1,171 research outputs found
Grown-up stars physics with MATISSE
MATISSE represents a great opportunity to image the environment around
massive and evolved stars. This will allow one to put constraints on the
circumstellar structure, on the mass ejection of dust and its reorganization ,
and on the dust-nature and formation processes. MATISSE measurements will often
be pivotal for the understanding of large multiwavelength datasets on the same
targets collected through many high-angular resolution facilities at ESO like
sub-millimeter interferometry (ALMA), near-infrared adaptive optics (NACO,
SPHERE), interferometry (PIONIER, GRAVITY), spectroscopy (CRIRES), and
mid-infrared imaging (VISIR). Among main sequence and evolved stars, several
cases of interest have been identified that we describe in this paper.Comment: SPIE, Jun 2016, Edimbourgh, Franc
Quench Induced Vortices in the Symmetry Broken Phase of Liquid He
Motivated by the study of cosmological phase transitions, our understanding
of the formation of topological defects during spontaneous symmetry-breaking
and the associated non-equilibrium field theory has recently changed.
Experiments have been performed in superfluid He to test the new ideas
involved. In particular, it has been observed that a vortex density is seen
immediately after pressure quenches from just below the transition.
We discuss possible interpretations of these vortices, conclude they are
consistent with our ideas of vortex formation and propose a modification of the
original experiments.Comment: 29 pages, RevTeX with one EPS figur
Antimatter and Matter Production in Heavy Ion Collisions at CERN (The NEWMASS Experiment NA52)
Besides the dedicated search for strangelets NA52 measures light
(anti)particle and (anti)nuclei production over a wide range of rapidity.
Compared to previous runs the statistics has been increased in the 1998 run by
more than one order of magnitude for negatively charged objects at different
spectrometer rigidities. Together with previous data taking at a rigidity of
-20 GeV/c we obtained 10^6 antiprotons 10^3 antideuterons and two antihelium3
without centrality requirements. We measured nuclei and antinuclei
(p,d,antiprotons, antideuterons) near midrapidity covering an impact parameter
range of b=2-12 fm. Our results strongly indicate that nuclei and antinuclei
are mainly produced via the coalescence mechanism. However the centrality
dependence of the antibaryon to baryon ratios show that antibaryons are
diminished due to annihilation and breakup reactions in the hadron dense
environment. The volume of the particle source extracted from coalescence
models agrees with results from pion interferometry for an expanding source.
The chemical and thermal freeze-out of nuclei and antinuclei appear to coincide
with each other and with the thermal freeze-out of hadrons.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference
on 'Fundamental Issues in Elementary Matter' Bad Honnef, Germany, Sept.
25-29, 200
Some Applications of Thermal Field Theory to Quark-Gluon Plasma
The lecture provides a brief introduction of thermal field theory within
imaginary time formalism, the Hard Thermal Loop perturbation theory and some of
its application to the physics of the quark-gluon plasma, possibly created in
relativistic heavy ion collisions.Comment: 17 pages, 12 figures : Lectures given in "Workshop on Hadron Physics"
during March 7-17, 2005, Puri, Indi
On the linear stability of solitons and hairy black holes with a negative cosmological constant: the odd-parity sector
Using a recently developed perturbation formalism based on curvature
quantities, we investigate the linear stability of black holes and solitons
with Yang-Mills hair and a negative cosmological constant. We show that those
solutions which have no linear instabilities under odd- and even- parity
spherically symmetric perturbations remain stable under odd-parity, linear,
non-spherically symmetric perturbations.Comment: 26 pages, 1 figur
Sigurðar saga fóts (The Saga of Sigurðr Foot): A Translation
This is the first English translation of the short Icelandic romance Sigurðar saga fóts, with an introduction presenting the evidence for its dating and immediate literary context. Like most Icelandic romances, Sigurðar saga is a bridal-quest story; the support of a foster-brother is key to the hero winning the bride; and the foster-brothers start out as opponents before recognising their mutual excellence and swearing foster-brotherhood. Uniquely, however, the men who become foster-brothers begin by competing for the same bride (Signý): the eponymous Sigurðr fótr wins Signý only because Ásmundr gives her to him in exchange for foster-brotherhood. Ásmundr’s decision can be read as demonstrating with unusual starkness the superior importance in much Icelandic romance of homosocial relationships over heterosexual ones, giving the saga a certain paradigmatic status. Translating the saga in an open-access forum and reconstructing its literary context will, we hope, encourage further analyses
Sigurðar saga fóts (The Saga of Sigurðr Foot): A Translation
