Search

With the IRAM 30 meter telescope, we performed observations of the $J$ = 2-1 transitions of CS, C$^{33}$S, C$^{34}$S, C$^{36}$S, $^{13}$CS, $^{13}$C$^{33}$S, and $^{13}$C$^{34}$S as well as the $J$ = 3-2 transitions of C$^{33}$S, C$^{34}$S, C$^{36}$S, and $^{13}$CS toward a large sample of 110 HMSFRs. We measured the $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C, $^{32}$S/$^{34}$S, $^{32}$S/$^{33}$S, $^{32}$S/$^{36}$S, $^{34}$S/$^{33}$S, $^{34}$S/$^{36}$S, and $^{33}$S/$^{36}$S abundance ratios with rare isotopologs of CS, thus avoiding significant saturation effects. With accurate distances obtained from parallax data, we confirm previously identified $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C and $^{32}$S/$^{34}$S gradients as a function of galactocentric distance (RGC). In the CMZ, $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratios are higher than suggested by a linear fit to the disk values as a function of RGC. While $^{32}$S/$^{34}$S ratios near the Galactic center and in the inner disk are similar, this is not the case for $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C, when comparing central values with those near RGC of 5 kpc. As was already known, there is no $^{34}$S/$^{33}$S gradient but the average ratio of 4.35~$\pm$~0.44 derived from the $J$ = 2-1 transition lines of C$^{34}$S and C$^{33}$S is well below previously reported values. A comparison between solar and local interstellar $^{32}$S/$^{34}$S and $^{34}$S/$^{33}$S ratios suggests that the Solar System may have been formed from gas with a particularly high $^{34}$S abundance. For the first time, we report positive gradients of $^{32}$S/$^{33}$S, $^{34}$S/$^{36}$S, $^{33}$S/$^{36}$S, and $^{32}{\rm S}/^{36}{\rm S}$ in our Galaxy. The predicted $^{12}$C/$^{13}$C ratios from the latest GCE models are in good agreement with our results. While $^{32}$S/$^{34}$S and $^{32}$S/$^{36}$S ratios show larger differences at larger RGC, $^{32}$S/$^{33}$S ratios show an offset across the entire inner 12 kpc of the Milky Way., HMSFRs: high-mass star-forming regions. CMZ: central molecular zone. GCE: Galactic chemical evolution. 68 pages, 12 tables, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in A&A

We report the discovery of widespread maser emission in non-metastable inversion transitions of NH$_3$ toward various parts of the Sagittarius B2 molecular cloud/star forming region complex: We detect masers in the $J,K = $ (6,3), (7,4), (8,5), (9,6), and (10,7) transitions toward Sgr B2(M) and Sgr B2(N), an NH$_3$ (6,3) maser in Sgr B2(NS), and NH$_3$ (7,4), (9,6), and (10,7) masers in Sgr B2(S). With the high angular resolution data of the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (JVLA) in A-configuration we identify 18 maser spots. Nine maser spots arise from Sgr B2(N), one from Sgr B2(NS), five from Sgr B2(M), and three in Sgr B2(S). Compared to our Effelsberg single dish data, the JVLA data indicate no missing flux. The detected maser spots are not resolved by our JVLA observations. Lower limits to the brightness temperature are $>$3000~K and reach up to several 10$^5$~K, manifesting the lines' maser nature. In view of the masers' velocity differences with respect to adjacent hot molecular cores and/or UCH{\scriptsize II} regions, it is argued that all the measured ammonia maser lines may be associated with shocks caused either by outflows or by the expansion of UCH{\scriptsize II} regions. Overall, Sgr B2 is unique in that it allows us to measure many NH$_3$ masers simultaneously, which may be essential to elucidate their so far poorly understood origin and excitation., 17 pages, 14 figures, 7 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A Letter

