571 research outputs found
Evidence for fresh frost layer on the bare nucleus of comet Hale--Bopp at 32 AU distance
Here we report that the activity of comet Hale--Bopp ceased between late 2007
and March, 2009, at about 28 AU distance from the Sun. At that time the comet
resided at a distance from the Sun that exceeded the freeze-out distance of
regular comets by an order of magnitude. A Herschel Space Observatory PACS scan
was taken in mid-2010, in the already inactive state of the nucleus. The albedo
has been found to be surprisingly large (8.10.9%{}), which exceeds the
value known for any other comets. With re-reduction of archive HST images from
1995 and 1996, we confirm that the pre-perihelion albedo resembled that of an
ordinary comet, and was smaller by a factor of two than the post-activity
albedo. Our further observations with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) also
confirmed that the albedo increased significantly by the end of the activity.
We explain these observations by proposing gravitational redeposition of icy
grains towards the end of the activity. This is plausible for such a massive
body in a cold environment, where gas velocity is lowered to the range of the
escape velocity. These observations also show that giant comets are not just
the upscaled versions of the comets we know but can be affected by processes
that are yet to be fully identified.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
A Multi-Wavelength Analysis of Dust and Gas in the SR 24S Transition Disk
We present new Atacama Large Millimeter/sub-millimeter Array (ALMA) 1.3 mm
continuum observations of the SR 24S transition disk with an angular resolution
(12 au radius). We perform a multi-wavelength investigation by
combining new data with previous ALMA data at 0.45 mm. The visibilities and
images of the continuum emission at the two wavelengths are well characterized
by a ring-like emission. Visibility modeling finds that the ring-like emission
is narrower at longer wavelengths, in good agreement with models of dust
trapping in pressure bumps, although there are complex residuals that suggest
potentially asymmetric structures. The 0.45 mm emission has a shallower profile
inside the central cavity than the 1.3 mm emission. In addition, we find that
the CO and CO (J=2-1) emission peaks at the center of the
continuum cavity. We do not detect either continuum or gas emission from the
northern companion to this system (SR 24N), which is itself a binary system.
The upper limit for the dust disk mass of SR 24N is , which gives a disk mass ratio in dust between the two
components of . The current ALMA observations may imply that either
planets have already formed in the SR 24N disk or that dust growth to mm-sizes
is inhibited there and that only warm gas, as seen by ro-vibrational CO
emission inside the truncation radii of the binary, is present.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Exact relationship between the entanglement entropies of XY and quantum Ising chains
We consider two prototypical quantum models, the spin-1/2 XY chain and the
quantum Ising chain and study their entanglement entropy, S(l,L), of blocks of
l spins in homogeneous or inhomogeneous systems of length L. By using two
different approaches, free-fermion techniques and perturbational expansion, an
exact relationship between the entropies is revealed. Using this relation we
translate known results between the two models and obtain, among others, the
additive constant of the entropy of the critical homogeneous quantum Ising
chain and the effective central charge of the random XY chain.Comment: 6 page
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A self-consistent model for the evolution of the gas produced in the debris disc of β Pictoris
This paper presents a self-consistent model for the evolution of gas produced in the debris disc of β Pictoris. Our model proposes that atomic carbon and oxygen are created from the photodissociation of CO, which is itself released from volatile-rich bodies in the debris disc due to grain–grain collisions or photodesorption. While the CO lasts less than one orbit, the atomic gas evolves by viscous spreading resulting in an accretion disc inside the parent belt and a decretion disc outside. The temperature, ionization fraction and population levels of carbon and oxygen are followed with the photodissociation region model CLOUDY, which is coupled to a dynamical viscous α model. We present new gas observations of β Pic, of C I observed with Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment and O I observed with , and show that these along with published CII and CO observations can all be explained with this new model. Our model requires a viscosity α > 0.1, similar to that found in sufficiently ionized discs of other astronomical objects; we propose that the magnetorotational instability is at play in this highly ionized and dilute medium. This new model can be tested from its predictions for high-resolution ALMA observations of C I. We also constrain the water content of the planetesimals in β Pic. The scenario proposed here might be at play in all debris discs and this model could be used more generally on all discs with C, O or CO detections.QK, MW and LM acknowledge support from the European Union through ERC grant number 279973. AJ acknowledges the support of the DISCSIM project, grant agreement 341137, funded by the European Research Council under ERC-2013-ADG.This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Oxford University Press via http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stw136
Brachypodium distachyon as a model for defining the allergen potential of non-prolamin proteins
Epitope databases and the protein sequences of published plant genomes are suitable to identify some of the proteins causing food allergies and sensitivities. Brachypodium distachyon, a diploid wild grass with a sequenced genome and low prolamin content, is the closest relative of the allergen cereals, such as wheat or barley. Using the Brachypodium genome sequence, a workflow has been developed to identify potentially harmful proteins which may cause either celiac disease or wheat allergy-related symptoms. Seed tissue-specific expression of the potential allergens has been determined, and intact epitopes following an in silico digestion with several endopeptidases have been identified. Molecular function of allergen proteins has been evaluated using Gene Ontology terms. Biologically overrepresented proteins and potentially allergen protein families have been identified. © 2012 The Author(s)
