Chromospheric Activity of HAT-P-11: an Unusually Active Planet-Hosting K Star

Kepler photometry of the hot Neptune host star HAT-P-11 suggests that its spot latitude distribution is comparable to the Sun's near solar maximum. We search for evidence of an activity cycle in the CaII H & K chromospheric emission $S$-index with archival Keck/HIRES spectra and observations from the echelle spectrograph on the ARC 3.5 m Telescope at APO. The chromospheric emission of HAT-P-11 is consistent with a $\gtrsim 10$ year activity cycle, which plateaued near maximum during the Kepler mission. In the cycle that we observed, the star seemed to spend more time near active maximum than minimum. We compare the $\log R^\prime_{HK}$ normalized chromospheric emission index of HAT-P-11 with other stars. HAT-P-11 has unusually strong chromospheric emission compared to planet-hosting stars of similar effective temperature and rotation period, perhaps due to tides raised by its planet.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures; accepted to the Astrophysical Journa

Reduced monocyte and macrophage TNFSF15/TL1A expression is associated with susceptibility to inflammatory bowel disease.

Chronic inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) results from a breakdown of intestinal immune homeostasis and compromise of the intestinal barrier. Genome-wide association studies have identified over 200 genetic loci associated with risk for IBD, but the functional mechanisms of most of these genetic variants remain unknown. Polymorphisms at the TNFSF15 locus, which encodes the TNF superfamily cytokine commonly known as TL1A, are associated with susceptibility to IBD in multiple ethnic groups. In a wide variety of murine models of inflammation including models of IBD, TNFSF15 promotes immunopathology by signaling through its receptor DR3. Such evidence has led to the hypothesis that expression of this lymphocyte costimulatory cytokine increases risk for IBD. In contrast, here we show that the IBD-risk haplotype at TNFSF15 is associated with decreased expression of the gene by peripheral blood monocytes in both healthy volunteers and IBD patients. This association persists under various stimulation conditions at both the RNA and protein levels and is maintained after macrophage differentiation. Utilizing a "recall-by-genotype" bioresource for allele-specific expression measurements in a functional fine-mapping assay, we localize the polymorphism controlling TNFSF15 expression to the regulatory region upstream of the gene. Through a T cell costimulation assay, we demonstrate that genetically regulated TNFSF15 has functional relevance. These findings indicate that genetically enhanced expression of TNFSF15 in specific cell types may confer protection against the development of IBD

Chemopreventative celecoxib fails to prevent schwannoma formation or sensorineural hearing loss in genetically engineered murine model of neurofibromatosis type 2

Mutations in the tumor suppressor gene NF2 lead to Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), a tumor predisposition syndrome characterized by the development of schwannomas, including bilateral vestibular schwannomas with complete penetrance. Recent work has implicated the importance of COX-2 in schwannoma growth. Using a genetically engineered murine model of NF2, we demonstrate that selective inhibition of COX-2 with celecoxib fails to prevent the spontaneous development of schwannomas or sensorineural hearing loss in vivo, despite elevated expression levels of COX-2 in Nf2-deficient tumor tissue. These results suggest that COX-2 is nonessential to schwannomagenesis and that the proposed tumor suppressive effects of NSAIDs on schwannomas may occur through COX-2 independent mechanisms

Relativistic MHD and black hole excision: Formulation and initial tests

A new algorithm for solving the general relativistic MHD equations is described in this paper. We design our scheme to incorporate black hole excision with smooth boundaries, and to simplify solving the combined Einstein and MHD equations with AMR. The fluid equations are solved using a finite difference Convex ENO method. Excision is implemented using overlapping grids. Elliptic and hyperbolic divergence cleaning techniques allow for maximum flexibility in choosing coordinate systems, and we compare both methods for a standard problem. Numerical results of standard test problems are presented in two-dimensional flat space using excision, overlapping grids, and elliptic and hyperbolic divergence cleaning.Comment: 22 pages, 8 figure

