4,508 research outputs found
Echo-Mapping of Swift J1753.5-0127
We present two epochs of coordinated X-ray-optical timing observations of the
black hole candidate Swift J1753.5-0127 during its 2005 outburst. The first
epoch in July occurred at outburst peak. Two consecutive nights of observations
using the McDonald Observatory Argos camera with the Rossi X-ray Timing
Explorer show a consistent correlation with an immediate response and an
extended tail lasting ~5s. The properties of the variability and the
correlation are consistent with thermal reprocessing in an accretion disk. The
shortness of the lag suggests a short orbital period consistent with that
recently claimed. The second epoch in August used the VLT FORS2 HIT mode again
in conjunction with RXTE. Again a repeatable correlation is seen between two
independent subsets of the data. In this case, though, the cross-correlation
function has an unusual structure comprising a dip followed by a double-peak.
We suggest that this may be equivalent to the dip plus single peak structure
seen by Kanbach et al. (2001) in XTE J1118+480 and attributed there to
synchrotron emission; a similar structure was seen during later activity of
Swift J1753.5-0127 by Durant et al. (2008).Comment: 7 pages, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Societ
Facial emotion processing in schizophrenia : a non-specific neuropsychological deficit?
Original article can be found at : http://journals.cambridge.org/ Copyright Cambridge University PressBackground: Identification of facial emotions has been found to be impaired in schizophrenia but there are uncertainties about the neuropsychological specificity of the finding. Method: Twenty-two patients with schizophrenia and 20 healthy controls were given tests requiring identification of facial emotion, judgement of the intensity of emotional expressions without identification, familiar face recognition and the Benton Facial Recognition Test (BFRT). The schizophrenia patients were selected to be relatively intellectually preserved. Results: The patients with schizophrenia showed no deficit in identifying facial emotion, although they were slower than the controls. They were, however, impaired on judging the intensity of emotional expression without identification. They showed impairment in recognizing familiar faces but not on the BFRT. Conclusions: When steps are taken to reduce the effects of general intellectual impairment, there is no deficit in identifying facial emotions in schizophrenia. There may, however, be a deficit in judging emotional intensity. The impairment found in naming familiar faces is consistent with other evidence of semantic memory impairment in the disorder.Peer reviewe
On the Optical -- X-ray correlation from outburst to quiescence in Low Mass X-ray Binaries: the representative cases of V404 Cyg and Cen X-4
Low mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) show evidence of a global correlation of
debated origin between X-ray and optical luminosity. We study for the first
time this correlation in two transient LMXBs, the black hole V404 Cyg and the
neutron star Cen X-4, over 6 orders of magnitude in X-ray luminosity, from
outburst to quiescence. After subtracting the contribution from the companion
star, the Cen X-4 data can be described by a single power law correlation of
the form , consistent with disk reprocessing. We
find a similar correlation slope for V404 Cyg in quiescence (0.46) and a
steeper one (0.56) in the outburst hard state of 1989. However, V404 Cyg is
about times optically brighter, at a given keV X-ray
luminosity, compared to Cen X-4. This ratio is a factor of 10 smaller in
quiescence, where the normalization of the V404 Cyg correlation also changes.
We show that once the bolometric X-ray emission is considered and the known
main differences between V404 Cyg and Cen X-4 are taken into account (a larger
compact object mass, accretion disk size, and the presence of a strong jet
contribution in the hard state for the black hole system) the two systems lie
on the same correlation. In V404 Cyg, the jet dominates spectrally at
optical-infrared frequencies during the hard state, but makes a negligible
contribution in quiescence, which may account for the change in its correlation
slope and normalization. These results provide a benchmark to compare with data
from the 2015 outburst of V404 Cyg and, potentially, other transient LMXBs as
well.Comment: Accepted on ApJ, 12 pages, 4 figures, 4 table
Circulatory arrest for traumatic brachiocephalic artery pseudoaneurysm repair
Blunt traumatic injuries to the brachiocephalic artery require surgical management. The operative technique used depends on the location of the injury, the patient\u27s hemodynamic stability, and the surgeon\u27s experience. Perfusion strategy can facilitate vascular control of the aortic arch and branch vessels. This report presents an urgent repair of a proximal posterior blunt traumatic brachiocephalic artery injury under circulatory arrest, with an excellent outcome
A single center experience with coronary endarterectomy and vein patch reconstruction
Background: To evaluate the medium and late term outcomes of coronary artery bypass grafting with pull-through coronary endarterectomy using a saphenous vein patch for bypass distal anastomosis site.
Methods: Retrospective review of all coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) procedures performed from January 1, 2000 through June 30, 2013 with and without concomitant coronary endarterectomy (CE), was carried out at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Washington DC. Patients who underwent concomitant valve operations were excluded. Primary outcome was overall survival, with analyses performed examining CE as well as the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. Secondary outcomes included 30-day mortality and post-operative MI.
