David Tsang

An anti-glitch in a magnetar

Magnetars are neutron stars with X-ray and soft γ-ray outbursts thought to be powered by intense internal magnetic fields. Like conventional neutron stars in the form of radio pulsars, magnetars exhibit ‘glitches’ during which angular momentum is believed to be transferred between the solid outer crust and the superfluid component of the inner crust. The several hundred observed glitches in radio pulsars and magnetars have involved a sudden spin-up (increase in the angular velocity) of the star, presumably because the interior superfluid was rotating faster than the crust. Here we report X-ray timing observations of the magnetar 1E 2259+586 (ref. 8), which exhibited a clear ‘anti-glitch’—a sudden spin-down. We show that this event, like some previous magnetar spin-up glitches, was accompanied by multiple X-ray radiative changes and a significant spin-down rate change. Such behaviour is not predicted by models of neutron star spin-down and, if of internal origin, is suggestive of differential rotation in the magnetar, supporting the need for a rethinking of glitch theory for all neutron stars.

Shattering Flares during Close Encounters of Neutron Stars

We demonstrate that resonant shattering flares can occur during close passages of neutron stars in eccentric or hyperbolic encounters. We provide updated estimates for the rate of close encounters of compact objects in dense stellar environments, which we find are substantially lower than given in previous works. While such occurrences are rare, we show that shattering flares can provide a strong electromagnetic counterpart to the gravitational wave bursts expected from such encounters, allowing triggered searches for these events to occur.

Accumulation of cyclic adenosine 3′, 5′-monophosphate in human cerebellar cortex slices: Effect of monoamine receptor agonists and antagonists

Noradrenaline, isoproterenol, adrenaline or clonidine stimulate cyclic AMP formation in human cerebellar cortex 15-20 fold and serotonin or dopamine 3-fold. The increase by noradrenaline or clonidine is dose-dependent. Propranolol completely blocks the increase induced by noradrenaline or isoproterenol but not that by clonidine. Phentolamine was ineffective in blocking cyclic AMP formation induced by noradrenaline, isoproterenol, adrenaline or clonidine. Chlorpromazine completely blocked the increase induced by noradrenaline, isoproterenol, clonidine, serotonin or dopamine.

PROTOPLANETARY DISK RESONANCES AND TYPE I MIGRATION

Waves reflected by the inner edge of a protoplanetary disk are shown to significantly modify Type I migration, even allowing the trapping of planets near the inner disk edge for small planets in a range of disk parameters. This may inform the distribution of planets close to their central stars, as observed recently by the Kepler mission.

LINEAR COROTATION TORQUES IN NON-BAROTROPIC DISKS

A fully analytic expression for the linear corotation torque to first order in eccentricity for planets in non-barotropic protoplanetary disks is derived, taking into account the effect of disk entropy gradients. This torque formula is applicable to both the co-orbital, corotation torques and the non-co-orbital, corotation torques—for planets in orbits with non-zero eccentricity—in disks where the thermal diffusivity and viscosity are sufficient to maintain the linearity of these interactions. While the co-orbital, corotation torque is important for migration of planets in Type I migration, the non-co-orbital, corotation torque plays an important role in the eccentricity evolution of giant planets that have opened gaps in the disk. The presence of an entropy gradient in the disk can significantly modify the corotation torque in both these cases.

Electromagnetic Chirps from Neutron Star-Black Hole Mergers

We calculate the electromagnetic signal of a gamma-ray flare coming from the surface of a neutron star shortly before merger with a black hole companion. Using a new version of the Monte Carlo radiation transport code Pandurata that incorporates dynamic spacetimes, we integrate photon geodesics from the neutron star surface until they reach a distant observer or are captured by the black hole. The gamma-ray light curve is modulated by a number of relativistic effects, including Doppler beaming and gravitational lensing. Because the photons originate from the inspiraling neutron star, the light curve closely resembles the corresponding gravitational waveform: a chirp signal characterized by a steadily increasing frequency and amplitude. We propose to search for these electromagnetic chirps using matched filtering algorithms similar to those used in LIGO data analysis.

ERBB2 deficiency alters an E2F-1-dependent adaptive stress response and leads to cardiac dysfunction

ABSTRACT The tyrosine kinase receptor ERBB2 is required for normal development of the heart and is a potent oncogene in breast epithelium. Trastuzumab, a monoclonal antibody targeting ERBB2, improves the survival of breast cancer patients, but cardiac dysfunction is a major side effect of the drug. The molecular mechanisms underlying how ERBB2 regulates cardiac function and why trastuzumab is cardiotoxic remain poorly understood. We show here that ERBB2 hypomorphic mice develop cardiac dysfunction that mimics the side effects observed in patients treated with trastuzumab. We demonstrate that this phenotype is related to the critical role played by ERBB2 in cardiac homeostasis and physiological hypertrophy. Importantly, genetic and therapeutic reduction of ERBB2 activity in mice, as well as ablation of ERBB2 signaling by trastuzumab or siRNAs in human cardiomyocytes, led to the identification of an impaired E2F-1-dependent genetic program critical for the cardiac adaptive stress response. These findings demonstrate the existence of a previously unknown mechanistic link between ERBB2 and E2F-1 transcriptional activity in heart physiology and trastuzumab-induced cardiac dysfunction.

Timing Noise in Pulsars and Magnetars and the Magnetospheric Moment of Inertia

We examine timing noise in both magnetars and regular pulsars, and find that there exists a component of the timing noise (σTN) with strong magnetic field dependence () above Bo ~ 1012.5 G. The dependence of the timing noise floor on the magnetic field is also reflected in the smallest observable glitch size. We find that magnetospheric torque variation cannot explain this component of timing noise. We calculate the moment of inertia of the magnetic field outside of a neutron star and show that this timing noise component may be due to variation of this moment of inertia, and could be evidence of rapid global magnetospheric variability.

Iron Line Variability of Discoseismic Corrugation Modes

Using a fast semi-analytic raytracing code, we study the variability of relativistically broadened Fe–Kα lines due to discoseismic oscillations concentrated in the innermost regions of accretion discs around black holes. The corrugation mode, or c-mode, is of particular interest as its natural frequency corresponds well to the ∼0.1–15 Hz range observed for low-frequency quasi-periodic oscillations (LFQPOs) for lower spins. Comparison of the oscillation phase dependent variability and quasi-periodic oscillation-phase stacked Fe–Kα line observations will allow such discoseismic models to be confirmed or ruled out as a source of particular LFQPOs. The spectral range and frequency of the variability of the Fe–Kα line due to c-modes can also potentially be used to constrain the black hole spin if observed with sufficient temporal and spectral resolution.

Self-Trapping of Diskoseismic Corrugation Modes in Neutron Star Spacetimes

We examine the effects of higher-order multipole contributions of rotating neutron star (NS) spacetimes on the propagation of corrugation (c-)modes within a thin accretion disk. We find that the Lense-Thirring precession frequency, which determines the propagation region of the low-frequency fundamental corrugation modes, can experience a turnover allowing for c-modes to become self-trapped for sufficiently high dimensionless spin