20,696 research outputs found
Spectroscopic signatures related to a sunquake
© 2015. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.. The presence of flare-related acoustic emission (sunquakes (SQs)) in some flares, and only in specific locations within the flaring environment, represents a severe challenge to our current understanding of flare energy transport processes. In an attempt to contribute to understanding the origins of SQs we present a comparison of new spectral observations from Hinode's EUV imaging Spectrometer (EIS) and the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS) of the chromosphere, transition region, and corona above an SQ, and compare them to the spectra observed in a part of the flaring region with no acoustic signature. Evidence for the SQ is determined using both time-distance and acoustic holography methods, and we find that unlike many previous SQ detections, the signal is rather dispersed, but that the time-distance and 6 and 7 mHz sources converge at the same spatial location. We also see some evidence for different evolution at different frequencies, with an earlier peak at 7 mHz than at 6 mHz. Using EIS and IRIS spectroscopic measurements we find that in this location, at the time of the 7 mHz peak the spectral emission is significantly more intense, shows larger velocity shifts and substantially broader profiles than in the location with no SQ, and there is a good correlation between blueshifted, hot coronal, hard X-ray (HXR), and redshifted chromospheric emission, consistent with the idea of a strong downward motion driven by rapid heating by nonthermal electrons and the formation of chromospheric shocks. Exploiting the diagnostic potential of the Mg ii triplet lines, we also find evidence for a single large temperature increase deep in the atmosphere, which is consistent with this scenario. The time of the 6 mHz and time-distance peak signal coincides with a secondary peak in the energy release process, but in this case we find no evidence of HXR emission in the quake location, instead finding very broad spectral lines, strongly shifted to the red, indicating the possible presence of a significant flux of downward propagating Alfvén waves
The bloodstream differentiation - division of Trypanosoma brucei studied using mitochondrial markers
In the bloodstream of its mammalian host, the African trypanosome Trypanosoma brucei undergoes a life cycle stage differentiation from a long, slender form to a short, stumpy form. This involves three known major events: exit from a proliferative cell cycle, morphological change and mitochondrial biogenesis. Previously, models have been proposed accounting for these events (Matthews & Gull 1994a). Refinement of, and discrimination between, these models has been hindered by a lack of stage-regulated antigens useful as markers at the single-cell level. We have now evaluated a variety of cytological markers and applied them to investigate the coordination of phenotypic differentiation and cell cycle arrest. Our studies have focused on the differential expression of the mitochondrial enzyme dihydrolipoamide dehydrogenase relative to the differentiation-division of bloodstream trypanosomes. The results implicate a temporal order of events: commitment, division, phenotypic differentiation
A Luminous Companion to SGR 1806-20
We have obtained infrared spectra of the star suggested to be the counterpart
of the soft gamma-ray repeater (SGR) 1806-20. We found strong emission lines
similar to those seen in the spectra of the rare Luminous Blue Variables and
B[e] stars. A He I absorption line is also seen, from which we infer a spectral
type O9--B2. This classification, in combination with the minimum distance of
\simgt6 kpc inferred from its extinction, makes the star one of the most
luminous in the Galaxy. We infer that it is a companion to SGR 1806-20, and
suggest that the presence of a companion is somehow related to the SGR
phenomenon.Comment: 5 pages, AASTEX text+table and 2 PostScript figures (needs LaTeX
style files aaspptwo.sty, epsf.sty and rotate.sty). In case of problems,
contact [email protected]. Postscript file of complete article available
on request. (Replaced because first version had one wrong reference in it
Multiprotein DNA looping
DNA looping plays a fundamental role in a wide variety of biological
processes, providing the backbone for long range interactions on DNA. Here we
develop the first model for DNA looping by an arbitrarily large number of
proteins and solve it analytically in the case of identical binding. We uncover
a switch-like transition between looped and unlooped phases and identify the
key parameters that control this transition. Our results establish the basis
for the quantitative understanding of fundamental cellular processes like DNA
recombination, gene silencing, and telomere maintenance.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
The reverberation signatures of rotating disc winds in active galactic nuclei
The broad emission lines (BELs) in active galactic nuclei (AGN) respond to
ionizing continuum variations. The time and velocity dependence of their
response depends on the structure of the broad-line region: its geometry,
kinematics and ionization state. Here, we predict the reverberation signatures
of BELs formed in rotating accretion disc winds. We use a Monte Carlo radiative
transfer and ionization code to predict velocity-delay maps for representative
high- (C) and low-ionization (H) emission lines in both high- and
moderate-luminosity AGN. Self-shielding, multiple scattering and the ionization
structure of the outflows are all self-consistently taken into account, while
small-scale structure in the outflow is modelled in the micro-clumping
approximation. Our main findings are: (1) The velocity-delay maps of
smooth/micro-clumped outflows often contain significant negative responses.
