K X-Ray Energies and Transition Probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions

Theoretical transition energies and probabilities for He-, Li- and Be-like Praseodymium ions are calculated in the framework of the multi-configuration Dirac-Fock method (MCDF), including QED corrections. These calculated values are compared to recent experimental data obtained in the Livermore SuperEBIT electron beam ion trap facility

Radial distribution function of penetrable sphere fluids to second order in density

The simplest bounded potential is that of penetrable spheres, which takes a positive finite value $\epsilon$ if the two spheres are overlapped, being 0 otherwise. In this paper we derive the cavity function to second order in density and the fourth virial coefficient as functions of $T^*\equiv k_BT/\epsilon$ (where $k_B$ is the Boltzmann constant and $T$ is the temperature) for penetrable sphere fluids. The expressions are exact, except for the function represented by an elementary diagram inside the core, which is approximated by a polynomial form in excellent agreement with accurate results obtained by Monte Carlo integration. Comparison with the hypernetted-chain (HNC) and Percus-Yevick (PY) theories shows that the latter is better than the former for $T^*\lesssim 1$ only. However, even at zero temperature (hard sphere limit), the PY solution is not accurate inside the overlapping region, where no practical cancelation of the neglected diagrams takes place. The exact fourth virial coefficient is positive for $T^*\lesssim 0.73$, reaches a minimum negative value at $T^*\approx 1.1$, and then goes to zero from below as $1/{T^*}^4$ for high temperatures. These features are captured qualitatively, but not quantitatively, by the HNC and PY predictions. In addition, in both theories the compressibility route is the best one for $T^*\lesssim 0.7$, while the virial route is preferable if $T^*\gtrsim 0.7$.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures; v2: minor changes; to be published in PR

Evidence that the degree of band 3 phosphorylation modulates human erythrocytes nitric oxide efflux – in vitro model of hyperfibrinogenemia

© 2011 – IOS Press and the authors. All rights reservedRecent evidence has shown that plasma fibrinogen, a major cardiovascular risk factor, interacts with the erythrocyte membrane and acts to influence blood flow via erythrocyte nitric oxide (NO) modulation. In the present pioneer in-vitro study, whole blood samples were harvested from healthy subjects and aliquots were incubated in the absence (control aliquots) and presence of fibrinogen at different degrees of band 3 phosphorylation, and the levels of NO, nitrite, nitrate and S-nitroglutathione (GSNO) were determined. Hyperfibrinogenemia interferes with erythrocyte NO mobilization without changing its efflux in a way that seems to be dependent of the degree of band 3 phosphorylation. In presence of higher fibrinogen concentrations the NO efflux is reinforced when band 3 is phosphorylated (p < 0.001). Higher levels of nitrite, nitrate and GSNO were documented (p < 0.05). However, the mechanisms by which fibrinogen signalling modulates erythrocyte function remain to be clarified and are currently under study. These conditions may be considered an approach to be followed in blood storage for transfusions.This study was supported by grants from the FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia (project reference PTDC/SAU-OSM/73449/2006

Telluric correction in the near-infrared: Standard star or synthetic transmission?

Context. The atmospheric absorption of the Earth is an important limiting factor for ground-based spectroscopic observations and the near-infrared and infrared regions are the most affected. Several software packages that produce a synthetic atmospheric transmission spectrum have been developed to correct for the telluric absorption; these are Molecfit, TelFit, and TAPAS. Aims. Our goal is to compare the correction achieved using these three telluric correction packages and the division by a telluric standard star. We want to evaluate the best method to correct near-infrared high-resolution spectra as well as the limitations of each software package and methodology. Methods. We applied the telluric correction methods to CRIRES archival data taken in the J and K bands. We explored how the achieved correction level varies depending on the atmospheric T-P profile used in the modelling, the depth of the atmospheric lines, and the molecules creating the absorption. Results. We found that the Molecfit and TelFit corrections lead to smaller residuals for the water lines. The standard star method corrects best the oxygen lines. The Molecfit package and the standard star method corrections result in global offsets always below 0.5% for all lines; the offset is similar with TelFit and TAPAS for the H2O lines and around 1% for the O2 lines. All methods and software packages result in a scatter between 3% and 7% inside the telluric lines. The use of a tailored atmospheric profile for the observatory leads to a scatter two times smaller, and the correction level improves with lower values of precipitable water vapour. Conclusions. The synthetic transmission methods lead to an improved correction compared to the standard star method for the water lines in the J band with no loss of telescope time, but the oxygen lines were better corrected by the standard star method.Comment: 18 pages, 13 figures, Accepted to A&

Topological Defects in Contracting Universes

We study the behaviour and consequences of cosmic string networks in contracting universes. They approximately behave during the collapse phase as a radiation fluids. Scaling solutions describing this are derived and tested against high-resolution numerical simulations. A string network in a contracting universe, together with the gravitational radiation it generates, can affect the dynamics of the universe both locally and globally, and be an important source of radiation, entropy and inhomogeneity. We discuss possible implications for bouncing and cyclic models.Comment: Shorter version of astro-ph/0206287. To appear in Phys. Rev. Let

Dark Matter directional detection: comparison of the track direction determination

Several directional techniques have been proposed for a directional detection of Dark matter, among others anisotropic crystal detectors, nuclear emulsion plates, and low-pressure gaseous TPCs. The key point is to get access to the initial direction of the nucleus recoiling due to the elastic scattering by a WIMP. In this article, we aim at estimating, for each method, how the information of the recoil track initial direction is preserved in different detector materials. We use the SRIM simulation code to emulate the motion of the first recoiling nucleus in each material. We propose the use of a new observable, D, to quantify the preservation of the initial direction of the recoiling nucleus in the detector. We show that in an emulsion mix and an anisotropic crystal, the initial direction is lost very early, while in a typical TPC gas mix, the direction is well preserved.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Impact of micro-telluric lines on precise radial velocities and its correction

Context: In the near future, new instruments such as ESPRESSO will arrive, allowing us to reach a precision in radial-velocity measurements on the order of 10 cm/s. At this level of precision, several noise sources that until now have been outweighed by photon noise will start to contribute significantly to the error budget. The telluric lines that are not neglected by the masks for the radial velocity computation, here called micro-telluric lines, are one such noise source. Aims: In this work we investigate the impact of micro-telluric lines in the radial velocities calculations. We also investigate how to correct the effect of these atmospheric lines on radial velocities. Methods: The work presented here follows two parallel lines. First, we calculated the impact of the micro-telluric lines by multiplying a synthetic solar-like stellar spectrum by synthetic atmospheric spectra and evaluated the effect created by the presence of the telluric lines. Then, we divided HARPS spectra by synthetic atmospheric spectra to correct for its presence on real data and calculated the radial velocity on the corrected spectra. When doing so, one considers two atmospheric models for the synthetic atmospheric spectra: the LBLRTM and TAPAS. Results: We find that the micro-telluric lines can induce an impact on the radial velocities calculation that can already be close to the current precision achieved with HARPS, and so its effect should not be neglected, especially for future instruments such as ESPRESSO. Moreover, we find that the micro-telluric lines' impact depends on factors, such as the radial velocity of the star, airmass, relative humidity, and the barycentric Earth radial velocity projected along the line of sight at the time of the observation.Comment: Accepted in A&