In this paper we propose a new strategy, based on anomaly detection methods, to search for new physics phenomena at colliders independently of the details of such new events. For this purpose, ...machine learning techniques are trained using Standard Model events, with the corresponding outputs being sensitive to physics beyond it. We explore three novel AD methods in HEP: Isolation Forest, Histogram-Based Outlier Detection, and Deep Support Vector Data Description; alongside the most customary Autoencoder. In order to evaluate the sensitivity of the proposed approach, predictions from specific new physics models are considered and compared to those achieved when using fully supervised deep neural networks. A comparison between shallow and deep anomaly detection techniques is also presented. Our results demonstrate the potential of semi-supervised anomaly detection techniques to extensively explore the present and future hadron colliders’ data.
In this paper, we expand on the previously proposed concept of energy Mover’s distance. The resulting observables are shown to provide a way of identifying rare processes in proton–proton collider ...experiments. It is shown that different processes are grouped together differently and that this can contribute to the improvement of experimental analyses. The
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production at the Large Hadron Collider is used as a benchmark to illustrate the applicability of the method. Furthermore, we study the use of these observables as new features which can be used in the training of deep neural networks.
ABSTRACT
We present the integrated VLT-MUSE spectrum of the central 2 × 2 arcmin2 (30 × 30 pc2) of NGC 2070, the dominant giant H ii region of the Tarantula Nebula in the Large Magellanic Cloud, ...together with an empirical far-ultraviolet spectrum constructed via LMC template stars from the ULLYSES survey and Hubble Tarantula Treasury Project UV photometry. NGC 2070 provides a unique opportunity to compare results from individual stellar populations (e.g. VLT FLAMES Tarantula Survey) in a metal-poor starburst region to the integrated results from the population synthesis tools Starburst99, Charlot & Bruzual, and BPASS. The metallicity of NGC 2070 inferred from standard nebular strong line calibrations is ∼0.4 ± 0.1 dex lower than obtained from direct methods. The Hα inferred age of 4.2 Myr from Starburst99 is close to the median age of OB stars within the region, although individual stars span a broad range of 1–7 Myr. The inferred stellar mass is close to that obtained for the rich star cluster R136 within NGC 2070, although this contributes only 21 per cent to the integrated far-UV continuum. He ii λ1640 emission is dominated by classical WR stars and main sequence WNh + Of/WN stars. Around 18 per cent of the NGC 2070 far UV continuum flux arises from very massive stars with ≥100 M⊙, including several very luminous Of supergiants. None of the predicted population synthesis models at low metallicities are able to successfully reproduce the far-UV spectrum of NGC 2070. We attribute issues to the treatment of mass-loss in very massive stars, the lack of contemporary empirical metal-poor templates, plus WR stars produced via binary evolution.
Within the context of the collaboration “B fields in OB stars” (BOB), we used the FORS2 low-resolution spectropolarimeter to search for a magnetic field in 50 massive stars, including two reference ...magnetic massive stars. Because of the many controversies of magnetic field detections obtained with the FORS instruments, we derived the magnetic field values with two completely independent reduction and analysis pipelines. We compare and discuss the results obtained from the two pipelines. We obtained a general good agreement, indicating that most of the discrepancies on magnetic field detections reported in the literature are caused by the interpretation of the significance of the results (i.e., 3–4σ detections considered as genuine, or not), instead of by significant differences in the derived magnetic field values. By combining our results with past FORS1 measurements of HD 46328, we improve the estimate of the stellar rotation period, obtaining P = 2.17950 ± 0.00009 days. For HD 125823, our FORS2 measurements do not fit the available magnetic field model, based on magnetic field values obtained 30 years ago. We repeatedly detect a magnetic field for the O9.7V star HD 54879, the HD 164492C massive binary, and the He-rich star CPD −57 3509. We obtain a magnetic field detection rate of 6 ± 4%, while by considering only the apparently slow rotators we derive a detection rate of 8 ± 5%, both comparable with what was previously reported by other similar surveys. We are left with the intriguing result that, although the large majority of magnetic massive stars is rotating slowly, our detection rate is not a strong function of the stellar rotational velocity.
