Detection of Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Features in the Large-Scale 3-Point Correlation Function of SDSS BOSS DR12 CMASS Galaxies

We present the large-scale 3-point correlation function (3PCF) of the SDSS DR12 CMASS sample of $777,202$ Luminous Red Galaxies, the largest-ever sample used for a 3PCF or bispectrum measurement. We make the first high-significance ($4.5\sigma$) detection of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) in the 3PCF. Using these acoustic features in the 3PCF as a standard ruler, we measure the distance to $z=0.57$ to $1.7\%$ precision (statistical plus systematic). We find $D_{\rm V}= 2024\pm29\;{\rm Mpc\;(stat)}\pm20\;{\rm Mpc\;(sys)}$ for our fiducial cosmology (consistent with Planck 2015) and bias model. This measurement extends the use of the BAO technique from the 2-point correlation function (2PCF) and power spectrum to the 3PCF and opens an avenue for deriving additional cosmological distance information from future large-scale structure redshift surveys such as DESI. Our measured distance scale from the 3PCF is fairly independent from that derived from the pre-reconstruction 2PCF and is equivalent to increasing the length of BOSS by roughly 10\%; reconstruction appears to lower the independence of the distance measurements. Fitting a model including tidal tensor bias yields a moderate significance ($2.6\sigma)$ detection of this bias with a value in agreement with the prediction from local Lagrangian biasing.Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures, submitted MNRA

Structural Color 3D Printing By Shrinking Photonic Crystals

The rings, spots and stripes found on some butterflies, Pachyrhynchus weevils, and many chameleons are notable examples of natural organisms employing photonic crystals to produce colorful patterns. Despite advances in nanotechnology, we still lack the ability to print arbitrary colors and shapes in all three dimensions at this microscopic length scale. Commercial nanoscale 3D printers based on two-photon polymerization are incapable of patterning photonic crystal structures with the requisite ~300 nm lattice constant to achieve photonic stopbands/ bandgaps in the visible spectrum and generate colors. Here, we introduce a means to produce 3D-printed photonic crystals with a 5x reduction in lattice constants (periodicity as small as 280 nm), achieving sub-100-nm features with a full range of colors. The reliability of this process enables us to engineer the bandstructures of woodpile photonic crystals that match experiments, showing that observed colors can be attributed to either slow light modes or stopbands. With these lattice structures as 3D color volumetric elements (voxels), we printed 3D microscopic scale objects, including the first multi-color microscopic model of the Eiffel Tower measuring only 39-microns tall with a color pixel size of 1.45 microns. The technology to print 3D structures in color at the microscopic scale promises the direct patterning and integration of spectrally selective devices, such as photonic crystal-based color filters, onto free-form optical elements and curved surfaces

Imaging the Molecular Disk Orbiting the Twin Young Suns of V4046 Sgr

We have imaged the disk surrounding the nearby (D~73 pc), ~12 Myr, classical T Tauri binary system V4046 Sgr with the Submillimeter Array (SMA) at an angular resolution of ~2". We detect a rotating disk in 12CO(2-1) and 13CO(2-1) emission, and resolve the continuum emission at 1.3 mm. We infer disk gas and dust masses of ~110 and ~40 Earth masses, respectively. Fits to a power-law disk model indicate that the molecular disk extends to ~370 AU and is viewed at an inclination of between ~33 and ~39 degrees for dynamical stellar masses ranging from 1.8 $M_\odot$ down to 1.5 $M_\odot$ (the range of total mass previously determined for the central, 2.4 day spectroscopic binary). This range of disk inclination is consistent with that assumed in deducing the central binary mass (i.e., 35 degrees), suggesting that the V4046 Sgr binary system and its circumbinary, molecular disk are coplanar. In light of the system's age and binarity, the presence of an extensive molecular disk orbiting V4046 Sgr provides constraints on the timescales of processes related to Jovian planet formation, and demonstrates that circumbinary Jovian planets potentially could form around close binary systems.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Extensional rupture of model non-Newtonian fluid filaments

