75 research outputs found
Superconductivity in undoped T' cuprates with Tc over 30 K
Undoped cuprates have long been considered to be antiferromagnetic
insulators. In this article, however, we report that superconductivity is
achieved in undoped T'-RE2CuO4 (RE = Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, and Gd). Our discovery was
performed by using metal-organic decomposition (MOD), an inexpensive and
easy-to-implement thin-film process. The keys to prepare the superconducting
films are firing with low partial-pressure of oxygen and reduction at low
temperatures. The highest Tc of undoped T'-RE2CuO4 is over 30 K, substantially
higher than "electron-doped" analogs. Remarkably, Gd2CuO4, even the derivatives
of which have not shown superconductivity so far, gets superconducting with
Tconset as high as ~ 20 K. The implication of our discovery is briefly
discussed.Comment: 22 pages, 5 figures, submitted to Physical Review Letter
The first year of Antarctic VLBI observations
We are undertaking a series of geodetic VLBI observations between the Syowa Station 11-m antenna in Antarctica, and the 26-m antennas in Hobart Tasmania and Hartebeesthoek South Africa. These observations are the beginning of our campaign to monitor the motion and stability of the Antarctic plate. We describe here the results of the first year\u27s observations made during the southern summer and winter of 1998. Two mutually incompatible recording systems, K4 and S2, are used. The Mitaka FX Correlator was used to correlate these data. By using software called CALC3/MSOLV, the mean position of the antenna\u27s geodetic reference point was found to be X=1766194.152±0.006m, Y=1460410.923±0.005m and Z=- 5932273.329±0.015m at the epoch of 1998.9 in the International Terrestrial Reference Frame 2000 (ITRF2000) system. From a comparison with measurements made with other space geodetic techniques we estimate that our results have typical uncertainties of no more than 2 to 3cm in each coordinate
A non-carboxylating pentose bisphosphate pathway in halophilic archaea
Bacteria and Eucarya utilize the non-oxidative pentose phosphate pathway to direct the ribose moieties of nucleosides to central carbon metabolism. Many archaea do not possess this pathway, and instead, Thermococcales utilize a pentose bisphosphate pathway involving ribose-1, 5-bisphosphate (R15P) isomerase and ribulose-1, 5-bisphosphate (RuBP) carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). Intriguingly, multiple genomes from halophilic archaea seem only to harbor R15P isomerase, and do not harbor Rubisco. In this study, we identify a previously unrecognized nucleoside degradation pathway in halophilic archaea, composed of guanosine phosphorylase, ATP-dependent ribose-1-phosphate kinase, R15P isomerase, RuBP phosphatase, ribulose-1-phosphate aldolase, and glycolaldehyde reductase. The pathway converts the ribose moiety of guanosine to dihydroxyacetone phosphate and ethylene glycol. Although the metabolic route from guanosine to RuBP via R15P is similar to that of the pentose bisphosphate pathway in Thermococcales, the downstream route does not utilize Rubisco and is unique to halophilic archaea
Astrometry of Water Maser Sources in Nearby Molecular Clouds with VERA - II. SVS 13 in NGC 1333
We report on the results of multi-epoch VLBI observations with VERA (VLBI
Exploration of Radio Astrometry) of the 22 GHz H2O masers associated with the
young stellar object SVS 13 in the NGC 1333 region. We have carried out
phase-referencing VLBI astrometry and measured an annual parallax of the maser
features in SVS 13 of 4.25+/-0.32 mas, corresponding to the distance of
235+/-18 pc from the Sun. Our result is consistent with a photometric distance
of 220 pc previously reported. Even though the maser features were detectable
only for 6 months, the present results provide the distance to NGC 1333 with
much higher accuracy than photometric methods. The absolute positions and
proper motions have been derived, revealing that the H2O masers with the LSR
(local standard of rest) velocities of 7-8 km s-1 are most likely associated
with VLA4A, which is a radio counterpart of SVS 13. The origin of the observed
proper motions of the maser features are currently difficult to attribute to
either the jet or the rotating circumstellar disk associated with VLA4A, which
should be investigated through future high-resolution astrometric observations
of VLA4A and other radio sources in NGC 1333.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures. PASJ, in press (2008, Vol. 60, No. 1
Astrometry of Galactic Star Forming Region Sharpless 269 with VERA : Parallax Measurements and Constraint on Outer Rotation Curve
We have performed high-precision astrometry of H2O maser sources in Galactic
star forming region Sharpless 269 (S269) with VERA. We have successfully
detected a trigonometric parallax of 189+/-8 micro-arcsec, corresponding to the
source distance of 5.28 +0.24/-0.22 kpc. This is the smallest parallax ever
measured, and the first one detected beyond 5 kpc. The source distance as well
as proper motions are used to constrain the outer rotation curve of the Galaxy,
demonstrating that the difference of rotation velocities at the Sun and at S269
(which is 13.1 kpc away from the Galaxy's center) is less than 3%. This gives
the strongest constraint on the flatness of the outer rotation curve and
provides a direct confirmation on the existence of large amount of dark matter