Multi-Omics strategies for decoding smoke-assisted germination pathways and seed vigour
© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. The success of seed germination and the successful establishment of seedlings across diverse environmental conditions depends on seed vigour, which is of both economic and ecologic importance. The smoke-derived exogenous compound karrikins (KARs) and the endogenous plant hormone strigolactone (SL) are two classes of butanolide-containing molecules that follow highly similar signalling pathways to control diverse biological activities in plants. Unravelling the precise mode-of-action of these two classes of molecules in model species has been a key research objective. However, the specific and dynamic expression of biomolecules upon stimulation by these signalling molecules remains largely unknown. Genomic and post-genomic profiling approaches have enabled mining and association studies across the vast genetic diversity and phenotypic plasticity. Here, we review the background of smoke-assisted germination and vigour and the current knowledge of how plants perceive KAR and SL signalling and initiate the crosstalk with the germination-associated hormone pathways. The recent advancement of ‘multi-omics’ applications are discussed in the context of KAR signalling and with relevance to their adoption for superior agronomic trait development. The remaining challenges and future opportunities for integrating multi-omics datasets associated with their application in KAR-dependent seed germination and abiotic stress tolerance are also discussed
Entanglement entropy of aperiodic quantum spin chains
We study the entanglement entropy of blocks of contiguous spins in
non-periodic (quasi-periodic or more generally aperiodic) critical Heisenberg,
XX and quantum Ising spin chains, e.g. in Fibonacci chains. For marginal and
relevant aperiodic modulations, the entanglement entropy is found to be a
logarithmic function of the block size with log-periodic oscillations. The
effective central charge, c_eff, defined through the constant in front of the
logarithm may depend on the ratio of couplings and can even exceed the
corresponding value in the homogeneous system. In the strong modulation limit,
the ground state is constructed by a renormalization group method and the
limiting value of c_eff is exactly calculated. Keeping the ratio of the block
size and the system size constant, the entanglement entropy exhibits a scaling
property, however, the corresponding scaling function may be nonanalytic.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure
Mid-infrared interferometric variability of DG Tau: implications for the inner-disk structure
Context. DG Tau is a low-mass pre-main sequence star, whose strongly
accreting protoplanetary disk exhibits a so-far enigmatic behavior: its
mid-infrared thermal emission is strongly time-variable, even turning the 10
m silicate feature from emission to absorption temporarily. Aims. We look
for the reason for the spectral variability at high spatial resolution and at
multiple epochs. Methods. We study the temporal variability of the mid-infrared
interferometric signal, observed with the VLTI/MIDI instrument at six epochs
between 2011 and 2014. We fit a geometric disk model to the observed
interferometric signal to obtain spatial information about the disk. We also
model the mid-infrared spectra by template fitting to characterize the profile
and time dependence of the silicate emission. We use physically motivated
radiative transfer modeling to interpret the mid-infrared interferometric
spectra. Results. The inner disk (r<1-3 au) spectra exhibit a 10 m
absorption feature related to amorphous silicate grains. The outer disk (r>1-3
au) spectra show a crystalline silicate feature in emission, similar to the
spectra of comet Hale-Bopp. The striking difference between the inner and outer
disk spectral feature is highly unusual among T Tauri stars. The mid-infrared
variability is dominated by the outer disk. The strength of the silicate
feature changed by more than a factor of two. Between 2011 and 2014 the
half-light radius of the mid-infrared-emitting region decreased from 1.15 to
0.7 au. Conclusions. For the origin of the absorption we discuss four possible
explanations: a cold obscuring envelope, an accretion heated inner disk, a
temperature inversion on the disk surface and a misaligned inner geometry. The
silicate emission in the outer disk can be explained by dusty material high
above the disk plane, whose mass can change with time, possibly due to
turbulence in the disk.Comment: 16 pages, 13 figure
The 2008 outburst of EX Lup - silicate crystals in motion
EX Lup is the prototype of the EXor class of eruptive young stars. These
objects show optical outbursts which are thought to be related to runaway
accretion onto the star. In a previous study we observed in-situ crystal
formation in the disk of EX Lup during its latest outburst in 2008, making the
object an ideal laboratory to investigate circumstellar crystal formation and
transport. This outburst was monitored by a campaign of ground-based and
Spitzer Space Telescope observations. Here we modeled the spectral energy
distribution of EX Lup in the outburst from optical to millimeter wavelengths
with a 2D radiative transfer code. Our results showed that the shape of the SED
at optical wavelengths was more consistent with a single temperature blackbody
than a temperature distribution. We also found that this single temperature
component emitted 80-100 % of the total accretion luminosity. We concluded that
a thermal instability, the most widely accepted model of EXor outbursts, was
likely not the triggering mechanism of the 2008 outburst of EX Lup. Our
mid-infrared Spitzer spectra revealed that the strength of all crystalline
bands between 8 and 30 um increased right after the end of the outburst. Six
months later, however, the crystallinity in the 10 um silicate feature complex
decreased. Our modeling of the mid-infrared spectral evolution of EXLup showed
that, although vertical mixing should be stronger during the outburst than in
the quiescent phase, fast radial transport of crystals (e.g., by stellar/disk
wind) was required to reproduce the observed mid-infrared spectra.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 table
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