We present the discovery of EVR-CB-004, a close binary with a remnant stellar core and an unseen white dwarf (WD) companion. The analysis in this work reveals that the primary is potentially an ...inflated hot subdwarf (sdO) and more likely is a rarer post-blue horizontal branch (post-BHB) star. Post-BHBs are the short-lived shell-burning final stage of a blue horizontal star or hot subdwarf before transitioning to a WD. This object was discovered using Evryscope photometric data in a southern all-sky hot subdwarf variability survey. The photometric light curve for EVR-CB-004 shows multicomponent variability from ellipsoidal deformation of the primary and Doppler boosting, as well as gravitational limb darkening. The binary EVR-CB-004 is one of just a handful of known systems and has a long period (6.08426 hr) and large-amplitude ellipsoidal modulation (16.0% change in brightness from maximum to minimum) for these extremely close binary systems, while the properties of the primary make it a truly unique system. It also shows a peculiar low-amplitude (less than 1%) sinusoidal light-curve variation with a period that is a 1/3 resonance of the binary period. We tentatively identify this additional variation source as a tidally induced resonant pulsation, and we suggest follow-up observations that could verify this interpretation. From the evolutionary state of the system, its components, and its mass fraction, EVR-CB-004 is a strong merger candidate to form a single high-mass ( 1.2 M ) WD. It offers a glimpse into a brief phase of remnant core evolution and secondary variation not seen before in a compact binary.
We present optical and infrared photometry of the classical nova V906 Car, also known as Nova Car 2018 and ASASSN-18fv, which was discovered by the All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN) ...on 2018 March 16.32 UT (MJD 58193.0). The nova reached its maximum on MJD 58222.56 at Vmax = 5.84 0.09 mag, and had decline times of days and days. The data from Evryscope shows that the nova had already brightened to mag five days before discovery, as compared with its quiescent magnitude of g = 20.13 0.03. The extinction toward the nova, as derived from high-resolution spectroscopy, shows an estimate consistent with foreground extinction to the Carina Nebula of . The light curve resembles a rare C (cusp) class nova with a steep decline slope of = −3.94 post-cusp flare. From the light-curve decline rate, we estimate the mass of the white dwarf to be MWD = <0.8M , consistent with derived from modeling the accretion disk of the system in quiescence. The donor star is likely a K-M dwarf of 0.23-0.43 , which is heated by its companion.
Using photometric data collected by Evryscope-South, we search for nearby young variable systems on the upper main sequence (UMS) and pre-main sequence (PMS). The Evryscopes are all-sky high-cadence ...telescope arrays operating in the Northern and Southern hemispheres. We base our search on a Gaia-selected catalog of young neighborhood upper- and pre-main sequence stars which were chosen through both astrometric and photometric criteria. We analyze 44,971 Evryscope-South light curves in search of variability. We recover 615 variables, with 378 previously known, and 237 new discoveries including 84 young eclipsing binaries (EB) candidates. We discover a new highly eccentric binary system and recover a further four previously known systems, with periods ranging from 299 to 674 hr. We find 158 long-period (>50 hr) candidate EB systems, 9 from the PMS and 149 from the UMS, which will allow constraints on the mass/radius/age relation. These long-period EBs include a 179.3 hr PMS system and a 867.8 hr system from the UMS. For PMS variable candidates we estimate system ages, which range from 1 to 23 Myr for non-EBs and from 2 to 17 Myr for EBs. Other non-EB discoveries that show intrinsic variability will allow relationships between stellar rotation rates, ages, activity, and mass to be characterized.
Adaptive optics laser guide-star systems perform atmospheric correction of stellar wavefronts in two parts: stellar tip-tilt and high-spatial-order laser correction. The requirement of a sufficiently ...bright guide star in the field-of-view to correct tip-tilt limits sky coverage. In this paper, we show an improvement to effective seeing without the need for nearby bright stars, enabling full sky coverage by performing only laser-assisted wavefront correction. We used Robo-AO, the first robotic AO system, to comprehensively demonstrate this laser-only correction. We analyze observations from four years of efficient robotic operation covering 15000 targets and 42000 observations, each realizing different seeing conditions. Using an autoguider (or a post-processing software equivalent) and the laser to improve effective seeing independent of the brightness of a target, Robo-AO observations show a 39% 19% improvement to effective FWHM, without any tip-tilt correction. We also demonstrate that 50% encircled energy performance without tip-tilt correction remains comparable to diffraction-limited, standard Robo-AO performance. Faint-target science programs primarily limited by 50% encircled energy (e.g., those employing integral field spectrographs placed behind the AO system) may see significant benefits to sky coverage from employing laser-only AO.
