Clumping Factors Research Articles

Radiation-driven winds of hot luminous stars

Context. The uncertainty in the degree to which radiation-driven winds of hot stars might be affected by small inhomogeneities in the density leads to a corresponding uncertainty in the determination of the atmospheric mass loss rates from the strength of optical recombination lines and - since the mass loss rate is not a free parameter but a function of the stellar parameters mass, radius, luminosity, and abundances - in principle also in the determination of these stellar parameters. Furthermore, the optical recombination lines also react sensitively to even small changes in the density structure resulting from the (often assumed instead of computed) velocity law of the outflow. This raises the question of how reliable the parameter determinations from such lines are. Aims. The currently existing severe discrepancy between central stars of planetary nebulae (CSPN) stellar and wind parameters derived from model fits to the optical spectra and those derived using hydrodynamically consistent model fits to the UV spectra is to be reassessed via a simultaneous optical/UV analysis using a state-of-the-art model atmosphere code. Methods. We have modified our hydrodynamically consistent model atmosphere code with an implementation of the usual ad hoc treatment of clumping (small inhomogeneities in the density) in the wind. This allows us to re-evaluate, with respect to their influence on the appearance of the UV spectra and their compatibility with the observations, the parameters determined in an earlier study that had employed clumping in its models to achieve a fit to the observed optical spectra. Results. The discrepancy between the optical and the UV analyses is confirmed to be the result of a missing consistency between stellar and wind parameters in the optical analysis. While clumping in the wind does significantly increase the emission in the optical hydrogen and helium recombination lines, the influence of the density (velocity field) is of the same order as that of moderate clumping factors. Moderate clumping factors leave the UV spectra mostly unaffected, indicating that the influence on the ionization balance, and thus on the radiative acceleration, is small. Instead of the erratic behavior of the clumping factors claimed from the optical analyses, our analysis based on the velocity field computed from radiative driving yields similar clumping factors for all CSPNs, with a typical value of integral(cl) = 4. With and without clumping, wind strengths and terminal velocities consistent with the stellar parameters from the optical analysis give spectra incompatible with both optical and UV observations, whereas a model that consistently implements the physics of radiation-driven winds achieves a good fit to both the optical and UV observations with a proper choice of stellar parameters. The shock temperatures and the ratios of X-ray to bolometric luminosity required to reproduce the highly ionized O VI line in the FUSE spectral range agree with those known from massive O stars (L-X/L-bol similar to 10(-7) ... 10(-6)), again confirming the similarity of O-type CSPN and massive O star atmospheres and further strengthening the claim that both have identical wind driving mechanisms. Conclusions. The similarity of the winds of O-type CSPNs and those of massive O stars justifies using the same methods based on the dynamics of radiation-driven winds in their analysis, thus supporting the earlier result that several of the CSPNs in the sample have near-Chandrasekhar-limit masses and may thus be possible single-star progenitors of type Ia supernovae.

The Microbial Surface Components Recognizing Adhesive Matrix Molecules (MSCRAMMs) Genes among Clinical Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus from Hospitalized Children.

Isolates of Staphylococcus aureus express a myriad of adhesive surface proteins that play important role in colonization of the bacteria on nasal and skin surfaces, beginning the process of pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to screen several of the Microbial Surface Components Recognizing Adhesive Matrix Molecules (MSCRAMMs) genes among the isolate of S. aureus from hospitalized children. A total of 22 S. aureus isolates were collected from hospitalized children in Tehran from 2012 to 2013. Detection of the mecA and several adhesive surface proteins genes including clfA, B (encoding clumping factors A, B); fnbA, B (encoding finronectin binding proteins A, B); fib (encoding fibrinogen binding protein); eno (encoding laminin binding protein); cna (encoding collagen binding protein); ebps (encoding elastin binding protein) and bbp (encoding bone sialo-protein binding protein), was performed by PCR. The clfAB genes were detected among all the isolates. The prevalence of fnbA, fnbB, fib, eno, cna, ebps and bbp was 63%, 6%, 50%, 59%, 82%, 63%, 9% and 0%, respectively. The high prevalence of these genes is important for future plans in vaccine designation. MRSA and MSSA isolates similarly can produce adhesive surface proteins for colonization.

