Magnetic fields and their dynamical interplay with matter in galaxy clusters contribute to the physical properties and evolution of the intracluster medium. However, the current understanding of the origin and properties of cluster magnetic fields is still limited by observational challenges. In this article, we map the magnetic fields at hundreds-kpc scales of five clusters RXC J1314.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe hot plasma within merging galaxy clusters is predicted to be filled with shocks and turbulence that may convert part of their kinetic energy into relativistic electrons and magnetic fields generating synchrotron radiation. Analyzing Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) observations of the galaxy cluster Abell 2255, we show evidence of radio synchrotron emission distributed over very large scales of at least 5 megaparsec. The pervasive radio emission witnesses that shocks and turbulence efficiently transfer kinetic energy into relativistic particles and magnetic fields in a region that extends up to the cluster outskirts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGalaxy clusters are the most massive gravitationally bound structures in the Universe. They grow by accreting smaller structures in a merging process that produces shocks and turbulence in the intracluster gas. We observed a ridge of radio emission connecting the merging galaxy clusters Abell 0399 and Abell 0401 with the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) telescope network at 140 megahertz.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGalaxy clusters are the most massive constituents of the large-scale structure of the universe. Although the hot thermal gas that pervades galaxy clusters is relatively well understood through observations with x-ray satellites, our understanding of the nonthermal part of the intracluster medium (ICM) remains incomplete. With Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR) and Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT) observations, we have identified a phenomenon that can be unveiled only at extremely low radio frequencies and offers new insights into the nonthermal component.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCosmic rays are the highest-energy particles found in nature. Measurements of the mass composition of cosmic rays with energies of 10(17)-10(18) electronvolts are essential to understanding whether they have galactic or extragalactic sources. It has also been proposed that the astrophysical neutrino signal comes from accelerators capable of producing cosmic rays of these energies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present measurements of radio emission from cosmic ray air showers that took place during thunderstorms. The intensity and polarization patterns of these air showers are radically different from those measured during fair-weather conditions. With the use of a simple two-layer model for the atmospheric electric field, these patterns can be well reproduced by state-of-the-art simulation codes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPulsars emit from low-frequency radio waves up to high-energy gamma-rays, generated anywhere from the stellar surface out to the edge of the magnetosphere. Detecting correlated mode changes across the electromagnetic spectrum is therefore key to understanding the physical relationship among the emission sites. Through simultaneous observations, we detected synchronous switching in the radio and x-ray emission properties of PSR B0943+10.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAcetylation is one of the key chromatin modifications that control gene transcription during embryonic development and tumorigenesis. The types of genes sensitive to such modifications in vivo are not known to date. We investigated the expression of a number of genes involved in embryonic development after treatment with trichostatin A (TSA), a histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitor, in the limbs of chicken embryos.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGenetic information that directs a cell during different phases of embryogenesis is locked up in the genome. Therein is contained the road map for growth, proliferation, differentiation and morphogenesis. The cellular transportation machinery plays a major role to ensure that all the components for transcription and translation are available at the right place at the right time.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrevious studies have shown the distally retreating source of Scatter factor/Hepatocyte growth factor (SF/HGF) can account for the distal migration of myogenic precursor cells in the limb bud mesenchyme. However, the normal expression pattern of Sf/Hgf alone does not explain the distribution of muscle precursor cells. Hence, the position of the dorsal and ventral premuscle masses suggests the presence of additional patterning factors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDuctins represent membrane channel proteins which are supposed to form both proton channels in V-ATPases and connexon channels in gap junctions. In order to localize and characterize these proteins in different tissues of Drosophila, we applied indirect immunofluorescence microscopy and immunoblots, using antisera prepared against Drosophila ductin and against Nephrops ductin. Previously, these antisera have been shown to recognize, in ovarian follicles and young embryos of Drosophila, the ductin monomer of 16 kDa and a putative dimer of 29 kDa.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFScatter factor/hepatocyte growth factor (SF/HGF) is known to be involved in the detachment of myogenic precursor cells from the lateral dermomyotomes and their subsequent migration into the newly formed limb buds. As yet, however, nothing has been known about the role of the persistent expression of SF/HGF in the limb bud mesenchyme during later stages of limb bud development. To test for a potential role of SF/HGF in early limb muscle patterning, we examined the regulation of SF/HGF expression in the limb bud as well as the influence of SF/HGF on direction control of myogenic precursor cells in limb bud mesenchyme.
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