1,442 research outputs found
The Plant NF-Y DNA Matrix In Vitro and In Vivo
Nuclear Factor Y (NF-Y) is an evolutionarily conserved trimer formed by a Histone-Fold Domain (HFD) heterodimeric module shared by core histones, and the sequence-specific NF-YA subunit. In plants, the genes encoding each of the three subunits have expanded in number, giving rise to hundreds of potential trimers. While in mammals NF-Y binds a well-characterized motif, with a defined matrix centered on the CCAAT box, the specificity of the plant trimers has yet to be determined. Here we report that Arabidopsis thaliana NF-Y trimeric complexes, containing two different NF-YA subunits, bind DNA in vitro with similar affinities. We assayed precisely sequence-specificity by saturation mutagenesis, and analyzed genomic DNA sites bound in vivo by selected HFDs. The plant NF-Y CCAAT matrix is different in nucleotides flanking CCAAT with respect to the mammalian matrix, in vitro and in vivo. Our data point to flexible DNA-binding rules by plant NF-Ys, serving the scope of adapting to a diverse audience of genomic motifs
Constraining Antimatter Domains in the Early Universe with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
We consider the effect of a small-scale matter-antimatter domain structure on
big bang nucleosynthesis and place upper limits on the amount of antimatter in
the early universe. For small domains, which annihilate before nucleosynthesis,
this limit comes from underproduction of He-4. For larger domains, the limit
comes from He-3 overproduction. Most of the He-3 from antiproton-helium
annihilation is annihilated also. The main source of He-3 is
photodisintegration of He-4 by the electromagnetic cascades initiated by the
annihilation.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, revtex, (slightly shortened
Production of Mesons in the Reaction at 3.67 GeV/c
The ratio of the total exclusive production cross sections for
and mesons has been measured in the reaction at
GeV/c. The observed ratio is
from which the exclusive
meson production cross section is determined to be
. Differential cross section
distributions have been measured. Their shape is consistent with isotropic
meson production.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Phys.Lett.
Characterizing faint galaxies in the reionization epoch: LBT confirms two L<0.2L* sources at z=6.4 behind the CLASH/Frontier Fields cluster MACS0717.5+3745
We report the LBT/MODS1 spectroscopic confirmation of two images of faint
Lyman alpha emitters at behind the Frontier Fields galaxy cluster
MACSJ0717.5+3745. A wide range of lens models suggests that the two images are
highly magnified, with a strong lower limit of mu>5. These are the faintest z>6
candidates spectroscopically confirmed to date. These may be also multiple
images of the same z=6.4 source as supported by their similar intrinsic
properties, but the lens models are inconclusive regarding this interpretation.
To be cautious, we derive the physical properties of each image individually.
Thanks to the high magnification, the observed near-infrared (restframe
ultraviolet) part of the spectral energy distributions and Ly-alpha lines are
well detected with S/N(m_1500)>~10 and S/N(Ly-alpha)~10-15. Adopting mu>5, the
absolute magnitudes, M_1500, and Ly-alpha fluxes, are fainter than -18.7 and
2.8x10^(-18)erg/s/cm2, respectively. We find a very steep ultraviolet spectral
slope beta=-3.0+/-0.5 (F_lambda=lambda^(beta)), implying that these are very
young, dust-free and low metallicity objects, made of standard stellar
populations or even extremely metal poor stars (age<~30Myr, E(B-V)=0 and
metallicity 0.0-0.2 Z/Zsolar). The objects are compact (< 1 kpc^(2)), and with
a stellar mass M* < 10^(8) M_solar. The very steep beta, the presence of the
Ly-alpha line and the intrinsic FWHM (<300 km/s) of these newborn objects do
not exclude a possible leakage of ionizing radiation. We discuss the
possibility that such faint galaxies may resemble those responsible for cosmic
reionization.Comment: Accepted by ApJL; 6 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, emulateapj forma
An extreme [OIII] emitter at : a low metallicity Lyman continuum source
[Abridged] We investigate the physical properties of a Lyman continuum
emitter candidate at with photometric coverage from to MIPS
24m band and VIMOS/VLT and MOSFIRE/Keck spectroscopy. Investigation of the
UV spectrum confirms a direct spectroscopic detection of the Lyman continuum
emission with . Non-zero Ly flux at the systemic redshift and
high Lyman- escape fraction suggest a low HI column density. The weak C
and Si low-ionization absorption lines are also consistent with a low covering
fraction along the line of sight. The
[OIII] equivalent width is one of the
largest reported for a galaxy at
(, rest-frame) and the NIR spectrum shows that this is mainly due to an
extremely strong [OIII] emission. The large observed [OIII]/[OII] ratio ()
and high ionization parameter are consistent with prediction from
photoionization models in case of a density-bounded nebula scenario.