An improved theoretical model of canopy gap probability for Leaf Area Index estimation in woody ecosystems

This study presents an improved theoretical formulation of the gap probability (Pgap) model, typically applied to indirectly estimate LAI in woody ecosystems. Specifically, we present the woody element projection function (GW), which characterises the angular contribution of non-leaf facets in woody ecosystems, and explain how it may be used to improve the accuracy of indirect LAI retrieval via the application of the Pgap model. GW enables separate treatment of the leaf and wood projection functions in the theoretical model, important in the typical case when Pgap includes the influence of both leaf and wood canopy elements. This study then validates the improved theoretical model using experimental data. Here, Pgap was calculated from a 3D scattering model, parameterised with highly-detailed 3D explicit tree models reconstructed from empirical data of a sampled forest stand. The experimental data was then used to quantify additional effects of view zenith angle (VZA), leaf angle distribution (LAD), and the influence of woody components on the indirect estimation of LAI and within-crown clumping via application of the Pgap model. Additionally, we quantify within-crown clumping of reconstructed tree models for leaf and woody elements both together and separately for the first time. LAI errors up to 25% at zenith were found when ignoring GW and were shown to be a function of VZA. Conversely, at the approximate 57.3° (1 radian) VZA, results show that there was no effect of GW due to the wood projection function converging with leaf projection functions. Within-crown clumping factors for the modelled dataset were as low as 0.35. Consequently, making a common assumption of a random distribution of canopy elements at the crown scale would lead to an LAI error of up to 65% for the 3D forest stand. We also conclude that when estimating LAI via the Pgap model, separate treatment of canopy material projection ‘G’ functions are required at VZA’s other than 1 radian. The findings of this study and the extended physical formulation presented here impact upon indirect Pgap LAI retrieval methods from sensors of all platforms in clumped canopy environments or canopies with woody (non-leaf) elements contributing to the extinction of light.

DEEP HE ii AND C iv SPECTROSCOPY OF A GIANT LYαNEBULA: DENSE COMPACT GAS CLUMPS IN THE CIRCUMGALACTIC MEDIUM OF Az∼ 2 QUASAR

The recent discovery by Cantalupo et al. (2014) of the largest (~500 kpc) and luminous Ly-alpha nebula associated with the quasar UM287 (z=2.279) poses a great challenge to our current understanding of the astrophysics of the halos hosting massive z~2 galaxies. Either an enormous reservoir of cool gas is required $M\simeq10^{12}$ $M_{\odot}$, exceeding the expected baryonic mass available, or one must invoke extreme gas clumping factors not present in high-resolution cosmological simulations. However, observations of Ly-alpha emission alone cannot distinguish between these two scenarios. We have obtained the deepest ever spectroscopic integrations in the HeII and CIV lines with the goal of detecting extended line emission, but detect neither line to a 3$\sigma$ limiting SB $\simeq10^{-18}$ erg/s/cm$^2$/arcsec$^2$. We construct models of the expected emission spectrum in the highly probable scenario that the nebula is powered by photoionization from the central hyper-luminous quasar. The non-detection of HeII implies that the nebular emission arises from a mass $M_{\rm c}\lesssim6.4\times10^{10}$ $M_{\odot}$ of cool gas on ~200 kpc scales, distributed in a population of remarkably dense ($n_{\rm H}\gtrsim3$ cm$^{-3}$) and compact ($R\lesssim20$ pc) clouds, which would clearly be unresolved by current cosmological simulations. Given the large gas motions suggested by the Ly-alpha line ($v\simeq$ 500 km/s), it is unclear how these clouds survive without being disrupted by hydrodynamic instabilities. Our study serves as a benchmark for future deep integrations with current and planned wide-field IFU such as MUSE, KCWI, and KMOS. Our work suggest that a $\simeq$ 10 hr exposure would likely detect ~10 rest-frame UV/optical emission lines, opening up the possibility of conducting detailed photoionization modeling to infer the physical state of gas in the CGM.

