4,521 research outputs found
High-temperature synthesis, single-crystal X-ray and neutron powder diffraction, and materials properties of Sr3Ln10Si18Al12O18N36 (Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd)
The novel oxonitridoaluminosilicates (sialons) Sr3Ln10Si18Al12O18N36 (Ln = Ce, Pr, Nd) were obtained by the reaction of the respective lanthanide metals with Si(NH)2, SrCO3, and AlN using a radiofrequency furnace at temperatures between 1550–1650°C. The crystal structures of the isotypic sialons were determined by single-crystal X-ray investigations (Sr3Ce10Si18Al12O18N36: I3m, Z = 2, a = 1338.2(2) pm, R1 = 0.0333; Sr3Pr10Si18Al12O18N36: a = 1334.54(6) pm, R1 = 0.0296; Sr3Nd10Si18Al12O18N36: a = 1332.85(6) pm, R1 = 0.0271) and in the case of Sr3Pr10Si18Al12O18N36 with powder neutron diffraction as well. The three-dimensional sialon network is built up by SiON3, SiN4, and AlON3 tetrahedra. Besides the bridging O and N atoms of the sialon network there are isolated O2− which are tetrahedrally coordinated by Sr and Ln. The crystallographic differentiation of Si/Al and O/N seemed to be possible by a careful evaluation of the single-crystal X-ray diffraction data combined with lattice energy calculations using the MAPLE concept (Madelung Part of Lattice Energy). In the case of Sr3Pr10Si18Al12O18N36 the differentiation of O and N and the proposed ordering was completely confirmed by powder neutron diffraction
The Effects of Diffuse Ionized Gas and Spatial Resolution on Metallicity Gradients: TYPHOON Two-Dimensional Spectrophotometry of M83
We present a systematic study of the diffuse ionized gas (DIG) in M83 and its
effects on the measurement of metallicity gradients at varying resolution
scales. Using spectrophotometric data cubes of M83 obtained at the 2.5m duPont
telescope at Las Campanas Observatory as part of the TYPHOON program, we
separate the HII regions from the DIG using the [SII]/H ratio, HIIphot
(HII finding algorithm) and the H surface brightness. We find that the
contribution to the overall H luminosity is approximately equal for the
HII and DIG regions. The data is then rebinned to simulate low-resolution
observations at varying resolution scales from 41 pc up to 1005 pc. Metallicity
gradients are measured using five different metallicity diagnostics at each
resolution. We find that all metallicity diagnostics used are affected by the
inclusion of DIG to varying degrees. We discuss the reasons of why the
metallicity gradients are significantly affected by DIG using the HII dominance
and emission line ratio radial profiles. We find that applying the
[SII]/H cut will provide a closer estimate of the true metallicity
gradient up to a resolution of 1005 pc for all metallicity diagnostics used in
this study.Comment: 26 pages, 12 figures + Appendix/Supplementary Material, accepted for
publication by MNRA
Starburst-AGN mixing: TYPHOON observations of NGC 1365, NGC 1068, and the effect of spatial resolution on the AGN fraction
We demonstrate a robust method of resolving the star-formation and AGN
contributions to emission lines using two very well known AGN systems: NGC
1365, and NGC 1068, using the high spatial resolution data from the
TYPHOON/PrISM survey. We expand the previous method of calculating the AGN
fraction by using theoretical-based model grids rather than empirical points.
The high spatial resolution of the TYPHOON/PrISM observations show evidence of
both star formation and AGN activity occurring in the nuclei of the two
galaxies. We rebin the data to the lower resolutions, typically found in other
integral field spectroscopy surveys such as SAMI, MaNGA, and CALIFA. The
results show that when rebinned from the native resolution of TYPHOON (< 200
pc/pixel) to 1 kpc/pixel, the effects include a roughly 3 kpc increase in the
radius of measured AGN activity, and a factor of 2 to 7 increase in the
detection of low surface brightness features such as shocks. All of this
information is critical, because information on certain physical processes may
be lost at varying resolutions. We make recommendations for analysing data at
current IFU survey resolutions.Comment: 30 pages, 28 figures, accepted for publication by MNRA
The Stellar Populations and Evolution of Lyman Break Galaxies
Using deep near-IR and optical observations of the HDF-N from the HST NICMOS
and WFPC2 and from the ground, we examine the spectral energy distributions
(SEDs) of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at 2.0 < z < 3.5. The UV-to-optical
rest-frame SEDs of the galaxies are much bluer than those of present-day spiral
and elliptical galaxies, and are generally similar to those of local starburst
galaxies with modest amounts of reddening. We use stellar population synthesis
models to study the properties of the stars that dominate the light from LBGs.
