Aims.This paper develops a method for obtaining the star formation histories of a mixed, resolved population through the use of color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs). The method provides insight into the ...local star formation rate, analyzing the observations of the Hipparcos satellite through a comparison with synthetic CMDs computed for different histories with an updated stellar evolution library. Methods.Parallax and photometric uncertainties are included explicitly and corrected using the Bayesian Richardson-Lucy algorithm. We first describe our verification studies using artificial data sets. From this sensitivity study, the critical factors determining the success of a recovery for a known star formation rate are a partial knowledge of the IMF and the age-metallicity relation, and sample contamination by clusters and moving groups (special populations whose histories are different than that of the whole sample). Unresolved binaries are less important impediments. We highlight how these limit the method. Results.For the real field sample, complete to $M_V < 3.5$, we find that the solar neighborhood star formation rate has a characteristic timescale for variation of about 6 Gyr, with a maximum activity close to 3 Gyr ago. The similarity of this finding with column integrated star formation rates may indicate a global origin, possibly a collision with a satellite galaxy. We also discuss applications of this technique to general photometric surveys of other complex systems (e.g. Local Group dwarf galaxies) where the distances are well known.
Purpose
To assess the safety and pharmacokinetics and determine the recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D) of niraparib with apalutamide or abiraterone acetate plus prednisone (AAP) in patients with ...metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC).
Methods
BEDIVERE was a multicenter, open-label, phase 1b study of niraparib 200 or 300 mg/day with apalutamide 240 mg or AAP (abiraterone acetate 1000 mg; prednisone 10 mg). Patients with mCRPC were previously treated with ≥ 2 lines of systemic therapy, including ≥ 1 androgen receptor-axis-targeted therapy for prostate cancer.
Results
Thirty-three patients were enrolled (niraparib-apalutamide, 6; niraparib-AAP, 27). No dose-limiting toxicities (DLTs) were reported when combinations included niraparib 200 mg; five patients receiving niraparib 300 mg experienced DLTs niraparib-apalutamide, 2/3 patients (66.7%); niraparib-AAP, 3/8 patients (37.5%). Although data are limited, niraparib exposures were lower when given with apalutamide compared with historical niraparib monotherapy exposures in patients with solid tumors. Because of the higher incidence of DLTs, the niraparib–apalutamide combination and niraparib 300 mg combination with AAP were not further evaluated. Niraparib 200 mg was selected as the RP2D with AAP. Of 19 patients receiving niraparib 200 mg with AAP, 12 (63.2%) had grade 3/4 treatment-emergent adverse events, the most common being thrombocytopenia (26.3%) and hypertension (21.1%). Five patients (26.3%) had adverse events leading to treatment discontinuation.
Conclusions
These results support the choice of niraparib 200 mg as the RP2D with AAP. The niraparib–AAP combination was tolerable in patients with mCRPC, with no new safety signals. An ongoing phase 3 study is further assessing this combination in patients with mCRPC.
Trial registration no.
NCT02924766 (ClinicalTrials.gov).
ABSTRACT
We present a comprehensive review of all observations of the eclipsing recurrent Nova LMC 1968 in the Large Magellanic Cloud which was previously observed in eruption in 1968, 1990, 2002, ...2010, and most recently in 2016. We derive a probable recurrence time of 6.2 ± 1.2 yr and provide the ephemerides of the eclipse. In the ultraviolet–optical–IR photometry the light curve shows high variability right from the first observation around 2 d after eruption. Therefore no colour changes can be substantiated. Outburst spectra from 2016 and 1990 are very similar and are dominated by H and He lines longward of 2000 Å. Interstellar reddening is found to be E(B − V) = 0.07 ± 0.01. The super soft X-ray luminosity is lower than the Eddington luminosity and the X-ray spectra suggest the mass of the white dwarf (WD) is larger than 1.3 M⊙. Eclipses in the light curve suggest that the system is at high orbital inclination. On day 4 after the eruption a recombination wave was observed in Fe ii ultraviolet absorption lines. Narrow-line components are seen after day 6 and explained as being due to reionization of ejecta from a previous eruption. The UV spectrum varies with orbital phase, in particular a component of the He ii 1640 Å emission line, which leads us to propose that early-on the inner WD Roche lobe might be filled with a bound opaque medium prior to the re-formation of an accretion disc. Both this medium and the ejecta can cause the delay in the appearance of the soft X-ray source.
