2,326 research outputs found
The Debye-Waller Factor in solid 3He and 4He
The Debye-Waller factor and the mean-squared displacement from lattice sites
for solid 3He and 4He were calculated with Path Integral Monte Carlo at
temperatures between 5 K and 35 K, and densities between 38 nm^(-3) and 67
nm^(-3). It was found that the mean-squared displacement exhibits finite-size
scaling consistent with a crossover between the quantum and classical limits of
N^(-2/3) and N^(-1/3), respectively. The temperature dependence appears to be
T^3, different than expected from harmonic theory. An anisotropic k^4 term was
also observed in the Debye-Waller factor, indicating the presence of
non-Gaussian corrections to the density distribution around lattice sites. Our
results, extrapolated to the thermodynamic limit, agree well with recent values
from scattering experiments.Comment: 5 figure
High-resolution X-ray spectroscopy of the low and high states of the Seyfert 1 galaxy NGC 4051 with Chandra LETGS
Methods. We analyse two observations taken with the Low Energy Transmission
Grating Spectrometer of Chandra. We investigated the spectral response to a
sudden flux decrease by a factor of 5, which occurred during the second
observation. Results. We detect a highly ionised absorption component with an
outflow velocity of -4670 km/s, one of the highest outflow velocity components
observed in a Seyfert 1 galaxy. The spectra contain a relativistic O VIII Ly
alpha line, and four absorption components spanning a range in ionisation
parameter xi between 0.07 and 3.19. An emission component producing radiative
recombination continua of C VI and C V appears during the low state. The black
body temperature decreases with the drop in flux observed in the second
observation. Conclusions. For all absorber components we exclude that the
ionisation parameter linearly responded to the decrease in flux by a factor of
5. The variability of the absorber suggest that at least three out of four
detected components are located in the range 0.02-1 pc. ABRIDGEDComment: Accepted by A&A, 14 pages, 9 figure
Observational Evidence for Massive Black Holes in the Centers of Active Galaxies
Naturally occurring water vapor maser emission at 1.35 cm wavelength provides
an accurate probe for the study of accretion disks around highly compact
objects, thought to be black holes, in the centers of active galaxies. Because
of the exceptionally fine angular resolution, 200 microarcseconds, obtainable
with very long baseline interferometry, accompanied by high spectral
resolution, < 0.1 km/s, the dynamics and structures of these disks can be
probed with exceptional clarity. The data on the galaxy NGC4258 are discussed
here in detail. The mass of the black hole binding the accretion disk is 3.9
times 10^7 solar masses. Although the accretion disk has a rotational period of
about 800 years, the physical motions of the masers have been directly measured
with VLBI over a period of a few years. These measurements also allow the
distance from the earth to the black hole to be estimated to an accuracy of 4
percent. The status of the search for other maser/black hole candidates is also
discussed.Comment: 24 pages, 11 figures, latex, uses aaspp4 style file. To be published
in the Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics (India), proceedings of the
Discussion Meeting on the Physics of Black Holes, Bangalore, India: December
199
RA-specific expression profiles and new candidate genes
Objective:
To identify rheumatoid arthritis- (RA)-specific profiles of differentially expressed genes.
Methods:
Synovial tissues from RA and osteoarthritis (OA) patients and from normal joints were selected according to their disease-characteristic histology. Gene expression was analyzed using DNA microarrays (GeneChip; Unigene-array) and representational difference analysis (RDA). Data were validated on larger cohorts of patients by RT-PCR.
Results:
Nine hundred and eighty genes were significantly regulated in RA synovial tissue as compared with non-RA. Specialized cluster analysis identified a set of 312 genes as sufficient of unequivocally discriminating RA from non-RA patterns (class discovery). Genes of highest regulation were associated with leukocyte activation (chemokines, chemokine receptors, B- and T-cell genes), endothelial and angiogenic
activation, tissue destruction and remodelling [MMP-3, BMP-4, TIMPs]. Interestingly, a large set of genes was down-regulated in RA (TGF-β superfamily, apoptosis-related genes, transcription factors). Osteopontin-like genes (n=46) — up-regulated in RA — and glutathione peroxidase-3-like genes (n=85) — down-regulated in RA — yielded the highest correlation coefficients (>0.94). Megakaryocyte stimulating factor (MSF), down-regulated in a subset of RA, may hold the key to subclassification: a loss-of-function mutation in the MSF-encoding gene leads to synovial hyperplasia in camptodactyly–arthropathy–coxa vara–pericarditis syndrome, and, as in RA, also to pericardial involvement. A further candidate, vitamin-D3-up-regulated protein-1 (VDUP-1), is regulated like MSF and predisposes to premature coronary artery disease when mutated, again a feature of a subset of RA.