The wetting of soft polymer substrates brings in multiple complexities when compared with the wetting on rigid substrates. The contact angle of the liquid is no longer governed by Young’s Law, but is affected by the substrate’s bulk and surface deformations. On top of that, elastic interfaces exhibit a surface energy that depends on how much they are stretched—a feature known as the Shuttleworth effect (or as surface-elasticity). Here, we present two models through which we explore the wetting of drops in the presence of a strong Shuttleworth effect. The first model is macroscopic in character and consistently accounts for large deformations via a neo-Hookean elasticity. The second model is based on a mesoscopic description of wetting, using a reduced description of the substrate’s elasticity. While the second model is more empirical in terms of the elasticity, it enables a gradient dynamics formulation for soft wetting dynamics. We provide a detailed comparison between the equilibrium states predicted by the two models, from which we deduce robust features of soft wetting in the presence of a strong Shuttleworth effect. Specifically, we show that the (a)symmetry of the Shuttleworth effect between the ‘dry’ and ‘wet’ states governs horizontal deformations in the substrate. Our results are discussed in the light of recent experiments on the wettability of stretched substrates.

Gravitational collapse is one of the most important processes in high-mass star formation. Compared with the classic blue-skewed profiles, redshifted absorption against continuum emission is a more reliable method to detect inward motions within high-mass star formation regions. We aim to test if methanol transitions can be used to trace infall motions within high-mass star formation regions. Using the Effelsberg-100 m, IRAM-30 m, and APEX-12 m telescopes, we carried out observations of 37 and 16 methanol transitions towards two well-known collapsing dense clumps, W31C (G10.6-0.4) and W3(OH), to search for redshifted absorption features or inverse P-Cygni profiles. Redshifted absorption is observed in 14 and 11 methanol transitions towards W31C and W3(OH), respectively. The infall velocities fitted from a simple two-layer model agree with previously reported values derived from other tracers, suggesting that redshifted methanol absorption is a reliable tracer of infall motions within high-mass star formation regions. Our observations indicate the presence of large-scale inward motions, and the mass infall rates are roughly estimated to be $\gtrsim$10$^{-3}$ $M_{\odot}$yr$^{-1}$, which supports the global hierarchical collapse and clump-fed scenario. With the aid of bright continuum sources and the overcooling of methanol transitions leading to enhanced absorption, redshifted methanol absorption can trace infall motions within high-mass star formation regions hosting bright H{\scriptsize II} regions., 21 pages, 13 figures, 5 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

We present observations of ammonia emission lines toward the interstellar filament WB~673 hosting the dense clumps WB~673, WB~668, S233-IR and G173.57+2.43. LTE analysis of the lines allows us to estimate gas kinetic temperature ($\lesssim$ 30~K in all the clumps), number density ($7-17\times10^3$~cm$^{-3}$), and ammonia column density ($\approx 1-1.5\times 10^{15}$~cm$^{-2}$) in the dense clumps. We find signatures of collapse in WB 673 and presence of compact spatially unresolved dense clumps in S233-IR. We reconstruct 1D density and temperature distributions in the clumps and estimate their ages using astrochemical modelling. Considering CO, CS, NH$_3$ and N$_2$H$^+$ molecules (plus HCN and HNC for WB~673), we find a chemical age of $t_{\rm chem}=1-3\times 10^5$~yrs providing the best agreement between the simulated and observed column densities in all the clumps. Therefore, we consider $t_{\rm chem}$ as the chemical age of the entire filament. A long preceding low-density stage of gas accumulation in the astrochemical model would break the agreement between the simulated and observed column densities. We suggest that rapid star formation over a $\sim 10^5$~yrs timescale take place in the filament., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