Among the classical novae, the ONe subgroup, distinguished by their large overabundance of neon, are thought to occur on the most massive white dwarfs. The first optical spectra obtained about 55 ...days after gamma -ray peak, were strikingly similar to the ONe class after the transition to the nebular (optically thin) spectrum. The current paper presents our subsequent optical and ultraviolet observations. A time sequence of optical echelle spectra with the Nordic Optical Telescope (NOT) began on 2012 Aug. 16, immediately following the optical announcement, and are continuing. The ONe novae appear to comprise a single physical class with bipolar high mass ejecta, similarly enhanced abundances, and a common spectroscopic evolution within a narrow range of luminosities. The spectral evolution does not require continued mass loss from the post-explosion white dwarf. This also implies that the detected gamma -ray emission is a generic phenomenon, common to all ONe novae, possibly to all classical novae, and connected with acceleration and emission processes within the ejecta.
ABSTRACT
We study statistical properties of stochastic variations in pulse arrival times, timing noise, in radio pulsars using a new analysis method applied in the time domain. The method proceeds in ...two steps. First, we subtract low‐frequency wander using a high‐pass filter. Secondly, we calculate the discrete correlation function of the filtered data. As a complementary method for measuring correlations, we introduce a statistic that measures the dispersion of the data with respect to the data translated in time. The analysis methods presented here are robust and of general usefulness for studying arrival time variations over time‐scales approaching the average sampling interval. We apply these methods to timing data for 32 pulsars. In two radio pulsars, PSRs B1133+16 and B1933+16, we find that fluctuations in arrival times are correlated over time‐scales of 10–20 d with the distinct signature of a relaxation process. Though this relaxation response could be magnetospheric in origin, we argue that damping between the neutron star crust and interior liquid is a more likely explanation. Under this interpretation, our results provide the first evidence independent from pulsar spin glitches of differential rotation in neutron stars. PSR B0950+08 shows evidence for quasi‐periodic oscillations that could be related to mode switching.
Context. Classical novae are explosive phenomena that take place in stellar binary systems. They are powered by mass transfer from a low-mass, main sequence star onto a white dwarf. The material ...piles up under degenerate conditions and a thermonuclear runaway ensues. The energy released by the suite of nuclear processes operating at the envelope heats the material up to peak temperatures of ~(1−4) × 108 K. During these events, about 10-4−10-5M⊙, enriched in CNO and other intermediate-mass elements, are ejected into the interstellar medium. To account for the gross observational properties of classical novae (in particular, a metallicity enhancement in the ejecta above solar values), numerical models assume mixing between the (solar-like) material transferred from the companion and the outermost layers (CO- or ONe-rich) of the underlying white dwarf. Aims. The nature of the mixing mechanism that operates at the core-envelope interface has puzzled stellar modelers for about 40 years. Here we investigate the role of Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities as a natural mechanism for self-enrichment of the accreted envelope with core material. Methods. The feasibility of this mechanism is studied by means of the multidimensional code FLASH. Here, we present a series of 9 numerical simulations perfomed in two dimensions aimed at testing the possible influence of the initial perturbation (duration, strength, location, and size), the resolution adopted, or the size of the computational domain on the results. Results. We show that results do not depend substantially on the specific choice of these parameters, demonstrating that Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities can naturally lead to self-enrichment of the accreted envelope with core material, at levels that agree with observations.
Nova Monocerotis 2012 is the third gamma -ray transient identified with a thermonuclear runaway on a white dwarf, that is, a nova event. Swift monitoring has revealed the distinct evolution of the ...harder and super-soft X-ray spectral components, while Swift-UV and V- and I-band photometry show a gradual decline with subtle changes of slope. During the super-soft emission phase, a coherent 7.1 hr modulation was found in the soft X-ray, UV, optical, and near-IR data, varying in phase across all wavebands. Assuming this period to be orbital, the system has a near-main-sequence secondary, with little appreciable stellar wind. This distinguishes it from the first GeV nova, V407 Cyg, where the gamma -rays were proposed to form through shock-accelerated particles as the ejecta interacted with the red giant wind. We favor a model in which the gamma -rays arise from the shock of the ejecta with material close to the white dwarf in the orbital plane. This suggests that classical novae may commonly be GeV sources. We ascribe the orbital modulation to a raised section of an accretion disk passing through the line of sight, periodically blocking and reflecting much of the emission. The disk must therefore have reformed by day 150 after outburst.
We continue our study of the physical properties of the recurrent nova T Pyx, focussing on the structure of the ejecta in the nebular stage of expansion during the 2011 outburst. The compact ...recurrent novae can be understood within a single phenomenological model with bipolar, although not jet-like, low mass ejecta.
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