Conclusion:
RA specific gene profiles were identified and are useful to improve diagnostics of the disease. Novel gene candidates not yet in the focus of RA pathogenesis have been identified that are likely to further the understanding of RA
Supermassive Black Holes in Galactic Nuclei: Past, Present and Future Research
This review discusses the current status of supermassive black hole research,
as seen from a purely observational standpoint. Since the early '90s, rapid
technological advances, most notably the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope,
the commissioning of the VLBA and improvements in near-infrared speckle imaging
techniques, have not only given us incontrovertible proof of the existence of
supermassive black holes, but have unveiled fundamental connections between the
mass of the central singularity and the global properties of the host galaxy.
It is thanks to these observations that we are now, for the first time, in a
position to understand the origin, evolution and cosmic relevance of these
fascinating objects.Comment: Invited Review, 114 pages. Because of space requirements, this
version contains low resolution figures. The full resolution version can be
downloaded from http://www.physics.rutgers.edu/~lff/publications.htm
Deep Optical Imaging of A Compact Group of Galaxies, Seyfert's Sextet
In order to investigate the dynamical status of Seyfert's Sextet (SS), we
have obtained a deep optical () image of this group. Our image shows that
a faint envelope, down to a surface brightness (AB) mag arcsec, surrounds the member galaxies. This envelope is
irregular in shape. It is likely that this shape is attributed either to
recent-past or to on-going galaxy interactions in SS. If the member galaxies
have experienced a number of mutual interactions over a long timescale, the
shape of the envelope should be rounder. Therefore, the irregular-shaped
morphology suggests that SS is in an early phase of dynamical interaction among
the member galaxies. It is interesting to note that the soft X-ray image
obtained with ROSAT (Pildis et al. 1995) is significantly similar in
morphology. We discuss the possible future evolution of SS briefly.Comment: 7 pages text (emulateapj LaTeX), 8 figures (3 EPS files, 1 PostScript
file, and 4 jpeg files) figures, The Astronomical Journal, 120, No. 5 inpres
Measurement of the ratio of branching fractions BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma)
The ratio of branching fractions of the radiative B decays B0 -> K*0 gamma
and Bs0 -> phi gamma has been measured using 0.37 fb-1 of pp collisions at a
centre of mass energy of sqrt(s) = 7 TeV, collected by the LHCb experiment. The
value obtained is BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma)/BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) = 1.12 +/- 0.08
^{+0.06}_{-0.04} ^{+0.09}_{-0.08}, where the first uncertainty is statistical,
the second systematic and the third is associated to the ratio of fragmentation
fractions fs/fd. Using the world average for BR(B0 -> K*0 gamma) = (4.33 +/-
0.15) x 10^{-5}, the branching fraction BR(Bs0 -> phi gamma) is measured to be
(3.9 +/- 0.5) x 10^{-5}, which is the most precise measurement to date.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, 2 table
Measurement of the CKM angle γ from a combination of B±→Dh± analyses
A combination of three LHCb measurements of the CKM angle γ is presented. The decays B±→D K± and
B±→Dπ± are used, where D denotes an admixture of D0 and D0 mesons, decaying into K+K−, π+π−, K±π∓, K±π∓π±π∓, K0Sπ+π−, or K0S K+K− final states. All measurements use a dataset corresponding to 1.0 fb−1 of integrated luminosity. Combining results from B±→D K± decays alone a best-fit value of
γ =72.0◦ is found, and confidence intervals are set
γ ∈ [56.4,86.7]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [42.6,99.6]◦ at 95% CL.
The best-fit value of γ found from a combination of results from B±→Dπ± decays alone, is γ =18.9◦,
and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [7.4,99.2]◦ ∪ [167.9,176.4]◦ at 68% CL
are set, without constraint at 95% CL. The combination of results from B± → D K± and B± → Dπ±
decays gives a best-fit value of γ =72.6◦ and the confidence intervals
γ ∈ [55.4,82.3]◦ at 68% CL,
γ ∈ [40.2,92.7]◦ at 95% CL
are set. All values are expressed modulo 180◦, and are obtained taking into account the effect of D0–D0
mixing
Observation of two new baryon resonances
Two structures are observed close to the kinematic threshold in the mass spectrum in a sample of proton-proton collision data, corresponding
to an integrated luminosity of 3.0 fb recorded by the LHCb experiment.
In the quark model, two baryonic resonances with quark content are
expected in this mass region: the spin-parity and
states, denoted and .
Interpreting the structures as these resonances, we measure the mass
differences and the width of the heavier state to be
MeV,
MeV,
MeV, where the first and second
uncertainties are statistical and systematic, respectively. The width of the
lighter state is consistent with zero, and we place an upper limit of
MeV at 95% confidence level. Relative
production rates of these states are also reported.Comment: 17 pages, 2 figure
Validity and Reproducibility of Measurement of Islet Autoreactivity by T-Cell Assays in Subjects With Early Type 1 Diabetes
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