179 research outputs found
ATLASGAL-selected massive clumps in the inner Galaxy: I. CO depletion and isotopic ratios
In the low-mass regime, it is found that the gas-phase abundances of
C-bearing molecules in cold starless cores rapidly decrease with increasing
density, as the molecules form mantles on dust grains. We study CO depletion in
102 massive clumps selected from the ATLASGAL 870 micron survey, and
investigate its correlation with evolutionary stage and with the physical
parameters of the sources. Moreover, we study the gradients in [12C]/[13C] and
[18O]/[17O] isotopic ratios across the inner Galaxy, and the virial stability
of the clumps. We use low-J emission lines of CO isotopologues and the dust
continuum emission to infer the depletion factor fD. RATRAN one-dimensional
models were also used to determine fD and to investigate the presence of
depletion above a density threshold. The isotopic ratios and optical depth were
derived with a Bayesian approach. We find a significant number of clumps with a
large fD, up to ~20. Larger values are found for colder clumps, thus for
earlier evolutionary phases. For massive clumps in the earliest stages of
evolution we estimate the radius of the region where CO depletion is important
to be a few tenths of a pc. Clumps are found with total masses derived from
dust continuum emission up to ~20 times higher than the virial mass, especially
among the less evolved sources. These large values may in part be explained by
the presence of depletion: if the CO emission comes mainly from the low-density
outer layers, the molecules may be subthermally excited, leading to an
overestimate of the dust masses. CO depletion in high-mass clumps seems to
behave as in the low-mass regime, with less evolved clumps showing larger
values for the depletion than their more evolved counterparts, and increasing
for denser sources. The C and O isotopic ratios are consistent with previous
determinations, and show a large intrinsic scatter.Comment: 20 pages, 17 figures, 38 pages of online material (tables and
figures
A Low-Cost Dual-Band RF Power Amplifier for Wireless Communication Systems
This paper presents a design of a low-cost concurrent dual-band power amplifier operating at 1.8 GHz and 2.6 GHz. The design combines the signal splitting and second harmonic suppression techniques. The power amplifier aims at achieving the high-efficiency while rejecting unwanted output mixing products when operating in the dual-band mode. These advantages are obtained by using a harmonic termination technique combining with a signal splitting method. The designed amplifier is tested at both small- and large-signal performance through simulations and measurements. The designed amplifier delivers 10.2 dB Gain, 41.2 dBm Pout, and PAE of 40.2 % at 1.8 GHz and 10.1 dB Gain, 41.1 dBm Pout, and PAE of 38.7 % at 2.6 GHz. The second harmonic suppression for 1.8 GHz band is 49 dBc while the second harmonic for the 2.6 GHz is nearly total suppression. In addition, by using the proposed circuit, the unwanted mixing products can be significantly reduced improving linearity performance
Large scale IRAM 30m CO-observations in the giant molecular cloud complex W43
We aim to give a full description of the distribution and location of dense
molecular clouds in the giant molecular cloud complex W43. It has previously
been identified as one of the most massive star-forming regions in our Galaxy.
To trace the moderately dense molecular clouds in the W43 region, we initiated
an IRAM 30m large program, named W43-HERO, covering a large dynamic range of
scales (from 0.3 to 140 pc). We obtained on-the-fly-maps in 13CO (2-1) and C18O
(2-1) with a high spectral resolution of 0.1 km/s and a spatial resolution of
12". These maps cover an area of ~1.5 square degrees and include the two main
clouds of W43, as well as the lower density gas surrounding them. A comparison
with Galactic models and previous distance calculations confirms the location
of W43 near the tangential point of the Scutum arm at a distance from the Sun
of approximately 6 kpc. The resulting intensity cubes of the observed region
are separated into sub-cubes, centered on single clouds which are then analyzed
in detail. The optical depth, excitation temperature, and H2 column density
maps are derived out of the 13CO and C18O data. These results are then compared
with those derived from Herschel dust maps. The mass of a typical cloud is
several 10^4 solar masses while the total mass in the dense molecular gas (>100
cm^-3) in W43 is found to be about 1.9e6 solar masses. Probability distribution
functions obtained from column density maps derived from molecular line data
and Herschel imaging show a log-normal distribution for low column densities
and a power-law tail for high densities. A flatter slope for the molecular line
data PDF may imply that those selectively show the gravitationally collapsing
gas
Microfluidic impedance biosensors for monitoring a single and multiple cancer cells in anticancer drug treatments
In this work, we present a novel microfluidic impedance biosensor chip for trapping both a single and multiple cancer cells and monitoring their response to the anti-cancer drug treatment. By designing different sizes of working microelectrodes together with the V-shaped cell capture structures, a single or multiple cells are trapped on the microelectrodes surfaces. In addition, by utilizing the passive pumping method, cells can be trapped and positioned inside the microchannels without the need of using the outer micro pump or syringe. The impedance change induced by the response of cells to the anticancer drug Cisplatin treatment was successfully recorded. The proposed biosensor chip has a great potential for applications in cancer cell research, drug screening, and quantification of cancer cells from various tumor stages. The results of this study open potential research collaborations about development of cost-effective devices and lab-on-chips for early disease detection, studies of cancerous cells and their response to anti-cancer drugs to optimize cancer treatments, characterisation of mechanical properties of cells, new drug delivery mechanisms, and micro and nano manufacturing
The W43-MM1 mini-starburst ridge, a test for star formation efficiency models
Context: Star formation efficiency (SFE) theories are currently based on
statistical distributions of turbulent cloud structures and a simple model of
star formation from cores. They remain poorly tested, especially at the highest
densities. Aims: We investigate the effects of gas density on the SFE through
measurements of the core formation efficiency (CFE). With a total mass of
M, the W43-MM1 ridge is one of the most convincing
candidate precursor of starburst clusters and thus one of the best place to
investigate star formation. Methods: We used high-angular resolution maps
obtained at 3 mm and 1 mm within W43-MM1 with the IRAM Plateau de Bure
Interferometer to reveal a cluster of 11 massive dense cores (MDCs), and, one
of the most massive protostellar cores known. An Herschel column density image
provided the mass distribution of the cloud gas. We then measured the
'instantaneous' CFE and estimated the SFE and the star formation rate (SFR)
within subregions of the W43-MM1 ridge. Results: The high SFE found in the
ridge (6% enclosed in 8 pc) confirms its ability to form a
starburst cluster. There is however a clear lack of dense cores in the northern
part of the ridge, which may be currently assembling. The CFE and the SFE are
observed to increase with volume gas density while the SFR steeply decreases
with the virial parameter, . Statistical models of the SFR may
well describe the outskirts of the W43-MM1 ridge but struggle to reproduce its
inner part, which corresponds to measurements at low . It may be
that ridges do not follow the log-normal density distribution, Larson
relations, and stationary conditions forced in the statistical SFR models.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by A&
Co-infection of human parvovirus B19 with Plasmodium falciparum contributes to malaria disease severity in Gabonese patients
Background: High seroprevalence of parvovirus B19 (B19V) coinfection with Plasmodium falciparum has been previously reported. However, the impact of B19V-infection on the clinical course of malaria is still elusive. In this study, we investigated the prevalence and clinical significance of B19V co-infection in Gabonese children with malaria. Methods: B19V prevalence was analyzed in serum samples of 197 Gabonese children with P. falciparum malaria and 85 healthy controls using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), and direct DNA-sequencing. Results: B19V was detected in 29/282 (10.28%) of Gabonese children. B19V was observed more frequently in P. falciparum malaria patients (14.21%) in comparison to healthy individuals (1.17%) (
Arcsecond resolution images of the chemical structure of the low-mass protostar IRAS 16293-2422
It remains a key challenge to establish the molecular content of different
components of low-mass protostars, like their envelopes and disks, and how this
depends on the evolutionary stage and/or environment of the young stars.
Observations at submillimeter wavelengths provide a direct possibility to study
the chemical composition of low-mass protostars through transitions probing
temperatures up to a few hundred K in the gas surrounding these sources. This
paper presents a large molecular line survey of the deeply embedded
protostellar binary IRAS 16293-2422 from the Submillimeter Array (SMA) -
including images of individual lines down to approximately 1.5-3" (190-380 AU)
resolution. More than 500 individual transitions are identified related to 54
molecular species (including isotopologues) probing temperatures up to about
550 K. Strong chemical differences are found between the two components in the
protostellar system with a separation between, in particular, the sulfur- and
nitrogen-bearing species and oxygen-bearing complex organics. The action of
protostellar outflow on the ambient envelope material is seen in images of CO
and SiO and appear to influence a number of other species, including
(deuterated) water, HDO. The effects of cold gas-phase chemistry is directly
imaged through maps of CO, N2D+ and DCO+, showing enhancements of first DCO+
and subsequently N2D+ in the outer envelope where CO freezes-out on dust
grains.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 30 pages, 22 figure
Infall Signatures in a Prestellar Core embedded in the High-Mass 70 m Dark IRDC G331.372-00.116
Using Galactic Plane surveys, we have selected a massive (1200 M), cold (14 K) 3.6-70 m dark IRDC G331.372-00.116. This IRDC has the potential to form high-mass stars and, given the absence of current star formation signatures, it seems to represent the earliest stages of high-mass star formation. We have mapped the whole IRDC with the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) at 1.1 and 1.3 mm in dust continuum and line emission. The dust continuum reveals 22 cores distributed across the IRDC. In this work, we analyze the physical properties of the most massive core, ALMA1, which has no molecular outflows detected in the CO (2-1), SiO (5-4), and HCO (3-2) lines. This core is relatively massive ( = 17.6 M), subvirialized (virial parameter ), and is barely affected by turbulence (transonic Mach number of 1.2). Using the HCO (3-2) line, we find the first detection of infall signatures in a relatively massive, prestellar core (ALMA1) with the potential to form a high-mass star. We estimate an infall speed of 1.54 km s and a high accretion rate of 1.96 10 M yr. ALMA1 is rapidly collapsing, out of virial equilibrium, more consistent with competitive accretion scenarios rather than the turbulent core accretion model. On the other hand, ALMA1 has a mass 6 times larger than the clumps Jeans mass, being in an intermediate mass regime ( 30 M), contrary to what both the competitive accretion and turbulent core accretion theories predict
A survey for hydroxyl in the THOR pilot region around W43
We report on observations of the hydroxyl radical (OH) within The H{\sc I}, OH Recombination line survey (THOR) pilot region. The region is bounded approximately between Galactic coordinates l=29.2 to 31.5 ∘ and b=-1.0 to +1.0 ∘ and includes the high-mass star forming region W43. We identify 103 maser sites, including 72 with 1612\,MHz masers, 42 showing masers in either of the main line transitions at 1665 and 1667\,MHz and four showing 1720\,MHz masers. Most maser sites with either main-line or 1720\,MHz emission are associated with star formation, whereas most of the 1612\,MHz masers are associated with evolved stars. We find that nearly all of the main-line maser sites are co-spatial with an infrared source, detected by GLIMPSE. We also find diffuse OH emission, as well as OH in absorption towards selected unresolved or partially resolved sites. Extended OH absorption is found towards the well known star forming complex W43 Main
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