From 10 Kelvin to 10 TeraKelvin: Insights on the Interaction Between Cosmic Rays and Gas in Starbursts

Recent work has both illuminated and mystified our attempts to understand cosmic rays (CRs) in starburst galaxies. I discuss my new research exploring how CRs interact with the ISM in starbursts. Molecular clouds provide targets for CR protons to produce pionic gamma rays and ionization, but those same losses may shield the cloud interiors. In the densest molecular clouds, gamma rays and Al-26 decay can provide ionization, at rates up to those in Milky Way molecular clouds. I then consider the free-free absorption of low frequency radio emission from starbursts, which I argue arises from many small, discrete H II regions rather than from a "uniform slab" of ionized gas, whereas synchrotron emission arises outside them. Finally, noting that the hot superwind gas phase fills most of the volume of starbursts, I suggest that it has turbulent-driven magnetic fields powered by supernovae, and that this phase is where most synchrotron emission arises. I show how such a scenario could explain the far-infrared radio correlation, in context of my previous work. A big issue is that radio and gamma-ray observations imply CRs also must interact with dense gas. Understanding how this happens requires a more advanced understanding of turbulence and CR propagation.Comment: Conference proceedings for "Cosmic-ray induced phenomenology in star-forming environments: Proceedings of the 2nd Session of the Sant Cugat Forum of Astrophysics" (April 16-19, 2012). 16 pages, 5 figure

The stochastic resonance mechanism in the Aerosol Index dynamics

We consider Aerosol Index (AI) time-series extracted from TOMS archive for an area covering Italy $(7-18^o E ; 36-47^o N)$. The missing of convergence in estimating the embedding dimension of the system and the inability of the Independent Component Analysis (ICA) in separating the fluctuations from deterministic component of the signals are evidences of an intrinsic link between the periodic behavior of AI and its fluctuations. We prove that these time series are well described by a stochastic dynamical model. Moreover, the principal peak in the power spectrum of these signals can be explained whereby a stochastic resonance, linking variable external factors, such as Sun-Earth radiation budget and local insolation, and fluctuations on smaller spatial and temporal scale due to internal weather and antrophic components

A catalogue of young runaway Hipparcos stars within 3kpc from the Sun

Traditionally runaway stars are O and B type stars with large peculiar velocities.We want to extend this definition to young stars (up to ~50 Myr) of any spectral type and identify those present in the Hipparcos catalogue applying different selection criteria such as peculiar space velocities or peculiar one-dimensional velocities. Runaway stars are important to study the evolution of multiple star systems or star clusters as well as to identify origins of neutron stars. We compile distances, proper motions, spectral types, luminosity classes, V magnitudes and B-V colours and utilise evolutionary models from different authors to obtain star ages and study a sample of 7663 young Hipparcos stars within 3 kpc from the Sun. Radial velocities are obtained from the literature. We investigate the distributions of the peculiar spatial velocity, the peculiar radial velocity as well as the peculiar tangential velocity and its one-dimensional components and obtain runaway star probabilities for each star in the sample. In addition, we look for stars that are situated outside any OB association or OB cluster and the Galactic plane as well as stars of which the velocity vector points away from the median velocity vector of neighbouring stars or the surrounding local OB association/ cluster although the absolute velocity might be small. We find a total of 2547 runaway star candidates (with a contamination of normal Population I stars of 20 per cent at most). Thus, after subtraction of those 20 per cent, the runaway frequency among young stars is about 27 per cent. We compile a catalogue of runaway stars which will be available via VizieR.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 7 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS old version replaced due to change of the title after journal proof-readin

Enteric dysbiosis and fecal calprotectin expression in premature infants.

