2,530 research outputs found
The low-mass population in the young cluster Stock 8: Stellar properties and Initial Mass Function
The evolution of HII regions/supershells can trigger a new generation of
stars/clusters at their peripheries, with environmental conditions that may
affect the initial mass function, disk evolution and star formation efficiency.
In this paper we study the stellar content and star formation processes in the
young cluster Stock 8, which itself is thought to be formed during the
expansion of a supershell. We present deep optical photometry along with JHK
and 3.6, 4.5 {\mu}m photometry from UKIDSS and Spitzer-IRAC. We use multi-color
criteria to identify the candidate young stellar objects in the region. Using
evolutionary models, we obtain a median log(age) of ~6.5 (~3.0 Myr) with an
observed age spread of ~0.25 dex for the cluster. Monte Carlo simulations of
the population of Stock 8, based on estimates for the photometric uncertainty,
differential reddening, binarity, and variability, indicate that these
uncertainties introduce an age spread of ~0.15 dex. The intrinsic age spread in
the cluster is ~0.2 dex. The fraction of young stellar objects surrounded by
disk is ~35%. The K-band luminosity function of Stock 8 is similar to that of
the Trapezium cluster. The IMF of Stock 8 has a Salpeter- like slope at >0.5
Msun and the IMF flattens and peaks at ~0.4 Msun, below which declines into the
substellar regime. Although Stock 8 is surrounded by several massive stars,
there seems to be no severe environmental effect in the form of IMF due to the
proximity of massive stars around the cluster.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Enhanced Room Temperature Coefficient of Resistance and Magneto-resistance of Ag-added La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 Composites
In this paper we report an enhanced temperature coefficient of resistance
(TCR) close to room temperature in La0.7Ca0.3-xBaxMnO3 + Agy (x = 0.10, 0.15
and y = 0.0 to 0.40) (LCBMO+Ag) composite manganites. The observed enhancement
of TCR is attributed to the grain growth and opening of new conducting channels
in the composites. Ag addition has also been found to enhance intra-granular
magneto-resistance. Inter-granular MR, however, is seen to decrease with Ag
addition. The enhanced TCR and MR at / near room temperature open up the
possibility of the use of such materials as infrared bolometric and magnetic
field sensors respectively.Comment: 22 pages of Text +
Figs:comments/suggestions([email protected]
Young Stellar Population of the Bright-Rimmed Clouds BRC 5, BRC 7 and BRC 39
Bright-rimmed clouds (BRCs), illuminated and shaped by nearby OB stars, are
potential sites of recent/ongoing star formation. Here we present an optical
and infrared photometric study of three BRCs: BRC 5, BRC 7 and BRC 39 to obtain
a census of the young stellar population, thereby inferring the star formation
scenario, in these regions. In each BRC, the Class I sources are found to be
located mostly near the bright rim or inside the cloud, whereas the Class II
sources are preferentially outside, with younger sources closer to the rim.