Gas clumping in galaxy clusters

The reconstruction of galaxy cluster's gas density profiles is usually performed by assuming spherical symmetry and averaging the observed X-ray emission in circular annuli. In the case of a very inhomogeneous and asymmetric gas distribution, this method has been shown to return biased results in numerical simulations because of the $n^2$ dependence of the X-ray emissivity. We propose a method to recover the true density profiles in the presence of inhomogeneities, based on the derivation of the azimuthal median of the surface brightness in concentric annuli. We demonstrate the performance of this method with numerical simulations, and apply it to a sample of 31 galaxy clusters in the redshift range 0.04-0.2 observed with ROSAT/PSPC. The clumping factors recovered by comparing the mean and the median are mild and show a slight trend of increasing bias with radius. For $R<R_{500}$, we measure a clumping factor $\sqrt{C}<1.1$, which indicates that the thermodynamic properties and hydrostatic masses measured in this radial range are only mildly affected by this effect. Comparing our results with three sets of hydrodynamical numerical simulations, we found that non-radiative simulations significantly overestimate the level of inhomogeneities in the ICM, while the runs including cooling, star formation, and AGN feedback reproduce the observed trends closely. Our results indicate that most of the accretion of X-ray emitting gas is taking place in the diffuse, large-scale accretion patterns rather than in compact structures.

Clumping factors of H ii, He ii and He iii

Estimating the intergalactic medium ionization level of a region needs proper treatment of the reionization process for a large representative volume of the universe. The clumping factor, a parameter which accounts for the effect of recombinations in unresolved, small-scale structures, aids in achieving the required accuracy for the reionization history even in simulations with low spatial resolution. In this paper, we study for the first time the redshift evolution of clumping factors of different ionized species of H and He in a small but very high resolution simulation of the reionization process. We investigate the dependence of the value and redshift evolution of clumping factors on their definition, the ionization level of the gas, the grid resolution, box size and mean dimensionless density of the simulations.

FULLY COUPLED SIMULATION OF COSMIC REIONIZATION. II. RECOMBINATIONS, CLUMPING FACTORS, AND THE PHOTON BUDGET FOR REIONIZATION

In this first of several application papers, we investigate the mechanics of reionization from stellar sources in high-z galaxies, the utility of various clumping factors on estimating the recombination time in the IGM, and the photon budget required to achieve reionization. We test the accuracy of the static and time-dependent models of Madau et al. as predictors of reionization completion/maintenance. We simulate a WMAP7 LCDM cosmological model in a 20 Mpc comoving cube with 800^3 uniform fluid cells and dark matter particles. By tuning our star formation to approximately match the observed star formation rate density and luminosity function, we created a fully coupled radiation-hydro realization of H reionization which begins to ionize at z~10 and completes at z~5.8. We find that roughly 2 ionizing photons per H atom are required to convert the neutral IGM to a highly ionized state, which supports the "photon starved" scenario discussed by Bolton & Haehnelt. The events during reionization that lead to this number can generally be described as inside-out, but in reality the narrative depends on the level of ionization of the gas one attributes to as ionized. We find that the formula for the UV photon production rate dN/dt_ion(z) needed to maintain the IGM in an ionized state derived by Madau et al. should not be used to predict the epoch of reionization completion because it ignores history-dependent terms in the global ionization balance which are not ignorable. We find that the time-dependent model for the ionized volume fraction Q_HII is more predictive, but overestimates the redshift of reionization completion by delta_z~1. We propose a revised formulation of the time-dependent model which agrees with our simulation to O(1%). Finally, we use our simulation to estimate a global UV escape fraction due to circumgalactic gas resolved on our mesh to be <f_esc>~0.7.

THE OPACITY OF THE INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM DURING REIONIZATION: RESOLVING SMALL-SCALE STRUCTURE