BackgroundPremature infants often develop enteric dysbiosis with a preponderance of Gammaproteobacteria, which has been related to adverse clinical outcomes. We investigated the relationship between increasing fecal Gammaproteobacteria and mucosal inflammation, measured by fecal calprotectin (FC).MethodsStool samples were collected from very-low-birth weight (VLBW) infants at ≤2, 3, and 4 weeks' postnatal age. Fecal microbiome was surveyed using polymerase chain reaction amplification of the V4 region of 16S ribosomal RNA, and FC was measured by enzyme immunoassay.ResultsWe enrolled 45 VLBW infants (gestation 27.9 ± 2.2 weeks, birth weight 1126 ± 208 g) and obtained stool samples at 9.9 ± 3, 20.7 ± 4.1, and 29.4 ± 4.9 days. FC was positively correlated with the genus Klebsiella (r = 0.207, p = 0.034) and its dominant amplicon sequence variant (r = 0.290, p = 0.003), but not with the relative abundance of total Gammaproteobacteria. Klebsiella colonized the gut in two distinct patterns: some infants started with low Klebsiella abundance and gained these bacteria over time, whereas others began with very high Klebsiella abundance.ConclusionIn premature infants, FC correlated with relative abundance of a specific pathobiont, Klebsiella, and not with that of the class Gammaproteobacteria. These findings indicate a need to define dysbiosis at genera or higher levels of resolution

Disequilibrium Carbon, Oxygen, and Nitrogen Chemistry in the Atmospheres of HD 189733b and HD 209458b

We have developed 1-D photochemical and thermochemical kinetics and diffusion models for the transiting exoplanets HD 189733b and HD 209458b to study the effects of disequilibrium chemistry on the atmospheric composition of "hot Jupiters." Here we investigate the coupled chemistry of neutral carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen species, and we compare the model results with existing transit and eclipse observations. We find that the vertical profiles of molecular constituents are significantly affected by transport-induced quenching and photochemistry, particularly on cooler HD 189733b; however, the warmer stratospheric temperatures on HD 209458b can help maintain thermochemical equilibrium and reduce the effects of disequilibrium chemistry. For both planets, the methane and ammonia mole fractions are found to be enhanced over their equilibrium values at pressures of a few bar to less than a mbar due to transport-induced quenching, but CH4 and NH3 are photochemically removed at higher altitudes. Atomic species, unsaturated hydrocarbons (particularly C2H2), some nitriles (particularly HCN), and radicals like OH, CH3, and NH2 are enhanced overequilibrium predictions because of quenching and photochemistry. In contrast, CO, H2O, N2, and CO2 more closely follow their equilibrium profiles, except at pressures < 1 microbar, where CO, H2O, and N2 are photochemically destroyed and CO2 is produced before its eventual high-altitude destruction. The enhanced abundances of HCN, CH4, and NH3 in particular are expected to affect the spectral signatures and thermal profiles HD 189733b and other, relatively cool, close-in transiting exoplanets. We examine the sensitivity of our results to the assumed temperature structure and eddy diffusion coefficientss and discuss further observational consequences of these models.Comment: 40 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journa

Search for Gravitational Wave Bursts from Soft Gamma Repeaters

We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with Soft Gamma Repeater (SGR) bursts. This is the first search sensitive to neutron star f-modes, usually considered the most efficient GW emitting modes. We find no evidence of GWs associated with any SGR burst in a sample consisting of the 27 Dec. 2004 giant flare from SGR 1806-20 and 190 lesser events from SGR 1806-20 and SGR 1900+14 which occurred during the first year of LIGO's fifth science run. GW strain upper limits and model-dependent GW emission energy upper limits are estimated for individual bursts using a variety of simulated waveforms. The unprecedented sensitivity of the detectors allows us to set the most stringent limits on transient GW amplitudes published to date. We find upper limit estimates on the model-dependent isotropic GW emission energies (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) between 3x10^45 and 9x10^52 erg depending on waveform type, detector antenna factors and noise characteristics at the time of the burst. These upper limits are within the theoretically predicted range of some SGR models.Comment: 6 pages, 1 Postscript figur

