4,284 research outputs found
Constitutively Active Galpha q and Galpha 13 Trigger Apoptosis through Different Pathways
We investigated the effect of expression of constitutively active Galpha mutants on cell survival. Transfection of constitutively active Galphaq and Galpha13 in two different cell lines caused condensation of genomic DNA and nuclear fragmentation. Endonuclease cleavage of genomic DNA was followed by labeling the DNA fragments and subsequent flow cytometric analysis. The observed cellular phenotype was identical to the phenotype displayed by cells undergoing apoptosis. To distinguish between the apoptosis-inducing ability of the two Galpha-subunits, the signaling pathways involved in this cellular function were investigated. Whereas Galpha q induced apoptosis via a protein kinaseC-dependent pathway, Galpha13 caused programmed cell death through a pathway involving the activation of the small G-protein Rho. Both of the pathways leading to apoptosis were blocked by overexpression of bcl-2. In contrast to other apoptosis-inducing systems, expression of constitutively active Galphaq and Galpha13 triggered apoptosis in high serum as well as in defined medium
Strain-induced modifications of transport in gated graphene nanoribbons
We investigate the effects of homogeneous and inhomogeneous deformations and
edge disorder on the conductance of gated graphene nanoribbons. Under
increasing homogeneous strain the conductance of such devices initially
decreases before it acquires a resonance structure, and finally becomes
completely suppressed at larger strain. Edge disorder induces mode mixing in
the contact regions, which can restore the conductance to its ballistic value.
The valley-antisymmetric pseudo-magnetic field induced by inhomogeneous
deformations leads to the formation of additional resonance states, which
either originate from the coupling into Fabry-Perot states that extend through
the system, or from the formation of states that are localized near the
contacts, where the pseudo-magnetic field is largest. In particular, the n=0
pseudo-Landau level manifests itself via two groups of conductance resonances
close to the charge neutrality point.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
The Onset of Planet Formation in Brown Dwarf Disks
The onset of planet formation in protoplanetary disks is marked by the growth
and crystallization of sub-micron-sized dust grains accompanied by dust
settling toward the disk mid-plane. Here we present infrared spectra of disks
around brown dwarfs and brown dwarf candidates. We show that all three
processes occur in such cool disks in a way similar or identical to that in
disks around low- and intermediate-mass stars. These results indicate that the
onset of planet formation extends to disks around brown dwarfs, suggesting that
planet formation is a robust process occurring in most young circumstellar
disks.Comment: Published in Science 2005, vol 310, 834; 3 pages in final format, 4
figures + 8 pages Supporting Online Material. For final typeset, see
http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/310/5749/834?eto
The Herschel/PACS view of disks around low-mass stars in Chamaleon-I
Circumstellar disks are expected to be the birthplaces of planets. The
potential for forming one or more planets of various masses is essentially
driven by the initial mass of the disks. We present and analyze Herschel/PACS
observations of disk-bearing M-type stars that belong to the young ~2 Myr old
Chamaleon-I star forming region. We used the radiative transfer code RADMC to
successfully model the SED of 17 M-type stars detected at PACS wavelengths. We
first discuss the relatively low detection rates of M5 and later spectral type
stars with respect to the PACS sensitivity, and argue their disks masses, or
flaring indices, are likely to be low. For M0 to M3 stars, we find a relatively
broad range of disk masses, scale heights, and flaring indices. Via a
parametrization of dust stratification, we can reproduce the peak fluxes of the
10 m emission feature observed with Spitzer/IRS, and find that disks
around M-type stars may display signs of dust sedimentation. The Herschel/PACS
observations of low-mass stars in Cha-I provide new constraints on their disk
properties, overall suggesting that disk parameters for early M-type stars are
comparable to those for more massive stars (e.g., comparable scale height and
flaring angles). However, regions of the disks emitting at about 100 m may
still be in the optically thick regime, preventing direct determination of disk
masses. Thus the modeled disk masses should be considered as lower limits.
Still, we are able to extend the wavelength coverage of SED models and start
characterizing effects such as dust sedimentation, an effort leading the way
towards ALMA observations of these low-mass stars
Investigation of vertical cavity surface emitting laser dynamics for neuromorphic photonic systems
We report an approach based upon vertical cavity surface emitting lasers (VCSELs) to reproduce optically different behaviors exhibited by biological neurons but on a much faster timescale. The technique proposed is based on the polarization switching and nonlinear dynamics induced in a single VCSEL under polarized optical injection. The particular attributes of VCSELs and the simple experimental configuration used in this work offer prospects of fast, reconfigurable processing elements with excellent fan-out and scaling potentials for use in future computational paradigms and artificial neural networks. © 2012 American Institute of Physics
Hindrance of ^{16}O+^{208}Pb fusion at extreme sub-barrier energies
We analyze the fusion data for O+Pb using coupled-channels
calculations. We include couplings to the low-lying surface excitations of the
projectile and target and study the effect of the (O,O)
one-neutron pickup. The hindrance of the fusion data that is observed at
energies far below the Coulomb barrier cannot be explained by a conventional
ion-ion potential and defining the fusion in terms of ingoing-wave boundary
conditions (IWBC). We show that the hindrance can be explained fairly well by
applying the M3Y double-folding potential which has been corrected with a
calibrated, repulsive term that simulates the effect of nuclear
incompressibility.