Furthermore, the
is
comparable to recent measurements reported at , in the reionization
epoch. We also investigate the possibility of an AGN contribution to explain
the ionizing emission but most of the AGN identification diagnostics suggest
that stellar emission dominates instead. This source is currently the first
high- example of a Lyman continuum emitter exhibiting indirect and direct
evidences of a Lyman continuum leakage and having physical properties
consistent with theoretical expectation from Lyman continuum emission from a
density-bounded nebula.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in A&A. Minor
modifications, Figure 2 updated, Figure 9 adde
CLASH-VLT: Environment-driven evolution of galaxies in the z=0.209 cluster Abell 209
The analysis of galaxy properties and the relations among them and the
environment, can be used to investigate the physical processes driving galaxy
evolution. We study the cluster A209 by using the CLASH-VLT spectroscopic data
combined with Subaru photometry, yielding to 1916 cluster members down to a
stellar mass of 10^{8.6} Msun. We determine: i) the stellar mass function of
star-forming and passive galaxies; ii) the intra-cluster light and its
properties; iii) the orbits of low- and high-mass passive galaxies; and iv) the
mass-size relation of ETGs. The stellar mass function of the star-forming
galaxies does not depend on the environment, while the slope found for passive
galaxies becomes flatter in the densest region. The color distribution of the
intra-cluster light is consistent with the color of passive members. The
analysis of the dynamical orbits shows that low-mass passive galaxies have
tangential orbits, avoiding small pericenters around the BCG. The mass-size
relation of low-mass passive ETGs is flatter than that of high mass galaxies,
and its slope is consistent with that of field star-forming galaxies. Low-mass
galaxies are also more compact within the scale radius of 0.65 Mpc. The ratio
between stellar and number density profiles shows a mass segregation in the
center. The comparative analysis of the stellar and total density profiles
indicates that this effect is due to dynamical friction. Our results are
consistent with a scenario in which the "environmental quenching" of low-mass
galaxies is due to mechanisms such as harassment out to R200, starvation and
ram-pressure stripping at smaller radii, as supported by the analysis of the
mass function, of the dynamical orbits and of the mass-size relation of passive
early-types in different regions. Our analyses support the idea that the
intra-cluster light is formed through the tidal disruption of subgiant
galaxies.Comment: 17 pages, 20 figures, A&A in pres
Direct Lyman continuum and Lyman-alpha escape observed at redshift 4
We report on the serendipitous discovery of a z=4.0, M1500=-22.20
star-forming galaxy (Ion3) showing copious Lyman continuum (LyC) leakage (~60%
escaping), a remarkable multiple peaked Lya emission, and significant Lya
radiation directly emerging at the resonance frequency. This is the highest
redshift confirmed LyC emitter in which the ionising and Lya radiation possibly
share a common ionised cavity (with N_HI<10^17.2 cm^-2). Ion3 is spatially
resolved, it shows clear stellar winds signatures like the P-Cygni NV1240
profile, and has blue ultraviolet continuum (\beta = -2.5 +/- 0.25, F_\lambda~
\lambda^\beta) with weak low-ionisation interstellar metal lines. Deep
VLT/HAWKI Ks and Spitzer/IRAC 3.6um and 4.5um imaging show a clear photometric
signature of the Halpha line with equivalent width of 1000A rest-frame emerging
over a flat continuum (Ks-4.5um ~ 0). From the SED fitting we derive a stellar
mass of 1.5x10^9 Msun, SFR of 140 Msun/yr and age of ~10 Myr, with a low dust
extinction, E(B-V)< 0.1, placing the source in the starburst region of the
SFR-M^* plane. Ion3 shows similar properties of another LyC emitter previously
discovered (z=3.21, Ion2, Vanzella et al. 2016). Ion3 (and Ion2) represents
ideal high-redshift reference cases to guide the search for reionising sources
at z>6.5 with JWST.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 5 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Hubble imaging of the ionizing radiation from a star-forming galaxy at z=3.2 with fesc>50%
Star-forming galaxies are considered to be the leading candidate sources that
dominate the cosmic reionization at z>7, and the search for analogs at moderate
redshift showing Lyman continuum (LyC) leakage is currently a active line of