[Context] Methanol masers of Class I (collisionally pumped) and Class II (radiatively pumped) have been studied in great detail in our Galaxy in a variety of astrophysical environments such as shocks and star-forming regions and are they are helpful to analyze the properties of the dense interstellar medium. However, the study of methanol masers in external galaxies is still in its infancy., [Aims] Our main goal is to search for methanol masers in the central molecular zone (CMZ; inner 500 pc) of the nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253., [Methods] Covering a frequency range between 84 and 373 GHz (λ = 3.6–0.8 mm) at high angular (1.″6 ∼ 27 pc) and spectral (∼8–9 km s−1) resolution with ALCHEMI (ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory), we have probed different regions across the CMZ of NGC 253. In order to look for methanol maser candidates, we employed the rotation diagram method and a set of radiative transfer models., [Results] We detect for the first time masers above 84 GHz in NGC 253, covering an ample portion of the J−1 → (J − 1)0 − E line series (at 84, 132, 229, and 278 GHz) and the J0 → (J − 1)1 − A series (at 95, 146, and 198 GHz). This confirms the presence of the Class I maser line at 84 GHz, which was already reported, but now being detected in more than one location. For the J−1 → (J− 1)0 − E line series, we observe a lack of Class I maser candidates in the central star-forming disk., [Conclusions] The physical conditions for maser excitation in the J−1 → (J − 1)0 − E line series can be weak shocks and cloud-cloud collisions as suggested by shock tracers (SiO and HNCO) in bi-symmetric shock regions located in the outskirts of the CMZ. On the other hand, the presence of photodissociation regions due to a high star-formation rate would be needed to explain the lack of Class I masers in the very central regions., PH is a member of and received financial support for this research from the International Max Planck Research School (IMPRS) for Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Universities of Bonn and Cologne. PH is grateful to Arnaud Belloche, Dario Colombo, Yu Gao, and Sudeep Neupane, for their constructive advice and fruitful discussions along a variety of aspects covered in this work. VMR is funded by the Comunidad de Madrid through the Atracción de Talento Investigador (Doctores con experiencia) Grant (COOL: Cosmic Origins Of Life; 2019–T1/TIC–15379), and from the Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI) through the Ramón y Cajal programme (grant RYC2020-029387-I). L.C. has received partial support from the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI; project number PID2019-105552RB-C41). KS thanks MOST grant 109-2112-M-001-020. NH acknowledges support from JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP21K03634. This work makes use of the following ALMA data: ADS/JAO.ALMA#2017.1.00161.L and ADS/JAO.ALMA#2018.1.00162.S. ALMA is a partnership of ESO (representing its member states), NSF (USA) and NINS (Japan), together with NRC (Canada), MOST and ASIAA (Taiwan), and KASI (Republic of Korea), in cooperation with the Republic of Chile. The Joint ALMA Observatory is operated by ESO, AUI/NRAO and NAOJ.

Molecular maser lines are signposts of high-mass star formation, probing excitation and kinematics of very compact regions in the close environment of young stellar objects and providing useful targets for trigonometric parallax measurements. Only a few NH$_{3}$ (9,6) masers were known so far, and their origin is still poorly understood. Here we aim to find new NH$_{3}$ (9,6) masers to provide a better observational basis to study their role in high-mass star-forming regions. We carried out NH$_{3}$ (9,6) observations toward Cepheus A and G34.26$+$0.15 with the Effelsberg-100 m telescope and the Karl G. Janksy Very Large Array. We discovered new NH$_{3}$ (9,6) masers in Cep A and G34.26$+$0.15, which increases the number of high-mass star-forming regions hosting NH$_{3}$ (9,6) masers from five to seven. Long term monitoring (20 months) at Effelsberg shows that the intensity of the (9,6) maser in G34.26$+$0.15 is decreasing, while the Cep A maser remains stable. Compared to the Effelsberg data and assuming linear variations between the epochs of observation, the JVLA data indicate no missing flux. This suggests that the NH$_3$ (9,6) emission arises from single compact emission regions that are not resolved by the interferometric measurements. As JVLA imaging shows, the NH$_{3}$ (9,6) emission in Cep A originates from a sub-arcsecond sized region, slightly to the west of the peak position of the 1.36\,cm continuum object, HW2. In G34.26$+$0.15, three NH$_{3}$ (9,6) maser spots are observed: one is close to the head of the cometary ultracompact \h2 region C and the other two are emitted from a compact region to the west of the hypercompact \h2 region A. The newly found (9,6) masers appear to be related to outflows. Higher angular resolution of JVLA and VLBI observations are needed to provide more accurate positions and constraints for pumping scenarios., 10 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables. Publicated in A&A

