Classical T Tauri-like Outflow Activity in the Brown Dwarf Mass Regime

Over the last number of years spectroscopic studies have strongly supported the assertion that protostellar accretion and outflow activity persists to the lowest masses. In this paper we present the results of our latest investigation of brown dwarf (BD) outflow activity and report on the discovery of two new outflows. Here ISO-Oph 32 is shown to drive a blue-shifted outflow with a radial velocity of 10-20 km/s and spectro-astrometric analysis constrains the position angle of this outflow to 240 +/- 7 degrees. The BD candidate ISO-Cha1 217 is found to have a bipolar outflow bright in several key forbidden lines (radial velocity = -20 km/s, +40 km/s) and with a PA of 190-210 degrees. A striking feature of the ISO-Cha1 217 outflow is the strong asymmetry between the red and blue-shifted lobes. This asymmetry is revealed in the relative brightness of the two lobes (red-shifted lobe is brighter), the factor of two difference in radial velocity (the red-shifted lobe is faster) and the difference in the electron density (again higher in the red lobe). Such asymmetries are common in jets from low mass protostars and the observation of a marked asymmetry at such a low mass supports the idea that BD outflow activity is scaled down from low mass protostellar activity. In addition to presenting these new results, a comprehensive comparison is made between BD outflow activity and jets launched by CTTSs. In particular, the application of current methods for investigating the excitation conditions and mass loss rates in CTT jets to BD spectra is explored.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journa

Fully automated segmentation and tracking of the intima media thickness in ultrasound video sequences of the common carotid artery

Abstract—The robust identification and measurement of the intima media thickness (IMT) has a high clinical relevance because it represents one of the most precise predictors used in the assessment of potential future cardiovascular events. To facilitate the analysis of arterial wall thickening in serial clinical investigations, in this paper we have developed a novel fully automatic algorithm for the segmentation, measurement, and tracking of the intima media complex (IMC) in B-mode ultrasound video sequences. The proposed algorithm entails a two-stage image analysis process that initially addresses the segmentation of the IMC in the first frame of the ultrasound video sequence using a model-based approach; in the second step, a novel customized tracking procedure is applied to robustly detect the IMC in the subsequent frames. For the video tracking procedure, we introduce a spatially coherent algorithm called adaptive normalized correlation that prevents the tracking process from converging to wrong arterial interfaces. This represents the main contribution of this paper and was developed to deal with inconsistencies in the appearance of the IMC over the cardiac cycle. The quantitative evaluation has been carried out on 40 ultrasound video sequences of the common carotid artery (CCA) by comparing the results returned by the developed algorithm with respect to ground truth data that has been manually annotated by clinical experts. The measured IMTmean ± standard deviation recorded by the proposed algorithm is 0.60 mm ± 0.10, with a mean coefficient of variation (CV) of 2.05%, whereas the corresponding result obtained for the manually annotated ground truth data is 0.60 mm ± 0.11 with a mean CV equal to 5.60%. The numerical results reported in this paper indicate that the proposed algorithm is able to correctly segment and track the IMC in ultrasound CCA video sequences, and we were encouraged by the stability of our technique when applied to data captured under different imaging conditions. Future clinical studies will focus on the evaluation of patients that are affected by advanced cardiovascular conditions such as focal thickening and arterial plaques

