15,953 research outputs found
Growth of Perturbation in Gravitational Collapse and Accretion
When a self-gravitating spherical gas cloud collapses or accretes onto a
central mass, the inner region of the cloud develops a density profile
and the velocity approaches free-fall. We show that in
this region, nonspherical perturbations grow with decreasing radius. In the
linear regime, the tangential velocity perturbation increases as ,
while the Lagrangian density perturbation, , grows as
. Faster growth occurs if the central collapsed object maintains a
finite multiple moment, in which case increases as ,
where specifies the angular degree of the perturbation. These scaling
relations are different from those obtained for the collapse of a homogeneous
cloud. Our numerical calculations indicate that nonspherical perturbations are
damped in the subsonic region, and that they grow and approach the asymptotic
scalings in the supersonic region. The implications of our results to
asymmetric supernova collapse and to black hole accretion are briefly
discussed.Comment: 23 pages including 6 ps figures; Minor changes and update; To appear
in ApJ, 200
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Human gut Bacteroides capture vitamin B12 via cell surface-exposed lipoproteins.
Human gut Bacteroides use surface-exposed lipoproteins to bind and metabolize complex polysaccharides. Although vitamins and other nutrients are also essential for commensal fitness, much less is known about how commensal bacteria compete with each other or the host for these critical resources. Unlike in Escherichia coli, transport loci for vitamin B12 (cobalamin) and other corrinoids in human gut Bacteroides are replete with conserved genes encoding proteins whose functions are unknown. Here we report that one of these proteins, BtuG, is a surface-exposed lipoprotein that is essential for efficient B12 transport in B. thetaiotaomicron. BtuG binds B12 with femtomolar affinity and can remove B12 from intrinsic factor, a critical B12 transport protein in humans. Our studies suggest that Bacteroides use surface-exposed lipoproteins not only for capturing polysaccharides, but also to acquire key vitamins in the gut
Phase statistics of seismic coda waves
We report the analysis of the statistics of the phase fluctuations in the
coda of earthquakes recorded during a temporary experiment deployed at Pinyon
Flats Observatory, California. The practical measurement of the phase is
discussed and the main pitfalls are underlined. For large values, the
experimental distributions of the phase first, second and third derivatives
obey universal power-law decays whose exponents are remarkably well predicted
by circular Gaussian statistics. For small values, these distributions are
flat. The details of the transition between the plateau and the power-law
behavior are governed by the wavelength. The correlation function of the first
phase derivative along the array shows a simple algebro-exponential decay with
the mean free path as the only length scale. Although only loose bounds are
provided in this study, our work suggests a new method to estimate the degree
of heterogeneity of the crComment: 4 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
Study of muons near shower cores at sea level using the E594 neutrino detector
The E594 neutrino detector has been used to study the lateral distribution of muons of energy 3 GeV near shower cores. The detector consists of a 340 ton fine grain calorimeter with 400,000 cells of flash chamber and dimensions of 3.7 m x 20 m x 3.7 m (height). The average density in the calorimeter is 1.4 gm/sq cm, and the average Z is 21. The detector was triggered by four 0.6 sq m scintillators placed immediately on the top of the calorimeter. The trigger required at least two of these four counters. The accompanying extensive air showers (EAS) was sampled by 14 scintillation counters located up to 15 m from the calorimeter. Several off line cuts have been applied to the data. Demanding five particles in at least two of the trigger detectors, a total of 20 particles in all of them together, and an arrival angle for the shower 450 deg reduced the data sample to 11053 events. Of these in 4869 cases, a computer algorithm found at least three muons in the calorimeter
Spatial and temporal characterization of a Bessel beam produced using a conical mirror
We experimentally analyze a Bessel beam produced with a conical mirror,
paying particular attention to its superluminal and diffraction-free
properties. We spatially characterized the beam in the radial and on-axis
dimensions, and verified that the central peak does not spread over a
propagation distance of 73 cm. In addition, we measured the superluminal phase
and group velocities of the beam in free space. Both spatial and temporal
measurements show good agreement with the theoretical predictions.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figure
The composition of cosmic rays near the Bend (10 to the 15th power eV) from a study of muons in air showers at sea level
The distribution of muons near shower cores was studied at sea level at Fermilab using the E594 neutrino detector to sample the muon with E testing 3 GeV. These data are compared with detailed Monte Carlo simulations to derive conclusions about the composition of cosmic rays near the bend in the all particle spectrum. Monte Carlo simulations generating extensive air showers (EAS) with primary energy in excess of 50 TeV are described. Each shower record contains details of the electron lateral distribution and the muon and hadron lateral distributions as a function of energy, at the observation level of 100g/cm. The number of detected electrons and muons in each case was determined by a Poisson fluctuation of the number incident. The resultant predicted distribution of muons, electrons, the rate events are compared to those observed. Preliminary results on the rate favor a heavy primary dominated cosmic ray spectrum in energy range 50 to 1000 TeV
