535 research outputs found
Electromagnetic field observations by the DEMETER satellite in connection with the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake
Abstract. To define a background in the electromagnetic emissions above seismic
regions, it is necessary to define the statistical distribution of the wave
energy in the absence of seismic activity and any other anomalous input (e.g.
solar forcing). This paper presents a completely new method to determine both
the environmental and instrumental backgrounds applied to the entire DEMETER
satellite electric and magnetic field data over L'Aquila. Our technique is
based on a new data analysis tool called ALIF (adaptive local iterative
filtering, Cicone et al., 2016; Cicone and Zhou, 2017; Piersanti et al.,
2017b). To evaluate the instrumental background, we performed a multiscale
statistical analysis in which the instantaneous relative energy
(ϵrel), kurtosis, and Shannon entropy were
calculated. To estimate the environmental background, a map, divided into
1∘×1∘ latitude–longitude cells, of the averaged
relative energy (ϵrel‾), has been constructed,
taking into account the geomagnetic activity conditions, the presence of
seismic activity, and the local time sector of the satellite orbit. Any
distinct signal different (over a certain threshold) from both the
instrumental and environmental backgrounds will be considered as a case event
to be investigated. Interestingly, on 4 April 2009, when DEMETER flew exactly
over L'Aquila at UT = 20:29, an anomalous signal was observed at 333 Hz
on both the electric and magnetic field data, whose characteristics seem to
be related to pre-seismic activity
Core-mantle boundary deformations and J2 variations resulting from the 2004 Sumatra earthquake
The deformation at the core-mantle boundary produced by the 2004 Sumatra
earthquake is investigated by means of a semi-analytic theoretical model of
global coseismic and postseismic deformation, predicting a millimetric
coseismic perturbation over a large portion of the core-mantle boundary.
Spectral features of such deformations are analysed and discussed. The
time-dependent postseismic evolution of the elliptical part of the gravity
field (J2) is also computed for different asthenosphere viscosity models. Our
results show that, for asthenospheric viscosities smaller than 10^18 Pa s, the
postseismic J2 variation in the next years is expected to leave a detectable
signal in geodetic observations.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, 1 table. It will appear in Geophysical Journal
Internationa
Prion expression is activated by Adenovirus 5 infection and affects the adenoviral cycle in human cells
The prion protein is a cell surface glycoprotein whose physiological role remains elusive, while its implication
in transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) has been demonstrated. Multiple interactions between
the prion protein and viruses have been described: viruses can act as co-factors in TSEs and life cycles of
different viruses have been found to be controlled by prion modulation.
We present data showing that human Adenovirus 5 induces prion expression. Inactivated Adenovirus did
not alter prion transcription, while variants encoding for early products did, suggesting that the prion is
stimulated by an early adenoviral function. Down-regulation of the prion through RNA interference showed
that the prion controls adenovirus replication and expression.
These data suggest that the prion protein could play a role in the defense strategy mounted by the host
during viral infection, in a cell autonomous manner. These results have implications for the study of the prion
protein and of associated TSEs
On the Origin of the Early Solar System Radioactivities. Problems with the AGB and Massive Star Scenarios
Recent improvements in stellar models for intermediate-mass and massive stars
are recalled, together with their expectations for the synthesis of radioactive
nuclei of lifetime Myr, in order to re-examine the origins
of now extinct radioactivities, which were alive in the solar nebula. The
Galactic inheritance broadly explains most of them, especially if -process
nuclei are produced by neutron star merging according to recent models.
