"Dark Matter" in Accretion Disks

Using Spitzer Space Telescope photometric observations of the eclipsing, interacting binary WZ Sge, we have discovered that the accretion disk is far more complex than previously believed. Our 4.5 and 8 micron time series observations reveal that the well known gaseous accretion disk is surrounded by an asymmetric disk of dusty material with a radius approximately 15 times larger than the gaseous disk. This dust ring contains only a small amount of mass and is completely invisible at optical and near-IR wavelengths, hence consisting of "dark matter". We have produced a model dust ring using 1 micron spherical particles with a density of 3 g/cm$^3$ and with a temperature profile ranging from 700-1500K. Our discovery about the accretion disk structure and the presence of a larger, outer dust ring have great relevance for accretion disks in general, including those in other interacting binary systems, pre-main sequence stars, and active galaxies.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figures (3 in color). Accepted to Ap

JT9D engine diagnostics. Task 2: Feasibility study of measuring in-service flight loads

The feasibility of measuring JT9D propulsion system flight inertia loads on a 747 airplane is studied. Flight loads background is discussed including the current status of 747/JT9D loads knowledge. An instrumentation and test plan is formulated for an airline-owned in-service airplane and the Boeing-owned RA001 test airplane. Technical and cost comparisons are made between these two options. An overall technical feasibility evaluation is made and a cost summary presented. Conclusions and recommendations are presented in regard to using existing inertia loads data versus conducting a flight test to measure inertia loads

Recent atmospheric neutrino results from Soudan 2

An updated measurement of the atmospheric nu_mu/nu_e ratio-of-ratios, 0.68+-0.11+-0.06, has been obtained using a 4.6-kty exposure of the Soudan-2 iron tracking calorimeter. The L/E distributions have been analyzed for effects of nu_mu -> nu_x oscillations, and an allowed region in the Delta m^2 vs. sin^2 2 theta plane has been determined.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; presented at TAUP99, the 6th Int. Workshop on Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, Sept. 6-10, 1999, College de France, Paris, Franc

Goldchipelektroden zur elektrochemischen DNA-Detektion

Im folgenden Artikel werden einfache DNA-Sensoren vorgestellt, mit deren Hilfe es durch voltammetrische und impedimetrische Messmethoden möglich ist, schnell, sensitiv und kostengünstig Einzelstrang-DNA (ssDNA) nachzuweisen. Beide Messprinzipien lassen neben der spezifischen Detektion auch die Quantifizierung von DNA-Sequenzen sowie den Nachweis von einzelnen Basenfehlpaarungen innerhalb dieser Sequenzen zu. Fänger- DNA wurde zu diesem Zweck mit dem 5’-Ende auf einer Goldoberfläche immobilisiert. Die Hybridisierung mit einem Methylenblau (MB) markierten oder unmarkierten Probenstrang konnte dann mit Hilfe der Differenzpulsvoltammetrie DPV oder der elektrochemischen Impedanzspektroskopie nachgewiesen werden. Die voltammetrische Quantifizierung erfolgte in einem direkten und kompetitiven Ansatz, mit einem Detektionslimit von 30 nM bzw. 3 nM (bei Einsatz von 0,1 μM Kompetitor- DNA). Das Detektionslimit beim impedimetrischen Nachweis lag bei 100 nM DNA. Die hier vorgestellten Sensoren sind zum einen regenerierbar und können zum anderen über einen Zeitraum von zwei Monaten gelagert werden.This paper describes simplistic electrochemical DNA sensors for the sensitive, more rapid and cost effective detection of single-stranded DNA (ssDNA). The used methodes are the voltammetric detection and the detection by impedance spectroscopy. Beside the specific detection of ssDNA both techniques allow quantification of DNA and verification of single base pair mismatches within the sequences. Therefore a single-stranded 18mer oligonucleotide (DNA) was immobilised via a thiol-linker on gold film electrodes and served as probe DNA. Hybridisation was detected by means of the electroactive redox-marker methylene blue (MB), which was covalently bound to the 5’-end of the target DNA, by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) or by measuring the differences in the charge transfer resistance (RCT) by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) using non-labelled ssDNA targets. MB-labelled target DNA was verified down to 30 nM DNA. By application of a competitive binding assay non-labelled DNA was detected down to 3 nM DNA. The detection limit for impedimetric DNA sensors was 100 nM ssDNA. The sensors were found to be reusable and could be stored for more than two month at 4 °C without significant loss in their activity

Opening up the Pandora's box of sustainability league tables of universities: a Kafkaesque perspective

