12,633 research outputs found
When the Milky Way turned off the lights: APOGEE provides evidence of star formation quenching in our Galaxy
Quenching, the cessation of star formation, is one of the most significant
events in the life cycle of galaxies. We show here the first evidence that the
Milky Way experienced a generalised quenching of its star formation at the end
of its thick disk formation 9 Gyr ago. Elemental abundances of stars
studied as part of the APOGEE survey reveal indeed that in less than 2
Gyr the star formation rate in our Galaxy dropped by an order-of-magnitude.
Because of the tight correlation between age and alpha abundance, this event
reflects in the dearth of stars along the inner disk sequence in the
[Fe/H]-[/Fe] plane. Before this phase, which lasted about 1.5 Gyr, the
Milky Way was actively forming stars. Afterwards, the star formation resumed at
a much lower level to form the thin disk. These events are very well matched by
the latest observation of MW-type progenitors at high redshifts. In late type
galaxies, quenching is believed to be related to a long and secular exhaustion
of gas. In our Galaxy, it occurred on a much shorter time scale, while the
chemical continuity before and after the quenching indicates that it was not
due to the exhaustion of the gas. While quenching is generally associated with
spheroids, our results show that it also occurs in galaxies like the Milky Way,
possibly when they are undergoing a morphological transition from thick to thin
disks. Given the demographics of late type galaxies in the local universe, in
which classical bulges are rare, we suggest further that this may hold true
generally in galaxies with mass lower than or approximately , where
quenching could be directly a consequence of thick disk formation. We emphasize
that the quenching phase in the Milky Way could be contemporaneous with, and
related to, the formation of the bar. We sketch a scenario on how a strong bar
may inhibit star formation.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figures. Published versio
International Laboratory Comparison of Influenza Microneutralization Assays for A(H1N1) pdm09, A(H3N2), and A(H5N1) Influenza Viruses by CONSISE
The microneutralization assay is commonly used to detect antibodies to influenza virus, and multiple protocols are used worldwide. These protocols differ in the incubation time of the assay as well as in the order of specific steps, and even within protocols there are often further adjustments in individual laboratories. The impact these protocol variations have on influenza serology data is unclear. Thus, a laboratory comparison of the 2-day enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and 3-day hemagglutination (HA) microneutralization (MN) protocols, using A(H1N1)pdm09, A(H3N2), and A(H5N1) viruses, was performed by the CONSISE Laboratory Working Group. Individual laboratories performed both assay protocols, on multiple occasions, using different serum panels. Thirteen laboratories from around the world participated. Within each laboratory, serum sample titers for the different assay protocols were compared between assays to determine the sensitivity of each assay and were compared between replicates to assess the reproducibility of each protocol for each laboratory. There was good correlation of the results obtained using the two assay protocols in most laboratories, indicating that these assays may be interchangeable for detecting antibodies to the influenza A viruses included in this study. Importantly, participating laboratories have aligned their methodologies to the CONSISE consensus 2-day ELISA and 3-day HA MN assay protocols to enable better correlation of these assays in the future
Optically-Induced Polarons in Bose-Einstein Condensates: Monitoring Composite Quasiparticle Decay
Nonresonant light-scattering off atomic Bose-Einstein condensates (BECs) is
predicted to give rise to hitherto unexplored composite quasiparticles:
unstable polarons, i.e., local ``impurities'' dressed by virtual phonons.
Optical monitoring of their spontaneous decay can display either Zeno or
anti-Zeno deviations from the Golden Rule, and thereby probe the temporal
correlations of elementary excitations in BECs.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Standoff Detection of Solid Traces by Single-Beam Nonlinear Raman Spectroscopy Using Shaped Femtosecond Pulses
We demonstrate a single-beam, standoff (>10m) coherent anti-Stokes Raman
scattering spectroscopy (CARS) of various materials, including trace amounts of
explosives and nitrate samples, under ambient light conditions. The multiplex
measurement of characteristic molecular vibrations with <20cm-1 spectral
resolution is carried out using a single broadband (>550cm-1) phase-shaped
femtosecond laser pulse. We exploit the strong nonresonant background signal
for amplification of the weak backscattered resonant CARS signal by using a
homodyne detection scheme. This facilitates a simple, highly sensitive
single-beam spectroscopic technique, with a potential for hazardous materials
standoff detection applications
Quiver Theories from D6-branes via Mirror Symmetry
We study N=1 four dimensional quiver theories arising on the worldvolume of
D3-branes at del Pezzo singularities of Calabi-Yau threefolds. We argue that
under local mirror symmetry D3-branes become D6-branes wrapped on a three torus
in the mirror manifold. The type IIB (p,q) 5-brane web description of the local
del Pezzo, being closely related to the geometry of its mirror manifold,
encodes the geometry of 3-cycles and is used to obtain gauge groups, quiver
diagrams and the charges of the fractional branes.Comment: 30 pages, citations adde
Random matrix theory, the exceptional Lie groups, and L-functions
There has recently been interest in relating properties of matrices drawn at
random from the classical compact groups to statistical characteristics of
number-theoretical L-functions. One example is the relationship conjectured to
hold between the value distributions of the characteristic polynomials of such
matrices and value distributions within families of L-functions. These
connections are here extended to non-classical groups. We focus on an explicit
example: the exceptional Lie group G_2. The value distributions for
characteristic polynomials associated with the 7- and 14-dimensional
representations of G_2, defined with respect to the uniform invariant (Haar)
measure, are calculated using two of the Macdonald constant term identities. A
one parameter family of L-functions over a finite field is described whose
value distribution in the limit as the size of the finite field grows is
related to that of the characteristic polynomials associated with the
7-dimensional representation of G_2. The random matrix calculations extend to
all exceptional Lie groupsComment: 14 page
Non-Local Effects of Multi-Trace Deformations in the AdS/CFT Correspondence
The AdS/CFT correspondence relates deformations of the CFT by "multi-trace
operators" to "non-local string theories". The deformed theories seem to have
non-local interactions in the compact directions of space-time; in the gravity
approximation the deformed theories involve modified boundary conditions on the
fields which are explicitly non-local in the compact directions. In this note
we exhibit a particular non-local property of the resulting space-time theory.
We show that in the usual backgrounds appearing in the AdS/CFT correspondence,
the commutator of two bulk scalar fields at points with a large enough distance
between them in the compact directions and a small enough time-like distance
between them in AdS vanishes, but this is not always true in the deformed
theories. We discuss how this is consistent with causality.Comment: 24 pages, 6 figures, 2 appendices. v2: added reference
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