Planetary systems around close binary stars: the case of the very dusty, Sun-like, spectroscopic binary BD+20 307

Field star BD+20 307 is the dustiest known main sequence star, based on the fraction of its bolometric luminosity, 4%, that is emitted at infrared wavelengths. The particles that carry this large IR luminosity are unusually warm, comparable to the temperature of the zodiacal dust in the solar system, and their existence is likely to be a consequence of a fairly recent collision of large objects such as planets or planetary embryos. Thus, the age of BD+20 307 is potentially of interest in constraining the era of terrestrial planet formation. The present project was initiated with an attempt to derive this age using the Chandra X-ray Observatory to measure the X-ray flux of BD+20 307 in conjunction with extensive photometric and spectroscopic monitoring observations from Fairborn Observatory. However, the recent realization that BD+20 307 is a short period, double-line, spectroscopic binary whose components have very different lithium abundances, vitiates standard methods of age determination. We find the system to be metal-poor; this, combined with its measured lithium abundances, indicates that BD+20 307 may be several to many Gyr old. BD+20 307 affords astronomy a rare peek into a mature planetary system in orbit around a close binary star (because such systems are not amenable to study by the precision radial velocity technique).Comment: accepted for ApJ, December 10, 200

Error Avoiding Quantum Codes and Dynamical Stabilization of Grover's Algorithm

An error avoiding quantum code is presented which is capable of stabilizing Grover's quantum search algorithm against a particular class of coherent errors. This error avoiding code consists of states only which are factorizable in the computational basis. Furthermore, its redundancy is smaller than the one which is achievable with a general error correcting quantum code saturating the quantum Hamming bound. The fact that this code consists of factorizable states only may offer advantages for the implementation of quantum gates in the error free subspace

Identification of systemic immune response markers through metabolomic profiling of plasma from calves given an intra-nasally delivered respiratory vaccine

International audienceVaccination procedures within the cattle industry are important disease control tools to minimize economic and welfare burdens associated with respiratory pathogens. However, new vaccine, antigen and carrier technologies are required to combat emerging viral strains and enhance the efficacy of respiratory vaccines, particularly at the point of pathogen entry. New technologies, specifically metabolomic profiling, could be applied to identify metabolite immune-correlates representative of immune protection following vaccination aiding in the design and screening of vaccine candidates. This study for the first time demonstrates the ability of untargeted UPLC-MS metabolomic profiling to identify metabolite immune correlates characteristic of immune responses following mucosal vaccination in calves. Male Holstein Friesian calves were vaccinated with Pfizer Rispoval® PI3 + RSV intranasal vaccine and metabolomic profiling of post-vaccination plasma revealed 12 metabolites whose peak intensities differed significantly from controls. Plasma levels of glycocholic acid, N-[(3α,5β,12α)-3,12-Dihydroxy-7,24-dioxocholan-24-yl]glycine, uric acid and biliverdin were found to be significantly elevated in vaccinated animals following secondary vaccine administration, whereas hippuric acid significantly decreased. In contrast, significant upregulation of taurodeoxycholic acid and propionylcarnitine levels were confined to primary vaccine administration. Assessment of such metabolite markers may provide greater information on the immune pathways stimulated from vaccine formulations and benchmarking early metabolomic responses to highly immunogenic vaccine formulations could provide a means for rapidly assessing new vaccine formulations. Furthermore, the identification of metabolic systemic immune response markers which relate to specific cell signaling pathways of the immune system could allow for targeted vaccine design to stimulate key pathways which can be assessed at the metabolic level

Evidence Against the Sciama Model of Radiative Decay of Massive Neutrinos

We report on spectral observations of the night sky in the band around 900 angstroms where the emission line in the Sciama model of radiatively decaying massive neutrinos would be present. The data were obtained with a high resolution, high sensitivity spectrometer flown on the Spanish MINISAT satellite. The observed emission is far less intense than that expected in the Sciama model.Comment: 9 pages, accepted to Ap

Ly alpha-emitting galaxies at 0.2 < z < 0.35 from GALEX spectroscopy

We have used the GALEX (Galaxy Evolution Explorer) spectroscopic survey mode, with a resolution of similar to 8 angstrom in the far-ultraviolet (FUV; 1350-1750 angstrom) and similar to 20 angstrom in the near-ultraviolet (NUV; 1950-2750 angstrom) for a systematic search of Ly alpha-emitting galaxies at low redshift. Our aim is to fill a gap between high-redshift surveys and a small set of objects studied in detail in the nearby universe. A blind search of 7018 spectra extracted in five deep exposures (5.65 deg(2)) has resulted in 96 Ly alpha-emitting galaxy candidates in the FUV domain after accounting for broad-line AGNs. The Ly alpha equivalent widths (EWs) are consistent with stellar population model predictions and show no trends as a function of UV color or UV luminosity, with the exception of a possible decrease in the most luminous objects that may be due to small-number statistics. The objects' distribution in EW is similar to that at z similar to 3, but their fraction among star-forming galaxies is smaller. Avoiding uncertain candidates, a subsample of 66 objects in the range 0.2 < z < 0.35 has been used to build a Ly alpha luminosity function (LF). The incompleteness due to objects with significant Ly alpha emission but a UV continuum too low for spectral extraction has been evaluated. A comparison with H alpha LFs in the same redshift domain is consistent with an average Ly alpha/H alpha of similar to 1 in about 15% of the star-forming galaxies. A comparison with high-redshift Ly alpha LFs implies an increase of the Ly alpha luminosity density by a factor of about 16 from z similar to 0.3 to z similar to 3. By comparison with the factor of 5 increase in the UV luminosity density in the same redshift range, this suggests an increase of the average Ly alpha escape fraction with redshift