Implications For The Origin Of GRB 051103 From LIGO Observations

We present the results of a LIGO search for gravitational waves (GWs) associated with GRB 051103, a short-duration hard-spectrum gamma-ray burst (GRB) whose electromagnetically determined sky position is coincident with the spiral galaxy M81, which is 3.6 Mpc from Earth. Possible progenitors for short-hard GRBs include compact object mergers and soft gamma repeater (SGR) giant flares. A merger progenitor would produce a characteristic GW signal that should be detectable at the distance of M81, while GW emission from an SGR is not expected to be detectable at that distance. We found no evidence of a GW signal associated with GRB 051103. Assuming weakly beamed gamma-ray emission with a jet semi-angle of 30 deg we exclude a binary neutron star merger in M81 as the progenitor with a confidence of 98%. Neutron star-black hole mergers are excluded with > 99% confidence. If the event occurred in M81 our findings support the the hypothesis that GRB 051103 was due to an SGR giant flare, making it the most distant extragalactic magnetar observed to date.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures. For a repository of data used in the publication, go to: https://dcc.ligo.org/cgi-bin/DocDB/ShowDocument?docid=15166 . Also see the announcement for this paper on ligo.org at: http://www.ligo.org/science/Publication-GRB051103/index.ph

Astrophysically Triggered Searches for Gravitational Waves: Status and Prospects

In gravitational-wave detection, special emphasis is put onto searches that focus on cosmic events detected by other types of astrophysical observatories. The astrophysical triggers, e.g. from gamma-ray and X-ray satellites, optical telescopes and neutrino observatories, provide a trigger time for analyzing gravitational wave data coincident with the event. In certain cases the expected frequency range, source energetics, directional and progenitor information is also available. Beyond allowing the recognition of gravitational waveforms with amplitudes closer to the noise floor of the detector, these triggered searches should also lead to rich science results even before the onset of Advanced LIGO. In this paper we provide a broad review of LIGO's astrophysically triggered searches and the sources they target

Green function techniques in the treatment of quantum transport at the molecular scale

The theoretical investigation of charge (and spin) transport at nanometer length scales requires the use of advanced and powerful techniques able to deal with the dynamical properties of the relevant physical systems, to explicitly include out-of-equilibrium situations typical for electrical/heat transport as well as to take into account interaction effects in a systematic way. Equilibrium Green function techniques and their extension to non-equilibrium situations via the Keldysh formalism build one of the pillars of current state-of-the-art approaches to quantum transport which have been implemented in both model Hamiltonian formulations and first-principle methodologies. We offer a tutorial overview of the applications of Green functions to deal with some fundamental aspects of charge transport at the nanoscale, mainly focusing on applications to model Hamiltonian formulations.Comment: Tutorial review, LaTeX, 129 pages, 41 figures, 300 references, submitted to Springer series "Lecture Notes in Physics

Stacked Search for Gravitational Waves from the 2006 SGR 1900+14 Storm

We present the results of a LIGO search for short-duration gravitational waves (GWs) associated with the 2006 March 29 SGR 1900+14 storm. A new search method is used, "stacking'' the GW data around the times of individual soft-gamma bursts in the storm to enhance sensitivity for models in which multiple bursts are accompanied by GW emission. We assume that variation in the time difference between burst electromagnetic emission and potential burst GW emission is small relative to the GW signal duration, and we time-align GW excess power time-frequency tilings containing individual burst triggers to their corresponding electromagnetic emissions. We use two GW emission models in our search: a fluence-weighted model and a flat (unweighted) model for the most electromagnetically energetic bursts. We find no evidence of GWs associated with either model. Model-dependent GW strain, isotropic GW emission energy E_GW, and \gamma = E_GW / E_EM upper limits are estimated using a variety of assumed waveforms. The stacking method allows us to set the most stringent model-dependent limits on transient GW strain published to date. We find E_GW upper limit estimates (at a nominal distance of 10 kpc) of between 2x10^45 erg and 6x10^50 erg depending on waveform type. These limits are an order of magnitude lower than upper limits published previously for this storm and overlap with the range of electromagnetic energies emitted in SGR giant flares.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figure