1,816 research outputs found
Dark matter vs. modifications of the gravitational inverse-square law. Results from planetary motion in the solar system
Dark matter or modifications of the Newtonian inverse-square law in the
solar-system are studied with accurate planetary astrometric data. From
extra-perihelion precession and possible changes in the third Kepler's law, we
get an upper limit on the local dark matter density, rho_{DM} < 3*10^{-16}
kg/m^3 at the 2-sigma confidence level. Variations in the 1/r^2 behavior are
considered in the form of either a possible Yukawa-like interaction or a
modification of gravity of MOND type. Up to scales of 10^{11} m,
scale-dependent deviations in the gravitational acceleration are really small.
We examined the MOND interpolating function mu in the regime of strong gravity.
Gradually varying mu suggested by fits of rotation curves are excluded, whereas
the standard form mu(x)= x/(1+x^2)^{1/2} is still compatible with data. In
combination with constraints from galactic rotation curves and theoretical
considerations on the external field effect, the absence of any significant
deviation from inverse square attraction in the solar system makes the range of
acceptable interpolating functions significantly narrow. Future radio ranging
observations of outer planets with an accuracy of few tenths of a meter could
either give positive evidence of dark matter or disprove modifications of
gravity.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
The role of Lambda in the cosmological lens equation
The cosmological constant Lambda affects cosmological gravitational lensing.
Effects due to Lambda can be studied in the framework of the Schwarzschild-de
Sitter spacetime. Two novel contributions, which can not be accounted for by a
proper use of angular diameter distances, are derived. First, a term 2m b
Lambda/3 has to be added to the bending angle, where "m" is the lens mass and
"b" the impact parameter. Second, Lambda brings about a difference in the
redshifts of multiple images. Both effects are quite small for real
astrophysical systems (contribution to the bending < 0.1 microarcsec and
difference in redshift < 10^{-7}).Comment: 4 pages. (Univ. Zuerich); v2: presentation improved, discussion
extended, references to papers posted after the v1-version added. In press on
Phys. Rev. Let
On aberration in gravitational lensing
It is known that a relative translational motion between the deflector and
the observer affects gravitational lensing. In this paper, a lens equation is
obtained to describe such effects on actual lensing observables. Results can be
easily interpreted in terms of aberration of light-rays. Both radial and
transverse motions with relativistic velocities are considered. The lens
equation is derived by first considering geodesic motion of photons in the
rest-frame Schwarzschild spacetime of the lens, and, then, light-ray detection
in the moving observer's frame. Due to the transverse motion images are
displaced and distorted in the observer's celestial sphere, whereas the radial
velocity along the line of sight causes an effective re-scaling of the lens
mass. The Einstein ring is distorted to an ellipse whereas the caustics in the
source plane are still point-like. Either for null transverse motion or up to
linear order in velocities, the critical curve is still a circle with its
radius corrected by a factor (1+z_d) with respect to the static case, z_d being
the relativistic Doppler shift of the deflector. From the observational point
of view, the orbital motion of the Earth can cause potentially observable
corrections of the order of the microarcsec in lensing towards the
super-massive black hole at the Galactic center. On a cosmological scale,
tangential peculiar velocities of cluster of galaxies bring about a typical
flexion in images of background galaxies in the weak lensing regime but future
measurements seem to be too much challenging.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, in press on PR
Fine-grained nociceptive maps in primary somatosensory cortex
Topographic maps of the receptive surface are a fundamental feature of neural organization in many sensory systems. While touch is finely mapped in the cerebral cortex, it remains controversial how precise any cortical nociceptive map may be. Given that nociceptive innervation density is relatively low on distal skin regions such as the digits, one might conclude that the nociceptive system lacks fine representation of these regions. Indeed, only gross spatial organization of nociceptive maps has been reported so far. However, here we reveal the existence of fine-grained somatotopy for nociceptive inputs to the digits in human primary somatosensory cortex (SI). Using painful nociceptive-selective laser stimuli to the hand, and phase-encoded fMRI analysis methods, we observed somatotopic maps of the digits in contralateral SI. These nociceptive maps were highly aligned with maps of non-painful tactile stimuli, suggesting comparable cortical representations for, and possible interactions between, mechanoreceptive and nociceptive signals. Our findings may also be valuable for future studies tracking the timecourse and the spatial pattern of plastic changes in cortical organization involved in chronic pain
Cosmological Parameter Determination in Free-Form Strong Gravitational Lens Modeling
We develop a novel statistical strong lensing approach to probe the
cosmological parameters by exploiting multiple redshift image systems behind
galaxies or galaxy clusters. The method relies on free-form mass inversion of
strong lenses and does not need any additional information other than
gravitational lensing. Since in free-form lensing the solution space is a
