232 research outputs found
Modelling the Galactic Bar Using Red Clump Giants
The color-magnitude diagrams of stars obtained for 12
fields across the Galactic bulge with the OGLE project reveal a well-defined
population of bulge red clump giants. We find that the distributions of the
apparent magnitudes of the red clump stars are systematically fainter when
moving towards lower galactic fields. The most plausible explanation of
this distinct trend is that the Galactic bulge is a bar, whose nearest end lies
at positive galactic longitude. We model this Galactic bar by fitting for all
fields the observed luminosity functions in the red clump region of the
color-magnitude diagram. We find that almost regardless of the analytical
function used to describe the 3-D stars distribution of the Galactic bar, the
resulting models have the major axis inclined to the line of sight by
, with axis ratios corresponding to . This
puts a strong constraint on the possible range of the Galactic bar models.
Gravitational microlensing can provide us with additional constrains on the
structure of the Galactic bar.Comment: submitted to the New Astronomy, 27 pages, 11 figures; also available
at ftp://www.astro.princeton.edu/stanek/Barmodel and through WWW at
http://www.astro.princeton.edu/~library/prep.htm
The Emergence of the Infrared transient VVV-WIT-06
We report the discovery of an enigmatic large-amplitude (ΔKs> 10.5 mag) transient event in near-IR data obtained by the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) ESO Public Survey. The object (designated VVV-WIT-06) is located at R.A. = 17:07:18.917, decl. = -39:06:26.45 (J2000), corresponding to Galactic coordinates l = 347.14539, b = 0.88522. It exhibits a clear eruption, peaking at Ks = 9 mag during 2013 July and fading to Ks ~ 16.5 in 2017. Our late near-IR spectra show post-outburst emission lines, including some broad emission lines (upward of {FWHM} ~ 3000 k/s). We estimate a total extinction of A_V=10--15 mag in the surrounding field, and no progenitor was observed in ZYJHKs images obtained during 2010-2012 (down to Ks> 18.5 mag). Subsequent deep near-IR imaging and spectroscopy, in concert with the available multiband photometry, indicate that VVV-WIT-06 may be either: (I) the closest Type I SN observed in about 400 years, (II) an exotic high-amplitude nova that would extend the known realm of such objects, or (III) a stellar merger. In all of these cases, VVV-WIT-06 is a fascinating and curious astrophysical target under any of the scenarios considered.Peer reviewe
Fabry-Perot Absorption Line Spectroscopy of the Galactic Bar. I. Kinematics
We use Fabry-Perot absorption line imaging spectroscopy to measure radial
velocities using the Ca II 8542 line in 3360 stars towards three lines of sight
in the Milky Way's bar: Baade's Window and offset position at (l,b) ~ (+-5.0,
-3.5). This sample includes 2488 bar red clump giants, 339 bar M/K-giants, and
318 disk main sequence stars. We measure the first four moments of the stellar
velocity distribution of the red clump giants, and find it to be symmetric and
flat-topped. We also measure the line-of-sight average velocity and dispersion
of the red clump giants as a function of distance in the bar. We detect stellar
streams at the near and far side of the bar with velocity difference > 30 km/s
at l = +-5, but we do not detect two separate streams in Baade's Window. Our
M-giants kinematics agree well with previous studies, but have dispersions
systematically lower than those of the red clump giants by ~ 10 km/s. For the
disk main sequence stars we measure a velocity dispersion of ~ 45 km/s for all
three lines-of-sight, placing a majority of them in the thin disk within 3.5
kpc of the Sun, associated with the Sagittarius spiral arm. We measure the
equivalent widths of the Ca II 8542 line that can be used to infer
metallicities. We find indications of a metallicity gradient with Galactic
longitude, with greater metallicity in Baade's Window. We find the bulge to be
metal-rich, consistent with some previous studies.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal,16 pages, 12
figure
VVV-WIT-08: the giant star that blinked
We report the serendipitous discovery of a late-type giant star that exhibited a smooth, eclipse-like drop in flux to a depth of 97 per cent. Minimum flux occurred in 2012 April and the total event duration was a few hundred days. Light curves in V, I, and Ks from the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment and VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea surveys show a remarkably achromatic event. During 17 yr of observational coverage of this source only one such event was detected. The physical properties of the giant star itself appear somewhat unusual, which may ultimately provide a clue towards the nature of the system. By modelling the event as an occultation by an object that is elliptical in projection with uniform transparency, we place limits on its physical size and velocity. We find that the occultation is unlikely to be due to a chance alignment with a foreground object. We consider a number of possible candidates for the occulter, which must be optically thick and possess a radius or thickness in excess of 0.25 au. None are completely satisfactory matches to all the data. The duration, depth, and relative achromaticity of the dip mark this out as an exceptionally unusual event, whose secret has still not been fully revealed. We find two further candidates in the VVV survey and we suggest that these systems, and two previously known examples, may point to a broad class of long-period eclipsing binaries wherein a giant star is occulted by a circumsecondary disc
The ASY-EOS experiment at GSI: investigating the symmetry energy at supra-saturation densities
The elliptic-flow ratio of neutrons with respect to protons in reactions of
neutron rich heavy-ions systems at intermediate energies has been proposed as
an observable sensitive to the strength of the symmetry term in the nuclear
Equation Of State (EOS) at supra-saturation densities. The recent results
obtained from the existing FOPI/LAND data for Au+Au collisions
at 400 MeV/nucleon in comparison with the UrQMD model allowed a first estimate
of the symmetry term of the EOS but suffer from a considerable statistical
uncertainty. In order to obtain an improved data set for Au+Au collisions and
to extend the study to other systems, a new experiment was carried out at the
