3,315 research outputs found
Search For Oxygen in Cool DQ White Dwarf Atmospheres
We report new infrared spectroscopic observations of cool DQ white dwarfs by
using Coolspec on the 2.7m Harlan-Smith Telescope. DQs have helium-rich
atmospheres with traces of molecular carbon thought to be the result of
convective dredge-up from their C/O interiors. Recent model calculations
predict that oxygen should also be present in DQ atmospheres in detectable
amounts. Our synthetic spectra calculations for He-rich white dwarfs with
traces of C and O indicate that CO should be easily detected in the cool DQ
atmospheres if present in the expected amounts. Determination of the oxygen
abundance in the atmosphere will reveal the C/O ratio at the core/envelope
boundary, constraining the important and uncertain ^{12}C(alpha,gamma)^{16}O
reaction rate.Comment: 2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in proceedings of the 13th European
Workshop on White Dwarf
Linearity and Scaling of a Statistical Model for the Species Abundance Distribution
We derive a linear recursion relation for the species abundance distribution
in a statistical model of ecology and demonstrate the existence of a scaling
solution
Transport of Cosmic Rays in Chaotic Magnetic Fields
The transport of charged particles in disorganised magnetic fields is an
important issue which concerns the propagation of cosmic rays of all energies
in a variety of astrophysical environments, such as the interplanetary,
interstellar and even extra-galactic media, as well as the efficiency of Fermi
acceleration processes. We have performed detailed numerical experiments using
Monte-Carlo simulations of particle propagation in stochastic magnetic fields
in order to measure the parallel and transverse spatial diffusion coefficients
and the pitch angle scattering time as a function of rigidity and strength of
the turbulent magnetic component. We confirm the extrapolation to high
turbulence levels of the scaling predicted by the quasi-linear approximation
for the scattering frequency and parallel diffusion coefficient at low
rigidity. We show that the widely used Bohm diffusion coefficient does not
provide a satisfactory approximation to diffusion even in the extreme case
where the mean field vanishes. We find that diffusion also takes place for
particles with Larmor radii larger than the coherence length of the turbulence.
We argue that transverse diffusion is much more effective than predicted by the
quasi-linear approximation, and appears compatible with chaotic magnetic
diffusion of the field lines. We provide numerical estimates of the Kolmogorov
length and magnetic line diffusion coefficient as a function of the level of
turbulence. Finally we comment on applications of our results to astrophysical
turbulence and the acceleration of high energy cosmic rays in supernovae
remnants, in super-bubbles, and in jets and hot spots of powerful
radio-galaxies.Comment: To be published in Physical Review D, 20 pages 9 figure
Magnetic fields and cosmic rays in GRBs. A self-similar collisionless foreshock
Cosmic rays accelerated by a shock form a streaming distribution of outgoing
particles in the foreshock region. If the ambient fields are negligible
compared to the shock and cosmic ray energetics, a stronger magnetic field can
be generated in the shock upstream via the streaming (Weibel-type) instability.
Here we develop a self-similar model of the foreshock region and calculate its
structure, e.g., the magnetic field strength, its coherence scale, etc., as a
function of the distance from the shock. Our model indicates that the entire
foreshock region of thickness , being comparable
to the shock radius in the late afterglow phase when ,
can be populated with large-scale and rather strong magnetic fields (of
sub-gauss strengths with the coherence length of order )
compared to the typical interstellar medium magnetic fields. The presence of
such fields in the foreshock region is important for high efficiency of Fermi
acceleration at the shock. Radiation from accelerated electrons in the
foreshock fields can constitute a separate emission region radiating in the
UV/optical through radio band, depending on time and shock parameters. We also
speculate that these fields being eventually transported into the shock
downstream can greatly increase radiative efficiency of a gamma-ray burst
afterglow shock.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure. Submitted to Ap
Bogoliubov Renormalization Group and Symmetry of Solution in Mathematical Physics
Evolution of the concept known in the theoretical physics as the
Renormalization Group (RG) is presented. The corresponding symmetry, that has
been first introduced in QFT in mid-fifties, is a continuous symmetry of a
solution with respect to transformation involving parameters (e.g., of boundary
condition) specifying some particular solution.
After short detour into Wilson's discrete semi-group, we follow the expansion
of QFT RG and argue that the underlying transformation, being considered as a
reparameterisation one, is closely related to the self-similarity property. It
can be treated as its generalization, the Functional Self-similarity (FS).
