5,725 research outputs found
The First VLBI Image of the Young, Oxygen-Rich Supernova Remnant in NGC 4449
We report on sensitive 1.4-GHz VLBI radio observations of the unusually
luminous supernova remnant SNR 4449-1 in the galaxy NGC 4449, which gave us the
first well-resolved image of this object. The remnant's radio morphology
consists of two approximately parallel bright ridges, suggesting similarities
to the barrel shape seen for many older Galactic supernova remnants or possibly
to SN 1987A. The angular extent of the remnant is 65 x 40 mas, corresponding to
(3.7 x 2.3) x 10^{18} (D/3.8 Mpc) cm. We also present a new, high
signal-to-noise optical spectrum. By comparing the remnant's linear size to the
maximum velocities measured from optical lines, as well as using constraints
from historical images, we conclude that the supernova explosion occurred
between ~1905 and 1961, likely around 1940. The age of the remnant is therefore
likely ~70 yr. We find that SNR 4449-1's shock wave is likely still interacting
with the circumstellar rather than interstellar medium.Comment: 7 pages, Accepted for publication in MNRA
The Location of the Core in M81
We report on VLBI observations of M81*, the northwest-southeast oriented
nuclear core-jet source of the spiral galaxy M81, at five different frequencies
between 1.7 and 14.8 GHz. By phase referencing to supernova 1993J we can
accurately locate the emission region of M81* in the galaxy's reference frame.
Although the emission region's size decreases with increasing frequency while
the brightness peak moves to the southwest, the emission region seems sharply
bounded to the southwest at all frequencies. We argue that the core must be
located between the brightness peak at our highest frequency (14.8 GHz) and the
sharp bound to the southwest. This narrowly constrains the location of the
core, or the purported black hole in the center of the galaxy, to be within a
region of +/-0.2 mas or +/-800 AU (at a distance of ~4 Mpc). This range
includes the core position that we determined earlier by finding the most
stationary point in the brightness distribution of M81* at only a single
frequency. This independent constraint therefore strongly confirms our earlier
core position. Our observations also confirm that M81* is a core-jet source,
with a one-sided jet that extends to the northeast from the core, on average
curved somewhat to the east, with a radio spectrum that is flat or inverted
near the core and steep at the distant end. The brightness peak is
unambiguously identified with the variable jet rather than the core, which
indicates limitations in determining the proper motion of nearby galaxies and
in refining the extragalactic reference frame.Comment: LaTeX, 10 pages with 3 figures. Typos fixed and slight rewording for
clarity from previous version. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
A Monte Carlo Study of the Dynamical-Flucautation Property of the Hadronic System Inside Jets
A study of the dynamical fluctuation property of jets is carried out using
Monte Carlo method. The results suggest that, unlike the average properties of
the hadronic system inside jets, the anisotropy of dynamical fluctuations in
these systems changes abruptly with the variation of the cut parameter \yct.
A transition point exists, where the dynamical fluctuations in the hadronic
system inside jet behave like those in soft hadronic collisions, i.e. being
circular in the transverse plan with repect to dynamical fluctuations. This
finding obtained from Jetset and Herwig Monte Carlo is encouraged to be checked
by experiments.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure
The \u3cem\u3elet-7\u3c/em\u3e MicroRNA Family Members \u3cem\u3emir\u3c/em\u3e-48, \u3cem\u3emir\u3c/em\u3e-84, and mir-241 Function Together to Regulate Developmental Timing in \u3cem\u3eCaenorhabditis elegans\u3c/em\u3e
The microRNA let-7 is a critical regulator of developmental timing events at the larval-to-adult transition in C. elegans. Recently, microRNAs with sequence similarity to let-7 have been identified. We find that doubly mutant animals lacking the let-7 family microRNA genes mir-48 and mir-84 exhibit retarded molting behavior and retarded adult gene expression in the hypodermis. Triply mutant animals lacking mir-48, mir-84, and mir-241 exhibit repetition of L2-stage events in addition to retarded adult-stage events. mir-48, mir-84, and mir-241 function together to control the L2-to-L3 transition, likely by base pairing to complementary sites in the hbl-1 3′ UTR and downregulating hbl-1 activity. Genetic analysis indicates that mir-48, mir-84, and mir-241 specify the timing of the L2-to-L3 transition in parallel to the heterochronic genes lin-28 and lin-46. These results indicate that let-7 family microRNAs function in combination to affect both early and late developmental timing decisions
SN1993J VLBI (I): The Center of the Explosion and a Limit on Anisotropic Expansion
Phase-referenced VLBI observations of supernova 1993J at 24 epochs, from 50
days after shock breakout to the present, allowed us to determine the
coordinates of the explosion center relative to the quasi-stationary core of
the host galaxy M81 with an accuracy of 45 micro-arcsec, and to determine the
nominal proper motion of the geometric center of the radio shell with an
accuracy of 9micro-arcsec/yr. The uncertainties correspond to 160 AU for the
position and 160 km/s for the proper motion at the distance of the source of
3.63 Mpc. After correcting for the expected galactic proper motion of the
supernova around the core of M81 using HI rotation curves, we obtain a peculiar
proper motion of the radio shell center of only 320 +/- 160 km/s to the south,
which limits any possible one-sided expansion of the shell. We also find that
the shell is highly circular, the outer contours in fact being circular to
within 3%. Combining our proper motion values with the degree of circular
symmetry, we find that the expansion of the shockfront from the explosion
center is isotropic to within 5.5% in the plane of the sky. This is a more
fundamental result on isotropic expansion than can be derived from the
circularity of the images alone. The brightness of the radio shell, however,
varies along the ridge and systematically changes with time. The degree of
isotropy in the expansion of the shockfront contrasts with the asymmetries and
polarization found in optical spectral lines. Asymmetric density distributions
in the ejecta or more likely in the circumstellar medium, are favored to
reconcile the radio and optical results. We see no sign of any disk-like
density distribution of the circumstellar material, with the average axis ratio
of the radio shell of SN1993J being less than 1.04.Comment: 21 pages, LaTex + 5 Figures (encapulsated PostScript), Accepted for
Publication in the Astrophysical Journa
SN 1993J VLBI (IV): A Geometric Determination of the Distance to M81 with the Expanding Shock Front Method
We compare the angular expansion velocities, determined with VLBI, with the
linear expansion velocities measured from optical spectra for supernova 1993J
in the galaxy M81, over the period from 7 d to ~9 yr after shock breakout. We
estimate the distance to SN 1993J using the Expanding Shock Front Method (ESM).
We find the best distance estimate is obtained by fitting the angular velocity
of a point halfway between the contact surface and outer shock front to the
maximum observed hydrogen gas velocity. We obtain a direct, geometric, distance
estimate for M81 of D=3.96+-0.05+-0.29 Mpc with statistical and systematic
error contributions, respectively, corresponding to a total standard error of
$+-0.29 Mpc. The upper limit of 4.25 Mpc corresponds to the hydrogen gas with
the highest observed velocity reaching no farther out than the contact surface
a few days after shock breakout. The lower limit of 3.67 Mpc corresponds to
this hydrogen gas reaching as far out as the forward shock for the whole
period, which would mean that Rayleigh-Taylor fingers have grown to the forward
shock already a few days after shock breakout. Our distance estimate is 9+-13 %
larger than that of 3.63+-0.34 Mpc from the HST Key Project, which is near our
lower limit but within the errors.Comment: 25 pages, 11 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
- …