TY - JOUR A1 - Stange, Maike A1 - Hintsche, Marius A1 - Sachse, Kirsten A1 - Gerhardt, Matthias A1 - Valleriani, Angelo A1 - Beta, Carsten T1 - Analyzing the spatial positioning of nuclei in polynuclear giant cells JF - Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics N2 - How cells establish and maintain a well-defined size is a fundamental question of cell biology. Here we investigated to what extent the microtubule cytoskeleton can set a predefined cell size, independent of an enclosing cell membrane. We used electropulse-induced cell fusion to form giant multinuclear cells of the social amoeba Dictyostelium discoideum. Based on dual-color confocal imaging of cells that expressed fluorescent markers for the cell nucleus and the microtubules, we determined the subcellular distributions of nuclei and centrosomes in the giant cells. Our two- and three-dimensional imaging results showed that the positions of nuclei in giant cells do not fall onto a regular lattice. However, a comparison with model predictions for random positioning showed that the subcellular arrangement of nuclei maintains a low but still detectable degree of ordering. This can be explained by the steric requirements of the microtubule cytoskeleton, as confirmed by the effect of a microtubule degrading drug. KW - Dictyostelium KW - cell nucleus KW - positioning KW - imaging KW - spatial poisson distribution Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6463/aa8da0 SN - 0022-3727 SN - 1361-6463 VL - 50 IS - 46 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Goychuk, Igor T1 - Fractional Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook kinetic equation JF - The European physical journal : B, Condensed matter and complex systems N2 - The linear Boltzmann equation approach is generalized to describe fractional superdiffusive transport of the Levy walk type in external force fields. The time distribution between scattering events is assumed to have a finite mean value and infinite variance. It is completely characterized by the two scattering rates, one fractional and a normal one, which defines also the mean scattering rate. We formulate a general fractional linear Boltzmann equation approach and exemplify it with a particularly simple case of the Bohm and Gross scattering integral leading to a fractional generalization of the Bhatnagar, Gross and Krook kinetic equation. Here, at each scattering event the particle velocity is completely randomized and takes a value from equilibrium Maxwell distribution at a given fixed temperature. We show that the retardation effects are indispensable even in the limit of infinite mean scattering rate and argue that this novel fractional kinetic equation provides a viable alternative to the fractional Kramers-Fokker-Planck (KFP) equation by Barkai and Silbey and its generalization by Friedrich et al. based on the picture of divergent mean time between scattering events. The case of divergent mean time is also discussed at length and compared with the earlier results obtained within the fractional KFP. Also a phenomenological fractional BGK equation without retardation effects is proposed in the limit of infinite scattering rates. It cannot be, however, rigorously derived from a scattering model, being rather clever postulated. It this respect, this retardationless equation is similar to the fractional KFP by Barkai and Silbey. However, it corresponds to the opposite, much more physical limit and, therefore, also presents a viable alternative. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2017-80297-x SN - 1434-6028 SN - 1434-6036 VL - 90 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Delle Side, Domenico A1 - Nassisi, Vincenzo A1 - Pennetta, Cecilia A1 - Alifano, Pietro A1 - Di Salvo, Marco A1 - Tala, Adelfia A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. A1 - Seno, Flavio A1 - Trovato, Antonio T1 - Bacterial bioluminescence onset and quenching: a dynamical model for a quorum sensing-mediated property JF - Royal Society Open Science N2 - We present an effective dynamical model for the onset of bacterial bioluminescence, one of the most studied quorum sensing-mediated traits. Our model is built upon simple equations that describe the growth of the bacterial colony, the production and accumulation of autoinducer signal molecules, their sensing within bacterial cells, and the ensuing quorum activation mechanism that triggers bioluminescent emission. The model is directly tested to quantitatively reproduce the experimental distributions of photon emission times, previously measured for bacterial colonies of Vibrio jasicida, a luminescent bacterium belonging to the Harveyi clade, growing in a highly drying environment. A distinctive and novel feature of the proposed model is bioluminescence ‘quenching’ after a given time elapsed from activation. Using an advanced fitting procedure based on the simulated annealing algorithm, we are able to infer from the experimental observations the biochemical parameters used in the model. Such parameters