Phosphorus (P) is a crucial element for life given its central role in several biomolecules. P-bearing molecules have been discovered in different regions of the Milky Way, but not yet towards an extragalactic environment. We have searched for P-bearing molecules towards the nearby starburst Galaxy NGC 253. Using observations from the ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory (ALCHEMI) project, we used the MADCUBA package to model the emission of P-bearing molecules assuming Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (LTE) conditions. We have also performed a non-LTE analysis using SpectralRadex. We report the detection of a P-bearing molecule, phosphorus nitride (PN), for the first time in an extragalactic environment, towards two giant molecular clouds (GMCs) of NGC 253. The LTE analysis yields total PN beam-averaged column densities $N$=(1.20$\pm$0.09)$\times$10$^{13}$ cm$^{-2}$ and $N$=(6.5$\pm$1.6)$\times$10$^{12}$ cm$^{-2}$, which translate into abundances with respect to H$_2$ of $\chi$=(8.0$\pm$1.0)$\times$10$^{-12}$ and $\chi$=(4.4$\pm$1.2)$\times$10$^{-12}$. We derived a low excitation temperature of $T_{\rm ex}$=(4.4$\pm$1.3) K towards the GMC with the brightest PN emission, which indicates that PN is sub-thermally excited. The non-LTE analysis results in column densities consistent with the LTE values. We have also searched for other P-bearing molecules (PO, PH$_{3}$, CP and CCP), and upper limits were derived. The derived PO/PN ratios are $, Comment: 14 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables. Accepted for publication in A&A

Modelling of an open quantum system requires knowledge of parameters that specify how it couples to its environment. However, beyond relaxation rates, realistic parameters for specific environments and materials are rarely known. Here we present a method of inferring the coupling between a generic system and its bosonic (e.g., phononic) environment from the experimentally measurable density of states (DOS). With it we confirm that the DOS of the well-known Debye model for three-dimensional solids is physically equivalent to choosing an Ohmic bath. We further match a real phonon DOS to a series of Lorentzian coupling functions, allowing us to determine coupling parameters for gold, yttrium iron garnet (YIG) and iron as examples. The results illustrate how to obtain material-specific dynamical properties, such as memory kernels. The proposed method opens the door to more accurate modelling of relaxation dynamics, for example for phonon-dominated spin damping in magnetic materials., 8 pages and 4 figures

We discuss the coherent splitting and recombining of a nanoparticle in a mesoscopic "closed-loop" Stern-Gerlach interferometer in which the observable is the spin of a single impurity embedded in the particle. This spin, when interacting with a pulsed magnetic gradient, generates the force on the particle. We calculate the internal decoherence which arises as the displaced impurity excites internal degrees of freedom (phonons) that may provide Welcher Weg information and preclude interference. We estimate the constraints this decoherence channel puts on future interference experiments with massive objects. We find that for a wide range of masses, forces and temperatures, phonons do not inhibit Stern-Gerlach interferometry with micro-scale objects. However, phonons do constitute a fundamental limit on the splitting of larger macroscopic objects if the applied force induces phonons., 10 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Festschrift in honor of Nobel prize awarded to R. Penrose

Additional file 5: Table S3. Blast alignment for top-3 longest contigs for sample 1, 2 and 3. ID) identity number provided by Flye, Query len) the length of the contigs, Cont cov) data coverage for every contig, Best hits *) *criteria for best hit; largest query coverage with highest identity and published study, Query cov) how much of the contig covers the reference sequence, Aln ID) alignment identity between the reference and contig, Ref len) the length of the reference sequence the contig is aligned to.

