Illuminating gravitational waves Kasliwal, M. M.; Nakar, E.; Singer, L. P. ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
12/2017, Letnik:
358, Številka:
6370
Journal Article
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Merging neutron stars offer an excellent laboratory for simultaneously studying strong-field gravity and matter in extreme environments. We establish the physical association of an electromagnetic ...counterpart (EM170817) with gravitational waves (GW170817) detected from merging neutron stars. By synthesizing a panchromatic data set, we demonstrate that merging neutron stars are a long-sought production site forging heavy elements by r-process nucleosynthesis. The weak gamma rays seen in EM170817 are dissimilar to classical short gamma-ray bursts with ultrarelativistic jets. Instead, we suggest that breakout of a wide-angle, mildly relativistic cocoon engulfing the jet explains the low-luminosity gamma rays, the high-luminosity ultraviolet-optical-infrared, and the delayed radio and x-ray emission. We posit that all neutron star mergers may lead to a wide-angle cocoon breakout, sometimes accompanied by a successful jet and sometimes by a choked jet.
Treatment options for influenza B virus infections are limited to neuraminidase inhibitors (NAIs), which block the neuraminidase (NA) glycoprotein on the virion surface. The development of NAI ...resistance would therefore result in a loss of antiviral treatment options for influenza B virus infections. This study characterized two contemporary influenza B viruses with known resistance-conferring NA amino acid substitutions, D197N and H273Y, detected during routine surveillance. The D197N and H273Y variants were characterized
by assessing NA enzyme activity and affinity, as well as replication in cell culture compared to those of NAI-sensitive wild-type viruses.
studies were also performed in ferrets to assess the replication and transmissibility of each variant. Mathematical models were used to analyze within-host and between-host fitness of variants relative to wild-type viruses. The data revealed that the H273Y variant had NA enzyme function similar to that of its wild type but had slightly reduced replication and transmission efficiency
The D197N variant had impaired NA enzyme function, but there was no evidence of reduction in replication or transmission efficiency in ferrets. Our data suggest that the influenza B virus variant with the H273Y NA substitution had a more notable reduction in fitness compared to wild-type viruses than the influenza B variant with the D197N NA substitution. Although a D197N variant is yet to become widespread, it is the most commonly detected NAI-resistant influenza B virus in surveillance studies. Our results highlight the need to carefully monitor circulating viruses for the spread of influenza B viruses with the D197N NA substitution.
Long-duration gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) are widely believed to be highly collimated explosions (bipolar conical outflows with half-opening angle theta{approx} 1{sup 0}-10{sup 0}). As a result of this ...beaming factor, the true energy release from a GRB is usually several orders of magnitude smaller than the observed isotropic value. Measuring this opening angle, typically inferred from an achromatic steepening in the afterglow light curve (a 'jet' break), has proven exceedingly difficult in the Swift era. Here, we undertake a study of five of the brightest (in terms of the isotropic prompt gamma-ray energy release, E{sub g}amma{sub ,iso}) GRBs in the Swift era to search for jet breaks and hence constrain the collimation-corrected energy release. We present multi-wavelength (radio through X-ray) observations of GRBs 050820A, 060418, and 080319B, and construct afterglow models to extract the opening angle and beaming-corrected energy release for all three events. Together with results from previous analyses of GRBs 050904 and 070125, we find evidence for an achromatic jet break in all five events, strongly supporting the canonical picture of GRBs as collimated explosions. The most natural explanation for the lack of observed jet breaks from most Swift GRBs is therefore selection effects. However, the opening angles for the events in our sample are larger than would be expected if all GRBs had a canonical energy release of {approx}10{sup 51} erg. The total energy release we measure for the 'hyper-energetic' (E{sub tot} {approx}> 10{sup 52} erg) events in our sample is large enough to start challenging models with a magnetar as the compact central remnant.
We present a measurement of the W boson mass using data corresponding to 4.3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity collected with the D0 detector during Run II at the Fermilab Tevatron pp collider. With a ...sample of 1,677,394 W → eν candidate events, we measure M(W) = 80.367 ± 0.026 GeV. This result is combined with an earlier D0 result determined using an independent Run II data sample, corresponding to 1 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, to yield M(W) = 80.375 ± 0.023 GeV.
