489 research outputs found
Assignment of the 71âcmâ1 Band in Polyethylene
Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/70272/2/JCPSA6-42-11-4059-1.pd
Analyzing X-Ray Pulsar Profiles: Geometry and Beam Pattern of EXO 2030+375
The pulse profiles of the transient Be/X-ray binary EXO 2030+375 show strong
dependence on energy, as well as on its luminosity state, and are asymmetric in
shape. We want to identify the emission components of the two magnetic poles in
the pulsed emission to understand the geometry of the neutron star and its beam
pattern. We utilize a pulse-profile decomposition method that enables us to
find two symmetric pulse profiles from the magnetic poles of the neutron star.
The symmetry characteristics of these single-pole pulse profiles give
information about the position of the magnetic poles of the neutron star
relative to its rotation axis. We find a possible geometry for the neutron star
in EXO 2030+375 through the decomposition of the pulse profiles, which suggests
that one pole gets closer to the line of sight than the other and that, during
the revolution of the neutron star, both poles disappear behind the horizon for
a short period of time. A considerable fraction of the emission arises from a
halo while the pole is facing the observer and from the accretion stream of the
other pole while it is behind the neutron star, but the gravitational line
bending makes the emission visible to us.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A&
BlackCAT: A catalogue of stellar-mass black holes in X-ray transients
During the last ~50 years, the population of black hole candidates in X-ray
binaries has increased considerably with 59 Galactic objects detected in
transient low-mass X-ray binaries, plus a few in persistent systems (including
~5 extragalactic binaries). We collect near-infrared, optical and X-ray
information spread over hundreds of references in order to study the population
of black holes in X-ray transients as a whole. We present the most updated
catalogue of black hole transients, which contains X-ray, optical and
near-infrared observations together with their astrometric and dynamical
properties. It provides new useful information in both statistical and
observational parameters providing a thorough and complete overview of the
black hole population in the Milky Way. Analysing the distances and spatial
distribution of the observed systems, we estimate a total population of ~1300
Galactic black hole transients. This means that we have already discovered less
than ~5% of the total Galactic distribution. The complete version of this
catalogue will be continuously updated online and in the Virtual Observatory,
including finding charts and data in other wavelengths.Comment: http://www.astro.puc.cl/BlackCAT - Accepted for publication in
Astronomy & Astrophysics. 20 pages, 8 figures, 5 Table
Two-Dimensional Infrared Spectroscopy of Antiparallel ÎČ-Sheet Secondary Structure
We investigate the sensitivity of femtosecond Fourier transform two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy to protein secondary structure with a study of antiparallel ÎČ-sheets. The results show that 2D IR spectroscopy is more sensitive to structural differences between proteins than traditional infrared spectroscopy, providing an observable that allows comparison to quantitative models of protein vibrational spectroscopy. 2D IR correlation spectra of the amide I region of poly-L-lysine, concanavalin A, ribonuclease A, and lysozyme show cross-peaks between the IR-active transitions that are characteristic of amide I couplings for polypeptides in antiparallel hydrogen-bonding registry. For poly-L-lysine, the 2D IR spectrum contains the eight-peak structure expected for two dominant vibrations of an extended, ordered antiparallel ÎČ-sheet. In the proteins with antiparallel ÎČ-sheets, interference effects between the diagonal and cross-peaks arising from the sheets, combined with diagonally elongated resonances from additional amide transitions, lead to a characteristic âZâ-shaped pattern for the amide I region in the 2D IR spectrum. We discuss in detail how the number of strands in the sheet, the local configurational disorder in the sheet, the delocalization of the vibrational excitation, and the angle between transition dipole moments affect the position, splitting, amplitude, and line shape of the cross-peaks and diagonal peaks.