Quantum switches and quantum memories for matter-wave lattice solitons
We study the possibility of implementing a quantum switch and a quantum
memory for matter wave lattice solitons by making them interact with
"effective" potentials (barrier/well) corresponding to defects of the optical
lattice. In the case of interaction with an "effective" potential barrier, the
bright lattice soliton experiences an abrupt transition from complete
transmission to complete reflection (quantum switch) for a critical height of
the barrier. The trapping of the soliton in an "effective" potential well and
its release on demand, without loses, shows the feasibility of using the system
as a quantum memory. The inclusion of defects as a way of controlling the
interactions between two solitons is also reported
Radio Scintillation due to Discontinuities in the Interstellar Plasma Density
We develop the theory of interstellar scintillation as caused by an irregular
plasma having a power-law spatial density spectrum with a spectral exponent of
4 corresponding to a medium with abrupt changes in its density. An ``outer
scale'' is included in the model representing the typical scale over which the
density of the medium remains uniform. Such a spectrum could be used to model
plasma shock fronts in supernova remnants or other plasma discontinuities. We
investigate and develop equations for the decorrelation bandwidth of
diffractive scintillations and the refractive scintillation index and compare
our results with pulsar measurements. We consider both a medium concentrated in
a thin layer and an extended irregular medium. We conclude that the
discontinuity model gives satisfactory agreement for many diffractive
measurements, in particular the VLBI meaurements of the structure function
exponent between 5/3 and 2. However, it gives less satisfactory agreement for
the refractive scintillation index than does the Kolmogorov turbulence
spectrum. The comparison suggests that the medium consists of a pervasive
background distribution of turbulence embedded with randomly placed discrete
plasma structures such as shocks or HII regions. This can be modeled by a
composite spectrum following the Kolmogorov form at high wavenumbers and
steepening at lower wavenumbers corresponding to the typical (inverse) size of
the discrete structures. Such a model can also explain the extreme scattering
events. However, lines of sight through the enhanced scattering prevalent at
low galactic latitudes are accurately described by the Kolmogorov spectrum in
an extended medium and do not appear to have a similar low-wavenumber
steepening.Comment: Accpeted for ApJ vol 531, March 200
Extended Source Diffraction Effects Near Gravitational Lens Fold Caustics
Calculations are presented detailing the gravitational lens diffraction due
to the steep brightness gradient of the limb of a stellar source. The lensing
case studied is the fold caustic crossing. The limb diffraction signal greatly
exceeds that due to the disk as a whole and should be detectable for white
dwarf sources in our Galaxy and it's satellites with existing telescopes.
Detection of this diffraction signal would provide an additional mathematical
constraint, reducing the degeneracy among models of the lensing geometry. The
diffraction pattern provides pico-arcsecond resolution of the limb profile.Comment: 19 pages including 17 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ, Minor
conceptual change from previous versio
The COMPLETE Nature of the Warm Dust Ring in Perseus
The Perseus molecular cloud complex is a ~30pc long chain of molecular clouds
most well-known for the two star-forming clusters NGC1333 and IC348 and the
well-studied outflow source in B5. However, when studied at mid- to
far-infrared wavelengths the region is dominated by a ~10pc diameter shell of
warm dust, likely generated by an HII region caused by the early B-star
HD278942. Using a revised calibration technique the COMPLETE team has produced
high-sensitivity temperature and column-density maps of the Perseus region from
IRAS Sky Survey Atlas (ISSA) 60 and 100um data. In this paper, we combine the
ISSA based dust-emission maps with other observations collected as part of the
COMPLETE Survey, along with archival H-alpha and MSX observations. Molecular
line observations from FCRAO and extinction maps constructed by applying the
NICER method to the 2MASS catalog provide independent estimates of the ``true''
column-density of the shell. H-alpha emission in the region of the shell
confirms that it is most likely an HII region located behind the cloud complex,
and 8um data from MSX indicates that the shell may be interacting with the
cloud. Finally, the two polarisation components previously seen towards
background stars in the region can be explained by the association of the
stronger component with the shell. If confirmed, this would be the first
observation of a parsec-scale swept-up magnetic field.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. Figures have been compressed - full resolution
version available at http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/COMPLETE/results.htm
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