Three-Layered Atmospheric Structure in Accretion Disks Around Stellar-Mass Black Holes

Modeling of the x-ray spectra of the Galactic superluminal jet sources GRS 1915+105 and GRO J1655-40 reveal a three-layered atmospheric structure in the inner region of their accretion disks. Above the cold and optically thick disk of a temperature 0.2-0.5 keV, there is a warm layer with a temperature of 1.0-1.5 keV and an optical depth around 10. Sometimes there is also a much hotter, optically thin corona above the warm layer, with a temperature of 100 keV or higher and an optical depth around unity. The structural similarity between the accretion disks and the solar atmosphere suggest that similar physical processes may be operating in these different systems.Comment: 5 fives, 2 figures, 1 table. The online version of the paper in Science may be accessed through http://jet.uah.edu/~zhangsn/papers.htm

Chandra Study of X-Ray Point Sources in the Early-Type Galaxy NGC 4552 (M89)

We present a Chandra ACIS study of the early-type galaxy NGC 4552. We detect 47 X-ray point sources, most of which are likely LMXBs, within 4 R_e. The brightest X-ray source coincides with the optical/UV/radio center of the galaxy, and shows variability on >1 hr timescales, indicating the possible existence of a LLAGN. The 46 off-center sources and the unresolved point sources contribute about 29% and 20% to the total luminosity of the galaxy, respectively. The corrected cumulative XLF of the off-center sources is best fit by a broken power-law model with a break at L_b=4.4+2.0-1.4 e38 ergs/s. We identified 210 GCs candidates in a HST WFPC2 optical image of the galaxy's central region. Of the 25 off-center LMXBs that fall within the WFPC2 FOV, 10 sources are coincident with a GC. Thus the fraction of the GCs hosting bright LMXBs and the fraction of the LMXBs associated with GCs are 4.8% and 40%, respectively. In the V and I bands, the GCs hosting bright LMXBs are typically 1-2 magnitudes brighter than the GCs with no detected LMXBs. There are about 1.9+-0.4 times as many LMXBs in the red, metal-rich GCs as there are in the blue, metal-poor ones. We find no obvious difference between the luminosity distributions of LMXBs in GCs and in field, but the cumulative spectrum of the LMXBs in GCs tends to be softer than that of the LMXBs in field. We detected 3 X-ray sources that have isotropic luminosities larger than 1e39 erg/s. The one located in the joint Chandra-HST field is found to be associated with a GC. By studying the ACIS spectra we infer that the this may be a candidate black hole system with a mass of 15-135 M_sun. One of the other sources with a luminosity brighter than 1e39 ergs/s reveals temporal variations in brightness on timescales greater than an hour.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap

Metabolic profile, bioavailability and toxicokinetics of zearalenone-14-glucoside in rats after oral and intravenous administration by liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry and tandem mass spectrometry

Zearalenone-14-glucoside (ZEN-14G), a key modified mycotoxin, has attracted a great deal of attention due to the possible conversion to its free form of zearalenone (ZEN) exerting toxicity. In this study, the toxicokinetics of ZEN-14G were investigated in rats after oral and intravenous administration. The plasma concentrations of ZEN-14G and its major five metabolites were quantified using a validated liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The data were analyzed via non-compartmental analysis using software WinNonlin 6.3. The results indicated that ZEN-14G was rapidly hydrolyzed into ZEN in vivo. In addition, the major parameters of ZEN-14G following intravenous administration were: area under the plasma concentration-time curve (AUC), 1.80 h.ng/mL; the apparent volume of distribution (V-Z), 7.25 L/kg; and total body clearance (CL), 5.02 mL/h/kg, respectively. After oral administration, the typical parameters were: AUC, 0.16 h.ng/mL; V-Z, 6.24 mL/kg; and CL, 4.50 mL/h/kg, respectively. The absolute oral bioavailability of ZEN-14G in rats was about 9%, since low levels of ZEN-14G were detected in plasma, which might be attributed to its extensive metabolism. Therefore, liquid chromatography high-resolution mass spectrometry (LC-HRMS) was adopted to clarify the metabolic profile of ZEN-14G in rats' plasma. As a result, eight metabolites were identified in which ZEN-14-glucuronic acid (ZEN-14GlcA) had a large yield from the first time-point and continued accumulating after oral administration, indicating that ZEN-14-glucuronic acid could serve a potential biomarker of ZEN-14G. The obtained outcomes would prompt the accurate safety evaluation of ZEN-14G