are in good agreement with the literature data. As a further result, we find that, at least in our experimental conditions, light emission in bioluminescent bacteria appears to originate from a subtle balance between colony growth and quorum activation due to autoinducers diffusion, with the two phenomena occurring on the same time scale. This finding is consistent with a negative feedback mechanism previously reported for Vibrio harveyi. KW - quorum sensing KW - bioluminescence KW - biophysical model KW - Vibrio Harveyi clade KW - oxygen quenching KW - Gompertz growth function Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1098/rsos.171586 SN - 2054-5703 VL - 4 PB - Royal Society CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Javanainen, Matti A1 - Martinez-Seara, Hector A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Vattulainen, Ilpo T1 - Diffusion of Integral Membrane Proteins in Protein-Rich Membranes JF - The journal of physical chemistry letters N2 - The lateral diffusion of embedded proteins along lipid membranes in protein-poor conditions has been successfully described in terms of the Saffman-Delbruck (SD) model, which predicts that the protein diffusion coefficient D is weakly dependent on its radius R as D proportional to ln(1/R). However, instead of being protein-poor, native cell membranes are extremely crowded with proteins. On the basis of extensive molecular simulations, we here demonstrate that protein crowding of the membrane at physiological levels leads to deviations from the SD relation and to the emergence of a stronger Stokes-like dependence D proportional to 1/R. We propose that this 1/R law mainly arises due to geometrical factors: smaller proteins are able to avoid confinement effects much better than their larger counterparts. The results highlight that the lateral dynamics in the crowded setting found in native membranes is radically different from protein-poor conditions and plays a significant role in formation of functional multiprotein complexes. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpclett.7b01758 SN - 1948-7185 VL - 8 SP - 4308 EP - 4313 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Palyulin, Vladimir V. A1 - Mantsevich, Vladimir N. A1 - Klages, Rainer A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Chechkin, Aleksei V. T1 - Comparison of pure and combined search strategies for single and multiple targets JF - The European physical journal : B, Condensed matter and complex systems N2 - We address the generic problem of random search for a point-like target on a line. Using the measures of search reliability and efficiency to quantify the random search quality, we compare Brownian search with Levy search based on long-tailed jump length distributions. We then compare these results with a search process combined of two different long-tailed jump length distributions. Moreover, we study the case of multiple targets located by a Levy searcher. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2017-80372-4 SN - 1434-6028 SN - 1434-6036 VL - 90 SP - 20 EP - 37 PB - Springer CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Caetano, Daniel L. Z. A1 - de Carvalho, Sidney J. A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. T1 - Critical adsorption of periodic and random polyampholytes onto charged surfaces JF - Physical chemistry, chemical physics : a journal of European Chemical Societies N2 - How different are the properties of critical adsorption of polyampholytes and polyelectrolytes onto charged surfaces? How important are the details of polyampholyte charge distribution on the onset of critical adsorption transition? What are the scaling relations governing the dependence of critical surface charge density on salt concentration in the surrounding solution? Here, we employ Metropolis Monte Carlo simulations and uncover the scaling relations for critical adsorption for quenched periodic and random charge distributions along the polyampholyte chains. We also evaluate and discuss the dependence of the adsorbed layer width on solution salinity and details of the charge distribution. We contrast our findings to the known results for polyelectrolyte adsorption onto oppositely charged surfaces, in particular, their dependence on electrolyte concentration. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cp04040g SN - 1463-9076 SN - 1463-9084 VL - 19 SP - 23397 EP - 23413 PB - Royal Society of Chemistry CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Muench, Thomas A1 - Kipfstuhl, Sepp A1 - Freitag, Johannes A1 - Meyer, Hanno A1 - Laepple, Thomas T1 - Constraints on post-depositional isotope modifications in East Antarctic firn from analysing temporal changes of isotope profiles JF - The Cryosphere : TC ; an interactive open access journal of the European Geosciences Union N2 - The isotopic composition of water in ice sheets is extensively used to infer past climate changes. In low-accumulation regions their interpretation is, however, challenged by poorly constrained effects that may influence the initial isotope signal during and after deposition of the snow. This is reflected in snow-pit isotope data from Kohnen Station, Antarctica, which exhibit a seasonal cycle but also strong interannual variations that contradict local temperature observations. These inconsistencies persist even after averaging many profiles and are thus not explained by local stratigraphic noise. Previous studies have suggested that post-depositional processes may significantly influence the isotopic composition of East Antarctic firn. Here, we investigate the importance of post-depositional processes within the open-porous firn (greater than or similar to 10 cm depth) at Kohnen Station by separating spatial from temporal variability. To this end, we analyse 22 isotope profiles obtained from two snow trenches and examine the temporal isotope modifications by comparing the new data with published trench data extracted 2 years earlier. The initial isotope profiles undergo changes over time due to downward advection, firn diffusion and densification in magnitudes consistent with independent estimates. Beyond that, we find further modifications of the original isotope record to be unlikely or small in magnitude (<< 1 parts per thousand RMSD). These results show that the discrepancy between local temperatures and isotopes most likely originates from spatially coherent processes prior to or during deposition, such as precipitation intermittency or systematic isotope modifications acting on drifting or loose surface snow. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2175-2017 SN - 1994-0416 SN - 1994-0424 VL - 11 SP - 2175 EP - 2188 PB - Copernicus CY - Göttingen ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Starkenburg, Else A1 - Martin, Nicolas A1 - Youakim, Kris A1 - Aguado, David S. A1 - Allende Prieto, Carlos A1 - Arentsen, Anke A1 - Bernard, Edouard J. A1 - Bonifacio, Piercarlo A1 - Caffau, Elisabetta A1 - Carlberg, Raymond G. A1 - Cote, Patrick A1 - Fouesneau, Morgan A1 - Francois, Patrick A1 - Franke, Oliver A1 - Gonzalez Hernandez, Jonay I. A1 - Gwyn, Stephen D. J. A1 - Hill, Vanessa A1 - Ibata, Rodrigo A. A1 - Jablonka, Pascale A1 - Longeard, Nicolas A1 - McConnachie, Alan W. A1 - Navarro, Julio F. A1 - Sanchez-Janssen, Ruben A1 - Tolstoy, Eline A1 - Venn, Kim A. T1 - The Pristine survey - I. Mining the Galaxy for the most metal-poor stars JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - We present the Pristine survey, a new narrow-band photometric survey focused on the metallicity-sensitive Ca H&K lines and conducted in the Northern hemisphere with the wide-field imager MegaCam on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. This paper reviews our overall survey strategy and discusses the data processing and metallicity calibration. Additionally we review the application of these data to the main aims of the survey, which are to gather a large sample of the most metal-poor stars in the Galaxy, to further characterize the faintest Milky Way satellites, and to map the (metal-poor) substructure in the Galactic halo. The current Pristine footprint comprises over 1000 deg(2) in the Galactic halo ranging from b similar to 30 degrees to similar to 78 degrees and covers many known stellar substructures. We demonstrate that, for Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) stellar objects, we can calibrate the photometry at the 0.02-mag level. The comparison with existing spectroscopic metallicities from SDSS/Sloan Extension for Galactic Understanding and Exploration (SEGUE) and Large Sky Area Multi-Object Fiber Spectroscopic Telescope shows that, when combined with SDSS broad-band g and i photometry, we can use the CaHK photometry to infer photometric metallicities with an accuracy of similar to 0.2 dex from [Fe/H] = -0.5 down to the extremely metal-poor regime ([Fe/H] < -3.0). After the removal of various contaminants, we can efficiently select metal-poor stars and build a very complete sample with high purity. The success rate of uncovering [Fe/H](SEGUE) < -3.0 stars among [Fe/H](Pristine) < -3.0 selected stars is 24 per cent, and 85 per cent of the remaining candidates are still very metal poor ([Fe/H]<-2.0). We further demonstrate that Pristine is well suited to identify the very rare and pristine Galactic stars with [Fe/H] < -4.0, which can teach us valuable lessons about the early Universe. KW - stars: abundances KW - Galaxy: abundances KW - Galaxy: evolution KW - Galaxy: formation KW - Galaxy: halo KW - galaxies: dwarf Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx1068 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 471 SP - 2587 EP - 2604 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - GEN A1 - Erra, Ramon Guevara A1 - Velazquez, Jose L. Perez A1 - Rosenblum, Michael T1 - Neural Synchronization from the Perspective of Non-linear Dynamics T2 - Frontiers in computational neuroscience / Frontiers Research Foundation KW - brain synchronization KW - non-linear dynamics KW - neural synchonization KW - brain rhythms KW - epilepsy Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.3389/fncom.2017.00098 SN - 1662-5188 VL - 11 PB - Frontiers Research Foundation CY - Lausanne ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Arora, Ashima A1 - Mawass, Mohamad-Assaad A1 - Sandig, Oliver A1 - Luo, Chen A1 - Uenal, Ahmet A. A1 - Radu, Florin A1 - Valencia, Sergio A1 - Kronast, Florian T1 - Spatially resolved investigation of all optical magnetization switching in TbFe alloys JF - Scientific reports N2 - Optical control of magnetization using femtosecond laser without applying any external magnetic field offers the advantage of switching magnetic states at ultrashort time scales. Recently, all-optical helicity-dependent switching (AO-HDS) has drawn a significant attention for potential information and data storage device applications. In this work, we employ element and magnetization sensitive photoemission electron microscopy (PEEM) to investigate the role of heating in AO-HDS for thin films of the rare-earth transition-metal alloy TbFe. Spatially resolved measurements in a 3–5 μm sized stationary laser spot demonstrate that AO-HDS is a local phenomenon in the vicinity of thermal demagnetization in a ‘ring’ shaped region. The efficiency of AO-HDS further depends on a local temperature profile around the demagnetized region and thermally activated domain wall motion. We also demonstrate that the thickness of the film determines the preferential switching direction for a particular helicity. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-09615-1 SN - 2045-2322 VL - 7 PB - Nature Publ. Group CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Mor, Selene A1 - Herzog, Marc A1 - Golez, Denis A1 - Werner, Philipp A1 - Eckstein, Martin A1 - Katayama, Naoyuki A1 - Nohara, Minoru A1 - Takagi, Hide A1 - Mizokawa, Takashi A1 - Monney, Claude A1 - Staehler, Julia T1 - Ultrafast Electronic Band Gap Control in an Excitonic Insulator JF - Physical review letters N2 - We report on the nonequilibrium dynamics of the electronic structure of the layered semiconductor Ta2NiSe5 investigated by time-and angle-resolved photoelectron spectroscopy. We show that below the critical excitation density of F-C = 0.2 mJ cm(-2), the band gap narrows transiently, while it is enhanced above FC. Hartree-Fock calculations reveal that this effect can be explained by the presence of the low-temperature excitonic insulator phase of Ta2NiSe5, whose order parameter is connected to the gap size. This work demonstrates the ability to manipulate the band gap of Ta2NiSe5 with light on the femtosecond time scale. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.119.086401 SN - 0031-9007 SN - 1079-7114 VL - 119 SP - 11559 EP - 11567 PB - American Physical Society CY - College Park ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Yoon, P. H. A1 - Lopez, R. A. A1 - Vafin, Sergei A1 - Kim, S. A1 - Schlickeiser, R. T1 - Spontaneous emission of Alfvenic fluctuations JF - Plasma physics and controlled fusion N2 - Low-frequency fluctuations are pervasively observed in the solar wind. The present paper theoretically calculates the steady state spectra of low-frequency electromagnetic (EM) fluctuations of the Alfvenic type for thermal equilibrium plasma. The analysis is based upon a recently formulated theory of spontaneously emitted EM fluctuations in magnetized thermal plasmas. It is found that the fluctuations in the magnetosonic mode branch is constant, while the kinetic Alfvenic mode spectrum is dependent on a form factor that is a function of perpendicular wave number. Potential applicability of the present work in the wider context of heliospheric research is also discussed. KW - spontaneous emission KW - kinetic Alfven KW - magnetosonic Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6587/aa77c3 SN - 0741-3335 SN - 1361-6587 VL - 59 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Cherstvy, Andrey G. T1 - Shape Morphologies of Icosahedral Two-Component Vesicles JF - The journal of physical chemistry : B, Condensed matter, materials, surfaces, interfaces & biophysical chemistry N2 - What are the features of partitioning of crystalline materials on the surface of a two-component icosahedral vesicle? We model the response of the rigid hardly stretchable crystalline icosahedra upon addition of a softer component on its surface. We demonstrate how the soft phase "invades" the shell regions with the highest elastic energy density around 12 5-fold topological defects. We explore the phase diagram of these inhomogeneous shells as a function of the soft material fraction, shell radius, and elastic moduli of the two phases. The findings are compared with the recent computer simulation findings, and their biological relevance, for example, for the structure of icosahedral viruses, is also discussed. Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jpcb.7b02440 SN - 1520-6106 VL - 121 SP - 7484 EP - 7491 PB - American Chemical Society CY - Washington ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Raju, Rajarshi Roy A1 - Kosmella, Sabine A1 - Friberg, Stig E. A1 - Koetz, Joachim T1 - Pickering Janus emulsions and polyelectrolyte complex-stabilized Janus gels JF - Colloids and surfaces : an international journal devoted to the principles and applications of colloid and interface science ; A, Physicochemical and engineering aspects N2 - Janus emulsions, containing olive oil (OO) and silicone oil (SiO), were formed in presence of polyelectrolyte complex particles, i.e., gelatin-sodium polyacrylate (NaPAA) complexes. The diameter of completely engulfed Janus droplets can be tuned between 50 and 200 mu m by varying the gelatin/NaPAA complex particle size between 200 and 400 nm. The gelatin/NaPAA complex particles adsorbed at the olive oil interface decrease the interfacial tension and stabilize the resulting completely engulfed Pickering Janus emulsions. Long-term stable Janus gels can be synthesized in presence of gelatin/sodium carboxymethylcellulose (NaCMC) mixtures. In that case Coulombic forces are of relevance with regard to the stabilization of the Janus droplets embedded in a gelatin/NaCMC gel matrix. Janus gels show elastic reological behavior and thixotropic properties. KW - Pickering Janus emulsions KW - Janus gels KW - Interfacial tension KW - Ring tensiometry KW - Gelatin-NaCMC KW - Gelatin-NaPAA composites Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2017.08.022 SN - 0927-7757 SN - 1873-4359 VL - 533 SP - 241 EP - 248 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kurzke, Henning A1 - Kiethe, Jan A1 - Heuer, Axel A1 - Jechow, Andreas T1 - Frequency doubling of incoherent light from a superluminescent diode in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide crystal JF - Laser physics letters N2 - The amplified spontaneous emission from a superluminescent diode was frequency doubled in a periodically poled lithium niobate waveguide crystal. The temporally incoherent radiation of such a superluminescent diode is characterized by a relatively broad spectral bandwidth and thermal-like photon statistics, as the measured degree of second order coherence, g((2))(0)= 1.9 +/- 0.1, indicates. Despite the non-optimized scenario in the spectral domain, we achieve six orders of magnitude higher conversion efficiency than previously reported with truly incoherent light. This is possible by using single spatial mode radiation and quasi phase matched material with a waveguide architecture. This work is a principle step towards efficient frequency conversion of temporally incoherent radiation in one spatial mode to access wavelengths where no radiation from superluminescent diodes is available, especially with tailored quasi phase matched crystals. The frequency doubled light might find application in imaging, metrology and quantum optics experiments. KW - nonlinear frequency conversion KW - periodically poled material KW - waveguides KW - incoherent radiation Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1612-202X/aa6889 SN - 1612-2011 SN - 1612-202X VL - 14 PB - IOP Publ. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Kamann, Sebastian A1 - Husser, T. -O. A1 - Dreizler, S. A1 - Emsellem, E. A1 - Weilbacher, Peter Michael A1 - Martens, S. A1 - Bacon, R. A1 - den Brok, M. A1 - Giesers, B. A1 - Krajnovic, Davor A1 - Roth, Martin M. A1 - Wendt, Martin A1 - Wisotzki, Lutz T1 - A stellar census in globular clusters with MUSE BT - the contribution of rotation to cluster dynamics studied with 200 000 stars JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - This is the first of a series of papers presenting the results from our survey of 25 Galactic globular clusters with the MUSE integral-field spectrograph. In combination with our dedicated algorithm for source deblending, MUSE provides unique multiplex capabilities in crowded stellar fields and allows us to acquire samples of up to 20 000 stars within the half-light radius of each cluster. The present paper focuses on the analysis of the internal dynamics of 22 out of the 25 clusters, using about 500 000 spectra of 200 000 individual stars. Thanks to the large stellar samples per cluster, we are able to perform a detailed analysis of the central rotation and dispersion fields using both radial profiles and two-dimensional maps. The velocity dispersion profiles we derive show a good general agreement with existing radial velocity studies but typically reach closer to the cluster centres. By comparison with proper motion data, we derive or update the dynamical distance estimates to 14 clusters. Compared to previous dynamical distance estimates for 47 Tuc, our value is in much better agreement with other methods. We further find significant (>3 sigma) rotation in the majority (13/22) of our clusters. Our analysis seems to confirm earlier findings of a link between rotation and the ellipticities of globular clusters. In addition, we find a correlation between the strengths of internal rotation and the relaxation times of the clusters, suggesting that the central rotation fields are relics of the cluster formation that are gradually