This provides strong support to sequential star formation triggered by
radiation driven implosion due to the UV radiation. Moreover, each BRC contains
a small group of young stars being revealed at its head, as the next-generation
stars. In particular, the young stars at the heads of BRC 5 and BRC 7 are found
to be intermediate/high mass stars, which, under proper conditions, may
themselves trigger further star birth, thereby propagating star formation out
to long distances.Comment: 30 pages, 7 Figures, 6 Tables, accepted for publication in Monthly
Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ
Low-mass young stellar population and star formation history of the cluster IC 1805 in the W4 H{\sc ii} region
W4 is a giant H{\sc ii} region ionized by the OB stars of the cluster
IC~1805. The H{\sc ii} region/cluster complex has been a subject of numerous
investigations as it is an excellent laboratory for studying the feedback
effect of massive stars on the surrounding region. However, the low-mass
stellar content of the cluster IC~1805 remains poorly studied till now. With
the aim to unravel the low-mass stellar population of the cluster, we present
the results of a multiwavelength study based on deep optical data obtained with
the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, infrared data from 2MASS, Space
Telescope and X-ray data from Space Telescope. The present optical
dataset is complete enough to detect stars down to 0.2~M, which is the
deepest optical observations so far for the cluster. We identified 384
candidate young stellar objects (YSOs; 101 Class I/II and 283 Class III) within
the cluster using various colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams. We
inferred the mean age of the identified YSOs to be 2.5 Myr and mass in
the range 0.3 - 2.5 M. The mass function of our YSO sample has a power
law index of -1.23 0.23, close to the Salpeter value (-1.35), and
consistent with those of other star-forming complexes. We explored the disk
evolution of the cluster members and found that the diskless sources are
relatively older compared to the disk bearing YSO candidates. We examined the
effect of high-mass stars on the circumstellar disks and found that within
uncertainties, the influence of massive stars on the disk fraction seems to be
insignificant. We also studied the spatial correlation of the YSOs with the
distribution of gas and dust of the complex to conclude that IC 1805 would have
formed in a large filamentary cloud.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS; 34 pages, 10 figure
Ground-based optical transmission spectrum of the hot Jupiter HAT-P-1b
Time-series spectrophotometric studies of exoplanets during transit using
ground-based facilities are a promising approach to characterize their
atmospheric compositions. We aim to investigate the transit spectrum of the hot
Jupiter HAT-P-1b. We compare our results to those obtained at similar
wavelengths by previous space-based observations. We observed two transits of
HAT-P-1b with the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS) instrument on the
Gemini North telescope using two instrument modes covering the 320 - 800 nm and
520 - 950 nm wavelength ranges. We used time-series spectrophotometry to
construct transit light curves in individual wavelength bins and measure the
transit depths in each bin. We accounted for systematic effects. We addressed
potential photometric variability due to magnetic spots in the planet's host
star with long-term photometric monitoring. We find that the resulting transit
spectrum is consistent with previous Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations.
We compare our observations to transit spectroscopy models that marginally
favor a clear atmosphere. However, the observations are also consistent with a
flat spectrum, indicating high-altitude clouds. We do not detect the Na
resonance absorption line (589 nm), and our observations do not have sufficient
precision to study the resonance line of K at 770 nm. We show that even a
single Gemini/GMOS transit can provide constraining power on the properties of
the atmosphere of HAT-P-1b to a level comparable to that of HST transit studies
in the optical when the observing conditions and target and reference star
combination are suitable. Our 520 - 950 nm observations reach a precision
comparable to that of HST transit spectra in a similar wavelength range of the
same hot Jupiter, HAT-P-1b. However, our GMOS transit between 320 - 800 nm
suffers from strong systematic effects and yields larger uncertainties.Comment: A&A, accepted, 16 pages, 8 figures, 5 table
Variability of young stellar objects in the star-forming region Pelican Nebula
We observed a field of in the star-forming region Pelican
Nebula (IC 5070) at wavelengths for 90 nights spread over one year in
2012-2013. More than 250 epochs in -bands are used to identify and
classify variables up to ~mag. We present a catalogue of optical
time-series photometry with periods, mean-magnitudes and classifications for 95
variable stars including 67 pre-main-sequence variables towards star-forming
region IC 5070. The pre-main-sequence variables are further classified as
candidate classical T Tauri and weak-line T Tauri stars based on their light
curve variations and the locations on the color-color and color-magnitude
diagrams using optical and infrared data together with Gaia DR2 astrometry.
