1,547 research outputs found
Reconnection of Stable/Unstable Manifolds of the Harper Map
The Harper map is one of the simplest chaotic systems exhibiting reconnection
of invariant manifolds. The method of asymptotics beyond all orders (ABAO) is
used to construct stable/unstable manifolds of the Harper map. When the
parameter changes to the reconnection threshold, the stable/unstable manifolds
are shown to acquire new oscillatory portion corresponding to the heteroclinic
tangle after the reconnection.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figure
Real-space electronic-structure calculations with full-potential all-electron precision for transition-metals
We have developed an efficient computational scheme utilizing the real-space
finite-difference formalism and the projector augmented-wave (PAW) method to
perform precise first-principles electronic-structure simulations based on the
density functional theory for systems containing transition metals with a
modest computational effort. By combining the advantages of the time-saving
double-grid technique and the Fourier filtering procedure for the projectors of
pseudopotentials, we can overcome the egg box effect in the computations even
for first-row elements and transition metals, which is a problem of the
real-space finite-difference formalism. In order to demonstrate the potential
power in terms of precision and applicability of the present scheme, we have
carried out simulations to examine several bulk properties and structural
energy differences between different bulk phases of transition metals, and have
obtained excellent agreement with the results of other precise first-principles
methods such as a plane wave based PAW method and an all-electron
full-potential linearized augmented plane wave (FLAPW) method.Comment: 29 Page
Constraints on the origin of the ultra-high energy cosmic-rays using cosmic diffuse neutrino flux limits: An analytical approach
Astrophysical neutrinos are expected to be produced in the interactions of
ultra-high energy cosmic-rays with surrounding photons. The fluxes of the
astrophysical neutrinos are highly dependent on the characteristics of the
cosmic-ray sources, such as their cosmological distributions. We study possible
constraints on the properties of cosmic-ray sources in a model-independent way
using experimentally obtained diffuse neutrino flux above 100 PeV. The
semi-analytic formula is derived to estimate the cosmogenic neutrino fluxes as
functions of source evolution parameter and source extension in redshift. The
obtained formula converts the upper-limits on the neutrino fluxes into the
constraints on the cosmic-ray sources. It is found that the recently obtained
upper-limit on the cosmogenic neutrinos by IceCube constrains the scenarios
with strongly evolving ultra-high energy cosmic-ray sources, and the future
limits from an 1 km^3 scale detector are able to further constrain the
ultra-high energy cosmic-rays sources with evolutions comparable to the cosmic
star formation rate.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures and 1 table. Accepted by Phys. Rev.
FeII/MgII Emission Line Ratios of QSOs. II. z>6 Objects
Near-infrared spectra of four QSOs located at are obtained with the
OH-airglow suppressor mounted on the Subaru telescope. The FeII/MgII
emission-line ratios of these QSOs are examined by the same fitting algorithm
as in our previous study of QSOs. The fitting results show that two out
of the four QSOs have significant FeII emission in their rest-UV spectra,
while the other two have almost no FeII features. We also applied our fitting
algorithm to more than 10,000 SDSS QSOs and found two trends in the
distribution of FeII/MgII against redshift: (1) the upper envelope of the
FeII/MgII distribution at shows a probable declination toward high
redshift, and (2) the median distribution settles into lower ratios at with small scatter compared to the other redshift. We discuss an Fe/Mg
abundance evolution of QSOs with a substantial contribution from the diverse
nature of the broad-line regions in high-redshift QSOs.Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ (10 October
2004, v614
Can distributed delays perfectly stabilize dynamical networks?
Signal transmission delays tend to destabilize dynamical networks leading to
oscillation, but their dispersion contributes oppositely toward stabilization.
