282 research outputs found
Controversies in the Treatment of Peripheral T-cell Lymphoma.
Peripheral T-cell lymphomas are a heterogeneous group of rare diseases with an aggressive behavior and dismal prognosis. Their classification is complex and still evolving, and several biomolecular markers now help refine the prognosis of specific disease entities, although still have limited impact in tailoring the treatment. First-line treatment strategies can cure only a minority of patients and relapsed-refractory disease still represents the major cause of failure. Frontline autologous transplantation may have an impact in the consolidation of response; however, its role is still questioned as far as complete responses obtained after induction chemotherapy are concerned. Newer drugs are now being evaluated in clinical trials, but effective salvage strategies for those who experience treatment failures are lacking. Here we review and discuss the most controversial aspects of diagnosis and treatment of peripheral T-cell lymphomas
Discovery of a flux-related change of the cyclotron line energy in Her X-1
We present the results of ten years of repeated measurements of the Cyclotron
Resonance Scattering Feature (CRSF) in the spectrum of the binary X-ray pulsar
Her X-1 and report the discovery of a positive correlation of the centroid
energy of this absorption feature in pulse phase averaged spectra with source
luminosity.Our results are based on a uniform analysis of observations bythe
RXTE satellite from 1996 to 2005, using sufficiently long observations of 12
individual 35-day Main-On states of the source. The mean centroid energy E_c of
the CRSF in pulse phase averaged spectra of Her X-1 during this time is around
40 keV, with significant variations from one Main-On state to the next. We find
that the centroid energy of the CRSF in Her X-1 changes by ~5% in energy for a
factor of 2 in luminosity. The correlation is positive, contrary to what is
observed in some high luminosity transient pulsars. Our finding is the first
significant measurement of a positive correlation between E_c and luminosity in
any X-ray pulsar. We suggest that this behaviour is expected in the case of
sub-Eddington accretion and present a calculation of a quantitative estimate,
which is very consistent with the effect observed in Her X-1.We urge that Her
X-1 is regularly monitored further and that other X-ray pulsars are
investigated for a similar behaviour.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, accepted by A&A Letter
Rotating dust solutions of Einstein's equations with 3-dimensional symmetry groups, Part 3: All Killing fields linearly independent of u^{\alpha} and w^{\alpha}
This is the third and last part of a series of 3 papers. Using the same
method and the same coordinates as in parts 1 and 2, rotating dust solutions of
Einstein's equations are investigated that possess 3-dimensional symmetry
groups, under the assumption that each of the Killing vectors is linearly
independent of velocity and rotation at every point
of the spacetime region under consideration. The Killing fields are found and
the Killing equations are solved for the components of the metric tensor in
every case that arises. No progress was made with the Einstein equations in any
of the cases, and no previously known solutions were identified. A brief
overview of literature on solutions with rotating sources is given.Comment: One missing piece, signaled after eq. (10.7), is added after (10.21).
List of corrections: In (3.7) wrong subscript in vorticity; In (3.10) wrong
subscript in last term of g_{23}; In (4.23) wrong formulae for g_{12} and
g_{22}; In (7.17) missing factor in velocity; In (7.18) one wrong factor in
g_{22}; In (10.9) factor in vorticity; In (10.15) - (10.20) y_0 = 0; In
(10.20) wrong second term in y. The rewriting typos did not influence result
Nonideal strongly magnetized plasmas of neutron stars and their electromagnetic radiation
We study the equation of state, polarization and radiation properties for
nonideal, strongly magnetized plasmas which compose outer envelopes of magnetic
neutron stars. Detailed calculations are performed for partially ionized
hydrogen atmospheres and for condensed hydrogen or iron surfaces of these
stars. This is a companion paper to astro-ph/0511803Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures. Invited topical talk at Strongly Coupled Coulomb
Systems (Moscow, June 20-25, 2005); to appear in Journal of Physics
Equation of State of Nuclear Matter at high baryon density
A central issue in the theory of astrophysical compact objects and heavy ion
reactions at intermediate and relativistic energies is the Nuclear Equation of
State (EoS). On one hand, the large and expanding set of experimental and
observational data is expected to constrain the behaviour of the nuclear EoS,
especially at density above saturation, where it is directly linked to
fundamental processes which can occur in dense matter. On the other hand,
theoretical predictions for the EoS at high density can be challenged by the
phenomenological findings. In this topical review paper we present the
many-body theory of nuclear matter as developed along different years and with
different methods. Only nucleonic degrees of freedom are considered. We compare
the different methods at formal level, as well as the final EoS calculated
within each one of the considered many-body schemes. The outcome of this
analysis should help in restricting the uncertainty of the theoretical
predictions for the nuclear EoS.Comment: 51 pages, to appear in J. Phys. G as Topical Revie
Constraining properties of neutron stars with heavy-ion reactions in terrestrial laboratories
Heavy-ion reactions provide a unique means to investigate the equation of
state (EOS) of neutron-rich nuclear matter, especially the density dependence
of the nuclear symmetry energy . The latter plays an important
role in understanding many key issues in both nuclear physics and astrophysics.
