3,546 research outputs found
AMBER on the VLTI: data processing and calibration issues
We present here the current performances of the AMBER / VLTI instrument for
standard use and compare these with the offered modes of the instrument. We
show that the instrument is able to reach its specified precision only for
medium and high spectral resolution modes, differential observables and bright
objects. For absolute observables, the current achievable accuracy is strongly
limited by the vibrations of the Unit Telescopes, and also by the observing
procedure which does not take into account the night-long transfer function
monitoring. For low-resolution mode, the current limitation is more in the data
reduction side, since several effects negligible at medium spectral resolution
are not taken into account in the current pipeline. Finally, for faint objects
(SNR around 1 per spectral channel), electromagnetic interferences in the VLTI
interferometric laboratory with the detector electronics prevents currently to
get unbiased measurements. Ideas are under study to correct in the data
processing side this effect, but a hardware fix should be investigated
seriously since it limits seriously the effective limiting magnitude of the
instrument.Comment: 10 page
Nonleptonic charmless B_c decays and their search at LHCb
International audienceWe discuss the decay of B_c mesons into two light (pseudoscalar and vector) mesons. All these decay channels come from a single type of diagram, namely tree annihilation which allows us to derive simple relations among these processes. The size of annihilation contributions is an important issue in B physics, and we provide two different estimates in the case of non-leptonic charmless B_c decays, either a comparison with annihilation decays of heavy-light mesons or a perturbative model inspired by QCD factorisation. We finally discuss a possible search for these channels at LHCb
AMBER/VLTI observations of the B[e] star MWC 300
Aims. We study the enigmatic B[e] star MWC 300 to investigate its disk and
binary with milli-arcsecond-scale angular resolution. Methods. We observed MWC
300 with the VLTI/AMBER instrument in the H and K bands and compared these
observations with temperature-gradient models to derive model parameters.
Results. The measured low visibility values, wavelength dependence of the
visibilities, and wavelength dependence of the closure phase directly suggest
that MWC 300 consists of a resolved disk and a close binary. We present a model
consisting of a binary and a temperature-gradient disk that is able to
reproduce the visibilities, closure phases, and spectral energy distribution.
This model allows us to constrain the projected binary separation (~4.4 mas or
~7.9 AU), the flux ratio of the binary components (~2.2), the disk temperature
power-law index, and other parameters.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, accepted by A&
Diffuse Atomic and Molecular Gas near IC443
We present an analysis of results on absorption from Ca II, Ca I, K I, and
the molecules CH+, CH, C2, and CN that probes gas interacting with the
supernova remnant IC443. The eleven directions sample material across the
visible nebula and beyond its eastern edge. Most of the neutral material,
including the diatomic molecules, is associated with the ambient cloud detected
via H I and CO emission. Analysis of excitation and chemistry yields gas
densities that are typical of diffuse molecular gas. The low density gas probed
by Ca II extends over a large range in velocities, from -120 to +80 km/s in the
most extreme cases. This gas is distributed among several velocity components,
unlike the situation for the shocked molecular clumps, whose emission occurs
over much the same range but as very broad features. The extent of the
high-velocity absorption suggests a shock velocity of 100 km/s for the
expanding nebula.Comment: To be published in Ap
Predissociation mechanism for the lowest ÂčÎ u states of Nâ
Separate coupled-channel Schrödinger-equation (CSE) models of the interacting ÂčÎ u (b,c,o) and ³Πu (C,CâČ) states of Nâ are combined, through the inclusion of spin-orbit interactions, to produce a five-channel CSE model of the Nâpredissociation. Comparison of the model calculations with an experimental database, consisting principally of detailed new measurements of the vibrational and isotopic dependence of the Î u1linewidths and lifetimes, provides convincing evidence that the predissociation of the lowest ÂčÎ u levels in N2 is primarily an indirect process, involving spin-orbit coupling between the bÂčÎ u- and C³Πu-state levels, the latter levels themselves heavily predissociated electrostatically by the CâČ³Πu continuum. The well-known large width of the b(v=3) level in ÂčâŽNâ is caused by an accidental degeneracy with C(v=9). This CSE model provides the first quantitative explanation of the predissociation mechanism for the dipole-accessible ÂčÎ u states of Nâ, and is thus likely to prove useful in the construction of realistic radiative-transfer and photochemical models for nitrogen-rich planetary atmospheres.This work was partially supported by the Australian
Research Council Discovery Program
Natural Occurrence of Ochratoxin A in Blood and Milk Samples from Jennies and Their Foals after Delivery
An assessment of the natural ochratoxin A (OTA) exposure of seven Martina Franca jennies was carried out by analyzing blood and milk samples collected close to and after delivery. A total of 41 and 34 blood samples were collected from jennies and foals, respectively, and analyzed by ELISA. A total of 33 milk samples were collected from jennies and analyzed by the HPLC/FLD method based on IAC clean-up. Furthermore, 53 feed samples were collected from January to September and analyzed by a reference method (AOAC Official Method No. 2000.03) for OTA content. Feed samples showed OTA levels up to 2.7 ng/g with an incidence of 32%, while the OTA incidence rate in jennies' blood samples was 73%, with a median value of 97 ng/L and concentrations ranging fro
