We report, for the first time, the long-awaited detection of diffuse gamma rays with energies between 100 TeV and 1 PeV in the Galactic disk. Particularly, all gamma rays above 398 TeV are observed ...apart from known TeV gamma-ray sources and compatible with expectations from the hadronic emission scenario in which gamma rays originate from the decay of π^{0}'s produced through the interaction of protons with the interstellar medium in the Galaxy. This is strong evidence that cosmic rays are accelerated beyond PeV energies in our Galaxy and spread over the Galactic disk.
We report on the highest energy photons from the Crab Nebula observed by the Tibet air shower array with the underground water-Cherenkov-type muon detector array. Based on the criterion of a muon ...number measured in an air shower, we successfully suppress 99.92% of the cosmic-ray background events with energies E>100 TeV. As a result, we observed 24 photonlike events with E>100 TeV against 5.5 background events, which corresponds to a 5.6σ statistical significance. This is the first detection of photons with E>100 TeV from an astrophysical source.
Abstract
We present a catalog of 315 protostellar outflow candidates detected in SiO
J
= 5 − 4 in the ALMA-IMF Large Program, observed with ∼2000 au spatial resolution, 0.339 km s
−1
velocity ...resolution, and 2–12 mJy beam
−1
(0.18–0.8 K) sensitivity. We find median outflow masses, momenta, and kinetic energies of ∼0.3
M
⊙
, 4
M
⊙
km s
−1
, and 10
45
erg, respectively. Median outflow lifetimes are 6000 yr, yielding median mass, momentum, and energy rates of
M
̇
= 10
−4.4
M
⊙
yr
−1
,
P
̇
= 10
−3.2
M
⊙
km s
−1
yr
−1
, and
E
̇
= 1
L
⊙
. We analyze these outflow properties in the aggregate in each field. We find correlations between field-aggregated SiO outflow properties and total mass in cores (∼3
σ
–5
σ
), and no correlations above 3
σ
with clump mass, clump luminosity, or clump luminosity-to-mass ratio. We perform a linear regression analysis and find that the correlation between field-aggregated outflow mass and total clump mass—which has been previously described in the literature—may actually be mediated by the relationship between outflow mass and total mass in cores. We also find that the most massive SiO outflow in each field is typically responsible for only 15%–30% of the total outflow mass (60% upper limit). Our data agree well with the established mechanical force−bolometric luminosity relationship in the literature, and our data extend this relationship up to
L
≥ 10
6
L
⊙
and
P
̇
≥ 1
M
⊙
km s
−1
yr
−1
. Our lack of correlation with clump
L
/
M
is inconsistent with models of protocluster formation in which all protostars start forming at the same time.
Osimertinib is an epidermal growth factor receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) that is selective for both EGFR-TKI sensitizing and T790M resistance mutations in patients with non-small-cell ...lung cancer. The efficacy of osimertinib as compared with platinum-based therapy plus pemetrexed in such patients is unknown.
In this randomized, international, open-label, phase 3 trial, we assigned 419 patients with T790M-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer, who had disease progression after first-line EGFR-TKI therapy, in a 2:1 ratio to receive either oral osimertinib (at a dose of 80 mg once daily) or intravenous pemetrexed (500 mg per square meter of body-surface area) plus either carboplatin (target area under the curve, 5 AUC5) or cisplatin (75 mg per square meter) every 3 weeks for up to six cycles; maintenance pemetrexed was allowed. In all the patients, disease had progressed during receipt of first-line EGFR-TKI therapy. The primary end point was investigator-assessed progression-free survival.
The median duration of progression-free survival was significantly longer with osimertinib than with platinum therapy plus pemetrexed (10.1 months vs. 4.4 months; hazard ratio; 0.30; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.23 to 0.41; P<0.001). The objective response rate was significantly better with osimertinib (71%; 95% CI, 65 to 76) than with platinum therapy plus pemetrexed (31%; 95% CI, 24 to 40) (odds ratio for objective response, 5.39; 95% CI, 3.47 to 8.48; P<0.001). Among 144 patients with metastases to the central nervous system (CNS), the median duration of progression-free survival was longer among patients receiving osimertinib than among those receiving platinum therapy plus pemetrexed (8.5 months vs. 4.2 months; hazard ratio, 0.32; 95% CI, 0.21 to 0.49). The proportion of patients with adverse events of grade 3 or higher was lower with osimertinib (23%) than with platinum therapy plus pemetrexed (47%).
Osimertinib had significantly greater efficacy than platinum therapy plus pemetrexed in patients with T790M-positive advanced non-small-cell lung cancer (including those with CNS metastases) in whom disease had progressed during first-line EGFR-TKI therapy. (Funded by AstraZeneca; AURA3 ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT02151981 .).
As an important species of the Martian thermosphere, NO is chemically and radiatively active. However, its abundance is poorly constrained due to difficulties in both remote sensing and in situ ...measurements. In this study, we use the Neutral Gas and Ion Mass Spectrometer measurements made onboard the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution to derive the N(4S), N(2D), and NO abundances in the Martian thermosphere based on time‐dependent odd N chemistry. At a reference altitude of 160 km, our calculations suggest that the NO abundance is maximized in the afternoon whereas the N(4S) and N(2D) abundances maximized in the morning, both driven by the variation of the ambient N2 mixing ratio. The difference in chemical loss time scale implies a strong diurnal variation for NO and N(2D) but a weak variation for N(4S).