Early in the reionization process, the intergalactic medium (IGM) would have been quite inhomogeneous on small scales, due to the low Jeans mass in the neutral IGM and the hierarchical growth of structure in a cold dark matter Universe. This small-scale structure acted as an important sink during the epoch of reionization, impeding the progress of the ionization fronts that swept out from the first sources of ionizing radiation. Here we present results of high-resolution cosmological hydrodynamics simulations that resolve the cosmological Jeans mass of the neutral IGM in representative volumes several Mpc across. The adiabatic hydrodynamics we follow are appropriate in an unheated IGM, before the gas has had a chance to respond to the photoionization heating. Our focus is determination of the resolution required in cosmological simulations in order to sufficiently sample and resolve small-scale structure regulating the opacity of an unheated IGM. We find that a dark matter particle mass of m_dm < 50 Msun and box size of L > 1 Mpc are required. With our converged results we show how the mean free path of ionizing radiation and clumping factor of ionized hydrogen depends upon the ultraviolet background (UVB) flux and redshift. We find, for example at z = 10, clumping factors typically of 10 to 20 for an ionization rate of Gamma ~ 0.3 - 3 x 1e-12 s^-1, with corresponding mean free paths of ~ 3 - 15 Mpc, extending previous work on the evolving mean free path to considerably smaller scales and earlier times.

Gas clumping in self-consistent reionization models

We use a suite of cosmological hydrodynamic simulations including a self-consistent treatment for inhomogeneous reionization to study the impact of galactic outflows and photoionization heating on the volume-averaged recombination rate of the intergalactic medium (IGM). By incorporating an evolving ionizing escape fraction and a treatment for self-shielding within Lyman limit systems, we have run the first simulations of ‘photon-starved’ reionization scenarios that simultaneously reproduce observations of the abundance of galaxies, the optical depth to electron scattering of cosmic microwave background photons τes and the effective optical depth to Lyα absorption at z = 5. We confirm that an ionizing background reduces the clumping factor C by more than 50 per cent by smoothing moderately overdense (Δ = 1–100) regions. Meanwhile, outflows increase clumping only modestly. The clumping factor of ionized gas is much lower than the overall baryonic clumping factor because the most overdense gas is self-shielded. Photoionization heating further suppresses recombinations if reionization heats gas above the canonical 10 000 K. Accounting for both effects within our most realistic simulation, C rises from <1 at z > 10 to 3.3 at z = 6. We show that incorporating temperature- and ionization-corrected clumping factors into an analytical reionization model reproduces the numerical simulation's τes to within 10 per cent. Finally, we explore how many ionizing photons are absorbed during the process of heating filaments by considering the overall photon cost of reionization in analytical models that assume that the IGM is heated at different redshifts. For reionization redshifts of 9–10, cold filaments boost the reionization photon budget by ∼1 photon per hydrogen atom.

ON HIGHLY CLUMPED MAGNETIC WIND MODELS FOR COOL EVOLVED STARS

Recently, it has been proposed that the winds of non-pulsating and non-dusty K and M giants and supergiants may be driven by some form of magnetic pressure acting on highly clumped wind material. While many researchers believe that magnetic processes are responsible for cool evolved stellar winds, existing MHD and Alfven wave-driven wind models have magnetic fields that are essentially radial and tied to the photosphere. The clumped magnetic wind scenario is quite different in that the magnetic flux is also being carried away from the star with the wind. We test this clumped wind hypothesis by computing continuum radio fluxes from the ζ Aur semiempirical model of Baade et al., which is based on wind-scattered line profiles. The radio continuum opacity is proportional to the electron density squared, while the line scattering opacity is proportional to the gas density. This difference in proportionality provides a test for the presence of large clumping factors. We derive the radial distribution of clump factors (CFs) for ζ Aur by comparing the nonthermal pressures required to produce the semiempirical velocity distribution with the expected thermal pressures. The CFs are ~5 throughout the sub-sonic inner wind region and then decline outward. These implied clumping factors lead to excess radio emission at 2.0 cm, while at 6.2 cm it improves agreement with the smooth unclumped model. Smaller clumping factors of ~2 lead to better overall agreement but also increase the discrepancy at 2 cm. These results do not support the magnetic clumped wind hypothesis and instead suggest that inherent uncertainties in the underlying semiempirical model probably dominate uncertainties in predicted radio fluxes. However, new ultraviolet line and radio continuum observations are needed to test the new generations of inhomogeneous magnetohydrodynamic wind models.

