Grant D. Stentiford, Kallaya Sritunyalucksana, Timothy W. Flegel, Bryony A. P. Williams, Boonsirm Withyachumnarnkul, Orn Itsathitphaisarn, David Bass Affiliations Pathology and Molecular Systematics ...Team, Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas), Weymouth, United Kingdom, Life Sciences, Natural History Museum, London, United KingdomCitation: Stentiford GD, Sritunyalucksana K, Flegel TW, Williams BAP, Withyachumnarnkul B, Itsathitphaisarn O, et al. ...funding support is acknowledged from the European Commission (EC) and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) under contracts C6928 and FB002 (to GDS and DB); from the Royal Society under a University Research Fellowship (to BAPW); and to the Agricultural Research Development Agency (ARDA) and National Research Council of Thailand (NRCT) (to KS, TWF, and OI).
ABSTRACT
Photometry at 3.4 and 4.6 ${\mu m}$ of 128 Population I WC type Wolf–Rayet stars in the Galaxy and 12 in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) observed in the WISE NEOWISE-R survey was searched ...for evidence of circumstellar dust emission and its variation. Infrared spectral energy distributions (SEDs) were assembled, making use of archival r, i, Z, and Y photometry to determine reddening and stellar wind levels for the WC stars found in recent IR surveys and lacking optical photometry. From their SEDs, 10 apparently non-variable stars were newly identified as dust makers, including three, WR 102-22, WR 110-10, and WR 124-10, having subtype earlier than WC8–9, the first such stars to show this phenomenon. The 11 stars found to show variable dust emission include six new episodic dust makers, WR 47c, WR 75-11, WR 91-1, WR 122-14, and WR 125-1 in the Galaxy and HD 38030 in the LMC. Of previously known dust makers, NEOWISE-R photometry of WR 19 captured its rise to maximum in 2018 confirming the 10.1-yr period, that of WR 125 the beginning of a new episode of dust formation suggesting a period near 28.3 yr. while that of HD 36402 covered almost a whole period and forced revision of it to 5.1 yr.
We report the discovery of rising X-ray emission from the binary neutron star merger event GW170817. This is the first detection of X-ray emission from a gravitational-wave (GW) source. Observations ...acquired with the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO) at t 2.3 days post-merger reveal no significant emission, with L x 3.2 × 10 38 erg s − 1 (isotropic-equivalent). Continued monitoring revealed the presence of an X-ray source that brightened with time, reaching L x 9 × 10 38 erg s − 1 at 15.1 days post-merger. We interpret these findings in the context of isotropic and collimated relativistic outflows (both on- and off-axis). We find that the broadband X-ray to radio observations are consistent with emission from a relativistic jet with kinetic energy E k ∼ 10 49 − 50 erg , viewed off-axis with θ obs ∼ 20 ° - 40 ° . Our models favor a circumbinary density n ∼ 10 − 4 - 10 − 2 cm − 3 , depending on the value of the microphysical parameter ϵ B = 10 − 4 - 10 − 2 . A central-engine origin of the X-ray emission is unlikely. Future X-ray observations at t 100 days, when the target will be observable again with the CXO, will provide additional constraints to solve the model degeneracies and test our predictions. Our inferences on θ obs are testable with GW information on GW170817 from advanced LIGO/Virgo on the binary inclination.
We report deep Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), Hubble Space Telescope (HST), and Karl J. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) observations of the binary neutron star event GW170817 at t < 160 days after ...merger. These observations show that GW170817 has been steadily brightening with time and might have now reached its peak, and constrain the emission process as non-thermal synchrotron emission where the cooling frequency c is above the X-ray band and the synchrotron frequency m is below the radio band. The very simple power-law spectrum extending for eight orders of magnitude in frequency enables the most precise measurement of the index p of the distribution of non-thermal relativistic electrons accelerated by a shock launched by a neutron star (NS)-NS merger to date. We find p = 2.17 0.01, which indicates that radiation from ejecta with Γ ∼ 3-10 dominates the observed emission. While constraining the nature of the emission process, these observations do not constrain the nature of the relativistic ejecta. We employ simulations of explosive outflows launched in NS ejecta clouds to show that the spectral and temporal evolution of the non-thermal emission from GW170817 is consistent with both emission from radially stratified quasi-spherical ejecta traveling at mildly relativistic speeds, and emission from off-axis collimated ejecta characterized by a narrow cone of ultra-relativistic material with slower wings extending to larger angles. In the latter scenario, GW170817 harbored a normal short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) directed away from our line of sight. Observations at t ≤ 200 days are unlikely to settle the debate, as in both scenarios the observed emission is effectively dominated by radiation from mildly relativistic material.
•∼250 billion radiance measurements of the Moon compiled into a global dataset.•Maps reveal the complex and extreme nature of the lunar surface thermal environment.•Global view of how the regolith ...stores and exchanges thermal energy with space.•Daytime maximum temperatures are sensitive to the radiative properties of the surface.•Nighttime temperatures are sensitive to the thermophysical properties of the regolith.