Accretion-ejection connection in the young brown dwarf candidate ISO-Cha1 217

As the number of observed brown dwarf outflows is growing it is important to investigate how these outflows compare to the well studied jets from young stellar objects. A key point of comparison is the relationship between outflow and accretion activity and in particular the ratio between the mass outflow and accretion rates ($\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$). The brown dwarf candidate ISO-ChaI 217 was discovered by our group, as part of a spectro-astrometric study of brown dwarfs, to be driving an asymmetric outflow with the blue-shifted lobe having a position angle of $\sim$ 20$^{\circ}$. The aim here is to further investigate the properties of ISO-ChaI 217, the morphology and kinematics of its outflow, and to better constrain ($\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$). The outflow is spatially resolved in the $[SII]\lambda \lambda 6716,6731$ lines and is detected out to $\sim$ 1\farcs6 in the blue-shifted lobe and ~ 1" in the red-shifted lobe. The asymmetry between the two lobes is confirmed although the velocity asymmetry is less pronounced with respect to our previous study. Using thirteen different accretion tracers we measure log($\dot{M}_{acc}$) [M$_{sun}$/yr]= -10.6 $\pm$ 0.4. As it was not possible to measure the effect of extinction on the ISO-ChaI 217 outflow $\dot{M}_{out}$ was derived for a range of values of A$_{v}$, up to a value of A$_{v}$ = 2.5 mag estimated for the source extinction. The logarithm of the mass outflow ($\dot{M}_{out}$) was estimated in the range -11.7 to -11.1 for both jets combined. Thus $\dot{M}_{out}$/$\dot{M}_{acc}$ [\Msun/yr] lies below the maximum value predicted by magneto-centrifugal jet launching models. Finally, both model fitting of the Balmer decrements and spectro-astrometric analysis of the H$\alpha$ line show that the bulk of the H I emission comes from the accretion flow.Comment: accepted by Astronomy & Astrophysic

The phenazine pyocyanin is a terminal signalling factor in the quorum sensing network of Pseudomonas aeruginosa

Certain members of the fluorescent pseudomonads produce and secrete phenazines. These heterocyclic, redox-active compounds are toxic to competing organisms, and the cause of these antibiotic effects has been the focus of intense research efforts. It is largely unknown, however, how pseudomonads themselves respond to – and survive in the presence of – these compounds. Using Pseudomonas aeruginosa DNA microarrays and quantitative RT-PCR, we demonstrate that the phenazine pyocyanin elicits the upregulation of genes/operons that function in transport [such as the resistance-nodulation-cell division (RND) efflux pump MexGHI-OpmD] and possibly in redox control (such as PA2274, a putative flavin-dependant monooxygenase), and downregulates genes involved in ferric iron acquisition. Strikingly, mexGHI-opmD and PA2274 were previously shown to be regulated by the PA14 quorum sensing network that controls the production of virulence factors (including phenazines). Through mutational analysis, we show that pyocyanin is the physiological signal for the upregulation of these quorum sensing-controlled genes during stationary phase and that the response is mediated by the transcription factor SoxR. Our results implicate phenazines as signalling molecules in both P. aeruginosa PA14 and PAO1

XMM-Newton observation of SNR J0533-7202 in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Aims. We present an X-ray study of the supernova remnant SNR J0533-7202 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and determine its physical characteristics based on its X-ray emission. Methods. We observed SNR J0533-7202 with XMM-Newton (flare-filtered exposure times of 18 ks EPIC-pn and 31 ks EPIC-MOS1/MOS2). We produced X-ray images of the SNR, performed an X-ray spectral analysis, and compared the results to multi-wavelength studies. Results. The distribution of X-ray emission is highly non-uniform, with the south-west region brighter than the north-east. The X-ray emission is correlated with the radio emission from the remnant. We determine that this morphology is likely due to the SNR expanding into a non-uniform ambient medium and not an absorption effect. We estimate the size to be 53.9 (\pm 3.4) x 43.6 (\pm 3.4) pc, with the major axis rotated ~64 degrees east of north. We find no spectral signatures of ejecta and infer that the X-ray plasma is dominated by swept-up interstellar medium. Using the spectral fit results and the Sedov self-similar solution, we estimate an age of ~17-27 kyr, with an initial explosion energy of (0.09-0.83) x 10^51 erg. We detected an X-ray source located near the centre of the remnant, namely XMMU J053348.2-720233. The source type could not be conclusively determined due to the lack of a multi-wavelength counterpart and low X-ray counts. We find that it is likely either a background active galactic nucleus or a low-mass X-ray binary in the LMC. Conclusions. We detected bright thermal X-ray emission from SNR J0533-7202 and determined that the remnant is in the Sedov phase of its evolution. The lack of ejecta emission prohibits us from typing the remnant with the X-ray data. Therefore, the likely Type Ia classification based on the local stellar population and star formation history reported in the literature cannot be improved upon.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Stochastic Background Search Correlating ALLEGRO with LIGO Engineering Data