dissipated via two-body relaxation. KW - techniques: imaging spectroscopy KW - stars: kinematics and dynamics KW - globular clusters: general Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx2719 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 473 IS - 4 SP - 5591 EP - 5616 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - GEN A1 - Javanainen, Matti A1 - Martinez-Seara, Hector A1 - Metzler, Ralf A1 - Vattulainen, Ilpo Tapio T1 - Diffusion of Proteins and Lipids in Protein-Rich Membranesa T2 - Biophysical journal Y1 - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bpj.2017.11.3009 SN - 0006-3495 SN - 1542-0086 VL - 114 IS - 3 SP - 551A EP - 551A PB - Cell Press CY - Cambridge ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Pillitteri, Ignazio A1 - Fossati, Luca A1 - Rodriguez, N. Castro A1 - Oskinova, Lida A1 - Wolk, Scott J. T1 - Detection of magnetic field in the B2 star rho Ophiuchi A with ESO FORS2 JF - Astronomy and astrophysics : an international weekly journal N2 - Circumstantial evidence suggests that magnetism and enhanced X-ray emission are likely correlated in early B-type stars: similar fractions of them (similar to 10%) are strong and hard X-ray sources and possess strong magnetic fields. It is also known that some B-type stars have spots on their surface. Yet up to now no X-ray activity associated with spots on early-type stars was detected. In this Letter we report the detection of a magnetic field on the B2V star rho Oph A. Previously, we assessed that the X-ray activity of this star is associated with a surface spot, herewith we establish its magnetic origin. We analyze spectra of rho Oph A obtained with the FORS2 spectrograph at ESO Very Large Telescope (VLT) at two epochs, and detect a longitudinal component of the magnetic field of the order of similar to 500 G in one of the datasets. The detection of the magnetic field only at one epoch can be explained by stellar rotation which is also invoked to explain observed periodic X-ray activity. From archival HARPS ESO VLT high resolution spectra we derived the fundamental stellar parameters of rho Oph A and further constrained its age. We conclude that rho Oph A provides strong evidence for the presence of active X-ray emitting regions on young magnetized early type stars. KW - stars: activity KW - stars: early-type KW - stars: magnetic field KW - pulsars: individual: rho Ophiuchi A Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201732078 SN - 1432-0746 VL - 610 PB - EDP Sciences CY - Les Ulis ER - TY - GEN A1 - Gudowska-Nowak, Ewa A1 - Lindenberg, Katja A1 - Metzler, Ralf T1 - Preface: Marian Smoluchowski’s 1916 paper—a century of inspiration T2 - Journal of physics : A, Mathematical and theoretical Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1088/1751-8121/aa8529 SN - 1751-8113 SN - 1751-8121 VL - 50 IS - 38 PB - IOP Publ. Ltd. CY - Bristol ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Hani, Maan H. A1 - Sparre, Martin A1 - Ellison, Sara L. A1 - Torrey, Paul A1 - Vogelsberger, Mark T1 - Galaxy mergers moulding the circum-galactic medium BT - I. The impact of a major merger JF - Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society N2 - Galaxies are surrounded by sizeable gas reservoirs which host a significant amount of metals: the circum-galactic medium (CGM). The CGM acts as a mediator between the galaxy and the extragalactic medium. However, our understanding of how galaxy mergers, a major evolutionary transformation, impact the CGM remains deficient. We present a theoretical study of the effect of galaxy mergers on the CGM. We use hydrodynamical cosmological zoom-in simulations of a major merger selected from the Illustris project such that the z = 0 descendant has a halo mass and stellar mass comparable to the Milky Way. To study the CGM we then re-simulated this system at a 40 times better mass resolution, and included detailed post-processing ionization modelling. Our work demonstrates the effect the merger has on the characteristic size of the CGM, its metallicity, and the predicted covering fraction of various commonly observed gas-phase species, such as H I, C IV, and O VI. We show that merger-induced outflows can increase the CGM metallicity by 0.2-0.3 dex within 0.5 Gyr post-merger. These effects last up to 6 Gyr post-merger. While the merger increases the total metal covering fractions by factors of 2-3, the covering fractions of commonly observed UV ions decrease due to the hard ionizing radiation from the active galactic nucleus, which we model explicitly. Our study of the single simulated major merger presented in this work demonstrates the significant impact that a galaxy interaction can have on the size, metallicity, and observed column densities of the CGM. KW - methods: numerical KW - galaxies: evolution KW - galaxies: haloes KW - galaxies: interactions Y1 - 2017 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stx3252 SN - 0035-8711 SN - 1365-2966 VL - 475 IS - 1 SP - 1160 EP - 1176 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER -