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.
ABSTRACT
In this paper, we presented a detailed timing analysis of a prominent outburst of 4U 0115+63 detected by Insight-HXMT in 2017 August. The spin period of the neutron star was determined to be ...3.613 98 ± 0.000 02 s at MJD 57978. We measured the period variability and extract the orbital elements of the binary system. The angle of periastron evolved with a rate of $0.048^\circ \pm 0.003^\circ \rm \, yr^{-1}$. The light curves are folded to sketch the pulse profiles in different energy ranges. A multipeak structure in 1–10 keV is clearly illustrated. We introduced wavelet analysis into our data analysis procedures to study quasi-periodic oscillation (QPO) signals and perform a detailed wavelet analysis in many different energy ranges. Through the wavelet spectra, we report the discovery of a QPO at the frequency of ∼10 mHz. In addition, the X-ray light curves showed multiple QPOs in the period of ∼16–32 and ∼67–200 s. We found that the ∼100 s QPO was significant in most of the observations and energies. There exist positive relations between X-ray luminosity and their Q-factors and S-factors, while the QPO periods have no correlation with X-ray luminosity. In wavelet phase maps, we found that the pulse phase of ∼67–200 s QPO is drifting frequently while that of ∼16–32 s QPO is scarcely drifting. The dissipation of oscillations from high energy to low energy was also observed. These features of QPOs in 4U 0115+63 provide a new challenge to our understanding of their physical origins.
The diffuse Galactic γ-ray emission, mainly produced via interactions between cosmic rays and the interstellar medium and/or radiation field, is a very important probe of the distribution, ...propagation, and interaction of cosmic rays in the Milky Way. In this Letter, we report the measurements of diffuse γ rays from the Galactic plane between 10 TeV and 1 PeV energies, with the square kilometer array of the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory (LHAASO). Diffuse emissions from the inner (15°<l<125°, |b|<5°) and outer (125°<l<235°, |b|<5°) Galactic plane are detected with 29.1σ and 12.7σ significance, respectively. The outer Galactic plane diffuse emission is detected for the first time in the very- to ultra-high-energy domain (E>10 TeV). The energy spectrum in the inner Galaxy regions can be described by a power-law function with an index of -2.99±0.04, which is different from the curved spectrum as expected from hadronic interactions between locally measured cosmic rays and the line-of-sight integrated gas content. Furthermore, the measured flux is higher by a factor of ∼3 than the prediction. A similar spectrum with an index of -2.99±0.07 is found in the outer Galaxy region, and the absolute flux for 10≲E≲60 TeV is again higher than the prediction for hadronic cosmic ray interactions. The latitude distributions of the diffuse emission are consistent with the gas distribution, while the longitude distributions show clear deviation from the gas distribution. The LHAASO measurements imply that either additional emission sources exist or cosmic ray intensities have spatial variations.
We study the evolution of the temporal properties of MAXI J1820+070 during the 2018 outburst in its hard state from MJD 58,190 to 58,289 with Insight-HXMT in a broad energy band 1-150 keV. We find ...different behaviors of the hardness ratio, the fractional rms and time lag before and after MJD 58,257, suggesting a transition occurred around this point. The observed time lags between the soft photons in the 1-5 keV band and the hard photons in higher energy bands, up to 150 keV, are frequency-dependent: the time lags in the low-frequency range, 2-10 mHz, are both soft and hard lags with a timescale of dozens of seconds but without a clear trend along the outburst; the time lags in the high-frequency range, 1-10 Hz, are only hard lags with a timescale of tens of milliseconds; they first increase until around MJD 58,257 and decrease after this date. The high-frequency time lags are significantly correlated to the photon index derived from the fit to the quasi-simultaneous NICER spectrum in the 1-10 keV band. This result is qualitatively consistent with a model in which the high-frequency time lags are produced by Comptonization in a jet.
Ubiquitously distributed in different plant species, plant lectins are highly diverse carbohydrate‐binding proteins of non‐immune origin. They have interesting pharmacological activities and ...currently are of great interest to thousands of people working on biomedical research in cancer‐related problems. It has been widely accepted that plant lectins affect both apoptosis and autophagy by modulating representative signalling pathways involved in Bcl‐2 family, caspase family, p53, PI3K/Akt, ERK, BNIP3, Ras‐Raf and ATG families, in cancer. Plant lectins may have a role as potential new anti‐tumour agents in cancer drug discovery. Thus, here we summarize these findings on pathway‐ involved plant lectins, to provide a comprehensive perspective for further elucidating their potential role as novel anti‐cancer drugs, with respect to both apoptosis and autophagy in cancer pathogenesis, and future therapy.
