35,859 research outputs found
Composite fields, generalized hypergeometric functions and the symmetry in the AdS/CFT correspondence
We discuss the concept of composite fields in flat CFT as well as in the
context of AdS/CFT. Furthermore we show how to represent Green functions using
generalized hypergeometric functions and apply these techniques to four-point
functions. Finally we prove an identity of symmetry for four-point
functions.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figure
A small population of hypothalamic neurons govern fertility: the critical role of VAX1 in GnRH neuron development and fertility maintenance.
Fertility depends on the correct maturation and function of approximately 800 gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) neurons in the brain. GnRH neurons are at the apex of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal axis that regulates fertility. In adulthood, GnRH neurons are scattered throughout the anterior hypothalamic area and project to the median eminence, where GnRH is released into the portal vasculature to stimulate release of luteinizing hormone (LH) and follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) from the pituitary. LH and FSH then regulate gonadal steroidogenesis and gametogenesis. Absence of GnRH neurons or inappropriate GnRH release leads to infertility. Despite the critical role of GnRH neurons in fertility, we still have a limited understanding of the genes responsible for proper GnRH neuron development and function in adulthood. GnRH neurons originate in the olfactory placode then migrate into the brain. Homeodomain transcription factors expressed within GnRH neurons or along their migratory path are candidate genes for inherited infertility. Using a combined in vitro and in vivo approach, we have identified Ventral Anterior Homeobox 1 (Vax1) as a novel homeodomain transcription factor responsible for GnRH neuron maturation and fertility. GnRH neuron counts in Vax1 knock-out embryos revealed Vax1 to be required for the presence of GnRH-expressing cells at embryonic day 17.5 (E17.5), but not at E13.5. To localize the effects of Vax1 on fertility, we generated Vax1flox mice and crossed them with Gnrhcre mice to specifically delete Vax1 within GnRH neurons. GnRH staining in Vax1flox/flox:GnRHcre mice show a total absence of GnRH expression in the adult. We performed lineage tracing in Vax1flox/flox:GnRHcre:RosaLacZ mice which proved GnRH neurons to be alive, but incapable of expressing GnRH. The absence of GnRH leads to delayed puberty, hypogonadism and complete infertility in both sexes. Finally, using the immortalized model GnRH neuron cell lines, GN11 and GT1-7, we show that VAX1 is a direct regulator of Gnrh1 transcription by binding key ATTA sites within the Gnrh1 promoter. This study identifies VAX1 as a key transcription factor regulating GnRH expression and establishes VAX1 as a novel candidate gene implicated in heritable infertility
Ordered Landmarks in Planning
Many known planning tasks have inherent constraints concerning the best order
in which to achieve the goals. A number of research efforts have been made to
detect such constraints and to use them for guiding search, in the hope of
speeding up the planning process. We go beyond the previous approaches by
considering ordering constraints not only over the (top-level) goals, but also
over the sub-goals that will necessarily arise during planning. Landmarks are
facts that must be true at some point in every valid solution plan. We extend
Koehler and Hoffmann's definition of reasonable orders between top level goals
to the more general case of landmarks. We show how landmarks can be found, how
their reasonable orders can be approximated, and how this information can be
used to decompose a given planning task into several smaller sub-tasks. Our
methodology is completely domain- and planner-independent. The implementation
demonstrates that the approach can yield significant runtime performance
improvements when used as a control loop around state-of-the-art sub-optimal
planning systems, as exemplified by FF and LPG
Cepheid Variables in the Maser-Host Galaxy NGC 4258
We present results of a ground-based survey for Cepheid variables in NGC
4258. This galaxy plays a key role in the Extragalactic Distance Scale due to
its very precise and accurate distance determination via VLBI observations of
water masers. We imaged two fields within this galaxy using the Gemini North
telescope and GMOS, obtaining 16 epochs of data in the SDSS gri bands over 4
years. We carried out PSF photometry and detected 94 Cepheids with periods
between 7 and 127 days, as well as an additional 215 variables which may be
Cepheids or Population II pulsators. We used the Cepheid sample to test the
absolute calibration of theoretical gri Period-Luminosity relations and found
good agreement with the maser distance to this galaxy. The expected data
products from the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) should enable Cepheid
searches out to at least 10 Mpc.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journa
Aspects of the conformal operator product expansion in AdS/CFT correspondence
We present a detailed analysis of a scalar conformal four-point function
obtained from AdS/CFT correspondence. We study the scalar exchange graphs in
AdS and discuss their analytic properties. Using methods of conformal partial
wave analysis, we present a general procedure to study conformal four-point
functions in terms of exchanges of scalar and tensor fields. The logarithmic
terms in the four-point functions are connected to the anomalous dimensions of
the exchanged fields. Comparison of the results from AdS graphs with the
conformal partial wave analysis, suggests a possible general form for the
operator product expansion of scalar fields in the boundary CFT.Comment: 31 pages, LaTeX, accepted for publication in ATM
Effect of many modes on self-polarization and photochemical suppression in cavities
The standard description of cavity-modified molecular reactions typically involves a single (resonant) mode, while in reality, the quantum cavity supports a range of photon modes. Here, we demonstrate that as more photon modes are accounted for, physicochemical phenomena can dramatically change, as illustrated by the cavity-induced suppression of the important and ubiquitous process of proton-coupled electron-transfer. Using a multi-trajectory Ehrenfest treatment for the photon-modes, we find that self-polarization effects become essential, and we introduce the concept of self-polarization-modified Born–Oppenheimer surfaces as a new construct to analyze dynamics. As the number of cavity photon modes increases, the increasing deviation of these surfaces from the cavity-free Born–Oppenheimer surfaces, together with the interplay between photon emission and absorption inside the widening bands of these surfaces, leads to enhanced suppression. The present findings are general and will have implications for the description and control of cavity-driven physical processes of molecules, nanostructures, and solids embedded in cavities
Carbon line formation and spectroscopy in O-type stars
The determination of chemical abundances constitutes a fundamental
requirement for obtaining a complete picture of a star. Particularly in massive
stars, CNO abundances are of prime interest, due to the nuclear CNO-cycle and
various mixing processes which bring these elements to the surface.