ON THE STELLAR POPULATIONS AND EVOLUTION OF STAR-FORMING GALAXIES AT 6.3 &lt;z⩽ 8.6

We study the physical characteristics of galaxies at 6.3 < z < 8.6, selected from deep near-infrared imaging with the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) on board the Hubble Space Telescope. Accounting for the photometric scatter using simulations, galaxies at z ~ 7 have bluer UV colors compared to typical local starburst galaxies at > 4 sigma confidence. Although these colors necessitate young ages (<100 Myr), low or zero dust attenuation, and low metallicities, these are explicable by normal (albeit unreddened) stellar populations, with no evidence for near-zero metallicities and/or top-heavy initial mass functions. The age of the Universe at these redshifts limits the amount of stellar mass in late-type populations, and the WFC3 photometry implies galaxy stellar masses ~ 10^8 - 10^9 Msol for Salpeter initial mass functions to a limiting magnitude of M_1500 ~ -18. The masses of ``characteristic'' (L*) z > 7 galaxies are smaller than those of L* Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) at lower redshifts, and are comparable to less evolved galaxies selected on the basis of their Lyman alpha emission at 3 < z < 6, implying that the 6.3 < z < 8.6 galaxies are the progenitors of more evolved galaxies at lower redshifts. We estimate that Lyman alpha emission is able to contribute to the observed WFC3 colors of galaxies at these redshifts, with an estimated typical line flux of ~ 10^-18 erg s^-1 cm^-2, roughly a factor of four below currently planned surveys. The integrated UV specific luminosity for the detected galaxies at z ~ 7 and z ~ 8 is within factors of a few of that required to reionize the IGM assuming low clumping factors, implying that in order to reionize the Universe galaxies at these redshifts have a high ( ~ 50%) escape fraction of Lyman continuum photons, possibly substantiated by the very blue colors of this population.

DIRECT SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS OF CLUMPING IN O-STAR WINDS

We report the detection and monitoring of transient substructures in the radiation-driven winds of five massive, hot stars in different evolutionary stages. Clumping in the winds of these stars shows up as variable, narrow subpeaks superposed on their wide, wind-broadened (optical) emission lines. Similar patterns of emission-line profile variations are detected in the Of stars zeta Puppis and HD93129A, in the more evolved hydrogen-rich, luminous, Of-like WN stars HD93131 and HD93162, and in the more mass-depleted WC star in gamma2 Velorum. These observations strongly suggest that stochastic wind clumping is a universal phenomenon in the radiation-driven, hot winds from all massive stars, with similar clumping factors in all stages of mass depletion.

How Very Massive Metal‐Free Stars Start Cosmological Reionization

The initial conditions and relevant physics for the formation of the earliest galaxies are well specified in the concordance cosmology. Using ab initio cosmological Eulerian adaptive mesh refinement radiation hydrodynamical calculations, we discuss how very massive stars start the process of cosmological reionization. The models include nonequilibrium primordial gas chemistry and cooling processes and accurate radiation transport in the case B approximation using adaptively ray-traced photon packages, retaining the time derivative in the transport equation. Supernova feedback is modeled by thermal explosions triggered at parsec scales. All calculations resolve the local Jeans length by at least 16 grid cells at all times and as such cover a spatial dynamic range of approx.10(exp 6). These first sources of reionization are highly intermittent and anisotropic and first photoionize the small-scale voids surrounding the halos they form in, rather than the dense filaments they are embedded in. As the merging objects form larger, dwarf-sized galaxies, the escape fraction of UV radiation decreases and the H II regions only break out on some sides of the galaxies, making them even more anisotropic. In three cases, SN blast waves induce star formation in overdense regions that were formed earlier from ionization front instabilities. These stars form tens of parsecs away from the center of their parent DM halo. Approximately five ionizing photons are needed per sustained ionization when star formation in 10(exp 6) stellar Mass halos is dominant in the calculation. As the halos become larger than approx.10(exp 7) Stellar Mass, the ionizing photon escape fraction decreases, which in turn increases the number of photons per ionization to 15-50, in calculations with stellar feedback only. Radiative feedback decreases clumping factors by 25% when compared to simulations without star formation and increases the average temperature of ionized gas to values between 3000 and 10,000 K.

