The supermassive black hole in NGC4486a detected with SINFONI at the VLT

The near-infrared integral field spectrograph SINFONI at the ESO VLT opens a new window for the study of central supermassive black holes. With a near-IR spatial resolution similar to HST optical and the ability to penetrate dust it provides the possibility to explore the low-mass end of the M-sigma relation (sigma<120km/s) where so far very few black hole masses were measured with stellar dynamics. With SINFONI we observed the central region of the low-luminosity elliptical galaxy NGC4486a at a spatial resolution of ~0.1arcsec in the K band. The stellar kinematics was measured with a maximum penalised likelihood method considering the region around the CO absorption band heads. We determined a black hole mass of M_BH=1.25^{+0.75}_{-0.79} x 10^7 M_sun (90% C.L.) using the Schwarzschild orbit superposition method including the full 2-dimensional spatial information. This mass agrees with the predictions of the M-sigma relation, strengthening its validity at the lower sigma end.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by MNRA

Senescence can play an essential role in modelling and estimation of vector based epidemiological indicators: demographical approach

In the paper basic epidemiological indicators, produced by an aging population of vectors, are calculated. In the study we follow two lines: calculations for demographically structured population and individual life-history approach. We discuss the advantages and limitations of these approaches and compare the results of our calculations with epidemiological indicators obtained for non-aging population of vectors.Gibraltar, age effect, disease control, gerontology

Evaluation of microsatellite sequence-tagged site markers for characterizing Vitis vinifera cultivars

Twenty four cultivars and clones from Italian germplasm collections were DNA typed for the four sequence-tagged microsatellite sites VVS1-FP, VVS2-JOE, VVS5-FP and VV29-TAM. The analysis was performed using primers labelled with different fluorochromes and using a GENESCAN apparatus. The results were compared with data obtained for samples from Australian collections. By comparing the combined genotype of the studied loci all the cultivars could be singularly distinguished except Favorita, Pigato and Vermentino, thus supporting the hypothesis that all three are the same cultivar. Cultivars common to Italian and Australian germplasm collections were found to have the same genotype indicating that the study of microsatellites as sequence-tagged site (STS) markers is a suitable universal system for worldwide grapevine cultivar identification. Application of the semi-automated GENESCAN system made the analysis of microsatellite STS markers fast and reproducible between laboratories

Signatures of High-Intensity Compton Scattering

We review known and discuss new signatures of high-intensity Compton scattering assuming a scenario where a high-power laser is brought into collision with an electron beam. At high intensities one expects to see a substantial red-shift of the usual kinematic Compton edge of the photon spectrum caused by the large, intensity dependent, effective mass of the electrons within the laser beam. Emission rates acquire their global maximum at this edge while neighbouring smaller peaks signal higher harmonics. In addition, we find that the notion of the centre-of-mass frame for a given harmonic becomes intensity dependent. Tuning the intensity then effectively amounts to changing the frame of reference, going continuously from inverse to ordinary Compton scattering with the centre-of-mass kinematics defining the transition point between the two.Comment: 25 pages, 16 .eps figure

Equation of state at high densities and modern compact star observations

Recently, observations of compact stars have provided new data of high accuracy which put strong constraints on the high-density behaviour of the equation of state of strongly interacting matter otherwise not accessible in terrestrial laboratories. The evidence for neutron stars with high mass (M =2.1 +/- 0.2 M_sun for PSR J0751+1807) and large radii (R > 12 km for RX J1856-3754) rules out soft equations of state and has provoked a debate whether the occurence of quark matter in compact stars can be excluded as well. In this contribution it is shown that modern quantum field theoretical approaches to quark matter including color superconductivity and a vector meanfield allow a microscopic description of hybrid stars which fulfill the new, strong constraints. The deconfinement transition in the resulting stiff hybrid equation of state is weakly first order so that signals of it have to be expected due to specific changes in transport properties governing the rotational and cooling evolution caused by the color superconductivity of quark matter. A similar conclusion holds for the investigation of quark deconfinement in future generations of nucleus-nucleus collision experiments at low temperatures and high baryon densities such as CBM @ FAIR.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in J. Phys. G. (Special Issue

Log-periodic drift oscillations in self-similar billiards

We study a particle moving at unit speed in a self-similar Lorentz billiard channel; the latter consists of an infinite sequence of cells which are identical in shape but growing exponentially in size, from left to right. We present numerical computation of the drift term in this system and establish the logarithmic periodicity of the corrections to the average drift

Rigorous elimination of fast stochastic variables from the linear noise approximation using projection operators

The linear noise approximation (LNA) offers a simple means by which one can study intrinsic noise in monostable biochemical networks. Using simple physical arguments, we have recently introduced the slow-scale LNA (ssLNA) which is a reduced version of the LNA under conditions of timescale separation. In this paper, we present the first rigorous derivation of the ssLNA using the projection operator technique and show that the ssLNA follows uniquely from the standard LNA under the same conditions of timescale separation as those required for the deterministic quasi-steady state approximation. We also show that the large molecule number limit of several common stochastic model reduction techniques under timescale separation conditions constitutes a special case of the ssLNA.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figure, submitted to Physical Review E; see also BMC Systems Biology 6, 39 (2012

Uncertainty estimates and L_2 bounds for the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation

We consider the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky (KS) equation in one spatial dimension with periodic boundary conditions. We apply a Lyapunov function argument similar to the one first introduced by Nicolaenko, Scheurer, and Temam, and later improved by Collet, Eckmann, Epstein and Stubbe, and Goodman, to prove that ||u||_2 < C L^1.5. This result is slightly weaker than that recently announced by Giacomelli and Otto, but applies in the presence of an additional linear destabilizing term. We further show that for a large class of Lyapunov functions \phi the exponent 1.5 is the best possible from this line of argument. Further, this result together with a result of Molinet gives an improved estimate for L_2 boundedness of the Kuramoto-Sivashinsky equation in thin rectangular domains in two spatial dimensions.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; typos corrected, references added; figure modifie

Variable range hopping and quantum creep in one dimension

We study the quantum non linear response to an applied electric field $E$ of a one dimensional pinned charge density wave or Luttinger liquid in presence of disorder. From an explicit construction of low lying metastable states and of bounce instanton solutions between them, we demonstrate quantum creep $v = e^{- c/E^{1/2}}$ as well as a sharp crossover at $E=E^*$ towards a linear response form consistent with variable range hopping arguments, but dependent only on electronic degrees of freedom

Special Lagrangian cones with higher genus links

For every odd natural number g=2d+1 we prove the existence of a countably infinite family of special Lagrangian cones in C^3 over a closed Riemann surface of genus g, using a geometric PDE gluing method.Comment: 48 page