Primordial Origins Research Articles

ORIGIN OF MAGNETIC FIELD IN THE INTRACLUSTER MEDIUM: PRIMORDIAL OR ASTROPHYSICAL?

The origin of magnetic fields in clusters of galaxies is still an unsolved problem, which is largely due to our poor understanding of initial seed magnetic fields. If the seed magnetic fields have primordial origins, it is likely that large-scale pervasive magnetic fields were present before the formation of the large-scale structure. On the other hand, if they were ejected from astrophysical bodies, they were highly localized in space at the time of injection. In this paper, using turbulence dynamo models for high magnetic Prandtl number fluids, we find constraints on the seed magnetic fields. The hydrodynamic Reynolds number based on the Spitzer viscosity in the intracluster medium (ICM) is believed to be less than $O(10^2)$, while the magnetic Reynolds number can be much larger than that. In this case, if the seed magnetic fields have primordial origins, they should be stronger than $O(10^{-11})$G, which is very close to the upper limit of $O(10^{-9})$G set by the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations. On the other hand, if the seed magnetic fields were ejected from astrophysical bodies, any seed magnetic fields stronger than $O(10^{-9})$G can safely magnetize the intracluster medium. Therefore, it is less likely that primordial magnetic fields are the direct origin of present-day magnetic fields in the ICM.

The cosmic cocktail: three parts dark matter

Preface ix 1 The Golden Era of Particle Cosmology, or How I Joined the Chicago Mafia 1 New York City Fermilab: The Atom Smasher in the Prairie Chicago: A New Zeitgeist in Cosmology Dunkle Materie: The Dark Enigma WIMPs at Harvard 2 How Do Cosmologists Know Dark Matter Exists? The Beginning of the Dark Matter Story 9 What Do Galaxies Look Like? Observational Evidence for Dark Matter Formation of Galaxies and Clusters Dark Matter Dominates 3 The Big Picture of the Universe: Einstein and the Big Bang 35 Geometry of the Universe Cosmic Microwave Background Outer Space and the Queen of Sweden Pie Picture of the Universe 4 Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Proves That Atomic Matter Constitutes Only 5% of the Universe 67 A Story about Big Bang Nucleosynthesis Particles in the Early Universe: A Primordial Soup Origins of the Elements Atoms Make Up Only 5% of the Universe 5 What Is Dark Matter? 83 Rocks or Dust Matter and Antimatter Neutrinos MACHOs Black Holes The Particle Zoo The WIMP Miracle WIMPs in the Human Body and a Tennis Match 6 The Discovery of the Higgs Boson 108 Atom Smashers: The Large Hadron Collider CERN Discovery of the Higgs 7 The Experimental Hunt for Dark Matter Particles 123 The Three Prongs of the Hunt for Dark Matter Dark Matter at the Atom Smasher at CERN: Missing Energy plus Jets What Has CERN Done for Society? Will the LHC Bring Doomsday? Direct Detection: Abandoned Mines, Alpine Tunnels, and Nightclubs in Jerusalem Indirect Detection: Annihilations in Space and at the South Pole 8 Claims of Detection: Are They Real? 147 Direct Detection in Underground Laboratories Indirect Detection of WIMP Annihilation: Positrons, Neutrinos, and Gamma Rays The Future of Dark Matter Experiments 9 Dark Energy and the Fate of the Universe 183 Rounding Out the Universe: Type IA Supernovae and Dark Energy The Future of the Universe Epicycles Epilogue Afterword: Dark Stars 215 Acknowledgments 219 Notes 221 Suggestions for Further Reading 233 Index 235

Inositol pyrophosphates: why so many phosphates?