We aim at enabling a reliable carbon spectroscopy for our unified NLTE
atmosphere code FASTWIND.
We develop a new carbon model atom including CII/III/IV/V, and discuss
problems related to carbon spectroscopy in O-type stars. We describe different
tests to examine the reliability of our implementation, and investigate which
mechanisms influence the carbon ionization balance. By comparing with
high-resolution spectra from six O-type stars, we check in how far
observational constraints can be reproduced by our new carbon line synthesis.
Carbon lines are even more sensitive to a variation of temperature, gravity,
and mass-loss rate, than hydrogen/helium lines. We are able to reproduce most
of the observed lines from our stellar sample, and to estimate those specific
carbon abundances which bring the lines from different ions into agreement. For
hot dwarfs and supergiants earlier than O7, X-rays from wind-embedded shocks
can impact the synthesized line strengths, particularly for CIV, potentially
affecting the abundance determination.
We have demonstrated our capability to derive realistic carbon abundances by
means of FASTWIND, using our recently developed model atom. We found that
complex effects can have a strong influence on the carbon ionization balance in
hot stars. For a further understanding, the UV range needs to be explored as
well. By means of detailed nitrogen and oxygen model atoms available to use, we
will be able to perform a complete CNO abundance analysis for larger samples of
massive stars, and to provide constraints on corresponding evolutionary models
and aspects.Comment: 22 pages, 16 figures, 6 table
Radiation-driven winds of hot luminous stars. XVI. Expanding atmospheres of massive and very massive stars and the evolution of dense stellar clusters
Context: Starbursts, and particularly their high-mass stars, play an
essential role in the evolution of galaxies. The winds of massive stars not
only significantly influence their surroundings, but the mass loss also
profoundly affects the evolution of the stars themselves. In addition to the
evolution of each star, the evolution of the dense cores of massive starburst
clusters is affected by N-body interactions, and the formation of very massive
stars via mergers may be decisive for the evolution of the cluster.
Aims: To introduce an advanced diagnostic method of O-type stellar
atmospheres with winds, including an assessment of the accuracy of the
determinations of abundances, stellar and wind parameters.
Methods: We combine consistent models of expanding atmospheres with detailed
stellar evolutionary calculations of massive and very massive single stars with
regard to the evolution of dense stellar clusters. Accurate predictions of the
mass loss rates of very massive stars requires a highly consistent treatment of
the statistical equilibrium and the hydrodynamic and radiative processes in the
expanding atmospheres.
Results: We present computed mass loss rates, terminal wind velocities, and
spectral energy distributions of massive and very massive stars of different
metallicities, calculated from atmospheric models with an improved level of
consistency.
Conclusions: Stellar evolutionary calculations using our computed mass loss
rates show that low-metallicity very massive stars lose only a very small
amount of their mass, making it unlikely that very massive population III stars
cause a significant helium enrichment of the interstellar medium.
Solar-metallicity stars have higher mass-loss rates, but these are not so high
to exclude very massive stars formed by mergers in dense clusters from ending
their life massive enough to form intermediate-mass black holes.Comment: Accepted by A&
Stochasticity & Predictability in Terrestrial Planet Formation
Terrestrial planets are thought to be the result of a vast number of
gravitational interactions and collisions between smaller bodies. We use
numerical simulations to show that practically identical initial conditions
result in a wide array of final planetary configurations. This is a result of
the chaotic evolution of trajectories which are highly sensitive to minuscule
displacements. We determine that differences between systems evolved from
virtually identical initial conditions can be larger than the differences
between systems evolved from very different initial conditions. This implies
that individual simulations lack predictive power. For example, there is not a
reproducible mapping between the initial and final surface density profiles.
However, some key global properties can still be extracted if the statistical
spread across many simulations is considered. Based on these spreads, we
explore the collisional growth and orbital properties of terrestrial planets
which assemble from different initial conditions (we vary the initial
planetesimal distribution, planetesimal masses, and giant planet orbits).
Confirming past work, we find that the resulting planetary systems are sculpted
by sweeping secular resonances. Configurations with giant planets on eccentric
orbits produce fewer and more massive terrestrial planets on tighter orbits
than those with giants on circular orbits. This is further enhanced if the
initial mass distribution is biased to the inner regions. In all cases, the
outer edge of the system is set by the final location of the resonance
and we find that the mass distribution peaks at the resonance. Using
existing observations, we find that extrasolar systems follow similar trends.
Although differences between our numerical modelling and exoplanetary systems
remain, we suggest that CoRoT-7, HD 20003, and HD 20781 may host undetected
giant planets.Comment: replaced to match published version, 20 pages, 11 figures, published
in MNRAS, simulation outputs available at https://cheleb.net/astro/sp15
- …