Modeling radiation and photosynthesis of a heterogeneous savanna woodland landscape with a hierarchy of model complexities

Simple but realistic modeling of radiation transfer within heterogeneous canopy has been a challenging research question for decades and is critical for predicting ecological processes such as photosynthesis. The Markov model proposed by [Nilson, T., 1971. A theoretical analysis of the frequency of gaps in plant stands. Agric. Meteorol. 8, 25–38] is theoretically sound to meet this challenge. However, it has not been widely used because of the difficulty of determining the clumping factor. We propose an analytical approach to calculate clumping factors based on the average characteristics of vegetation distributed across a landscape. In a savanna woodland in California, we simulate the photosynthesis of the landscape in three different ways: (1) the crown envelope and location of each tree is spatially explicitly specified, (2) the canopy is assumed to be horizontally homogeneous within which leaves are randomly dispersed as a Poisson process, and (3) the canopy is horizontally homogeneous but leaves are clumped and distributed with a Markov process. We find that the Markov model can achieve much better performance than the Poisson model by incorporating the crown-level clumping. The results indicate that our approach of calculating clumping factors has applications in terrestrial ecosystem modeling, particularly where accurate representation of “system heterogeneity” (e.g., savannas and woodlands) is required.

Radiative Transfer Simulations of Cosmic Reionization. I. Methodology and Initial Results

We present a new hybrid code for large-volume, high-resolution simulations of cosmic reionization, which utilizes an N-body algorithm for dark matter, physically motivated prescriptions for baryons and star formation, and an adaptive ray-tracing algorithm for radiative transfer of ionizing photons. Two test simulations, each with 3 billion particles and 400 million rays in a 50 Mpc h-1 box, have been run to give initial results. Halos are resolved down to virial temperatures of 104 K for the redshift range of interest in order to robustly model star formation and clumping factors. This is essential to correctly account for ionization and recombination processes. We find that the halos and sources are strongly biased with respect to the underlying dark matter, re-enforcing the requirement of large simulation boxes to minimize cosmic variance and to obtain a qualitatively correct picture of reionization. We model the stellar initial mass function (IMF) by following the spatially dependent gas metallicity evolution, and distinguish between the first generation, Population III (PopIII) stars and the second generation, Population II (PopII) stars. The PopIII stars with a top-heavy IMF produce an order of magnitude more ionizing photons at high redshifts z 10, resulting in a more extended reionization. In our simulations, complete overlap of H II regions occurs at z ≈ 6.5, and the computed mass- and volume-weighted residual H I fractions at 5 z 6.5 are both in good agreement with high-redshift quasar absorption measurements from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). The values for the Thomson optical depth are consistent within 1 - σ of the current best-fit value from third-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) results.

The empirical metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rate of O- and early B-type stars

[Abridged] We present a comprehensive study of the metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rates in stationary stellar winds of hot massive stars. Assuming a power-law dependence of mass loss on metallicity, Mdot \propto Z^{m}, and adopting a theoretical relation between the terminal velocity and metallicity, v_inf \propto Z^{0.13} (Leitherer et al.), we find m = 0.83 +/- 0.16 for non-clumped outflows from an analysis of the wind momentum luminosity relation (WLR) for stars more luminous than 10^{5.2} Lsun. Within the errors, this result agrees with the prediction of m = 0.69 +/- 0.10 from Vink et al. For the high luminosity stars we find the mass loss rates to be greater than the predictions, implying wind clumping factors in their line-forming regions of ~4. For lower luminosity stars, the winds are so weak that their strengths cannot be reliably derived from optical lines, and one must rely on analysis of UV lines. In the low-luminosity domain the Galactic WLR is found to be much steeper than expected from theory, leading to a discrepancy between UV mass-loss rates and the predictions by a factor 100 at luminosities of L ~ 10^{4.75} Lsun, the origin of which is unknown. We emphasize that even if the current mass-loss rates of hot luminous stars are overestimated as a result of wind clumping, the degree of clumping would likely to be independent of metallicity, so the scalings derived in this study are expected to remain correct.

Large‐Scale Simulations of Reionization

We use cosmological simulations to explore the large-scale effects of reionization. Since reionization is a process that involves a large dynamic range—from galaxies to rare bright quasars—we need to be able to cover a significant volume of the universe in our simulation without losing the important small-scale effects from galaxies. Here we have taken an approach that uses clumping factors derived from small-scale simulations to approximate the radiative transfer on subcell scales. Using this technique, we can cover a simulation size up to 1280 h-1 Mpc with 10 h-1 Mpc cells. This allows us to construct synthetic spectra of quasars similar to observed spectra of Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) quasars at high redshifts and compare them to the observational data. These spectra can then be analyzed for H II region sizes, the presence of the Gunn-Peterson trough, and the Lyα forest.

