Effective meson masses, effective meson-nucleon couplings and neutron star radii

Using the generalized mean field theory, we have studied the relation among the effective meson masses, the effective meson-nucleon couplings and the equation of state (EOS) in asymmetric nuclear matter. If the effective omega-meson mass becomes smaller at high density, the EOS becomes stiffer. However, if we require that the omega-meson mean field is proportional to the baryon density, the effective omega-nucleon coupling automatically becomes smaller at the same time as the effective omega-meson mass becomes smaller. Consequently, the EOS becomes softer. A similar relation is found for the effective rho-meson mass and the effective rho-nucleon coupling. We have also studied the relation among the effective meson masses, the effective meson-nucleon couplings and a radius R of a neutron star. The R depends somewhat on the value of the effective omega-meson mass and the effective omega-nucleon coupling.Comment: 29pages, 24 figure

"Gtool5": a Fortran90 library of input/output interfaces for self-descriptive multi-dimensional numerical data

A Fortran90 input/output library, "gtool5", is developed for use with numerical simulation models in the fields of Earth and planetary sciences. The use of this library will simplify implementation of input/output operations into program code in a consolidated form independent of the size and complexity of the software and data. The library also enables simple specification of the metadata needed for post-processing and visualization of the data. These aspects improve the readability of simulation code, which facilitates the simultaneous performance of multiple numerical experiments with different software and efficiency in examining and comparing the numerical results. The library is expected to provide a common software platform to reinforce research on, for instance, the atmosphere and ocean, where a close combination of multiple simulation models with a wide variety of complexity of physics implementations from massive climate models to simple geophysical fluid dynamics models is required

Characterisation of an Escherichia coli line that completely lacks ribonucleotide reduction yields insights into the evolution of parasitism and endosymbiosis

Life requires ribonucleotide reduction for de novo synthesis of deoxyribonucleotides. As ribonucleotide reduction has on occasion been lost in parasites and endosymbionts, which are instead dependent on their host for deoxyribonucleotide synthesis, it should in principle be possible to knock this process out if growth media are supplemented with deoxyribonucleosides. We report the creation of a strain of Escherichia coli where all three ribonucleotide reductase operons have been deleted following introduction of a broad spectrum deoxyribonucleoside kinase from Mycoplasma mycoides. Our strain shows slowed but substantial growth in the presence of deoxyribonucleosides. Under limiting deoxyribonucleoside levels, we observe a distinctive filamentous cell morphology, where cells grow but do not appear to divide regularly. Finally, we examined whether our lines can adapt to limited supplies of deoxyribonucleosides, as might occur in the switch from de novo synthesis to dependence on host production during the evolution of parasitism or endosymbiosis. Over the course of an evolution experiment, we observe a 25-fold reduction in the minimum concentration of exogenous deoxyribonucleosides necessary for growth. Genome analysis reveals that several replicate lines carry mutations in deoB and cdd. deoB codes for phosphopentomutase, a key part of the deoxyriboaldolase pathway, which has been hypothesised as an alternative to ribonucleotide reduction for deoxyribonucleotide synthesis. Rather than complementing the loss of ribonucleotide reduction, our experiments reveal that mutations appear that reduce or eliminate the capacity for this pathway to catabolise deoxyribonucleotides, thus preventing their loss via central metabolism. Mutational inactivation of both deoB and cdd is also observed in a number of obligate intracellular bacteria that have lost ribonucleotide reduction. We conclude that our experiments recapitulate key evolutionary steps in the adaptation to life without ribonucleotide reduction

The Venus' Cloud Discontinuity in 2022

First identified in 2016 by JAXA's Akatsuki mission, the discontinuity/disruption is a recurrent wave observed to propagate during decades at the deeper clouds of Venus (47--56 km above the surface), while its absence at the clouds' top ($\sim$70 km) suggests that it dissipates at the upper clouds and contributes in the maintenance of the puzzling atmospheric superrotation of Venus through wave-mean flow interaction. Taking advantage of the campaign of ground-based observations undertaken in coordination with the Akatsuki mission since December 2021 until July 2022, we aimed to undertake the longest uninterrupted monitoring of the cloud discontinuity up to date to obtain a pioneering long-term characterization of its main properties and better constrain its recurrence and lifetime. The dayside upper, middle and nightside lower clouds were studied with images with suitable filters acquired by Akatsuki/UVI, amateur observers and NASA's IRTF/SpeX, respectively. Hundreds of images were inspected in search of manifestations of the discontinuity events and to measure key properties like its dimensions, orientation or rotation period. We succeeded in tracking the discontinuity at the middle clouds during 109 days without interruption. The discontinuity exhibited properties nearly identical to measurements in 2016 and 2020, with an orientation of $91^{\circ}\pm 8^{\circ}$, length/width of $4100\pm 800$ / $500\pm 100$ km and a rotation period of $5.11\pm 0.09$ days. Ultraviolet images during 13-14 June 2022 suggest that the discontinuity may have manifested at the top of the clouds during $\sim$21 hours as a result of an altitude change in the critical level for this wave due to slower zonal winds.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 2 animated figures, 1 tabl