We analyze an integro-differential equation that describes the collective
dynamics of a neural network with distributed signal delays. With the gamma
distributed delays less dispersed than exponential distribution, the system
exhibits reentrant phenomena, in which the stability is once lost but then
recovered as the mean delay is increased. With delays dispersed more highly
than exponential, the system never destabilizes.Comment: 4pages 5figure
Activation of Satellite Glial Cells in Rat Trigeminal Ganglion after Upper Molar Extraction
The neurons in the trigeminal ganglion (TG) are surrounded by satellite glial cells (SGCs), which passively support the function of the neurons, but little is known about the interactions between SGCs and TG neurons after peripheral nerve injury. To examine the effect of nerve injury on SGCs, we investigated the activation of SGCs after neuronal damage due to the extraction of the upper molars in rats. Three, 7, and 10 days after extraction, animals were fixed and the TG was removed. Cryosections of the ganglia were immunostained with antibodies against glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), a marker of activated SGCs, and ATF3, a marker of damaged neurons. After tooth extraction, the number of ATF3-immunoreactive (IR) neurons enclosed by GFAP-IR SGCs had increased in a time-dependent manner in the maxillary nerve region of the TG. Although ATF3-IR neurons were not detected in the mandibular nerve region, the number of GFAP-IR SGCs increased in both the maxillary and mandibular nerve regions. Our results suggest that peripheral nerve injury affects the activation of TG neurons and the SGCs around the injured neurons. Moreover, our data suggest the existence of a neuronal interaction between maxillary and mandibular neurons via SGC activation
Nature of a Strongly-Lensed Submillimeter Galaxy SMM J14011+0252
We have carried out near-infrared JHK spectroscopy of a gravitationally
lensed submillimeter galaxy SMM J14011+0252 at z=2.565, using OHS and CISCO on
the Subaru telescope. This object consists of two optical components, J1 and
J2, which are lensed by the cluster Abell 1835. J1 suffers additional strong
lensing by a foreground galaxy at z=0.25 in the cluster. The rest-optical
H-alpha, H-beta, and [O II]3727 lines are detected in both J1 and J2, and [N
II]6548,6583 lines are also detected in J1. A diagnosis of emission-line ratios
shows that the excitation source of J1 is stellar origin, consistent with
previous X-ray observations. The continua of J1 and J2 show breaks at rest
4000A, indicating relatively young age. Combined with optical photometry, we
have carried out model spectrum fitting of J2 and find that it is a very young
(~50 Myr) galaxy of rather small mass (~10e8 M_sol) which suffers some amount
of dust extinction. A new gravitational lensing model is constructed to assess
both magnification factor and contamination from the lensing galaxy of the
component J1, using HST-F702W image. We have found that J1 suffers strong
lensing with magnification of ~30, and its stellar mass is estimated to be <
10e9 M_sol. These results suggest that SMM J14011+0252 is a major merger system
at high redshift that undergoes intense star formation, but not a formation
site of a giant elliptical. Still having plenty of gas, it will transform most
of the gas into stars and will evolve into a galaxy of < 10e10 M_sol.
Therefore, this system is possibly an ancestor of a less massive galaxy such as
a mid-sized elliptical or a spiral at the present.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomical
Journa
Mesenchymal progenitor cell markers in human articular cartilage: normal distribution and changes in osteoarthritis
INTRODUCTION: Recent findings suggest that articular cartilage contains mesenchymal progenitor cells. The aim of this study was to examine the distribution of stem cell markers (Notch-1, Stro-1 and VCAM-1) and of molecules that modulate progenitor differentiation (Notch-1 and Sox9) in normal adult human articular cartilage and in osteoarthritis (OA) cartilage. METHODS: Expression of the markers was analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and flow cytometry. Hoechst 33342 dye was used to identify and sort the cartilage side population (SP). Multilineage differentiation assays including chondrogenesis, osteogenesis and adipogenesis were performed on SP and non-SP (NSP) cells. RESULTS: A surprisingly high number (>45%) of cells were positive for Notch-1, Stro-1 and VCAM-1 throughout normal cartilage. Expression of these markers was higher in the superficial zone (SZ) of normal cartilage as compared to the middle zone (MZ) and deep zone (DZ). Non-fibrillated OA cartilage SZ showed reduced Notch-1 and Sox9 staining frequency, while Notch-1, Stro-1 and VCAM-1 positive cells were increased in the MZ. Most cells in OA clusters were positive for each molecule tested. The frequency of SP cells in cartilage was 0.14 +/- 0.05% and no difference was found between normal and OA. SP cells displayed chondrogenic and osteogenic but not adipogenic differentiation potential. CONCLUSIONS: These results show a surprisingly high number of cells that express putative progenitor cell markers in human cartilage. In contrast, the percentage of SP cells is much lower and within the range of expected stem cell frequency. Thus, markers such as Notch-1, Stro-1 or VCAM-1 may not be useful to identify progenitors in cartilage. Instead, their increased expression in OA cartilage implicates involvement in the abnormal cell activation and differentiation process characteristic of OA
Phospho-Signaling at Oocyte Maturation and Fertilization: Set Up for Embryogenesis and Beyond Part II. Kinase Regulators and Substrates
- …