2,959 research outputs found
The V<sub>H</sub> repertoire and clonal diversification of B cells in inflammatory myopathies
The contribution of antigen-driven B-cell adaptive immune responses within the inflamed muscle of inflammatory myopathies (IMs) is largely unknown. In this study, we investigated the immunoglobulin VH gene repertoire, somatic hypermutation, clonal diversification, and selection of infiltrating B cells in muscle biopsies from IM patients (dermatomyositis and polymyositis), to determine whether B cells and/or plasma cells contribute to the associated pathologies of these diseases. The data reveal that Ig V<sub>H</sub> gene repertoires of muscle-infiltrating B cells deviate from the normal VH gene repertoire in individual patients, and differ between different types of IMs. Analysis of somatic mutations revealed clonal diversification of muscle-infiltrating B cells and evidence for a chronic B-cell response within the inflamed muscle. We conclude that muscle-infiltrating B cells undergo selection, somatic hypermutation and clonal diversification in situ during antigen-driven immune responses in patients with IMs, providing insight into the contribution of B cells to the pathological mechanisms of these disorders
An icosahedron-based method for pixelizing the celestial sphere
For power spectrum estimation
it's important that the pixelization
of a CMB sky map be
smooth and regular to high degree.
With this criterion in mind
the ``COBE sky cube" was defined.
This paper has as central theme
to further improve on this elegant scheme
which uses a cube as projective base
-- here an icosahedron is used in its place.
Although the sky cube is excellent,
a further reduction of 20 percent
of the number of pixels can be obtained
while the pixel distance is maintained,
and without any degradation
of accuracy for integration.
The pixels are rounder in this scheme, where
they are hexagonal rather than square,
and the faces are small in this implementation
which simplifies area-equalization.
The reason distortion is lessened is that
the faces are smaller and therefore more flat.
To use the method, you can get
a FORTRAN code from the Internet.Comment: 13 pages, with 3 figures included. Source code and color figures at
http://www.sns.ias.edu/~max/icosahedron.html (faster from the US), from
http://www.mpa-garching.mpg.de/~max/icosahedron.html (faster from Europe) or
from [email protected]
Constraining the limiting brightness temperature and Doppler factors for the largest sample of radio bright blazars
Relativistic effects dominate the emission of blazar jets complicating our
understanding of their intrinsic properties. Although many methods have been
proposed to account for them, the variability Doppler factor method has been
shown to describe the blazar populations best. We use a Bayesian hierarchical
code called {\it Magnetron} to model the light curves of 1029 sources observed
by the Owens Valley Radio Observatory's 40-m telescope as a series of flares
with an exponential rise and decay, and estimate their variability brightness
temperature. Our analysis allows us to place the most stringent constraints on
the equipartition brightness temperature i.e., the maximum achieved intrinsic
brightness temperature in beamed sources which we found to be . Using our findings we estimated the
variability Doppler factor for the largest sample of blazars increasing the
number of available estimates in the literature by almost an order of
magnitude. Our results clearly show that -ray loud sources have faster
and higher amplitude flares than -ray quiet sources. As a consequence
they show higher variability brightness temperatures and thus are more
relativistically beamed, with all of the above suggesting a strong connection
between the radio flaring properties of the jet and -ray emission.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in AP
Lyman-alpha absorption around nearby galaxies
We have used STIS aboard HST to search for Lyman-alpha (Lya) absorption lines
in the outer regions of eight nearby galaxies using background QSOs and AGN as
probes. Lya lines are detected within a few hundred km/s of the systemic
velocity of the galaxy in all cases. We conclude that a background
line-of-sight which passes within 26-200 h-1 kpc of a foreground galaxy is
likely to intercept low column density neutral hydrogen with log N(HI) >~ 13.0.
