Planet Hunters IX. KIC 8462852 – where's the flux? Boyajian, T. S; LaCourse, D. M; Rappaport, S. A ...
Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society,
04/2016, Letnik:
457, Številka:
4
Journal Article
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Over the duration of the Kepler mission, KIC 8462852 was observed to undergo irregularly shaped, aperiodic dips in flux of up to ∼20 per cent. The dipping activity can last for between 5 and 80 d. We ...characterize the object with high-resolution spectroscopy, spectral energy distribution fitting, radial velocity measurements, high-resolution imaging, and Fourier analyses of the Kepler light curve. We determine that KIC 8462852 is a typical main-sequence F3 V star that exhibits no significant IR excess, and has no very close interacting companions. In this paper, we describe various scenarios to explain the dipping events observed in the Kepler light curve. We confirm that the dipping signals in the data are not caused by any instrumental or data processing artefact, and thus are astrophysical in origin. We construct scenario-independent constraints on the size and location of a body in the system that are needed to reproduce the observations. We deliberate over several assorted stellar and circumstellar astrophysical scenarios, most of which have problems explaining the data in hand. By considering the observational constraints on dust clumps in orbit around a normal main-sequence star, we conclude that the scenario most consistent with the data in hand is the passage of a family of exocomet or planetesimal fragments, all of which are associated with a single previous break-up event, possibly caused by tidal disruption or thermal processing. The minimum total mass associated with these fragments likely exceeds 10−6 M⊕, corresponding to an original rocky body of >100 km in diameter. We discuss the necessity of future observations to help interpret the system.
Conformational isomers (conformers) of molecules play a decisive role in biology and organic chemistry. However, experimental methods for investigating chemical reaction dynamics are typically not ...conformer-sensitive. We report on a gas-phase megaelectronvolt ultrafast electron diffraction investigation of α-phellandrene undergoing an electrocyclic ring-opening reaction. We directly imaged the evolution of a specific set of α-phellandrene conformers into the product isomer predicted by the Woodward-Hoffmann rules in real space and time. Our experimental results are in quantitative agreement with nonadiabatic quantum molecular dynamics simulations, which provide considerable detail of how conformation influences the time scale and quantum efficiency of photoinduced ring-opening reactions.
The Rare-RI Ring (R3) is a recently commissioned cyclotronlike storage ring mass spectrometer dedicated to mass measurements of exotic nuclei far from stability at Radioactive Isotope Beam Factory ...(RIBF) in RIKEN. The first application of mass measurement using the R3 mass spectrometer at RIBF is reported. Rare isotopes produced at RIBF-^{127}Sn, ^{126}In, ^{125}Cd, ^{124}Ag, ^{123}Pd-were injected in R3. Masses of ^{126}In, ^{125}Cd, and ^{123}Pd were measured whereby the mass uncertainty of ^{123}Pd was improved. This is the first reported measurement with a new storage ring mass spectrometry technique realized at a heavy-ion cyclotron and employing individual injection of the preidentified rare nuclei. The latter is essential for the future mass measurements of the rarest isotopes produced at RIBF. The impact of the new ^{123}Pd result on the solar r-process abundances in a neutron star merger event is investigated by performing reaction network calculations of 20 trajectories with varying electron fraction Y_{e}. It is found that the neutron capture cross section on ^{123}Pd increases by a factor of 2.2 and β-delayed neutron emission probability, P_{1 n}, of ^{123}Rh increases by 14%. The neutron capture cross section on ^{122}Pd decreases by a factor of 2.6 leading to pileup of material at A=122, thus reproducing the trend of the solar r-process abundances. The trend of the two-neutron separation energies (S_{2n}) was investigated for the Pd isotopic chain. The new mass measurement with improved uncertainty excludes large changes of the S_{2n} value at N=77. Such large increase of the S_{2n} values before N=82 was proposed as an alternative to the quenching of the N=82 shell gap to reproduce r-process abundances in the mass region of A=112-124.