Additional file 6: Figure S3. Species classification on sample 1, 2 and 3. Lighter shades indicate identified species on raw sequencing data, darker shades highlight species only identifiable after assembly.

Additional file 10. Additional discussion.

Additional file 7: Figure S4. Read length and quality distributions of data that OneCodex labels unclassified. On average reads are shorter compared to raw sequencing data, however these lengths should still be sufficient to use for k-mer species characterization. Average quality distributions are very comparable to reads which OneCodex was able to classify species with.

Additional file 9: Figure S6. A Filter setup; 0.22 µm containing biological material that represents the oceanic microbiome. B A schematic visualization of double filter setup. Discard eukaryotic cells during the first and viral/phage content during the second filtering round.

Martín, S., et al., [Context] The interstellar medium is the locus of physical processes affecting the evolution of galaxies which drive or are the result of star formation activity, supermassive black hole growth, and feedback. The resulting physical conditions determine the observable chemical abundances that can be explored through molecular emission observations at millimeter and submillimeter wavelengths. [Aims] Our goal is to unveiling the molecular richness of the central region of the prototypical nearby starburst galaxy NGC 253 at an unprecedented combination of sensitivity, spatial resolution, and frequency coverage. [Methods] We used the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), covering a nearly contiguous 289 GHz frequency range between 84.2 and 373.2 GHz, to image the continuum and spectral line emission at 1.6″(∼28 pc) resolution down to a sensitivity of 30 - 50 mK. This article describes the ALMA Comprehensive High-resolution Extragalactic Molecular Inventory (ALCHEMI) large program. We focus on the analysis of the spectra extracted from the 15″ (∼255 pc) resolution ALMA Compact Array data. [Results] We modeled the molecular emission assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium with 78 species being detected. Additionally, multiple hydrogen and helium recombination lines are identified. Spectral lines contribute 5 to 36% of the total emission in frequency bins of 50 GHz. We report the first extragalactic detections of C2H5OH, HOCN, HC3HO, and several rare isotopologues. Isotopic ratios of carbon, oxygen, sulfur, nitrogen, and silicon were measured with multiple species. [Concluison] Infrared pumped vibrationaly excited HCN, HNC, and HC3N emission, originating in massive star formation locations, is clearly detected at low resolution, while we do not detect it for HCO+. We suggest high temperature conditions in these regions driving a seemingly "carbon-rich"chemistry which may also explain the observed high abundance of organic species close to those in Galactic hot cores. The Lvib/LIR ratio was used as a proxy to estimate a 3% contribution from the proto super star cluster to the global infrared emission. Measured isotopic ratios with high dipole moment species agree with those within the central kiloparsec of the Galaxy, while those derived from 13C/18O are a factor of five larger, confirming the existence of multiple interstellar medium components within NGC 253 with different degrees of nucleosynthesis enrichment. The ALCHEMI data set provides a unique template for studies of star-forming galaxies in the early Universe.

Additional file 2: Table S2. Raw sequencing data statistics of sample 1, 2 and 3.

Additional file 3: Table S4. Data statistics on reads for which OneCodex could not resolve any classification.

Additional file 8: Figure S5. Tandem repeat analysis, counts per read and comparison between raw sequencing data and unclassified data set for different locations and time. Repeat counts are represented in bins, the bins indicate the number of occurrences per read.

Additional file 4: Figure S1. A subset of the data set from sample 2, every node is supported with minimally 2048 reads. The red node indicates the most abundant species over all three datasets, together with dark blue nodes it comprises the top-5 most abundant species in this dataset. Particularly underrepresented is species Candidatus Pelagibacter (grey node) compared to sample 1 and 3. Figure S2. Taxonomic tree on a subset of sequencing data from sample 3, every node is supported with at least 588 reads. Again the red node indicates the overall most abundant species, and together with dark blues nodes they form the top-5 most abundant species for this dataset. Compared to the year before Flavobacteriales bacterium is underrepresented (green node).

