Magnetic Field Amplification in Galaxy Clusters and its Simulation

We review the present theoretical and numerical understanding of magnetic field amplification in cosmic large-scale structure, on length scales of galaxy clusters and beyond. Structure formation drives compression and turbulence, which amplify tiny magnetic seed fields to the microGauss values that are observed in the intracluster medium. This process is intimately connected to the properties of turbulence and the microphysics of the intra-cluster medium. Additional roles are played by merger induced shocks that sweep through the intra-cluster medium and motions induced by sloshing cool cores. The accurate simulation of magnetic field amplification in clusters still poses a serious challenge for simulations of cosmological structure formation. We review the current literature on cosmological simulations that include magnetic fields and outline theoretical as well as numerical challenges.Comment: 60 pages, 19 Figure

Neutrino oscillation studies with IceCube-DeepCore

AbstractIceCube, a gigaton-scale neutrino detector located at the South Pole, was primarily designed to search for astrophysical neutrinos with energies of PeV and higher. This goal has been achieved with the detection of the highest energy neutrinos to date. At the other end of the energy spectrum, the DeepCore extension lowers the energy threshold of the detector to approximately 10 GeV and opens the door for oscillation studies using atmospheric neutrinos. An analysis of the disappearance of these neutrinos has been completed, with the results produced being complementary with dedicated oscillation experiments. Following a review of the detector principle and performance, the method used to make these calculations, as well as the results, is detailed. Finally, the future prospects of IceCube-DeepCore and the next generation of neutrino experiments at the South Pole (IceCube-Gen2, specifically the PINGU sub-detector) are briefly discussed

Insights into the high-energy γ-ray emission of Markarian 501 from extensive multifrequency observations in the Fermi era

We report on the γ-ray activity of the blazar Mrk 501 during the first 480 days of Fermi operation. We find that the average Large Area Telescope (LAT) γ-ray spectrum of Mrk 501 can be well described by a single power-law function with a photon index of 1.78 ± 0.03. While we observe relatively mild flux variations with the Fermi-LAT (within less than a factor of two), we detect remarkable spectral variability where the hardest observed spectral index within the LAT energy range is 1.52 ± 0.14, and the softest one is 2.51 ± 0.20. These unexpected spectral changes do not correlate with the measured flux variations above 0.3 GeV. In this paper, we also present the first results from the 4.5 month long multifrequency campaign (2009 March 15-August 1) on Mrk 501, which included the Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), Swift, RXTE, MAGIC, and VERITAS, the F-GAMMA, GASP-WEBT, and other collaborations and instruments which provided excellent temporal and energy coverage of the source throughout the entire campaign. The extensive radio to TeV data set from this campaign provides us with the most detailed spectral energy distribution yet collected for this source during its relatively low activity. The average spectral energy distribution of Mrk 501 is well described by the standard one-zone synchrotron self-Compton (SSC) model. In the framework of this model, we find that the dominant emission region is characterized by a size ≲0.1 pc (comparable within a factor of few to the size of the partially resolved VLBA core at 15-43 GHz), and that the total jet power (≃1044 erg s-1) constitutes only a small fraction (∼10-3) of the Eddington luminosity. The energy distribution of the freshly accelerated radiating electrons required to fit the time-averaged data has a broken power-law form in the energy range 0.3 GeV-10 TeV, with spectral indices 2.2 and 2.7 below and above the break energy of 20 GeV. We argue that such a form is consistent with a scenario in which the bulk of the energy dissipation within the dominant emission zone of Mrk 501 is due to relativistic, proton-mediated shocks. We find that the ultrarelativistic electrons and mildly relativistic protons within the blazar zone, if comparable in number, are in approximate energy equipartition, with their energy dominating the jet magnetic field energy by about two orders of magnitude. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society

Multiplex PCR assay for detection of human interferon alpha2b gene in transgenic plants

During the last decade interferons are regarded as potent candidates for generation of plant-based edible vaccines because of broad spectrum of antiviral activities and adjuvant properties. Establishment and certification of numerous interferon producing plant systems requests development of fast and efficient multiplex PCR protocol for the transgene detection in GM plants. Here we represent a protocol for simultaneous amplification in one assay of fragments of hIFN alpha 2b gene and two control genes, namely virD1 of Agrobacterium tumefaciens and conservative region of plant actin gene.В последнее десятилетие интерфероны рассматриваются как перспективные кандидаты для получения из растений в виде съедобных вакцин, поскольку обладают широким спектром антивирусной активности и адъювантными свойствами. Создание и сертификация многочисленных растительных систем, продуцирующих рекомбинантный интерферон, делают актуальной разработку быстрого и эффективного протокола мультиплексной ПЦР для определения данного трансгена в генетически модифицированных растениях. В настоящей публикации мы приводим метод детекции гена человеческого интерферона альфа-2b в трансгенных растениях с помощью совместной амплификации в ходе одной реакции фрагментов гена hINTα2b и двух контрольных генов, virD1 Agrobacterium tumefaciens и консервативного участка гена актина растений.В останнє десятиліття інтерферони розглядаються як перспективні кандидати для отримання з рослин у вигляді їстівних вакцин оскільки, вони мають широкий спектр антивірусної активності й ад’ювантні властивості. Створення і сертифікація численних рослинних систем, які накопичують рекомбінантний інтерферон, роблять актуальною розробку швидкого й ефективного протоколу мультиплексної ПЛР для визначення даного трансгена в генетично модифікованих рослинах. В цій публікації ми наводимо метод детекції гена людського інтерферону альфа-2b у трансгенних рослинах за допомогою сумісної ампліфікації в ході однієї реакції фрагментів гена hINTα2b і двох контрольних генів, virD1 Agrobacterium tumefaciens і консервативної ділянки гена актину рослин