927 research outputs found
Orbital and physical parameters of eclipsing binaries from the All-Sky Automated Survey catalogue - VI. AK Fornacis - a rare, bright K-type eclipsing binary
We present the results of the combined photometric and spectroscopic analysis
of a bright (V=9.14), nearby (d=31 pc), late-type detached eclipsing binary AK
Fornacis. This P=3.981 d system has not been previously recognised as a
double-lined spectroscopic binary, and this is the first full physical model of
this unique target. With the FEROS, CORALIE and HARPS spectrographs we
collected a number of high-resolution spectra in order to calculate radial
velocities of both components of the binary. Measurements were done with our
own disentangling procedure and the TODCOR technique, and were later combined
with the photometry from the ASAS and SuperWASP archives. We also performed an
atmospheric analysis of the component spectra with the Spectroscopy Made Easy
(SME) package. Our analysis shows that AK For consists of two active, cool
dwarfs having masses of and
M and radii of and
R, slightly less metal abundant than the Sun. Parameters of both
components are well reproduced by the models.
AK For is the brightest system among the known eclipsing binaries with K or M
type stars. Its orbital period is one of the longest and rotational velocities
one of the lowest, which allows us to obtain very precise radial velocity
measurements. The precision in physical parameters we obtained places AK For
among the binaries with the best mass measurements in the literature. It also
fills the gap in our knowledge of stars in the range of 0.5-0.8 M, and
between short and long-period systems. All this makes AK For a unique benchmark
for understanding the properties of low-mass stars.Comment: 9 pages, 11 figures, 3 tables, accpeted for publication in A&
High-overtone Bulk-Acoustic Resonator gravimetric sensitivity: towards wideband acoustic spectroscopy
In the context of direct detection sensors with compact dimensions, we
investigate the gravimetric sensitivity of High-overtone Bulk Acoustic
Resonators, through modeling of their acoustic characteristics and experiment.
The high frequency characterizing such devices is expected to induce a
significant effect when the acoustic field boundary conditions are modified by
a thin adlayer. Furthermore, the multimode spectral characteristics is
considered for wideband acoustic spectroscopy of the adlayer, once the
gravimetric sensitivity dependence of the various overtones is established.
Finally, means of improving the gravimetric sensitivity by confining the
acoustic field in a low acoustic-impedance layer is theoretically established.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures in J. Appl. Phys. 201
Analyses of the vrl gene cluster in Desulfococcus multivorans: Homologous to the virulence-associated locus of the ovine footrot pathogen Dichelobacter nodosus strain A198
Major parts of the virulence-associated vrl locus known from the gammaproteobacterium Dichelobacter nodosus, the causative agent of ovine footrot, were analyzed in the genome of the sulfate-reducing deltaproteobacterium Desulfococcus multivorans. In the genome of D. multivorans 13 of the 19 vrl genes described for D. nodosus are present and highly conserved with respect to gene sequence and order. The vrl locus and its flanking regions suggest a bacteriophage-mediated transfer into the genome of D. multivorans. Comparative analysis of the deduced Vrl proteins reveals a wide distribution of parts of the virulence-associated vrl locus in distantly related bacteria. Horizontal transfer is suggested as driving mechanism for the circulation of the vrl genes in bacteria. Except for the vrlBMN genes D. multivorans and Desulfovibrio desulfuricans G20 together contain all vrl genes displaying a high degree of similarity. For D. multivorans it could be shown that guanine plus cytosine (GC) content, GC skew, di-, tri- or tetranucleotide distribution did not differ between the vrl locus and its flanking sequences. This could be a hint that the vrl locus originated from a related organism or at least a genome with similar characteristics. The conspicuous high degree of conservation of the analyzed vrl genes may result from a recent transfer event or reflect a function of the vrl genes, which is still unknown and not necessarily disease associated. The latter is supported by the evidence for expression of the vrl genes in D. multivorans, which has not been described as pathogen or to be associated to any disease pattern before
Carbohydrate Catabolism in Phaeobacter inhibens DSM 17395, a Member of the Marine Roseobacter Clade