Ab initio theory of helix-coil phase transition
In this paper we suggest a theoretical method based on the statistical
mechanics for treating the alpha-helix-random coil transition in alanine
polypeptides. We consider this process as a first-order phase transition and
develop a theory which is free of model parameters and is based solely on
fundamental physical principles. It describes essential thermodynamical
properties of the system such as heat capacity, the phase transition
temperature and others from the analysis of the polypeptide potential energy
surface calculated as a function of two dihedral angles, responsible for the
polypeptide twisting. The suggested theory is general and with some
modification can be applied for the description of phase transitions in other
complex molecular systems (e.g. proteins, DNA, nanotubes, atomic clusters,
fullerenes).Comment: 24 pages, 3 figure
Evidence for energy injection and a fine-tuned central engine at optical wavelengths in GRB 070419A
We present a comprehensive multiwavelength temporal and spectral analysis of
the FRED GRB 070419A. The early-time emission in the -ray and X-ray
bands can be explained by a central engine active for at least 250 s, while at
late times the X-ray light curve displays a simple power-law decay. In
contrast, the observed behaviour in the optical band is complex (from 10 up
to 10 s). We investigate the light curve behaviour in the context of the
standard forward/reverse shock model; associating the peak in the optical light
curve at 450 s with the fireball deceleration time results in a Lorenz
factor at this time. In contrast, the shallow optical
decay between 450 and 1500 s remains problematic, requiring a reverse shock
component whose typical frequency is above the optical band at the optical peak
time for it to be explained within the standard model. This predicts an
increasing flux density for the forward shock component until t 4
10 s, inconsistent with the observed decay of the optical emission
from t 10 s. A highly magnetized fireball is also ruled out due to
unrealistic microphysic parameters and predicted light curve behaviour that is
not observed. We conclude that a long-lived central engine with a finely tuned
energy injection rate and a sudden cessation of the injection is required to
create the observed light curves - consistent with the same conditions that are
invoked to explain the plateau phase of canonical X-ray light curves of GRBs.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Integrating the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor into the 3rd Interplanetary Network
We are integrating the Fermi Gamma-Ray Burst Monitor (GBM) into the
Interplanetary Network (IPN) of Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) detectors. With the GBM,
the IPN will comprise 9 experiments. This will 1) assist the Fermi team in
understanding and reducing their systematic localization uncertainties, 2)
reduce the sizes of the GBM and Large Area Telescope (LAT) error circles by 1
to 4 orders of magnitude, 3) facilitate the identification of GRB sources with
objects found by ground- and space-based observatories at other wavelengths,
from the radio to very high energy gamma-rays, 4) reduce the uncertainties in
associating some LAT detections of high energy photons with GBM bursts, and 5)
facilitate searches for non-electromagnetic GRB counterparts, particularly
neutrinos and gravitational radiation. We present examples and demonstrate the
synergy between Fermi and the IPN. This is a Fermi Cycle 2 Guest Investigator
project.Comment: 5 pages, 11 figures. 2009 Fermi Symposium. eConf Proceedings C09112
The ultraluminous GRB 110918A
GRB 110918A is the brightest long GRB detected by Konus-WIND during its 19
years of continuous observations and the most luminous GRB ever observed since
the beginning of the cosmological era in 1997. We report on the final IPN
localization of this event and its detailed multiwavelength study with a number
of space-based instruments. The prompt emission is characterized by a typical
duration, a moderare of the time-integrated spectrum, and strong
hard-to-soft evolution. The high observed energy fluence yields, at z=0.984, a
huge isotropic-equivalent energy release
erg. The record-breaking energy flux observed at the peak of the short, bright,
hard initial pulse results in an unprecedented isotropic-equivalent luminosity
erg s. A tail of the soft gamma-ray
emission was detected with temporal and spectral behavior typical of that
predicted by the synchrotron forward-shock model. Swift/XRT and Swift/UVOT
observed the bright afterglow from 1.2 to 48 days after the burst and revealed
no evidence of a jet break. The post-break scenario for the afterglow is
preferred from our analysis, with a hard underlying electron spectrum and
ISM-like circumburst environment implied. We conclude that, among multiple
reasons investigated, the tight collimation of the jet must have been a key
ingredient to produce this unusually bright burst. The inferred jet opening
angle of 1.7-3.4 deg results in reasonable values of the collimation-corrected
radiated energy and the peak luminosity, which, however, are still at the top
of their distributions for such tightly collimated events. We estimate a
detection horizon for a similar ultraluminous GRB of for Konus-WIND,
and for Swift/BAT, which stresses the importance of GRBs as probes of
the early Universe.Comment: 22 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Vibrational Spectra of a Mechanosensitive Channel
We report the simulated vibrational spectra of a mechanosensitive membrane channel in different gating states. Our results show that while linear absorption is insensitive to structural differences, linear dichroism and sum-frequency generation spectroscopies are sensitive to the orientation of the transmembrane helices, which is changing during the opening process. Linear dichroism cannot distinguish an intermediate structure from the closed structure, but sum-frequency generation can. In addition, we find that two-dimensional infrared spectroscopy can be used to distinguish all three investigated gating states of the mechanosensitive membrane channel.
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