170 research outputs found
Clear evidence for the presence of second-generation asymptotic giant branch stars in metal-poor Galactic globular clusters
Galactic globular clusters (GCs) are known to host multiple stellar
populations: a first generation with a chemical pattern typical of halo field
stars and a second generation (SG) enriched in Na and Al and depleted in O and
Mg. Both stellar generations are found at different evolutionary stages (e.g.,
the main-sequence turnoff, the subgiant branch, and the red giant branch). The
non detection of SG asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in several metal-poor
([Fe/H] < -1) GCs suggests that not all SG stars ascend the AGB phase, and that
failed AGB stars may be very common in metal-poor GCs. This observation
represents a serious problem for stellar evolution and GC formation/evolution
theories. We report fourteen SG-AGB stars in four metal-poor GCs (M 13, M 5, M
3, and M 2) with different observational properties: horizontal branch (HB)
morphology, metallicity, and age. By combining the H-band Al abundances
obtained by the APOGEE survey with ground-based optical photometry, we identify
SG Al-rich AGB stars in these four GCs and show that Al-rich RGB/AGB GC stars
should be Na-rich. Our observations provide strong support for present,
standard stellar models, i.e., without including a strong mass-loss efficiency,
for low-mass HB stars. In fact, current empirical evidence is in agreement with
the predicted distribution of FG and and SG stars during the He-burning stages
based on these standard stellar models.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters (16
pages, 4 figures, and 1 table
New H-band Stellar Spectral Libraries for the SDSS-III/APOGEE survey
The Sloan Digital Sky Survey--III (SDSS--III) Apache Point Observatory
Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) has obtained high resolution (R
22,500), high signal-to-noise ratio ( 100) spectra in the Hband
(1.51.7 m) for about 146,000 stars in the Milky Way galaxy. We
have computed spectral libraries with effective temperature ()
ranging from 3500 to 8000 K for the automated chemical analy\-sis of the survey
data. The libraries, used to derive stellar parameters and abundances from the
APOGEE spectra in the SDSS--III data release 12 (DR12), are based on ATLAS9
model atmospheres and the ASST spectral synthesis code. We present a
second set of libraries based on MARCS model atmospheres and the spectral
synthesis code Turbospectrum. The ATLAS9/ASST ( =
35008000 K) and MARCS/Turbospectrum ( = 35005500 K) grids
cover a wide range of metallicity (2.5 [M/H] 0.5 dex),
surface gravity (0 log 5 dex), microturbulence (0.5
8 km~s), carbon (1 [C/M] 1 dex),
nitrogen (1 [N/M] 1 dex), and -element (1
[/M] 1 dex) variations, having thus seven dimensions. We
compare the ATLAS9/ASST and MARCS/Turbospectrum libraries and apply
both of them to the analysis of the observed Hband spectra of the Sun and
the K2 giant Arcturus, as well as to a selected sample of well-known giant
stars observed at very high-resolution. The new APOGEE libraries are publicly
available and can be employed for chemical studies in the Hband using other
high-resolution spectrographs.Comment: 45 pages, 11 figures; accepted for publication in the Astronomical
Journa
EVIDENCE OF AGB POLLUTION IN GALACTIC GLOBULAR CLUSTERS FROM THE Mg-Al ANTICORRELATIONS OBSERVED BY THE APOGEE SURVEY
We study the formation of multiple populations in globular clusters (GC),
under the hypothesis that stars in the second generation formed from the winds
of intermediate-mass stars, ejected during the asymptotic giant branch (AGB)
phase, possibly diluted with pristine gas, sharing the same chemical
composition of first-generation stars. To this aim, we use the recent APOGEE
data, which provide the surface chemistry of a large sample of giant stars,
belonging to clusters that span a wide metallicity range. The APOGEE data set
is particularly suitable to discriminate among the various pollution scenarios
proposed so far, as it provides the surface abundances of Mg and Al, the two
elements involved in a nuclear channel extremely sensitive to the temperature,
hence to the metallicity of the polluters. The present analysis shows a
remarkable agreement between the observations and the theoretical yields from
massive AGB stars. In particular, the observed extension of the depletion of Mg
and O and the increase in Al is well reproduced by the models and the trend
with the metallicity is also fully accounted for. This study further supports
the idea that AGB stars were the key players in the pollution of the
intra-cluster medium, from which additional generations of stars formed in GC.Comment: Accepted on ApJ letter
Target Selection for the SDSS-IV APOGEE-2 Survey
APOGEE-2 is a high-resolution, near-infrared spectroscopic survey observing
roughly 300,000 stars across the entire sky. It is the successor to APOGEE and
is part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey IV (SDSS-IV). APOGEE-2 is expanding
upon APOGEE's goals of addressing critical questions of stellar astrophysics,
stellar populations, and Galactic chemodynamical evolution using (1) an
enhanced set of target types and (2) a second spectrograph at Las Campanas
Observatory in Chile. APOGEE-2 is targeting red giant branch (RGB) and red
clump (RC) stars, RR Lyrae, low-mass dwarf stars, young stellar objects, and
numerous other Milky Way and Local Group sources across the entire sky from
both hemispheres. In this paper, we describe the APOGEE-2 observational design,
target selection catalogs and algorithms, and the targeting-related
documentation included in the SDSS data releases.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted to A
Target Selection for the Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE)
The Apache Point Observatory Galactic Evolution Experiment (APOGEE) is a
high-resolution infrared spectroscopic survey spanning all Galactic
environments (i.e., bulge, disk, and halo), with the principal goal of
constraining dynamical and chemical evolution models of the Milky Way. APOGEE
takes advantage of the reduced effects of extinction at infrared wavelengths to
observe the inner Galaxy and bulge at an unprecedented level of detail. The
survey's broad spatial and wavelength coverage enables users of APOGEE data to
address numerous Galactic structure and stellar populations issues. In this
paper we describe the APOGEE targeting scheme and document its various target
