistent Born approximation. The Holstein
model electron-phonon coupling is momentum independent while the breathing
coupling increases monotonically with the phonon momentum. We find that for a
linear or tight binding electron dispersion: i) for the same value of the
dimensionless coupling the quasiparticle renormalization at small momentum in
the breathing polaron is much smaller, ii) the quasiparticle renormalization at
small momentum in the breathing polaron increases with phonon frequency unlike
in the Holstein model where it decreases, iii) in the Holstein model the
quasiparticle dispersion displays a kink and a small gap at an excitation
energy equal to the phonon frequency w0 while in the breathing model it
displays two gaps, one at excitation energy w0 and another one at 2w0. These
differences have two reasons: first, the momentum of the relevant scattered
phonons increases with increasing polaron momentum and second, the breathing
bare coupling is an increasing function of the phonon momentum. These result in
an effective electron-phonon coupling for the breathing model which is an
increasing function of the total polaron momentum, such that the small momentum
polaron is in the weak coupling regime while the large momentum one is in the
strong coupling regime. However the first reason does not hold if the free
electron dispersion has low energy states separated by large momentum, as in a
higher dimensional system for example, in which situation the difference
between the two models becomes less significant.Comment: 11 pages, 10 figure
Evidence of Substructure in the Cluster of Galaxies A3558
We investigate the dynamical properties of the cluster of galaxies A3558
(Shapley 8). Studying a region of one square degree ( 3 Mpc) centered
on the cluster cD galaxy, we have obtained a statistically complete photometric
catalog with positions and magnitudes of 1421 galaxies (down to a limiting
magnitude of ). This catalog has been matched to the recent velocity
data obtained by Mazure et al. (1997) and from the literature, yielding a
radial velocity catalog containing 322 galaxies. Our analysis shows that the
position/velocity space distribution of galaxies shows significant
substructure. A central bimodal core detected previously in preliminary studies
is confirmed by using the Adaptive Kernel Technique and Wavelet Analysis. We
show that this central bimodal subtructure is nevertheless composed of a
projected feature, kinematically unrelated to the cluster, plus a group of
galaxies probably in its initial merging phase into a relaxed core. The cD
velocity offset with respect to the average cluster redshift, reported earlier
by several authors, is completely eliminated as a result of our dynamical
analysis. The untangling of the relaxed core component also allows a better,
more reliable determination of the central velocity dispersion, which in turn
eliminates the ``-problem'' for A3558. The cluster also shows a
``preferential'' distribution of subclumps coinciding with the direction of the
major axis position angle of the cD galaxy and of the central X-ray emission
ellipsoidal distribution, in agreement with an anisotropic merger scenario.Comment: 35 pages in latex, 17 figures in Postscript, accepted for publication
in the Astrophysical Journa
The Cluster of Galaxies Abell 970
We present a dynamical analysis of the galaxy cluster Abell 970 based on a
new set of radial velocities measured at ESO, Pic du Midi and Haute-Provence
observatories. Our analysis indicates that this cluster has a substructure and
is out of dynamical equilibrium. This conclusion is also supported by
differences in the positions of the peaks of the surface density distribution
and X-ray emission, as well as by the evidence of a large scale velocity
gradient in the cluster. We also found a discrepancy between the masses
inferred with the virial theorem and with the X-ray emission, what is expected
if the galaxies and the gas inside the cluster are not in hydrostatic
equilibrium. Abell 970 has a modest cooling flow, as is expected if it is out
of equilibrium as suggested by Allen (1998). We propose that cooling flows may
have an intermittent behavior, with phases of massive cooling flows being
followed by phases without significant cooling flows after the acretion of a
galaxy group massive enough to disrupt the dynamical equilibrium in the center
of the clusters. A massive cooling flow will be established again, after a new
equilibrium is achieved.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&
Universal asymptotic behavior in flow equations of dissipative systems
Based on two dissipative models, universal asymptotic behavior of flow
equations for Hamiltonians is found and discussed. Universal asymptotic
behavior only depends on fundamental bath properties but not on initial system
parameters, and the integro-differential equations possess an universal
attractor. The asymptotic flow of the Hamiltonian can be characterized by a
non-local differential equation which only depends on one parameter -
independent of the dissipative system or truncation scheme. Since the fixed
point Hamiltonian is trivial, the physical information is completely
transferred to the transformation of the observables. This yields a more stable
flow which is crucial for the numerical evaluation of correlation functions.
Furthermore, the low energy behavior of correlation functions is determined
analytically. The presented procedure can also be applied if relevant
perturbations are present as is demonstrated by evaluating dynamical
correlation functions for sub-Ohmic environments. It can further be generalized
to other dissipative systems.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures; to appear in Phys. Rev.
When the optimal is not the best: parameter estimation in complex biological models
Background: The vast computational resources that became available during the
past decade enabled the development and simulation of increasingly complex
mathematical models of cancer growth. These models typically involve many free
parameters whose determination is a substantial obstacle to model development.
Direct measurement of biochemical parameters in vivo is often difficult and
sometimes impracticable, while fitting them under data-poor conditions may
result in biologically implausible values.
Results: We discuss different methodological approaches to estimate
parameters in complex biological models. We make use of the high computational
power of the Blue Gene technology to perform an extensive study of the
parameter space in a model of avascular tumor growth. We explicitly show that
the landscape of the cost function used to optimize the model to the data has a
very rugged surface in parameter space. This cost function has many local
minima with unrealistic solutions, including the global minimum corresponding
to the best fit.
Conclusions: The case studied in this paper shows one example in which model
parameters that optimally fit the data are not necessarily the best ones from a
biological point of view. To avoid force-fitting a model to a dataset, we
propose that the best model parameters should be found by choosing, among
suboptimal parameters, those that match criteria other than the ones used to
fit the model. We also conclude that the model, data and optimization approach
form a new complex system, and point to the need of a theory that addresses
this problem more generally
3D electrical resistivity of Gran Canaria island using magnetotelluric data
Gran Canaria, one of the two main islands of the Canary Archipelago off NW Africa, has been volcanically active for at least 15 million years. The island went through several volcanic cycles that varied greatly in composition and extrusive and intrusive activity. The complex orography of the island has excluded extensive land geophysical surveys on the island. A review of the available geophysical information on the island shows that it has been obtained mainly through marine and airborne geophysical surveys. A new dataset comprising 100 magnetotelluric soundings acquired on land has been used to obtain the first 3D electrical resistivity model of the island at crustal scale. The model shows high resistivity values close to the surface in the exposed Tejeda Caldera that extends at depth to the SE cutting the islands in half. Outside the inferred limits of the Tejeda Caldera the 3D model shows low resistivity values that could be explained by hydrothermal alteration at deeper levels and the presence of marine saltwater intrusion at shallower levels near the coast. The presence of unconnected vertical-like structures, with very low resistivity (<10 ohm m) could be associated to small convective cells is confirmed by the sensitivity analysis carried out in the present study. Those structures are the most likely candidates for a detailed analysis in order to determine their geothermal economic potential. A comprehensive review of existing geophysical data and models of Gran Canaria island and their comparison with the new 3D electrical resistivity model is presented.</p
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