Evolution of "51Peg b-like" Planets

About one-quarter of the extrasolar giant planets discovered so far have orbital distances smaller than 0.1 AU. These ``51Peg b-like'' planets can now be directly characterized, as shown by the planet transiting in front the star HD209458. We review the processes that affect their evolution. We apply our work to the case of HD209458b, whose radius has been recently measured. We argue that its radius can be reproduced only when the deep atmosphere is assumed to be unrealistically hot. When using more realistic atmospheric temperatures, an energy source appears to be missing in order to explain HD209458b's large size. The most likely source of energy available is not in the planet's spin or orbit, but in the intense radiation received from the parent star. We show that the radius of HD209458b can be reproduced if a small fraction (~1%) of the stellar flux is transformed into kinetic energy in the planetary atmosphere and subsequently converted to thermal energy by dynamical processes at pressures of tens of bars.Comment: 11 pages including 9 figures. A&A, in press. Also available at http://www.obs-nice.fr/guillot/pegasi-planets

Fragmentation and the formation of primordial protostars: the possible role of Collision Induced Emission

The mechanisms which could lead to chemo-thermal instabilities and fragmentation during the formation of primordial protostars are investigated analytically. We introduce approximations for H2 cooling rates bridging the optically thin and thick regimes. These allow us to discuss instabilities up to densities when protostars become optically thick to continuum radiation (n~10^16 cm^-3). During the collapse, instability arises at two different stages: at low density (n~10^8-10^11 cm^-3), it is due to fast 3-body reactions converting H into H2; at high density (n>10^13 cm^-3), it is due to Collisional Induced Emission (CIE). In agreement with the 3D simulations, we find that the instability at low densities cannot lead to fragmentation, because fluctuations do not survive turbulent mixing, and because their growth is slow. The situation at high density is similar. The CIE-induced instability is as weak as the low density one, with similar ratios of growth and dynamical time scales. Fluctuation growth time is longer than free fall time, and fragmentation seems unlikely. One then expects the first stars to be massive, not to form binaries nor harbour planets. Nevertheless, full 3D simulations are required. They could become possible using simplified estimates of radiative transfer effects, which we show to work very well in the 1D case. This indicates that the effects of radiative transfer during the initial stages of formation of primordial protostars can be treated as local corrections to cooling. (Abridged)Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA

On the Possibility of Observing the Double Emission Line Feature of H2_2 and HD from Primordial Molecular Cloud Cores

We study the prospects for observing H$_2$ and HD emission during the assembly of primordial molecular cloud cores. The primordial molecular cloud cores, which resemble those at the present epoch, can emerge around $1+z \sim 20$ according to recent numerical simulations. A core typically contracts to form the first generation of stars and the contracting core emits H$_2$ and HD line radiation. These lines show a double peak feature. The higher peak is the H$_2$ line of the $J=2-0$ (v=0) rotational transition, and the lower peak is the HD line of the $J=4-3$ (v=0) rotational transition. The ratio of the peaks is about 20, this value characterising the emission from primordial galaxies. The expected emission flux at the redshift of $1+z \sim 20$ (e.g. $\Omega_m = 0.3$ and $\Omega_\Lambda =0.7$), in the $J=2-0$ (v=0) line of H$_2$ occurs at a rate $\sim 2 \times 10^{-7}$ Jy, and in the $J=4-3$ (v=0) line of HD at a rate $\sim 4 \times 10^{-9}$ Jy. The former has a frequency of 5.33179$\times 10^{11}$ Hz and the latter is at 5.33388 $\times 10^{11}$Hz, respectively. Since the frequency resolution of ALMA is about 40 kHz, the double peak is resolvable. While an individual object is not observable even by ALMA, the expected assembly of primordial star clusters on subgalactic scales can result in fluxes at the 2000-50 $\mu$Jy level. These are marginally observable. The first peak of H$_2$ is produced when the core gas cools due to HD cooling, while the second peak of HD occurs because the medium maintains thermal balance by H$_2$ cooling which must be enhanced by three-body reactions to form H$_2$ itself.Comment: 24 pages, 5 figures. MNRAS (Accepted

Zein-based smart coatings for drug-eluting stents: investigations via static and microfluidic approaches

Coronary heart disease is currently responsible for a significant percentage of global mortality in developed and developing nations alike. This occurrence takes place despite the advancement in medical technology and improved treatment options, such as stenting procedures. Due to complications with restenosis and stent thrombosis that are associated with current commercial stents, there has been a growing interest in stent research and development in order to eradicate the causes of such clinical events. The selection of an antioxidant, non-thrombogenic coating has been a major obstacle to the development of drug-eluting stents (DES), and, to date, a truly biocompatible stent platform remains elusive. Moreover, there is a need to assess stent coatings within an in vitro platform prior to in vivo and clinical studies in order to minimize adverse effects. Even if considerable progress has been made over the last two decades in the development of flow chambers to monitor and study thrombus formation outside of the circulation, blood-material interactions are still little investigated under static and dynamic modes. In order to avoid some of the drawbacks of synthetic polymers, such as their undesirable degradation products, long-lasting presence, or potential biocompatibility issues, the aim of this PhD thesis was to investigate zein as a green and abundant plant-derived protein as a coating material for DES applications. This study aimed to understand the potential uses of zein as a controlled release matrix for drug delivery systems, in addition to developing a microfluidic platform to assess the behavior and hemocompatibility of the proposed plant-based stent coatings under flow conditions