Under the assumption that the star-formation rate is continuous or decreasing
with time, the best-fitting models provide a lower bound on the LBG mass
estimates. LBGs with ``L*'' UV luminosities are estimated to have minimum
stellar masses ~ 10^10 solar masses, or roughly 1/10th that of a present-day L*
galaxy. By considering the effects of a second component of maximally-old
stars, we set an upper bound on the stellar masses that is ~ 3-8 times the
minimum estimate. We find only loose constraints on the individual galaxy ages,
extinction, metallicities, initial mass functions, and prior star-formation
histories. We find no galaxies whose SEDs are consistent with young (< 10^8
yr), dust-free objects, which suggests that LBGs are not dominated by ``first
generation'' stars, and that such objects are rare at these redshifts. We also
find that the typical ages for the observed star-formation events are
significantly younger than the time interval covered by this redshift range (~
1.5 Gyr). From this, and from the relative absence of candidates for quiescent,
non-star-forming galaxies at these redshifts in the NICMOS data, we suggest
that star formation in LBGs may be recurrent, with short duty cycles and a
timescale between star-formation events of < 1 Gyr. [Abridged]Comment: LaTeX, 37 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Repetitive Segmental Structure of the Transducin β Subunit: Homology with the CDC4 Gene and Identification of Related mRNAs
Retinal transducin, a guanine nucleotide regulatory protein (referred to as a G protein) that activates a cGMP phosphodiesterase in photoreceptor cells, is comprised of three subunits. We have identified and analyzed cDNA clones of the bovine transducin β subunit that may be highly conserved or identical to that in other G proteins. From the cDNA nucleotide sequence of the entire coding region, the primary structure of a 340-amino acid protein was deduced. The encoded β subunit has a Mr of 37,375 and is comprised of repetitive homologous segments arranged in tandem. Furthermore, significant homology in primary structure and segmental sequence exists between the β subunit and the yeast CDC4 gene product. The Mr 37,375 β subunit polypeptide is encoded by a 2.9-kilobase (kb) mRNA. However, there exists in retina other β-related mRNAs that are divergent from the 2.9-kb mRNA on the basis of oligonucleotide and primer-extended probe hybridizations. All mammalian tissues and clonal cell lines that have been examined contain at least two β-related mRNAs, usually 1.8 and 2.9 kb in length. These results suggest that the mRNAs are the processed products of a small number of closely related genes or of a single highly complex β gene
Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines
This volume collects the ideas and insights discussed at a novel conference, the Integrating Cognitive Science with Innovative Teaching in STEM Disciplines Conference, which was held September 27-28, 2012 at Washington University in St. Louis. With funding from the James S. McDonnell Foundation, the conference was hosted by Washington University’s Center for Integrative Research on Cognition, Learning, and Education (CIRCLE), a center established in 2011. Available for download as a PDF. Titles of individual chapters can be found at http://openscholarship.wustl.edu/circle_book/.https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/books/1009/thumbnail.jp
Observations of Binary Stars with the Differential Speckle Survey Instrument. V. Toward an Empirical Metal-Poor Mass-Luminosity Relation
In an effort to better understand the details of the stellar structure and
evolution of metal poor stars, the Gemini North telescope was used on two
occasions to take speckle imaging data of a sample of known spectroscopic
binary stars and other nearby stars in order to search for and resolve close
companions. The observations were obtained using the Differential Speckle
Survey Instrument, which takes data in two filters simultaneously. The results
presented here are of 90 observations of 23 systems in which one or more
companions was detected, and 6 stars where no companion was detected to the
limit of the camera capabilities at Gemini. In the case of the binary and
multiple stars, these results are then further analyzed to make first orbit
determinations in five cases, and orbit refinements in four other cases. Mass