The performance of all solar cells is dictated by charge recombination. A closer to ideal recombination dynamics results in improved performances, with fill factors approaching the limits based on ...Shockley-Queisser analysis. It is well known that for emerging solar materials such as perovskites, there are several challenges that need to be overcome to achieve high fill factors, particularly for large area lead-tin mixed perovskite solar cells. Here we demonstrate a strategy towards achieving fill factors above 80% through post-treatment of a lead-tin mixed perovskite absorber with guanidinium bromide for devices with an active area of 0.43 cm
2
. This bromide post-treatment results in a more favorable band alignment at the anode and cathode interfaces, enabling better bipolar extraction. The resulting devices demonstrate an exceptional fill factor of 83%, approaching the Shockley-Queisser limit, resulting in a power conversion efficiency of 14.4% for large area devices.
A new post-treatment method for lead-tin mixed perovskites enabling device fill factors approaching 83%.
Summary
Pain during photodynamic therapy (PDT) is the main limiting adverse effect in its use in dermatology. Given its multifactorial nature, we reviewed both intrinsic and extrinsic factors that ...are involved in PDT pain. We propose a threshold theory for pain experience in PDT: it correlates positively with fluence rate and dose below a certain threshold (rate of ~60 mW cm−2, dose of ~50 J cm−2); when the threshold is surpassed, pain intensity saturates. Additionally, we carefully compared recent updates on pain management strategies and we suggest that cold‐air analgesia and low‐irradiance light sources (such as variable pulsed light and daylight PDT) represent the current best analgesic options. Finally, we discuss the possible mechanisms of pain experience during PDT. Reactive oxygen species, transient receptor potential channels and inflammatory responses are key mediators in pain. Further investigation into these pathways should help with the development of more effective analgesic strategies. Taking these points together, for pain management in PDT, an individualized plan of analgesia is possible.
What's already known about this topic?
Pain is the main adverse effect of photodynamic therapy (PDT).
PDT pain is a multifactorial event with many influencing factors.
Traditional topical and oral anaesthetics are ineffective in PDT pain management.
Several other analgesic measures have been invented and studied.
What does this study add?
In this review we summarize the influencing factors of pain experience during PDT.
We compared each of the pain management strategies in terms of mechanism of action, effectiveness and feasibility.
Cold‐air analgesia and low‐irradiance light sources represent the current best analgesic options.
We review potential mechanisms of pain during PDT and provide insights into pain management.
Plain language summary available online
Summary The May 2008 earthquake in Wenchuan drew attention to the important but largely unrecognised public-health problem of injury-related mortality and morbidity in China. Injuries account for ...more than 10% of all deaths and more than 30% of all potentially productive years of life lost due to premature mortality in China. Traffic-related injuries (mainly among cyclists and pedestrians), suicide, drowning, and falls account for 79% of all injury deaths. Rural injury death rates are double those of urban rates and male rates are double those of female rates. Despite an 81% increase in the traffic-related mortality from 1987 to 2006—associated with rapid motorisation—the overall injury mortality decreased by 17%, largely due to a surprising (and unexplained) 57% reduction in the suicide rate. Low-cost prevention measures that are most likely to produce large reductions in injury deaths include enforcement of laws for drinking and driving and for seat belt and helmet use, restriction of access to the most potent pesticides, and teaching children to swim. China needs to improve monitoring of fatal and non-fatal injuries, promote intersectoral collaboration, build institutional capacities, and, most importantly, mobilise community support and political will for investment in prevention.