Plain language summary
NO is usually regarded as a good tracer of energy input into the upper atmospheres of terrestrial planets. On Mars, NO is mainly produced via the reaction of atomic N in the excited state with ambient CO2 and lost via the reaction with atomic N in the ground state. Existing investigations of NO abundance in the Martian upper atmosphere are extremely limited due to difficulties in both remote sensing and in situ measurements. In this study, we propose a useful approach to determine the NO abundance on both the dayside and nightside of Mars by combining our knowledge of the odd N chemistry with available neutral and ion density measurements of relevant chemical reactants. On the dayside, we find the NO abundance to be maximized late in the afternoon, which is driven by the variation of N2 mixing ratio in the background atmosphere. Our analysis also allows the diurnal variation of NO to be explored for the first time, revealing a strong day‐night difference by 3 orders of magnitude. This is caused by the fast depletion of NO on the nightside where its production source drops to a minimum level in the absence of solar radiation.
Key Points
The odd N abundances at 160 km in the Martian thermosphere are calculated with time‐dependent chemistry
The NO abundance is maximized in the afternoon whereas the N(4S) and N(2D) abundances maximized in the morning
A strong diurnal variation is present for NO and N(2D) but a weak diurnal variation present for N(4S)
Since the discovery of high-transition-temperature (high-T(c)) superconductivity in layered copper oxides, extensive effort has been devoted to exploring the origins of this phenomenon. A T(c) higher ...than 40 K (about the theoretical maximum predicted from Bardeen-Cooper-Schrieffer theory), however, has been obtained only in the copper oxide superconductors. The highest reported value for non-copper-oxide bulk superconductivity is T(c) = 39 K in MgB(2) (ref. 2). The layered rare-earth metal oxypnictides LnOFeAs (where Ln is La-Nd, Sm and Gd) are now attracting attention following the discovery of superconductivity at 26 K in the iron-based LaO(1-x)F(x)FeAs (ref. 3). Here we report the discovery of bulk superconductivity in the related compound SmFeAsO(1-x)F(x), which has a ZrCuSiAs-type structure. Resistivity and magnetization measurements reveal a transition temperature as high as 43 K. This provides a new material base for studying the origin of high-temperature superconductivity.
High-energy photons from the Crab Nebula
The Crab Nebula contains a pulsar that excites the surrounding gas to emit high-energy radiation. The combination of the pulsar's youth and nearby location ...makes the nebula the brightest gamma-ray source in the sky. The LHAASO Collaboration report observations of this source at energies of tera– to peta–electron volts, extending the spectrum of this prototypical object. They combine these data with observations at lower energies to model the physics of the emission process. The multiwave-length data can be explained by a combination of synchrotron radiation and inverse Compton scattering.
Science
, abg5137, this issue p.
425
Detection of the Crab Nebula at peta–electron volt energies constrains the gamma-ray emission mechanism.
The Crab Nebula is a bright source of gamma rays powered by the Crab Pulsar’s rotational energy through the formation and termination of a relativistic electron-positron wind. We report the detection of gamma rays from this source with energies from 5 × 10
−4
to 1.1 peta–electron volts with a spectrum showing gradual steepening over three energy decades. The ultrahigh-energy photons imply the presence of a peta–electron volt electron accelerator (a pevatron) in the nebula, with an acceleration rate exceeding 15% of the theoretical limit. We constrain the pevatron’s size between 0.025 and 0.1 parsecs and the magnetic field to ≈110 microgauss. The production rate of peta–electron volt electrons, 2.5 × 10
36
ergs per second, constitutes 0.5% of the pulsar spin-down luminosity, although we cannot exclude a contribution of peta–electron volt protons to the production of the highest-energy gamma rays.
Recently, the LHAASO Collaboration published the detection of 12 ultrahigh-energy γ-ray sources above 100 TeV, with the highest energy photon reaching 1.4 PeV. The first detection of PeV γ rays from ...astrophysical sources may provide a very sensitive probe of the effect of the Lorentz invariance violation (LIV), which results in decay of high-energy γ rays in the superluminal scenario and hence a sharp cutoff of the energy spectrum. Two highest energy sources are studied in this work. No signature of the existence of the LIV is found in their energy spectra, and the lower limits on the LIV energy scale are derived. Our results show that the first-order LIV energy scale should be higher than about 10^{5} times the Planck scale M_{Pl} and that the second-order LIV scale is >10^{-3}M_{Pl}. Both limits improve by at least one order of magnitude the previous results.
The kilometer square array (KM2A) of the large high altitude air shower observatory (LHAASO) aims at surveying the northern γ-ray sky at energies above 10 TeV with unprecedented sensitivity. γ-ray ...observations have long been one of the most powerful tools for dark matter searches, as, e.g., high-energy γ rays could be produced by the decays of heavy dark matter particles. In this Letter, we present the first dark matter analysis with LHAASO-KM2A, using the first 340 days of data from 1/2-KM2A and 230 days of data from 3/4-KM2A. Several regions of interest are used to search for a signal and account for the residual cosmic-ray background after γ/hadron separation. We find no excess of dark matter signals, and thus place some of the strongest γ-ray constraints on the lifetime of heavy dark matter particles with mass between 10^{5} and 10^{9} GeV. Our results with LHAASO are robust, and have important implications for dark matter interpretations of the diffuse astrophysical high-energy neutrino emission.
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