6,091 research outputs found
On the Origin of the Wide HI Absorption Line Toward Sgr A*
We have imaged a region of about 5' extent surrounding Sgr A* in the HI 21
cm-line absorption using the Very Large Array. A Gaussian decomposition of the
optical depth spectra at positions within about 2' (approx. 5 pc at 8.5 kpc) of
Sgr A* detects a wide line underlying the many narrow absorption lines. The
wide line has a mean peak optical depth of 0.32 +/- 0.12 centered at a mean
velocity of V(lsr) = -4 +/- 15 km/s. The mean full width at half maximum is 119
+/- 42 km/s. Such a wide line is absent in the spectra at positions beyond
about 2' from Sgr A*. The position-velocity diagrams in optical depth reveal
that the wide line originates in various components of the circumnuclear disk
(radius approx. 1.3') surrounding Sgr A*. These components contribute to the
optical depth of the wide line in different velocity ranges. The
position-velocity diagrams do not reveal any diffuse feature which could be
attributed to a large number of HI clouds along the line of sight to Sgr A*.
Consequently, the wide line has no implications either to a global population
of shocked HI clouds in the Galaxy or to the energetics of the interstellar
medium as was earlier thought.Comment: LaTeX, 12 pages and 9 figures, accepted for publication in J.
Astrophys. Ast
Pion propagation in the linear sigma model at finite temperature
We construct effective one-loop vertices and propagators in the linear sigma
model at finite temperature, satisfying the chiral Ward identities and thus
respecting chiral symmetry, treating the pion momentum, pion mass and
temperature as small compared to the sigma mass. We use these objects to
compute the two-loop pion self-energy. We find that the perturbative behavior
of physical quantities, such as the temperature dependence of the pion mass, is
well defined in this kinematical regime in terms of the parameter
m_pi^2/4pi^2f_pi^2 and show that an expansion in terms of this reproduces the
dispersion curve obtained by means of chiral perturbation theory at leading
order. The temperature dependence of the pion mass is such that the first and
second order corrections in the above parameter have the same sign. We also
study pion damping both in the elastic and inelastic channels to this order and
compute the mean free path and mean collision time for a pion traveling in the
medium before forming a sigma resonance and find a very good agreement with the
result from chiral perturbation theory when using a value for the sigma mass of
600 MeV.Comment: 18 pages, 11 figures, uses RevTeX and epsfig. Expanded conclusions,
added references. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay Bundles on complete intersection varieties of sufficiently high multidegree
Recently it has been proved that any arithmetically Cohen-Macaulay (ACM)
bundle of rank two on a general, smooth hypersurface of degree at least three
and dimension at least four is a sum of line bundles. When the dimension of the
hypersurface is three, a similar result is true provided the degree of the
hypersurface is at least six. We extend these results to complete intersection
subvarieties by proving that any ACM bundle of rank two on a general, smooth
complete intersection subvariety of sufficiently high multi-degree and
dimension at least four splits. We also obtain partial results in the case of
threefolds.Comment: 15 page
Quantum entanglement in photosynthetic light harvesting complexes
Light harvesting components of photosynthetic organisms are complex, coupled,
many-body quantum systems, in which electronic coherence has recently been
shown to survive for relatively long time scales despite the decohering effects
of their environments. Within this context, we analyze entanglement in
multi-chromophoric light harvesting complexes, and establish methods for
quantification of entanglement by presenting necessary and sufficient
conditions for entanglement and by deriving a measure of global entanglement.
These methods are then applied to the Fenna-Matthews-Olson (FMO) protein to
extract the initial state and temperature dependencies of entanglement. We show
that while FMO in natural conditions largely contains bipartite entanglement
between dimerized chromophores, a small amount of long-range and multipartite
entanglement exists even at physiological temperatures. This constitutes the
first rigorous quantification of entanglement in a biological system. Finally,
we discuss the practical utilization of entanglement in densely packed
molecular aggregates such as light harvesting complexes.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures. Improved presentation, published versio
Deep VLA Observations of the Cluster 1RXS J0603.3+4214 in the Frequency Range of 1–2 GHz
We report L-band VLA observations of 1RXS J0603.3+4214, a cluster that hosts
a bright radio relic, known as the Toothbrush, and an elongated giant radio
halo. These new observations allow us to study the surface brightness
distribution down to one arcsec resolution with very high sensitivity. Our
images provide an unprecedented detailed view of the Toothbrush, revealing
enigmatic filamentary structures. To study the spectral index distribution, we
complement our analysis with published LOFAR and GMRT observations. The bright
`brush' of the Toothbrush shows a prominent narrow ridge to its north with a
sharp outer edge. The spectral index at the ridge is in the range
. We suggest that the ridge is caused by projection
along the line of sight. With a simple toy model for the smallest region of the
ridge, we conclude that the magnetic field is below and varies
significantly across the shock front. Our model indicates that the actual Mach
number is higher than that obtained from the injection index and agrees well
with the one derived from the overall spectrum, namely . The radio halo shows an average spectral index of
and a slight gradient from north to south. The
southernmost part of the halo is steeper and possibly related to a shock front.