We present molecular dynamics computer simulations of filaments of model non-Newtonian liquid stretched in a uniaxial deformation to the point of breaking. The liquid consists of Lennard-Jones monomers bound into chains of 100 monomers by nonlinear springs, and several different constant velocity and constant strain rate deformations are considered. Generally we observe nonuniform extensions originating in an interplay between the stretching forces and elastic and capillary restoring mechanisms, leading to highly uneven shapes and alternating stretched and unstretched regions of liquid. Except at the fastest pulling speeds, the filaments continue to thin indefinitely and break only when depleted of molecules, rather than common viscoelastic rupture mechanisms.Comment: 7 pages text, 14 pages (eps) figure

Boundary conditions at a fluid - solid interface

We study the boundary conditions at a fluid-solid interface using molecular dynamics simulations covering a broad range of fluid-solid interactions and fluid densities, and both simple and chain-molecule fluids. The slip length is shown to be independent of the type of flow, but rather is related to the fluid organization near the solid, as governed by the fluid-solid molecular interactions.Comment: REVtex, to appear in Physical Review Letter

Distinguishing tumor admixed in a radiation necrosis (RN) background: 1H and 2H MR with a novel mouse brain-tumor/RN model

PURPOSE: Distinguishing radiation necrosis (RN) from recurrent tumor remains a vexing clinical problem with important health-care consequences for neuro-oncology patients. Here, mouse models of pure tumor, pure RN, and admixed RN/tumor are employed to evaluate hydrogen ( MATERIALS AND METHODS: A pipeline of common quantitative RESULTS: Differences in quantitative CONCLUSIONS: These findings, employing a pipeline of quantitativ

Host-linked soil viral ecology along a permafrost thaw gradient

Climate change threatens to release abundant carbon that is sequestered at high latitudes, but the constraints on microbial metabolisms that mediate the release of methane and carbon dioxide are poorly understood1,2,3,4,5,6,7. The role of viruses, which are known to affect microbial dynamics, metabolism and biogeochemistry in the oceans8,9,10, remains largely unexplored in soil. Here, we aimed to investigate how viruses influence microbial ecology and carbon metabolism in peatland soils along a permafrost thaw gradient in Sweden. We recovered 1,907 viral populations (genomes and large genome fragments) from 197 bulk soil and size-fractionated metagenomes, 58% of which were detected in metatranscriptomes and presumed to be active. In silico predictions linked 35% of the viruses to microbial host populations, highlighting likely viral predators of key carbon-cycling microorganisms, including methanogens and methanotrophs. Lineage-specific virus/host ratios varied, suggesting that viral infection dynamics may differentially impact microbial responses to a changing climate. Virus-encoded glycoside hydrolases, including an endomannanase with confirmed functional activity, indicated that viruses influence complex carbon degradation and that viral abundances were significant predictors of methane dynamics. These findings suggest that viruses may impact ecosystem function in climate-critical, terrestrial habitats and identify multiple potential viral contributions to soil carbon cycling

The clustering of galaxies in the completed SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: tomographic BAO analysis of DR12 combined sample in configuration space

We perform a tomographic baryon acoustic oscillations analysis using the two-point galaxy correlation function measured from the combined sample of BOSS DR12, which covers the redshift range of $0.2<z<0.75$. Splitting the sample into multiple overlapping redshift slices to extract the redshift information of galaxy clustering, we obtain a measurement of $D_A(z)/r_d$ and $H(z)r_d$ at nine effective redshifts with the full covariance matrix calibrated using MultiDark-Patchy mock catalogues. Using the reconstructed galaxy catalogues, we obtain the precision of $1.3\%-2.2\%$ for $D_A(z)/r_d$ and $2.1\%-6.0\%$ for $H(z)r_d$. To quantify the gain from the tomographic information, we compare the constraints on the cosmological parameters using our 9-bin BAO measurements, the consensus 3-bin BAO and RSD measurements at three effective redshifts in \citet{Alam2016}, and the non-tomographic (1-bin) BAO measurement at a single effective redshift. Comparing the 9-bin with 1-bin constraint result, it can improve the dark energy Figure of Merit by a factor of 1.24 for the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parametrisation for equation of state parameter $w_{\rm DE}$. The errors of $w_0$ and $w_a$ from 9-bin constraints are slightly improved when compared to the 3-bin constraint result.Comment: 14 pages, 21 figures, 7 Tables. Submitted to MNRA