high-dimensional convex polytope, we consider Bayesian model comparison
analysis to infer the cosmological parameters. The volume of the solution space
is taken as a tracer of the probability of the underlying cosmological
assumption. In contrast to parametric mass inversions, our method accounts for
the mass-sheet degeneracy, which implies a degeneracy between the steepness of
the profile and the cosmological parameters. Parametric models typically break
this degeneracy, introducing hidden priors to the analysis that contaminate the
inference of the parameters. We test our method with synthetic lenses, showing
that it is able to infer the assumed cosmological parameters. Applied to the
CLASH clusters, the method might be competitive with other probes.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
The weakly perturbed Schwarzschild lens in the strong deflection limit
We investigate the strong deflection limit of gravitational lensing by a
Schwarzschild black hole embedded in an external gravitational field. The study
of this model, analogous to the Chang & Refsdal lens in the weak deflection
limit, is important to evaluate the gravitational perturbations on the
relativistic images that appear in proximity of supermassive black holes hosted
in galactic centers. By a simple dimensional argument, we prove that the tidal
effect on the light ray propagation mainly occurs in the weak field region far
away from the black hole and that the external perturbation can be treated as a
weak field quadrupole term. We provide a description of relativistic critical
curves and caustics and discuss the inversion of the lens mapping. Relativistic
caustics are shifted and acquire a finite diamond shape. Sources inside the
caustics produce four sequences of relativistic images. On the other hand,
retro-lensing caustics are only shifted while remaining point-like to the
lowest order.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure
Development of Bursaphelenchus xylophilus-specific microsatellite markers to assess the genetic diversity of populations from European forests.
The pinewood nematode (PWN), Bursaphelenchus xylophilus (Steiner & Buhrer, 1934), Nickle (Nematoda: Aphelenchoididae) is the causal agent of the pine wilt disease and is currently considered as one of the most important pests and pathogens in the world. Its introduction and spread in new forest ecosystems have considerable consequences both economically and environmentally. Therefore, it is of crucial importance to identify its invasion routes, to determine the origin of new outbreaks and to understand the invasion process of this species to prevent further dissemination of the disease in Europe. In order to address these questions using population genetic approaches, we have been developing a set of PWN-specific microsatellite markers, usable in routine conditions at the individual level, thanks to multiplex PCR coupled with a fast DNA extraction method. Microsatellites were isolated from a genomic library using a procedure combining DNA enrichment and high throughput pyrosequencing as recently described by Malausa et al. (2011). Primers were designed for 71 and 23 perfect and compound microsatellites, respectively, 26 of which were experimentally validated so far. Among them, 18 markers exhibited polymorphism after several rounds of amplification tests. Preliminary results on a set of 190 nematodes from 13 populations indicate a very low level of polymorphism in PWN populations from Portugal and Madeira Island, compared to populations from the native area in North America. The genotyping of a wide collection of samples from Europe, Asia and North America is currently underway in the laboratory. Assessing the genetic diversity of populations indeed constitutes the cornerstone to determine whether the European invasive PWN populations are the result of a single or several independent events of introduction
Variability among four populations of Meloidogyne javanica from Brazil
La morphologie, les profils isoenzymatiques, la caryolgie, la gamme d'hôtes et l'analyse de l'ADN (PCR-RAPD) de quatre populations atypiques de #Meloidogyne javanica originaires du Brésil (P1-P4) ont été comparés à ceux de deux populations typiques appartenant à la même espèce (S1 et S2). Ces approches ont permis la séparation de ces populations en deux groupes : P1, S1 et S2, d'une part et P3 et P4, d'autre part. En se basant sur l'analyse de l'ADN, la population P2 présente une position intermédiaire, mais semble très proche de P1 d'après ses caractères morphologiques et le nombre de ses chromosomes. Elle en diffère cependant par son phénotype estérasique et par sa gamme d'hôtes. La technique de PCR-RAPD a permis la détection d'une variabilité intraspécifique notable. Cela représente un avantage certain par rapport à l'utilisation des isoenzymes et des gammes d'hôtes, dans la mesure où le nombre d'hôtes différentiels et de systèmes enzymatiques disponsibles est limité. Par comparaison avec d'autres études, nos résultats mettent en évidence une variabilité intraspécifique élevée chez #M. javanica, espèce considérée jusque là comme relativement homogène. (Résumé d'auteur
Gravitational lensing by stars with angular momentum
Gravitational lensing by spinning stars, approximated as homogeneous spheres,
is discussed in the weak field limit. Dragging of inertial frames, induced by
angular momentum of the deflector, breaks spherical symmetry. I examine how the
gravito-magnetic field affects image positions, caustics and critical curves.
Distortion in microlensing-induced light curves is also considered.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures; to appear in MNRA
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