695 research outputs found
Herschel observations of gamma-ray burst host galaxies: implications for the topology of the dusty interstellar medium
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are indisputably related to star
formation, and their vast luminosity in gamma rays pin-points regions of star
formation independent of galaxy mass. As such, GRBs provide a unique tool for
studying star forming galaxies out to high-z independent of luminosity. Most of
our understanding of the properties of GRB hosts (GRBHs) comes from optical and
near-infrared (NIR) follow-up observations, and we therefore have relatively
little knowledge of the fraction of dust-enshrouded star formation that resides
within GRBHs. Currently ~20% of GRBs show evidence of significant amounts of
dust along the line of sight to the afterglow through the host galaxy, and
these GRBs tend to reside within redder and more massive galaxies than GRBs
with optically bright afterglows. In this paper we present Herschel
observations of five GRBHs with evidence of being dust-rich, targeted to
understand the dust attenuation properties within GRBs better. Despite the
sensitivity of our Herschel observations, only one galaxy in our sample was
detected (GRBH 070306), for which we measure a total star formation rate (SFR)
of ~100Mstar/yr, and which had a relatively high stellar mass
(log[Mstar]=10.34+0.09/-0.04). Nevertheless, when considering a larger sample
of GRBHs observed with Herschel, it is clear that stellar mass is not the only
factor contributing to a Herschel detection, and significant dust extinction
along the GRB sightline (A_{V,GRB}>1.5~mag) appears to be a considerably better
tracer of GRBHs with high dust mass. This suggests that the extinguishing dust
along the GRB line of sight lies predominantly within the host galaxy ISM, and
thus those GRBs with A_{V,GRB}>1~mag but with no host galaxy Herschel
detections are likely to have been predominantly extinguished by dust within an
intervening dense cloud.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
A Giant Crater on 90 Antiope?
Mutual event observations between the two components of 90 Antiope were
carried out in 2007-2008. The pole position was refined to lambda0 =
199.5+/-0.5 eg and beta0 = 39.8+/-5 deg in J2000 ecliptic coordinates, leaving
intact the physical solution for the components, assimilated to two perfect
Roche ellipsoids, and derived after the 2005 mutual event season (Descamps et
al., 2007). Furthermore, a large-scale geological depression, located on one of
the components, was introduced to better match the observed lightcurves. This
vast geological feature of about 68 km in diameter, which could be postulated
as a bowl-shaped impact crater, is indeed responsible of the photometric
asymmetries seen on the "shoulders" of the lightcurves. The bulk density was
then recomputed to 1.28+/-0.04 gcm-3 to take into account this large-scale
non-convexity. This giant crater could be the aftermath of a tremendous
collision of a 100-km sized proto-Antiope with another Themis family member.
This statement is supported by the fact that Antiope is sufficiently porous
(~50%) to survive such an impact without being wholly destroyed. This violent
shock would have then imparted enough angular momentum for fissioning of
proto-Antiope into two equisized bodies. We calculated that the impactor must
have a diameter greater than ~17 km, for an impact velocity ranging between 1
and 4 km/s. With such a projectile, this event has a substantial 50%
probability to have occurred over the age of the Themis family.Comment: 30 pages, 3 Tables, 8 Figures. Accepted for publication in Icaru
Shock waves in two-dimensional granular flow: effects of rough walls and polydispersity
We have studied the two-dimensional flow of balls in a small angle funnel,
when either the side walls are rough or the balls are polydisperse. As in
earlier work on monodisperse flows in smooth funnels, we observe the formation
of kinematic shock waves/density waves. We find that for rough walls the flows
are more disordered than for smooth walls and that shock waves generally
propagate more slowly. For rough wall funnel flow, we show that the shock
velocity and frequency obey simple scaling laws. These scaling laws are
consistent with those found for smooth wall flow, but here they are cleaner
since there are fewer packing-site effects and we study a wider range of
parameters. For pipe flow (parallel side walls), rough walls support many shock
waves, while smooth walls exhibit fewer or no shock waves. For funnel flows of
balls with varying sizes, we find that flows with weak polydispersity behave
qualitatively similar to monodisperse flows. For strong polydispersity, scaling
breaks down and the shock waves consist of extended areas where the funnel is
blocked completely.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures; accepted for PR
Grain Dynamics in a Two-dimensional Granular Flow
We have used particle tracking methods to study the dynamics of individual
balls comprising a granular flow in a small-angle two-dimensional funnel. We
statistically analyze many ball trajectories to examine the mechanisms of shock
propagation. In particular, we study the creation of, and interactions between,
shock waves. We also investigate the role of granular temperature and draw
parallels to traffic flow dynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 24 figures. To appear in Phys.Rev.E. High res./color
figures etc. on http://www.nbi.dk/CATS/Granular/GrainDyn.htm
Rapid Electrochemical Detection of New Delhi Metallo-beta-lactamase Genes To Enable Point-of-Care Testing of Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae
The
alarming rate at which antibiotic resistance is occurring in
human pathogens causes a pressing need for improved diagnostic technologies
aimed at rapid detection and point-of-care testing to support quick
decision making regarding antibiotic therapy and patient management.
Here, we report the successful development of an electrochemical biosensor
to detect <i>bla</i><sub><i>NDM</i></sub>, the
gene encoding the emerging New Delhi metallo-beta-lactamase, using
label-free electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The presence
of this gene is of critical concern because organisms harboring <i>bla</i><sub><i>NDM</i></sub> tend to be multiresistant,
leaving very few treatment options. For the EIS assay, we used a <i>bla</i><sub><i>NDM</i></sub>-specific PNA probe that
was designed by applying a new approach that combines <i>in silico</i> probe design and fluorescence-based DNA microarray validation with
electrochemical testing on gold screen-printed electrodes. The assay
was successfully demonstrated for synthetic targets (LOD = 10 nM),
PCR products (LOD = 100 pM), and direct, amplification-free detection
from a <i>bla</i><sub><i>NDM</i></sub>-harboring
plasmid. The biosensor’s specificity, preanalytical requirements,
and performance under ambient conditions were demonstrated and successfully
proved its suitability for further point-of-care test development
Identification of z~>2 Herschel 500 micron sources using color-deconfusion
We present a new method to search for candidate z~>2 Herschel 500{\mu}m
sources in the GOODS-North field, using a S500{\mu}m/S24{\mu}m "color
deconfusion" technique. Potential high-z sources are selected against
low-redshift ones from their large 500{\mu}m to 24{\mu}m flux density ratios.
By effectively reducing the contribution from low-redshift populations to the
observed 500{\mu}m emission, we are able to identify counterparts to high-z
500{\mu}m sources whose 24{\mu}m fluxes are relatively faint. The recovery of
known z~4 starbursts confirms the efficiency of this approach in selecting
high-z Herschel sources. The resulting sample consists of 34 dusty star-forming
galaxies at z~>2. The inferred infrared luminosities are in the range
1.5x10^12-1.8x10^13 Lsun, corresponding to dust-obscured star formation rates
(SFRs) of ~260-3100 Msun/yr for a Salpeter IMF. Comparison with previous SCUBA
850{\mu}m-selected galaxy samples shows that our method is more efficient at
selecting high-z dusty galaxies with a median redshift of z=3.07+/-0.83 and 10
of the sources at z~>4. We find that at a fixed luminosity, the dust
temperature is ~5K cooler than that expected from the Td-LIR relation at z<1,
though different temperature selection effects should be taken into account.
