169 research outputs found
Observational constraints to boxy/peanut bulge formation time
Boxy/peanut bulges are considered to be part of the same stellar structure as
bars and both could be linked through the buckling instability. The Milky Way
is our closest example. The goal of this letter is determining if the mass
assembly of the different components leaves an imprint in their stellar
populations allowing to estimate the time of bar formation and its evolution.
To this aim we use integral field spectroscopy to derive the stellar age
distributions, SADs, along the bar and disc of NGC 6032. The analysis shows
clearly different SADs for the different bar areas. There is an underlying old
(>=12 Gyr) stellar population for the whole galaxy. The bulge shows star
formation happening at all times. The inner bar structure shows stars of ages
older than 6 Gyrs with a deficit of younger populations. The outer bar region
presents a SAD similar to that of the disc. To interpret our results, we use a
generic numerical simulation of a barred galaxy. Thus, we constrain, for the
first time, the epoch of bar formation, the buckling instability period and the
posterior growth from disc material. We establish that the bar of NGC 6032 is
old, formed around 10 Gyr ago while the buckling phase possibly happened around
8 Gyr ago. All these results point towards bars being long-lasting even in the
presence of gas.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter
Probing strongly coupled anisotropic plasma
We calculate the static potential, the drag force and the jet quenching
parameter in strongly coupled anisotropic N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma. We find
that the jet quenching is in general enhanced in presence of anisotropy
compared to the isotropic case and that its value depends strongly on the
direction of the moving quark and the direction along which the momentum
broadening occurs. The jet quenching is strongly enhanced for a quark moving
along the anisotropic direction and momentum broadening happens along the
transverse one. The parameter gets lower for a quark moving along the
transverse direction and the momentum broadening considered along the
anisotropic one. Finally, a weaker enhancement is observed when the quark moves
in the transverse plane and the broadening occurs on the same plane. The drag
force for quark motion parallel to the anisotropy is always enhanced. For
motion in the transverse space the drag force is enhanced compared to the
isotropic case only for quarks having velocity above a critical value. Below
this critical value the force is decreased. Moreover, the drag force along the
anisotropic direction is always stronger than the force in the transverse
space. The diffusion time follows exactly the inverse relations of the drag
forces. The static potential is decreased and stronger decrease observed for
quark-antiquark pair aligned along the anisotropic direction than the
transverse one. We finally comment on our results and elaborate on their
similarities and differences with the weakly coupled plasmas.Comment: 1+44 pages, 18 Figures; Added results on static force; Added
references; version published in JHE
Drag force in a strongly coupled anisotropic plasma
We calculate the drag force experienced by an infinitely massive quark
propagating at constant velocity through an anisotropic, strongly coupled N=4
plasma by means of its gravity dual. We find that the gluon cloud trailing
behind the quark is generally misaligned with the quark velocity, and that the
latter is also misaligned with the force. The drag coefficient can be
larger or smaller than the corresponding isotropic value depending on the
velocity and the direction of motion. In the ultra-relativistic limit we find
that generically . We discuss the conditions under which this
behaviour may extend to more general situations.Comment: 25 pages, 13 figures; v2: minor changes, added reference
Thermodynamics and Instabilities of a Strongly Coupled Anisotropic Plasma
We extend our analysis of a IIB supergravity solution dual to a spatially
anisotropic finite-temperature N=4 super Yang-Mills plasma. The solution is
static, possesses an anisotropic horizon, and is completely regular. The full
geometry can be viewed as a renormalization group flow from an AdS geometry in
the ultraviolet to a Lifshitz-like geometry in the infrared. The anisotropy can
be equivalently understood as resulting from a position-dependent theta-term or
from a non-zero number density of dissolved D7-branes. The holographic stress
tensor is conserved and anisotropic. The presence of a conformal anomaly plays
an important role in the thermodynamics. The phase diagram exhibits homogeneous
and inhomogeneous (i.e. mixed) phases. In some regions the homogeneous phase
displays instabilities reminiscent of those of weakly coupled plasmas. We
comment on similarities with QCD at finite baryon density and with the
phenomenon of cavitation.Comment: 62 pages, 13 figures; v2: typos fixed, added reference
Functional properties and evolutionary splicing constraints on a composite exonic regulatory element of splicing in CFTR exon 12
