4,107 research outputs found
Testate amoebae record from the Laptev Sea coast and its implication for the reconstruction of Late Pleistocene and Holocene environments in the Arctic Siberia
Excited OH+, H2O+, and H3O+ in NGC 4418 and Arp 220
We report on Herschel/PACS observations of absorption lines of OH+, H2O+ and
H3O+ in NGC 4418 and Arp 220. Excited lines of OH+ and H2O+ with E_lower of at
least 285 and \sim200 K, respectively, are detected in both sources, indicating
radiative pumping and location in the high radiation density environment of the
nuclear regions. Abundance ratios OH+/H2O+ of 1-2.5 are estimated in the nuclei
of both sources. The inferred OH+ column and abundance relative to H nuclei are
(0.5-1)x10^{16} cm-2 and \sim2x10^{-8}, respectively. Additionally, in Arp 220,
an extended low excitation component around the nuclear region is found to have
OH+/H2O+\sim5-10. H3O+ is detected in both sources with
N(H3O+)\sim(0.5-2)x10^{16} cm-2, and in Arp 220 the pure inversion, metastable
lines indicate a high rotational temperature of ~500 K, indicative of formation
pumping and/or hot gas. Simple chemical models favor an ionization sequence
dominated by H+ - O+ - OH+ - H2O+ - H3O+, and we also argue that the H+
production is most likely dominated by X-ray/cosmic ray ionization. The full
set of observations and models leads us to propose that the molecular ions
arise in a relatively low density (\gtrsim10^4 cm-3) interclump medium, in
which case the ionization rate per H nucleus (including secondary ionizations)
is zeta>10^{-13} s-1, a lower limit that is severalx10^2 times the highest rate
estimates for Galactic regions. In Arp 220, our lower limit for zeta is
compatible with estimates for the cosmic ray energy density inferred previously
from the supernova rate and synchrotron radio emission, and also with the
expected ionization rate produced by X-rays. In NGC 4418, we argue that X-ray
ionization due to an AGN is responsible for the molecular ion production.Comment: 24 pages, 13 figures. Accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
A temperature‐controlled, circular maintenance system for studying growth and development of pelagic tunicates (salps)
Salps have attracted attention as zooplankton organisms that may be able to expand their habitat range and increase their ecological importance in the face of ongoing global warming. Due to their gelatinous nature, unique feeding strategy, and reproductive ecology such changes could have profound impacts on regional marine ecosystems. While their role in the regional carbon cycle is receiving attention, our knowledge of their physiology and life cycle is still limited. This knowledge gap is mainly due to their fragile gelatinous nature, which makes it difficult to capture and maintain intact specimen in the laboratory. We present here a modified kreisel tank system that has been tested onboard a research vessel with the Southern Ocean salp Salpa thompsoni and at a research station with Salpa fusiformis and Thalia democratica from the Mediterranean Sea. Successful maintenance over days to weeks allowed us to obtain relative growth and developmental rates comparable to in situ field samples of S. thompsoni and S. fusiformis, and provided insights into previously unknown features of their life cycle (e.g., testes development). Our results show that traditional methods of estimating growth, such as cohort analysis, may lead to a general overestimation of growth rates and neglect individual strategies (e.g., shrinkage), which can affect the results and conclusions drawn from population dynamic models. By providing a starting point for the successful maintenance of different species, comparable experiments on the physiology of salps is made possible. This will contribute to refining model parameters and improving the reliability of the predictions
The antikaon nuclear potential in hot and dense matter
The antikaon optical potential in hot and dense nuclear matter is studied
within the framework of a coupled-channel self-consistent calculation taking,
as bare meson-baryon interaction, the meson-exchange potential of the J\"ulich
group. Typical conditions found in heavy-ion collisions at GSI are explored. As
in the case of zero temperature, the angular momentum components larger than
L=0 contribute significantly to the finite temperature antikaon optical
potential at finite momentum. It is found that the particular treatment of the
medium effects has a strong influence on the behavior of the antikaon potential
with temperature. Our self-consistent model, in which antikaons and pions are
dressed in the medium, gives a moderately temperature dependent antikaon
potential which remains attractive at GSI temperatures, contrary to what one
finds if only nuclear Pauli blocking effects are included.Comment: 30 pages, 8 figures, references added. Accepted for publication in
PR
Herschel-PACS Observations of Far-IR CO Line Emission in NGC 1068: Highly Excited Molecular Gas in the Circumnuclear Disk
We report the detection of far-IR CO rotational emission from the
prototypical Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068. Using Herschel-PACS, we have detected
11 transitions in the J_upper=14-30 (E_upper/k_B = 580-2565 K) range, all of
which are consistent with arising from within the central 10" (700 pc). The
detected transitions are modeled as arising from 2 different components: a
moderate excitation (ME) component close to the galaxy systemic velocity, and a
high excitation (HE) component that is blueshifted by ~80 km s^{-1}. We employ
a large velocity gradient (LVG) model and derive n_H2~10^{5.6} cm^{-3},
T_kin~170 K, and M_H2~10^{6.7} M_sun for the ME component, and n_H2~10^{6.4}
cm^{-3}, T_kin~570 K, and M_H2~10^{5.6} M_sun for the HE component, although
for both components the uncertainties in the density and mass are plus/minus
(0.6-0.9) dex. We compare the CO line profiles with those of other molecular
tracers observed at higher spatial and spectral resolution, and find that the
ME transitions are consistent with these lines arising in the ~200 pc diameter
ring of material traced by H_2 1-0 S(1) observations. The blueshift of the HE
lines may also be consistent with the bluest regions of this H_2 ring, but a
better kinematic match is found with a clump of infalling gas ~40 pc north of
the AGN. We discuss the prospects of placing the HE component near the AGN, and
conclude that while the moderate thermal pressure precludes an association with
the ~1 pc radius H_2O maser disk, the HE component could potentially be located
only a few parsecs more distant from the AGN, and might then provide the
N_H~10^{25} cm^{-2} column obscuring the nuclear hard X-rays. Finally, we also
report sensitive upper limits extending up to J_upper=50, which place
constraints on a previous model prediction for the CO emission from the X-ray
obscuring torus. [Abridged]Comment: 20 pages, 10 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
K^-/K^+ ratio at GSI in hot and dense matter
The ratio in heavy-ion collisions at GSI energies is studied
including the properties of the participating hadrons in hot and dense matter.