The radio-detected subsample (excluding three strong AGN) follows the
far-infrared/radio correlation at lower redshifts, and no evolution with
redshift is observed out to z~5, suggesting that the far-infrared emission is
star formation dominated. The contribution of the high-z Herschel 500{\mu}m
sources to the cosmic SFR density is comparable to that of SMG populations at
z~2.5 and at least 40% of the extinction-corrected UV samples at z~4
(abridged).Comment: 33 pages in emulateapj format, 24 figures, 2 tables, accepted for
publication in the ApJ
The fate of the interstellar medium in early-type galaxies I. First direct measurement of the timescale of dust removal
An important aspect of quenching star formation is the removal of the cold
interstellar medium (ISM; non-ionised gas and dust) from a galaxy. In addition,
dust grains can be destroyed in a hot or turbulent medium. The adopted
timescale of dust removal usually relies on uncertain theoretical estimates. It
is tricky to track the dust removal, because usually dust is constantly
replenished by consecutive generations of stars. Our objective is to measure
observationally the timescale of dust removal. We here explore an approach to
select galaxies which do have detectable amounts of dust and cold ISM but
exhibit a low current dust production rate. Any decrease of the dust and gas
content as a function of the age of such galaxies therefore must be attributed
to processes governing the ISM removal. We used a sample of galaxies detected
by Herschel in the far-infrared with visually assigned early-type morphology or
spirals with red colours. We also obtained JCMT/SCUBA-2 observations for five
of them. We discovered an exponential decline of the dust-to-stellar mass ratio
with age, which we interpret as an evolutionary trend of dust removal from
these galaxies. For the first time we directly measure the dust removal
timescale in such galaxies to be tau=(2.5+-0.4) Gyr (the corresponding
half-life time is (1.75+-0.25) Gyr). This quantity may be used in models in
which it must be assumed a priori and cannot be derived. Any process which
removes dust in these galaxies, such as dust grain destruction, cannot happen
on shorter timescales. The timescale is comparable to the quenching timescales
found in simulations for galaxies with similar stellar masses. The dust is
likely of internal, not external origin. It was either formed in the past
directly by supernovae, or from seeds produced by SNe and with grain growth in
the ISM contributing substantially to the dust mass accumulation.Comment: Astronomy & Astrophysics, accepted; 13 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl
(16) Psyche: A mesosiderite-like asteroid?
Asteroid (16) Psyche is the target of the NASA Psyche mission. It is
considered one of the few main-belt bodies that could be an exposed
proto-planetary metallic core and that would thus be related to iron
meteorites. Such an association is however challenged by both its near- and
mid-infrared spectral properties and the reported estimates of its density.
Here, we aim to refine the density of (16) Psyche to set further constraints on
its bulk composition and determine its potential meteoritic analog.
We observed (16) Psyche with ESO VLT/SPHERE/ZIMPOL as part of our large
program (ID 199.C-0074). We used the high angular resolution of these
observations to refine Psyche's three-dimensional (3D) shape model and
subsequently its density when combined with the most recent mass estimates. In
addition, we searched for potential companions around the asteroid. We derived
a bulk density of 3.99\,\,0.26\,gcm for Psyche. While such
density is incompatible at the 3-sigma level with any iron meteorites
(7.8\,gcm), it appears fully consistent with that of
stony-iron meteorites such as mesosiderites (density
4.25\,cm). In addition, we found no satellite in our images
and set an upper limit on the diameter of any non-detected satellite of
1460\,\,200}\,m at 150\,km from Psyche (0.2\%\,\,R, the
Hill radius) and 800\,\,200\,m at 2,000\,km (3\%\,\,).
Considering that the visible and near-infrared spectral properties of
mesosiderites are similar to those of Psyche, there is merit to a
long-published initial hypothesis that Psyche could be a plausible candidate
parent body for mesosiderites.Comment: 16 page
Photofission of heavy nuclei at energies up to 4 GeV
Total photofission cross sections for 238U, 235U, 233U, 237Np, 232Th, and
natPb have been measured simultaneously, using tagged photons in the energy
range Egamma=0.17-3.84 GeV. This was the first experiment performed using the
Photon Tagging Facility in Hall B at Jefferson Lab. Our results show that the
photofission cross section for 238U relative to that for 237Np is about 80%,
implying the presence of important processes that compete with fission. We also
observe that the relative photofission cross sections do not depend strongly on
the incident photon energy over this entire energy range. If we assume that for
237Np the photofission probability is equal to unity, we observe a significant
shadowing effect starting below 1.5 GeV.Comment: 4 pages of RevTex, 6 postscript figures, Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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