QED can explain the non-thermal emission from SGRs and AXPs : Variability

Owing to effects arising from quantum electrodynamics (QED), magnetohydrodynamical fast modes of sufficient strength will break down to form electron-positron pairs while traversing the magnetospheres of strongly magnetised neutron stars. The bulk of the energy of the fast mode fuels the development of an electron-positron fireball. However, a small, but potentially observable, fraction of the energy ($\sim 10^{33}$ ergs) can generate a non-thermal distribution of electrons and positrons far from the star. This paper examines the cooling and radiative output of these particles. Small-scale waves may produce only the non-thermal emission. The properties of this non-thermal emission in the absence of a fireball match those of the quiescent, non-thermal radiation recently observed non-thermal emission from several anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft-gamma repeaters. Initial estimates of the emission as a function of angle indicate that the non-thermal emission should be beamed and therefore one would expect this emission to be pulsed as well. According to this model the pulsation of the non-thermal emission should be between 90 and 180 degrees out of phase from the thermal emission from the stellar surface.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the conference "Isolated Neutron Stars: from the Interior to the Surface" (April 2006, London), eds. D. Page, R. Turolla, & S. Zane, Astrophysics & Space Scienc

Non-adiabatic corrections to elastic scattering of halo nuclei

We derive the formalism for the leading order corrections to the adiabatic approximation to the scattering of composite projectiles. Assuming a two-body projectile of core plus loosely-bound valence particle and a model (the core recoil model) in which the interaction of the valence particle and the target can be neglected, we derive the non-adiabatic correction terms both exactly, using a partial wave analysis, and using the eikonal approximation. Along with the expected energy dependence of the corrections, there is also a strong dependence on the valence-to-core mass ratio and on the strength of the imaginary potential for the core-target interaction, which relates to absorption of the core in its scattering by the target. The strength and diffuseness of the core-target potential also determine the size of the corrections. The first order non-adiabatic corrections were found to be smaller than qualitative estimates would expect. The large absorption associated with the core-target interaction in such halo nuclei as Be11 kills off most of the non-adiabatic corrections. We give an improved estimate for the range of validity of the adiabatic approximation when the valence-target interaction is neglected, which includes the effect of core absorption. Some consideration was given to the validity of the eikonal approximation in our calculations.Comment: 14 pages with 10 figures, REVTeX4, AMS-LaTeX v2.13, submitted to Phys. Rev.

ATLASGAL - environments of 6.7 GHz methanol masers

Using the 870 micron APEX Telescope large area survey of the Galaxy, we have identified 577 submillimetre continuum sources with masers from the methanol multibeam survey in the region 280deg lt ell lt 20deg; |b| lt 1deg.5 94 per cent of methanol masers in the region are associated with submillimetre dust emission. We estimate masses for tilde450 maser-associated sources and find that methanol masers are preferentially associated with massive clumps. These clumps are centrally condensed, with envelope structures that appear to be scale-free, the mean maser position being offset from the peak column density by 0 plusmn 4 arcsec. Assuming a Kroupa initial mass function and a star formation efficiency of tilde30 per cent, we find that over two-thirds of the clumps are likely to form clusters with masses gt20 M$_?$. Furthermore, almost all clumps satisfy the empirical mass-size criterion for massive star formation. Bolometric luminosities taken from the literature for tilde100 clumps range between tilde100 and 10$^6$ L$_?$. This confirms the link between methanol masers and massive young stars for 90 per cent of our sample. The Galactic distribution of sources suggests that the star formation efficiency is significantly reduced in the Galactic Centre region, compared to the rest of the survey area, where it is broadly constant, and shows a significant drop in the massive star formation rate density in the outer Galaxy. We find no enhancement in source counts towards the southern Scutum-Centaurus arm tangent at ell tilde 315deg, which suggests that this arm is not actively forming stars.Peer reviewe

ATLASGAL - towards a complete sample of massive star forming clumps

By matching infrared-selected, massive young stellar objects (MYSOs) and compact HII regions in the Red MSX Source survey to massive clumps found in the submillimetre ATLASGAL (APEX Telescope Large Area Survey of the Galaxy) survey, we have identified ~1000 embedded young massive stars between 280{ring operator} <lPeer reviewedFinal Accepted Versio

Influences of neutron star parameters on evolutions of different types of pulsar; evolutions of anomalous X-ray pulsars, soft gamma repeaters and dim isolated thermal neutron stars on the P-\.{P} diagram

Influences of the mass, moment of inertia, rotation, absence of stability in the atmosphere and some other parameters of neutron stars on the evolution of pulsars are examined. It is shown that the locations and evolutions of soft gamma repeaters, anomalous X-ray pulsars and other types of pulsar on the period versus period derivative diagram can be explained adopting values of B$<10^{14}$ G for these objects. This approach gives the possibility to explain many properties of different types of pulsar.Comment: 18 pages, 1 figur