GSI laboratory by the ASY-EOS collaboration in May 2011.Comment: Talk given by P. Russotto at the 11th International Conference on
Nucleus-Nucleus Collisions (NN2012), San Antonio, Texas, USA, May 27-June 1,
2012. To appear in the NN2012 Proceedings in Journal of Physics: Conference
Series (JPCS
VIRAC: The VVV Infrared Astrometric Catalogue
© 2017 The Authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.We present VIRAC version 1, a near-infrared proper motion and parallax catalogue of the VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea (VVV) survey for 312 587 642 unique sources averaged across all overlapping pawprint and tile images covering 560 deg 2 of the bulge of the MilkyWay and southern disc. The catalogue includes 119 million high-quality proper motion measurements, of which 47 million have statistical uncertainties below 1 mas yr -1. In the 11 < K s < 14 magnitude range, the high-quality motions have a median uncertainty of 0.67 mas yr -1. The catalogue also includes 6935 sources with quality-controlled 5s parallaxes with a median uncertainty of 1.1 mas. The parallaxes show reasonable agreement with the Tycho- Gaia Astrometric Solution, though caution is advised for data with modest significance. The SQL data base housing the data is made available via the web. We give example applications for studies of Galactic structure, nearby objects (low-mass stars and brown dwarfs, subdwarfs, white dwarfs) and kinematic distance measurements of young stellar objects. Nearby objects discovered include LTT 7251 B, an L7 benchmark companion to a G dwarf with over 20 published elemental abundances, a bright L subdwarf, VVV 1256-6202, with extremely blue colours and nine new members of the 25 pc sample. We also demonstrate why this catalogue remains useful in the era of Gaia. Future versions will be based on profile fitting photometry, use the Gaia absolute reference frame and incorporate the longer time baseline of the VVV extended survey.Peer reviewedFinal Published versio
Photometry and Spectroscopy of GRB 030329 and Its Associated Supernova 2003dh: The First Two Months
We present extensive optical and infrared photometry of the afterglow of
gamma-ray burst (GRB) 030329 and its associated supernova (SN) 2003dh over the
first two months after detection (2003 March 30-May 29 UT). Optical
spectroscopy from a variety of telescopes is shown and, when combined with the
photometry, allows an unambiguous separation between the afterglow and
supernova contributions. The optical afterglow of the GRB is initially a
power-law continuum but shows significant color variations during the first
week that are unrelated to the presence of a supernova. The early afterglow
light curve also shows deviations from the typical power-law decay. A supernova
spectrum is first detectable ~7 days after the burst and dominates the light
after ~11 days. The spectral evolution and the light curve are shown to closely
resemble those of SN 1998bw, a peculiar Type Ic SN associated with GRB 980425,
and the time of the supernova explosion is close to the observed time of the
GRB. It is now clear that at least some GRBs arise from core-collapse SNe.Comment: 57 pages, 13 figures, accepted by ApJ, revised per referee's
comments, includes full photometry table. Data available at
ftp://cfa-ftp.harvard.edu/pub/kstanek/GRB030329 or through WWW at
http://cfa-www.harvard.edu/cfa/oir/Research/GRB
CD4 T lymphocyte autophagy is upregulated in the salivary glands of primary Sjögren’s syndrome patients and correlates with focus score and disease activity
Background: Primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS) is a common chronic autoimmune disease characterized by
lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine glands and peripheral lymphocyte perturbation. In the current study, we
aimed to investigate the possible pathogenic implication of autophagy in T lymphocytes in patients with pSS.
Methods: Thirty consecutive pSS patients were recruited together with 20 patients affected by sicca syndrome a
nd/or chronic sialoadenitis and 30 healthy controls. Disease activity and damage were evaluated according to SS
disease activity index, EULAR SS disease activity index, and SS disease damage index. T lymphocytes were analyzed
for the expression of autophagy-specific markers by biochemical, molecular, and histological assays in peripheral
blood and labial gland biopsies. Serum interleukin (IL)-23 and IL-21 levels were quantified by enzyme-linked
immunosorbent assay.
Results: Our study provides evidence for the first time that autophagy is upregulated in CD4+ T lymphocyte salivary
glands from pSS patients. Furthermore, a statistically significant correlation was detected between lymphocyte
autophagy levels, disease activity, and damage indexes. We also found a positive correlation between autophagy
enhancement and the increased salivary gland expression of IL-21 and IL-23, providing a further link between innate
and adaptive immune responses in pSS.
Conclusions: These findings suggest that CD4+ T lymphocyte autophagy could play a key role in pSS pathogenesis.
Additionally, our data highlight the potential exploitation of T cell autophagy as a biomarker of disease activity and
provide new ground to verify the therapeutic implications of autophagy as an innovative drug target in pSS
Wild birds of the Italian Middle Ages: diet, environment and society
Wild birds are intrinsically associated with our perception of the Middle Ages. They often feature in heraldic designs, paintings, and books of hours; few human activities typify the medieval period better than falconry. Prominent in medieval iconography, wild birds feature less frequently in written sources (as they were rarely the subject of trade transactions or legal documents) but they can be abundant in archaeological sites. In this paper we highlight the nature of wild bird exploitation in Italian medieval societies, ranging from their role as food items to their status and symbolic importance. A survey of 13 Italian medieval sites corresponding to 19 ‘period sites’, dated from the fifth to the fifteenth centuries, reveals the occurrence of more than 100 species (certainly an under-estimate of the actual number). Anseriformes and Columbiformes played a prominent role in the mid- and late medieval Italian diet, though Passeriformes and wild Galliformes were also important. In the late Middle Ages, there is an increase in species diversity and in the role of hunting as an important marker of social status
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