The Relationship of Coronal Mass Ejections to Streamers

We have examined images from the Large Angle Spectroscopic Coronagraph (LASCO) to study the relationship of Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) to coronal streamers. We wish to test the suggestion (Low 1996) that CMEs arise from flux ropes embedded in a streamer erupting, thus disrupting the streamer. The data span a period of two years near sunspot minimum through a period of increased activity as sunspot numbers increased. We have used LASCO data from the C2 coronagraph which records Thomson scattered white light from coronal electrons at heights between 1.5 and 6R_sun. Maps of the coronal streamers have been constructed from LASCO C2 observations at a height of 2.5R_sun at the east and west limbs. We have superposed the corresponding positions of CMEs observed with the C2 coronagraph onto the synoptic maps. We identified the different kinds of signatures CMEs leave on the streamer structure at this height (2.5R_sun). We find four types of CMEs with respect to their effect on streamers: 1. CMEs that disrupt the streamer 2. CMEs that have no effect on the streamer, even though they are related to it. 3. CMEs that create streamer-like structures 4. CMEs that are latitudinally displaced from the streamer. This is the most extensive observational study of the relation between CMEs and streamers to date. Previous studies using SMM data have made the general statement that CMEs are mostly associated with streamers, and that they frequently disrupt it. However, we find that approximately 35% of the observed CMEs bear no relation to the pre-existing streamer, while 46% have no effect on the observed streamer, even though they appear to be related to it. Our conclusions thus differ considerably from those of previous studies.Comment: Accepted, Journal of Geophysical Research. 8 figs, better versions at http://www.science.gmu.edu/~prasads/streamer.htm

M/L, H-alpha Rotation Curves, and HI Measurements for 329 Nearby Cluster and Field Spirals: II. Evidence for Galaxy Infall

We have conducted a study of optical and HI properties of spiral galaxies (size, luminosity, H-alpha flux distribution, circular velocity, HI gas mass) to explore the role of gas stripping as a driver of morphological evolution in clusters. We find a strong correlation between the spiral and S0 fractions within clusters, and the spiral fraction scales tightly with cluster X-ray gas luminosity. We explore young star formation and identify spirals that are (1) asymmetric, with truncated H-alpha emission and HI gas reservoirs on the leading edge of the disk, on a first pass through the dense intracluster medium in the cores of rich clusters; (2) strongly HI deficient and stripped, with star formation confined to the inner 5 kpc/h and 3 disk scale lengths; (3) reddened, extremely HI deficient and quenched, where star formation has been halted across the entire disk. We propose that these spirals are in successive stages of morphological transformation, between infalling field spirals and cluster S0s, and that the process which acts to remove the HI gas reservoir suppresses new star formation on a similarly fast timescale. These data suggest that gas stripping plays a significant role in morphological transformation and rapid truncation of star formation across the disk.Comment: 24 pages, 12 figures; accepted for publication in AJ; higher-resolution figures available at http://astronomy.nmsu.edu/nicol

First direct constraints on Fierz interference in free neutron β\beta decay

Precision measurements of free neutron $\beta$-decay have been used to precisely constrain our understanding of the weak interaction. However the neutron Fierz interference term $b_n$, which is particularly sensitive to Beyond-Standard-Model tensor currents at the TeV scale, has thus far eluded measurement. Here we report the first direct constraints on this term, finding $b_n = 0.067 \pm 0.005_{\text{stat}} {}^{+0.090}_{- 0.061}{}_{\text{sys}}$, consistent with the Standard Model. The uncertainty is dominated by absolute energy reconstruction and the linearity of the beta spectrometer energy response

Efectos del tráfico del tractor sobre la distribución de la compactación del suelo y los rendimientos de trigo en España

395-403The general objective of this paper was to quantify the changes in the physical properties of an Aridisol soil and the effect on wheat yield due to agricultural tractors traffic in the Vélez Blanco District, Almería Spain. Parameters measured were cone index (CI) in the 0-600 mm depth profile, bulk density (BD) and rut depth; the variable wheat yields (WY) was measured too. The traffic treatments applied were: 0 (control plot), 1, 3, 5, and 7 tractor passes in the same tracks. Each experimental plot was trafficked with two tractors, one light (60 kN) and one heavy (80 kN). In topsoil (0-200 mm), up to five passes of the heavy (HT) and light tractors (LT), as in one and three passes, the BD and CI values responded to the ground pressure being higher in absolute value for LT. For the 200 to 400 mm depth range HT caused higher CI (1,570 to 2,200 kPa) and BD (1.38 to 1.68 Mg m-3) values than LT. Eight months later, WY was evaluated in tractor's track areas and decreases in the range of 18-38 percent, were measured. For seven passes the applications of total loads of 80 and 60 kN increased BD up to 1.5 Mg m-3 at depths of 200-600 mm. Although soil had high bulk density prior to traffic treatments, a significant increment of subsoil compaction still occurred due to the high traffic intensities applied

