Empirical extinction coefficients for the GALEX, SDSS, 2MASS and WISE passbands

Using the "standard pair" technique of paring stars of almost nil and high extinction but otherwise of almost identical stellar parameters from the SDSS, and combing the SDSS, GALEX, 2MASS and WISE photometry ranging from the far UV to the mid-IR, we have measured dust reddening in the FUV-NUV, NUV-u, u-g, g-r, r-i, i-z, z-J, J-H, H-Ks, Ks-W1 and W1-W2 colors for thousands of Galactic stars. The measurements, together with the E(B-V) values given by Schlegel et al. (1998), allow us to derive the observed, model-free reddening coefficients for those colors. The results are compared with previous measurements and the predictions of a variety of Galactic reddening laws. We find that 1) The dust reddening map of Schlegel et al. (1998) over-estimates E(B-V) by about 14 per cent, consistent with the recent work of Schlafly et al. (2010) and Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011); 2) All the new reddening coefficients, except those for NUV-u and u-g, prefer the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick reddening law rather than the R(V) = 3.1 CCM and O'Donnell (O'Donnell 1994) reddening laws. Using the Ks-band extinction coefficient predicted by the R(V) = 3.1 Fitzpatrick law and the observed reddening coefficients, we have deduced new extinction coefficients for the FUV, NUV, u, g, r, i, z, J, H, W1 and W2 passbands. We recommend that the new reddening and extinction coefficients should be used in the future and an update of the Fitzpatrick reddening law in the UV is probably necessary. We stress however that the FUV- and NUV-band coefficients should be used with caution given their relatively large measurement uncertainties. Finally, potential applications of the "standard pair" technique with the LAMOST Galactic surveys are discussed.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRA

Proposal of Direct Search for Strongly Bound States of ppbar, npbar Systems with High Intensity and Collective pbar beam

In this letter, we discuss the possibility to look for the direct evidence of the existence of the ppbar and npbar bound states. Measurement of the single \gamma ray from the ppbar and npbar systems at rest can directly confirm whether the X(1860) and X(1835) are the resonances which are strongly coupled to ppbar. In addition to the neutral candidate, a charged resonance $X^-$ is also proposed to be searched for in npbar channel. We find that the data from the Crystal Barrel experiment at LEAR/CERN can be used to confirm the X(1835) observed by BES Collaboration. The possibility of measuring the $\gamma$ spectrum below 100 MeV at the new experiment with cold high intensity \pbar beam at GSI is discussed. These new techniques can be used to probe the structure of the X(1860) and X(1835) in the future.Comment: Accepted by Mod. Phys. Lett.

Empirical metallicity-dependent calibrations of effective temperature against colours for dwarfs and giants based on interferometric data

We present empirical metallicity-dependent calibrations of effective temperature against colours for dwarfs of luminosity classes IV and V and for giants of luminosity classes II and III, based on a collection from the literature of about two hundred nearby stars with direct effective temperature measurements of better than 2.5 per cent. The calibrations are valid for an effective temperature range 3,100 - 10,000 K for dwarfs of spectral types M5 to A0 and 3,100 - 5,700 K for giants of spectral types K5 to G5. A total of twenty-one colours for dwarfs and eighteen colours for giants of bands of four photometric systems, i.e. the Johnson ($UBVR_{\rm J}I_{\rm J}JHK$), the Cousins ($R_{\rm C}I_{\rm C}$), the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS, $gr$) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS, $JHK_{\rm s}$), have been calibrated. Restricted by the metallicity range of the current sample, the calibrations are mainly applicable for disk stars ([Fe/H]$\,\gtrsim\,-1.0$). The normalized percentage residuals of the calibrations are typically 2.0 and 1.5 per cent for dwarfs and giants, respectively. Some systematic discrepancies at various levels are found between the current scales and those available in the literature (e.g. those based on the infrared flux method IRFM or spectroscopy). Based on the current calibrations, we have re-determined the colours of the Sun. We have also investigated the systematic errors in effective temperatures yielded by the current on-going large scale low- to intermediate-resolution stellar spectroscopic surveys. We show that the calibration of colour ($g-K_{\rm s}$) presented in the current work provides an invaluable tool for the estimation of stellar effective temperature for those on-going or upcoming surveys.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figures, 8 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA

Damage Effects of Fluid filled Submunitions by High Velocity Projectile Impact

A series of tests investigating the damage effects of fluid-filled submunitions by high velocity projectile impact were conducted. An analytical model is presented, in which the yaw angle of the projectile was taken into account. Based on the analytical model, the influence of the strike angle, hit-point offset distance and projectile length to diameter ratio on submunition damage ratio were predicted. The analytical results showed a good agreement with the experiments. The submunition damage ratio strongly depends on the hit-point offset distance, showing a significant decrease with increasing hit-point offset distance. For large hit-point offset distance, increasing the length to diameter ratio of the projectile will effectively improve the submunition damage ratio. There is an appropriate yaw angle of the projectile in which the submunition damage ratio will be maximal

Searching for doubly charmed tetraquark candidates TccT_{cc} and TccsˉT_{cc\bar{s}} in BcB_c decays

In this work, we propose to search for the exotic doubly charmed meson $T_{cc}^+$ and its analog $T_{cc\bar{s}}^+$ in $B_c^+$ decays, which provide a good environment for the formation of the exotic state containing double charm quarks. Within the molecular scheme, the production of $T_{cc}^+$ and $T_{cc\bar{s}}^+$ through various rescattering processes with different intermediate states are investigated. For the moderate values of model parameters, the branching ratios of $B_c^+$ decaying into $T_{cc}^+ \bar{D}^{0}$, $T_{cc}^+ \bar{D}^{*0}$, $T_{cc\bar{s}}^+ \bar{D}^{0}$ and $T_{cc\bar{s}}^+ \bar{D}^{*0}$ are estimated to be of the order of $10^{-7}$, $10^{-5}$, $10^{-6}$ and $10^{-4}$, respectively, which may be tested by future experiments.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Spatio-temporal expression of a novel neuron-derived neurotrophic factor (NDNF) in mouse brains during development

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Neuron-derived neurotrophic factor (NDNF) is evolutionarily well conserved, being present in invertebrate animals such as the nematode, <it>Caenorhabditis elegans</it>, as well as in the fruit fly, <it>Drosophila melanogaster</it>. Multiple cysteines are conserved between species and secondary structure prediction shows that NDNF is mainly composed of beta-strands. In this study, we aimed to investigate the function of NDNF.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>NDNF is a glycosylated, disulfide-bonded secretory protein that contains a fibronectin type III domain. NDNF promoted migration and growth and elicited neurite outgrowth of mouse hippocampal neurons in culture. NDNF also protected cultured hippocamal neurons against excitotoxicity and amyloid beta-peptide toxicity. Western blotting showed that NDNF was exclusively expressed in the brain and spinal cord. Immunostaining indicated that NDNF was expressed by neurons and not by astrocytes. Cajal-Retzius cells, cortex neurons, hippocampus neurons, olfactory mitral cells, cerebellar purkinje cells, cerebellar granular cells and spinal neurons were found to be NDNF-positive. NDNF expression was observed in the neurons during development.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The results of this study indicated that NDNF is a novel neurotrophic factor derived from neurons that may be useful in the treatment of neuronal degeneration diseases and nerve injuries.</p

Radio Polarization of BL Lacertae objects

In this paper, using the database of the university of Michigan Radio Astronomy Observatory (UMRAO) at three (4.8 GHz, 8 GHZ, and 14.5 GHz) radio frequencies, we studied the polarization properties for 47 BL Lacertae objects(38 radio selected BL Lacertae objects, 7 X-ray selected BL Lacertae, and two inter-middle objects (Mkn 421 and Mkn 501), and found that (1) The polarizations at higher radio frequency is higher than those at lower frequency, (2) The variability of polarization at higher radio frequency is higher than those at lower frequency, (3) The polarization is correlated with the radio spectral index, and (4) The polarization is correlated with core-dominance parameter for those objects with known core-dominance parameters suggesting that the relativistic beaming could explain the polarization characteristic of BL Lacs.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, 1 table. PASJ, in pres

2-[1-(4-Chloro­benzo­yl)pyrrolidin-2-yl]-4,4,5,5-tetra­methyl-4,5-dihydro­imidazole-1-oxyl-3-oxide

In the title compound, C18H23ClN3O3, the imidazole ring system has an envelope conformation, whereas the nitronyl nitroxide unit displays a half-chair or twisted conformation. In the crystal, C—H⋯O hydrogen bonds build up a three-dimensional network