1,818 research outputs found
Variable stars in the Fornax dSph Galaxy. II. Pulsating stars below the horizontal branch
We have carried out an intensive survey of the northern region of the Fornax
dwarf spheroidal galaxy with the aim of detecting the galaxy's short--period
pulsating stars (P<0.25 days). Observations collected over three consecutive
nights with the Wide Field Imager of the 2.2m MPI telescope at ESO allowed us
to detect 85 high-amplitude (0.20-1.00 mag in B-light) variable stars with
periods in the range from 0.046 to 0.126 days, similar to SX Phoenicis stars in
Galactic metal-poor stellar populations. The plots of the observed periods vs.
the B and V magnitudes show a dispersion largely exceeding the observational
errors. To disentangle the matter, we separated the first-overtone from the
fundamental-mode pulsators and tentatively identified a group of subluminous
variables, about 0.35 mag fainter than the others. Their nature as either
metal-poor intermediate-age stars or stars formed by the merging of close
binary systems is discussed. The rich sample of the Fornax variables also led
us to reconstruct the Period-Luminosity relation for short-period pulsating
stars. An excellent linear fit, M(V)=-1.83(+/-0.08)-3.65(+/-0.07) log P(fund),
was obtained using 153 Delta Scuti and SX Phoenicis stars in a number of
different stellar systems.Comment: 11 pages plus 1 on-line figure and 1 on-line table; accepted for
publication in ApJ. Part of this work has been the subject of the Laurea
thesis of LDA. His supervisor and our colleague, Prof. Laura E. Pasinetti,
suddendly passed away on September 13, 2006. Several astronomers have been
trained under her tutelage and we gratefully honor her memor
Recommended from our members
“Pop-on and pop-off” surface chemistry of alanine on Ni{111} under elevated hydrogen pressures
The co-adsorption of hydrogen with a simple chiral modifier, alanine, on Ni{111} was studied using Density Functional Theory in combination with ambient-pressure X-ray photoelectron spectros opy and X-ray absorption spectroscopy at temperatures of 300 K and above, which are representative of chiral hydrogenation reactions. Depending on the hydrogen pressure, the surface enables protons to ''pop on and off'' the modifier molecules, thus significantly altering the adsorption geometry and chemical nature of alanine from anionic tridentate in ultra-high vacuum to predominantly zwitterionic bidentate at hydrogen pressures above 0.1 Torr. This hydrogen-stabilised modifier geometry allows alternative mechanisms for proton transfer and the creation of enatioselective reaction environments
Variable stars in the Fornax dSph Galaxy. I. The Globular Cluster Fornax 4
Variable stars have been identified for the first time in Fornax 4, the
globular cluster located near the center of the Fornax dwarf spheroidal galaxy.
By applying the image subtraction technique to B,V time series photometry
obtained with the MagIC camera of the 6.5-m Magellan/Clay telescope and with
the wide field imager of the 4-m Blanco/CTIO telescope, we detected 27 RR Lyrae
stars (22 fundamental mode, 3 first overtone, and 2 double-mode pulsators) in a
2.4'x2.4' area centered on Fornax 4. The average and minimum periods of the
ab-type RR Lyrae stars, = 0.594 d and P(ab,min)=0.5191 d, respectively, as
well as the revised position of the cluster in the horizontal branch
type--metallicity plane, all consistently point to an Oosterhoff-intermediate
status for the cluster, unlike what is seen for the vast majority of Galactic
globular clusters, but in agreement with previous indications for the other
globular clusters in Fornax.
The average apparent magnitude of the RR Lyrae stars located within 30 arcsec
from the cluster center is =21.43 +/- 0.03 mag (sigma=0.10 mag, average
on 12 stars), leading to a true distance modulus of (m-M)o=20.64 +/- 0.09 mag
or (m-M)o=20.53 +/- 0.09 mag, depending on whether a low ([Fe/H]=-2.0) or a
moderately high ([Fe/H]=-1.5) metallicity is adopted.Comment: Apj, in pres
Correlation effects in total energy of transition metals and related properties
We present an accurate implementation of total energy calculations into the
local density approximation plus dynamical mean-field theory (LDA+DMFT) method.
The electronic structure problem is solved through the full potential linear
Muffin-Tin Orbital (FP-LMTO) and Korringa-Kohn-Rostoker (FP-KKR) methods with a
perturbative solver for the effective impurity suitable for moderately
correlated systems. We have tested the method in detail for the case of Ni and
investigated the sensitivity of the results to the computational scheme and to
the complete self-consistency. It is demonstrated that the LDA+DMFT method can
resolve a long-standing controversy between the LDA/GGA density functional
approach and experiment for equilibrium lattice constant and bulk modulus of
Mn.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figure
Dynamical mean-field approach to materials with strong electronic correlations
We review recent results on the properties of materials with correlated
electrons obtained within the LDA+DMFT approach, a combination of a
conventional band structure approach based on the local density approximation
(LDA) and the dynamical mean-field theory (DMFT). The application to four
outstanding problems in this field is discussed: (i) we compute the full
valence band structure of the charge-transfer insulator NiO by explicitly
including the p-d hybridization, (ii) we explain the origin for the
simultaneously occuring metal-insulator transition and collapse of the magnetic
moment in MnO and Fe2O3, (iii) we describe a novel GGA+DMFT scheme in terms of
plane-wave pseudopotentials which allows us to compute the orbital order and
cooperative Jahn-Teller distortion in KCuF3 and LaMnO3, and (iv) we provide a
general explanation for the appearance of kinks in the effective dispersion of
correlated electrons in systems with a pronounced three-peak spectral function
without having to resort to the coupling of electrons to bosonic excitations.