Dieser Beitrag behandelt die normale Entwicklung des Essverhaltens und seine Einflussfaktoren aus entwicklungspadiatrischer Sicht sowie die Entstehungsbedingungen von Futter- oder Essverhaltensstorungen aus kinderpsychiatrischer Perspektive. Ausreichendes Wissen uber das Essverhalten von Kindern ist wichtig, um Familien in der kinderarztlichen Praxis kompetent beraten zu konnen. Die Entwicklung des Essverhaltens ist durch die individuellen eigenregulativen Fahigkeiten des Kindes gepragt und verlauft in bestimmten, an die Autonomieentwicklung gekoppelten Schritten. Fehlentwicklungen des Essverhaltens sowie der Interaktion zwischen Eltern und Kind sind prognostisch gunstig einzuschatzen, wenn sie fruhzeitig erkannt werden. Die Behandlung komplexer Fehlentwicklungen im Essverhalten eines Kindes erfordert die Zusammenarbeit verschiedener Professionen.

We give a re-interpretation of an `entropy defect' in the electromagnetic Casimir effect. The electron gas in a perfect crystal is an electromagnetically disordered system whose entropy contains a finite Casimir-like contribution. The Nernst theorem (third law of thermodynamics) is not applicable., Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, proceedings of "Quantum Field Theory under the influence of external boundary conditions" QFExt (Oklahoma, Sep 2009)

International audience; The spatial two-point coherence function of the thermal radiation field at subwave-distance from a metallic film is calculated within fluctuation electrodynamics. Long-range oscillations as a function of lateral separation are seen; we interpret their features by comparing to the dispersion relations of surface plasmon polariton modes on the thin film. The hybridization of the surface modes on the top and bottom interfaces leads to a beatnote in the field correlations, for specific detector setups.

The electric field created by a point dipole located in a dielectric void (“bubble”) is calculated. We consider a continuous profile of the medium permittivity and find that, at large distances, the effective dipole field depends on the model chosen for the bubble walls, in particular their thickness. A boundary layer model is analyzed that gives good agreement with numerical calculations. Our results shed light on the local field correction that has attracted lot of interest lately.

We perform a calculation of the linewidth of a micromaser, using the master equation and the quantum regression approach. A `dephasing' contribution is identified from pumping processes that conserve the photon number and do not appear in the photon statistics. We work out examples for a single-atom maser with a precisely controlled coupling and for a laser where the interaction time is broadly distributed. In the latter case, we also assess the convergence of a recently developed uniform Lindblad approximation to the master equation; it is relatively slow., Comment: 8 pages, proceedings of Central European Workshop on Quantum Optics (Palermo Jun 07)

Heatmap on the RPKM-normalized data for all the 16 tissue clusters. All the clusters are visualized, depicting the top 10 highest expressed genes in that respective cluster. The different tissues were colored according to the 16 groups. The clusters were ordered to match the order of the tissue groups depicted in the columns. (PDF 982Â kb)

Correlation plot using the Pearson correlation test on the RPKM normalized data (nâ =â 91). The different tissues were colored according to the 16 groups. (PDF 198Â kb)

Matrix assisted laser desorption/ionization mass spectrometry imaging (MALDI MSI) is a technique to visualize molecular features of tissues based on mass detection. This chapter focuses on MALDI MSI of peptides and provides detailed operational instructions for sample preparation of cryoconserved and formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded (FFPE) tissue. Besides sample preparation we provide protocols for the MALDI measurement, tissue staining, and data analysis. On-tissue digestion and matrix application are described for two different commercially available and commonly used spraying devices: the SunCollect (SunChrom) and the ImagePrep (Bruker Daltonik GmbH).