Excluding the southernmost part, the halo morphology agrees very well with the
X-ray morphology. A power-law correlation is found between the radio and X-ray
surface brightnessComment: 23 pages, 21 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Analysis of Elliptically Polarized Maximally Entangled States for Bell Inequality Tests
When elliptically polarized maximally entangled states are considered, i.e.,
states having a non random phase factor between the two bipartite polarization
components, the standard settings used for optimal violation of Bell
inequalities are no longer adapted. One way to retrieve the maximal amount of
violation is to compensate for this phase while keeping the standard Bell
inequality analysis settings. We propose in this paper a general theoretical
approach that allows determining and adjusting the phase of elliptically
polarized maximally entangled states in order to optimize the violation of Bell
inequalities. The formalism is also applied to several suggested experimental
phase compensation schemes. In order to emphasize the simplicity and relevance
of our approach, we also describe an experimental implementation using a
standard Soleil-Babinet phase compensator. This device is employed to correct
the phase that appears in the maximally entangled state generated from a
type-II nonlinear photon-pair source after the photons are created and
distributed over fiber channels.Comment: 8 page
Variation at the NFATC2 Locus Increases the Risk of Thiazolidinedione-Induced Edema in the Diabetes REduction Assessment with ramipril and rosiglitazone Medication (DREAM) Study
Objective: Thiazolidinediones are used to treat type 2 diabetes. Their use has been associated with peripheral edema and congestive heart failure - outcomes that may have a genetic etiology. Research Design and Methods: We genotyped 4,197 participants of the multiethnic DREAM (Diabetes Reduction Assessment with ramipril and rosiglitazone Medication) trial with a 50k single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) array, which captures ∼2000 cardiovascular, inflammatory, and metabolic genes. We tested 32,088 SNPs for an association with edema among Europeans who received rosiglitazone (n = 965). Results: One SNP, rs6123045, in NFATC2 was significantly associated with edema (odds ratio 1.89 [95% CI 1.47-2.42]; P = 5.32 × 10-7, corrected P = 0.017). Homozygous individuals had the highest edema rate (hazard ratio 2.89, P = 4.22 × 10-4) when compared with individuals homozygous for the protective allele, with heterozygous individuals having an intermediate risk. The interaction between the SNP and rosiglitazone for edema was significant (P = 7.68 × 10-3). Six SNPs in NFATC2 were significant in both Europeans and Latin Americans (P < 0.05). Conclusions: Genetic variation at the NFATC2 locus contributes to edema among individuals who receive rosiglitazone
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Interaction between FTO gene variants and lifestyle factors on metabolic traits in an Asian Indian population
Background
Lifestyle factors such as diet and physical activity have been shown to modify the association between fat mass and obesity–associated (FTO) gene variants and metabolic traits in several populations; however, there are no gene-lifestyle interaction studies, to date, among Asian Indians living in India. In this study, we examined whether dietary factors and physical activity modified the association between two FTO single nucleotide polymorphisms (rs8050136 and rs11076023) (SNPs) and obesity traits and type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods
The study included 734 unrelated T2D and 884 normal glucose-tolerant (NGT) participants randomly selected from the urban component of the Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiology Study (CURES). Dietary intakes were assessed using a validated interviewer administered semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ). Physical activity was based upon the self-report. Interaction analyses were performed by including the interaction terms in the linear/logistic regression model.
