Press Release
56 news
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2018-09-11
Press ReleaseAn unstable isotope Technetium-98 (98Tc) could be synthesized by neutrinos emitted from supernova explosions
A joint research group consisting of Masaomi Ono, a Research Scientist at RIKEN, and others has theoretically predicted that an unstable isotope Technetium-98 (98Tc) could be synthesized by neutrinos emitted from supernova explosions. Supernovae are important events in the evolution of stars and galaxies, but the details of how the explosions occur are still unknown. This research found a method to investigate the role of electron anti-neutrinos in supernovae. By measuring the amount of 98Ru (an isotope of Ruthenium) in meteorites, it should be possible to estimate how much of its progenitor 98Tc was present in the material at the time when the Solar System formed. The amount of 98Tc in turn is sensitive to the characteristics, such as temperature, of electron anti-neutrinos in the supernova process; as well as to how much time passed between the supernova and the formation of the Solar System. (This work appeared in Physical Review Letters on Sept. 4, 2018.) Caption: We can estimate the age of heavy elements in the primordial Solar System by measuring the traces left in meteorites by specific radioactive nuclei synthesized in certain types of supernovae. Credit: NAOJ (National Astronomical Observatory of Japan)
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2018-07-26
Press ReleaseDiffuse x-ray emission from the northern arc of loop I observed with suzaku
The research team, including Yoshiyuki Inoue (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS), have published a press release.
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2018-07-20
Press ReleaseSpatial Distribution of the Milky Way Hot Gaseous Halo Constrained by Suzaku X-Ray Observations
The research team, including Yoshiyuki Inoue (Senior Research Scientist, iTHEMS), have published a press release.
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2018-06-22
Press ReleaseModeling the functions of condensin in chromosome shaping and segregation
Former iTHES fellow, Yuji Sakai (Univ. Tokyo) together with Atsushi Mochizuki (iTHEMS), Masashi Tachikawa (iTHEMS), Tetsuya Hirano (RIKEN) and Kazuhisa Kinoshita (RIKEN) have published a paper and a press release. Immediately before a cell divides, chromosomal DNA in a eukaryotic cell is packaged into a discrete set of rod-shaped chromosomes. This process, known as mitotic chromosome assembly or condensation, secures the faithful segregation of genetic information into daughter cells. Central to this mechanistically complex process is a class of protein complexes known as condensins. However, how condensins support the assembly and segregation of mitotic chromosomes at a mechanistic level remains elusive. Here we construct a coarse-grained physical model of chromosomal DNA fibers and condensin molecules, and study how condensins work in the mitotic chromosome assembly using computer simulations. Our results show that two activities of condensins, formation of consecutive loops in chromosomal DNA fibers and inter-condensin attractions, are necessary for both the shaping and segregation of mitotic chromosomes, and balancing acts of these activities help to coordinate the efficient progress of the processes. Importantly, chromosome shaping and segregation in our results are strongly correlated, implying that they are controlled by the same underlying mechanism mediated by condensins.
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2018-06-05
Press ReleaseNeutron Life from Supercomputer Simulations
Jason Chang (iTHEMS/LBNL) and his colleagues have enlisted powerful supercomputers to calculate a quantity known as the "nucleon axial coupling," – which is central to our understanding of a neutron’s lifetime – with an unprecedented precision. Their method offers a clear path to further improvements that may help to resolve the experimental discrepancy of the lifetime of neutrons as well as to learn about as-yet undiscovered physics. The paper was published was published online May 30 in the journal Nature.
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2018-05-24
Press ReleaseUsing the K computer, scientists predict exotic “di-Omega” particle
Based on complex simulations of quantum chromodynamics performed using the K computer, one of the most powerful computers in the world, the HAL QCD Collaboration, made up of scientists from the RIKEN Nishina Center for Accelerator-based Science and the RIKEN Interdisciplinary Theoretical and Mathematical Sciences (iTHEMS) program, together with colleagues from a number of universities, have predicted a new type of “dibaryon”—a particle that contains six quarks instead of the usual three. Studying how these elements form could help scientists understand the interactions among elementary particles in extreme environments such as the interiors of neutron stars or the early universe moments after the Big Bang.
56 news