Abstract
Gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) have been considered as potential very high energy photon emitters due to the large amount of energy released as well as the strong magnetic fields involved in their ...jets. However, the detection of teraelectronvolt photons is not expected from bursts beyond a redshift of
z
≳ 0.1, due to their attenuation with the extragalactic background light (EBL). For these reasons, the recent observation of photons with energies of 18 and 251 TeV from GRB 221009A (
z
= 0.151) last 2022 October 9 has challenged what we know about the teraelectronvolt-emission mechanisms and the extragalactic background. In order to explain the teraelectronvolt observations, recent works exploring candidates of dark matter have started to appear. In this paper, we discuss the required conditions and limitations within the most plausible scenario, synchrotron self-Compton radiation in the GRB afterglow, to interpret the one 18 TeV photon observation besides the EBL. To avoid the Klein–Nishina effect, we find an improbable value of the microphysical magnetic parameter below 10
−6
for a circumburst medium value >1 cm
−3
(expected in the collapsar scenario). Therefore, we explore possible scenarios in terms of axion-like particles (ALPs) and dark photon mechanisms to interpret this highly energetic photon and we discuss the implications in the GRB energetics. We find that the ALPs and dark photon scenarios can explain the 18 teraelectronvolt photon but not the 251 teraelectronvolt photon.
Abstract GRB 221009A has posed a significant challenge to our current understanding of the mechanisms that produce TeV photons in gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). On one hand, the Klein–Nishina (KN) effect ...of the inverse Compton scattering leads to less efficient energy losses of high-energy electrons. On the other hand, at a redshift of 0.151, the TeV spectrum of GRB 221009A undergoes significant absorption by the extragalactic background light (EBL). Therefore, the observation of a 13 TeV photon in this event implies the presence of enormous photon fluxes at the source, which the synchrotron self-Compton mechanism in external shocks cannot easily generate. As an alternative, some authors have suggested the possibility of converting the TeV photons into axion-like particles (ALPs) at the host galaxy, in order to avoid the effects of EBL absorption, and then reconverting them into photons within the Milky Way. While this solution relaxes the requirement of very high photon fluxes, the KN effect still poses a challenge. Previously, we have shown that the injections of ALPs could explain the observation of 13 TeV photons. Here, we include the energy dependence of the probability of survival and the amount of energy carried to determine the ALP candidates, which could potentially explain the TeV photons observed by the Large High Altitude Air Shower Observatory and their hard spectrum. We found that the allowed candidates are generally clustered around masses of 10 −7 eV. We also considered different EBL models, for the one predicting larger attenuation tends to reject ALP candidates with the lowest coupling factor. For some hypotheses of the EBL model, these candidates are found below a region of the parameter space in which, if detected, ALPs could account for all of the cold dark matter in the Universe.
Prescribed burnings reduce the biomass and the risk of wildfires but can also alter soil water repellency. The objective of this study is to evaluate the impact of several prescribed burnings in soil ...water repellency (SWR). In spring 2016, prescribed burns were carried out at three forest sites located in: (i) Beteta in a pure forest of Pinus nigra Arnold ssp. salzmannii; (ii) El Pozuelo in mixed forest stands of Pinus pinaster Aiton and Pinus nigra Arnold ssp. salzmannii; (iii) Lezuza in mixed forest stands of Pinus halepensis Miller and Pinus pinaster Aiton. Six plots were established in each study area: three burned and three unburned. SWR was measured before and immediately after prescribed burns following a 1-year periodic evaluation. There were seven sampling dates at Beteta and El Pozuelo and nine at Lezuza with six plots and six measurement transects in each plot (36 measurement transects on each date). Soil water content (SWC), soil temperature (ST) and soil organic matter (SOM) were also measured. Our results showed that SWR increased after burning to quickly return to normal values in Lezuza, after 1 month in El Pozuelo and after 1 year in Beteta. Moreover, a significant positive relationship between SWR and both SOM and ST, but a negative one with SWC, were observed, which led SWR to increase after fire passage, also in the summer months. Continuous monitoring of these study sites is recommended to determine if low-intensity burnings promote mid- to long-term changes in soil characteristics.
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•Soil water repellency increased after low-intensity prescribed fires to return to normal values over the year follow-up•Soil water repellency fluctuated over the year inversely respect soil moisture and directly respect soil temperature•Soil water repellency was higher in study forests with higher content of soil organic matter
Fires are a complex phenomenon that may generate a chain of responses and processes that affect each part of the ecosystem. Thus, it is important to understand the magnitude of the impacts of fire on ...soil properties and the response of plants to this disturbance. For the moment, few studies have examined the effects of prescribed fire on large plots in afforested pine plantations in Mediterranean ecosystems. To fill this gap, the effects of a prescribed fire on runoff, soil erosion, and water quality for approximately one year after burning have been evaluated in pine plantations in south-eastern Spain. We constructed six erosion plots in the control area and six erosion plots in the burned area that were 4 m long and 2 m wide, immediately after the prescribed fire. Runoff, soil erosion and runoff water quality were studied after each rainy event in all plots. Our results reveal that prescribed fire did not significantly affect runoff and soil erosion when low intensity precipitations occur at pine plantations. In relation to water quality, water turbidity, salinity, pH, organic matter content and ionic substances concentrations increased immediately after prescribed burn, nevertheless these changes disappeared over time. We can conclude that prescribed fire can be a useful tool for fuel reduction in Mediterranean pine plantations without wide and long-term impacts to soil losses, or water quality.
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•Prescribed fires do not significantly affect runoff at pine plantations.•Low intensity prescribed burns seems not to affect soil erosion at pine plantations.•Runoff water quality parameters were slightly affected by prescribed fire.•Rain intensity may modulate runoff generation and erosion at pine plantations.
We report on the measurement of the all-particle cosmic ray energy spectrum with the High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Observatory in the energy range 10 to 500 TeV. HAWC is a ground-based ...air-shower array deployed on the slopes of Volcan Sierra Negra in the state of Puebla, Mexico, and is sensitive to gamma rays and cosmic rays at TeV energies. The data used in this work were taken over 234 days between June 2016 and February 2017. The primary cosmic-ray energy is determined with a maximum likelihood approach using the particle density as a function of distance to the shower core. Introducing quality cuts to isolate events with shower cores landing on the array, the reconstructed energy distribution is unfolded iteratively. The measured all-particle spectrum is consistent with a broken power law with an index of −2.49±0.01 prior to a break at (45.7±0.1) TeV, followed by an index of −2.71±0.01. The spectrum also represents a single measurement that spans the energy range between direct detection and ground-based experiments. As a verification of the detector response, the energy scale and angular resolution are validated by observation of the cosmic ray Moon shadow’s dependence on energy.
Indinavir concentrations and St John's wort Piscitelli, Stephen C; Burstein, Aaron H; Chaitt, Doreen ...
The Lancet (British edition),
02/2000, Volume:
355, Issue:
9203
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
St John's wort reduced the area under the curve of the HIV-1 protease inhibitor indinavir by a mean of 57% (SD 19) and decreased the extrapolated 8-h indinavir trough by 81% (16) in healthy ...volunteers. A reduction in indinavir exposure of this magnitude could lead to the development of drug resistance and treatment failure.
The combination of safety belts and rollover protective structures (ROPSs) is key in improving the safety of agricultural tractors in the event of rollover. However, we also have the opportunity to ...enhance the security provided by each ROPS; one such example is the combination of this safety device with adequate mechanical energy absorbers (MEAs). Inexpensive disc-shaped MEAs can be included in the anchoring points of a ROPS onto the chassis of a tractor. Three configurations of ROPS combined with MEAs were tested during the application of loads that simulated the effects of side rollover in the vehicle. The tested configurations included a blank MEA as a reference case alongside a single MEA and a stack assembly containing both elements. The results of the tests show that both the deformation of the ROPS itself and the strain energy are larger in the case of blank MEAs; thus, there is also a risk that the clearance zone will be infringed upon and that the protective structure will collapse. We can conclude that the implementation of an appropriate MEA in ROPS reduces the deformation of the ROPS itself and its strain energy in cases of vehicle rollover; hence, the safety provided by such protection systems may be improved at a low cost.
Abstract
The High Altitude Water Cherenkov (HAWC) Gamma-Ray Observatory surveys the very high-energy sky in the 300 GeV to >100 TeV energy range. HAWC has detected two blazars above 11
σ
, Markarian ...421 (Mrk 421) and Markarian 501 (Mrk 501). The observations are comprised of data taken in the period between 2015 June and 2018 July, resulting in ∼1038 days of exposure. In this work, we report the time-averaged spectral analyses for both sources, above 0.5 TeV. Taking into account the flux attenuation due to the extragalactic background light, the intrinsic spectrum of Mrk 421 is described by a power law with an exponential energy cutoff with index
α
=
2.26
±
0.12
stat
−
0.2
+
0.17
sys
and energy cutoff
E
c
=
5.1
±
1.6
stat
−
2.5
+
1.4
sys
TeV, while the intrinsic spectrum of Mrk 501 is better described by a simple power law with index
α
=
2.61
±
0.11
stat
−
0.07
+
0.01
sys
. The maximum energies at which the Mrk 421 and Mrk 501 signals are detected are 9 and 12 TeV, respectively. This makes these some of the highest energy detections to date for spectra averaged over years-long timescales. Since the observation of gamma radiation from blazars provides information about the physical processes that take place in their relativistic jets, it is important to study the broadband spectral energy distributions (SEDs) of these objects. For this purpose, contemporaneous data in the gamma-ray band to the X-ray range, and literature data in the radio to UV range, were used to build time-averaged SEDs that were modeled within a synchrotron-self Compton leptonic scenario.
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