The aim of this paper is to explore the institutional impact of sustainability league tables on current university agendas. It focuses on a narrative critique of one such league table, the UK's ‘Green League Table', compiled and reported by the student campaigning NGO, ‘People & Planet’ annually between 2007 and 2013. Through a Kafkaesque perspective, this paper offers the proposition that such league tables could be acting as an institutional hegemonic mechanism for social legitimacy, through the desire by universities to show that environmental issues are effectively under control. Espoused eco-narratives of the ‘carbon targets imperative’ and ‘engagement' can serve as a form of deception, by merely embracing the narrative as a rhetorical device. Moreover, they can serve the exclusive, particularistic self-interests of a growing legion of ‘carbon managers’, ‘sustainability managers’ and ‘environmental managers' in satisfying the neo-liberal institutional drive from their vice chancellors

The fight for accretion: discovery of intermittent mass transfer in BB Doradus in the low state

Our long-term photometric monitoring of southern nova-like cataclysmic variables with the 1.3-m SMARTS telescope found BB Doradus fading from V ~ 14.3 towards a deep low state at V ~ 19.3 in April 2008. Here we present time-resolved optical spectroscopy of BB Dor in this faint state in 2009. The optical spectrum in quiescence is a composite of a hot white dwarf with Teff = 30000 +- 5000 K and a M3-4 secondary star with narrow emission lines (mainly of the Balmer series and HeI) superposed. We associate these narrow profiles with an origin on the donor star. Analysis of the radial velocity curve of the H-alpha emission from the donor star allowed the measurement of an orbital period of 0.154095 +- 0.000003 d (3.69828 +- 0.00007 h), different from all previous estimates. We detected episodic accretion events which veiled the spectra of both stars and radically changed the line profiles within a timescale of tens of minutes. This shows that accretion is not completely quenched in the low state. During these accretion episodes the line wings are stronger and their radial velocity curve is delayed by ~ 0.2 cycle, similar to that observed in SW Sex and AM Her stars in the high state, with respect to the motion of the white dwarf. Two scenarios are proposed to explain the extra emission: impact of the material on the outer edge of a cold, remnant accretion disc, or the combined action of a moderately magnetic white dwarf (B1 <~ 5 MG) and the magnetic activity of the donor star.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, accepted by MNRA

p_T-fluctuations in high-energy p-p and A-A collisions

The event-by-event p_T-fluctuations in proton-proton and central Pb-Pb collisions, which have been experimentally studied by means of the so-called Phi-measure, are analyzed. The contribution due to the correlation which couples the average p_T to the event multiplicity is computed. The correlation appears to be far too weak to explain the preliminary experimental value of Phi (p_T) in p-p interactions. The significance of the result is discussed.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, minor improvement

The Factory and The Beehive II. Activity and Rotation in Praesepe and the Hyades

Open clusters are collections of stars with a single, well-determined age, and can be used to investigate the connections between angular-momentum evolution and magnetic activity over a star's lifetime. We present the results of a comparative study of the relationship between stellar rotation and activity in two benchmark open clusters: Praesepe and the Hyades. As they have the same age and roughly solar metallicity, these clusters serve as an ideal laboratory for testing the agreement between theoretical and empirical rotation-activity relations at $\approx$600 Myr. We have compiled a sample of 720 spectra --- more than half of which are new observations --- for 516 high-confidence members of Praesepe; we have also obtained 139 new spectra for 130 high-confidence Hyads. We have collected rotation periods ($P_{rot}$) for 135 Praesepe members and 87 Hyads. To compare $H\alpha$ emission, an indicator of chromospheric activity, as a function of color, mass, and Rossby number $R_o$, we first calculate an expanded set of $\chi$ values, with which we can obtain the $H\alpha$ to bolometric luminosity ratio, $L_{H\alpha}/L_{bol}$, even when spectra are not flux-calibrated and/or stars lack reliable distances. Our $\chi$ values cover a broader range of stellar masses and colors (roughly equivalent to spectral types from K0 to M9), and exhibit better agreement between independent calculations, than existing values. We find no difference between the two clusters in their $H\alpha$ equivalent width or $L_{H\alpha}/L_{bol}$ distributions, and therefore take the merged $H\alpha$ and $P_{rot}$ data to be representative of 600-Myr-old stars. Our analysis shows that $H\alpha$ activity in these stars is saturated for $R_o\leq0.11^{+0.02}_{-0.03}$. Above that value activity declines as a power-law with slope $\beta=-0.73^{+0.16}_{-0.12}$, before dropping off rapidly at $R_o\approx0.4$...Comment: 17 pages, 15 figures, Accepted by Ap

Coherence Time in High Energy Proton-Nucleus Collisions

Precisely measured Drell-Yan cross sections for 800 GeV protons incident on a variety of nuclear targets exhibit a deviation from linear scaling in the atomic number A. We show that this deviation can be accounted for by energy degradation of the proton as it passes through the nucleus if account is taken of the time delay of particle production due to quantum coherence. We infer an average proper coherence time of 0.4 +- 0.1 fm/c, corresponding to a coherence path length of 8 +- 2 fm in the rest frame of the nucleus.Comment: 11 pages in LaTeX. Includes 6 eps figures. Uses epsf.st