The Role of the Magnetic Field in the Interstellar Medium of the Post-Starburst Dwarf Irregular Galaxy NGC 1569

(abridged) NGC 1569 is a nearby dwarf irregular galaxy which underwent an intense burst of star formation 10 to 40 Myr ago. We present observations that reach surface brightnesses two to eighty times fainter than previous radio continuum observations and the first radio continuum polarization observations. These observations allow us to probe the relationship of the magnetic field of NGC 1569 to the rest of its interstellar medium. We confirm the presence of an extended radio continuum halo at 20 cm and see for the first time the radio continuum feature associated with the western Halpha arm at wavelengths shorter than 20cm. The spectral index trends in this galaxy support the theory that there is a convective wind at work in this galaxy. We derive a total magnetic field strength of 38 microG in the central regions and 10-15 microG in the halo. The magnetic field is largely random in the center of the galaxy; the uniform field is ~3-9 microG and is strongest in the halo. We find that the magnetic pressure is the same order of magnitude but, in general, a factor of a few less than the other components of the interstellar medium in this galaxy. The uniform magnetic field in NGC 1569 is closely associated with the Halpha bubbles and filaments. We suggest that a supernova-driven dynamo may be operating in this galaxy. The outflow of hot gas from NGC 1569 is clearly shaping the magnetic field, but the magnetic field in turn may be aiding the outflow by channeling gas out of the disk of the galaxy. Dwarf galaxies with extended radio continuum halos like that of NGC 1569 may play an important role in magnetizing the intergalactic medium.Comment: ApJ accepted. 56 pages, 14 figures (low resolution), 8 tables. Version with high resolution figures at http://www.astro.virginia.edu/~aak8t/data/n1569/ms.pd

Towards the prediction of molecular parameters from astronomical emission lines using Neural Networks

Molecular astronomy is a field that is blooming in the era of large observatories such as the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array (ALMA). With modern, sensitive, and high spectral resolution radio telescopes like ALMA and the Square Kilometer Array, the size of the data cubes is rapidly escalating, generating a need for powerful automatic analysis tools. This work introduces MolPred, a pilot study to perform predictions of molecular parameters such as excitation temperature (T) and column density (log(N)) from input spectra by the use of neural networks. We used as test cases the spectra of CO, HCO, SiO and CHCN between 80 and 400 GHz. Training spectra were generated with MADCUBA, a state-of-the-art spectral analysis tool. Our algorithm was designed to allow the generation of predictions for multiple molecules in parallel. Using neural networks, we can predict the column density and excitation temperature of these molecules with a mean absolute error of 8.5% for CO, 4.1% for HCO, 1.5% for SiO and 1.6% for CHCN. The prediction accuracy depends on the noise level, line saturation, and number of transitions. We performed predictions upon real ALMA data. The values predicted by our neural network for this real data differ by 13% from the MADCUBA values on average. Current limitations of our tool include not considering linewidth, source size, multiple velocity components, and line blending.A.B. wishes to thank Dr. Diego Mardones for his contribution to the early stages of this work. Also, to acknowledge support from the Federico Santa María Technical University General Directorate for Research and Postgraduate Studies (DGIP). JH and SV are funded by the European Research Council (ERC) Advanced Grant MOPPEX 833460. V.M.R. acknowledges support from the Comunidad de Madrid through the Atracción de Talento Investigador Modalidad 1 (Doctores con experiencia) Grant (COOL: Cosmic Origins Of Life; 2019-T1/TIC-15379; PI: V.M. Rivilla)