The inositol pyrophosphates (PP-InsPs) are a specialized group of "energetic" signaling molecules found in yeasts, plants and animals. PP-InsPs boast the most crowded three dimensional phosphate arrays found in Nature; multiple phosphates and diphosphates are crammed around the six-carbon, inositol ring. Yet, phosphate esters are also a major energy currency in cells. So the synthesis of PP-InsPs, and the maintenance of their levels in the face of a high rate of ongoing turnover, all requires significant bioenergetic input. What are the particular properties of PP-InsPs that repay this investment of cellular energy? Potential answers to that question are discussed here, against the backdrop of a recent hypothesis that signaling by PP-InsPs is evolutionarily ancient. The latter idea is extended herein, with the proposal that the primordial origins of PP-InsPs is reflected in the apparent lack of isomeric specificity of certain of their actions. Nevertheless, there are other aspects of signaling by these polyphosphates that are more selective for a particular PP-InsP isomer. Consideration of the nature of both specific and non-specific effects of PP-InsPs can help rationalize why such molecules possess so many phosphates.

A PRECISE WATER ABUNDANCE MEASUREMENT FOR THE HOT JUPITER WASP-43b

The water abundance in a planetary atmosphere provides a key constraint on the planet's primordial origins because water ice is expected to play an important role in the core accretion model of planet formation. However, the water content of the Solar System giant planets is not well known because water is sequestered in clouds deep in their atmospheres. By contrast, short-period exoplanets have such high temperatures that their atmospheres have water in the gas phase, making it possible to measure the water abundance for these objects. We present a precise determination of the water abundance in the atmosphere of the 2 $M_\mathrm{Jup}$ short-period exoplanet WASP-43b based on thermal emission and transmission spectroscopy measurements obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. We find the water content is consistent with the value expected in a solar composition gas at planetary temperatures (0.4-3.5x solar at 1 $\sigma$ confidence). The metallicity of WASP-43b's atmosphere suggested by this result extends the trend observed in the Solar System of lower metal enrichment for higher planet masses.

Assessing the origins of aliphatic amines in the Murchison meteorite from their compound-specific carbon isotopic ratios and enantiomeric composition

The study of meteoritic organic compounds provides a unique window into the chemical inventory of the early Solar System and prebiotic chemistry that may have been important for the origin of life on Earth. Multiple families of organic compounds have been extracted from the Murchison meteorite, which is one of the most thoroughly studied carbonaceous chondrites. The amino acids extracted from Murchison have been extensively analyzed, including measurements of non-terrestrial stable isotopic ratios and discoveries of l-enantiomeric excesses for α-dialkyl amino acids, notably isovaline. However, although the isotopic signatures of bulk amine-containing fractions have been measured, the isotopic ratios and enantiomeric composition of individual aliphatic amines, compounds that are structurally related to amino acids, remain unknown. Here, we report a novel method for the extraction, separation, identification and quantitation of aliphatic monoamines extracted from the Murchison meteorite. Our results show a complete suite of structural isomers, with a larger concentration of methylamine and ethylamine and decreasing amine concentrations with increasing carbon number. The carbon isotopic compositions of fourteen meteoritic aliphatic monoamines were measured, with δ13C values ranging from +21‰ to +129‰, showing a decrease in 13C with increasing carbon number, a relationship that may be consistent with the chain elongation mechanism under kinetic control previously proposed for meteoritic amino acids. We also found the enantiomeric composition of sec-butylamine, a structural analog to isovaline, was racemic within error, while the isovaline extracted from the same Murchison piece showed an l-enantiomeric excess of 9.7%; this result suggested that processes leading to enantiomeric excess in the amino acid did not affect the amine. We used these collective data to assess the primordial synthetic origins of these meteoritic aliphatic amines and their potential linkage to meteoritic amino acids.

