8,070 research outputs found
Bounds on the Compactness of Neutron Stars from Brightness Oscillations
The discovery of high-amplitude brightness oscillations at the spin frequency
or its first overtone in six neutron stars in low-mass X-ray binaries during
type~1 X-ray bursts provides a powerful new way to constrain the compactness of
these stars, and hence to constrain the equation of state of the dense matter
in all neutron stars. Here we present the results of general relativistic
calculations of the maximum fractional rms amplitudes that can be observed
during bursts. In particular, we determine the dependence of the amplitude on
the compactness of the star, the angular dependence of the emission from the
surface, the rotational velocity at the stellar surface, and whether there are
one or two emitting poles. We show that if two poles are emitting, as is
strongly indicated by independent evidence in 4U 1636-536 and KS 1731-26, the
resulting limits on the compactness of the star can be extremely restrictive.
We also discuss the expected amplitudes of X-ray color oscillations and the
observational signatures necessary to derive convincing constraints on neutron
star compactness from the amplitudes of burst oscillations.Comment: 8 pages plus one figure, AASTeX v. 4.0, submitted to The
Astrophysical Journal Letter
Sensory mechanotransduction at membrane-matrix interfaces
Sensory cells specialized to detect extremely small mechanical changes are common to the auditory and somatosensory systems. It is widely accepted that mechanosensitive channels form the core of the mechanoelectrical transduction in hair cells as well as the somatic sensory neurons that underlie the sense of touch and mechanical pain. Here, we will review how the activation of such channels can be measured in a meaningful physiological context. In particular, we will discuss the idea that mechanosensitive channels normally occur in transmembrane complexes that are anchored to extracellular matrix components (ECM) both in vitro and in vivo. One component of such complexes in sensory neurons is the integral membrane scaffold protein STOML3 which is a robust physiological regulator of native mechanosensitive currents. In order to better characterize such channels in transmembrane complexes, we developed a new electrophysiological method that enables the quantification of mechanosensitive current amplitude and kinetics when activated by a defined matrix movement in cultured cells. The results of such studies strongly support the idea that ion channels in transmembrane complexes are highly tuned to detect movement of the cell membrane in relation to the ECM
The Burst Spectra of EXO 0748-676 during a Long 2003 XMM-Newton Observation
Gravitationally redshifted absorption lines from highly ionized iron have
been previously identified in the burst spectra of the neutron star in EXO
0748-676. To repeat this detection we obtained a long, nearly 600 ks
observation of the source with XMM-Newton in 2003. The spectral features seen
in the burst spectra from the initial data are not reproduced in the burst
spectra from this new data. In this paper we present the spectra from the 2003
observations and discuss the sensitivity of the absorption structure to changes
in the photospheric conditions.Comment: 18 Pages, 3 Figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
Sensation Seeking and Perceived Need for Structure Moderate Soldiers’ Well-Being Before and After Operational Deployment
This study examined associations between sensation seeking and perceived need for structure, and changes in reported well-being among deployed soldiers. Participants (n = 167) were assessed before and after a six-month deployment to south Afghanistan. Results indicated that although well-being declined in the soldier sample as a whole following deployment, the degree of decrease was significantly different among soldiers with different personality profiles. Differences were moderated by soldiers’ level of sensation seeking and perceived need for structure. Results are discussed in terms of a person-environment fit theory in the context of preparation and rehabilitation of deployed military personnel
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Gatekeeping Twitter: Message diffusion in political hashtags
This article explores the structure of gatekeeping in Twitter by means of a statistical analysis of the political hashtags #FreeIran, #FreeVenezuela and #Jan25, each of which reached the top position in Twitter Trending Topics. We performed a statistical correlation analysis on nine variables of the dataset to evaluate if message replication in Twitter political hashtags was correlated with network topology. Our results suggest an alternative scenario to the dominant view regarding gatekeeping in Twitter political hashtags. Instead of depending on hubs that act as gatekeepers, we found that the intense activity of individuals with relatively few connections is capable of generating highly replicated messages that contributed to Trending Topics without relying on the activity of user hubs. The results support the thesis of social consensus through the influence of committed minorities, which states that a prevailing majority opinion in a population can be rapidly reversed by a small fraction of randomly distributed committed agents
Analytical pair correlations in ideal quantum gases: Temperature-dependent bunching and antibunching
The fluctuation-dissipation theorem together with the exact density response
spectrum for ideal quantum gases has been utilized to yield a new expression
for the static structure factor, which we use to derive exact analytical
expressions for the temperature{dependent pair distribution function g(r) of
the ideal gases. The plots of bosonic and fermionic g(r) display "Bose pile"
