47 research outputs found
New Constraints on Quantum Gravity from X-ray and Gamma-Ray Observations
One aspect of the quantum nature of spacetime is its "foaminess" at very
small scales. Many models for spacetime foam are defined by the accumulation
power , which parameterizes the rate at which Planck-scale spatial
uncertainties (and thephase shifts they produce) may accumulate over large
path-lengths. Here is defined by theexpression for the path-length
fluctuations, , of a source at distance , wherein , with being the Planck
length. We reassess previous proposals to use astronomical observations
ofdistant quasars and AGN to test models of spacetime foam. We show explicitly
how wavefront distortions on small scales cause the image intensity to decay to
the point where distant objects become undetectable when the path-length
fluctuations become comparable to the wavelength of the radiation. We use X-ray
observations from {\em Chandra} to set the constraint ,
which rules out the random walk model (with ). Much firmer
constraints canbe set utilizing detections of quasars at GeV energies with {\em
Fermi}, and at TeV energies with ground-based Cherenkovtelescopes: and , respectively. These limits on
seem to rule out , the model of some physical interest.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, ApJ, in pres
Spitzer observations of a gravitationally lensed quasar, QSO 2237+0305
The four-image gravitationally lensed quasar QSO 2237+0305 is microlensed by
stars in the lens galaxy. The amplitude of microlensing variability can be used
to infer the relative size of the quasar as a function of wavelength; this
provides a test of quasar models. Toward this end, we present Spitzer Space
Telescope Infrared Spectrograph and Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) observations
of QSO 2237+0305, finding the following. (1) The infrared (IR) spectral energy
distribution (SED) is similar to that of other bright radio-quiet quasars,
contrary to an earlier claim. (2) A dusty torus model with a small opening
angle fits the overall shape of the IR SED well, but the quantitative agreement
is poor due to an offset in wavelength of the silicate feature. (3) The flux
ratios of the four lensed images can be derived from the IRAC data despite
being unresolved. We find that the near-IR fluxes are increasingly affected by
microlensing toward shorter wavelengths. (4) The wavelength dependence of the
IRAC flux ratios is consistent with the standard quasar model in which an
accretion disk and a dusty torus both contribute near 1 micron in the rest
frame. This is also consistent with recent IR spectropolarimetry of nearby
quasars
Innovations in the Analysis of Chandra-ACIS Observations
As members of the instrument team for the Advanced CCD Imaging Spectrometer
(ACIS) on NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and as Chandra General Observers, we
have developed a wide variety of data analysis methods that we believe are
useful to the Chandra community, and have constructed a significant body of
publicly-available software (the ACIS Extract package) addressing important
ACIS data and science analysis tasks. This paper seeks to describe these data
analysis methods for two purposes: to document the data analysis work performed
in our own science projects, and to help other ACIS observers judge whether
these methods may be useful in their own projects (regardless of what tools and
procedures they choose to implement those methods).
The ACIS data analysis recommendations we offer here address much of the
workflow in a typical ACIS project, including data preparation, point source
detection via both wavelet decomposition and image reconstruction, masking
point sources, identification of diffuse structures, event extraction for both
point and diffuse sources, merging extractions from multiple observations,
nonparametric broad-band photometry, analysis of low-count spectra, and
automation of these tasks. Many of the innovations presented here arise from
several, often interwoven, complications that are found in many Chandra
projects: large numbers of point sources (hundreds to several thousand), faint
point sources, misaligned multiple observations of an astronomical field, point
source crowding, and scientifically relevant diffuse emission.Comment: Accepted by the ApJ, 2010 Mar 10 (\#343576) 39 pages, 16 figure
Evolution of Mouse Hepatitis Virus (MHV) during Chronic Infection: Quasispecies Nature of the Persisting MHV RNA
