7,268 research outputs found
UV Interstellar Absorption Lines towards the Starburst Dwarf Galaxy NGC 1705
Archival Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph low-resolution spectra of NGC
1705, with wavelength ranges 1170.3 to 1461.7 A and 1453.5 to 1740.1 A and a
velocity resolution of about 100 km\s, have been used to derive the velocity
structure and equivalent widths of the absorption lines of Si II 1190.42,
1260.42, 1304.37 and 1526.71 A, S II 1253 , Al II 1670.79 Aand Fe II 1608.45 A
in this sightline. Three relatively narrow absorption components are seen at
LSR velocities --20 km/s, 260 km/sand 540 km/s. Arguments are presented to show
these absorption features are interstellar rather than stellar in origin based
on a comparison with the C III 1175.7 A absorption feature. We identify the
--20 km/s component with Milky Way disk/halo gas and the 260 km/s component
with an isolated high-velocity cloud HVC 487. This small HVC is located about
10 degrees from the H I gas which envelops the Magellanic Clouds and the
Magellanic Stream (MS). The (Si/H) ratio for this HVC is > 0.6 (Si/H)solar
which together with velocity agreement, suggests association with the
Magellanic Cloud and MS gas. H-alpha emission line kinematics of NGC 1705 show
the presence of a kpc-scale expanding supershell of ionized gas centered on the
central nucleus with a blue-shifted emission component at 540 km/s (Meurer et
al. 1992). We identify the 540 km/s absorption component seen in the GHRS
spectra with the front side of this expanding, ionized supershell. The most
striking feature of this component is strong Si II and Al II absorption but
weak Fe II 1608 A absorption. The low Fe II column density derived is most
likely intrinsic since it cannot be accounted for by ionization corrections or
dust depletion. Due to their shallow gravitational potential wells, dwarf
galaxies have small gravitational binding energies and are vulnerable to largeComment: 15 pages, LaTEX, 1 figure. Accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal Letter
Optical Photometry of the GRB 010222 Afterglow
The optical afterglow of GRB 010222 was observed using the recently installed
2-m telescope at the Indian Astronomical Observatory, Hanle, and the telescopes
at the Vainu Bappu Observatory, Kavalur, beginning ~ 0.6 day after the
detection of the event. The results based on these photometric observations
combined with others reported in the literature are presented in this paper.
The R band light curve shows an initial decline of intensities proportional to
t^{-0.542} which steepens, after 10.3 hours, to t^{-1.263}. Following the model
of collimated outflow, the early break in the light curve implies a very narrow
beam angle (~ 2-3 deg). The two decay rates are consistent with the standard
jet model in a uniform density ambient medium, but require a hard spectrum of
electron power density with p ~ 1.5. The R band light between 14 and 17 hours
since outburst departs from the power law fit by 0.1 mag and shows some
evidence for fluctuations over timescales of an hour in the observer's frame.
Such deviations are expected due to density inhomogeneities if the ambient
medium is similar to the local interstellar medium. GRB 010222 is thus an
example of a highly collimated outflow with a hard spectrum of electron energy
distribution in normal interstellar environment.Comment: 15 pages, Latex, including 2 postscript figures, to appear in the
Bull. astro. Soc. India, September 2001 issu
A Budding-Defective M2 Mutant Exhibits Reduced Membrane Interaction, Insensitivity To Cholesterol, And Perturbed Interdomain Coupling
Influenza A M2 is a membrane-associated protein with a C-terminal amphipathic helix that plays a cholesterol-dependent role in viral budding. An M2 mutant with alanine substitutions in the C-terminal amphipathic helix is deficient in viral scission. With the goal of providing atomic-level understanding of how the wild-type protein functions, we used a multipronged site-directed spin labeling electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy (SDSL-EPR) approach to characterize the conformational properties of the alanine mutant. We spin-labeled sites in the transmembrane (TM) domain and the C-terminal amphipathic helix (AH) of wild-type (WT) and mutant M2, and collected information on line shapes, relaxation rates, membrane topology, and distances within the homotetramer in membranes with and without cholesterol. Our results identify marked differences in the conformation and dynamics between the WT and the alanine mutant. Compared to WT, the dominant population of the mutant AH is more dynamic, shallower in the membrane, and has altered quaternary arrangement of the C-terminal domain. While the AH becomes more dynamic, the dominant population of the TM domain of the mutant is immobilized. The presence of cholesterol changes the conformation and dynamics of the WT protein, while the alanine mutant is insensitive to cholesterol. These findings provide new insight into how M2 may facilitate budding. We propose the AH–membrane interaction modulates the arrangement of the TM helices, effectively stabilizing a conformational state that enables M2 to facilitate viral budding. Antagonizing the properties of the AH that enable interdomain coupling within M2 may therefore present a novel strategy for anti-influenza drug design
New bounds on the neutrino magnetic moment from the plasma induced neutrino chirality flip in a supernova
The neutrino chirality-flip process under the conditions of the supernova
core is investigated in detail with the plasma polarization effects in the
photon propagator taken into account, in a more consistent way than in earlier
publications. It is shown in part that the contribution of the proton fraction
of plasma is essential. New upper bounds on the neutrino magnetic moment are
obtained: mu_nu < (0.5 - 1.1) 10^{-12} mu_B from the limit on the supernova
core luminosity for nu_R emission, and mu_nu < (0.4 - 0.6) 10^{-12} mu_B from
the limit on the averaged time of the neutrino spin-flip. The best upper bound
on the neutrino magnetic moment from SN1987A is improved by the factor of 3 to
7.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 7 EPS figures, submitted to Journal of Cosmology and
Astroparticle Physic
Information Needs of Library Users of Selective Metallurgical Institutions in Jharkhand
This paper highlights on the R&D information needs of scientists, engineers, managers and
researchers in the field of metallurgy working in selective metallurgical institutions in Jharkhand, India.