HST/WFC3 OBSERVATIONS OF LOW-MASS GLOBULAR CLUSTERS AM 4 AND PALOMAR 13: PHYSICAL PROPERTIES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR MASS LOSS

We investigate the loss of low-mass stars in two of the faintest globular clusters known, AM 4 and Palomar 13 (Pal 13), using HST/WFC3 F606W and F814W photometry. To determine the physical properties of each cluster --- age, mass, metallicity, extinction, present day mass function (MF) --- we use the maximum likelihood color-magnitude diagram (CMD) fitting program MATCH and the Dartmouth, Padova and BaSTI stellar evolution models. For AM 4, the Dartmouth models provide the best match to the CMD and yield an age of >13 Gyr, metallicity log Z/Z_solar = -1.68 +/- 0.08, a distance modulus (m-M)_V = 17.47 +/- 0.03 and reddening A_V = 0.19 +/- 0.02. For Pal 13 the Dartmouth models give an age of 13.4 +/- 0.5 Gyr, log Z/Z_solar = -1.55 +/- 0.06, (m-M)_V = 17.17 +/- 0.02 and A_V = 0.43 +/- 0.01. We find that the systematic uncertainties due to choice in assumed stellar model greatly exceed the random uncertainties, highlighting the importance of using multiple stellar models when analyzing stellar populations. Assuming a single-sloped power law MF, we find that AM 4 and Pal 13 have spectral indices alpha = +0.68 +/- 0.34 and alpha = -1.67 +/- 0.25 (where a Salpeter MF has alpha = +1.35), respectively. Comparing our derived slopes with literature measurements of cluster integrated magnitude (M_V) and MF slope indicates that AM 4 is an outlier. Its MF slope is substantially steeper than clusters of comparable luminosity, while Pal 13 has a MF in line with the general trend. We discuss both primordial and dynamical origins for the unusual MF slope of AM 4 and tentatively favor the dynamical scenario. However, MF slopes of more low luminosity clusters are needed to verify this hypothesis.

A high C/O ratio and weak thermal inversion in the atmosphere of exoplanet WASP-12b

The carbon-to-oxygen ratio (C/O) in a planet provides critical information about its primordial origins and subsequent evolution. A primordial C/O greater than 0.8 causes a carbide-dominated interior, as opposed to the silicate-dominated composition found on Earth; the atmosphere can also differ from those in the Solar System. The solar C/O is 0.54 (ref. 3). Here we report an analysis of dayside multi-wavelength photometry of the transiting hot-Jupiter WASP-12b (ref. 6) that reveals C/O ≥ 1 in its atmosphere. The atmosphere is abundant in CO. It is depleted in water vapour and enhanced in methane, each by more than two orders of magnitude compared to a solar-abundance chemical-equilibrium model at the expected temperatures. We also find that the extremely irradiated atmosphere (T > 2,500 K) of WASP-12b lacks a prominent thermal inversion (or stratosphere) and has very efficient day-night energy circulation. The absence of a strong thermal inversion is in stark contrast to theoretical predictions for the most highly irradiated hot-Jupiter atmospheres.

What Is The Pride Of Halicarnassus?

Abstract This paper proposes a general analysis of the structure and imagery of the Salmacis epigram, a late Hellenistic verse inscription recently found in Bodrum which relates the foundation of Halicarnassus and lists the achievements of the city's authors. Focusing on the first part of the poem, I argue that the epigram can be seen to trace a complex symbolic map of the city in space and time. On a first level of reference the poem's episodes of foundation are consistently represented as the aitia of ritual events. Superimposed on the catalogue of foundation episodes is a catalogue of the ritual events that commemorated them, and our epigram uses this level of reference to ground its portrait of Halicarnassus in the contemporary ritual life of the polis. In this way the poem is able to locate the city in the space of cult and to inscribe the linear time of primordial origins in the recurrent present of ritual practice. On a complementary level of reference, finally, the different episodes of foundation also function as so many statements of kinship—every founder effectively ties the city to another region and another people. As a parallel to the local space of ritual, then, the combination of these statements of kinship is made to locate the city in the wider space of ethnic geography. Behind a seemingly simple catalogic form, the Salmacis epigram actually combines two levels of reference to achieve a significant and multifaceted representation of a late Hellenistic city's cultural memory.