ABSTRACT
HD 21749 is a bright (V = 8.1 mag) K dwarf at 16 pc known to host an inner terrestrial planet HD 21749c as well as an outer sub-Neptune HD 21749b, both delivered by Transiting Exoplanet ...Survey Satellite (TESS). Follow-up spectroscopic observations measured the mass of HD 21749b to be 22.7 ± 2.2 M⊕ with a density of $7.0^{+1.6}_{-1.3}$ g cm−3, making it one of the densest sub-Neptunes. However, the mass measurement was suspected to be influenced by stellar rotation. Here, we present new high-cadence PFS RV data to disentangle the stellar activity signal from the planetary signal. We find that HD 21749 has a similar rotational time-scale as the planet’s orbital period, and the amplitude of the planetary orbital RV signal is estimated to be similar to that of the stellar activity signal. We perform Gaussian process regression on the photometry and RVs from HARPS and PFS to model the stellar activity signal. Our new models reveal that HD 21749b has a radius of 2.86 ± 0.20 R⊕, an orbital period of 35.6133 ± 0.0005 d with a mass of Mb = 20.0 ± 2.7 M⊕ and a density of $4.8^{+2.0}_{-1.4}$ g cm−3 on an eccentric orbit with e = 0.16 ± 0.06, which is consistent with the most recent values published for this system. HD 21749c has an orbital period of 7.7902 ± 0.0006 d, a radius of 1.13 ± 0.10 R⊕, and a 3σ mass upper limit of 3.5 M⊕. Our Monte Carlo simulations confirm that without properly taking stellar activity signals into account, the mass measurement of HD 21749b is likely to arrive at a significantly underestimated error bar.
The regions around the celestial poles offer the ability to find and characterize long-term variables from ground-based observatories. We used multi-year Evryscope data to search for high-amplitude ( ...5% or greater) variable objects among 160,000 bright stars (mv < 14.5) near the South Celestial Pole. We developed a machine-learning-based spectral classifier to identify eclipse and transit candidates with M-dwarf or K-dwarf host stars, and potential low-mass secondary stars or gas-giant planets. The large amplitude transit signals from low-mass companions of smaller dwarf host stars lessens the photometric precision and systematics removal requirements necessary for detection, and increases the discoveries from long-term observations with modest light-curve precision among the faintest stars in the survey. The Evryscope is a robotic telescope array that observes the Southern sky continuously at 2-minute cadence, searching for stellar variability, transients, transits around exotic stars and other observationally challenging astrophysical variables. The multi-year photometric stability is better than 1% for bright stars in uncrowded regions, with a 3 limiting magnitude of g = 16 in dark time. In this study, covering all stars 9 < mv < 14.5, in declinations −75° to −90°, and searching for high-amplitude variability, we recover 346 known variables and discover 303 new variables, including 168 eclipsing binaries. We characterize the discoveries and provide the amplitudes, periods, and variability type. A 1.7 RJ planet candidate with a late K-dwarf primary was found and the transit signal was verified with the PROMPT telescope network. Further follow-up revealed this object to be a likely grazing eclipsing binary system with nearly identical primary and secondary K5 stars. Radial-velocity measurements from the Goodman Spectrograph on the 4.1 meter SOAR telescope of the likely lowest-mass targets reveal that six of the eclipsing binary discoveries are low-mass (.06-.37 M ) secondaries with K-dwarf primaries, strong candidates for precision mass-radius measurements.
Cheddar cheese is a protein-dense whole food and high in leucine content. However, no information is known about the acute blood amino acid kinetics and protein anabolic effects in skeletal muscle in ...healthy adults. Therefore, we conducted a crossover study in which men and women (
= 24; ~27 years, ~23 kg/m
) consumed cheese (20 g protein) or an isonitrogenous amount of milk. Blood and skeletal muscle biopsies were taken before and during the post absorptive period following ingestion. We evaluated circulating essential and non-essential amino acids, insulin, and free fatty acids and examined skeletal muscle anabolism by mTORC1 cellular localization, intracellular signaling, and ribosomal profiling. We found that cheese ingestion had a slower yet more sustained branched-chain amino acid circulation appearance over the postprandial period peaking at ~120 min. Cheese also modestly stimulated mTORC1 signaling and increased membrane localization. Using ribosomal profiling we found that, though both milk and cheese stimulated a muscle anabolic program associated with mTORC1 signaling that was more evident with milk, mTORC1 signaling persisted with cheese while also inducing a lower insulinogenic response. We conclude that Cheddar cheese induced a sustained blood amino acid and moderate muscle mTORC1 response yet had a lower glycemic profile compared to milk.
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One of the hurdles in the discovery of antibiotics is the difficulty of linking antibacterial compounds to their cellular targets. Our laboratory has employed a genome-wide approach ...of over-expressing essential genes in order to identify cellular targets of antibacterial inhibitors. Our objective in this project was to develop and validate a more sensitive disk diffusion based platform of target identification (Target Identification Platform for Antibacterials version 2; TIPA II) using a collection of cell clones in an Escherichia coli mutant (AS19) host with increased outer membrane permeability. Five known antibiotics/inhibitors and 28 boron heterocycles were tested by TIPA II assay, in conjunction with the original assay TIPA. The TIPA II was more sensitive than TIPA because eight boron heterocycles previously found to be inactive to AG1 cells in TIPA assays exhibited activity to AS19 cells. For 15 boron heterocycles, resistant colonies were observed within the zones of inhibition only on the inducing plates in TIPA II assays. DNA sequencing confirmed that resistant clones harbor plasmids with fabI gene as insert, indicating that these boron heterocycles all target enoyl ACP reductase. Additionally, cell-based assays and dose response curved obtained indicated that for two boron heterocycle inhibitors, the fabI cell clone in AG1 (wild-type) host cells exhibited at least 11 fold more resistance under induced conditions than under non-induced conditions. Moreover, TIPA II also identified cellular targets of known antibacterial inhibitors triclosan, phosphomycin, trimethoprim, diazaborine and thiolactomycin, further validating the utility of the new system.
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