5,518 research outputs found
Testing the binary hypothesis: pulsar timing constraints on supermassive black hole binary candidates
The advent of time domain astronomy is revolutionizing our understanding of
the Universe. Programs such as the Catalina Real-time Transient Survey (CRTS)
or the Palomar Transient Factory (PTF) surveyed millions of objects for several
years, allowing variability studies on large statistical samples. The
inspection of 250k quasars in CRTS resulted in a catalogue of 111
potentially periodic sources, put forward as supermassive black hole binary
(SMBHB) candidates. A similar investigation on PTF data yielded 33 candidates
from a sample of 35k quasars. Working under the SMBHB hypothesis, we
compute the implied SMBHB merger rate and we use it to construct the expected
gravitational wave background (GWB) at nano-Hz frequencies, probed by pulsar
timing arrays (PTAs). After correcting for incompleteness and assuming virial
mass estimates, we find that the GWB implied by the CRTS sample exceeds the
current most stringent PTA upper limits by almost an order of magnitude. After
further correcting for the implicit bias in virial mass measurements, the
implied GWB drops significantly but is still in tension with the most stringent
PTA upper limits. Similar results hold for the PTF sample. Bayesian model
selection shows that the null hypothesis (whereby the candidates are false
positives) is preferred over the binary hypothesis at about and
for the CRTS and PTF samples respectively. Although not decisive,
our analysis highlights the potential of PTAs as astrophysical probes of
individual SMBHB candidates and indicates that the CRTS and PTF samples are
likely contaminated by several false positives.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables. Resubmitted to the Astrophysical
Journal after some major revision of the results including a proper estimate
of the intrinsic mass of the binary candidate
Superconductivity and Stoichiometry in the BSCCO-family Materials
We report on magnetization, c-axis and ab-plane resistivity, critical
current, electronic band structure and superconducting gap properties. Bulk
measurements and photoemission data were taken on similar samples.Comment: 4 pages, latex, to be published in Journal of Superconductivity. two
figures available from Jian Ma at [email protected]
A Spitzer Study of Comets 2P/Encke, 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT)
We present infrared images and spectra of comets 2P/Encke,
67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, and C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT) as part of a larger
program to observe comets inside of 5 AU from the sun with the Spitzer Space
Telescope. The nucleus of comet 2P/Encke was observed at two vastly different
phase angles (20 degrees and 63 degrees). Model fits to the spectral energy
distributions of the nucleus suggest comet Encke's infrared beaming parameter
derived from the near-Earth asteroid thermal model may have a phase angle
dependence. The observed emission from comet Encke's dust coma is best-modeled
using predominately amorphous carbon grains with a grain size distribution that
peaks near 0.4 microns, and the silicate contribution by mass to the sub-micron
dust coma is constrained to 31%. Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko was observed
with distinct coma emission in excess of a model nucleus at a heliocentric
distance of 5.0 AU. The coma detection suggests that sublimation processes are
still active or grains from recent activity remain near the nucleus. Comet
C/2001 HT50 (LINEAR-NEAT) showed evidence for crystalline silicates in the
spectrum obtained at 3.2 AU and we derive a silicate-to-carbon dust ratio of
0.6. The ratio is an order of magnitude lower than that derived for comets
9P/Tempel 1 during the Deep Impact encounter and C/1995 O1 (Hale-Bopp).Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal 48 pages, 15
figures, 10 table
Medically inoperable peripheral lung cancer treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy
BACKGROUND: Lung cancer is the most frequent cause of cancer-related death in North America. There is wide variation between patients who are medically inoperable and those managed surgically. The use of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has narrowed the gap in survival rates between operative and non-operative management for those with early stage disease. This retrospective study reports outcomes for the treatment of peripheral non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) with SBRT from a single community practice. METHODS: Sixty-seven consecutive patients (pts) with inoperable, untreated peripheral lung tumors were treated from 2010 through 2012 and included in this study. Stereotactic targeting was facilitated by either spine or lung-based image guidance, either with or without fiducial marker tracking with a frameless robotic radiosurgery system. Peripheral tumors received a median biological effective dose (BED) of 105.6 Gy10 or in terms of a median physical dose, 48 Gy delivered over 4 daily fractions. Survival was measured using the Kaplan-Meier method to determine rates of local control, progression of disease and overall survival. The Cox proportional hazards regression model was used to study the effects of tumor size, stage, histology, patient age, tumor location (lobe), tracking method, and BED on the survival distributions. RESULTS: The median follow-up for this cohort was 24.5 months (range: 2.4-50.3) with an overall (OS) 3-year survival of 62.4 % (95 % CI: 74.3-47.3). The median progression-free survival was 28.5 months (95 % CI: 15.8 months to not reached). Local control (LC), defined as a lack of FDG uptake on PET/CT or the absence of tumor growth was achieved in 60 patients (90.9 %) at the time of first follow-up (median 3 months, range: 1-6). Local control at one year for the entire cohort was 81.8 % (95 % CI, 67.3-90.3). The one-year OS probability among those who achieved local control at first follow-up was 86.2 % (95 % CI, 74.3-92.9) but no patients who did not achieve LC at first follow-up survived one year. Of the 60 pts that achieved initial LC, 16 have died. The rates of local control, progression-free survival and overall survival were not statistically different for patients treated using a fiducial target tracking system versus non-invasive guidance. (p = 0.44, p = 0.97 and p = 0.66, respectively). No National Cancer Institute (NCI) Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE-4) grade 3 or greater toxicity was observed. CONCLUSION: SBRT is an effective treatment for medically inoperable NSCLC patients with peripherally located tumors. This therapy appears to be well tolerated with low toxicity, and patient outcomes when using non-invasive tumor tracking systems are not inferior to traditional fiducial-based techniques
Proton Decay and Cosmology Strongly Constrain the Minimal SU(5) Supergravity Model
We present the results of an extensive exploration of the five-dimensional
parameter space of the minimal supergravity model, including the
constraints of a long enough proton lifetime (\tau_p>1\times10^{32}\y) and a
small enough neutralino cosmological relic density ().