Monte Carlo integration in Glauber model analysis of reactions of halo nuclei

Reaction and elastic differential cross sections are calculated for light nuclei in the framework of the Glauber theory. The optical phase-shift function is evaluated by Monte Carlo integration. This enables us to use the most accurate wave functions and calculate the phase-shift functions without approximation. Examples of proton nucleus (e.g. p-$^6$He, p-$^6$Li) and nucleus-nucleus (e.g. $^6$He$-^{12}$C) scatterings illustrate the effectiveness of the method. This approach gives us a possibility of a more stringent analysis of the high-energy reactions of halo nuclei.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figure

Identification of gene expression levels in primary melanoma associated with clinically meaningful characteristics

Factors influencing melanoma survival include sex, age, clinical stage, lymph node involvement, as well as Breslow thickness, presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes based on histological analysis of primary melanoma, mitotic rate, and ulceration. Identification of genes whose expression in primary tumors is associated with these key tumor/patient characteristics can shed light on molecular mechanisms of melanoma survival. Here, we show results from a gene expression analysis of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded primary melanomas with extensive clinical annotation. The Cancer Genome Atlas data on primary melanomas were used for validation of nominally significant associations. We identified five genes that were significantly associated with the presence of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes in the joint analysis after adjustment for multiple testing: IL1R2, PPL, PLA2G3, RASAL1, and SGK2. We also identified two genes significantly associated with melanoma metastasis to the regional lymph nodes (PIK3CG and IL2RA), and two genes significantly associated with sex (KDM5C and KDM6A). We found that LEF1 was significantly associated with Breslow thickness and CCNA2 and UBE2T with mitosis. RAD50 was the gene most significantly associated with survival, with a higher level of expression associated with worse survival

On the origin of the zero-resistance anomaly in heavy fermion superconducting Ir: a clue from magnetic field and Rh-doping studies

We present the results of the specific heat and AC magnetic susceptibility measurements of $CeIr_{1-x}Rh_xIn_5$ for x from 0 to 0.5. As x is increased from 0 both quantities reflect the competition between two effects. The first is a suppression of superconductivity below the bulk transition temperature of T$_c = 0.4$ K, which is due to the pair breaking effect of Rh impurities. The second is an increase in the volume fraction of the superconducting regions above T$_c$, which we attribute to defect-induced strain. Analysis of the H-T phase diagram for CeIrIn$_5$obtained from the bulk probes and resistance measurements points to the filamentary origin of the inhomogeneous superconductivity at T$_\rho \approx 1.2$ K, where the resistance drops to zero. The identical anisotropies in the magnetic field dependence of the specific heat and the resistance anomalies in CeIrIn$_5$ indicate that the filamentary superconductivity is intrinsic, involving electrons from the part of the Fermi surface responsible for bulk superconductivity.Comment: 4 page