We show that the coupling to one-neutron transfer channels plays a crucial
role in improving the fit to the data. The best fit is achieved by increasing
the transfer strength by 25% relative to the strength that is required to
reproduce the one-neutron transfer data. The larger strength is not unrealistic
because the calculated inelastic plus transfer cross section is in good
agreement with the measured quasielastic cross section. We finally discuss the
problem of reproducing the fusion data at energies far above the Coulomb
barrier. Here we do not account for the data when we apply the IWBC but the
discrepancy is essentially eliminated by applying the M3Y+repulsion potential
and a weak, short-ranged imaginary potential.Comment: text and 8 fifure
Physical properties, starspot activity, orbital obliquity, and transmission spectrum of the Qatar-2 planetary system from multi-colour photometry
We present seventeen high-precision light curves of five transits of the
planet Qatar-2b, obtained from four defocussed 2m-class telescopes. Three of
the transits were observed simultaneously in the SDSS griz passbands using the
seven-beam GROND imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-m telescope. A fourth was observed
simultaneously in Gunn grz using the CAHA 2.2-m telescope with BUSCA, and in r
using the Cassini 1.52-m telescope. Every light curve shows small anomalies due
to the passage of the planetary shadow over a cool spot on the surface of the
host star. We fit the light curves with the prism+gemc model to obtain the
photometric parameters of the system and the position, size and contrast of
each spot. We use these photometric parameters and published spectroscopic
measurements to obtain the physical properties of the system to high precision,
finding a larger radius and lower density for both star and planet than
previously thought. By tracking the change in position of one starspot between
two transit observations we measure the orbital obliquity of Qatar-2 b to be
4.3 \pm 4.5 degree, strongly indicating an alignment of the stellar spin with
the orbit of the planet. We calculate the rotation period and velocity of the
cool host star to be 11.4 \pm 0.5 d and 3.28 \pm 0.13 km/s at a colatitude of
74 degree. We assemble the planet's transmission spectrum over the 386-976 nm
wavelength range and search for variations of the measured radius of Qatar-2 b
as a function of wavelength. Our analysis highlights a possible H2/He Rayleigh
scattering in the blue.Comment: 20 pages, 14 figures, to appear in Monthly Notices of the Royal
Astronomical Societ
Very Low-Mass Objects in the Coronet Cluster: The Realm of the Transition Disks
We present optical and IR spectra of a set of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs
in the Coronet cluster (aged ~1Myr), obtained with the multifiber spectrograph
FLAMES/VLT and IRS/Spitzer. The optical spectra reveal spectral types between
M1 and M7.5, confirm the youth of the objects (via Li 6708 A absorption), and
show the presence of accretion (via Halpha) and shocks (via forbidden line
emission). The IRS spectra, together with IR photometry from the IRAC/MIPS
instruments on Spitzer and 2MASS, confirm the presence of IR excesses
characteristic of disks around ~70% of the objects. Half of the disks do not
exhibit any silicate emission, or present flat features characteristic of large
grains. The rest of the disks show silicate emission typical of amorphous and
crystalline silicate grains a few microns in size. About 50% of the objects
with disks do not show near-IR excess emission, having "transitional" disks,
according to their classical definition. This is a very high fraction for such
a young cluster. The large number of "transitional" disks suggests lifetimes
comparable to the lifetimes of typical optically thick disks. Therefore, these
disks may not be in a short-lived phase, intermediate between Class II and
Class III objects. The median spectral energy distribution of the disks in the
Coronet cluster is also closer to a flat disk than observed for the disks
around solar-type stars in regions with similar age. The differences in the
disk morphology and evolution in the Coronet cluster could be related to fact
that these objects have very late spectral types compared to the solar-type
stars in other cluster studies. Finally, the optical spectroscopy reveals that
one of the X-ray sources is produced by a Herbig Haro object in the cloud.Comment: 51 pages, 13 figures, 10 table
petitRADTRANS: a Python radiative transfer package for exoplanet characterization and retrieval
We present the easy-to-use, publicly available, Python package petitRADTRANS,
built for the spectral characterization of exoplanet atmospheres. The code is
fast, accurate, and versatile; it can calculate both transmission and emission
spectra within a few seconds at low resolution ( = 1000;
correlated-k method) and high resolution (;
line-by-line method), using only a few lines of input instruction. The somewhat
slower correlated-k method is used at low resolution because it is more
accurate than methods such as opacity sampling. Clouds can be included and
treated using wavelength-dependent power law opacities, or by using optical
constants of real condensates, specifying either the cloud particle size, or
the atmospheric mixing and particle settling strength. Opacities of amorphous
or crystalline, spherical or irregularly-shaped cloud particles are available.
The line opacity database spans temperatures between 80 and 3000 K, allowing to
model fluxes of objects such as terrestrial planets, super-Earths, Neptunes, or
hot Jupiters, if their atmospheres are hydrogen-dominated. Higher temperature
points and species will be added in the future, allowing to also model the
class of ultra hot-Jupiters, with equilibrium temperatures K. Radiative transfer results were tested by cross-verifying the low- and
high-resolution implementation of petitRADTRANS, and benchmarked with the
petitCODE, which itself is also benchmarked to the ATMO and Exo-REM codes. We
successfully carried out test retrievals of synthetic JWST emission and
transmission spectra (for the hot Jupiter TrES-4b, which has a of
1800 K). The code is publicly available at
http://gitlab.com/mauricemolli/petitRADTRANS, and its documentation can be
found at https://petitradtrans.readthedocs.io.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures, published in A&
The First Detailed Look at a Brown Dwarf Disk
The combination of mid-infrared and recent submm/mm measurements allows us to
set up the first comprehensive spectral energy distribution (SED) of the
circumstellar material around a young Brown Dwarf. Simple arguments suggest
that the dust is distributed in the form of a disk. We compare basic models to
explore the disk parameters. The modeling shows that a flat disk geometry fits
well the observations. A flared disk explains the SED only if it has a
puffed-up inner rim and an inner gap much larger than the dust sublimation
radius. Similarities and differences with disks around T Tauri stars are
discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur
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