Atmospheres and Winds of PN Central Stars

The progress over the last years in modelling the atmospheres and winds of PN central stars is reviewed. We discuss the effect of the inclusion of the blanketing by millions of metal lines in NLTE on the diagnostics of photospheric and stellar wind lines, which can be used to determine stellar parameters such as effective temperature, gravity, radius, mass loss rate and distance. We also refer to recent work on the winds of massive O-type stars, which indicates that their winds are possibly inhomogeneous and clumped. We investigate implications from this work on the spectral diagnostics of PN central stars and introduce a method to determine wind clumping factors from the relative strengths of H and He II 4686. Based on new results we discuss the wind properties of CSPN.

Radiative transfer and carbon assimilation in relation to canopy architecture, foliage area distribution and clumping in a mature temperate rainforest canopy in New Zealand

The objective of this study was to characterize the forest canopy in terms of species composition, tree size classes and spatial distribution of leaf area of a mature temperate rainforest to provide a basis for scaling up shoot-level processes of energy and mass exchange using a one-dimensional canopy model. Stem number per unit area was high (1660 stems ha −1) but species diversity was low ( n = 10). Two species ( Dacrydium cuppressinum and Weinmannia racemosa) equally accounted for 70% of the stem numbers, with the remaining 30% distributed among the other eight tree species. However, D. cuppressinum alone accounted for 72% of basal area and 75% of crown volume. Across the site L e (“effective” leaf area index, uncorrected for foliage clumping and woody surface interceptance) varied between 2.2 and 5.6, with a mean value of 3.5. Half total woody surface area per unit ground area ( W) was 1.1. The mean foliage clumping index within shoot elements ( γ E) was 1.2, while that between shoot elements ( Ω E) was 0.87, giving an overall foliage clumping factor ( Ω = Ω E/ γ E) of 0.73. After corrections for foliage clumping and woody surface interceptance, half total leaf area per unit ground area ( L hc = L e/ Ω − W) was 3.7. For individual shoots, γ E increased from 1.0 to 1.5 with height in the canopy, possibly reflecting shoot structural adaptation to local irradiance. Simulations with the canopy model over 1 year using mean clumping factors revealed that clumping reduced total canopy radiation interception by 5%. Shoot-level irradiance was reduced at the top of the canopy but increased in lower canopy layers resulting in a more even canopy irradiance distribution. This enhanced annual canopy photosynthesis by 8% over a canopy with randomly distributed foliage. When the simulations were repeated to include the observed variation of γ E with height, total canopy radiation absorption was 11% lower than for a random canopy and canopy photosynthesis was 12% greater than a random canopy. The combination of reduced canopy radiation absorption and increased photosynthesis due to foliage clumping resulted in a considerable enhancement of canopy light-use efficiency. These analyses reveal a significant advantage of clumped foliage over randomly distributed foliage in terms of carbon gain, even for a forest canopy with moderate leaf area index.

Fibronectin‐Binding Proteins and Fibrinogen‐Binding Clumping Factors Play Distinct Roles in Staphylococcal Arthritis and Systemic Inflammation

Staphylococcus aureus is a commonly encountered pathogen in humans, and it has the potential to cause destructive and life-threatening conditions, including septic arthritis. The pathogenicity of staphylococci depends on the expression of virulence factors. Among these, staphylococcal cell-surface proteins with tissue-adhesive functions have been suggested to mediate the colonization of host tissues, a crucial step in the establishment of infection. We investigated the relative contribution of the fibronectin-binding proteins (FnBPs) and fibrinogen-binding clumping factors (Clfs) to staphylococcal virulence in an experimental model of septic arthritis. The results show that these 2 sets of proteins play distinctly different roles in the development and progression of septic arthritis. Although Clfs significantly contributed to the arthritogenicity of S. aureus, FnBPs had no effect on the development of arthritis. Conversely, FnBPs played an important role in the induction of systemic inflammation, characterized by interleukin-6 secretion, severe weight loss, and mortality.