286 research outputs found
Radiative non-isothermal Bondi accretion onto a massive black hole
In this paper, we present the classical Bondi accretion theory for the case
of non-isothermal accretion processes onto a supermassive black hole (SMBH),
including the effects of X-ray heating and the radiation force due to electron
scattering and spectral lines. The radiation field is calculated by considering
an optically thick, geometrically thin, standard accretion disk as the emitter
of UV photons and a spherical central object as a source of X-ray emission. In
the present analysis, the UV emission from the accretion disk is assumed to
have an angular dependence, while the X-ray/central object radiation is assumed
to be isotropic. This allows us to build streamlines in any angular direction
we need to. The influence of both types of radiation is evaluated for different
flux fractions of the X-ray and UV emissions with and without the effects of
spectral line driving. We find that the radiation emitted near the SMBH
interacts with the infalling matter and modifies the accretion dynamics. In the
presence of line driving, a transition resembles from pure type 1 & 2 to type 5
solutions (see Fig2.1 of Frank etal. 2002), which takes place regardless of
whether or not the UV emission dominates over the X-ray emission. We compute
the radiative factors at which this transition occurs, and discard type 5
solution from all our models. Estimated values of the accretion radius and
accretion rate in terms of the classical Bondi values are also given. The
results are useful for the construction of proper initial conditions for
time-dependent hydrodynamical simulations of accretion flows onto SMBH at the
centre of galaxies.Comment: 10 pages, 10 figures, Accepted to be published in A&
Controllability of spin-boson systems
In this paper we study the so-called spin-boson system, namely {a two-level
system} in interaction with a distinguished mode of a quantized bosonic field.
We give a brief description of the controlled Rabi and Jaynes--Cummings models
and we discuss their appearance in the mathematics and physics literature. We
then study the controllability of the Rabi model when the control is an
external field acting on the bosonic part. Applying geometric control
techniques to the Galerkin approximation and using perturbation theory to
guarantee non-resonance of the spectrum of the drift operator, we prove
approximate controllability of the system, for almost every value of the
interaction parameter
Adiabatic passage and ensemble control of quantum systems
This paper considers population transfer between eigenstates of a finite
quantum ladder controlled by a classical electric field. Using an appropriate
change of variables, we show that this setting can be set in the framework of
adiabatic passage, which is known to facilitate ensemble control of quantum
systems. Building on this insight, we present a mathematical proof of
robustness for a control protocol -- chirped pulse -- practiced by
experimentalists to drive an ensemble of quantum systems from the ground state
to the most excited state. We then propose new adiabatic control protocols
using a single chirped and amplitude shaped pulse, to robustly perform any
permutation of eigenstate populations, on an ensemble of systems with badly
known coupling strengths. Such adiabatic control protocols are illustrated by
simulations achieving all 24 permutations for a 4-level ladder
Whole genome methylation profiles as independent markers of survival in stage IIIc melanoma patients
Background: The clinical course of cutaneous melanoma (CM) can differ significantly for patients with identical stages of disease, defined clinico-pathologically, and no molecular markers differentiate patients with such a diverse prognosis. This study aimed to define the prognostic value of whole genome DNA methylation profiles in stage III CM.Methods: Genome-wide methylation profiles were evaluated by the Illumina Human Methylation 27 BeadChip assay in short-term neoplastic cell cultures from 45 stage IIIC CM patients. Unsupervised K-means partitioning clustering was exploited to sort patients into 2 groups based on their methylation profiles. Methylation patterns related to the discovered groups were determined using the nearest shrunken centroid classification algorithm. The impact of genome-wide methylation patterns on overall survival (OS) was assessed using Cox regression and Kaplan-Meier analyses.Results: Unsupervised K-means partitioning by whole genome methylation profiles identified classes with significantly different OS in stage IIIC CM patients. Patients with a " favorable" methylation profile had increased OS (P = 0.001, log-rank = 10.2) by Kaplan-Meier analysis. Median OS of stage IIIC patients with a " favorable" vs. " unfavorable" methylation profile were 31.5 and 10.4 months, respectively. The 5 year OS for stage IIIC patients with a " favorable" methylation profile was 41.2% as compared to 0% for patients with an " unfavorable" methylation profile. Among the variables examined by multivariate Cox regression analysis, classification defined by methylation profile was the only predictor of OS (Hazard Ratio = 2.41, for " unfavorable" methylation profile; 95% Confidence Interval: 1.02-5.70; P = 0.045). A 17 gene methylation signature able to correctly assign prognosis (overall error rate = 0) in stage IIIC patients on the basis of distinct methylation-defined groups was also identified.Conclusions: A discrete whole-genome methylation signature has been identified as molecular marker of prognosis for stage IIIC CM patients. Its use in daily practice is foreseeable, and promises to refine the comprehensive clinical management of stage III CM patients. © 2012 Sigalotti et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd
Whole genome methylation profiles as independent markers of survival in stage IIIC melanoma patients
CXCR6, a Newly Defined Biomarker of Tissue-Specific Stem Cell Asymmetric Self-Renewal, Identifies More Aggressive Human Melanoma Cancer Stem Cells
Background: A fundamental problem in cancer research is identifying the cell
type that is capable of sustaining neoplastic growth and its origin from normal
tissue cells. Recent investigations of a variety of tumor types have shown that
phenotypically identifiable and isolable subfractions of cells possess the
tumor-forming ability. In the present paper, using two lineage-related human
melanoma cell lines, primary melanoma line IGR39 and its metastatic derivative
line IGR37, two main observations are reported. The first one is the first
phenotypic evidence to support the origin of melanoma cancer stem cells (CSCs)
from mutated tissue-specific stem cells; and the second one is the
identification of a more aggressive subpopulation of CSCs in melanoma that are
CXCR6+. Conclusions/Significance: The association of a more aggressive tumor
phenotype with asymmetric self-renewal phenotype reveals a previously
unrecognized aspect of tumor cell physiology. Namely, the retention of some
tissue-specific stem cell attributes, like the ability to asymmetrically
self-renew, impacts the natural history of human tumor development. Knowledge
of this new aspect of tumor development and progression may provide new targets
for cancer prevention and treatment
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