A search for exotic dark matter (DM) in the sub-GeV mass range has been conducted using 205 kg day data taken from a p-type point contact germanium detector of the CDEX-10 experiment at China's ...Jinping underground laboratory. New low-mass dark matter searching channels, neutral current fermionic DM absorption (χ+A→ν+A) and DM-nucleus 3→2 scattering (χ+χ+A→ϕ+A), have been analyzed with an energy threshold of 160 eVee. No significant signal was found; thus new limits on the DM-nucleon interaction cross section are set for both models at the sub-GeV DM mass region. A cross section limit for the fermionic DM absorption is set to be 2.5×10^{-46} cm^{2} (90% C.L.) at DM mass of 10 MeV/c^{2}. For the DM-nucleus 3→2 scattering scenario, limits are extended to DM mass of 5 and 14 MeV/c^{2} for the massless dark photon and bound DM final state, respectively.
The cardinal features of Parkinson's disease (PD) are bradykinesia, rigidity and rest tremor. Abnormal activity in the basal ganglia is predicted to underlie the mechanism of motor symptoms. This ...study aims to characterize properties of oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia and motor thalamus in patients with PD.
Twenty-nine patients with PD who underwent bilateral or unilateral electrode implantation for subthalamic nucleus (STN) DBS (
= 11), unilateral pallidotomy (
= 9) and unilateral thalamotomy (n = 9) were studied. Microelectrode recordings in the STN, globus pallidus internus (GPi) and ventral oral posterior/ventral intermediate of thalamus (Vop/Vim) were performed. Electromyography of the contralateral limbs was recorded. Single unit characteristics including interspike intervals were analyzed. Spectral and coherence analyses were assessed. Mean spontaneous firing rate (MSFR) of neurons was calculated. Analysis of variance and X
test were performed.
Of 76 STN neurons, 39.5% were 4-6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 28.9% were β frequency band (βFB) oscillatory neurons. The MSFR was 44.2 ± 7.6 Hz. Of 62 GPi neurons, 37.1% were 4-6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 27.4% were βFB neurons. The MSFR was 80.9 ± 9.6 Hz. Of 44 Vop neurons, 65.9% were 4-6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 9% were βFB neurons. The MSFR was 24.4 ± 4.2 Hz. Of 30 Vim oscillatory neurons, 70% were 4-6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and 13.3% were βFB neurons. The MSFR was 30.3 ± 3.6 Hz. Further analysis indicated that proportion of βFB oscillatory neurons in STN and GPi was higher than that of similar neurons in the Vop and Vim (
< 0.05). Conversely, the proportion of 4-6 Hz band oscillatory neurons and tremor related neurons in the Vim and Vop was higher than that of STN and GPi (
< 0.05). The highest MSFR was for GPi oscillatory neurons whereas the lowest MSFR was for Vop oscillatory neurons (
< 0.005).
The alterations in neuronal activity in basal ganglia play a critical role in generation of parkinsonism. β oscillatory activity is more prominent in basal ganglia than in thalamus suggesting that the activity likely results from dopaminergic depletion. While both basal ganglia and thalamus have tremor activity, the thalamus appears to play a more important role in tremor production, and basal ganglia β oscillatory activity might be the trigger.
The plastic deformation and fracture behavior of two different types of Cu/X (X=Nb, Zr) nanostructured multilayered films (NMFs) were systematically investigated over wide ranges of modulation period ...(λ) and modulation ratio (η, the ratio of X layer thickness to Cu layer thickness). It was found that both the ductility and fracture mode of the NMFs were predominantly related to the constraining effect of ductile Cu layers on microcrack-initiating X layers, which showed a significant length-scale dependence on λ and η. Experimental observations and theoretical analyses also revealed a transition in strengthening mechanism, from single dislocation slip in confined layers to a load-bearing effect, when the Cu layer thickness was reduced to below ∼15nm by either decreasing λ or increasing η. This is due to the intense suppression of dislocation activities in the thin Cu layers, which causes a remarkable reduction in the deformability of the Cu layers. Concomitantly, the constraining effect of Cu layers on microcrack propagation is weakened, which can be used to explain the experimentally observed λ and η-dependent fracture mode transition from shear mode to an opening mode. Furthermore, the fracture toughness of the NMFs is also found to be sensitive to both λ and η. A fracture mechanism-based micromechanical model is developed to quantitatively assess the length-scale-dependent fracture toughness, and these calculations are in good agreement with experimental findings.
We report constraints on the dark photon effective kinetic mixing parameter (κ) with data taken from two p-type point-contact germanium detectors of the CDEX-10 experiment at the China Jinping ...Underground Laboratory. The 90% confidence level upper limits on κ of solar dark photon from 205.4 kg-day exposure are derived, probing new parameter space with masses (m_{V}) from 10 to 300 eV/c^{2} in direct detection experiments. Considering dark photon as the cosmological dark matter, limits at 90% confidence level with m_{V} from 0.1 to 4.0 keV/c^{2} are set from 449.6 kg-day data, with a minimum of κ=1.3×10^{-15} at m_{V}=200 eV/c^{2}.