We find that the combined effect of these two constraints is quite severe,
although still leaving a small region of parameter space with m_{\tilde
g,\tilde q}<1\TeV. The allowed values of the proton lifetime extend up to
\tau_p\approx1\times10^{33}\y and should be fully explored by the
SuperKamiokande experiment. The proton lifetime cut also entails the following
mass correlations and bounds: m_h\lsim100\GeV,
m_\chi\approx{1\over2}m_{\chi^0_2}\approx0.15\gluino, , and m_\chi<85\,(115)\GeV,
m_{\chi^0_2,\chi^+_1}<165\,(225)\GeV for . Finally,
the {\it combined} proton decay and cosmology constraints predict that if
m_h\gsim75\,(80)\GeV then m_{\chi^+_1}\lsim90\,(110)\GeV for
. Thus, if this model is correct, at least one of
these particles will likely be observed at LEPII.Comment: 11 pages plus 5 figures (not included). CERN-TH.6628/92,
CTP-TAMU-61/92. A condensed version of this paper will appear in the
Proceedings of the XXVI International Conference on High Energy Physics,
Dallas--Texas, August 5--12, 199
Solving variational inequalities defined on a domain with infinitely many linear constraints
We study a variational inequality problem whose domain is defined by infinitely many linear inequalities. A discretization method and an analytic center based inexact cutting plane method are proposed. Under proper assumptions, the convergence results for both methods are given. We also provide numerical examples to illustrate the proposed method
Efficacy and safety of cabozantinib for patients with advanced hepatocellular carcinoma based on albumin-bilirubin grade
BACKGROUND: Albumin-bilirubin (ALBI) grade is an objective measure of liver function for patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The tyrosine kinase inhibitor cabozantinib is approved for patients with advanced HCC who have received prior sorafenib based on the phase 3 CELESTIAL trial (NCT01908426). Cabozantinib improved overall survival (OS) and progression-free survival (PFS) versus placebo in patients with previously treated HCC. METHODS: Patients were randomised 2:1 to receive cabozantinib 60 mg or placebo orally every day. Clinical outcomes in patients with ALBI grade 1 or 2 at baseline were evaluated in CELESTIAL. ALBI scores were retrospectively calculated based on baseline serum albumin and total bilirubin, with an ALBI grade of 1 defined as  ≤ -2.60 score and a grade of 2 as a score of > -2.60 to  ≤ -1.39. RESULTS: Cabozantinib improved OS and PFS versus placebo in both ALBI grade 1 (hazard ratio [HR] [95% CI]: 0.63 [0.46-0.86] and 0.42 [0.32-0.56]) and ALBI grade 2 (HR [95% CI]: 0.84 [0.66-1.06] and 0.46 [0.37-0.58]) subgroups. Adverse events were consistent with those in the overall population. Rates of grade 3/4 adverse events associated with hepatic decompensation were generally low and were more common among patients in the ALBI grade 2 subgroup. DISCUSSION: These results provide initial support of cabozantinib in patients with advanced HCC irrespective of ALBI grade 1 or 2. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01908426
Predictions for Constrained Minimal Supersymmetry with Bottom-Tau Mass Unification
We examine the Constrained Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (CMSSM) with
an additional requirement of strict b - tau unification in the region of small
tan(beta). We find that the parameter space becomes completely limited below
about 1 TeV by physical constraints alone, without a fine-tuning constraint. We
study the resulting phenomenological consequences, and point out several ways
of falsifying the adopted b - tau unification assumption. We also comment on
the effect of a constraint from the non-observation of proton decay.Comment: Michigan preprint UM-TH-94-03, LaTeX, 18 pages with inline figures
(figures included in uuencoded file). Complete PS file also available by
anonymous FTP to williams.physics.lsa.umich.edu in
/pub/preprints/UM-TH-94-03.ps.Z or by e-mailing reques
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