In general, splicing regulatory elements are defined as Enhancers or Silencers depending on their positive or negative effect upon exon inclusion. Often, these sequences are usually present separate from each other in exonic/intronic sequences. The Composite Exonic Splicing Regulatory Elements (CERES) represent an extreme physical overlap of enhancer/silencer activity. As a result, when CERES elements are mutated the consequences on the splicing process are difficult to predict. Here, we show that the functional activity of the CERES2 sequence in CFTR exon 12 is regulated by the binding, in very close proximity to each other, of several SR and hnRNP proteins. Moreover, our results show that practically the entire exon 12 sequence context participate in its definition. The consequences of this situation can be observed at the evolutionary level by comparing changes in conservation of different splicing elements in different species. In conclusion, our study highlights how it is increasingly difficult to define many exonic sequences by simply breaking them down in isolated enhancer/silencer or even neutral elements. The real picture is close to one of continuous competition between positive and negative factors where affinity for the target sequences and other dynamic factors decide the inclusion or exclusion of the exon
The genome sequencing of an albino Western lowland gorilla reveals inbreeding in the wild
Background The only known albino gorilla, named Snowflake, was a male wild born individual from Equatorial Guinea who lived at the Barcelona Zoo for almost 40 years. He was diagnosed with non-syndromic oculocutaneous albinism, i.e. white hair, light eyes, pink skin, photophobia and reduced visual acuity. Despite previous efforts to explain the genetic cause, this is still unknown. Here, we study the genetic cause of his albinism and making use of whole genome sequencing data we find a higher inbreeding coefficient compared to other gorillas. Results We successfully identified the causal genetic variant for Snowflake¿s albinism, a non-synonymous single nucleotide variant located in a transmembrane region of SLC45A2. This transporter is known to be involved in oculocutaneous albinism type 4 (OCA4) in humans. We provide experimental evidence that shows that this amino acid replacement alters the membrane spanning capability of this transmembrane region. Finally, we provide a comprehensive study of genome-wide patterns of autozygogosity revealing that Snowflake¿s parents were related, being this the first report of inbreeding in a wild born Western lowland gorilla. Conclusions In this study we demonstrate how the use of whole genome sequencing can be extended to link genotype and phenotype in non-model organisms and it can be a powerful tool in conservation genetics (e.g., inbreeding and genetic diversity) with the expected decrease in sequencing cost. Keywords: Gorilla; Albinism; Inbreeding; Genome; Conservatio
Measurement of total and differential cross sections of neutrino and antineutrino coherent pi(+/-) production on carbon
Neutrino induced coherent charged pion production on nuclei, (nu) over bar (mu)A -\u3e mu(+/-)pi(-/+) A, is a rare inelastic interaction in which the four-momentum squared transferred to the nucleus is nearly zero, leaving it intact. We identify such events in the scintillator of MINERvA by reconstructing vertical bar t vertical bar from the final state pion and muon momenta and by removing events with evidence of energetic nuclear recoil or production of other final state particles. We measure the total neutrino and antineutrino cross sections as a function of neutrino energy between 2 and 20 GeV and measure flux integrated differential cross sections as a function of Q(2), E-pi, and theta(pi). The Q(2) dependence and equality of the neutrino and antineutrino cross sections at finite Q(2) provide a confirmation of Adler\u27s partial conservation of axial current hypothesis
Re-localization of Cellular Protein SRp20 during Poliovirus Infection: Bridging a Viral IRES to the Host Cell Translation Apparatus
Poliovirus IRES-mediated translation requires the functions of certain canonical as well as non-canonical factors for the recruitment of ribosomes to the viral RNA. The interaction of cellular proteins PCBP2 and SRp20 in extracts from poliovirus-infected cells has been previously described, and these two proteins were shown to function synergistically in viral translation. To further define the mechanism of ribosome recruitment for the initiation of poliovirus IRES-dependent translation, we focused on the role of the interaction between cellular proteins PCBP2 and SRp20. Work described here demonstrates that SRp20 dramatically re-localizes from the nucleus to the cytoplasm of poliovirus-infected neuroblastoma cells during the course of infection. Importantly, SRp20 partially co-localizes with PCBP2 in the cytoplasm of infected cells, corroborating our previous in vitro interaction data. In addition, the data presented implicate the presence of these two proteins in viral translation initiation complexes. We show that in extracts from poliovirus-infected cells, SRp20 is associated with PCBP2 bound to poliovirus RNA, indicating that this interaction occurs on the viral RNA. Finally, we generated a mutated version of SRp20 lacking the RNA recognition motif (SRp20ΔRRM) and found that this protein is localized similar to the full length SRp20, and also partially co-localizes with PCBP2 during poliovirus infection. Expression of this mutated version of SRp20 results in a ∼100 fold decrease in virus yield for poliovirus when compared to expression of wild type SRp20, possibly via a dominant negative effect. Taken together, these results are consistent with a model in which SRp20 interacts with PCBP2 bound to the viral RNA, and this interaction functions to recruit ribosomes to the viral RNA in a direct or indirect manner, with the participation of additional protein-protein or protein-RNA interactions
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