Portrait of Our Lady: Mary, Piero, and the Great Mother Archetype

Mary the God-bearer is explored symbolically from the perspective of the archetype of the Great Mother as described by Carl Jung and Erich Neumann. Drawing from primordial and collective origins, the dark and the chthonic as well as the light and spiritual aspects of the archetype are considered as represented in the work of fifteenth century Italian painter Piero della Francesca. Piero's images of Mary incorporate body as well as spirit, power as well as vulnerability, death, as well as life and rebirth. The feminine presence of the Great Mother archetype creates a powerful dynamic on an unconscious level in both men and women that culminates in radical transformation.

Pluripotent stem cells identified in multiple murine tissues.

Pluripotential stem cells (PSCs) have been recently described in many tissues including skeletal muscle, brain, and bone marrow. However, the true nature of these cells is still unclear, and their precise definition has yet to be determined. We hypothesized that a common, rare population of PSCs with a broad tissue differentiation potential can be identified in multiple murine tissues and that these cells are capable of transdifferentiation into cells of different primordial germ layer origins in response to diverse microenvironmental cues. To examine this hypothesis, we isolated phenotypically defined cells from murine skeletal muscle and cultured these cells under different conditions tailored to promote differentiation into several cell types including myocytes. We report here that in conditions permissive for hematopoietic differentiation, muscle-derived CD45(-)Sca-1(+)c-kit(-) cells differentiated into cells expressing hematopoietic-specific mRNA; while in conditions promoting myogenic, neuronal, and adipocytic differentiation, cells morphologically typical of these cell types expressing tissue-specific markers were identified 9-14 days in culture. When CD45(-)Sca-1(+)c-kit(-) cells from muscle or bone marrow were transplanted intracerebellarly into Purkinje cell degenerative (pcd) mice, the behavior of these mice improved 28 days after transplantation relative to mice injected with vehicle alone, suggesting that these cells contributed to the appearance of functional neuronal cells that may have improved the ataxic condition characteristic of these mice. Phenotypic analysis of single cell suspensions prepared from brain, blood, and intestinal epithelium revealed the presence of CD45(-)Sca-1(+)c-kit(-) cells in varying degrees. These studies suggest that a phenotypically common, multipotent cell can be identified in different tissues and that this cell may represent a universal pluripotent stem cell residing at different levels in multiple murine tissues.

Nitric oxide synthases: regulation in disease

The fundamental role of nitric oxide (NO) in the maintenance of normal human physiology and the attendant pathology resultant from its perturbation in disease states is becoming increasingly apparent. That NO mediates such diverse functions as maintenance of volume and pressure homeostasis, neurotransmission, and immunity is not surprising given its primordial origins. NO synthesis has been detected in species as diverse as slime mould, locusts, and man. This article will review the structure and regulation of the nitric oxide synthases and discuss selected aspects of the role of NO in human health and disease. The reader is referred to excellent recent reviews for more detailed discussions [1,2].

The Impact of Nietzsche and Northwest Coast Indian Art on Barnett Newman's Idea of Redemption in the Abstract Sublime

In the late 1930s and early 1940s the “myth-makers” of the New York avant-garde, including Adolph Gottlieb, Jackson Pollock, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Mark Rothko, made paintings that referred to atavistic myth, primordial origins, and primitive rituals and symbols, especially those of Native American cultures. Barnett Newman began to work in a similar fashion about 1944 and was influential as a theorist and indefatigable promoter of this new art. The “myth-makers” shared a tendency to depict ritual violence or inherently violent myths as well as an archaism exemplified by biomorphic forms and, often, coarse surfaces. This self-conscious primitivism of early Abstract Expressionism, which included totemic imagery and pictographic writing derived from Native American art, differed in essence from the primitivism of the earlier European avant-garde in that it was “an intellectualized primitivism.” Indeed, if the primitivism of Picasso and Matisse, for example, was the decontextualization of the plastic form...

A matrix approach to the theory of biotopological mapping.

A method is introduced for using matrices to represent the organism-graphs of Rashevsky's theory of biotopological mapping. The representation is made in such a way as to reveal the structure of these graphs. Using insight gained from the consideration of the matrix representations, a theorem is proved concerning the primordial origins of organisms and counterexamples are displayed to show the necessity of the hypotheses of this theorem.