This is the first English translation of the short Icelandic romance Sigurðar saga fóts, with an introduction presenting the evidence for its dating and immediate literary context. Like most Icelandic romances, Sigurðar saga is a bridal-quest story; the support of a foster-brother is key to the hero winning the bride; and the foster-brothers start out as opponents before recognising their mutual excellence and swearing foster-brotherhood. Uniquely, however, the men who become foster-brothers begin by competing for the same bride (Signý): the eponymous Sigurðr fótr wins Signý only because Ásmundr gives her to him in exchange for foster-brotherhood. Ásmundr’s decision can be read as demonstrating with unusual starkness the superior importance in much Icelandic romance of homosocial relationships over heterosexual ones, giving the saga a certain paradigmatic status. Translating the saga in an open-access forum and reconstructing its literary context will, we hope, encourage further analyses
Re-Hardening of Hadron Transverse Mass Spectra in Relativistic Heavy-Ion Collisions
We analyze the spectra of pions and protons in heavy-ion collisions at
relativistic energies from 2 A GeV to 65+65 A GeV by using a jet-implemented
hadron-string cascade model. In this energy region, hadron transverse mass
spectra first show softening until SPS energies, and re-hardening may emerge at
RHIC energies. Since hadronic matter is expected to show only softening at
higher energy densities, this re-hardening of spectra can be interpreted as a
good signature of the quark-gluon plasma formation.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, Poster presentation at QM2001, Revised
to correct latex error in citation on April 6, 200
The non-convex shape of (234) Barbara, the first Barbarian
Asteroid (234) Barbara is the prototype of a category of asteroids that has
been shown to be extremely rich in refractory inclusions, the oldest material
ever found in the Solar System. It exhibits several peculiar features, most
notably its polarimetric behavior. In recent years other objects sharing the
same property (collectively known as "Barbarians") have been discovered.
Interferometric observations in the mid-infrared with the ESO VLTI suggested
that (234) Barbara might have a bi-lobated shape or even a large companion
satellite. We use a large set of 57 optical lightcurves acquired between 1979
and 2014, together with the timings of two stellar occultations in 2009, to
determine the rotation period, spin-vector coordinates, and 3-D shape of (234)
Barbara, using two different shape reconstruction algorithms. By using the
lightcurves combined to the results obtained from stellar occultations, we are
able to show that the shape of (234) Barbara exhibits large concave areas.
Possible links of the shape to the polarimetric properties and the object
evolution are discussed. We also show that VLTI data can be modeled without the
presence of a satellite.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Infections with Avian Pathogenic and Fecal Escherichia coli Strains Display Similar Lung Histopathology and Macrophage Apoptosis
The purpose of this study was to compare histopathological changes in the lungs of chickens infected with avian
pathogenic (APEC) and avian fecal (Afecal) Escherichia coli strains, and to analyze how the interaction of the bacteria with
avian macrophages relates to the outcome of the infection. Chickens were infected intratracheally with three APEC strains,
MT78, IMT5155, and UEL17, and one non-pathogenic Afecal strain, IMT5104. The pathogenicity of the strains was assessed by
isolating bacteria from lungs, kidneys, and spleens at 24 h post-infection (p.i.). Lungs were examined for histopathological
changes at 12, 18, and 24 h p.i. Serial lung sections were stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE), terminal deoxynucleotidyl
dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) for detection of apoptotic cells, and an anti-O2 antibody for detection of MT78 and
IMT5155. UEL17 and IMT5104 did not cause systemic infections and the extents of lung colonization were two orders of
magnitude lower than for the septicemic strains MT78 and IMT5155, yet all four strains caused the same extent of
inflammation in the lungs. The inflammation was localized; there were some congested areas next to unaffected areas. Only
the inflamed regions became labeled with anti-O2 antibody. TUNEL labeling revealed the presence of apoptotic cells at 12 h
p.i in the inflamed regions only, and before any necrotic foci could be seen. The TUNEL-positive cells were very likely dying
heterophils, as evidenced by the purulent inflammation. Some of the dying cells observed in avian lungs in situ may also be
macrophages, since all four avian E. coli induced caspase 3/7 activation in monolayers of HD11 avian macrophages. In
summary, both pathogenic and non-pathogenic fecal strains of avian E. coli produce focal infections in the avian lung, and
these are accompanied by inflammation and cell death in the infected areas
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