Cooling of pulsars

Cooling rates are calculated for superfluid neutron stars of about one solar mass and 10 km radius, with magnetic fields from zero to about 10 to the 14th power Gauss, when possible internal friction effects are neglected. The results show that most old pulsars are so cold that thermal ionization of surface atoms would be negligible. At an age of a million years and with canonical magnetic fields of 10 to the 12th power Gauss, the estimated stellar surface temperature is several thousand to a hundred thousand degrees. However, if we neglect magnetic fields and superfluid states of nucleons, the same surfaces would be about a million degrees

Dense Clouds near the Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei

A model is presented which assumes the existence of cold dense clouds near the central engine of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs). The effects of such clouds on the observed spectrum are explored. It is shown that this model is consistent with the complicated observed spectra and variability behavior of most extensively studied Seyfert nuclei. The results are compared with other proposed models. The existing observational evidence appears to support the "cloud-model.

Rapid neutron capture in supernova explosions

Rapid neutron capture in supernova explosion

Neutrino Emission From Direct Urca Processes in Pion Condensed Quark Matter

We study neutrino emission from direct Urca processes in pion condensed quark matter. In compact stars with high baryon density, the emission is dominated by the gapless modes of the pion condensation which leads to an enhanced emissivity. While for massless quarks the enhancement is not remarkable, the emissivity is significantly larger and the cooling of the condensed matter is considerably faster than that in normal quark matter when the mass difference between $u$- and $d$-quarks is sizable.Comment: 12 pages,6 figures, published versio

Structural and Functional Genomic Research in Model Legume Plants: The National BioResource Project (NBRP) in Japan

Lotus japonicus is a wild perennial plant with a small genome and a short life cycle. This plant is expected to play a role as the model organism of leguminous plants, which include important crop plants such as soybean (Glycine max). Legume Base, a resource centre for Lotus japonicus and Glycine max, was established in April 2004. The scope of Legume Base is the collection, development and conservation of the genetic resources of L. japonicus and G. max and the distribution of the material for utilization by the research community. DNA resources including genomic DNA clones will be also available through Legume Base web site

Pair Plasmas in the Central Engine of Active Galactic Nuclei

As the most promising model for the X-ray emission from a class of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGNs) represented by radio-quiet quasars and Seyfert nuclei, here we introduce the non-thermal pair cascade model, where soft photons are Comptonized by non-thermal electron-positron pair plasmas produced by (gamma)-rays. After summarizing the simplest model of this kind, the "homogeneous spherical cascade model", our most recent work on the "surface cascade model" is presented, where a geometrical effect is introduced. Many characteristics of this model are qualitatively similar to the homogeneous cascade model. However, an important difference is that (gamma)-ray depletion is much more efficient in the surface cascade, and consequently this model naturally satisfies the severe observational constraint imposed by the (gamma)-ray background radiation

Effects of Shocks on Emission from Central Engines of Active Galactic Nuclei. I

In this paper we show that perturbations of the accretion flow within the central engines of some active galactic nuclei (AGNS) are likely to form shock waves in the accreting plasma. Such shocks, which may be either collisional or collisionless, can contribute to the observed high-energy temporal and spectral variability. Our rationale is the following: Observations show that the continuum emission probably originates in an optically thin, hot plasma in the AGN central engine. The flux and spectrum from this hot plasma varies significantly over light crossing timescales. Several authors have suggested that macroscopic perturbations contained within this plasma are the sources of this variability. In order to produce the observed emission the perturbations must be radiatively coupled with the optically thin hot matter and must also move with high velocities. We suggest that shocks, which can be very effective in randomizing the bulk motion of the perturbations, are responsible for this coupling. Shocks should form in the central engine, because the temperatures and magnetic fields are probably reduced below their virial values by radiative dissipation. Perturbations moving at Keplerian speeds, or strong non-linear excitations, result in supersonic and super-Alfvenic velocities leading to shock waves within the hot plasma. We show that even a perturbation smaller than the emitting region can form a shock that significantly modifies the continuum emission in an AGN, and that the spectral and temporal variability from such a shock generally resembles those of radio-quiet AGNS. As an example, the shock inducing perturbation in our model is a small main-sequence star, the capturing and eventual accretion of which are known to be a plausible process. We argue that shocks in the central engine may also provide a natural triggering mechanism for the "cold" component of Guilbert & Rees two-phase medium and an efficient mecha- nism for angular momentum transfer. Current and future missions, such as ASCA, XTE, XMM, AXAF, and ASTRO-E may determine the importance of shock-related emission from the central engines of AGNS

Genetic Transformation of Rhodesgrass (Chloris Gayana Kunth.) by Particle Bombardment

Rhodesgrass (Chloris gayana Kunth) has been cultivated as one of the most important warm-season grasses in the world. One of the major limitations for cattle production on forage grasses, especially warm-season grasses is poor digestibility if compared to temperate grasses (Gondo et al., 2003). It is believed that the low digestibility of warm-season grasses is due to high lignin contents (Akashi et al., 2003). Recently, modification of the lignin content of plants appears to be feasible using genetic engineering strategies. We have established a methodology for high-frequency somatic embryogenesis and multiple shoot formation from seed-derived shoot apical meristems in rhodesgrass. Also, we have studied several factors involved in particle bombardment transformation

An accretion model for the growth of the central black hole associated with ionization instability in quasars

A possible accretion model associated with the ionization instability of quasar disks is proposed to address the growth of the central black hole harbored in the host galaxy.The mass ratio between black hole and its host galactic bulge is a nature consequence of our model.Comment: submitted to ApJ, 15 page