17,859 research outputs found
Bringing closure to microlensing mass measurement
Interferometers offer multiple methods for studying microlensing events and
determining the properties of the lenses. We investigate the study of
microlensing events with optical interferometers, focusing on narrow-angle
astrometry, visibility, and closure phase. After introducing the basics of
microlensing and interferometry, we derive expressions for the signals in each
of these three channels. For various forecasts of the instrumental performance,
we discuss which method provides the best means of measuring the lens angular
Einstein radius theta_E, a prerequisite for determining the lens mass. If the
upcoming generation of large-aperture, AO-corrected long baseline
interferometers (e.g. VLTI, Keck, OHANA) perform as well as expected, theta_E
may be determined with signal-to-noise greater than 10 for all bright events.
We estimate that roughly a dozen events per year will be sufficiciently bright
and have long enough durations to allow the measurement of the lens mass and
distance from the ground. We also consider the prospects for a VLTI survey of
all bright lensing events using a Fisher matrix analysis, and find that even
without individual masses, interesting constraints may be placed on the bulge
mass function, although large numbers of events would be required.Comment: 23 pages, aastex, submitted to Ap
The spectral energy distribution of galaxies at z > 2.5: Implications from the Herschel/SPIRE color-color diagram
We use the Herschel SPIRE color-color diagram to study the spectral energy
distribution (SED) and the redshift estimation of high-z galaxies. We compiled
a sample of 57 galaxies with spectroscopically confirmed redshifts and SPIRE
detections in all three bands at , and compared their average SPIRE
colors with SED templates from local and high-z libraries. We find that local
SEDs are inconsistent with high-z observations. The local calibrations of the
parameters need to be adjusted to describe the average colors of high-z
galaxies. For high-z libraries, the templates with an evolution from z=0 to 3
can well describe the average colors of the observations at high redshift.
Using these templates, we defined color cuts to divide the SPIRE color-color
diagram into different regions with different mean redshifts. We tested this
method and two other color cut methods using a large sample of 783
Herschel-selected galaxies, and find that although these methods can separate
the sample into populations with different mean redshifts, the dispersion of
redshifts in each population is considerably large. Additional information is
needed for better sampling.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Bell Inequalities Classifying Bi-separable Three-qubit States
We present a set of Bell inequalities that gives rise to a finer
classification of the entanglement for tripartite systems. These inequalities
distinguish three possible bi-separable entanglements for three-qubit states.
The three Bell operators we employed constitute an external sphere of the
separable cube.Comment: 8 page
Feasibility studies for quarkonium production at a fixed-target experiment using the LHC proton and lead beams (AFTER@LHC)
Used in the fixed-target mode, the multi-TeV LHC proton and lead beams allow
for studies of heavy-flavour hadroproduction with unprecedented precision at
backward rapidities - far negative Feyman-x - using conventional detection
techniques. At the nominal LHC energies, quarkonia can be studies in detail in
p+p, p+d and p+A collisions at sqrt(s_NN) ~ 115 GeV as well as in Pb+p and Pb+A
collisions at sqrt(s_NN) ~ 72 GeV with luminosities roughly equivalent to that
of the collider mode, i.e. up to 20 fb-1 yr-1 in p+p and p+d collisions, up to
0.6 fb-1 yr-1 in p+A collisions and up to 10 nb-1 yr-1 in Pb+A collisions. In
this paper, we assess the feasibility of such studies by performing fast
simulations using the performance of a LHCb-like detector.Comment: 12 pages, 14 figure
Growth inhibition of cytosolic Salmonella by caspase-1 and caspase-11 precedes host cell death
Sensing bacterial products in the cytosol of mammalian cells by NOD-like receptors leads to the activation of caspase-1 inflammasomes, and the production of the pro-inflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)-18 and IL-1ÎČ. In addition, mouse caspase-11 (represented in humans by its orthologs, caspase-4 and caspase-5) detects cytosolic bacterial LPS directly. Activation of caspase-1 and caspase-11 initiates pyroptotic host cell death that releases potentially harmful bacteria from the nutrient-rich host cell cytosol into the extracellular environment. Here we use single cell analysis and time-lapse microscopy to identify a subpopulation of host cells, in which growth of cytosolic Salmonella Typhimurium is inhibited independently or prior to the onset of cell death. The enzymatic activities of caspase-1 and caspase-11 are required for growth inhibition in different cell types. Our results reveal that these proteases have important functions beyond the direct induction of pyroptosis and proinflammatory cytokine secretion in the control of growth and elimination of cytosolic bacteria
Transverse Lepton Polarization in Polarized W Decays
Calculations of transverse polarization of leptons in the decay with polarized 's are presented. Planned accelerators will produce
enough 's for observation of the Standard Model contributions to this
polarization. One loop corrections to the polarization are given; these are too
small to be seen at presently available sources. The exchange of Majorons
will contribute to these polarizations; these may provide limits on the
couplings of these particles to leptons.Comment: 8 pages set in RevTex III and 4 uucompressed figures. This revised
version studies polarization effects due to the exchange of charged Majoron
doublet
The PRIMA fringe sensor unit
The Fringe Sensor Unit (FSU) is the central element of the Phase Referenced
Imaging and Micro-arcsecond Astrometry (PRIMA) dual-feed facility and provides
fringe sensing for all observation modes, comprising off-axis fringe tracking,
phase referenced imaging, and high-accuracy narrow-angle astrometry. It is
installed at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and successfully
servoed the fringe tracking loop during the initial commissioning phase. Unique
among interferometric beam combiners, the FSU uses spatial phase modulation in
bulk optics to retrieve real-time estimates of fringe phase after spatial
filtering. A R=20 spectrometer across the K-band makes the retrieval of the
group delay signal possible. The FSU was integrated and aligned at the VLTI in
summer 2008. It yields phase and group delay measurements at sampling rates up
to 2 kHz, which are used to drive the fringe tracking control loop. During the
first commissioning runs, the FSU was used to track the fringes of stars with
K-band magnitudes as faint as m_K=9.0, using two VLTI Auxiliary Telescopes (AT)
and baselines of up to 96 m. Fringe tracking using two Very Large Telescope
(VLT) Unit Telescopes (UT) was demonstrated. During initial commissioning and
combining stellar light with two ATs, the FSU showed its ability to improve the
VLTI sensitivity in K-band by more than one magnitude towards fainter objects,
which is of fundamental importance to achieve the scientific objectives of
PRIMA.Comment: 19 pages, 23 figures. minor changes and language editing. this
version equals the published articl
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