Accretion Disks and Dynamos: Toward a Unified Mean Field Theory

Conversion of gravitational energy into radiation in accretion discs and the origin of large scale magnetic fields in astrophysical rotators have often been distinct topics of research. In semi-analytic work on both problems it has been useful to presume large scale symmetries, necessarily resulting in mean field theories. MHD turbulence makes the underlying systems locally asymmetric and nonlinear. Synergy between theory and simulations should aim for the development of practical mean field models that capture essential physics and can be used for observational modeling. Mean field dynamo (MFD) theory and alpha-viscosity accretion theory exemplify such ongoing pursuits. 21st century MFD theory has more nonlinear predictive power compared to 20th century MFD theory, whereas accretion theory is still in a 20th century state. In fact, insights from MFD theory are applicable to accretion theory and the two are artificially separated pieces of what should be a single theory. I discuss pieces of progress that provide clues toward a unified theory. A key concept is that large scale magnetic fields can be sustained via local or global magnetic helicity fluxes or via relaxation of small scale magnetic fluctuations, without the kinetic helicity driver of 20th century textbooks. These concepts may help explain the formation of large scale fields that supply non-local angular momentum transport via coronae and jets in a unified theory of accretion and dynamos. In diagnosing the role of helicities and helicity fluxes in disk simulations, each disk hemisphere should be studied separately to avoid being misled by cancelation that occurs as a result of reflection asymmetry. The fraction of helical field energy in disks is expected to be small compared to the total field in each hemisphere as a result of shear, but can still be essential for large scale dynamo action.Comment: For the Proceedings of the Third International Conference and Advanced School "Turbulent Mixing and Beyond," TMB-2011 held on 21 - 28 August 2011 at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, http://users.ictp.it/~tmb/index2011.html Italy, To Appear in Physica Scripta (corrected small items to match version in print

The Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Seventh Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), marking the completion of the original goals of the SDSS and the end of the phase known as SDSS-II. It includes 11663 deg^2 of imaging data, with most of the roughly 2000 deg^2 increment over the previous data release lying in regions of low Galactic latitude. The catalog contains five-band photometry for 357 million distinct objects. The survey also includes repeat photometry over 250 deg^2 along the Celestial Equator in the Southern Galactic Cap. A coaddition of these data goes roughly two magnitudes fainter than the main survey. The spectroscopy is now complete over a contiguous area of 7500 deg^2 in the Northern Galactic Cap, closing the gap that was present in previous data releases. There are over 1.6 million spectra in total, including 930,000 galaxies, 120,000 quasars, and 460,000 stars. The data release includes improved stellar photometry at low Galactic latitude. The astrometry has all been recalibrated with the second version of the USNO CCD Astrograph Catalog (UCAC-2), reducing the rms statistical errors at the bright end to 45 milli-arcseconds per coordinate. A systematic error in bright galaxy photometr is less severe than previously reported for the majority of galaxies. Finally, we describe a series of improvements to the spectroscopic reductions, including better flat-fielding and improved wavelength calibration at the blue end, better processing of objects with extremely strong narrow emission lines, and an improved determination of stellar metallicities. (Abridged)Comment: 20 pages, 10 embedded figures. Accepted to ApJS after minor correction

LSST Science Book, Version 2.0

A survey that can cover the sky in optical bands over wide fields to faint magnitudes with a fast cadence will enable many of the exciting science opportunities of the next decade. The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) will have an effective aperture of 6.7 meters and an imaging camera with field of view of 9.6 deg^2, and will be devoted to a ten-year imaging survey over 20,000 deg^2 south of +15 deg. Each pointing will be imaged 2000 times with fifteen second exposures in six broad bands from 0.35 to 1.1 microns, to a total point-source depth of r~27.5. The LSST Science Book describes the basic parameters of the LSST hardware, software, and observing plans. The book discusses educational and outreach opportunities, then goes on to describe a broad range of science that LSST will revolutionize: mapping the inner and outer Solar System, stellar populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies, the structure of the Milky Way disk and halo and other objects in the Local Volume, transient and variable objects both at low and high redshift, and the properties of normal and active galaxies at low and high redshift. It then turns to far-field cosmological topics, exploring properties of supernovae to z~1, strong and weak lensing, the large-scale distribution of galaxies and baryon oscillations, and how these different probes may be combined to constrain cosmological models and the physics of dark energy.Comment: 596 pages. Also available at full resolution at http://www.lsst.org/lsst/sciboo

The Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

This paper describes the Fifth Data Release (DR5) of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). DR5 includes all survey quality data taken through June 2005 and represents the completion of the SDSS-I project (whose successor, SDSS-II will continue through mid-2008). It includes five-band photometric data for 217 million objects selected over 8000 square degrees, and 1,048,960 spectra of galaxies, quasars, and stars selected from 5713 square degrees of that imaging data. These numbers represent a roughly 20% increment over those of the Fourth Data Release; all the data from previous data releases are included in the present release. In addition to "standard" SDSS observations, DR5 includes repeat scans of the southern equatorial stripe, imaging scans across M31 and the core of the Perseus cluster of galaxies, and the first spectroscopic data from SEGUE, a survey to explore the kinematics and chemical evolution of the Galaxy. The catalog database incorporates several new features, including photometric redshifts of galaxies, tables of matched objects in overlap regions of the imaging survey, and tools that allow precise computations of survey geometry for statistical investigations.Comment: ApJ Supp, in press, October 2007. This paper describes DR5. The SDSS Sixth Data Release (DR6) is now public, available from http://www.sdss.or