The ubiquity of detections implies a covering factor of ~ 100% for low N(HI)
gas around galaxies within 200 h-1 kpc. We discuss the difficulty in trying to
associate individual absorption components with the selected galaxies and their
neighbors, but show that by degrading our STIS data to lower resolutions, we
are able to reproduce the anti-correlation of Lya equivalent width and impact
parameter found at higher redshift. We also show that the equivalent width and
column density of Lya complexes (when individual components are summed over ~
1000 km/s) correlate well with a simple estimate of the volume density of
galaxies brighter than M(B) = -17.5 at the same redshift as a Lya complex. We
do not reject the hypothesis that the selected galaxies are directly
responsible for the observed Lya lines, but our analysis indicates that
absorption by clumpy intragroup gas is an equally likely explanation. (Abriged)Comment: Accepted for publication in Nov 20, 2002 issue of ApJ. Paper with all
figures can be found at http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~dvb/lyapaper.ps
(preferable). Minor typos fixe
A new 1.6-micron map of Titan’s surface
We present a new map of Titan's surface obtained in the spectral 'window' at ∼1.6 μm between strong methane absorption. This pre-Cassini view of Titan's surface was created from images obtained using adaptive optics on the W.M. Keck II telescope and is the highest resolution map yet made of Titan's surface. Numerous surface features down to the limits of the spatial resolution (∼200–300 km) are apparent. No features are easily identifiable in terms of their geologic origin, although several are likely craters
The F-GAMMA program: Multi-frequency study of Active Galactic Nuclei in the Fermi era. Program description and the first 2.5 years of monitoring
To fully exploit the scientific potential of the Fermi mission, we initiated
the F-GAMMA program. Between 2007 and 2015 it was the prime provider of
complementary multi-frequency monitoring in the radio regime. We quantify the
radio variability of gamma-ray blazars. We investigate its dependence on source
class and examine whether the radio variability is related to the gamma-ray
loudness. Finally, we assess the validity of a putative correlation between the
two bands. The F-GAMMA monitored monthly a sample of about 60 sources at up to
twelve radio frequencies between 2.64 and 228.39 GHz. We perform a time series
analysis on the first 2.5-year dataset to obtain variability parameters. A
maximum likelihood analysis is used to assess the significance of a correlation
between radio and gamma-ray fluxes. We present light curves and spectra
(coherent within ten days) obtained with the Effelsberg 100-m and IRAM 30-m
telescopes. All sources are variable across all frequency bands with amplitudes
increasing with frequency up to rest frame frequencies of around 60 - 80 GHz as
expected by shock-in-jet models. Compared to FSRQs, BL Lacs show systematically
lower variability amplitudes, brightness temperatures and Doppler factors at
lower frequencies, while the difference vanishes towards higher ones. The time
scales appear similar for the two classes. The distribution of spectral indices
appears flatter or more inverted at higher frequencies for BL Lacs. Evolving
synchrotron self-absorbed components can naturally account for the observed
spectral variability. We find that the Fermi-detected sources show larger
variability amplitudes as well as brightness temperatures and Doppler factors,
than non-detected ones. Flux densities at 86.2 and 142.3 GHz correlate with 1
GeV fluxes at a significance level better than 3sigma, implying that gamma rays
are produced very close to the mm-band emission region.Comment: Accepted for publication in section 4. Extragalactic astronomy of
Astronomy and Astrophysics (18 pages, 9 figures
A new regime of anomalous penetration of relativistically strong laser radiation into an overdense plasma
It is shown that penetration of relativistically intense laser light into an
overdense plasma, accessible by self-induced transparency, occurs over a finite
length only. The penetration length depends crucially on the overdense plasma
parameter and increases with increasing incident intensity after exceeding the
threshold for self-induced transparency. Exact analytical solutions describing
the plasma-field distributions are presented.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures in 2 separate eps files; submitted to JETP Letter
J.S. Bell's Concept of Local Causality
John Stewart Bell's famous 1964 theorem is widely regarded as one of the most
important developments in the foundations of physics. It has even been
described as "the most profound discovery of science." Yet even as we approach
the 50th anniversary of Bell's discovery, its meaning and implications remain
controversial. Many textbooks and commentators report that Bell's theorem
refutes the possibility (suggested especially by Einstein, Podolsky, and Rosen
in 1935) of supplementing ordinary quantum theory with additional ("hidden")
variables that might restore determinism and/or some notion of an
observer-independent reality. On this view, Bell's theorem supports the
orthodox Copenhagen interpretation. Bell's own view of his theorem, however,
was quite different. He instead took the theorem as establishing an "essential
conflict" between the now well-tested empirical predictions of quantum theory
and relativistic \emph{local causality}. The goal of the present paper is, in
general, to make Bell's own views more widely known and, in particular, to
explain in detail Bell's little-known mathematical formulation of the concept
of relativistic local causality on which his theorem rests. We thus collect and
organize many of Bell's crucial statements on these topics, which are scattered
throughout his writings, into a self-contained, pedagogical discussion
including elaborations of the concepts "beable", "completeness", and
"causality" which figure in the formulation. We also show how local causality
(as formulated by Bell) can be used to derive an empirically testable Bell-type
inequality, and how it can be used to recapitulate the EPR argument.Comment: 19 pages, 4 figure
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