8 research outputs found
Three-dimensional evolution of magnetic fields in a differentially rotating stellar radiative zone
The question of the origin and evolution of magnetic fields in stars
possessing a radiative envelope, like the A-type stars, is still regarded as a
challenge for stellar physics. Those zones are likely to be differentially
rotating, which suggests that strong interactions between differential rotation
and magnetic fields could be at play. We numerically compute the joint
evolution of the magnetic and velocity fields in a 3D spherical shell starting
from an initial profile for the poloidal magnetic field and differential
rotation. The poloidal magnetic field is initially wound-up by the differential
rotation to produce a toroidal field which becomes unstable. In the particular
setup studied here where the differential rotation is dominant, the
magneto-rotational instability is triggered. The growth rate of the instability
depends mainly on the initial rotation rate, while the background state
typically oscillates over a poloidal Alfv\'en time. We thus find that the
axisymmetric magnetic configuration is strongly modified by the instability
only if the ratio between the poloidal Alfv\'en frequency and the rotation rate
is sufficiently small. An enhanced transport of angular momentum is found in
the most unstable cases: the typical time to flatten the rotation profile is
then much faster than the diffusion time scale. We conclude that the
magneto-rotational instability is always favored (over the Tayler instability)
in unstratified spherical shells when an initial poloidal field is sheared by a
sufficiently strong cylindrical differential rotation. A possible application
to the magnetic desert observed among A stars is given. We argue that the
dichotomy between stars exhibiting strong axisymmetric fields (Ap stars) and
those harboring a sub-Gauss magnetism could be linked to the threshold for the
instability.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 21 pages, 13 figure
Synthesis facilitates an understanding of the structural basis for translation inhibition by the lissoclimides
International audienceThe lissoclimides are unusual succinimide-containing labdane diterpenoids that were reported to be potent cytotoxins. Our short semisynthesis and analogue-oriented synthesis approaches provide a series of lissoclimide natural products and analogues that expand the structure-activity relationships (SARs) in this family. The semisynthesis approach yielded significant quantities of chlorolissoclimide (CL) to permit an evaluation against the National Cancer Institute's 60-cell line panel and allowed us to obtain an X-ray co-crystal structure of the synthetic secondary metabolite with the eukaryotic 80S ribosome. Although it shares a binding site with other imide-based natural product translation inhibitors, CL engages in a particularly interesting and novel face-on halogen-π interaction between the ligand's alkyl chloride and a guanine residue. Our analogue-oriented synthesis provides many more lissoclimide compounds, which were tested against aggressive human cancer cell lines and for protein synthesis inhibitory activity. Finally, computational modelling was used to explain the SARs of certain key compounds and set the stage for the structure-guided design of better translation inhibitors