Electron Spin Resonance Above Tc In Layered Manganites

We have performed electron spin resonance (ESR) and dc magnetization measurements on single crystals of La2(1-x)Sr1+2xMn2O7 up to 800 K with special emphasis on the x = 0.4 composition. The ESR linewidth shows behavior similar to that observed in the three-dimensional perovskites and above ∼500 K can be described by a universal expression ΔHpp(T)=[C/Tχ(T)]ΔHpp (∞). The linewidth and the resonance field become anisotropic below ∼500 K. The anisotropy in the resonance field is proportional to the magnetization M, and we concluded that it is intrinsic to the system. We show that demagnetization effects can explain only part of the anisotropy. The remainder arises from short-range uniaxial terms in the Hamiltonian that are associated with the crystal field and Dzialozhinsky-Moriya interactions. The anisotropy in the linewidth is attributed to the easy-plane ferromagnetic ordering, which also arises from the short-range anisotropy.631717441311744136Ruddlesden, S.N., Popper, P., (1958) Acta Crystallogr., 11, p. 54Moritomo, Y., Asamitsu, A., Kuwahara, H., Tokura, Y., (1996) Nature (London), 380, p. 141Causa, M.T., Tovar, M., Caneiro, A., Prado, F., Ibanez, G., Ramos, C.A., Butera, A., Oseroff, S.B., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 58, p. 3233Causa, M.T., Alejandro, G., Tovar, M., Pagliuso, P.G., Rettori, C., Oseroff, S.B., Subramanian, M.A., (1999) J. Appl. Phys., 85, p. 5408Huber, D.L., Alejandro, G., Caneiro, A., Causa, M.T., Prado, F., Tovar, M., Oseroff, S.B., (1999) Phys. Rev. B, 60, p. 12155Oseroff, S.B., Moreno, N.O., Pagliuso, P.G., Rettori, C., Huber, D.L., Gardner, J.S., Sarrao, J.L., Alascio, B.R., (2000) J. Appl. Phys., 87, p. 5810Seehra, M.S., Ibrahim, M.M., Babu, V.S., Srinivasan, G., (1996) J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 8, p. 11283Dominguez, M., Lofland, S.E., Bhagat, S.M., Raychaudhuri, A.K., Ju, H.L., Venkates, T., Greene, R.L., (1996) Solid State Commun., 97, p. 193Lofland, S.E., Kim, P., Dahiroc, P., Bhagat, S.M., Tyagi, S.D., Karabashev, S.G., Shultyatev, D.A., Mukovskii, Y., (1997) Phys. Lett. A, 233, p. 476Kimura, T., Tomioka, Y., Kuwahara, H., Asamitsu, A., Tamura, M., Tokura, Y., (1996) Science, 274, p. 1698Perring, T.G., Aeppli, G., Moritomo, Y., Tokura, Y., (1997) Phys. Rev. Lett., 78, p. 3197Zhou, J.-S., Goodenough, J.B., Mitchell, J.F., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 58, p. 579Zhou, J.-S., Goodenough, J.B., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 80, p. 2665Kelley, T.M., Argyriou, D.N., Robinson, R.A., Nakotte, H., Mitchell, J.F., Osbron, R., Jorgensen, J.D., (1998) Physica B, 241-243, p. 439Heffner, R.H., MacLaughlin, D.E., Nieuwenhuys, G.J., Kimura, T., Luke, G.M., Tokura, Y., Uemura, Y.J., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, p. 1706Potter, C.D., Swiatek, M., Bader, S.D., Argyriou, D.N., Mitchell, J.F., Miller, D.J., Hinks, D.G., Jorgensen, J.D., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 57, p. 72Chauvet, O., Goglio, G., Molinie, P., Corraze, B., Brohan, L., (1998) Phys. Rev. Lett., 81, p. 1102Hirota, K., Moritomo, Y., Fujioka, H., Kubota, M., Yoshizawa, H., Endoh, Y., (1998) J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 67, p. 3380Li, J.Q., Matsui, Y., Kimura, T., Tokura, Y., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 57, pp. R3205Kimura, T., Kumai, R., Tokura, Y., Li, J.Q., Matsui, Y., (1998) Phys. Rev. B, 58, p. 11081Hayashi, T., Miura, N., Tokunaga, M., Kimura, T., Tokura, Y., (1998) J. Phys.: Condens. Matter, 10, p. 11525Suryanarayanan, R., Dhalenne, G., Revcolevschi, A., Prellier, W., Renard, J.P., Dupas, C., Caliebe, W., Chatterji, T., (2000) Solid State Commun., 113, p. 267Kubota, M., Fujioka, H., Ohoyama, K., Hirota, K., Moritomo, Y., Yoshizawa, H., Endoh, Y., (1999) J. Phys. Chem. Solids, 60, p. 116Bhagat, S.M., Lofland, S.E., Mitchell, J.F., (1999) Phys. Lett. A, 259, p. 326Kittel, C., (1997) Introduction to Solid State Physics, , Wiley, New YorkOkochi, M., (1970) J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 28, p. 897Victoria, C., Barker, R.C., Yelon, A., (1967) Phys. Rev. Lett., 19, p. 792Nagata, K., (1976) J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 40, p. 1209Nagata, K., Yamamoto, I., Takano, H., Yokozawa, Y., (1977) J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 43, p. 857. , and references thereinHuber, D.L., Seehra, M.S., (1976) Phys. Status Solidi B, 74, p. 145Stanger, J.-L., Andre, J.-J., Turek, P., Hosokoshi, Y., Tamura, M., Kinoshita, M., Rey, P., Veciana, J., (1997) Phys. Rev. B, 55, p. 8398Van Vleck, J.H., (1950) Phys. Rev., 78, p. 266Kittel, C., (1948) Phys. Rev., 73, p. 15

PAX6, brain structure and function in human adults: Advanced MRI in aniridia

Objective PAX6 is a pleiotropic transcription factor essential for the development of several tissues including the eyes, central nervous system, and some endocrine glands. Recently it has also been shown to be important for the maintenance and functioning of corneal and pancreatic tissues in adults. We hypothesized that PAX6 is important for the maintenance of brain integrity in humans, and that adult heterozygotes may have abnormalities of cortical patterning analogous to those found in mouse models. Methods We used advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques, including surface-based morphometry and region-of-interest analysis in adult humans heterozygously mutated for PAX6 mutations (n = 19 subjects and n = 21 controls). Using immunohistochemistry, we also studied PAX6 expression in the adult brain tissue of healthy subjects (n = 4) and patients with epilepsy (n = 42), some of whom had focal injuries due to intracranial electrode track placement (n = 17). Results There were significant reductions in frontoparietal cortical area after correcting for age and intracranial volume. A greater decline in thickness of the frontoparietal cortex with age, in subjects with PAX6 mutations compared to controls, correlated with age-corrected, accelerated decline in working memory. These results also demonstrate genotypic effects: those subjects with the most severe genotypes have the most widespread differences compared with controls. We also demonstrated significant increases in PAX6-expressing cells in response to acute injury in the adult human brain. Interpretation These findings suggest a role for PAX6 in the maintenance and consequent functioning of the adult brain, homologous to that found in other tissues. This has significant implications for the understanding and treatment of neurodegenerative diseases