Starburst Energy Feedback Seen through HCO+/HOC+Emission in NGC 253 from ALCHEMI

Molecular abundances are sensitive to the UV photon flux and cosmic-ray ionization rate. In starburst environments, the effects of high-energy photons and particles are expected to be stronger. We examine these astrochemical signatures through multiple transitions of HCO+ and its metastable isomer HOC+ in the center of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 using data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array large program ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular inventory. The distribution of the HOC+(1-0) integrated intensity shows its association with "superbubbles,"cavities created either by supernovae or expanding H ii regions. The observed HCO+/HOC+ abundance ratios are ∼10-150, and the fractional abundance of HOC+ relative to H2 is ∼1.5 × 10-11-6 × 10-10, which implies that the HOC+ abundance in the center of NGC 253 is significantly higher than in quiescent spiral arm dark clouds in the Galaxy and the Galactic center clouds. Comparison with chemical models implies either an interstellar radiation field of G 0 ⪆ 103 if the maximum visual extinction is ⪆5, or a cosmic-ray ionization rate of ζ ⪆ 10-14 s-1 (3-4 orders of magnitude higher than that within clouds in the Galactic spiral arms) to reproduce the observed results. From the difference in formation routes of HOC+, we propose that a low-excitation line of HOC+ traces cosmic-ray dominated regions, while high-excitation lines trace photodissociation regions. Our results suggest that the interstellar medium in the center of NGC 253 is significantly affected by energy input from UV photons and cosmic rays, sources of energy feedback.N.H. acknowledges support from JSPS KAKENHI grant No. JP21K03634. K.S. has been supported by grants MOST 108-2112-M-001-015 and 109- 2112-M-001-020 from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Taiwan. Y.N. is supported by the NAOJ ALMA Scientific Research grant No. 2017-06B. V.M.R. and L.C. are funded by the Comunidad de Madrid through the Atracción de Talento Investigador (Doctores con experiencia) Grant (COOL: Cosmic Origins Of Life; 2019-T1/TIC-15379)

The EnMAP imaging spectroscopy mission towards operations

EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) is a high-resolution imaging spectroscopy remote sensing mission that was successfully launched on April 1st, 2022. Equipped with a prism-based dual-spectrometer, EnMAP performs observations in the spectral range between 418.2nm and 2445.5nm with 224 bands and a high radiometric and spectral accuracy and stability. EnMAP products, with a ground instantaneous field-of-view of 30m×30m at a swath width of 30km, allow for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of surface variables from frequently and consistently acquired observations on a global scale. This article presents the EnMAP mission and details the activities and results of the Launch and Early Orbit and Commissioning Phases until November 1st, 2022. The mission capabilities and expected performances for the operational Routine Phase are provided for existing and future EnMAP users

Neutral sphingomyelinase mediates the co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse, major depression and bone defects

Mental disorders are highly comorbid and occur together with physical diseases, which are often considered to arise from separate pathogenic pathways. We observed in alcohol-dependent patients increased serum activity of neutral sphingomyelinase. A genetic association analysis in 456,693 volunteers found associations of haplotypes of SMPD3 coding for NSM-2 (NSM) with alcohol consumption, but also with affective state, and bone mineralisation. Functional analysis in mice showed that NSM controls alcohol consumption, affective behaviour, and their interaction by regulating hippocampal volume, cortical connectivity, and monoaminergic responses. Furthermore, NSM controlled bone–brain communication by enhancing osteocalcin signalling, which can independently supress alcohol consumption and reduce depressive behaviour. Altogether, we identified a single gene source for multiple pathways originating in the brain and bone, which interlink disorders of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse—depression/anxiety—bone disorder. Targeting NSM and osteocalcin signalling may, thus, provide a new systems approach in the treatment of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias

Volume density structure of the central molecular zone NGC 253 through ALCHEMI excitation analysis

We present a spatially resolved excitation analysis for the central molecular zone (CMZ) of the starburst galaxy NGC 253 using the data from the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory, whereby we explore parameters distinguishing NGC 253 from the quiescent Milky Way’s Galactic center (GC). Non-LTE analyses employing a hierarchical Bayesian framework are applied to Band 3–7 transitions from nine molecular species to delineate the position–position–velocity distributions of column density (NH2), volume density (nH2), and temperature (Tkin) at 27 pc resolution. Two distinct components are detected: a low-density component with ( ) ( ~ ) - n T H kin , 10 cm , 85 K 3.3 3 2 and a high-density component with ( )( ) ~ - n T H kin , 10 cm , 110 K 4.4 3 2 , separated at ~ - nH 10 cm 3.8 3 2 . NGC 253 has ∼10 times the high-density gas mass and ∼3 times the dense-gas mass fraction of the GC. These properties are consistent with their HCN/CO ratio but cannot alone explain the factor of ∼30 difference in their star formation efficiencies (SFEs), contradicting the dense-gas mass to star formation rate scaling law. The nH2 histogram toward NGC 253 exhibits a shallow declining slope up to ~ - nH 10 cm 6 3 2 , while that of the GC steeply drops in - nH2 10 cm 4.5 3 and vanishes at 105 cm−3. Their dense-gas mass fraction ratio becomes consistent with their SFEs when the threshold nH2 for the dense gas is taken at ∼104.2−4.6 cm−3. The rich abundance of gas above this density range in the NGC 253 CMZ, or its scarcity in the GC, is likely to be the critical difference characterizing the contrasting star formation in the centers of the two galaxies.K.T. was supported by the ALMA Japan Research Grant of NAOJ ALMA Project, NAOJ-ALMA-300. S.V., M.B., K.-Y.H., and J.B. acknowledge support from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program MOPPEX 833460. K.S. acknowledges the support from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) of Taiwan through the grant MOST 111-2112-M-001-039. V.M.R. has received support from the project RYC2020-029387-I funded by MCIN/AEI /10.13039/501100011033. H.K. and T.T. were supported by JSPS KAKENHI grant No. 20H00172 and the NAOJ ALMA Scientific Research grant No. 2020-15A. L.C. acknowledges financial support through the Spanish grant PID2019-105552RB-C41 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Peer reviewe