Then, we review the essential progress during the last decade of the FS
concept in application to boundary value problem formulated in terms of
differential equations. A summary of a regular approach recently devised for
discovering the RG = FS symmetries with the help of the modern Lie group
analysis and some of its applications are given.
As a main physical illustration, we give application of new approach to
solution for a problem of self-focusing laser beam in a non-linear medium.Comment: Contribution to the proceedings of conference "RG 2000" (Taxco,
Mexico, Jan. 1999). To be published in Physics Report
Rocaglates induce gain-of-function alterations to eIF4A and eIF4F
Rocaglates are a diverse family of biologically active molecules that have gained tremendous interest in recent years due to their promising activities in pre-clinical cancer studies. As a result, this family of compounds has been significantly expanded through the development of efficient synthetic schemes. However, it is unknown whether all of the members of the rocaglate family act through similar mechanisms of action. Here, we present a comprehensive study comparing the biological activities of >200 rocaglates to better understand how the presence of different chemical entities influences their biological activities. Through this, we find that most rocaglates preferentially repress the translation of mRNAs containing purine-rich 5' leaders, but certain rocaglates lack this bias in translation repression. We also uncover an aspect of rocaglate mechanism of action in which the pool of translationally active eIF4F is diminished due to the sequestration of the complex onto RNA.P50 GM067041 - NIGMS NIH HHS; R24 GM111625 - NIGMS NIH HHS; R35 GM118173 - NIGMS NIH HHSPublished versio
Pair Plasma Dominance in the Parsec-Scale Relativistic Jet of 3C345
We investigate whether a pc-scale jet of 3C345 is dominated by a normal
plasma or an electron-positron plasma. We present a general condition that a
jet component becomes optically thick for synchrotron self-absorption, by
extending the method originally developed by Reynolds et al. The general
condition gives a lower limit of the electron number density, with the aid of
the surface brightness condition, which enables us to compute the magnetic
field density. Comparing the lower limit with another independent constraint
for the electron density that is deduced from the kinetic luminosity, we can
distinguish the matter content. We apply the procedure to the five components
of 3C345 (C2, C3, C4, C5, and C7) of which angular diameters and radio fluxes
at the peak frequencies were obtainable from literature. Evaluating the
representative values of Doppler beaming factors by their equipartition values,
we find that all the five components are likely dominated by an
electron-positron plasma. The conclusion does not depend on the lower cutoff
energy of the power-law distribution of radiating particles.Comment: 17 page
Relativistic parsec-scale jets: II. Synchrotron emission
We calculate the optically thin synchrotron emission of fast electrons and
positrons in a spiral stationary magnetic field and a radial electric field of
a rotating relativistic strongly magnetized force-free jet consisting of
electron-positron pair plasma. The magnetic field has a helical structure with
a uniform axial component and a toroidal component that is maximal inside the
jet and decreasing to zero towards the boundary of the jet. Doppler boosting
and swing of the polarization angle of synchrotron emission due to the
relativistic motion of the emitting volume are calculated. The distribution of
the plasma velocity in the jet is consistent with the electromagnetic field
structure. Two spatial distributions of fast particles are considered: uniform,
and concentrated in the vicinity of the Alfven resonance surface. The latter
distribution corresponds to the regular acceleration by an electromagnetic wave
in the vicinity of its Alfven resonance surface inside the jet. The
polarization properties of the radiation have been obtained and compared with
the existing VLBI polarization measurements of parsec-scale jets in BL Lac
sources and quasars. Our results give a natural explanation of the observed
bimodality in the alignment between the electric field vector of the polarized
radiation and the projection of the jet axis on the plane of the sky. We
interpret the motion of bright knots as a phase velocity of standing spiral
eigenmodes of electromagnetic perturbations in a cylindrical jet. The degree of
polarization and the velocity of the observed proper motion of bright knots
depend upon the angular rotational velocity of the jet. The observed
polarizations and velocities of knots indicate that the magnetic field lines
are bent in the direction opposite to the direction of the jet rotation.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, Astron. Astroph. in pres
Magnetic shear-driven instability and turbulent mixing in magnetized protostellar disks
Observations of protostellar disks indicate the presence of the magnetic
field of thermal (or superthermal) strength. In such a strong magnetic field,
many MHD instabilities responsible for turbulent transport of the angular
momentum are suppressed. We consider the shear-driven instability that can
occur in protostellar disks even if the field is superthermal. This instability
is caused by the combined influence of shear and compressibility in a
magnetized gas and can be an efficient mechanism to generate turbulence in
disks. The typical growth time is of the order of several rotation periods.Comment: 8 pages, 6 figures, A&A to appea
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