479 research outputs found
Feasibility of transit photometry of nearby debris discs
Dust in debris discs is constantly replenished by collisions between larger
objects. In this paper, we investigate a method to detect these collisions. We
generate models based on recent results on the Fomalhaut debris disc, where we
simulate a background star transiting behind the disc, due to the proper motion
of Fomalhaut. By simulating the expanding dust clouds caused by the collisions
in the debris disc, we investigate whether it is possible to observe changes in
the brightness of the background star. We conclude that in the case of the
Fomalhaut debris disc, changes in the optical depth can be observed, with
values of the optical depth ranging from for the densest dust
clouds to for the most diffuse clouds with respect to the background
optical depth of .Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Proteoglycan neofunctions: regulation of inflammation and autophagy in cancer biology.
Inflammation and autophagy have emerged as prominent issues in the context of proteoglycan signaling. In particular, two small, leucine-rich proteoglycans, biglycan and decorin, play pivotal roles in the regulation of these vital cellular pathways and, as such, are intrinsically involved in cancer initiation and progression. In this minireview, we will address novel functions of biglycan and decorin in inflammation and autophagy, and analyze new emerging signaling events triggered by these proteoglycans, which directly or indirectly modulate these processes. We will critically discuss the dual role of proteoglycan-driven inflammation and autophagy in tumor biology, and delineate the potential mechanisms through which soluble extracellular matrix constituents affect the microenvironment associated with inflammatory and neoplastic diseases
Modelling EEG Dataset for Stress State Recognition using Decision Tree Approach
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a predominant tool for learning the stress behavior. This work concentrates towards stress detection by means of eye states. This work proposes a framework which would be supportive in identifying human stress level and as an outcome, distinguishes a normal or stressed person. In this work, we used decision trees, carried out the performance analysis and found that it gives good performance in recognizing the stress states. This analysis is performed with reference to eye state: whether eyes are closed indicating rest, open eyes with blinks
First optical images of circumstellar dust surrounding the debris disk candidate HD 32297
Near-infrared imaging with the Hubble Space Telescope recently revealed a
circumstellar dust disk around the A star HD 32297. Dust scattered light is
detected as far as 400 AU radius and the linear morphology is consistent with a
disk ~10 degrees away from an edge-on orientation. Here we present the first
optical images that show the dust scattered light morphology from 560 to 1680
AU radius. The position angle of the putative disk midplane diverges by 31
degrees and the color of dust scattering is most likely blue. We associate HD
32297 with a wall of interstellar gas and the enigmatic region south of the
Taurus molecular cloud. We propose that the extreme asymmetries and blue disk
color originate from a collision with a clump of interstellar material as HD
32297 moves southward, and discuss evidence consistent with an age of 30 Myr or
younger.Comment: 5 pages; Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter
Observing planet-disk interaction in debris disks
Context. Structures in debris disks induced by planetdisk interaction are
promising to provide valuable constraints on the existence and properties of
embedded planets. Aims. We investigate the observability of structures in
debris disks induced by planet-disk interaction. Methods. The observability of
debris disks with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) is
studied on the basis of a simple analytical disk model. Furthermore, N-body
simulations are used to model the spatial dust distribution in debris disks
under the influence of planet-disk interaction. Images at optical scattered
light to millimeter thermal re-emission are computed. Available information
about the expected capabilities of ALMA and the James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST) are used to investigate the observability of characteristic disk
structures through spatially resolved imaging. Results. Planet-disk interaction
can result in prominent structures. This provides the opportunity of detecting
and characterizing extrasolar planets in a range of masses and radial distances
from the star that is not accessible to other techniques. Facilities that will
be available in the near future are shown to provide the capabilities to
spatially resolve and characterize structures in debris disks. Limitations are
revealed and suggestions for possible instrument setups and observing
strategies are given. In particular, ALMA is limited by its sensitivity to
surface brightness, which requires a trade-off between sensitivity and spatial
resolution. Space-based midinfrared observations will be able to detect and
spatially resolve regions in debris disks even at a distance of several tens of
AU from the star, where the emission from debris disks in this wavelength range
is expected to be low. [Abridged]Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted by A&
Dissecting the Moth: Discovery of an off-centered ring in the HD 61005 debris disk with high-resolution imaging
The debris disk known as "The Moth" is named after its unusually asymmetric
surface brightness distribution. It is located around the ~90 Myr old G8V star
HD 61005 at 34.5 pc and has previously been imaged by the HST at 1.1 and 0.6
microns. Polarimetric observations suggested that the circumstellar material
