The unexpected encounter, 10 years ago, between human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and the chemokine system has dramatically advanced our understanding of the pathogenesis of AIDS, opening new ...perspectives for the development of effective prophylactic and therapeutic measures. To initiate infection, the HIV‐1 external envelope glycoprotein, gp120, sequentially interacts with two cellular receptors, CD4 and a chemokine receptor (or coreceptor) like CCR5 or CXCR4. This peculiar two‐stage receptor‐interaction strategy allows gp120 to maintain the highly conserved coreceptor‐binding site in a cryptic conformation, protected from neutralizing antibodies. The differential use of CCR5 and CXCR4 defines three HIV‐1 biological variants (R5, R5X4, X4), which vary in their prevalence during the disease course. The evolutionary choice of HIV‐1 to exploit chemokine receptors as cellular entry gateways has turned their chemokine ligands into endogenous antiviral factors that variably modulate viral transmission, disease progression and vaccine responses. Likewise, the natural history of HIV‐1 infection is influenced by specific polymorphisms of chemokine and chemokine‐receptor genes. The imminent clinical availability of coreceptor‐targeted viral entry inhibitors raises new hope for bridging the gap towards a definitive cure of HIV infection.
The effort for understanding the matter and energy content of the Universe and its evolution relies on different probes, such as cosmic background radiation, cluster lensing, supernovae. Yet, we are ...still far from grasping what dark matter is made of, and what the physical origin of dark energy is. Our group has developed a technique that makes use of the observed non-linear relation between the ultraviolet and the X-ray luminosity in quasars to provide an independent measurement of their distances, thus turning quasars into standardizable candles. This technique, at present, it is mostly based upon quasar samples with data from public catalogs both in the X-rays and in the optical/ultraviolet and extends the Hubble diagram of supernovae to a redshift range still poorly explored (z > 2). From the X-ray perspective, we are now on the eve of a major change, as the upcoming mission eROSITA is going to provide us with up to ~3 millions of active galactic nuclei across the entire sky. Here we present predictions for constraining cosmological parameters, such as the amount of dark matter (Ωm), dark energy (ΩΛ) and the evolution of the equation of state of dark energy (w) through the Hubble diagram of quasars, based on the 4-years eROSITA all-sky survey. Our simulations show that the eROSITA quasars, complemented by redshift and broad-band photometric information, will supply the largest quasar sample at z < 2, but with very few objects available for cosmology at higher redshifts that survives the cut for the Malmquist bias, as eROSITA will sample the brighter end of the X-ray luminosity function. The power of the quasar Hubble diagram for precision cosmology lies in the high-redshift regime, where quasars can be observed up to redshift ~7.5, essential to discriminate amongst different model extrapolations. Therefore, to be competitive for cosmology, the eROSITA quasar Hubble diagram must be complemented with the already available quasar samples and dedicated (deep) large programmes at redshift z > 3.
Context.
The AGN bolometric correction is a key element for understanding black hole (BH) demographics and computing accurate BH accretion histories from AGN luminosities. However, current estimates ...still differ from each other by up to a factor of two to three, and rely on extrapolations at the lowest and highest luminosities.
Aims.
Here we revisit this fundamental question by presenting general hard X-ray (
K
X
) and optical (
K
O
) bolometric corrections, computed by combining several AGN samples spanning the widest (about 7 dex) luminosity range ever used for this type of studies.
Methods.
We analysed a total of ∼1000 type 1 and type 2 AGN for which we performed a dedicated SED-fitting.
Results.
We provide a bolometric correction separately for type 1 and type 2 AGN; the two bolometric corrections agree in the overlapping luminosity range. Based on this we computed for the first time a universal bolometric correction for the whole AGN sample (both type 1 and type 2). We found that
K
X
is fairly constant at log(
L
BOL
/
L
⊙
) < 11, while it increases up to about one order of magnitude at log(
L
BOL
/
L
⊙
) ∼ 14.5. A similar increasing trend has been observed when its dependence on either the Eddington ratio or the BH mass is considered, while no dependence on redshift up to
z
∼ 3.5 has been found. In contrast, the optical bolometric correction appears to be fairly constant (i.e.
K
O
∼ 5) regardless of the independent variable. We also verified that our bolometric corrections correctly predict the AGN bolometric luminosity functions. According to this analysis, our bolometric corrections can be applied to the whole AGN population in a wide range of luminosity and redshift.