The study revealed that the R&D groups of these organisations used a variety of formal and informal
information sources effectively in meeting their research information needs. Apart from literature search,
the teams attend meetings, discussions, seminars, workshops and conferences as the major informal
sources of acquiring knowledge, sharing experiences with their colleagues and experts and to establish
professional contacts for exchange of knowledge. Government-funded organisations have a provision
of regular budget to support their knowledge resources whereas public funded organisations are mostly
project-based funding and fluctuates from time to time as also in the case of privately funded, which are
mostly need-based. Similar is the case for document procurement services and knowledge sharing in all
the three kinds of metallurgical organisations
Type Ia supernovae SN 2013bz, PSN J0910+5003 and ASASSN-16ex: similar to 09dc-like?
We present optical photometric and spectroscopic studies of three supernovae
(SNe) SN 2013bz, PSN J0910+5003 and ASASSN-16ex. UV-optical photometric data of
ASASSN-16ex obtained with Swift-UVOT are also analyzed. These objects were
initially classified as 09dc-like type Ia SNe. The decline rate parameters
() are derived as 0.92 0.04 (SN 2013bz), 0.70
0.05 (PSN J0910+5003) and 0.73 0.03 (ASASSN-16ex). The estimated
band absolute magnitudes at maximum: 19.61 0.20 mag for SN 2013bz,
19.44 0.20 mag for PSN J0910+5003 and 19.78 0.20 mag for
ASASSN-16ex indicate that all the three objects are relatively bright. The peak
bolometric luminosities for these objects are derived as 43.38 0.07 erg s, 43.26 0.07 erg
s and 43.40 0.06 erg s, respectively. The spectral and
velocity evolution of SN 2013bz is similar to a normal SN Ia, hence it appears
to be a luminous, normal type Ia supernova. On the other hand, the light curves
of PSN J0910+5003 and ASASSN-16ex are broad and exhibit properties similar to
09dc-like SNe Ia. Their spectroscopic evolution shows similarity with 09dc-like
SNe, strong CII lines are seen in the pre-maximum spectra of these two events.
Their photospheric velocity evolution is similar to SN 2006gz. Further, in the
UV bands, ASASSN-16ex is very blue like other 09dc-like SNe Ia.Comment: 19 pages, 20 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Night sky at the Indian Astronomical Observatory during 2000-2008
We present an analysis of the optical night sky brightness and extinction
coefficient measurements in UBVRI at the Indian Astronomical Observatory (IAO),
Hanle, during the period 2003-2008. They are obtained from an analysis of CCD
images acquired at the 2 m Himalayan Chandra Telescope at IAO. Night sky
brightness was estimated using 210 HFOSC images obtained on 47 nights and
covering the declining phase of solar activity cycle-23. The zenith corrected
values of the moonless night sky brightness in mag/square arcsecs are 22.14(U),
22.42(B), 21.28(V), 20.54(R) and 18.86(I) band. This shows that IAO is a dark
site for optical observations. No clear dependency of sky brightness with solar
activity is found. Extinction values at IAO are derived from an analysis of
1325 images over 58 nights. They are found to be 0.36 in U-band, 0.21 in
B-band, 0.12 in V-band, 0.09 in R-band and 0.05 in I-band. On average,
extinction during the summer months is slightly larger than that during the
winter months. No clear evidence for a correlation between extinction in all
bands and the average night time wind speed is found. Also presented here is
the low resolution moonless optical night sky spectrum for IAO covering the
wavelength range 3000-9300 \AA. Hanle region thus has the required
characteristics of a good astronomical site in terms of night sky brightness
and extinction, and could be a natural candidate site for any future large
aperture Indian optical-infrared telescope(s).Comment: 18 pages, 7 figures, uses basi.cls, accepted for publication in
Bulletin of the Astronomical Society of Indi
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