Cryotolerance of equine spermatozoa correlates with specific fatty acid pattern: A pilot study
Sperm cryopreservation represents a powerful tool for horse breeding. To improve the efficiency of artificial insemination in the horse using cryopreserved spermatozoa, an adequate understanding of the underlying biophysical properties that affect sperm cryosurvival needs to be reached yet. In this pilot study, we described isolation and analysis of the main fatty acids from sperms of stallions classified as good and poor freezers (7 GF and 5 PF, according to sperm motility and viability, before and after cryopreservation). Fatty acid profiles were only assessed in pre-thaw sperms. Eight main fatty acids were identified, using gas chromatography, and their contents were expressed as percentage of the total lipid content. We found that lauric, myristic and oleic acid (C12:0, C14:0 and C18:1n9c) turned out to be about 2-fold more abundant in the sperm cells of the GFs compared with PFs. Moreover, we described for the first time the presence of a very high amount of a trans geometrical isomer of linoleic acid, linolelaidic acid (C18:2n6t), in pre-thaw PF spermatozoa. Notably, we found in fresh sperms of PF stallions a ratio of unsaturated fatty acids to saturated fatty acids which was twice that of those of GF group, suggesting a positive effect of a high saturated-to-unsaturated fatty acid ratio for the âfreezabilityâ of equine spermatozoa. Finally, principal component analysis (PCA) confirmed the relationships between specific fatty acids and cryotolerance of equine spermatozoa, also providing a graphical classification and additional information about the dominant variables governing the classification process
"Outside, it is snowing": Experience and finitude in the nonrepresentational landscapes of Alain Robbe-Grillet
Copyright © 2008 PionRomanillos J L, 2008. The definitive, peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space 26(5) 795 â 822 DOI: 10.1068/d6207This paper presents and explicates the anonymous and impersonal spatialities tentatively mapped in the novels of Alain Robbe-Grillet. Emerging from the kinds of landscapes and visualities articulated, these spatialities are at odds with the kind of anthropocentrism characteristic of phenomenological narratives of spatial experience that would start from an apparently stable human-subject position. It is argued that his body of literature dismantles the anthropocentric narratives and biographies that would produce in both the space of the world and the âphenomenological subjectâ an unwarranted depth and naturalism. Importantly, and reflecting the theoretical turn towards the being of language, Robbe-Grillet questions the legitimacy of linguistic subjects to capture the spaces of the visible. As such, it is argued that his literature reflects an experience of the critiques of phenomenology. Importantly, this âcritiqueâ goes hand in hand with the kinds of spatialities and landscapes that are rendered in the novelsâthe indefinite perspectives they open up, the paradoxical visualities they sustain or deny, and the disorientation they inject into the heart of spatial experience. These literary effects produce a nonanthropocentric and nonpersonal spatiality which, although contributing to an erasure of the âsubjectâ, at the same time expose and open up a sociospatiality based on singularities, intensities, and finitude
Near-infrared interferometric observation of the Herbig Ae star HD144432 with VLTI/AMBER
We study the sub-AU-scale circumstellar environment of the Herbig Ae star
HD144432 with near-infrared (NIR) VLTI/AMBER observations to investigate the
structure of its inner dust disk. The interferometric observations were carried
out with the AMBER instrument in the H and K band. We interpret the measured H-
and K-band visibilities, the near- and mid-infrared visibilities from the
literature, and the SED of HD144432 by using geometric ring models and
ring-shaped temperature-gradient disk models with power-law temperature
distributions. We derived a K-band ring-fit radius of 0.17 \pm 0.01 AU and an
H-band radius of 0.18 \pm 0.01 AU (for a distance of 145 pc). This measured
K-band radius of \sim0.17 AU lies in the range between the dust sublimation
radius of \sim0.13 AU (predicted for a dust sublimation temperature of 1500 K
and gray dust) and the prediction of models including backwarming (\sim0.27
AU). We found that an additional extended halo component is required in both
the geometric and temperature-gradient modeling. In the best temperature-
gradient model, the disk consists of two components. The inner part of the disk
is a thin ring with an inner radius of \sim0.21 AU, a temperature of \sim1600
K, and a ring thickness \sim0.02 AU. The outer part extends from \sim1 AU to
\sim10 AU with an inner temperature of \sim400 K. We find that the disk is
nearly face-on with an inclination angle of < 28 degree. Our
temperature-gradient modeling suggests that the NIR excess is dominated by
emission from a narrow, bright rim located at the dust sublimation radius,
while an extended halo component contributes \sim6% to the total flux at 2
{\mu}m. The MIR model emission has a two-component structure with \sim20% flux
from the inner ring and the rest from the outer part. This two-component
structure suggests a disk gap, which is possibly caused by the shadow of a
puffed-up inner rim.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, accepted by A&
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