We describe the role of correlation measurements between the LIGO interferometer in Livingston, LA, and the ALLEGRO resonant bar detector in Baton Rouge, LA, in searches for a stochastic background of gravitational waves. Such measurements provide a valuable complement to correlations between interferometers at the two LIGO sites, since they are sensitive in a different, higher, frequency band. Additionally, the variable orientation of the ALLEGRO detector provides a means to distinguish gravitational wave correlations from correlated environmental noise. We describe the analysis underway to set a limit on the strength of a stochastic background at frequencies near 900 Hz using ALLEGRO data and data from LIGO's E7 Engineering Run.Comment: 8 pages, 2 encapsulated PostScript figures, uses IOP class files, submitted to the proceedings of the 7th Gravitational Wave Data Analysis Workshop (which will be published in Classical and Quantum Gravity

Phenazines affect biofilm formation by Pseudomonas aeruginosa in similar ways at various scales

Some pseudomonads produce phenazines, a group of small, redox-active compounds with diverse physiological functions. In this study, we compared the phenotypes of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strain PA14 and a mutant unable to synthesize phenazines in flow cell and colony biofilms quantitatively. Although phenazine production does not impact the ability of PA14 to attach to surfaces, as has been shown for Pseudomonas chlororaphis Maddula et al., 2006 and Maddula et al., 2008, it influences swarming motility and the surface-to-volume ratio of mature biofilms. These results indicate that phenazines affect biofilm development across a large range of scales, but in unique ways for different Pseudomonas species

Electron-impact ionization of atomic hydrogen at 2 eV above threshold

The convergent close-coupling method is applied to the calculation of fully differential cross sections for ionization of atomic hydrogen by 15.6 eV electrons. We find that even at this low energy the method is able to yield predictive results with small uncertainty. As a consequence we suspect that the experimental normalization at this energy is approximately a factor of two too high.Comment: 10 page

Uncovering the Outflow Driven by the Brown Dwarf LS-RCr A1: H-alpha as a Tracer of Outflow Activity in Brown Dwarfs

It is now apparent that classical T Tauri-like outflows commonly accompany the formation of young brown dwarfs. To date two optical outflows have been discovered and results presented in this paper increase this number to three. Using spectro-astrometry the origin of the LS-RCrA 1 forbidden emission lines in a blue-shifted outflow is confirmed. The non-detection of the red-shifted component of the outflow in forbidden lines, along with evidence for some separation between low and high velocity outflow components, do not support the hypothesis that LS-RCrA 1 has an edge-on accretion disk. The key result of this analysis is the discovery of an outflow component to the H-alpha line. The H-alpha line profile has blue and red-shifted features in the wings which spectro-astrometry reveals to also originate in the outflow. The discovery that H-alpha emission in BDs can have a significant contribution from an outflow suggests the use of H-alpha line widths as a proxy of mass accretion in BDs is not clear-cut. This method assumes that any contribution to the H-alpha line flux from a possible outflow is negligible. Finally the fact that the H-alpha line traces both lobes of the outflow while only the blue-shifted lobe is seen in forbidden emission points to the presence of a dust hole in the accretion disk of LS-RCrA 1. This is commonly seen in CTTSs and is assumed to signal the onset of planet formation.Comment: 13 pages, 2 figure

Model Flames in the Boussinesq Limit: The Effects of Feedback

We have studied the fully nonlinear behavior of pre-mixed flames in a gravitationally stratified medium, subject to the Boussinesq approximation. Key results include the establishment of criterion for when such flames propagate as simple planar flames; elucidation of scaling laws for the effective flame speed; and a study of the stability properties of these flames. The simplicity of some of our scalings results suggests that analytical work may further advance our understandings of buoyant flames.Comment: 11 pages, 14 figures, RevTex, gzipped tar fil