We present an efficient expression for the analytic continuation to arbitrary complex frequencies of the complex optical and AC conductivity of a homogeneous superconductor with arbitrary mean free path. Knowledge of this quantity is fundamental in the calculation of thermodynamic potentials and dispersion energies involving type-I superconducting bodies. When considered for imaginary frequencies, our formula evaluates faster than previous schemes involving Kramers--Kronig transforms. A number of applications illustrates its efficiency: a simplified low-frequency expansion of the conductivity, the electromagnetic bulk self-energy due to longitudinal plasma oscillations, and the Casimir free energy of a superconducting cavity., Comment: 20 pages, 7 figures, calculation of Casimir energy added

We performed a search simultaneously for the HeH+ J = 1–0 line (νrest= 2010.183 873 GHz) and for the CH 2Π3/2(F2)J = 3/2–2Π1/2(F2)J = 1/2 lines (νrest≈ 2006.8 and 2010.8 GHz) towards one of the highest redshift quasars known, SDSS J114816.64+525150.3 (z = 6.4189). No clearly visible line was detected after obtaining an rms noise level of ∼0.4 mK (∼3 mJy) in 16-MHz (18 km s−1) channels. At a level of 2.9σ, however, there is a tentative emission feature shifted by about 100 km s−1 from the expected frequency of the HeH+ line. This shift is well within the width of the line profiles for CO and C+. The putative feature is about four times narrower than the previously detected CO and C+ lines. The difference in velocities as well as in the linewidths could be explained by quite different conditions required for the formation and excitation of HeH+ with respect to CO and C+. The HeH+ emission, if real, could probably arise in the dense ionized gas of this quasi-stellar object. The velocity-integrated flux in this tentative feature is 0.62 ± 0.21 Jy km s−1 which corresponds to a total luminosity of L(HeH+) ≈ 7.1 × 108 L⊙. As long as there is no independent confirmation, these values should be considered rather as upper limits.

We review correlations between water megamaser emission and other properties of AGN. Galaxies detected as water megamaser emitters tend to be nearer, brighter at mid-infrared and possibly centimeter wavelengths, and more highly inclined than undetected galaxies. Only Seyfert 2s and LINERs (no Seyfert Is) are detected. It is argued that the primary parameter determining whether an active galaxy is detectable as an H2O megamaser is the gas column along our line of sight to the nucleus.

CO observations have shown that many lenticular and elliptical galaxies contain significant amounts of cool dense gas. This review summarizes the observational results related to the neutral gas phase and presents a systematic comparison with other interstellar and stellar data. The discovery of very dense molecular gas in the nuclear regions of early-type galaxies, the possible existence of a dust component neither seen optically nor in CO, internal inconsistencies of cooling flow scenarios, the origin of the cool gas, the presence of massive stars, aspects of galaxy evolution, and possibilities for future research are discussed in the light of the new data.

A limit on a possible cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ is derived from methanol (CH3OH) absorption lines in the benchmark PKS1830-211 lensing galaxy at redshift z=0.89 observed with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope, the Institute de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique 30-m telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Ten different absorption lines of CH3OH covering a wide range of sensitivity coefficients K(μ) are used to derive a purely statistical 1σ constraint of Δμ/μ=(1.5±1.5)×10(-7) for a lookback time of 7.5 billion years. Systematic effects of chemical segregation, excitation temperature, frequency dependence, and time variability of the background source are quantified. A multidimensional linear regression analysis leads to a robust constraint of Δμ/μ=(-1.0±0.8(stat)±1.0(sys))×10(-7).

We derive an expression for the collective Casimir-Polder interaction of a trapped gas of condensed bosons with a plane surface through coupling of the condensate atoms with the electromagnetic field. A systematic perturbation theory is developed based on a diagrammatic expansion of the electromagnetic self-energy. In the leading order, the result for the interaction energy is proportional to the number of atoms and involves the one-body density matrix of the trapped gas. At this order, atom-atom interactions and recoil effects lead to corrections compared to the single-atom theory, through shifts of the atomic transition energies. We also discuss the impact of spatial delocalization of the condensate mode.