Classical T Tauri stars display variability amplitudes up to three times the
maximum fluctuation in disk-free weak-line T Tauri stars, which show strong
periodic variations. Short-term variability is missed in our photometry within
single nights. Several classical T Tauri stars display long-lasting (
days) single or multiple fading and brightening events up to a couple of
magnitudes at optical wavelengths. The typical mass and age of the
pre-main-sequence variables from the isochrone-fitting and spectral energy
distributions are estimated to be and Myr,
respectively. We do not find any correlation between the optical amplitudes or
periods with the physical parameters (mass and age) of pre-main-sequence stars.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Identification of RNA bound to the TDP-43 ribonucleoprotein complex in the adult mouse brain
Cytoplasmic inclusions containing TDP-43 are a pathological hallmark of several neurodegenerative disorders, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and frontotemporal dementia. TDP-43 is an RNA binding protein involved in gene regulation through control of RNA transcription, splicing and transport. However, the function of TDP-43 in the nervous system is largely unknown and its role in the pathogenesis of ALS is unclear. The aim of this study was to identify genes in the central nervous system that are regulated by TDP-43. RNA-immunoprecipitation with anti-TDP-43 antibody, followed by microarray analysis (RIP-chip), was used to isolate and identify RNA bound to TDP-43 protein from mouse brain. This analysis produced a list of 1839 potential TDP-43 gene targets, many of which overlap with previous studies and whose functions include RNA processing and synaptic function. Immunohistochemistry demonstrated that the TDP-43 protein could be found at the presynaptic membrane of axon terminals in the neuromuscular junction in mice. In conclusion, the finding that TDP-43 binds to RNA that codes for genes related to synaptic function, together with the localization of TDP-43 protein at axon terminals, suggests a role for TDP-43 in the transport of synaptic mRNAs into distal processes
A new method to measure the spectra of transiting exoplanet atmospheres using multi-object spectroscopy
Probing Reflection from Aerosols with the Near-infrared Dayside Spectrum of WASP-80b
The presence of aerosols is intimately linked to the global energy budget and the composition of a planet's atmosphere. Their ability to reflect incoming light prevents energy from being deposited into the atmosphere, and they shape the spectra of exoplanets. We observed five near-infrared secondary eclipses of WASP-80b with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope to provide constraints on the presence and properties of atmospheric aerosols. We detect a broadband eclipse depth of 34 ± 10 ppm for WASP-80b. We detect a higher planetary flux than expected from thermal emission alone at 1.6σ, which hints toward the presence of reflecting aerosols on this planet's dayside, indicating a geometric albedo of Ag < 0.33 at 3σ. We paired the WFC3 data with Spitzer data and explored multiple atmospheric models with and without aerosols to interpret this spectrum. Albeit consistent with a clear dayside atmosphere, we found a slight preference for near-solar metallicities and for dayside clouds over hazes. We exclude soot haze formation rates higher than 10−10.7 g cm−2s−1 and tholin formation rates higher than 10−12.0 g cm−2s−1 at 3σ. We applied the same atmospheric models to a previously published WFC3/Spitzer transmission spectrum for this planet and found weak haze formation. A single soot haze formation rate best fits both the dayside and the transmission spectra simultaneously. However, we emphasize that no models provide satisfactory fits in terms of the chi-square of both spectra simultaneously, indicating longitudinal dissimilarity in the atmosphere's aerosol composition
Political branding: sense of identity or identity crisis? An investigation of the transfer potential of the brand identity prism to the UK Conservative Party
Brands are strategic assets and key to achieving a competitive advantage. Brands can be seen as a heuristic device, encapsulating a series of values that enable the consumer to make quick and efficient choices. More recently, the notion of a political brand and the rhetoric of branding have been widely adopted by many political parties as they seek to differentiate themselves, and this has led to an emerging interest in the idea of the political brand. Therefore, this paper examines the UK Conservative Party brand under David Cameron’s leadership and examines the applicability of Kapferer’s brand identity prism to political branding. This paper extends and operationalises the brand identity prism into a ‘political brand identity network’ which identifies the inter-relatedness of the components of the corporate political brand and the candidate political brand. Crucial for practitioners, this model can demonstrate how the brand is presented and communicated to the electorate and serves as a useful mechanism to identify consistency within the corporate and candidate political brands
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