Hawking-like emission in kink-soliton escape from a potential well.

The escape of solitons over a potential barrier is analysed within the framework of a nonlinear Klein–Gordon equation. It is shown that the creation of a kink–antikink pair near the barrier through an internal mode instability can be followed by escape of the kink in a process analogous to Hawking radiation. These results have important implications in a wider context, including stochastic resonance and ratchet systems, which are also discussed

The INTEGRAL-OMC Scientific Archive

The Optical Monitoring Camera (OMC) on-board the INTEGRAL satellite has, as one of its scientific goals, the observation of a large number of variable sources previously selected. After almost 6 years of operations, OMC has monitored more than 100 000 sources of scientific interest. In this contribution we present the OMC Scientific Archive (http://sdc.laeff.inta.es/omc/) which has been developed to provide the astronomical community with a quick access to the light curves generated by this instrument.We describe the main characteristics of this archive, as well as important aspects for the users: object types, temporal sampling of light curves and photometric accuracy.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures. "Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics V" Proceedings of the VIII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) held in Santander, July 7-11, 200

L1CAM binds ErbB receptors through Ig-like domains coupling cell adhesion and neuregulin signalling.

During nervous system development different cell-to-cell communication mechanisms operate in parallel guiding migrating neurons and growing axons to generate complex arrays of neural circuits. How such a system works in coordination is not well understood. Cross-regulatory interactions between different signalling pathways and redundancy between them can increase precision and fidelity of guidance systems. Immunoglobulin superfamily proteins of the NCAM and L1 families couple specific substrate recognition and cell adhesion with the activation of receptor tyrosine kinases. Thus it has been shown that L1CAM-mediated cell adhesion promotes the activation of the EGFR (erbB1) from Drosophila to humans. Here we explore the specificity of the molecular interaction between L1CAM and the erbB receptor family. We show that L1CAM binds physically erbB receptors in both heterologous systems and the mammalian developing brain. Different Ig-like domains located in the extracellular part of L1CAM can support this interaction. Interestingly, binding of L1CAM to erbB enhances its response to neuregulins. During development this may synergize with the activation of erbB receptors through L1CAM homophilic interactions, conferring diffusible neuregulins specificity for cells or axons that interact with the substrate through L1CAM

AVOCADO: A Virtual Observatory Census to Address Dwarfs Origins

Dwarf galaxies are by far the most abundant of all galaxy types, yet their properties are still poorly understood -especially due to the observational challenge that their intrinsic faintness represents. AVOCADO aims at establishing firm conclusions on their formation and evolution by constructing a homogeneous, multiwavelength dataset for a statistically significant sample of several thousand nearby dwarfs (-18 < Mi < -14). Using public data and Virtual Observatory tools, we have built GALEX+SDSS+2MASS spectral energy distributions that are fitted by a library of single stellar population models. Star formation rates, stellar masses, ages and metallicities are further complemented with structural parameters that can be used to classify them morphologically. This unique dataset, coupled with a detailed characterization of each dwar's environment, allows for a fully comprehensive investigation of their origins and to track the (potential) evolutionary paths between the different dwarf types.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. To appear in the proceedings of IAU Symposium 277, "Tracing the Ancestry of Galaxies on the Land of our Ancestors", Carignan, Freeman, and Combes, ed