ALBERT

Description: The interplay between polymers and inorganic minerals during the formation of solids is crucial for biomineralization and bio-inspired materials, and advanced material properties can be achieved with organic-inorganic composites. By studying the reaction mechanisms, basic questions on organic-inorganic interactions and their role during material formation can be answered, enabling more target-oriented strategies in future synthetic approaches. Here, we present a comprehensive study on the hydrolysis of iron( iii ) in the presence of polyaspartic acid. For the basic investigation of the formation mechanism, a titration assay was used, complemented by microscopic techniques. The polymer is shown to promote precipitation in partly hydrolyzed reaction solutions at the very early stages of the reaction by facilitating iron( iii ) hydrolysis. In unhydrolyzed solutions, no significant interactions between the polymer and the inorganic solutes can be observed. We demonstrate that the hydrolysis promotion by the polymer can be understood by facilitating oxolation in olation iron( iii ) pre-nucleation clusters. We propose that the adsorption of olation pre-nucleation clusters on the polymer chains and the resulting loss in dynamics and increased proximity of the reactants is the key to this effect. The resulting composite material obtained from the hydrolysis in the presence of the polymer was investigated with additional analytical techniques, namely, scanning and transmission electron microscopies, light microscopy, atomic force microscopy, zeta potential measurements, dynamic light scattering, and thermogravimetric analyses. It consists of elastic, polydisperse nanospheres, ca. 50-200 nm in diameter, and aggregates thereof, exhibiting a high polymer and water content.

Description: Context. The inner regions of the discs of high-mass young stellar objects (HMYSOs) are still poorly known due to the small angular scales and the high visual extinction involved. Aims. We deploy near-infrared spectro-interferometry to probe the inner gaseous disc in HMYSOs and investigate the origin and physical characteristics of the CO bandhead emission (2.3–2.4 μm). Methods. We present the first GRAVITY/VLTI observations at high spectral (ℛ = 4000) and spatial (mas) resolution of the CO overtone transitions in NGC 2024 IRS 2. Results. The continuum emission is resolved in all baselines and is slightly asymmetric, displaying small closure phases (≤8°). Our best ellipsoid model provides a disc inclination of 34° ±1°, a disc major axis position angle (PA) of 166° ± 1°, and a disc diameter of 3.99 ± 0.09 mas (or 1.69  ±  0.04 au, at a distance of 423 pc). The small closure phase signals in the continuum are modelled with a skewed rim, originating from a pure inclination effect. For the first time, our observations spatially and spectrally resolve the first four CO bandheads. Changes in visibility, as well as differential and closure phases across the bandheads are detected. Both the size and geometry of the CO-emitting region are determined by fitting a bidimensional Gaussian to the continuum-compensated CO bandhead visibilities. The CO-emitting region has a diameter of 2.74±0.070.08 mas (1.16  ±  0.03 au), and is located in the inner gaseous disc, well within the dusty rim, with inclination and PA matching the dusty disc geometry, which indicates that both dusty and gaseous discs are coplanar. Physical and dynamical gas conditions are inferred by modelling the CO spectrum. Finally, we derive a direct measurement of the stellar mass of M* ∼ 14.7−3.6+2 M⊙ by combining our interferometric and spectral modelling results.

Description: Infrared observations of Sgr A* probe the region close to the event horizon of the black hole at the Galactic center. These observations can constrain the properties of low-luminosity accretion as well as that of the black hole itself. The GRAVITY instrument at the ESO VLTI has recently detected continuous circular relativistic motion during infrared flares which has been interpreted as orbital motion near the event horizon. Here we analyze the astrometric data from these flares, taking into account the effects of out-of-plane motion and orbital shear of material near the event horizon of the black hole. We have developed a new code to predict astrometric motion and flux variability from compact emission regions following particle orbits. Our code combines semi-analytic calculations of timelike geodesics that allow for out-of-plane or elliptical motions with ray tracing of photon trajectories to compute time-dependent images and light curves. We apply our code to the three flares observed with GRAVITY in 2018. We show that all flares are consistent with a hotspot orbiting at R ∼ 9 gravitational radii with an inclination of i ∼ 140°. The emitting region must be compact and less than ∼5 gravitational radii in diameter. We place a further limit on the out-of-plane motion during the flare.

