The First Data Release of the Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey

The Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) is a new wide-field legacy imaging survey in the northern Galactic cap using the 2.3m Bok telescope. The survey will cover about 5400 deg$^2$ in the $g$ and $r$ bands, and the expected 5$\sigma$ depths (corrected for the Galactic extinction) in the two bands are 24.0 and 23.4 mag, respectively. BASS started observations in January 2015, and has completed about 41% of the whole area as of July 2016. The first data release contains both calibrated images and photometric catalogs obtained in 2015 and 2016. The depths of single-epoch images in the two bands are 23.4 and 22.9 mag, and the full depths of three epochs are about 24.1 and 23.5 mag, respectively.Comment: 16 pages, published by A

A wide star–black-hole binary system from radial-velocity measurements

All stellar mass black holes have hitherto been identified by X-rays emitted by gas that is accreting onto the black hole from a companion star. These systems are all binaries with black holes below 30 M$_{\odot}$$^{1-4}$. Theory predicts, however, that X-ray emitting systems form a minority of the total population of star-black hole binaries$^{5,6}$. When the black hole is not accreting gas, it can be found through radial velocity measurements of the motion of the companion star. Here we report radial velocity measurements of a Galactic star, LB-1, which is a B-type star, taken over two years. We find that the motion of the B-star and an accompanying H$\alpha$ emission line require the presence of a dark companion with a mass of $68^{+11}_{-13}$ M$_{\odot}$, which can only be a black hole. The long orbital period of 78.9 days shows that this is a wide binary system. The gravitational wave experiments have detected similarly massive black holes$^{7,8}$, but forming such massive ones in a high-metallicity environment would be extremely challenging to current stellar evolution theories$^{9-11}$.Comment: Published in Nature on Nov 28, 201

The Third Data Release of the Beijing–Arizona Sky Survey

The Beijing–Arizona Sky Survey (BASS) is a wide and deep imaging survey that covers a 5400 deg2 area in the northern Galactic cap with the 2.3 m Bok telescope using two filters (g and r bands). The Mosaic z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS) covers the same area in the z band with the 4 m Mayall telescope. These two surveys will be used for spectroscopic targeting by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) in the northernmost portion of the DESI footprint. This paper describes the third data release (DR3) of BASS, which contains the photometric data from all BASS and MzLS observations from 2015 January until the completion of BASS in 2019 March. The median astrometric precision relative to Gaia positions is about 17 mas and the median photometric offset relative to the Pan-STARRS1 photometry is within 5 mmag. The median 5σ AB magnitude depths for point sources are 24.2, 23.6, and 23.0 mag for the g, r, and z bands, respectively. The photometric depth within the survey area is highly homogeneous, and the difference between the 20% and 80% depth is less than 0.3 mag. The DR3 data, including raw data, calibrated single-epoch images, single-epoch photometric catalogs, stacked images, and co-added photometric catalogs, are publicly accessible at http://batc.bao.ac.cn/BASS/doku.php?id=datarelease:home.National Basic Research Program of China (973 Program)National Basic Research Program of China [2015CB857004, 2017YFA0402600, 2014CB845704]; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC)National Natural Science Foundation of China [11433005, 11673027, 11733007, 11320101002, 11421303, 11973038, 11733006]; Chinese Academy of SciencesChinese Academy of Sciences [114A11KYSB20160057]; Office of Science, Office of High Energy Physics of the U.S. Department of EnergyUnited States Department of Energy (DOE) [DE-AC02-05CH1123, DE-SC0019022]; Dark Energy Camera Legacy Survey (DECaLS; NOAO) [2014B-0404]; Beijing-Arizona Sky Survey (BASS; NOAO) [2015A-0801]; Mayall z-band Legacy Survey (MzLS; NOAO) [2016A-0453]; National Astronomical Observatories of China; Chinese Academy of Sciences (Strategic Priority Research Program "The Emergence of Cosmological Structures") [XDB09000000]; Special Fund for Astronomy from the Ministry of Finance; Chinese National Natural Science FoundationNational Natural Science Foundation of China [11433005]; National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNational Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) [NNX08AR22G]; National Science FoundationNational Science Foundation (NSF) [AST-1238877]This item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Microarray Analyses of Peripheral Blood Cells Identifies Unique Gene Expression Signature in Psoriatic Arthritis

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is a chronic and erosive form of arthritis of unknown cause. We aimed to characterize the PsA phenotype using gene expression profiling and comparing it with healthy control subjects and patients rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Peripheral blood cells (PBCs) of 19 patients with active PsA and 19 age- and sex-matched control subjects were used in the analyses of PsA, with blood samples collected in PaxGene tubes. A significant alteration in the pattern of expression of 313 genes was noted in the PBCs of PsA patients on Affymetrix U133A arrays: 257 genes were expressed at reduced levels in PsA, and 56 genes were expressed at increased levels, compared with controls. Downregulated genes tended to cluster to certain chromosomal regions, including those containing the psoriasis susceptibility loci PSORS1 and PSORS2. Among the genes with the most significantly reduced expression were those involved in downregulation or suppression of innate and acquired immune responses, such as SIGIRR, STAT3, SHP1, IKBKB, IL-11RA, and TCF7, suggesting inappropriate control that favors proin-flammatory responses. Several members of the MAPK signaling pathway and tumor suppressor genes showed reduced expression. Three proinflammatory genes—S100A8, S100A12, and thioredoxin—showed increased expression. Logistic regression and recursive partitioning analysis determined that one gene, nucleoporin 62 kDa, could correctly classify all controls and 94.7% of the PsA patients. Using a dataset of 48 RA samples for comparison, the combination of two genes, MAP3K3 followed by CACNA1S, was enough to correctly classify all RA and PsA patients. Thus, PBC gene expression profiling identified a gene expression signature that differentiated PsA from RA, and PsA from controls. Several novel genes were differentially expressed in PsA and may prove to be diagnostic biomarkers or serve as new targets for the development of therapies