A Study of the Merger History of the Galaxy Group HCG 62 Based on X-Ray Observations and SPH Simulations

We choose the bright compact group HCG 62, which was found to exhibit both excess X-ray emission and high Fe abundance to the southwest of its core, as an example to study the impact of mergers on chemical enrichment in the intragroup medium. We first reanalyze the high-quality Chandra and XMM-Newton archive data to search for the evidence for additional SN II yields, which is expected as a direct result of the possible merger-induced starburst. We reveal that, similar to the Fe abundance, the Mg abundance also shows a high value in both the innermost region and the southwest substructure, forming a high-abundance plateau, meanwhile all the SN Ia and SN II yields show rather flat distributions in $>0.1r_{200}$ in favor of an early enrichment. Then we carry out a series of idealized numerical simulations to model the collision of two initially isolated galaxy groups by using the TreePM-SPH GADGET-3 code. We find that the observed X-ray emission and metal distributions, as well as the relative positions of the two bright central galaxies with reference to the X-ray peak, can be well reproduced in a major merger with a mass ratio of 3 when the merger-induced starburst is assumed. The `best-match' snapshot is pinpointed after the third pericentric passage when the southwest substructure is formed due to gas sloshing. By following the evolution of the simulated merging system, we conclude that the effects of such a major merger on chemical enrichment are mostly restricted within the core region when the final relaxed state is reached.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa

Analysis on the effects of ecological conservation redline policies in the Pearl River Delta area, China

IntroductionThe ecological conservation redline (ECR) policies conducted in China are an important innovation to protect biodiversity, safeguard ecological security, and achieve sustainable development. The Pearl River Delta (PRD) area implemented the ECR policies in 2005.MethodsThis study examines the contrast between the 15 years before and after 2005. It also reveals the ECR policies' effects by comparing land use change, landscape pattern index, and habitat quality inside (IECR) and outside (OECR) the ECR area. Results and discussionThe results suggest that: (1) The ECR area has served as an ecological barrier in maintaining the stability of natural ecosystems. Over the past 30 years, the PRD area significantly changed land use types and ecosystems, mainly concentrated in the central plains and estuaries. Specifically, in the IECR, land use change was relatively stable, with a decrease of 0.05% and 0.57% in ecological land and an increase of 0.28% and 0.68% in construction land before and after 2005. In contrast, the OECR area land use changed dramatically, with a decrease of 0.37% and 1.36% in ecological land and an increase of 7.06% and 5.02% in construction land before and after 2005. (2) A general trend of landscape fragmentation exists in the study area. The contagion (CONTAG) in the IECR area is higher than in the OECR. The Shannon's diversity index (SHDI) in the IECR is lower than in the OECR area, which indicates a high degree and rapid landscape fragmentation in the OECR area. (3) Over 85% of the IECR scale had a habitat quality of 0.8–1, while the OECR area had an almost half scale with a habitat quality of 0–0.2. On the whole, the ecological stability and landscape connectivity of in the IECR area was higher than that of the OECR area. This indicates that the prohibitions on human disturbance, industrial construction, and logging activities in the IECR area allow green vegetation to succumb under natural conditions. Habitat quality in the IECR area was also higher than that of the OECR area in the PRD area, revealing that the quality of green development in the IECR area was higher. Finally, the ECR policies’ implementation has protected the environment in the PRD area and will provide experience for ecological conservation in other areas