Description: The star S2 orbiting the compact radio source Sgr A* is a precision probe of the gravitational field around the closest massive black hole (candidate). Over the last 2.7 decades we have monitored the star’s radial velocity and motion on the sky, mainly with the SINFONI and NACO adaptive optics (AO) instruments on the ESO VLT, and since 2017, with the four-telescope interferometric beam combiner instrument GRAVITY. In this Letter we report the first detection of the General Relativity (GR) Schwarzschild Precession (SP) in S2’s orbit. Owing to its highly elliptical orbit (e = 0.88), S2’s SP is mainly a kink between the pre-and post-pericentre directions of motion ≈±1 year around pericentre passage, relative to the corresponding Kepler orbit. The superb 2017−2019 astrometry of GRAVITY defines the pericentre passage and outgoing direction. The incoming direction is anchored by 118 NACO-AO measurements of S2’s position in the infrared reference frame, with an additional 75 direct measurements of the S2-Sgr A* separation during bright states (“flares”) of Sgr A*. Our 14-parameter model fits for the distance, central mass, the position and motion of the reference frame of the AO astrometry relative to the mass, the six parameters of the orbit, as well as a dimensionless parameter fSP for the SP (fSP = 0 for Newton and 1 for GR). From data up to the end of 2019 we robustly detect the SP of S2, δϕ ≈ 12′ per orbital period. From posterior fitting and MCMC Bayesian analysis with different weighting schemes and bootstrapping we find fSP = 1.10 ± 0.19. The S2 data are fully consistent with GR. Any extended mass inside S2’s orbit cannot exceed ≈0.1% of the central mass. Any compact third mass inside the central arcsecond must be less than about 1000 M⊙.

Description: Context. Methods used to detect giant exoplanets can be broadly divided into two categories: indirect and direct. Indirect methods are more sensitive to planets with a small orbital period, whereas direct detection is more sensitive to planets orbiting at a large distance from their host star. This dichotomy makes it difficult to combine the two techniques on a single target at once. Aims. Simultaneous measurements made by direct and indirect techniques offer the possibility of determining the mass and luminosity of planets and a method of testing formation models. Here, we aim to show how long-baseline interferometric observations guided by radial-velocity can be used in such a way. Methods. We observed the recently-discovered giant planet β Pictoris c with GRAVITY, mounted on the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. Results. This study constitutes the first direct confirmation of a planet discovered through radial velocity. We find that the planet has a temperature of T = 1250 ± 50 K and a dynamical mass of M = 8.2 ± 0.8 MJup. At 18.5 ± 2.5 Myr, this puts β Pic c close to a ‘hot start’ track, which is usually associated with formation via disk instability. Conversely, the planet orbits at a distance of 2.7 au, which is too close for disk instability to occur. The low apparent magnitude (MK = 14.3 ± 0.1) favours a core accretion scenario. Conclusions. We suggest that this apparent contradiction is a sign of hot core accretion, for example, due to the mass of the planetary core or the existence of a high-temperature accretion shock during formation.

Description: Context. Studies of the dust distribution, composition, and evolution of protoplanetary disks provide clues for understanding planet formation. However, little is known about the innermost regions of disks where telluric planets are expected to form. Aims. We aim constrain the geometry of the inner disk of the T Tauri star RY Lup by combining spectro-photometric data and interferometric observations in the near-infrared (NIR) collected at the Very Large Telescope Interferometer. We use PIONIER data from the ESO archive and GRAVITY data that were obtained in June 2017 with the four 8m telescopes. Methods. We use a parametric disk model and the 3D radiative transfer code MCFOST to reproduce the spectral energy distribution (SED) and match the interferometric observations. MCFOST produces synthetic SEDs and intensity maps at different wavelengths from which we compute the modeled interferometric visibilities and closure phases through Fourier transform. Results. To match the SED from the blue to the millimetric range, our model requires a stellar luminosity of 2.5 L⊙, higher than any previously determined values. Such a high value is needed to accommodate the circumstellar extinction caused by the highly inclined disk, which has been neglected in previous studies. While using an effective temperature of 4800 K determined through high-resolution spectroscopy, we derive a stellar radius of 2.29 R⊙. These revised fundamental parameters, when combined with the mass estimates available (in the range 1.3–1.5 M⊙), lead to an age of 0.5–2.0 Ma for RY Lup, in better agreement with the age of the Lupus association than previous determinations. Our disk model (that has a transition disk geometry) nicely reproduces the interferometric GRAVITY data and is in good agreement with the PIONIER ones. We derive an inner rim location at 0.12 au from the central star. This model corresponds to an inclination of the inner disk of 50°, which is in mild tension with previous determinations of a more inclined outer disk from SPHERE (70° in NIR) and ALMA (67 ± 5°) images, but consistent with the inclination determination from the ALMA CO spectra (55 ± 5°). Increasing the inclination of the inner disk to 70° leads to a higher line-of-sight extinction and therefore requires a higher stellar luminosity of 4.65 L⊙ to match the observed flux levels. This luminosity would translate to a stellar radius of 3.13 R⊙, leading to an age of 2–3 Ma, and a stellarmass of about 2 M⊙, in disagreement with the observed dynamical mass estimate of 1.3–1.5 M⊙. Critically, this high-inclination inner disk model also fails to reproduce the visibilities observed with GRAVITY. Conclusions. The inner dust disk, as traced by the GRAVITY data, is located at a radius in agreement with the dust sublimation radius. An ambiguity remains regarding the respective orientations of the inner and outer disk, coplanar and mildly misaligned, respectively.As our datasets are not contemporary and the star is strongly variable, a deeper investigation will require a dedicated multi-technique observing campaign.