Since genome analysis did not allow unambiguous reconstruction of transport, catabolism, and substrate-specific regulation for several important carbohydrates in Phaeobacter inhibens DSM 17395, proteomic and metabolomic analyses of N-acetylglucosamine-, mannitol-, sucrose-, glucose-, and xylose-grown cells were carried out to close this knowledge gap. These carbohydrates can pass through the outer membrane via porins identified in the outer membrane fraction. For transport across the cytoplasmic membrane, carbohydrate-specific ABC transport systems were identified. Their coding genes mostly colocalize with the respective "catabolic" and "regulatory" genes. The degradation of N-acetylglucosamine proceeds via N-acetylglucosamine-6-phosphate and glucosamine-6-phosphate directly to fructose-6-phosphate; two of the three enzymes involved were newly predicted and identified. Mannitol is catabolized via fructose, sucrose via fructose and glucose, glucose via glucose-6-phosphate, and xylose via xylulose-5-phosphate. Of the 30 proteins predicted to be involved in uptake, regulation, and degradation, 28 were identified by proteomics and 19 were assigned to their respective functions for the first time. The peripheral degradation pathways feed into the Entner-Doudoroff (ED) pathway, which is connected to the lower branch of the Embden-Meyerhof-Parnas (EMP) pathway. The enzyme constituents of these pathways displayed higher abundances in P. inhibens DSM 17395 cells grown with any of the five carbohydrates tested than in succinate-grown cells. Conversely, gluconeogenesis is turned on during succinate utilization. While tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle proteins remained mainly unchanged, the abundance profiles of their metabolites reflected the differing growth rates achieved with the different substrates tested. Homologs of the 74 genes involved in the reconstructed catabolic pathways and central metabolism are present in various Roseobacter clade members
Planetary eclipse mapping of CoRoT-2a. Evolution, differential rotation, and spot migration
The lightcurve of CoRoT-2 shows substantial rotational modulation and
deformations of the planet's transit profiles caused by starspots. We
consistently model the entire lightcurve, including both rotational modulation
and transits, stretching over approximately 30 stellar rotations and 79
transits. The spot distribution and its evolution on the noneclipsed and
eclipsed surface sections are presented and analyzed, making use of the high
resolution achievable under the transit path.
We measure the average surface brightness on the eclipsed section to be
(5\pm1) % lower than on the noneclipsed section. Adopting a solar spot
contrast, the spot coverage on the entire surface reaches up to 19 % and a
maximum of almost 40 % on the eclipsed section. Features under the transit
path, i.e. close to the equator, rotate with a period close to 4.55 days.
Significantly higher rotation periods are found for features on the noneclipsed
section indicating a differential rotation of . Spotted
and unspotted regions in both surface sections concentrate on preferred
longitudes separated by roughly 180 deg.Comment: Paper accepted by A&A 17/02/2010. For a better resolution paper
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Limits to the planet candidate GJ 436c
We report on H-band, ground-based observations of a transit of the hot
Neptune GJ 436b. Once combined to achieve sampling equivalent to archived
observations taken with Spitzer, our measurements reach comparable precision
levels. We analyze both sets of observations in a consistent way, and measure
the rate of orbital inclination change to be of 0.02+/-0.04 degrees in the time
span between the two observations (253.8 d, corresponding to 0.03+/-0.05
degrees/yr if extrapolated). This rate allows us to put limits on the relative
inclination between the two planets by performing simulations of planetary
systems, including a second planet, GJ 436c, whose presence has been recently
suggested (Ribas et al. 2008). The allowed inclinations for a 5 M_E super-Earth
GJ 436c in a 5.2 d orbit are within ~7 degrees of the one of GJ 436b; for
larger differences the observed inclination change can be reproduced only
during short sections (<50%) of the orbital evolution of the system. The
measured times of three transit centers of the system do not show any departure
from linear ephemeris, a result that is only reproduced in <1% of the simulated
orbits. Put together, these results argue against the proposed planet candidate
GJ 436c.Comment: Replaced with accepted version. Minor language corrections. 4 pages,
4 figures, to appear in A&A Letter
Ground-based near-IR observations of the secondary eclipse of CoRoT-2b
We present the results of a ground-based search for the secondary eclipse of
the 3.3 Mjup transiting planet CoRoT-2b. We performed near infrared photometry
using the LIRIS instrument on the 4.2 m William Herschel Telescope, in the H
and K_s filters. We monitored the star around two expected secondary eclipses
