Central galaxy growth and feedback in the most massive nearby cool core cluster

We present multi-wavelength observations of the centre of RXCJ1504.1-0248 - the galaxy cluster with the most luminous and relatively nearby cool core at z~0.2. Although there are several galaxies within 100 kpc of the cluster core, only the brightest cluster galaxy (BCG), which lies at the peak of the X-ray emission, has blue colours and strong line-emission. Approximately 80 Msun/yr of intracluster gas is cooling below X-ray emitting temperatures, similar to the observed UV star formation rate of ~140 Msun/yr. Most star formation occurs in the core of the BCG and in a 42 kpc long filament of blue continuum, line emission, and X-ray emission, that extends southwest of the galaxy. The surrounding filamentary nebula is the most luminous around any observed BCG. The number of ionizing stars in the BCG is barely sufficient to ionize and heat the nebula, and the line ratios indicate an additional heat source is needed. This heat source can contribute to the H\alpha-deduced star formation rates (SFRs) in BCGs and therefore the derived SFRs should only be considered upper limits. AGN feedback can slow down the cooling flow to the observed mass deposition rate if the black hole accretion rate is of the order of 0.5 Msun/yr at 10% energy output efficiency. The average turbulent velocity of the nebula is vturb ~325 km/s which, if shared by the hot gas, limits the ratio of turbulent to thermal energy of the intracluster medium to less than 6%.Comment: 15 pages, 11 figures, MNRAS in press. Corrected typo in abstract

Measurement of the salt-dependent stabilization of partially open DNA by Escherichia coli SSB protein

The rezipping force of two complementary DNA strands under tension has been measured in the presence of Escherichia coli single-stranded-binding proteins under salt conditions ranging from 10– to 400 mM NaCl. The effectiveness of the binding protein in preventing rezipping is strongly dependent on salt concentration and compared with the salt dependence in the absence of the protein. At concentrations less than 50 mM NaCl, the protein prevents complete rezipping of λ-phage on the 2-s timescale of the experiment, when the ssDNA is under tensions as low as 3.5 ± 1 pN. For salt concentrations greater than 200 mM NaCl, the protein inhibits rezipping but cannot block rezipping when the tension is reduced below 6 ± 1.8 pN. This change in effectiveness as a function of salt concentration may correspond to salt-dependent changes in binding modes that were previously observed in bulk assays

Electron Power-Law Spectra in Solar and Space Plasmas

Particles are accelerated to very high, non-thermal energies in solar and space plasma environments. While energy spectra of accelerated electrons often exhibit a power law, it remains unclear how electrons are accelerated to high energies and what processes determine the power-law index $\delta$. Here, we review previous observations of the power-law index $\delta$ in a variety of different plasma environments with a particular focus on sub-relativistic electrons. It appears that in regions more closely related to magnetic reconnection (such as the `above-the-looptop' solar hard X-ray source and the plasma sheet in Earth's magnetotail), the spectra are typically soft ($\delta \gtrsim$ 4). This is in contrast to the typically hard spectra ($\delta \lesssim$ 4) that are observed in coincidence with shocks. The difference implies that shocks are more efficient in producing a larger non-thermal fraction of electron energies when compared to magnetic reconnection. A caveat is that during active times in Earth's magnetotail, $\delta$ values seem spatially uniform in the plasma sheet, while power-law distributions still exist even in quiet times. The role of magnetotail reconnection in the electron power-law formation could therefore be confounded with these background conditions. Because different regions have been studied with different instrumentations and methodologies, we point out a need for more systematic and coordinated studies of power-law distributions for a better understanding of possible scaling laws in particle acceleration as well as their universality.Comment: 67 pages, 15 figures; submitted to Space Science Reviews; comments welcom

Hydrogen Two-Photon Continuum Emission from the Horseshoe Filament in NGC 1275

Far ultraviolet emission has been detected from a knot of Halpha emission in the Horseshoe filament, far out in the NGC 1275 nebula. The flux detected relative to the brightness of the Halpha line in the same spatial region is very close to that expected from Hydrogen two-photon continuum emission in the particle heating model of Ferland et al. (2009) if reddening internal to the filaments is taken into account. We find no need to invoke other sources of far ultraviolet emission such as hot stars or emission lines from CIV in intermediate temperature gas to explain these data.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA