535 research outputs found
Infrared signature of active massive black holes in nearby dwarf galaxies
We investigate the possible presence of active galactic nuclei (AGN) in dwarf
galaxies and other nearby galaxies to identify candidates for follow-up
confirmation and dynamical mass measurements. We use the Wide-field Infrared
Survey Explorer (WISE) All-Sky Release Source Catalog and examine the infrared
colours of a sample of dwarf galaxies and other nearby galaxies in order to
identify both unobscured and obscured candidate AGN by applying the infrared
colour diagnostic. Stellar masses of galaxies are obtained using a combination
of three independent methods. Black hole masses are estimated using the
bolometric luminosity of the AGN candidates and computed for three cases of the
bolometric-to-Eddington luminosity ratio. We identify 303 candidate AGN, of
which 276 were subsequently found to have been independently identified as AGN
via other methods. The remaining 9% require follow-up observations for
confirmation. The activity is detected in galaxies with stellar masses from ~
10^6 to 10^9 solar masses; assuming the candidates are AGN, the black hole
masses are estimated to be ~ 10^3 - 10^6 solar masses, adopting L_bol = 0.1
L_Edd. The black hole masses probed are several orders of magnitude smaller
than previously reported for centrally located massive black holes. We examine
the stellar mass versus black hole mass relationship in this low galaxy mass
regime. We find that it is consistent with the existing relation extending
linearly (in log-log space) into the lower mass regime. These findings suggest
that CMBH are present in low-mass galaxies and in the Local Universe, and
provide new impetus for follow-up dynamical studies of quiescent black holes in
local dwarf galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in Astronomy
& Astrophysics. The first version of this paper appeared on astro-ph in 2014
(arXiv:1411.3844). The new version includes 3 new tables, 1 new figure and
updated discussio
Galaxy Evolution in the Cluster Abell 85: New Insights from the Dwarf Population
We present the first results of a new spectroscopic survey of the cluster
Abell 85 targeting 1466 candidate cluster members within the central 1
deg of the cluster and having magnitudes using VIMOS/VLT and
HYDRA/WIYN. A total of 520 galaxies are confirmed as either relaxed cluster
members or part of an infalling population. A significant fraction are low
mass; the median stellar mass of the sample is , and 25%
have stellar masses below (i.e. 133 dwarf galaxies). We also
identify seven active galactic nuclei (AGN), four of which reside in dwarf host
galaxies. We probe the evolution of star formation rates, based on H
emission and continuum modeling, as a function of both mass and environment. We
find that more star forming galaxies are observed at larger clustercentric
distances, while infalling galaxies show evidence for recently enhanced star
forming activity. Main sequence galaxies, defined by their continuum star
formation rates, show different evolutionary behavior based on their mass. At
the low mass end, the galaxies have had their star formation recently quenched,
while more massive galaxies show no significant change. The timescales probed
here favor fast quenching mechanisms, such as ram-pressure stripping. Galaxies
within the green valley, defined similarly, do not show evidence of quenching.
Instead, the low mass galaxies maintain their levels of star forming activity,
while the more massive galaxies have experienced a recent burst.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
3D global and regional patterns of human fetal subplate growth determined in utero
The waiting period of subplate evolution is a critical phase for the proper formation of neural connections in the brain. During this time, which corresponds to 15 to 24Â postconceptual weeks (PCW) in the human fetus, thalamocortical and cortico-cortical afferents wait in and are in part guided by molecules embedded in the extracellular matrix of the subplate. Recent advances in fetal MRI techniques now allow us to study the developing brain anatomy in 3D from in utero imaging. We describe a reliable segmentation protocol to delineate the boundaries of the subplate from T2-W MRI. The reliability of the protocol was evaluated in terms of intra-rater reproducibility on a subset of the subjects. We also present the first 3D quantitative analyses of temporal changes in subplate volume, thickness, and contrast from 18 to 24Â PCW. Our analysis shows that firstly, global subplate volume increases in proportion with the supratentorial volume; the subplate remained approximately one-third of supratentorial volume. Secondly, we found both global and regional growth in subplate thickness and a linear increase in the median and maximum subplate thickness through the waiting period. Furthermore, we found that posterior regionsâspecifically the occipital pole, ventral occipito-temporal region, and planum temporaleâof the developing brain underwent the most statistically significant increases in subplate thickness. During this period, the thickest region was the developing somatosensory/motor cortex. The subplate growth patterns reported here may be used as a baseline for comparison to abnormal fetal brain development
Pressure dependent electronic properties of MgO polymorphs: A first-principles study of Compton profiles and autocorrelation functions
The first-principles periodic linear combination of atomic orbitals method
within the framework of density functional theory implemented in the CRYSTAL06
code has been applied to explore effect of pressure on the Compton profiles and
autocorrelation functions of MgO. Calculations are performed for the B1, B2,
B3, B4, B8_1 and h-MgO polymorphs of MgO to compute lattice constants and bulk
moduli. The isothermal enthalpy calculations predict that B4 to B8_1, h-MgO to
B8_1, B3 to B2, B4 to B2 and h-MgO to B2 transitions take place at 2, 9, 37, 42
and 64 GPa respectively. The high pressure transitions B8_1 to B2 and B1 to B2
are found to occur at 340 and 410 GPa respectively. The pressure dependent
changes are observed largely in the valence electrons Compton profiles whereas
core profiles are almost independent of the pressure in all MgO polymorphs.
Increase in pressure results in broadening of the valence Compton profiles. The
principal maxima in the second derivative of Compton profiles shifts towards
high momentum side in all structures. Reorganization of momentum density in the
B1 to B2 structural phase transition is seen in the first and second
derivatives before and after the transition pressure. Features of the
autocorrelation functions shift towards lower r side with increment in
pressure.Comment: 19 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in Journal of Materials
Scienc
Universal phase transitions of B1 structured stoichiometric transition-metal carbides
The high-pressure phase transitions of B1-structured stoichiometric
transition metal carbides (TMCs, TM=Ti, Zr, Hf, V, Nb, and Ta) were
systematically investigated using ab initio calculations. These carbides
underwent universal phase transitions along two novel phase-transition routes,
namely, B1\rightarrowdistorted TlI (TlI')\rightarrowTlI and/or
B1\rightarrowdistorted TiB (TiB')\rightarrowTiB, when subjected to pressures.
The two routes can coexist possibly because of the tiny enthalpy differences
between the new phases under corresponding pressures. Four new phases result
from atomic slips of the B1-structured parent phases under pressure. After
completely releasing the pressure, taking TiC as a representative of TMCs, only
its new TlI'-type phase is mechanically and dynamically stable, and may be
recovered.Comment: [email protected]
Spectroscopic study of MATLAS-2019 with MUSE:An ultra-diffuse galaxy with an excess of old globular clusters
The MATLAS deep imaging survey has uncovered a plethora of dwarf galaxies in
the low density environment it has mapped. A fraction of them are unusually
extended and have a low-surface brightness. Among these so-called ultra-diffuse
galaxies, a few seem to host an excess of globular clusters. With the
integral-field unit spectrograph MUSE we have observed one of these galaxies -
MATLAS J15052031+0148447 (MATLAS-2019) - located towards the nearby group NGC
5846 and measured its systemic velocity,age, and metallicity, and that of its
globular clusters candidates. For the stellar body of MATLAS-2019 we derive a
metallicity of -1.33+0.19-0.01 dex and an age of 11.2+1.8-0.8 Gyr. For some of
the individual GCs and the stacked GC population, we derive consistent ages and
metallicities. From the 11 confirmed globular clusters and using a Markov Chain
Monte Carlo approach we derived a dynamical mass-to-light ratio of
4.2+8.6-3.4M/L. This is at the lower end of the luminosity-mass scaling
relation defined by the Local Group dwarf galaxies. Furthermore, we couldn't
confirm nor reject the possibility of a rotational component of the GC system.
If present, this would further modify the inferred mass. Follow-up observations
of the globular cluster population and of the stellar body of the galaxy are
needed to assess whether this galaxy is lacking dark matter like it was
suggested for the pair of dwarf galaxies in the field of NGC 1052, or if this
is a miss-interpretation arising from systematic uncertainties of the method
commonly used for these systems and the large uncertainties of the individual
globular cluster velocities.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in A&
Genome structure and chromosome segregation in triploid interspecific plantain bananas (AAB) and breeding accessions (AAAB)
Many banana cultivars are triploid interspecific hybrids between M. acuminata (Genome A, 2n=22) and M. balbisiana (Genome B, 2n=22). They included the important group of Plantain cooking bananas classified as AAB that account for almost 20% of the bananas produced worldwide. Previous molecular analysis suggested that this group is genetically homogeneous but diversified phenotypically through somatic variations. To progress on the understanding of chromosome composition and segregation of the breeding material used to improve plantain bananas, we performed several analysis based on Genotyping By Sequencing (GBS) technologies. We analyzed the A/B chromosomes composition of a few plantain cultivars and discovered chromosome segments with AAA composition and one entire chromosome with ABB composition instead of the supposed general 'AAB' composition. We compared the global chromosome structure of A and B genomes through the construction a high density M. balbisiana genetic map and its comparison with the M. acuminata reference sequence assembly. We identified a large reciprocal translocation between a region of 0.6Mb at the beginning of chromosome 1 and a 8 Mb region at the end of chromosome 3. We also identified a large inversion of 9Mb within chromosome 5. We analyzed the A/B chromosomes segregation in a progeny from an 'AAAB' tetraploid breeding accession derived from a plantain. We revealed frequent recombination between A and B all along the genomes with a few exceptions. The exceptions consisted in the absence of recombination recorded in the inverted segment between A and B on chromosome 5 and a reduced recombination rate near the translocated regions on chromosome 1 and 3. We also observed 62% of aneuploids in the progeny involving mainly the three chromosomes that differed in their global structure between A and B genomes. Implication of these results on the origin of plantain banana cultivars and on breeding of allopolyploid bananas will be discussed based on the patterns of recombination revealed
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Consensus Paper: Cerebellum and Emotion
Over the past three decades, insights into the role of the cerebellum in emotional processing have substantially increased. Indeed, methodological refinements in cerebellar lesion studies and major technological advancements in the field of neuroscience are in particular responsible to an exponential growth of knowledge on the topic. It is timely to review the available data and to critically evaluate the current status of the role of the cerebellum in emotion and related domains. The main aim of this article is to present an overview of current facts and ongoing debates relating to clinical, neuroimaging, and neurophysiological findings on the role of the cerebellum in key aspects of emotion. Experts in the field of cerebellar research discuss the range of cerebellar contributions to emotion in nine topics. Topics include the role of the cerebellum in perception and recognition, forwarding and encoding of emotional information, and the experience and regulation of emotional states in relation to motor, cognitive, and social behaviors. In addition, perspectives including cerebellar involvement in emotional learning, pain, emotional aspects of speech, and neuropsychiatric aspects of the cerebellum in mood disorders are briefly discussed. Results of this consensus paper illustrate how theory and empirical research have converged to produce a composite picture of brain topography, physiology, and function that establishes the role of the cerebellum in many aspects of emotional processing
Efficient multi-class fetal brain segmentation in high resolution MRI reconstructions with noisy labels
Segmentation of the developing fetal brain is an important step in
quantitative analyses. However, manual segmentation is a very time-consuming
task which is prone to error and must be completed by highly specialized
indi-viduals. Super-resolution reconstruction of fetal MRI has become standard
for processing such data as it improves image quality and resolution. However,
dif-ferent pipelines result in slightly different outputs, further complicating
the gen-eralization of segmentation methods aiming to segment super-resolution
data. Therefore, we propose using transfer learning with noisy multi-class
labels to automatically segment high resolution fetal brain MRIs using a single
set of seg-mentations created with one reconstruction method and tested for
generalizability across other reconstruction methods. Our results show that the
network can auto-matically segment fetal brain reconstructions into 7 different
tissue types, regard-less of reconstruction method used. Transfer learning
offers some advantages when compared to training without pre-initialized
weights, but the network trained on clean labels had more accurate
segmentations overall. No additional manual segmentations were required.
Therefore, the proposed network has the potential to eliminate the need for
manual segmentations needed in quantitative analyses of the fetal brain
independent of reconstruction method used, offering an unbiased way to quantify
normal and pathological neurodevelopment.Comment: Accepted for publication at PIPPI MICCAI 202
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