in two nights under very good observing conditions. For the depth of the
secondary eclipse we find in H-band a 3 sigma upper limit of 0.17%, whereas we
detected a tentative eclipse with a depth of 0.16+-0.09% in the K_s-band. These
depths can be translated into brightness temperatures of T_H<2250 K and T_{K_s}
= 1890(+260-350) K, which indicate an inefficient re-distribution of the
incident stellar flux from the planet's dayside to its nightside. Our results
are in agreement with the CoRoT optical measurement (Alonso et al. 09) and with
Spitzer 4.5 and 8 micron results (Gillon et al. 09c).Comment: Astronomical Journal, accepte
The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXII. Only 4 planets in the Gl~581 system
The Gl 581 planetary system has generated wide interest, because its 4
planets include both the lowest mass planet known around a main sequence star
other than the Sun and the first super-Earth planet in the habitable zone of
its star. A recent paper announced the possible discovery of two additional
super-Earth planets in that system, one of which would be in the middle of the
habitable zone of Gl 581. The statistical significance of those two discoveries
has, however, been questioned. We have obtained 121 new radial velocity
measurements of Gl 581 with the HARPS spectrograph on the ESO 3.6 m telescope,
and analyse those together with our previous 119 measurements of that star to
examine these potential additional planets. We find that neither is likely to
exist with their proposed parameters. We also obtained photometric observations
with the 2.5 m Isaac Newton Telescope during a potential transit of the inner
planet, Gl 581e, which had a 5% geometric transit probability. Those
observations exclude transits for planet densities under 4 times the Earth
density within -0.2 sigma to +2.7 sigma of the predicted transit center.Comment: Submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysic
Molecular genetic and crystal structural analysis of 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-ethanol dehydrogenase from 'Aromatoleum aromaticum' EbN1.
he dehydrogenation of 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-ethanol to 4-hydroxyacetophenone represents the second reaction step during anaerobic degradation of p-ethylphenol in the denitrifying bacterium ‘Aromatoleum aromaticum' EbN1. Previous proteogenomic studies identified two different proteins (ChnA and EbA309) as possible candidates for catalyzing this reaction [Wöhlbrand et al: J Bacteriol 2008;190:5699-5709]. Physiological-molecular characterization of newly generated unmarked in-frame deletion and complementation mutants allowed defining ChnA (renamed here as Hped) as the enzyme responsible for 1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-ethanol oxidation. Hped [1-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-ethanol dehydrogenase] belongs to the ‘classical' family within the short-chain alcohol dehydrogenase/reductase (SDR) superfamily. Hped was overproduced in Escherichia coli, purified and crystallized. The X-ray structures of the apo- and NAD+-soaked form were resolved at 1.5 and 1.1 Å, respectively, and revealed Hped as a typical homotetrameric SDR. Modeling of the substrate 4-hydroxyacetophenone (reductive direction of Hped) into the active site revealed the structural determinants of the strict (R)-specificity of Hped (Phe187), contrasting the (S)-specificity of previously reported 1-phenylethanol dehydrogenase (Ped; Tyr93) from strain EbN1 [Höffken et al: Biochemistry 2006;45:82-93]
A robust sar speckle tracking workflow for measuring and interpreting the 3d surface displacement of landslides
We present a workflow for investigating large, slow‐moving landslides which combines the synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technique, GIS post‐processing, and airborne laser scanning (ALS), and apply it to Fels landslide in Alaska, US. First, we exploit a speckle tracking (ST) approach to derive the easting, northing, and vertical components of the displacement vectors across the rock slope for two five‐year windows, 2010–2015 and 2015–2020. Then, we perform post‐processing in a GIS environment to derive displacement magnitude, trend, and plunge maps of the landslide area. Finally, we compare the ST‐derived displacement data with structural lineament maps and profiles extracted from the ALS dataset. Relying on remotely sensed data, we estimate that the thickness of the slide mass is more than 100 m and displacements occur through a combination of slumping at the toe and planar sliding in the central and upper slope. Our approach provides information and interpretations that can assist in optimizing and planning fieldwork activities and site investigations at landslides in remote locations
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