19,955 research outputs found
Discovery of excess O I absorption towards the z = 6.42 QSO SDSS J1148+5251
We present a search for O I in the spectra of nine 4.9 < z_qso < 6.4 QSOs
taken with Keck/HIRES. We detect six systems with N(O I) > 10^13.7 cm^{-2} in
the redshift intervals where O I 1302 falls redward of the Ly-alpha forest.
Four of these lie towards SDSS J1148+5251 (z_qso = 6.42). This imbalance is
unlikely to arise from variations in sensitivity among our data or from a
statistical fluctuation. The excess O I occurs over a redshift interval that
also contains transmission in Ly-alpha and Ly-beta. Therefore, if these O I
systems represent pockets of neutral gas, then they must occur within or near
regions of the IGM that are highly ionized. In contrast, no O I is detected
towards SDSS J1030+0524 (z_qso = 6.30), whose spectrum shows complete
absorption in Ly-alpha and Ly-beta over \Delta z ~ 0.2. Assuming no ionization
corrections, we measure mean abundance ratios = -0.04 +/- 0.06,
= -0.31 +/- 0.09, and = -0.34 +/- 0.07 (2 sigma), which are
consistent with enrichment dominated by Type II supernovae. The O/Si ratio
limits the fraction of silicon in these systems contributed by metal-free very
massive stars to < 30%, a result which is insensitive to ionization
corrections. The ionic comoving mass densities along the z_qso > 6.2
sightlines, including only the detected systems, are \Omega(O I) = (7.0 +/-
0.6) * 10^{-8}, \Omega(Si II) = (9.6 +/- 0.9) * 10^{-9}, and \Omega(C II) =
(1.5 +/- 0.2) * 10^{-8}.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, with changes to reflect referee's comment
Scaling Analysis and Evolution Equation of the North Atlantic Oscillation Index Fluctuations
The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) monthly index is studied from 1825 till
2002 in order to identify the scaling ranges of its fluctuations upon different
delay times and to find out whether or not it can be regarded as a Markov
process. A Hurst rescaled range analysis and a detrended fluctuation analysis
both indicate the existence of weakly persistent long range time correlations
for the whole scaling range and time span hereby studied. Such correlations are
similar to Brownian fluctuations. The Fokker-Planck equation is derived and
Kramers-Moyal coefficients estimated from the data. They are interpreted in
terms of a drift and a diffusion coefficient as in fluid mechanics. All partial
distribution functions of the NAO monthly index fluctuations have a form close
to a Gaussian, for all time lags, in agreement with the findings of the scaling
analyses. This indicates the lack of predictive power of the present NAO
monthly index. Yet there are some deviations for large (and thus rare) events.
Whence suggestions for other measurements are made if some improved
predictability of the weather/climate in the North Atlantic is of interest. The
subsequent Langevin equation of the NAO signal fluctuations is explicitly
written in terms of the diffusion and drift parameters, and a characteristic
time scale for these is given in appendix.Comment: 6 figures, 54 refs., 16 pages; submitted to Int. J. Mod. Phys. C:
Comput. Phy
Characterization of cell-type specific responses in C. elegans experiencing misfolded protein stress: How do some cells save themselves while others die?