research. We have observed a star-forming galaxy at z=3.2 with Hubble/WFC3 in
the F336W filter, corresponding to the 730-890A rest-frame, and detect LyC
emission. This galaxy is very compact and also has large Oxygen ratio
[OIII]5007/[OII]3727 (>=10). No nuclear activity is revealed from
optical/near-infrared spectroscopy and deep multi-band photometry (including
the 6Ms X-ray, Chandra). The measured escape fraction of ionizing radiation
spans the range 50-100\%, depending on the IGM attenuation. The LyC emission is
detected at S/N=10 with m(F336W)=27.57+/-0.11 and it is spatially unresolved,
with effective radius R_e<200pc. Predictions from photoionization and radiative
transfer models are in line with the properties reported here, indicating that
stellar winds and supernova explosions in a nucleated star-forming region can
blow cavities generating density-bounded conditions compatible with optically
thin media. Irrespective to the nature of the ionizing radiation, spectral
signatures of these sources over the entire electromagnetic spectrum are of
central importance for their identification during the epoch of reionization,
when the LyC is unobservable. Intriguingly, the Spitzer/IRAC photometric
signature of intense rest-frame optical emissions ([OIII]+Hbeta) observed
recently at z~7.5-8.5 is similar to what is observed in this galaxy. Only the
James Webb Space Telescope will measure optical line ratios at z>7 allowing a
direct comparison with lower redshift LyC emitters, as reported here.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, ApJ submitted (comments welcome
The story of supernova 'Refsdal' told by MUSE
We present MUSE observations in the core of the HFF galaxy cluster MACS
J1149.5+2223, where the first magnified and spatially-resolved multiple images
of SN 'Refsdal' at redshift 1.489 were detected. Thanks to a DDT program with
the VLT and the extraordinary efficiency of MUSE, we measure 117 secure
redshifts with just 4.8 hours of total integration time on a single target
pointing. We spectroscopically confirm 68 galaxy cluster members, with redshift
values ranging from 0.5272 to 0.5660, and 18 multiple images belonging to 7
background, lensed sources distributed in redshifts between 1.240 and 3.703.
Starting from the combination of our catalog with those obtained from extensive
spectroscopic and photometric campaigns using the HST, we select a sample of
300 (164 spectroscopic and 136 photometric) cluster members, within
approximately 500 kpc from the BCG, and a set of 88 reliable multiple images
associated to 10 different background source galaxies and 18 distinct knots in
the spiral galaxy hosting SN 'Refsdal'. We exploit this valuable information to
build 6 detailed strong lensing models, the best of which reproduces the
observed positions of the multiple images with a rms offset of only 0.26". We
use these models to quantify the statistical and systematic errors on the
predicted values of magnification and time delay of the next emerging image of
SN 'Refsdal'. We find that its peak luminosity should should occur between
March and June 2016, and should be approximately 20% fainter than the dimmest
(S4) of the previously detected images but above the detection limit of the
planned HST/WFC3 follow-up. We present our two-dimensional reconstruction of
the cluster mass density distribution and of the SN 'Refsdal' host galaxy
surface brightness distribution. We outline the roadmap towards even better
strong lensing models with a synergetic MUSE and HST effort.Comment: 21 pages, 9 figures, 6 tables; accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journal - extra information on data analysis added, all model
predictions and results unchange
K Meson Production in the Proton-Proton Reaction at 3.67 GeV/c
The total cross section of the reaction has been determined
for proton--proton reactions with . This represents the
first cross section measurement of the channel near
threshold, and is equivalent to the inclusive cross section at
this beam momentum. The cross section determined at this beam momentum is about
a factor 20 lower than that for inclusive meson production at
the same CM energy above the corresponding threshold. This large difference in
the and meson inclusive production cross sections in proton-proton
reactions is in strong contrast to cross sections measured in sub-threshold
heavy ion collisions, which are similar in magnitude at the same energy per
nucleon below the respective thresholds.Comment: 12 pages, 3 figures Phys. Lett. B in prin
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