Context. Active galactic nuclei (AGN) show a wealth of interesting physical processes, some of which are poorly understood. In a broader context, they play an important role in processes that are far ...beyond their immediate surroundings, owing to the high emitted power. Aims: We want to address a number of open questions, including the location and physics of the outflow from AGN, the nature of the continuum emission, the geometry and physical state of the X-ray broad emission line region, the Fe-K line complex, the metal abundances of the nucleus, and finally the interstellar medium of our own Galaxy as seen through the signatures it imprints on the X-ray and UV spectra of AGN. Methods: We study one of the best targets for these aims, the Seyfert 1 galaxy Mrk 509 with a multiwavelength campaign using five satellites (XMM-Newton, INTEGRAL, Chandra, HST, and Swift) and two ground-based facilities (WHT and PAIRITEL). Our observations cover more than five decades in frequency, from 2 μm to 200 keV. The combination of high-resolution spectroscopy and time variability allows us to disentangle and study the different components. Our campaign covers 100 days from September to December 2009, and is centred on a simultaneous set of deep XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL observations with regular time intervals, spanning seven weeks. Results: We obtain a continuous light curve in the X-ray and UV band, showing a strong, up to 60% flux increase in the soft X-ray band during the three weeks in the middle of our deepest monitoring campaign, and which is correlated with an enhancement of the UV flux. This allows us to study the time evolution of the continuum and the outflow. By stacking the observations, we have also obtained one of the best X-ray and UV spectra of a Seyfert galaxy ever obtained. In this paper we also study the effects of the spectral energy distribution (SED) that we obtained on the photo-ionisation equilibrium. Thanks to our broad-band coverage, uncertainties on the SED do not strongly affect the determination of this equilibrium. Conclusions: Here we present our very successful campaign and in a series of subsequent papers we will elaborate on different aspects of our study.
We report evidence for the simultaneous production of J/ψ and ϒ mesons in 8.1 fb^{-1} of data collected at sqrts=1.96 TeV by the D0 experiment at the Fermilab ppover ¯ Tevatron Collider. Events ...with these characteristics are expected to be produced predominantly by gluon-gluon interactions. In this analysis, we extract the effective cross section characterizing the initial parton spatial distribution, σ_{eff}=2.2±0.7(stat)±0.9(syst) mb.
Using 7.3 fb⁻¹ of pp collisions collected by the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron, we measure the distribution of the variable φ(η)*, which probes the same physical effects as the Z/γ* boson ...transverse momentum, but is less susceptible to the effects of experimental resolution and efficiency. A QCD prediction is found to describe the general features of the φ(η)* distribution, but is unable to describe its detailed shape or dependence on boson rapidity. A prediction that includes a broadening of transverse momentum for small values of the parton momentum fraction is strongly disfavored.
Using data collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron Collider, corresponding to 5.3 fb(-1) of integrated luminosity, we search for violation of Lorentz invariance by examining the ...ttover ¯ production cross section in lepton+jets final states. We quantify this violation using the standard-model extension framework, which predicts a dependence of the ttover ¯ production cross section on sidereal time as the orientation of the detector changes with the rotation of the Earth. Within this framework, we measure components of the matrices (c(Q))(μν33) and (c(U))(μν33) containing coefficients used to parametrize violation of Lorentz invariance in the top quark sector. Within uncertainties, these coefficients are found to be consistent with zero.
We present a search for the production of a heavy gauge boson, W′, that decays to third-generation quarks, by D0 Collaboration in pp¯ collisions at s=1.96 TeV. We set 95% confidence level upper ...limits on the production cross section times branching fraction. For the first time, we set limits for arbitrary combinations of left- and right-handed couplings of the W′ boson to fermions. For couplings with the same strength as for the standard model W boson, we set the following limits, assuming that there are right-handed neutrinos νR for all three generations with M(W′)>m(νR): M(W′)>863 GeV for purely left-handed couplings, M(W′)>885 GeV for purely right-handed couplings, and M(W′)>916 GeV if both left- and right-handed couplings are present. The limit for right-handed couplings improves for M(W′)<m(νR) to M(W′)>890 GeV.
We determine the fraction of tt events with spin correlation, assuming that the spin of the top quark is either correlated with the spin of the top antiquark as predicted by the standard model or is ...uncorrelated. For the first time we use a matrix-element-based approach to study tt spin correlation. We use tt → W+ b W- b → ℓ+ νbℓ- ν b final states produced in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV, where ℓ denotes an electron or a muon. The data correspond to an integrated luminosity of 5.4 fb(-1) and were collected with the D0 detector at the Fermilab Tevatron collider. The result agrees with the standard model prediction. We exclude the hypothesis that the spins of the tt are uncorrelated at the 97.7% C.L.
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