in the Galaxy's outer disk.Comment: 7 pages and 4 figures, Accepted by PASJ (Vol. 59, No. 5, October 25,
2007 issue
Fundamental Parameters of the Milky Way Galaxy Based on VLBI astrometry
We present analyses to determine the fundamental parameters of the Galaxy
based on VLBI astrometry of 52 Galactic maser sources obtained with VERA, VLBA
and EVN. We model the Galaxy's structure with a set of parameters including the
Galaxy center distance R_0, the angular rotation velocity at the LSR Omega_0,
mean peculiar motion of the sources with respect to Galactic rotation (U_src,
V_src, W_src), rotation-curve shape index, and the V component of the Solar
peculiar motions V_sun. Based on a Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we find
that the Galaxy center distance is constrained at a 5% level to be R_0 = 8.05
+/- 0.45 kpc, where the error bar includes both statistical and systematic
errors. We also find that the two components of the source peculiar motion
U_src and W_src are fairly small compared to the Galactic rotation velocity,
being U_src = 1.0 +/- 1.5 km/s and W_src = -1.4 +/- 1.2 km/s. Also, the
rotation curve shape is found to be basically flat between Galacto-centric
radii of 4 and 13 kpc. On the other hand, we find a linear relation between
V_src and V_sun as V_src = V_sun -19 (+/- 2) km/s, suggesting that the value of
V_src is fully dependent on the adopted value of V_sun. Regarding the rotation
speed in the vicinity of the Sun, we also find a strong correlation between
Omega_0 and V_sun. We find that the angular velocity of the Sun, Omega_sun,
which is defined as Omega_sun = Omega_0 + V_sun/R_0, can be well constrained
with the best estimate of Omega_sun = 31.09 +/- 0.78 km/s/kpc. This corresponds
to Theta_0 = 238 +/- 14 km/s if one adopts the above value of R_0 and recent
determination of V_sun ~ 12 km/s.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figures, PASJ in pres
Absolute Proper Motions of H2O Masers Away from the Galactic Plane Measured with VERA in the "Superbubble" Region NGC 281
We report on absolute proper-motion measurements of an H2O maser source in
the NGC 281 West molecular cloud, which is located ~320 pc above the Galactic
plane and is associated with an HI loop extending from the Galactic plane. We
have conducted multi-epoch phase-referencing observations of the maser source
with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio Astrometry) over a monitoring period of 6
months since May 2006. We find that the H2O maser features in NGC 281 West are
systematically moving toward the southwest and further away from the Galactic
plane with a vertical velocity of ~20-30 km/s at its estimated distance of
2.2-3.5 kpc. Our new results provide the most direct evidence that the gas in
the NGC 281 region on the HI loop was blown out from the Galactic plane, most
likely in a superbubble driven by multiple or sequential supernova explosions
in the Galactic plane.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, PASJ in press (Vol. 59, No. 4; August 25, 2007
issue
Distance to Orion KL Measured with VERA
We present the initial results of multi-epoch VLBI observations of the 22 GHz
H2O masers in the Orion KL region with VERA (VLBI Exploration of Radio
Astrometry). With the VERA dual-beam receiving system, we have carried out
phase-referencing VLBI astrometry and successfully detected an annual parallax
of Orion KL to be 2.29+/-0.10 mas, corresponding to the distance of 437+/-19 pc
from the Sun. The distance to Orion KL is determined for the first time with
the annual parallax method in these observations. Although this value is
consistent with that of the previously reported, 480+/-80 pc, which is
estimated from the statistical parallax method using proper motions and radial
velocities of the H2O maser features, our new results provide the much more
accurate value with an uncertainty of only 4%. In addition to the annual
parallax, we have detected an absolute proper motion of the maser feature,
suggesting an outflow motion powered by the radio source I along with the
systematic motion of source I itself.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. PASJ, in press (Vol. 59, No. 5, October 25, 2007
issue
VLBI Astrometry of AGB Variables with VERA -- A Semiregular Variable S Crateris --
We present a distance measurement for the semiregular variable S Crateris (S
Crt) based on its annual parallax. With the unique dual beam system of the VLBI
Exploration for Radio Astrometry (VERA) telescopes, we measured the absolute
proper motion of a water maser spot associated with S Crt, referred to the
quasar J1147-0724 located at an angular separation of 1.23. In
observations spanning nearly two years, we have detected the maser spot at the
LSR velocity of 34.7 km s, for which we measured the annual parallax of
2.330.13 mas corresponding to a distance of 430 pc. This
measurement has an accuracy one order of magnitude better than the parallax
measurements of HIPPARCOS. The angular distribution and three-dimensional
velocity field of maser spots indicate a bipolar outflow with the flow axis
along northeast-southwest direction. Using the distance and photospheric
temperature, we estimate the stellar radius of S Crt and compare it with those
of Mira variables.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in PASJ (Vol.60, No.5,
October 25, VERA special issue
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