consists of two distinct components, a nearly edge-on disk or ring, and a
swept-back feature, the result of interaction with the interstellar medium. We
resolve both components at unprecedented resolution with VLT/NACO H-band
imaging. Using optimized angular differential imaging techniques to remove the
light of the star, we reveal the disk component as a distinct narrow ring at
inclination i=84.3 \pm 1.0{\deg}. We determine a semi-major axis of a=61.25 \pm
0.85 AU and an eccentricity of e=0.045 \pm 0.015, assuming that periastron is
located along the apparent disk major axis. Therefore, the ring center is
offset from the star by at least 2.75 \pm 0.85 AU. The offset, together with a
relatively steep inner rim, could indicate a planetary companion that perturbs
the remnant planetesimal belt. From our imaging data we set upper mass limits
for companions that exclude any object above the deuterium-burning limit for
separations down to 0.3". The ring shows a strong brightness asymmetry along
both the major and minor axis. A brighter front side could indicate
forward-scattering grains, while the brightness difference between the NE and
SW components can be only partly explained by the ring center offset,
suggesting additional density enhancements on one side of the ring. The
swept-back component appears as two streamers originating near the NE and SW
edges of the debris ring.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics letter
Hubble Space Telescope High Resolution Imaging of Kepler Small and Cool Exoplanet Host Stars
High resolution imaging is an important tool for follow-up study of exoplanet
candidates found via transit detection with the Kepler Mission. We discuss here
HST imaging with the WFC3 of 23 stars that host particularly interesting Kepler
planet candidates based on their small size and cool equilibrium temperature
estimates. Results include detections, exclusion of background stars that could
be a source of false positives for the transits, and detection of
physically-associated companions in a number of cases providing dilution
measures necessary for planet parameter refinement. For six KOIs, we find that
there is ambiguity in which star hosts the transiting planet(s), with
potentially strong implications for planetary characteristics. Our sample is
evenly distributed in G, K, and M spectral types. Albeit with a small sample
size, we find that physically-associated binaries are more common than expected
at each spectral type, reaching a factor of 10 frequency excess at M. We
document the program detection sensitivities, detections, and deliverables to
the Kepler follow-up program archive.Comment: Accepted for the Astronomical Journal; 13 pages with 9 figure
A Ring of Warm Dust in the HD 32297 Debris Disk
We report the detection of a ring of warm dust in the edge-on disk
surrounding HD 32297 with the Gemini-N/MICHELLE mid-infrared imager. Our
N'-band image shows elongated structure consistent with the orientation of the
scattered-light disk. The Fnu(11.2 um) = 49.9+/-2.1 mJy flux is significantly
above the 28.2+/-0.6 mJy photosphere. Subtraction of the stellar point spread
function reveals a bilobed structure with peaks 0.5"-0.6" from the star. An
analysis of the stellar component of the SED suggests a spectral type later
than A0, in contrast to commonly cited literature values. We fit
three-dimensional, single-size grain models of an optically thin dust ring to
our image and the SED using a Markov chain Monte Carlo algorithm in a Bayesian
framework. The best-fit effective grain sizes are submicron, suggesting the
same dust population is responsible for the bulk of the scattered light. The
inner boundary of the warm dust is located 0.5"-0.7" (~65 AU) from the star,
which is approximately cospatial with the outer boundary of the scattered-light
asymmetry inward of 0.5". The addition of a separate component of larger,
cooler grains that provide a portion of the 60 um flux improves both the
fidelity of the model fit and consistency with the slopes of the
scattered-light brightness profiles. Previous indirect estimates of the stellar
age (~30 Myr) indicate the dust is composed of debris. The peak vertical
optical depths in our models (~0.3-1 x 1e-2) imply that grain-grain collisions
likely play a significant role in dust dynamics and evolution. Submicron grains
can survive radiation pressure blow-out if they are icy and porous. Similarly,
the inferred warm temperatures (130-200 K) suggest that ice sublimation may
play a role in truncating the inner disk.Comment: ApJ accepted, 8 pages, 4 figure
Asymmetric Heating of the HR 4796A Dust Ring Due to Pericenter Glow
We have obtained new resolved images of the well-studied HR 4796A dust ring
at 18 and 25 microns with the 8-meter Gemini telescopes. These images confirm
the previously observed spatial extent seen in mid-IR, near-IR, and optical
images of the source. We detect brightness and temperature asymmetries such
that dust on the NE side is both brighter and warmer than dust in the SW. We
show that models of so-called pericenter glow account for these asymmetries,
thus both confirming and extending our previous analyses. In this scenario, the
center of the dust ring is offset from the star due to gravitational
perturbations of a body with an eccentric orbit that has induced a forced
eccentricity on the dust particle orbits. Models with 2-micron silicate dust
particles and a forced eccentricity of 0.06 simultaneously fit the observations
at both wavelengths. We also show that parameters used to characterize the
thermal-emission properties of the disk can also account for the disk asymmetry
observed in shorter-wavelength scattered-light images.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A; 7 pages, 4 figure
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