These results provide a considerable progress in the fully microscopic
investigations of correlated electron materials.Comment: 24 pages, 14 figures, final version, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. for
publication in the Special Topics volume "Cooperative Phenomena in Solids:
Metal-Insulator Transitions and Ordering of Microscopic Degrees of Freedom
Measurement of the quasi-elastic axial vector mass in neutrino-oxygen interactions
The weak nucleon axial-vector form factor for quasi-elastic interactions is
determined using neutrino interaction data from the K2K Scintillating Fiber
detector in the neutrino beam at KEK. More than 12,000 events are analyzed, of
which half are charged-current quasi-elastic interactions nu-mu n to mu- p
occurring primarily in oxygen nuclei. We use a relativistic Fermi gas model for
oxygen and assume the form factor is approximately a dipole with one parameter,
the axial vector mass M_A, and fit to the shape of the distribution of the
square of the momentum transfer from the nucleon to the nucleus. Our best fit
result for M_A = 1.20 \pm 0.12 GeV. Furthermore, this analysis includes updated
vector form factors from recent electron scattering experiments and a
discussion of the effects of the nucleon momentum on the shape of the fitted
distributions.Comment: 14 pages, 10 figures, 6 table
Search for the W-exchange decays B0 --> Ds(*)- Ds(*)+
We report a search for the decays , , in a sample of 232
million decays to \BBb ~pairs collected with the \babar detector
at the PEP-II asymmetric-energy storage ring. We find no significant
signal and set upper bounds for the branching fractions: and at 90% confidence level.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, submitted to PRD-R
Measurement of the B+ --> p pbar K+ Branching Fraction and Study of the Decay Dynamics
With a sample of 232x10^6 Upsilon(4S) --> BBbar events collected with the
BaBar detector, we study the decay B+ --> p pbar K+ excluding charmonium decays
to ppbar. We measure a branching fraction Br(B+ --> p pbar
K+)=(6.7+/-0.5+/-0.4)x10^{-6}. An enhancement at low ppbar mass is observed and
the Dalitz plot asymmetry suggests dominance of the penguin amplitude in this B
decay. We search for a pentaquark candidate Theta*++ decaying into pK+ in the
mass range 1.43 to 2.00 GeV/c2 and set limits on Br(B+ -->
Theta*++pbar)xBr(Theta*++ --> pK+) at the 10^{-7} level.Comment: 8 pages, 7 postscript figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (Rapid
Communications
Envelope-Specific Recognition Patterns of HIV Vaccine-Induced IgG Antibodies Are Linked to Immunogen Structure and Sequence
Background: A better understanding of the parameters influencing vaccine-induced IgG recognition of individual antigenic regions and their variants within the HIV Envelope protein (Env) can help to improve design of preventive HIV vaccines.
Methods: Env-specific IgG responses were mapped in samples of the UKHVC003 Standard Group (UK003SG, n = 11 from UK) and TaMoVac01 (TMV01, n = 17 from Tanzania) HIV vaccine trials. Both trials consisted of three immunizations with DNA, followed by two boosts with recombinant Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara (MVA), either mediating secretion of gp120 (UK003SG) or the presentation of cell membrane bound gp150 envelopes (TMV01) from infected cells, and an additional two boosts with 5 μg of CN54gp140 protein adjuvanted with glucopyranosyl lipid adjuvant (GLA). Env immunogen sequences in UK003SG were solely based on the clade C isolate CN54, whereas in TMV01 these were based on clades A, C, B, and CRF01AE. The peptide microarray included 8 globally representative Env sequences, CN54gp140 and the MVA-encoded Env immunogens from both trials, as well as additional peptide variants for hot spots of immune recognition.
Results: After the second MVA boost, UK003SG vaccinees almost exclusively targeted linear, non-glycosylated antigenic regions located in the inter-gp120 interface. In contrast, TMV01 recipients most strongly targeted the V2 region and an immunodominant region in gp41. The V3 region was frequently targeted in both trials, with a higher recognition magnitude for diverse antigenic variants observed in the UK003SG (p < 0.0001). After boosting with CN54gp140/GLA, the overall response magnitude increased with a more comparable recognition pattern of antigenic regions and variants between the two trials. Recognition of most immunodominant regions within gp120 remained significantly stronger in UK003SG, whereas V2-region recognition was not boosted in either group.
Conclusions: IgG recognition of linear antigenic Env regions differed between the two trials particularly after the second MVA boost. Structural features of the MVA-encoded immunogens, such as secreted, monomeric gp120 vs. membrane-anchored, functional gp150, and differences in prime-boost immunogen sequence variability most probably contributed to these differences. Prime-boosting with multivalent Env immunogens during TMV01 did not improve variant cross-recognition of immunodominant peptide variants in the V3 region
On Cosmological Constants from alpha'-Corrections
We examine to what extent perturbative alpha'-corrections can generate a
small cosmological constant in warped string compactifications. Focusing on the
heterotic string at lowest order in the string loop expansion, we show that,
for a maximally symmetric spacetime, the alpha'-corrected 4D scalar potential
has no effect on the cosmological constant. The only relevant terms are instead
higher order products of 4D Riemann tensors, which, however, are found to
vanish in the usual perturbative regime of the alpha'-expansion. The heterotic
string therefore only allows for 4D Minkowski vacua to all orders in alpha',
unless one also introduces string loop and/or nonperturbative corrections or
allows for curvatures or field strengths that are large in string units. In
particular, we find that perturbative alpha'-effects cannot induce weakly
curved AdS_4 solutions.Comment: 18 pages, no figures. v2: minor modifications, references adde
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