The determination of the temperature and chemical potential at freeze-out
conditions compatible with the ratio is very delicate, and depends on
the approach adopted for the antikaon self-energy. Three approaches for the
self-energy are considered: non-interacting , on-shell self-energy
and single-particle spectral density. With respect to the on-shell approach,
the use of an energy dependent spectral density, including both s-
and p-wave components of the interaction, lowers considerably the
freeze-out temperature and gives rise to the "broad-band equilibration"
advocated by Brown, Rho and Song.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, talk given at the Strange Quark Matter
Conference, Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, March 12-17, 200
Kaon effective mass and energy from a novel chiral SU(3)-symmetric Lagrangian
A new chiral SU(3) Lagrangian is proposed to describe the properties of kaons
and antikaons in the nuclear medium, the ground state of dense matter and the
kaon-nuclear interactions consistently.
The saturation properties of nuclear matter are reproduced as well as the
results of the Dirac-Br\"{u}ckner theory. Our numerical results show that the
kaon effective mass might be changed only moderately in the nuclear medium due
to the highly non-linear density effects. After taking into account the
coupling between the omega meson and the kaon, we obtain similar results for
the effective kaon and antikaon energies as calculated in the
one-boson-exchange model while in our model the parameters of the kaon-nuclear
interactions are constrained by the SU(3) chiral symmetry.Comment: 13 pages, Latex, 3 PostScript figures included; replaced by the
revised version, to appear in Phys. Rev.
Chiral Perturbation Theory in a Nuclear Background
We propose a novel way to formulate Chiral Perturbation Theory in a nuclear
background, characterized by a static, non-uniform distribution of the baryon
number that describes the finite nucleus. In the limiting case of a uniform
distribution, the theory reduces to the well-known zero-temperature in-medium
ChPT. The proposed approach is used to calculate the self-energy of the charged
pion in the background of the heavy nucleus at O(p^5) in the chiral expansion,
and to derive the leading terms of the pion-nucleus optical potential.Comment: 42 pages, Latex, 4 Postscript figure
Comparison of a continuous glucose monitoring system with a portable blood glucose meter to determine insulin dose in cats with diabetes mellitus.
Background:The continuous glucose monitoring system (CGMS) Guardian REAL‐Time® allows the generation of very detailed glucose profiles in cats. The performance of CGMS to generate short‐term glucose profiles to evaluate treatment response has not been yet evaluated in diabetic cats.Hypothesis:Analysis of glucose profiles generated using the CGMS produces insulin dose recommendations that differ from those of profiles generated using the portable blood glucose meter (PBGM) in diabetic cats.Animals:Thirteen client‐owned diabetic cats.Methods:Prospective, observational study. Simultaneous glucose profiles were generated over an 8‐10 hour period using the CGMS, blood glucose concentration was measured every 2 hours with the PBGM. Profiles were submitted to three internal medicine specialists who used them to determine the insulin dose. Differences between insulin doses deduced from paired profiles were compared. Percentages of nadirs recorded with the CGMS that were lower, higher, or equal to those derived with the PBGM were calculated.Results:Twenty‐one paired glucose profiles were obtained. There was no difference of insulin doses based on CGMS and PBGM profiles (median 0 U; range: −1 to +0.5). Treatment decisions did not differ among investigators. Compared with the observed PBGM nadir, the CGMS nadir was lower, higher, or equal in 17, 2, and 2 of 21 cases, respectively.Conclusions and Clinical Importance:Adjustments in insulin dose based on glucose profiles generated with the CGMS are similar to those based on the PBGM. The common occurrence of lower nadirs recorded with the CGMS suggests that this device detects hypoglycemic periods that are not identified with the PBGM
Antikaon production in A+A collisions at SIS energies within an off-shell G-matrix approach
The production and propagation of antikaons -- described by dynamical
spectral functions as evaluated from a coupled channel
-matrix approach -- is studied for nucleus-nucleus collisions at SIS
energies in comparison to the conventional quasi-particle limit and the
available experimental data using off-shell transport theory. We find that the
spectra for and at 1.8 AGeV
remain underestimated in the -matrix approach as in the on-shell
quasi-particle approximation whereas the preliminary spectra for at
1.5 AGeV are well described in both limits. This also holds
approximately for the rapidity distributions in semi-central collisions
of at 1.93 AGeV. However, in all limits considered there is no
convincing description of all spectra simultaneously. Our off-shell transport
calculations, furthermore, demonstrate that the strongest in-medium effects
should be found for low antikaon momenta in the center-of-mass frame, since the
deceleration of the antikaons in the attractive Coulomb and nuclear potentials
and the propagation to the on-shell mass induces a net shift and squeezing of
the spectra to the low momentum regime.Comment: 44 pages, including 18 eps figures, to be published in Nucl. Phys.
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