Ultraviolet through Infrared Spectral Energy Distributions from 1000 SDSS Galaxies: Dust Attenuation

The meaningful comparison of models of galaxy evolution to observations is critically dependent on the accurate treatment of dust attenuation. To investigate dust absorption and emission in galaxies we have assembled a sample of ~1000 galaxies with ultraviolet (UV) through infrared (IR) photometry from GALEX, SDSS, and Spitzer and optical spectroscopy from SDSS. The ratio of IR to UV emission (IRX) is used to constrain the dust attenuation in galaxies. We use the 4000A break as a robust and useful, although coarse, indicator of star formation history (SFH). We examine the relationship between IRX and the UV spectral slope (a common attenuation indicator at high-redshift) and find little dependence of the scatter on 4000A break strength. We construct average UV through far-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) for different ranges of IRX, 4000A break strength, and stellar mass (M_*) to show the variation of the entire SED with these parameters. When binned simultaneously by IRX, 4000A break strength, and M_* these SEDs allow us to determine a low resolution average attenuation curve for different ranges of M_*. The attenuation curves thus derived are consistent with a lambda^{-0.7} attenuation law, and we find no significant variations with M_*. Finally, we show the relationship between IRX and the global stellar mass surface density and gas-phase-metallicity. Among star forming galaxies we find a strong correlation between IRX and stellar mass surface density, even at constant metallicity, a result that is closely linked to the well-known correlation between IRX and star-formation rate.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 2 tables, appearing in the Dec 2007 GALEX special issue of ApJ Supp (29 papers

The Calibration and Data Products of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer

We describe the calibration status and data products pertaining to the GR2 and GR3 data releases of the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX). These releases have identical pipeline calibrations that are significantly improved over the GR1 data release. GALEX continues to survey the sky in the Far Ultraviolet (FUV, ~154 nm) and Near Ultraviolet (NUV, ~232 nm) bands, providing simultaneous imaging with a pair of photon counting, microchannel plate, delay line readout detectors. These 1.25 degree field-of-view detectors are well-suited to ultraviolet observations because of their excellent red rejection and negligible background. A dithered mode of observing and photon list output pose complex requirements on the data processing pipeline, entangling detector calibrations and aspect reconstruction algorithms. Recent improvements have achieved photometric repeatability of 0.05 and 0.03 mAB in the FUV and NUV, respectively. We have detected a long term drift of order 1% FUV and 6% NUV over the mission. Astrometric precision is of order 0.5" RMS in both bands. In this paper we provide the GALEX user with a broad overview of the calibration issues likely to be confronted in the current release. Improvements are likely as the GALEX mission continues into an extended phase with a healthy instrument, no consumables, and increased opportunities for guest investigations.Comment: Accepted to the ApJS (a special GALEX issue

The UV-Optical Galaxy Color-Magnitude Diagram. I. Basic Properties

We have analyzed the bivariate distribution of galaxies as a function of ultraviolet-optical colors and absolute magnitudes in the local universe. The sample consists of galaxies with redshifts and optical photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) main galaxy sample matched with detections in the near-ultraviolet (NUV) and far-ultraviolet (FUV) bands in the Medium Imaging Survey being carried out by the Galaxy Evolution Explorer (GALEX) satellite. In the (NUV − r)_(0.1) versus M_(r,0.1) galaxy color-magnitude diagram, the galaxies separate into two well-defined blue and red sequences. The (NUV − r)_(0.1) color distribution at each M_(r,0.1) is not well fit by the sum of two Gaussians due to an excess of galaxies in between the two sequences. The peaks of both sequences become redder with increasing luminosity, with a distinct blue peak visible up to M_(r,0.1) ~ − 23. The r_(0.1)-band luminosity functions vary systematically with color, with the faint-end slope and characteristic luminosity gradually increasing with color. After correcting for attenuation due to dust, we find that approximately one-quarter of the color variation along the blue sequence is due to dust, with the remainder due to star formation history and metallicity. Finally, we present the distribution of galaxies as a function of specific star formation rate and stellar mass. The specific star formation rates imply that galaxies along the blue sequence progress from low-mass galaxies with star formation rates that increase somewhat with time to more massive galaxies with a more or less constant star formation rate. Above a stellar mass of ~10^(10.5) M_☉, galaxies with low ratios of current to past averaged star formation rate begin to dominate