Modelling Primordial Gas in Numerical Cosmology

We have reviewed the chemistry and cooling behaviour of low-density (n<10^4 cm^-3) primordial gas and devised a cooling model wich involves 19 collisional and 9 radiative processes and is applicable for temperatures in the range (1 K < T < 10^8 K). We derived new fits of rate coefficients for the photo-attachment of neutral hydrogen, the formation of molecular hydrogen via H-, charge exchange between H2 and H+, electron detachment of H- by neutral hydrogen, dissociative recombination of H2 with slow electrons, photodissociation of H2+, and photodissociation of H2. Further it was found that the molecular hydrogen produced through the gas-phase processes, H2+ + H -> H2 + H+, and H- + H -> H2 + e-, is likely to be converted into its para configuration on a faster time scale than the formation time scale. We have tested the model extensively and shown it to agree well with former studies. We further studied the chemical kinetics in great detail and devised a minimal model which is substantially simpler than the full reaction network but predicts correct abundances. This minimal model shows convincingly that 12 collisional processes are sufficient to model the H, He, H+, H-, He+, He++, and H2 abundances in low density primordial gas for applications with no radiation fields.Comment: 26 pages of text, 4 tables, and 6 eps figures. The paper is also available at http://zeus.ncsa.uiuc.edu:8080/~abel/PGas/bib.html Submitted to New Astronomy. Note that some of the hyperlinks given in the paper are still under constructio

First star formation with dark matter annihilation

We include an energy term based on Dark Matter (DM) self-annihilation during the cooling and subsequent collapse of the metal-free gas, in halos hosting the formation of the first stars in the Universe. We have found that the feedback induced on the chemistry of the cloud does modify the properties of the gas throughout the collapse. However, the modifications are not dramatic, and the typical Jeans mass within the halo is conserved throughout the collapse, for all the DM parameters we have considered. This result implies that the presence of Dark Matter annihilations does not substantially modify the Initial Mass Function of the First Stars, with respect to the standard case in which such additional energy term is not taken into account. We have also found that when the rate of energy produced by the DM annihilations and absorbed by the gas equals the chemical cooling (at densities yet far from the actual formation of a proto-stellar core) the structure does not halt its collapse, although that proceeds more slowly by a factor smaller than few per cent of the total collapse time.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables; replaced with published version after minor change

The ultra-cool white dwarf companion of PSR J0751+1807

We present optical and near-infrared observations with Keck of the binary millisecond pulsar PSR J0751+1807. We detect a faint, red object - with R=25.08+-0.07, B-R=2.5+-0.3, and R-I=0.90+-0.10 - at the celestial position of the pulsar and argue that it is the white dwarf companion of the pulsar. The colours are the reddest among all known white dwarfs, and indicate a very low temperature, Teff~4000 K. This implies that the white dwarf cannot have the relatively thick hydrogen envelope that is expected on evolutionary grounds. Our observations pose two puzzles. First, while the atmosphere was expected to be pure hydrogen, the colours are inconsistent with this composition. Second, given the low temperature, irradiation by the pulsar should be important, but we see no evidence for it. We discuss possible solutions to these puzzles.Comment: 9 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&

Low-temperature gas opacity - AESOPUS: a versatile and quick computational tool

We introduce a new tool - AESOPUS: Accurate Equation of State and OPacity Utility Software - for computing the equation of state and the Rosseland mean (RM) opacities of matter in the ideal gas phase. Results are given as a function of one pair of state variables, (i.e. temperature T in the range 3.2 <= log(T) <= 4.5, and parameter R= rho/(T/10^6 K)^3 in the range -8 <= log(R) <= 1), and arbitrary chemical mixture. The chemistry is presently solved for about 800 species, consisting of almost 300 atomic and 500 molecular species. The gas opacities account for many continuum and discrete sources, including atomic opacities, molecular absorption bands, and collision-induced absorption. Several tests made on AESOPUS have proved that the new opacity tool is accurate in the results,flexible in the management of the input prescriptions, and agile in terms of computational time requirement. We set up a web-interface (http://stev.oapd.inaf.it/aesopus) which enables the user to compute and shortly retrieve RM opacity tables according to his/her specific needs, allowing a full degree of freedom in specifying the chemical composition of the gas. Useful applications may regard RM opacities of gas mixtures with i) scaled-solar abundances of metals, choosing among various solar mixture compilations available in the literature; ii) varying CNO abundances, suitable for evolutionary models of red and asymptotic giant branch stars and massive stars in the Wolf-Rayet stages; iii) various degrees of enhancement in alpha-elements, and C-N, Na-O and Mg-Al abundance anti-correlations, necessary to properly describe the properties of stars in early-type galaxies and Galactic globular clusters; iv) zero-metal abundances appropriate for studies of gas opacity in primordial conditions.Comment: 32 pages, 34 postscript figures, A&A in press; new section 4.1.2 showing first tests with stellar models, sections 2.2, 2.2.2 and 5 expanded; interactive web-page at http://stev.oapd.inaf.it/aesopu