In this paper, we first obtain the higher-dimen-sional dilaton–Lifshitz black hole solutions in the presence of Born–Infeld (BI) electrodynamics. We find that there are two different solutions for ...the cases of
z
=
n
+
1
and
z
≠
n
+
1
where
z
is the dynamical critical exponent and
n
is the number of spatial dimensions. Calculating the conserved and thermodynamical quantities, we show that the first law of thermodynamics is satisfied for both cases. Then we turn to the study of different phase transitions for our Lifshitz black holes. We start with the Hawking–Page phase transition and explore the effects of different parameters of our model on it for both linearly and BI charged cases. After that, we discuss the phase transitions inside the black holes. We present the improved Davies quantities and prove that the phase transition points shown by them are coincident with the Ruppeiner ones. We show that the zero temperature phase transitions are transitions in the radiance properties of black holes by using the Landau–Lifshitz theory of thermodynamic fluctuations. Next, we turn to the study of the Ruppeiner geometry (thermodynamic geometry) for our solutions. We investigate thermal stability, interaction type of possible black hole molecules and phase transitions of our solutions for linearly and BI charged cases separately. For the linearly charged case, we show that there are no phase transitions at finite temperature for the case
z
≥
2
. For
z
<
2
, it is found that the number of finite temperature phase transition points depends on the value of the black hole charge and there are not more than two. When we have two finite temperature phase transition points, there is no thermally stable black hole between these two points and we have discontinuous small/large black hole phase transitions. As expected, for small black holes, we observe finite magnitude for the Ruppeiner invariant, which shows the finite correlation between possible black hole molecules, while for large black holes, the correlation is very small. Finally, we study the Ruppeiner geometry and thermal stability of BI charged Lifshtiz black holes for different values of
z
. We observe that small black holes are thermally unstable in some situations. Also, the behavior of the correlation between possible black hole molecules for large black holes is the same as for the linearly charged case. In both the linearly and the BI charged cases, for some choices of the parameters, the black hole system behaves like a Van der Waals gas near the transition point.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background
On the basis of the importance of the enteric nervous system (ENS) in gastrointestinal motility, we hypothesized that the ENS may mediate the therapeutic efficacy of electro‐acupuncture ...(EA) in constipation by regulating the mechanisms underlying the effects of EA on gastrointestinal function.
Methods
Model mice with constipation were generated by gastric instillation of 0‐4°C normal saline. Defecation time and stool (form and wet and dry weight) were assessed. The effect of EA at ST37 or ST25 on colorectal motility and proximal colonic motility was assessed using a water‐filled balloon. The expression of protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5), the cholinergic neuron marker acetyltransferase (ChAT) and the anticholinergic neuron marker nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) was detected by immunohistochemistry, real‐time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blot analysis.
Key Results
ST37 and ST25 improved colorectal pressure; however, ST37 but not ST25 improved proximal colonic pressure. In the proximal colon, the expression of PGP9.5 returned to normal after EA at ST 37, while EA at ST25 did not have this effect. In addition, qPCR and western blot analysis showed that ST37 could downregulate the expression of nNOS and upregulate the expression of ChAT to normal levels, while ST25 could only downregulate the expression of nNOS to normal levels.
Conclusions and Inferences
Electro‐acupuncture at specific acupoints can improve intestinal motility in constipation by altering the ENS and differentially affecting excitatory and inhibitory neurons, restoring the coordination between contraction and relaxation muscles, and working in concert with the central nervous system and peripheral neural pathways.
EA stimulation at either ST 37 or ST 25 relieves the symptoms of constipation, but has different effects in the proximal colon. ST 37 alters both excitatory and inhibitory enteric neurons, while ST 25 only influences inhibitory neurons.
New Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) observations of small-scale (approx. 7 ion inertial length radius) flux transfer events (FTEs) at the dayside magnetopause are reported. The 1O km MMS tetrahedron ...size enables their structure and properties to be calculated using a variety of multispacecraft techniques, allowing them to be identified as flux ropes, whose flux content is small (approx. 22 kWb).The current density, calculated using plasma and magnetic field measurements independently, is found to be filamentary. lntercomparison of the plasma moments with electric and magnetic field measurements reveals structured non-frozen-in ion behavior. The data are further compared with a particle-in-cell simulation. It is concluded that these small-scale flux ropes, which are not seen to be growing, represent a distinct class of FTE which is generated on the magnetopause by secondary reconnection.
Anisotropic bursts of gravitational radiation produced by events such as supermassive black hole mergers leave permanent imprints on space. Such gravitational wave 'memory' (GWM) signals are, in ...principle, detectable through pulsar timing as sudden changes in the apparent pulse frequency of a pulsar. If an array of pulsars is monitored as a GWM signal passes over the Earth, the pulsars would simultaneously appear to change pulse frequency by an amount that varies with their sky position in a quadrupolar fashion. Here, we describe a search algorithm for such events and apply the algorithm to approximately six years of data from the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array. We find no GWM events and set an upper bound on the rate for events which could have been detected. We show, using simple models of black hole coalescence rates, that this non-detection is not unexpected.
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