information is derived, and since the systems span a range in metallicity, a
study is presented that compares our results with the expected trend in total
mass as derived from the most recent Yale isochrones as a function of metal
abundance. These data suggest that metal-poor main-sequence stars are less
massive at a given color than their solar-metallicity analogues in a manner
consistent with that predicted from the theory
The Stretched Lens Array SquareRigger (SLASR) for Space Power
For the past three years, our team has been developing, refining, and maturing a unique solar array technology known as Stretched Lens Array SquareRigger (SLASR). SLASR offers an unprecedented portfolio of state-of-the-art performance metrics, including areal power density, specific power, stowed power density, high-voltage capability, radiation hardness, modularity, scalability, mass-producibility, and cost-effectiveness. SLASR is particularly well suited to high-power space missions, including solar electric propulsion (SEP) space tugs, major exploration missions to the Moon and Mars, and power-intensive military spacecraft. SLASR is also very well suited to high-radiation missions, since the cell shielding mass penalty is 85% less for the SLASR concentrator array than for one-sun planar arrays. The paper describes SLASR technology and presents significant results of developments to date in a number of key areas, from advances in the key components to full-scale array hardware fabrication and evaluation. A summary of SLASR s unprecedented performance metrics, both near-term and longer term, will be presented. Plans for future SLASR developments and near-term space applications will also be outlined
Charge order at the frontier between the molecular and solid states in Ba3NaRu2O9
We show that the valence electrons of Ba3NaRu2O9, which has a quasi-molecular
structure, completely crystallize below 210 K. Using an extended Hubbard model,
we show that the charge ordering instability results from long-range Coulomb
interactions. However, orbital ordering, metal-metal bonding and formation of a
partial spin gap enforce the magnitude of the charge separation. The striped
charge order and frustrated hcp lattice of Ru2O9 dimers lead to competition
with a quasi-degenerate charge-melted phase under photo-excitation at low
temperature. Our results establish a broad class of simple metal oxides as
models for emergent phenomena at the border between the molecular and solid
states.Comment: Minor changes, with supporting information. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Let
New Constraints on the Lyman Continuum Escape Fraction at z~1.3
We examine deep far-ultraviolet (1600 Angstrom) imaging of the Hubble Deep
Field-North (HDFN) and the Hubble Ultra Deep Field (HUDF) to search for leaking
Lyman continuum radiation from starburst galaxies at z~1.3. There are 21
(primarily sub-L*) galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts between 1.1<z<1.5 and
none are detected in the far-UV. We fit stellar population templates to the
galaxies' optical/near-infrared SEDs to determine the starburst age and level
of dust attenuation, giving an accurate estimate of the intrinsic Lyman
continuum ratio, f_1500/f_700, and allowing a conversion from f_700 limits to
relative escape fractions. We show that previous high-redshift studies may have
underestimated the amplitude of the Lyman Break, and thus the relative escape
fraction, by a factor of ~2. Once the starburst age and intergalactic HI
absorption are accounted for, 18 galaxies in our sample have limits to the
relative escape fraction, f_esc,rel < 1.0 with some limits as low as f_esc,rel
< 0.10 and a stacked limit of f_esc,rel < 0.08. This demonstrates, for the
first time, that most sub-L* galaxies at high redshift do not have large escape
fractions. When combined with a similar study of more luminous galaxies at the
same redshift we show that, if all star-forming galaxies at z~1 have similar
relative escape fractions, the value must be less than 0.14 (3 sigma). We also
show that less than 20% (3 sigma) of star-forming galaxies at z~1 have relative
escape fractions near unity. These limits contrast with the large escape
fractions found at z~3 and suggest that the average escape fraction has
decreased between z~3 and z~1. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. aastex format. 39 pages, 11 figure
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