Results
There was a significant interaction between SNP rs8050136 and carbohydrate intake (% energy) (Pinteraction = 0.04), where the ‘A’ allele carriers had 2.46 times increased risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P = 3.0 × 10−5) among individuals in the highest tertile of carbohydrate intake (% energy, 71 %). A significant interaction was also observed between SNP rs11076023 and dietary fibre intake (Pinteraction = 0.0008), where individuals with AA genotype who are in the 3rd tertile of dietary fibre intake had 1.62 cm lower waist circumference than those with ‘T’ allele carriers (P = 0.02). Furthermore, among those who were physically inactive, the ‘A’ allele carriers of the SNP rs8050136 had 1.89 times increased risk of obesity than those with ‘CC’ genotype (P = 4.0 × 10−5).
Conclusions
This is the first study to provide evidence for a gene-diet and gene-physical activity interaction on obesity and T2D in an Asian Indian population. Our findings suggest that the association between FTO SNPs and obesity might be influenced by carbohydrate and dietary fibre intake and physical inactivity. Further understanding of how FTO gene influences obesity and T2D through dietary and exercise interventions is warranted to advance the development of behavioral intervention and personalised lifestyle strategies, which could reduce the risk of metabolic diseases in this Asian Indian population
Multi-Particle Collision Dynamics -- a Particle-Based Mesoscale Simulation Approach to the Hydrodynamics of Complex Fluids
In this review, we describe and analyze a mesoscale simulation method for
fluid flow, which was introduced by Malevanets and Kapral in 1999, and is now
called multi-particle collision dynamics (MPC) or stochastic rotation dynamics
(SRD). The method consists of alternating streaming and collision steps in an
ensemble of point particles. The multi-particle collisions are performed by
grouping particles in collision cells, and mass, momentum, and energy are
locally conserved. This simulation technique captures both full hydrodynamic
interactions and thermal fluctuations. The first part of the review begins with
a description of several widely used MPC algorithms and then discusses
important features of the original SRD algorithm and frequently used
variations. Two complementary approaches for deriving the hydrodynamic
equations and evaluating the transport coefficients are reviewed. It is then
shown how MPC algorithms can be generalized to model non-ideal fluids, and
binary mixtures with a consolute point. The importance of angular-momentum
conservation for systems like phase-separated liquids with different
viscosities is discussed. The second part of the review describes a number of
recent applications of MPC algorithms to study colloid and polymer dynamics,
the behavior of vesicles and cells in hydrodynamic flows, and the dynamics of
viscoelastic fluids
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High fat diet modifies the association of lipoprotein lipase gene polymorphism with high density lipoprotein cholesterol in an Asian Indian population
Background
Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in lipoprotein lipase gene (LPL) have been shown to influence metabolism related to lipid phenotypes. Dietary factors have been shown to modify the association between LPL SNPs and lipids; however, to date, there are no studies in South Asians. Hence, we tested for the association of four common LPL SNPs with plasma lipids and examined the interactions between the SNPs and dietary factors on lipids in 1,845 Asian Indians.
Methods
The analysis was performed in 788 Type 2 diabetes cases and 1,057 controls randomly chosen from the cross-sectional Chennai Urban Rural Epidemiological Study. Serum triacylglycerol (TAG), serum total cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) were measured using a Hitachi-912 autoanalyzer (Roche Diagnostics GmbH, Mannheim, Germany). Dietary intake was assessed using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire. The SNPs (rs1121923, rs328, rs4922115 and rs285) were genotyped by polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction enzyme digestion and 20% of samples were sequenced to validate the genotypes obtained. Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows version 22.0 (SPSS, Chicago, IL) was used for statistical analysis.
Results
After correction for multiple testing and adjusting for potential confounders, SNPs rs328 and rs285 showed association with HDL-C (P = 0.0004) and serum TAG (P = 1×10−5), respectively. The interaction between SNP rs1121923 and fat intake (energy %) on HDL-C (P = 0.003) was also significant, where, among those who consumed a high fat diet (28.4 ± 2.5%), the T allele carriers (TT + XT) had significantly higher HDL-C concentrations (P = 0.0002) and 30% reduced risk of low HDL-C levels compared to the CC homozygotes. None of the interactions on other lipid traits were statistically significant.
Conclusion
Our findings suggest that individuals carrying T allele of the SNP rs1121923 have increased HDL-C levels when consuming a high fat diet compared to CC homozygotes. Our finding warrants confirmation in prospective studies and randomized controlled trials
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