Instead, Al, Ca, Cs and possibly Fe require
nucleosynthesis events close to the solar formation. We outline the persisting
difficulties to account for these nuclei by Intermediate Mass Stars (2
M/M). Models of their final stages now
predict the ubiquitous formation of a C reservoir as a neutron capture
source; hence, even in presence of Al production from Deep Mixing or Hot
Bottom Burning, the ratio Al/Pd remains incompatible with
measured data, with a large excess in Pd. This is shown for two recent
approaches to Deep Mixing. Even a late contamination by a Massive Star meets
problems. In fact, inhomogeneous addition of Supernova debris predicts
non-measured excesses on stable isotopes. Revisions invoking specific low-mass
supernovae and/or the sequential contamination of the pre-solar molecular cloud
might be affected by similar problems, although our conclusions here are
weakened by our schematic approach to the addition of SN ejecta. The limited
parameter space remaining to be explored for solving this puzzle is discussed.Comment: Accepted for publication on Ap
Core-mantle boundary deformations triggered by the Sumatra earthquake
The devastating megathrust earthquake of December 26 2004 off the west coast of northern Sumatra has been probably the largest since the 1960 Chile event. The occurrence of this event revived the debate, among the scientific community, upon several open geophysical problems possibly connected with the energy release of giant earthquakes. One of these problems concerns the origin of geomagnetic jerks and its eventual relationship with large seismic activity. Though a final answer to this question seems not to be at hand presently, this answer (whatever positive or negative) appears to be connected with the possibility that giant seismic events could cause significant changes in the CMB topography. Until now, no attempts have been made to compute the impact of a seismic event on the CMB: the great Sumatra earthquake, for the first time, gave unambiguous instrumental evidence that the deformation field associated with a giant event is detectable at distances up to several thousands of km with a magnitude of the displacements of the order of 1 mm. Since perturbations to the CMB even smaller than this value are likely to be able to produce a geomagnetic jerk, a precise evaluation of the CMB topography perturbation associated with a giant earthquake like Sumatra has become an important scientific question
Review of the ELI-NP-GBS low level rf and synchronization systems
The Gamma Beam System (GBS) of ELI-NP is a linac based gamma-source in construction at Magurele (RO) by the European consortium EuroGammaS led by INFN. Photons with tunable energy and with intensity and brilliance well beyond the state of the art will be produced by Compton back-scattering between a high quality electron beam (up to 740 MeV) and a 515 nm intense laser pulse. Production of very intense photon flux with narrow bandwidth requires multi-bunch operation at 100 Hz repetition rate. A total of 13 klystrons, 3 S-band (2856 MHz) and 10 C-band (5712 MHz) will power a total of 14 Travelling Wave accelerating sections (2 S-band and 12 C-band) plus 3 S-band Standing Wave cavities (a 1.6 cell RF gun and 2 RF deflectors). Each klystron is individually driven by a temperature stabilized LLRF module, for a maximum flexibility in terms of accelerating gradient, arbitrary pulse shaping (e.g. to compensate beam loading effects in multi-bunch regime) and compensation of long-term thermal drifts. In this paper, the whole LLRF system architecture and bench test results, the RF reference generation and distribution together with an overview of the synchronization system will be described
Follow-up Studies of the Pulsating Magnetic White Dwarf SDSS J142625.71+575218.3
We present a follow-up analysis of the unique magnetic luminosity-variable
carbon-atmosphere white dwarf SDSS J142625.71+575218.3. This includes the
results of some 106.4 h of integrated light photometry which have revealed,
among other things, the presence of a new periodicity at 319.720 s which is not
harmonically related to the dominant oscillation (417.707 s) previously known
in that star. Using our photometry and available spectroscopy, we consider the
suggestion made by Montgomery et al. (2008) that the luminosity variations in
SDSS J142625.71+575218.3 may not be caused by pulsational instabilities, but
rather by photometric activity in a carbon-transferring analog of AM CVn. This
includes a detailed search for possible radial velocity variations due to rapid
orbital motion on the basis of MMT spectroscopy. At the end of the exercise, we
unequivocally rule out the interacting binary hypothesis and conclude instead
that, indeed, the luminosity variations are caused by g-mode pulsations as in
other pulsating white dwarfs. This is in line with the preferred possibility
put forward by Montgomery et al. (2008).Comment: 11 pages in emulateApJ, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Dark energy and thermonuclear supernovae
Nowadays it is widely accepted that the current Universe is dominated by dark energy and exotic matter, the so called StandardModel of Cosmoloy or _CDM model. All the available data (Thermonuclear Supernovae, Cosmic Microwave Background, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations, Large Scale Structure, etc.) are compatible with a flat Universe made by _70% of dark energy. Up to now observations agree that dark energy may be the vacuum energy (or cosmological constant) although improvements are needed to constrain further its equation of state. In this context, the còsmic destiny of the Universe is no longer linked to its geometry but to the nature of dark energy; it may be flat and expand forever or collapse. To understand the nature of dark energy is probably the most fundamental problem in physics today; it may open new roads of knowledge and led to unify gravity with the other fundamental interactions in nature. It is expected that astronomical data will continue to provide
directions to theorists and experimental physicists. Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have played a fundamental role, showing the acceleration of the expansion rate of the Universe a decade ago, and up to now they are the only astronomical observations
that provide a direct evidence of the acceleration. However, in order to determine the source of the dark energy term it is mandatory to improve the precision of supernovae as distance indicators on cosmological scale.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version
Extended calibration range for prompt photon emission in ion beam irradiation
Monitoring the dose delivered during proton and carbon ion therapy is still a
matter of research. Among the possible solutions, several exploit the
measurement of the single photon emission from nuclear decays induced by the
irradiation. To fully characterize such emission the detectors need
development, since the energy spectrum spans the range above the MeV that is
not traditionally used in medical applications. On the other hand, a deeper
understanding of the reactions involving gamma production is needed in order to
improve the physic models of Monte Carlo codes, relevant for an accurate
prediction of the prompt-gamma energy spectrum.This paper describes a
calibration technique tailored for the range of energy of interest and
reanalyzes the data of the interaction of a 80MeV/u fully stripped carbon ion
beam with a Poly-methyl methacrylate target. By adopting the FLUKA simulation
with the appropriate calibration and resolution a significant improvement in
the agreement between data and simulation is reported.Comment: 4 pages, 7 figures, Submitted to JINS
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