Identification of Novel Functional Inhibitors of Acid Sphingomyelinase

We describe a hitherto unknown feature for 27 small drug-like molecules, namely functional inhibition of acid sphingomyelinase (ASM). These entities named FIASMAs (Functional Inhibitors of Acid SphingoMyelinAse), therefore, can be potentially used to treat diseases associated with enhanced activity of ASM, such as Alzheimer's disease, major depression, radiation- and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis and endotoxic shock syndrome. Residual activity of ASM measured in the presence of 10 µM drug concentration shows a bimodal distribution; thus the tested drugs can be classified into two groups with lower and higher inhibitory activity. All FIASMAs share distinct physicochemical properties in showing lipophilic and weakly basic properties. Hierarchical clustering of Tanimoto coefficients revealed that FIASMAs occur among drugs of various chemical scaffolds. Moreover, FIASMAs more frequently violate Lipinski's Rule-of-Five than compounds without effect on ASM. Inhibition of ASM appears to be associated with good permeability across the blood-brain barrier. In the present investigation, we developed a novel structure-property-activity relationship by using a random forest-based binary classification learner. Virtual screening revealed that only six out of 768 (0.78%) compounds of natural products functionally inhibit ASM, whereas this inhibitory activity occurs in 135 out of 2028 (6.66%) drugs licensed for medical use in humans

The EnMAP imaging spectroscopy mission towards operations

EnMAP (Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program) is a high-resolution imaging spectroscopy remote sensing mission that was successfully launched on April 1st, 2022. Equipped with a prism-based dual-spectrometer, EnMAP performs observations in the spectral range between 418.2 nm and 2445.5 nm with 224 bands and a high radiometric and spectral accuracy and stability. EnMAP products, with a ground instantaneous field-of-view of 30 m x 30 m at a swath width of 30 km, allow for the qualitative and quantitative analysis of surface variables from frequently and consistently acquired observations on a global scale. This article presents the EnMAP mission and details the activities and results of the Launch and Early Orbit and Commissioning Phases until November 1st, 2022. The mission capabilities and expected performances for the operational Routine Phase are provided for existing and future EnMAP users

Neutral sphingomyelinase mediates the co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse, major depression and bone defects

Abstract Mental disorders are highly comorbid and occur together with physical diseases, which are often considered to arise from separate pathogenic pathways. We observed in alcohol-dependent patients increased serum activity of neutral sphingomyelinase. A genetic association analysis in 456,693 volunteers found associations of haplotypes of SMPD3 coding for NSM-2 (NSM) with alcohol consumption, but also with affective state, and bone mineralisation. Functional analysis in mice showed that NSM controls alcohol consumption, affective behaviour, and their interaction by regulating hippocampal volume, cortical connectivity, and monoaminergic responses. Furthermore, NSM controlled bone–brain communication by enhancing osteocalcin signalling, which can independently supress alcohol consumption and reduce depressive behaviour. Altogether, we identified a single gene source for multiple pathways originating in the brain and bone, which interlink disorders of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias of alcohol abuse—depression/anxiety—bone disorder. Targeting NSM and osteocalcin signalling may, thus, provide a new systems approach in the treatment of a mental–physical co-morbidity trias