Results: 1255 CABG operations were performed, 10 of which included CE. All CE procedures were performed with saphenous vein patch. 7 involved left anterior descending artery (LAD) CE with left internal mammary artery (LIMA) conduits. The remaining 3 were diagonal branch artery (D1) CE with saphenous vein bypass conduits. 1-year survival was 70%. 5-year survival was 43% out of 7 patients.
Conclusions: Pull-through CE with saphenous vein patch is a safe alternative technique for patients with diffuse coronary artery disease. Perioperative events and intermediate outcomes are favorable, although long-term survival is less than patients without CE
The Emission from Inner Disk and Corona in the Low and Intermediate Spectral States of Black Hole X-ray Binaries
Recent observations reveal that a cool disk may survive in the innermost
stable circular orbit (ISCO) for some black hole X-ray binaries in the
canonical low/hard state. The spectrum is characterized by a power law with a
photon index in the range of 2-10 keV and a weak disk
component with temperature of keV. In this work, We revisit the
formation of such a cool, optically thick, geometrically thin disk in the most
inner region of black hole X-ray binaries at the low/hard state within the
context of disk accretion fed by condensation of hot corona. By taking into
account the cooling process associated with both Compton and conductive
processes in a corona, and the irradiation of the hot corona to the disk, we
calculate the structure of the corona. For viscosity parameter ,
it's found that the inner disk can exist for accretion rate ranging from , over which the electron temperatures of
the corona are in the range of producing the hard X-ray
emission. We calculate the emergent spectra of the inner disk and corona for
different mass accretion rates. The effect of viscosity parameter and
albedo ( is defined as the energy ratio of reflected radiation from the
surface of the thin disk to incident radiation upon it from the corona) to the
emergent spectra are also presented. Our model is used to explain the recent
observations of GX 339-4 and Cyg X-1, in which the thin disk may exist at ISCO
region in the low/hard state at luminosity around a few percent of . It's found that the observed maximal effective temperature of the
thermal component and the hard X-ray photon index can be matched well
by our model.Comment: Accepted for publication by Ap
Multiwavelength Observations of Swift J1753.5-0127
We present contemporaneous X-ray, ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared
observations of the black hole binary system, Swift J1753.5-0127, acquired in
2012 October. The UV observations, obtained with the Cosmic Origins
Spectrograph on the Hubble Space Telescope, are the first UV spectra of this
system. The dereddened UV spectrum is characterized by a smooth, blue continuum
and broad emission lines of CIV and HeII. The system was stable in the UV to
<10% during our observations. We estimated the interstellar reddening by
fitting the 2175 A absorption feature and fit the interstellar absorption
profile of Ly to directly measure the neutral hydrogen column density
along the line of sight. By comparing the UV continuum flux to steady-state
thin accretion disk models, we determined upper limits on the distance to the
system as a function of black hole mass. The continuum is well fit with disk
models dominated by viscous heating rather than irradiation. The broadband
spectral energy distribution shows the system has declined at all wavelengths
since previous broadband observations in 2005 and 2007. If we assume that the
UV emission is dominated by the accretion disk the inner radius of the disk
must be truncated at radii above the ISCO to be consistent with the X-ray flux,
requiring significant mass loss from outflows and/or energy loss via advection
into the black hole to maintain energy balance.Comment: To appear in the Ap
Simultaneous multiwavelength observations of V404 Cygni during its 2015 June outburst decay strengthen the case for an extremely energetic jet-base
We present results of multiband optical photometry of the black hole X-ray
binary system V404 Cygni obtained using Wheaton College Observatory's 0.3m
telescope, along with strictly simultaneous INTEGRAL and Swift observations
during 2015 June 25.15--26.33 UT, and 2015 June 27.10--27.34 UT. These
observations were made during the 2015 June outburst of the source when it was
going through an epoch of violent activity in all wavelengths ranging from
radio to -rays. The multiwavelength variability timescale favors a
compact emission region, most likely originating in a jet outflow, for both
observing epochs presented in this work. The simultaneous INTEGRAL/Imager on
Board the Integral Satellite (IBIS) 20--40 keV light curve obtained during the
June 27 observing run correlates very strongly with the optical light curve,
with no detectable delay between the optical bands as well as between the
optical and hard X-rays. The average slope of the dereddened spectral energy
distribution was roughly flat between the - and -bands during the June
27 run, even though the optical and X-ray flux varied by 25 during
the run, ruling out an irradiation origin for the optical and suggesting that
the optically thick to optically thin jet synchrotron break during the
observations was at a frequency larger than that of -band, which is quite
extreme for X-ray binaries. These observations suggest that the optical
emission originated very close to the base of the jet. A strong H
emission line, probably originating in a quasi-spherical nebula around the
source, also contributes significantly in the -band. Our data, in
conjunction with contemporaneous data at other wavelengths presented by other
groups, strongly suggest that the jet-base was extremely compact and energetic
during this phase of the outburst.Comment: 15 pages, 2 tables, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
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