The ionizing continuum from active galactic nuclei is fundamental for interpreting their broad emission lines and understanding their impact on the surrounding gas. Furthermore, it provides hints on ...how matter accretes on to supermassive black holes. Using Hubble Space Telescope's Wide Field Camera 3, we have constructed the first stacked ultraviolet (rest-frame wavelengths 600–2500 Å) spectrum of 53 luminous quasars at z ≃ 2.4, with a state-of-the-art correction for the intervening Lyman forest and Lyman continuum absorption. The continuum slope (
$f_\nu \propto \nu ^{\alpha _\nu }$
) of the full sample shows a break at ∼912 Å with spectral index αν = −0.61 ± 0.01 at λ > 912 Å and a softening at shorter wavelengths (αν = −1.70 ± 0.61 at λ ≤ 912 Å). Our analysis proves that a proper intergalactic medium absorption correction is required to establish the intrinsic continuum emission of quasars. We interpret our average ultraviolet spectrum in the context of photoionization, accretion disc models, and quasar contribution to the ultraviolet background. We find that observed broad line ratios are consistent with those predicted assuming an ionizing slope of αion = −2.0, similar to the observed ionizing spectrum in the same wavelength range. The continuum break and softening are consistent with accretion disc plus X-ray corona models when black hole spin is taken into account. Our spectral energy distribution yields a 30 per cent increase to previous estimates of the specific quasar emissivity, such that quasars may contribute significantly to the total specific Lyman limit emissivity estimated from the Lyα forest at z < 3.2.
ABSTRACT
We analyse some open debates in cosmology in light of the most updated quasar (QSO) sample, covering a wide redshift range up to $\mathit{ z}$ ∼ 7.5, combined with type Ia supernovae (SNe) ...and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs). Indeed, extending the cosmological analyses with high-redshift data is key to distinguishing between different cosmological models that are degenerate at low redshifts, and allowing better constraints on a possible dark energy (DE) evolution. Also, we discuss combinations of BAO, SNe, and QSO data to understand their compatibility and implications for extensions of the standard cosmological model. Specifically, we consider a flat and non-flat ΛCDM cosmology, a flat and non-flat DE model with a constant DE equation of state parameter (w), and four flat DE models with variable w, namely the Chevallier–Polarski–Linder and Jassal–Bagla–Padmanabhan models, and an ‘exponential’, and Barboza–Alcaniz parametrizations. We find that a joint analysis of QSO+SNe with BAO is only possible in the context of a flat Universe. Indeed BAO confirms the flatness condition assuming a curved geometry, whilst SNe + QSO show evidence of a closed space. We also find ΩM,0 = 0.3 in all data sets assuming a flat ΛCDM model. Yet, all the other models show a statistically significant deviation at 2-3 σ with the combined SNe + SO + BAO data set. In the models where DE density evolves with time, SNe + QSO + BAO data always prefer ΩM,0 > 0.3, w0 < −1 and wa > 0. This DE phantom behaviour is mainly driven by SNe + QSO, while BAO are closer to the flat ΛCDM model.
In the current framework, the standard parametrization of our Universe is the so-called Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. Recently, a ∼4σ tension with the ΛCDM model was shown to exist via a ...model-independent parametrization of a Hubble diagram of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from the JLA survey and quasars. Model-independent approaches and independent samples over a wide redshift range are key to testing this tension and any possible systematic errors. Here we present an analysis of a combined Hubble diagram of SNe Ia, quasars, and gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) to check the agreement of the quasar and GRB cosmological parameters at high redshifts (z > 2) and to test the concordance flat ΛCDM model with improved statistical accuracy. We build a Hubble diagram with SNe Ia, quasars, and GRBs, where quasars are standardised through the observed non-linear relation between their ultraviolet and X-ray emission and GRBs through the correlation between the spectral peak energy and the isotropic-equivalent radiated energy (the so-called Amati relation). We fit the data with cosmographic models consisting of a fourth-order logarithmic polynomial and a fifth-order linear polynomial, and compare the results with the expectations from a flat ΛCDM model. We confirm the tension between the best-fit cosmographic parameters and the ΛCDM model at ∼4σ with SNe Ia and quasars, at ∼2σ with SNe Ia and GRBs, and at > 4σ with the whole SNe Ia+quasars+GRB data set. The completely independent high-redshift Hubble diagrams of quasars and GRBs are fully consistent with each other, strongly suggesting that the deviation from the standard model is not due to unknown systematic effects but to new physics.
Cosmography is a powerful tool for investigating the Universe kinematic and then for reconstructing the dynamics in a model-independent way. However, recent new measurements of supernovae Ia and ...quasars have populated the Hubble diagram up to high redshifts (
z
∼ 7.5) and the application of the traditional cosmographic approach has become less straightforward due to the large redshifts implied. Here we investigate this issue through an expansion of the luminosity distance–redshift relation in terms of orthogonal logarithmic polynomials. In particular, we point out the advantages of a new procedure called orthogonalization, and we show that such an expansion provides a very good fit in the whole
z
= 0 ÷ 7.5 range to both real and mock data obtained assuming various cosmological models. Moreover, although the cosmographic series is tested well beyond its convergence radius, the parameters obtained expanding the luminosity distance–redshift relation for the Lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model are broadly consistent with the results from a fit of mock data obtained with the same cosmological model. This provides a method for testing the reliability of a cosmographic function to study cosmological models at high redshifts, and it demonstrates that the logarithmic polynomial series can be used to test the consistency of the ΛCDM model with the current Hubble diagram of quasars and supernovae Ia. We confirm a strong tension (at > 4
σ
) between the concordance cosmological model and the Hubble diagram at
z
> 1.5. This tension is dominated by the contribution of quasars at
z
> 2 and also starts to be present in the few supernovae Ia observed at
z
> 1.
Over the past decade, a series of observations linking α4β7, the principal gut-homing integrin, with various aspects of HIV-1 infection have generated considerable interest in the field of HIV-1 ...research. After the initial report that the major HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein, gp120, can bind to α4β7, intensive research efforts have been focused on the role of α4β7 as a key factor in HIV-1 pathogenesis and as a potential target for prevention and treatment. The interaction between α4β7 and its natural ligand, MAdCAM-1, directs infected CD4
T cells and HIV-1 virions carrying incorporated α4β7 to the gut mucosa, which may facilitate HIV-1 seeding and replication in the intestinal compartment during the early stages of infection. In addition, cells that express high levels of α4β7, such as Th17 cells, represent preferential targets for infection, and their frequency in the circulation was shown to correlate with susceptibility to HIV-1 infection and disease progression. A number of in vivo studies in nonhuman primates have investigated whether blockage of α4β7 may affect SIV transmission and pathogenesis. Administration of a primatized anti-α4β7 antibody that blocks MAdCAM-1 binding to α4β7 was reported to reduce SIV mucosal transmission in rhesus macaques. However, the mechanism responsible for such a protective effect is still undefined, and conflicting results have been reported on the effects of the same antibody, in combination with ART, during the early chronic phase of SIV infection. Thus, despite a series of tantalizing results accrued over the past decade, the jury is still out on the role of α4β7 in HIV-1 infection.
ABSTRACT
We have recently used the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-centimeters (FIRST) survey to show that red quasars have fundamentally different radio properties to typical blue quasars: a ...significant (factor ≈3) enhancement in the radio-detection fraction, which arises from systems around the radio-quiet threshold with compact (<5 arcsec) radio morphologies. To gain greater insight into these physical differences, here we use the DR14 Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and more sensitive, higher resolution radio data from the Very Large Array (VLA) Stripe 82 (S82) and VLA-COSMOS 3 GHz (C3GHz) surveys. With the S82 data, we perform morphological analyses at a resolution and depth three times that of the FIRST radio survey, and confirm an enhancement in radio-faint and compact red quasars over typical quasars; we now also find tentative evidence for an enhancement in red quasars with slightly extended radio structures (16–43 kpc at z = 1.5). These analyses are complemented by C3GHz, which is deep enough to detect radio emission from star-formation processes. From our data we find that the radio enhancement from red quasars is due to AGN activity on compact scales (≲43 kpc) for radio-intermediate–radio-quiet sources (−5 < $\mathcal {R}$ < −3.4, where $\mathcal {R}$ = $L_{\rm{1.4\,GHz}}/L_{6\mu\text{m}}$), which decreases at $\mathcal {R}$ < −5 as the radio emission from star-formation starts to dilute the AGN component. Overall our results argue against a simple orientation scenario and are consistent with red quasars representing a younger, earlier phase in the overall evolution of quasars.
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