496 research outputs found
Notch and Nodal control forkhead factor expression in the specification of multipotent progenitors in sea urchin
Indirect development, in which embryogenesis gives rise to a larval form, requires that some cells retain developmental potency until they contribute to the different tissues in the adult, including the germ line, in a later, post-embryonic phase. In sea urchins, the coelomic pouches are the major contributor to the adult, but how coelomic pouch cells (CPCs) are specified during embryogenesis is unknown. Here we identify the key signaling inputs into the CPC specification network and show that the forkhead factor foxY is the first transcription factor specifically expressed in CPC progenitors. Through dissection of its cis-regulatory apparatus we determine that the foxY expression pattern is the result of two signaling inputs: first, Delta/Notch signaling activates foxY in CPC progenitors; second, Nodal signaling restricts its expression to the left side, where the adult rudiment will form, through direct repression by the Nodal target pitx2. A third signal, Hedgehog, is required for coelomic pouch morphogenesis and institution of laterality, but does not directly affect foxY transcription. Knockdown of foxY results in a failure to form coelomic pouches and disrupts the expression of virtually all transcription factors known to be expressed in this cell type. Our experiments place foxY at the top of the regulatory hierarchy underlying the specification of a cell type that maintains developmental potency
Isocaling and the Symmetry Energy in the Multifragmentation Regime of Heavy Ion Collisions
The ratio of the symmetry energy coefficient to temperature, , in
Fermi energy heavy ion collisions, has been experimentally extracted as a
function of the fragment atomic number using isoscaling parameters and the
variance of the isotope distributions. The extracted values have been compared
to the results of calculations made with an Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics
(AMD) model employing a statistical decay code to account for deexcitation of
excited primary fragments. The experimental values are in good agreement with
the values calculated but are significantly different from those characterizing
the yields of the primary AMD fragments.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure
The Quantum Nature of a Nuclear Phase Transition
In their ground states, atomic nuclei are quantum Fermi liquids. At finite
temperatures and low densities, these nuclei may undergo a phase change similar
to, but substantially different from, a classical liquid gas phase transition.
As in the classical case, temperature is the control parameter while density
and pressure are the conjugate variables. At variance with the classical case,
in the nucleus the difference between the proton and neutron concentrations
acts as an additional order parameter, for which the symmetry potential is the
conjugate variable. Different ratios of the neutron to proton concentrations
lead to different critical points for the phase transition. This is analogous
to the phase transitions occurring in He-He liquid mixtures. We
present experimental results which reveal the N/Z dependence of the phase
transition and discuss possible implications of these observations in terms of
the Landau Free Energy description of critical phenomena.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Isobaric Yield Ratios and The Symmetry Energy In Fermi Energy Heavy Ion Reactions
The relative isobaric yields of fragments produced in a series of heavy ion
induced multifragmentation reactions have been analyzed in the framework of a
Modified Fisher Model, primarily to determine the ratio of the symmetry energy
coefficient to the temperature, , as a function of fragment mass A. The
extracted values increase from 5 to ~16 as A increases from 9 to 37. These
values have been compared to the results of calculations using the
Antisymmetrized Molecular Dynamics (AMD) model together with the statistical
decay code Gemini. The calculated ratios are in good agreement with those
extracted from the experiment. In contrast, the ratios determined from fitting
the primary fragment distributions from the AMD model calculation are ~ 4 and
show little variation with A. This observation indicates that the value of the
symmetry energy coefficient derived from final fragment observables may be
significantly different than the actual value at the time of fragment
formation. The experimentally observed pairing effect is also studied within
the same simulations. The Coulomb coefficient is also discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 12 figure
Critical behavior of the isotope yield distributions in the Multifragmentation Regime of Heavy Ion Reactions
Isotope yields have been analyzed within the framework of a Modified Fisher
Model to study the power law yield distribution of isotopes in the
multifragmentation regime. Using the ratio of the mass dependent symmetry
energy coefficient relative to the temperature, , extracted in
previous work and that of the pairing term, , extracted from this
work, and assuming that both reflect secondary decay processes, the
experimentally observed isotope yields have been corrected for these effects.
For a given I = N - Z value, the corrected yields of isotopes relative to the
yield of show a power law distribution, , in the mass range of and the distributions are
almost identical for the different reactions studied. The observed power law
distributions change systematically when I of the isotopes changes and the
extracted value decreases from 3.9 to 1.0 as I increases from -1 to 3.
These observations are well reproduced by a simple de-excitation model, which
the power law distribution of the primary isotopes is determined to
, suggesting that the disassembling system at the
time of the fragment formation is indeed at or very near the critical point.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
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