Recent analyses of heavy-ion reactions have already put a stringent constraint
on the around the saturation density. This subsequently allowed
us to constrain significantly the radii and cooling mechanisms of neutron stars
as well as the possible changing rate of the gravitational constant G.Comment: 6 pages. Talk given at the Nuclear Physics in Astrophysics III,
Dresden, Germany, March 26-31, 2007. To appear in a special volume of J. of
Phys.
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A Large, Uniform Sample of X-Ray-emitting AGNs: Selection Approach and an Initial Catalog from the ROSAT All-Sky and Sloan Digital Sky Surveys
Many open questions in X-ray astronomy are limited by the relatively small number of objects in uniform optically identified and observed samples, especially when rare subclasses are considered or when subsets are isolated to search for evolution or correlations between wavebands. We describe the initial results of a new program aimed to ultimately yield ~10⁴ fully characterized X-ray source identifications—a sample about an order of magnitude larger than earlier efforts. The technique is detailed and employs X-ray data from the ROSAT All-Sky Survey (RASS) and optical imaging and spectroscopic follow-up from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS); these two surveys prove to be serendipitously very well matched in sensitivity. As part of the SDSS software pipelines, optical objects in the SDSS photometric catalogs are automatically positionally cross-correlated with RASS X-ray sources. Then priorities for follow-on SDSS optical spectra of candidate counterparts are automatically assigned using an algorithm based on the known ratios of f_x/f_opt for various classes of X-ray emitters at typical RASS fluxes of ~10⁻¹³ ergs cm⁻² s⁻¹. SDSS photometric parameters for optical morphology, magnitude, and colors, plus FIRST radio information, serve as proxies for object class. Initial application of this approach to RASS/SDSS data from 1400 deg² of sky provides a catalog of more than 1200 spectroscopically confirmed quasars and other AGNs that are probable RASS identifications. Most of these are new identifications, and only a few percent of the AGN counterparts are likely to be random superpositions. The magnitude and redshift ranges of the counterparts are very broad, extending over 15 < m < 21 and 0.03 < z < 3.6, respectively. Although most identifications are quasars and Seyfert 1 galaxies, a variety of other AGN subclasses are also sampled. Substantial numbers of rare AGN types are found, including more than 130 narrow-line Seyfert 1 galaxies and 45 BL Lac candidates. These early results already provide a very sizable set of source identifications, demonstrate the utility of the sample in multiwaveband investigations, and show the capability of the joint RASS/SDSS approach to efficiently proceed toward the largest homogeneously selected/observed sample of X-ray–emitting quasars and other kinds of AGNs
Shear-free, Irrotational, Geodesic, Anisotropic Fluid Cosmologies
General relativistic anisotropic fluid models whose fluid flow lines form a
shear-free, irrotational, geodesic timelike congruence are examined. These
models are of Petrov type D, and are assumed to have zero heat flux and an
anisotropic stress tensor that possesses two distinct non-zero eigenvalues.
Some general results concerning the form of the metric and the stress-tensor
for these models are established. Furthermore, if the energy density and the
isotropic pressure, as measured by a comoving observer, satisfy an equation of
state of the form , with , then
these spacetimes admit a foliation by spacelike hypersurfaces of constant Ricci
scalar. In addition, models for which both the energy density and the
anisotropic pressures only depend on time are investigated; both spatially
homogeneous and spatially inhomogeneous models are found. A classification of
these models is undertaken. Also, a particular class of anisotropic fluid
models which are simple generalizations of the homogeneous isotropic
cosmological models is studied.Comment: 13 pages LaTe
Hydrogen molecule in a magnetic field: The lowest states of the Pi manifold and the global ground state of the parallel configuration
The electronic structure of the hydrogen molecule in a magnetic field is
investigated for parallel internuclear and magnetic field axes. The lowest
states of the manifold are studied for spin singlet and triplet as well as gerade and ungerade parity for a broad range of field
strengths For both states with gerade parity we
observe a monotonous decrease in the dissociation energy with increasing field
strength up to and metastable states with respect to the
dissociation into two H atoms occur for a certain range of field strengths. For
both states with ungerade parity we observe a strong increase in the
dissociation energy with increasing field strength above some critical field
strength . As a major result we determine the transition field strengths
for the crossings among the lowest , and
states. The global ground state for is the strongly
bound state. The crossings of the with the
and state occur at and , respectively. The transition between the and
state occurs at Therefore, the global ground state of the
hydrogen molecule for the parallel configuration is the unbound
state for The ground state for is the strongly bound state. This result is of great
relevance to the chemistry in the atmospheres of magnetic white dwarfs and
neutron stars.Comment: submitted to Physical Review
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