(2)~The reverberation signatures of disc wind models tend to be rotation
dominated and can even resemble the classic "red-leads-blue" inflow signature.
(3) Traditional "blue-leads-red" outflow signatures can usually only be
observed in the long-delay limit. (4) Our models predict lag-luminosity
relationships similar to those inferred from observations, but systematically
underpredict the observed centroid delays. (5) The ratio between "virial
product" and black hole mass predicted by our models depends on viewing angle.
Our results imply that considerable care needs to be taken in interpreting data
obtained by observational reverberation mapping campaigns. In particular, basic
signatures such as "red-leads-blue", "blue-leads-red" and "blue and red vary
jointly" are not always reliable indicators of inflow, outflow or rotation.
This may help to explain the perplexing diversity of such signatures seen in
observational campaigns to date.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, 2 tables. Accepted by MNRAS 20/7/201
Orbits and origins of the young stars in the central parsec of the galaxy
We present new proper motions from the 10 m Keck telescopes for a puzzling population of massive, young stars located within a parsec of the supermassive black hole at the Galactic Center. Our proper motion measurements have uncertainties of only 0.07 mas yr^(â1) (3 km s^(â1) ), which is âł7 times better than previous proper motion measurements for these stars, and enables us to measure accelerations as low as 0.2 mas yr^(â2) (7 km s^(â1) yr^(â1) ). These measurements, along with stellar line-of-sight velocities from the literature, constrain the true orbit of each individual star and allow us to directly test the hypothesis that the massive stars reside in two stellar disks as has been previously proposed. Analysis of the stellar orbits reveals only one disk of young stars using a method that is capable of detecting disks containing at least 7 stars. The detected disk contains 50% (38 of 73) of the young stars, is inclined by ~115° from the plane of the sky, and is oriented at a position angle of âŒ100° East of North. The on-disk and off-disk populations have similar K-band luminosity functions and radial distributions that decrease at larger radii as â r^(â2). The disk has an out-of-the-disk velocity dispersion of 28±6 km s^(â1) , which corresponds to a half-opening angle of 7°±2° , and several candidate disk members have eccentricities greater than 0.2. Our findings suggest that the young stars may have formed in situ but in a more complex geometry than a simple thin circular disk
Protein-mediated DNA Loop Formation and Breakdown in a Fluctuating Environment
Living cells provide a fluctuating, out-of-equilibrium environment in which
genes must coordinate cellular function. DNA looping, which is a common means
of regulating transcription, is very much a stochastic process; the loops arise
from the thermal motion of the DNA and other fluctuations of the cellular
environment. We present single-molecule measurements of DNA loop formation and
breakdown when an artificial fluctuating force, applied to mimic a fluctuating
cellular environment, is imposed on the DNA. We show that loop formation is
greatly enhanced in the presence of noise of only a fraction of , yet
find that hypothetical regulatory schemes that employ mechanical tension in the
DNA--as a sensitive switch to control transcription--can be surprisingly robust
due to a fortuitous cancellation of noise effects
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