Approximately 10 per cent of massive OBA main-sequence (MS) and pre-MS stars harbour strong, large-scale magnetic fields. At the same time, there is a dearth of magnetic stars in close binaries. A ...process generating strong magnetic fields only in some stars must be responsible with the merging of pre-MS and MS stars being suggested as one such channel. Stars emerging from the coalescence of two MS stars are rejuvenated, appearing younger than they are. They can therefore be identified by comparison with reference clocks. Here, we predict the rejuvenation of MS merger products over a wide range of masses and binary configurations calibrated to smoothed-particle-hydrodynamical merger models. We find that the rejuvenation is of the order of the nuclear time-scale and is strongest in the lowest mass mergers and the most evolved binary progenitors with the largest mass ratios. These predictions allow us to put constraints on the binary progenitors of merger products. We show that the magnetic stars HR 2949 and τ Sco are younger than the potential binary companion HR 2948 and the Upper-Sco association, respectively, making them promising merger candidates. We find that the age discrepancies and the potential binary progenitors of both are consistent with them being rejuvenated merger products, implying that their magnetic fields may originate from this channel. Searching for age discrepancies in magnetic stars is therefore a powerful way to explore which fraction of magnetic stars may have obtained their strong magnetic field in MS mergers and to improve our understanding of magnetism in massive stars and their remnants.
We present a comprehensive stellar atmosphere analysis of 329 O- and B-type stars in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) from the RIOTS4 survey. Using spectroscopically derived effective temperature ...Teff and surface gravities, we find that classical Be stars appear misplaced to low Teff and high luminosity in the spectroscopic Hertzsprung-Russell diagram (sHRD). Together with the most luminous stars in our sample, the stellar masses derived from the sHRD for these objects are systematically larger than those obtained from the conventional Hertzsprung-Russell diagram. This suggests that the well-known, spectroscopic mass-discrepancy problem may be linked to the fact that both groups of stars have outer envelopes that are nearly gravitationally unbound. The non-emission-line stars in our sample mainly appear on the main sequence, allowing a first estimate of the terminal-age main sequence (TAMS) in the SMC, which matches the predicted TAMS between 12 and 40 M at SMC metallicity. We further find a large underabundance of stars above ∼25 M near the zero-age main sequence, reminiscent of such earlier findings in the Milky Way and Large Magellanic Cloud.
BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The two longest C‐termini of the purinergic P2X receptors occur in the P2X2 and P2X7 receptors and are thought to interact with multiple cytoplasmic proteins, among which are ...members of the cytoskeleton, including microtubules. In this work we asked whether disrupting the microtubule cytoskeleton might affect the functions of these receptors.
EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH Functions of heterologously expressed P2X2 and P2X7 receptors were evaluated with electrophysiology and dye uptake following ATP application. Permeabilization and secretion of pro‐inflammatory agents were quantified from fresh or cultured peritoneal mouse macrophages, treated in vitro or in vivo with colchicine.
KEY RESULTS Disrupting the microtubule network with colchicine did not affect currents generated by ATP in P2X2 and P2X7 receptor‐expressing cells but inhibited uptake of the dye Yo‐Pro‐1 in Xenopus oocytes and HEK293 cells expressing these channels. Peritoneal mouse macrophages showed less ATP‐induced permeabilization to ethidium bromide in the presence of colchicine, and less reactive oxygen species (ROS) formation, nitric oxide (NO) and interleukin (IL)‐1β release. Colchicine treatment did not affect ATP‐evoked currents in macrophages. Finally, in vivo assays with mice inoculated with lipopolysaccharide and ATP showed diminished ROS, IL‐1β, interferon‐γ and NO production after colchicine treatment.
CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS Colchicine has known anti‐inflammatory actions and is used to treat several conditions involving innate immunity, including gout and familial Mediterranean fever. Here we propose a new mechanism of action – inhibition of pore formation induced by activation of P2X receptors – which could explain some of the anti‐inflammatory effects of colchicine.
LINKED ARTICLE This article is commented on by Pelegrín, pp. 908–911 of this issue. To view this commentary visit http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1476‐5381.2011.01325.x
ABSTRACT Low-resolution (4.5-5 ) spectra of 58 blue supergiant stars distributed over the disk of the Magellanic spiral galaxy NGC 55 in the Sculptor group are analyzed by means of non-LTE techniques ...to determine stellar temperatures, gravities, and metallicities (from iron peak and -elements). A metallicity gradient of −0.22 0.06 dex/R25 is detected. The central metallicity on a logarithmic scale relative to the Sun is Z = −0.37 0.03. A chemical evolution model using the observed distribution of column densities of the stellar and interstellar medium gas mass reproduces the observed metallicity distribution well and reveals a recent history of strong galactic mass accretion and wind outflows with accretion and mass-loss rates of the order of the star formation rate. There is an indication of spatial inhomogeneity in metallicity. In addition, the relatively high central metallicity of the disk confirms that two extraplanar metal-poor H ii regions detected in previous work 1.13 to 2.22 kpc above the galactic plane are ionized by massive stars formed in situ outside the disk. For a subsample of supergiants, for which Hubble Space Telescope photometry is available, the flux-weighted gravity-luminosity relationship is used to determine a distance modulus of 26.85 0.10 mag.
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