To maintain viability, cells must resolve misfolded protein stress; the inability to do so often triggers cell death, most notably in neurons during neurodegenerative disease. The NAC is a highly conserved translational chaperone essential for protein folding and localization to organelles throughout the cell. In C. elegans, depletion of the NAC initiates misfolded protein stress specifically in the endoplasmic reticulum, inducing a response that upregulates the HSP-4 chaperone in an attempt to prevent cell death. This upregulation is robust but not uniform, and deficient in regions containing neurons. We are characterizing this non-uniform stress response to determine if HSP-4 upregulation is cell-specific and correlates with survival. Additionally, there is evidence that the NAC may function in engaging premature and/or atypical differentiation under stress conditions. We’ve developed a protocol that characterizes the differentiation patterns and stress responses in NAC-depleted C. elegans. Our results indicate that NAC-depleted C. elegans have altered gut cell differentiation patterns when compared to control treatments. Furthermore, control studies were conducted to determine baseline patterns of HSP-4 expression in relation to the location of gut cells. Future studies will investigate differentiation patterns of muscle and neuronal cells in NAC-depleted C. elegans as well as characterizing the upregulation of HSP-4 in gut, muscle, and neuronal cells within NAC-depleted C. elegans
UK Defence Research Agency the Two UK \u27Space Technology Research Vehicles\u27: First In-Orbit Results
The UK Defence Research Agency is about to launch two 50kg \u27Space Technology Research Vehicles\u27 which have as their major objective the demonstration and in-orbit evaluation of new technologies which have application to future space missions, both large and small. The STRVs are due for launch together on an Ariane 4 in June 1994 and will go into a geostationary transfer orbit which provides a very harsh (and therefore good) environment for the evaluation of the new technology. Areas of research for the mission include the use of advanced structural materials, use of new radiation hardened computers, sensors, solar cells and microelectronics, use of ADA software in a restricted memory space, demonstration of cryocoolers, measurement of electrostatic charge, elimination of electrostatic charge, measurement of atomic oxygen erosion, measurement of the incidence of cosmic rays and total dose radiation, improved battery charging techniques, and also the demonstration of key components from the UK ion thruster system. The two satellites not only carry a suite of 14 experiments between them, including experiments from BMDO, ESA and various universities but they also incorporate new technologies into the bus itself. This paper will give a full overview of the mission including a description of the in-orbit performance of the two spacecraft. Some of the main results from the early part of the mission with respect to spacecraft, subsystem and experiment performance will be presented together with a preview of the mission plan to follow during the remainder of the one year mission
Electromagnetic Scattering from Relativistic Bound States
The quasipotential formalism for elastic scattering from relativistic bound
states is formulated based on the instant constraint in the Breit frame. The
quasipotential electromagnetic current is derived from Mandelstam's five-point
kernel and obeys a two-body Ward identity. Breit-frame wave functions are
obtained directly by solving integral equations with nonzero total
three-momentum, thus accomplishing a dynamical boost. Calculations of
electron-deuteron elastic form factors illustrate the importance of the
dynamical boost versus kinematic boosts of the rest frame wave functions.Comment: RevTeX 3.0 manuscript, 9 pages. UU-file is a single PostScript file
of the manuscript including figures. U. MD PP #93-17
Instant Two-Body Equation in Breit Frame
A quasipotential formalism for elastic scattering from relativistic bound
states is based on applying an instant constraint to both initial and final
states in the Breit frame. This formalism is advantageous for the analysis of
electromagnetic interactions because current conservation and four momentum
conservation are realized within a three-dimensional formalism. Wave functions
are required in a frame where the total momentum is nonzero, which means that
the usual partial wave analysis is inapplicable. In this work, the
three-dimensional equation is solved numerically, taking into account the
relevant symmetries. A dynamical boost of the interaction also is needed for
the instant formalism, which in general requires that the boosted interaction
be defined as the solution of a four-dimensional equation. For the case of a
scalar separable interaction, this equation is solved and the Lorentz
invariance of the three-dimensional formulation using the boosted interaction
is verified. For more realistic interactions, a simple approximation is used to
characterize the boost of the interaction.Comment: 20 pages in revtex 3, 3 figures. Fixed reform/tex errors
Relativistic bound-state equations in three dimensions
Firstly, a systematic procedure is derived for obtaining three-dimensional
bound-state equations from four-dimensional ones. Unlike ``quasi-potential
approaches'' this procedure does not involve the use of delta-function
constraints on the relative four-momentum. In the absence of negative-energy
states, the kernels of the three-dimensional equations derived by this
technique may be represented as sums of time-ordered perturbation theory
diagrams. Consequently, such equations have two major advantages over
quasi-potential equations: they may easily be written down in any Lorentz
frame, and they include the meson-retardation effects present in the original
four-dimensional equation. Secondly, a simple four-dimensional equation with
the correct one-body limit is obtained by a reorganization of the generalized
ladder Bethe-Salpeter kernel. Thirdly, our approach to deriving
three-dimensional equations is applied to this four-dimensional equation, thus
yielding a retarded interaction for use in the three-dimensional bound-state
equation of Wallace and Mandelzweig. The resulting three-dimensional equation
has the correct one-body limit and may be systematically improved upon. The
quality of the three-dimensional equation, and our general technique for
deriving such equations, is then tested by calculating bound-state properties
in a scalar field theory using six different bound-state equations. It is found
that equations obtained using the method espoused here approximate the wave
functions obtained from their parent four-dimensional equations significantly
better than the corresponding quasi-potential equations do.Comment: 28 pages, RevTeX, 6 figures attached as postscript files. Accepted
for publication in Phys. Rev. C. Minor changes from original version do not
affect argument or conclusion
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