classes to provide the necessary background and reference information to
analyze samples of APOGEE data with awareness of the imposed selection criteria
and resulting sample properties. APOGEE's primary sample consists of ~100,000
red giant stars, selected to minimize observational biases in age and
metallicity. We present the methodology and considerations that drive the
selection of this sample and evaluate the accuracy, efficiency, and caveats of
the selection and sampling algorithms. We also describe additional target
classes that contribute to the APOGEE sample, including numerous ancillary
science programs, and we outline the targeting data that will be included in
the public data releases.Comment: Accepted to AJ. 31 pages, 11 figure
Co-Administration of IL-1+IL-6+TNF-α with Mycobacterium tuberculosis Infected Macrophages Vaccine Induces Better Protective T Cell Memory than BCG
BCG has been administered globally for more than 75 years, yet tuberculosis (TB) continues to kill more than 2 million people annually. Further, BCG protects childhood TB but is quite inefficient in adults. This indicates that BCG fails to induce long-term protection. Hence there is a need to explore alternative vaccination strategies that can stimulate enduring T cell memory response. Dendritic cell based vaccination has attained extensive popularity following their success in various malignancies. In our previous study, we have established a novel and unique vaccination strategy against Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tb) and Salmonella typhimurium by utilizing infected macrophages (IM). In short-term experiments (30 days), substantial degree of protection was observed. However, remarkable difference was not observed in long-term studies (240 days) due to failure of the vaccine to generate long-lasting memory T cells. Hence, in the present study we employed T cell memory augmenting cytokines IL-1+IL-6+TNF-α and IL-7+IL-15 for the induction of the enhancement of long-term protection by the vaccine. We co-administered the M. tb infected macrophages vaccine with IL-1+IL-6+TNF-α (IM-1.6.α) and IL-7+IL-15 (IM-7.15). The mice were then rested for a reasonably large period (240 days) to study the bona fide T cell memory response before exposing them to aerosolized M. tb. IM-1.6.α but not IM-7.15 significantly improved memory T cell response against M. tb, as evidenced by recall responses of memory T cells, expansion of both central as well as effector memory CD4 and CD8 T cell pools, elicitation of mainly Th1 memory response, reduction in the mycobacterial load and alleviated lung pathology. Importantly, the protection induced by IM-1.6.α was significantly better than BCG. Thus, this study demonstrates that not only antigen-pulsed DCs can be successfully employed as vaccines against cancer and infectious diseases but also macrophages infected with M. tb can be utilized with great efficacy especially in protection against TB
Observation of the Baryonic Flavor-Changing Neutral Current Decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-
We report the first observation of the baryonic flavor-changing neutral
current decay Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- with 24 signal events and a
statistical significance of 5.8 Gaussian standard deviations. This measurement
uses ppbar collisions data sample corresponding to 6.8fb-1 at sqrt{s}=1.96TeV
collected by the CDF II detector at the Tevatron collider. The total and
differential branching ratios for Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu- are measured. We
find B(Lambda_b -> Lambda mu+ mu-) = [1.73+-0.42(stat)+-0.55(syst)] x 10^{-6}.
We also report the first measurement of the differential branching ratio of B_s
-> phi mu+ mu- using 49 signal events. In addition, we report branching ratios
for B+ -> K+ mu+ mu-, B0 -> K0 mu+ mu-, and B -> K*(892) mu+ mu- decays.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, 4 tables. Submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Hydrodynamic slip can align thin nanoplatelets in shear flow
The large-scale processing of nanomaterials such as graphene and MoS2 relies on understanding the flow behaviour of nanometrically-thin platelets suspended in liquids. Here we show, by combining non-equilibrium molecular dynamics and continuum simulations, that rigid nanoplatelets can attain a stable orientation for sufficiently strong flows. Such a stable orientation is in contradiction with the rotational motion predicted by classical colloidal hydrodynamics. This surprising effect is due to hydrodynamic slip at the liquid-solid interface and occurs when the slip length is larger than the platelet thickness; a slip length of a few nanometers may be sufficient to observe alignment. The predictions we developed by examining pure and surface-modified graphene is applicable to different solvent/2D material combinations. The emergence of a fixed orientation in a direction nearly parallel to the flow implies a slip-dependent change in several macroscopic transport properties, with potential impact on applications ranging from functional inks to nanocomposites.Energy Technolog
Ribosomal RNA of Hyacinthus orientalis L. female gametophyte cells before and after fertilization
The nucleolar activity of Hyacinthus orientalis L. embryo sac cells was investigated. The distributions of nascent pre-rRNA (ITS1), 26S rRNA and of the 5S rRNA and U3 snoRNA were determined using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH). Our results indicated the different rRNA metabolism of the H. orientalis female gametophyte cells before and after fertilization. In the target cells for the male gamete, i.e., the egg cell and the central cell whose activity is silenced in the mature embryo sac (Pięciński et al. in Sex Plant Reprod 21:247–257, 2008; Niedojadło et al. in Planta doi:10.1007/s00425-012-1599-9, 2011), rRNA metabolism is directed at the accumulation of rRNPs in the cytoplasm and immature transcripts in the nucleolus. In both cells, fertilization initiates the maturation of the maternal pre-rRNA and the expression of zygotic rDNA. The resumption of rRNA transcription observed in the hyacinth zygote indicates that in plants, there is a different mechanism for the regulation of RNA Pol I activity than in animals. In synergids and antipodal cells, which have somatic functions, the nucleolar activity is correlated with the metabolic activity of these cells and changes in successive stages of embryo sac development
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