Description: Tropical forests are faced with a substantial loss of forest cover due to human activities. The various forms of land use influence habitat structure, microclimate, and co-occurring species, with possible effects on ecosystem processes. The forests of western Kenya are the most eastern parts of the Congolian rainforests. Due to the high human population density only few remnants of these rainforests remained. Even protected areas are influenced by human disturbances, with unknown effects on ecosystem processes. Therefore, we quantified the mass loss of leaf litter with and without access of soil invertebrates within forest fragments and sites affected by increasing levels of agricultural land-use intensity in the Kakamega area (western Kenya; 1500 m a.s.l.). Mass loss of litter as an estimate of decomposition rate increased with rainfall during the annual cycle. Furthermore, mass loss increased with the area of forest fragments and decreased with land-use intensification. We found that soil invertebrates had only small effects on mass loss (〈 10 %), and this effect decreased with land-use intensification. Our data showed that forest fragmentation has negative effects on litter decomposition. However, the magnitude of this negative effect was not as large as expected.

Description: The Galactic centre black hole candidate Sgr A* is the best target for studies of low-luminosity accretion physics, including with near-infrared (NIR) and submillimetre wavelength long baseline interferometry experiments. Here, we compare images and spectra generated from a parameter survey of general relativistic MHD simulations to a set of radio to NIR observations of Sgr A*. Our models span the limits of weak and strong magnetization and use a range of sub-grid prescriptions for electron heating. We find two classes of scenarios can explain the broad shape of the submillimetre spectral peak and the highly variable NIR flaring emission. Weakly magnetized ‘disc-jet’ models where most of the emission is produced near the jet wall, consistent with past work, as well as strongly magnetized (magnetically arrested disc) models where hot electrons are present everywhere. Disc-jet models are strongly depolarized at submillimetre wavelengths as a result of strong Faraday rotation, inconsistent with observations of Sgr A*. We instead favour the strongly magnetized models, which provide a good description of the median and highly variable linear polarization signal. The same models can also explain the observed mean Faraday rotation measure and potentially the polarization signals seen recently in Sgr A* NIR flares.

Description: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is one of the most prominent non-invasive electrical brain stimulation method to alter neuronal activity as well as behavioral processes in cognitive and perceptual domains. However, the exact mode of action of tDCS-related cortical alterations is still unclear as the results of tDCS studies often do not comply with the somatic doctrine assuming that anodal tDCS enhances while cathodal tDCS decreases neuronal excitability. Changes in the regional cortical neurotransmitter balance within the stimulated cortex, measured by excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmitter levels, have the potential to provide direct neurochemical underpinnings of tDCS effects. Here we assessed tDCS-induced modulations of the neurotransmitter concentrations in the human auditory cortex (AC) by using magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) at ultra-high-field (7 T). We quantified inhibitory gamma-amino butyric (GABA) concentration and excitatory glutamate (Glu) and compared changes in the relative concentration of GABA to Glu before and after tDCS application. We found that both, anodal and cathodal tDCS significantly increased the relative concentration of GABA to Glu with individual temporal specificity. Our results offer novel insights for a potential neurochemical mechanism that underlies tDCS-induced alterations of AC processing.