Observations of SN2011fe with INTEGRAL

SN2011fe was detected by the Palomar Transient Factory on August 24th 2011 in M101 few hours after the explosion. From the early spectra it was immediately realized that it was a Type Ia supernova thus making this event the brightest one discovered in the last twenty years. In this paper the observations performed with the instruments on board of INTEGRAL (SPI, IBIS/ISGRI, JEM-X and OMC) before and after the maximum of the optical light as well as the interpretation in terms of the existing models of $\gamma$--ray emission from such kind of supernovae are reported. All INTEGRAL high-energy have only been able to provide upper limits to the expected emission due to the decay of $^{56}$Ni. These bounds allow to reject explosions involving a massive white dwarf in the sub--Chandrasekhar scenario. On the other hand, the optical light curve obtained with the OMC camera suggests that the event was produced by a delayed detonation of a CO white dwarf that produced $\sim 0.5$ M$\odot$ of $^{56}$Ni. In this particular case, INTEGRAL would have only been able to detect the early $\gamma$--ray emission if the supernova had occurred at a distance of 2 -3 Mpc, although the brightest event could be visible up to distances larger by a factor two.Comment: Proceedings of "An INTEGRAL view of the high-energy sky (the first 10 years)" the 9th INTEGRAL Workshop, October 15-19, 2012, Paris, France, in Proceedings of Science (INTEGRAL 2012), Eds. A. Goldwurm, F. Lebrun and C. Winkler, http://pos.sissa.it/cgi-bin/reader/conf.cgi?confid=176, id number PoS (INTEGRAL 2012) 103 (2013

Monotherapy with boosted protease inhibitors as antiretroviral treatment simplification strategy in the clinical setting

Antiretroviral treatment simplification with darunavir/ritonavir or lopinavir/ritonavir monotherapy maintains sustained HIV viremia suppression in clinical trials. However, data about the efficacy of this strategy in routine clinical practice is still limited, and no direct comparison between darunavir/ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir has been performed to date. We retrospectively studied all HIV-1-infected subjects who initiated monotherapy with darunavir/ritonavir or lopinavir/ritonavir while having plasma VL<50 c/mL, and had at least 1 subsequent follow-up visit in our clinic. When two consecutive PI-monotherapy regimens were used, each regimen was considered separately. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients who maintained virological suppression (HIV-1 VL <50 c/mL) through follow-up. Virological failure was defined as at least two consecutive HIV-1 VL >50 c/mL. We also evaluated other reasons for treatment discontinuation. Analyses were performed considering all regimens (full dataset analysis) either as “on treatment” or as “treatment switch equals failure”. Five hundred and seventy-three PI-monotherapy regimens corresponding to 520 subjects were included, 262 with darunavir/ritonavir and 311 with lopinavir/ritonavir. Medians (IQR) follow-up were 50 (26.3–107.6) and 85.6 (36.9–179.1) weeks for subjects on darunavir/ritonavir and lopinavir/ritonavir, respectively (p<0.001). Overall, 67 (11.7%) subjects experienced virological failure, 23 (8.7%) were on darunavir/ritonavir and 42 (13.5%) were on lopinavir/ritonavir (p=0.796). Two hundred and three (77.5%) patients on darunavir/ritonavir and 154 (49.5%) on lopinavir/ritonavir maintained virological suppression in the “treatment switch equals failure” (p=0.002). Other reasons for treatment discontinuation were gastrointestinal toxicity and dyslipidemia in 7.2% and 5.9% of cases, respectively. Gastrointestinal toxicities and dyslipidemia leading to treatment discontinuation were more frequent in patients on lopinavir/ritonavir (10.6% and 10.3%, respectively) than in patients on darunavir/ritonavir (3.1% and 0.8%, respectively). Monotherapy with darunavir/ritonavir or lopinavir/ritonavir as simplification strategy appears to be effective and safe in subjects with virological suppression in clinical practice. Virological efficacy seems to be similar between regimens. However, rates of discontinuation due to toxicities were higher in subjects on lopinavir/ritonavir than darunavir/ritonavir

The HI content of the Eridanus group of galaxies

The HI content of galaxies in the Eridanus group is studied using the GMRT observations and the HIPASS data. A significant HI deficiency up to a factor of 2-3 is observed in galaxies in the high galaxy density regions. The HI deficiency in galaxies is observed to be directly correlated with the local projected galaxy density, and inversely correlated with the line-of-sight radial velocity. Furthermore, galaxies with larger optical diameters are predominantly in the lower galaxy density regions. It is suggested that the HI deficiency in Eridanus is due to tidal interactions. In some galaxies, evidences of tidal interactions are seen. An important implication is that significant evolution of galaxies can take place in the group environment. In the hierarchical way of formation of clusters via mergers of groups, a fraction of the observed HI deficiency in clusters could have originated in groups. The co-existence of S0's and severely HI deficient galaxies in the Eridanus group suggests that galaxy harassment is likely to be an effective mechanism for transforming spirals to S0's.Comment: 21 pages; Accepted for publication in Journal of Astroph. & Astron. March, 200