AbstractCoronavirus infection of mice has been used extensively as a model for the study of acute encephalitis and chronic demyelination. To examine the evolution of coronavirus RNA during chronic demyelinating infection, we isolated RNA from intracerebrally inoculated mice at 4, 6, 8, 13, 20, and 42 days postinfection and used reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction amplification methods (RT-PCR) to detect viral sequences. RNA sequences from two viral structural genes, the spike gene and the nucleocapsid gene, were detected throughout the chronic infection. In contrast, infectious virus was not detectable from brain homongenates beyond 13 days postinfection. These results indicate that coronavirus RNA persists in the brain at times when infectious virus is not detected. To determine if genetic changes were occurring during viral replication in the host, we cloned and sequenced the RT-PCR products from the spike and nucleocapsid regions and analyzed the sequences for mutations. Sequencing of the cloned products revealed that a variety of mutant forms of viral RNA persisted in the CNS, including point mutants, deletion mutants, and termination mutants. The mutations accumulated during persistent infection in both the spike and the nucleocapsid sequences, with greater than 65% of the mutations encoding amino acid changes. These results show that a diverse population or quasispecies consisting of mutant and deletion variant viral RNAs (which may not be capable of producing infectious virus particles) persists in the central nervous system of mice during chronic demyelinating infection. The implications of these results for the role of persistent viral genetic information in the pathogenesis of chronic demyelination are discussed
Chandra's tryst with SN 1995N
We present the spectroscopic and imaging analysis of a type IIn supernova SN
1995N observed with the Chandra X-ray observatory on 2004 March 27. We compare
the spectrum obtained from our Chandra observation with that of the previous
observation with ASCA in 1998. We find the presence of Neon lines in the
Chandra spectrum that were not reported in the ASCA observation. We see no
evidence of Iron in both epochs. The observed absorption column depth indicates
an extra component over and above the galactic absorption component and is
possibly due to a cool dense shell between the reverse-shock and the contact
discontinuity in the ejecta. The ASCA and the ROSAT observations suggested a
non-linear behavior of the X-ray light curve. However, with the higher spatial
resolution and sensitivity of Chandra, we separate out many nearby sources in
the supernova field-of-view that had additionally contributed to the supernova
flux due to the large Point Spread Function of the ASCA. Taking out the
contribution of those nearby sources, we find that the light curves are
consistent with a linear decline profile. We consider the light curve in the
high energy band separately. We discuss our results in the context of models of
nucleosynthesis and the interaction of the shock waves with the circumstellar
medium in core collapse supernovae.Comment: 35 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journa
Globular Clusters as Testbeds for Type Ia Supernovae
Fundamental mysteries remain regarding the physics of Type Ia supernovae
(SNIa) and their stellar progenitors. We argue here that important clues to
these questions may emerge by the identification of those SNIa that occur in
extragalactic globular clusters--stellar systems with well defined ages and
metallicities. We estimate an all-sky rate of approximately 0.1 eta (D/100
Mpc)^3 per year for SNIa in globular clusters within a distance D, where eta is
the rate enhancement per unit mass as a result of dynamical production channels
that are inaccessible in the galactic field. If eta is approximately 2-10, as
suggested by observations and theory, the combined efforts of accurate
supernova astrometry and deep follow-up imaging should identify the > 1% of
nearby (D < 100 Mpc) SNIa that occur in globular clusters.Comment: 9 pages, ApJL, in pres
The long-time dynamics of two hydrodynamically-coupled swimming cells
Swimming micro-organisms such as bacteria or spermatozoa are typically found
in dense suspensions, and exhibit collective modes of locomotion qualitatively
different from that displayed by isolated cells. In the dilute limit where
fluid-mediated interactions can be treated rigorously, the long-time
hydrodynamics of a collection of cells result from interactions with many other
cells, and as such typically eludes an analytical approach. Here we consider
the only case where such problem can be treated rigorously analytically, namely
when the cells have spatially confined trajectories, such as the spermatozoa of
some marine invertebrates. We consider two spherical cells swimming, when
isolated, with arbitrary circular trajectories, and derive the long-time
kinematics of their relative locomotion. We show that in the dilute limit where
the cells are much further away than their size, and the size of their circular
motion, a separation of time scale occurs between a fast (intrinsic) swimming
time, and a slow time where hydrodynamic interactions lead to change in the
relative position and orientation of the swimmers. We perform a multiple-scale
analysis and derive the effective dynamical system - of dimension two -
describing the long-time behavior of the pair of cells. We show that the system
displays one type of equilibrium, and two types of rotational equilibrium, all
of which are found to be unstable. A detailed mathematical analysis of the
dynamical systems further allows us to show that only two cell-cell behaviors
are possible in the limit of , either the cells are attracted to
each other (possibly monotonically), or they are repelled (possibly
monotonically as well), which we confirm with numerical computations