The Diviner Lunar Radiometer Experiment onboard the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has been acquiring solar reflectance and mid-infrared radiance measurements nearly continuously since July of 2009. Diviner is providing the most comprehensive view of how regoliths on airless bodies store and exchange thermal energy with the space environment. Approximately a quarter trillion calibrated radiance measurements of the Moon, acquired over 5.5 years by Diviner, have been compiled into a 0.5° resolution global dataset with a 0.25h local time resolution. Maps generated with this dataset provide a global perspective of the surface energy balance of the Moon and reveal the complex and extreme nature of the lunar surface thermal environment. Our achievable map resolution, both spatially and temporally, will continue to improve with further data acquisition.
Daytime maximum temperatures are sensitive to the albedo of the surface and are ∼387–397K at the equator, dropping to ∼95K just before sunrise, though anomalously warm areas characterized by high rock abundances can be > 50K warmer than the zonal average nighttime temperatures. An asymmetry is observed between the morning and afternoon temperatures due to the thermal inertia of the lunar regolith with the dusk terminator ∼30K warmer than the dawn terminator at the equator. An increase in albedo with incidence angle is required to explain the observed decrease in temperatures with latitude. At incidence angles exceeding ∼40°, topography and surface roughness influence temperatures resulting in increasing scatter in temperatures and anisothermality between Diviner channels.
Nighttime temperatures are sensitive to the thermophysical properties of the regolith. High thermal inertia (TI) materials such as large rocks, remain warmer during the long lunar night and result in anomalously warm nighttime temperatures and anisothermality in the Diviner channels. Anomalous maximum and minimum temperatures are highlighted by subtracting the zonal mean temperatures from maps. Terrains can be characterized as low or high reflectance and low or high TI. Low maximum temperatures result from high reflectance surfaces while low minimum temperatures from low-TI material. Conversely, high maximum temperatures result from dark surface, and high minimum temperatures from high-TI materials.
Impact craters are found to modify regolith properties over large distances. The thermal signature of Tycho is asymmetric, consistent with an oblique impact coming from the west. Some prominent crater rays are visible in the thermal data and require material with a higher thermal inertial than nominal regolith. The influence of the formation of the Orientale basin on the regolith properties is observable over a substantial portion of the western hemisphere despite its age (∼3.8Gyr), and may have contributed to mixing of highland and mare material on the southwest margin of Oceanus Procellarum where the gradient in radiative properties at the mare-highland contact is broad (∼200km).
We present Very Large Array (VLA) and Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) radio observations of GW170817, the first Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO)/Virgo ...gravitational wave (GW) event from a binary neutron star merger and the first GW event with an electromagnetic (EM) counterpart. Our data include the first observations following the discovery of the optical transient at both the centimeter (13.7 hr post-merger) and millimeter (2.41 days post-merger) bands. We detect faint emission at 6 GHz at 19.47 and 39.23 days after the merger, but not in an earlier observation at 2.46 days. We do not detect cm/mm emission at the position of the optical counterpart at frequencies of 10-97.5 GHz at times ranging from 0.6 to 30 days post-merger, ruling out an on-axis short gamma-ray burst (SGRB) for energies 10 48 erg. For fiducial SGRB parameters, our limits require an observer viewer angle of 20°. The radio and X-ray data can be jointly explained as the afterglow emission from an SGRB with a jet energy of ∼ 10 49 - 10 50 erg that exploded in a uniform density environment with n ∼ 10 − 4 - 10 − 2 cm−3, viewed at an angle of ∼20°-40° from the jet axis. Using the results of our light curve and spectral modeling, in conjunction with the inference of the circumbinary density, we predict the emergence of late-time radio emission from the deceleration of the kilonova (KN) ejecta on a timescale of ∼5-10 years that will remain detectable for decades with next-generation radio facilities, making GW170817 a compelling target for long-term radio monitoring.
Therapeutically actionable molecular alterations are widely distributed across cancer types. The National Cancer Institute Molecular Analysis for Therapy Choice (NCI-MATCH) trial was designed to ...evaluate targeted therapy antitumor activity in underexplored cancer types. Tumor biopsy specimens were analyzed centrally with next-generation sequencing (NGS) in a master screening protocol. Patients with a tumor molecular alteration addressed by a targeted treatment lacking established efficacy in that tumor type were assigned to 1 of 30 treatments in parallel, single-arm, phase II subprotocols.
Tumor biopsy specimens from 5,954 patients with refractory malignancies at 1,117 accrual sites were analyzed centrally with NGS and selected immunohistochemistry in a master screening protocol. The treatment-assignment rate to treatment arms was assessed. Molecular alterations in seven tumors profiled in both NCI-MATCH trial and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) of primary tumors were compared.
Molecular profiling was successful in 93.0% of specimens. An actionable alteration was found in 37.6%. After applying clinical and molecular exclusion criteria, 17.8% were assigned (26.4% could have been assigned if all subprotocols were available simultaneously). Eleven subprotocols reached their accrual goal as of this report. Actionability rates differed among histologies (eg, > 35% for urothelial cancers and < 6% for pancreatic and small-cell lung cancer). Multiple actionable or resistance-conferring tumor mutations were seen in 11.9% and 71.3% of specimens, respectively. Known resistance mutations to targeted therapies were numerically more frequent in NCI-MATCH than TCGA tumors, but not markedly so.
We demonstrated feasibility of screening large numbers of patients at numerous accruing sites in a complex trial to test investigational therapies for moderately frequent molecular targets. Co-occurring resistance mutations were common and endorse investigation of combination targeted-therapy regimens.