and "Fermi hole" typically akin to bunching and antibunching as observed
experimentally for ultracold atomic gases. The behavior of spin-scaled pair
correlation for fermions is almost featureless but bosons show a rich structure
including long-range correlations near T_c. The coherent state at T=0 shows no
correlation at all, just like single-mode lasers. The depicted decreasing trend
in correlation with decrease in temperature for T < T_c should be observable in
accurate experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 1 figure, minor revisio
On the dimension of subspaces with bounded Schmidt rank
We consider the question of how large a subspace of a given bipartite quantum
system can be when the subspace contains only highly entangled states. This is
motivated in part by results of Hayden et al., which show that in large d x
d--dimensional systems there exist random subspaces of dimension almost d^2,
all of whose states have entropy of entanglement at least log d - O(1). It is
also related to results due to Parthasarathy on the dimension of completely
entangled subspaces, which have connections with the construction of
unextendible product bases. Here we take as entanglement measure the Schmidt
rank, and determine, for every pair of local dimensions dA and dB, and every r,
the largest dimension of a subspace consisting only of entangled states of
Schmidt rank r or larger. This exact answer is a significant improvement on the
best bounds that can be obtained using random subspace techniques. We also
determine the converse: the largest dimension of a subspace with an upper bound
on the Schmidt rank. Finally, we discuss the question of subspaces containing
only states with Schmidt equal to r.Comment: 4 pages, REVTeX4 forma
Direct measurement of TRPV4 and PIEZO1 activity reveals multiple mechanotransduction pathways in chondrocytes
The joints of mammals are lined with cartilage, comprised of individual chondrocytes embedded in a specialized extracellular matrix. Chondrocytes experience a complex mechanical environment and respond to changing mechanical loads in order to maintain cartilage homeostasis. It has been proposed that mechanically gated ion channels are of functional importance in chondrocyte mechanotransduction; however, direct evidence of mechanical current activation in these cells has been lacking. We have used high-speed pressure clamp and elastomeric pillar arrays to apply distinct mechanical stimuli to primary murine chondrocytes, stretch of the membrane and deflection of cell-substrate contacts points, respectively. Both TRPV4 and PIEZO1 channels contribute to currents activated by stimuli applied at cell-substrate contacts but only PIEZO1 mediates stretch-activated currents. These data demonstrate that there are separate, but overlapping, mechanoelectrical transduction pathways in chondrocytes
Carbon release by selective alloying of transition metal carbides
We have performed first principles density functional theory calculations on
TiC alloyed on the Ti sublattice with 3d transition metals ranging from Sc to
Zn. The theory is accompanied with experimental investigations, both as regards
materials synthesis as well as characterization. Our results show that by
dissolving a metal with a weak ability to form carbides, the stability of the
alloy is lowered and a driving force for the release of carbon from the carbide
is created. During thin film growth of a metal carbide this effect will favor
the formation of a nanocomposite with carbide grains in a carbon matrix. The
choice of alloying elements as well as their concentrations will affect the
relative amount of carbon in the carbide and in the carbon matrix. This can be
used to design the structure of nanocomposites and their physical and chemical
properties. One example of applications is as low-friction coatings. Of the
materials studied, we suggest the late 3d transition metals as the most
promising elements for this phenomenon, at least when alloying with TiC.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figure
Diffuse Gamma-ray Emission from the Galactic Center - A Multiple Energy Injection Model
We suggest that the energy source of the observed diffuse gamma-ray emission
from the direction of the Galactic center is the Galactic black hole Sgr A*,
which becomes active when a star is captured at a rate of
yr^{-1}. Subsequently the star is tidally disrupted and its matter is accreted
into the black hole. During the active phase relativistic protons with a
characteristic energy erg per capture are ejected. Over
90% of these relativistic protons disappear due to proton-proton collisions on
a timescale years in the small central bulge region with
radius pc within Sgr A*, where the density is cm^{-3}. The
gamma-ray intensity, which results from the decay of neutral pions produced by
proton-proton collisions, decreases according to , where t is
the time after last stellar capture. Less than 5% of relativistic protons
escaped from the central bulge region can survive and maintain their energy for
>10^7 years due to much lower gas density outside, where the gas density can
drop to cm. They can diffuse to a pc region before
disappearing due to proton-proton collisions. The observed diffuse GeV
gamma-rays resulting from the decay of neutral pions produced via collision
between these escaped protons and the gas in this region is expected to be
insensitive to time in the multi-injection model with the characteristic
injection rate of 10^{-5} yr^{-1}. Our model calculated GeV and 511 keV
gamma-ray intensities are consistent with the observed results of EGRET and
INTEGRAL, however, our calculated inflight annihilation rate cannot produce
sufficient intensity to explain the COMPTEL data.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, accepted by A&
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