Engineering topics
Li, Zilong
Publications and source records attributed to Li, Zilong.
Myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A) mediates doxorubicin-induced PERP transcription in colon cancer cells
Doxorubicin (DOX) is a cytotoxic compound capable of instigating apoptosis in cancer cells. TP53 apoptosis effector (PERP) is a key mediator of apoptosis in multiple cell types. PERP transcription is activated by a range of pro-apoptotic stimuli. In the present study, we investigated the regulation of DOX-induced PERP transcription in colon cancer cells (SW480) by the transcriptional modulator myocardin-related transcription factor A (MRTF-A). We report that DOX treatment up-regulated MRTF-A expression paralleling PERP activation. DOX also promoted nuclear translocation of MRTF-A. On the contrary, MRTF-A depletion or inhibition attenuated DOX-induced apoptosis as evidenced by the MTT assay and caspase 3 cleavage. In accordance, MRTF-A depletion or inhibition dampened PERP transcription. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay showed that DOX treatment promoted the binding of MRTF-A on the PERP promoter. Mechanistically, MRTF-A was recruited to the PERP promoter by activator protein 1 (AP-1). AP-1 interacted and cooperated with MRTF-A to activate PERP transcription. AP-1 silencing weakened PERP trans-activation by DOX presumably by compromising MRTF-A recruitment to the PERP promoter. In conclusion, our data suggest that MRTF-A might be a key regulator of DOX-induced PERP transcription in colon cancer cells.
Testing SgrA{sup *} with the spectrum of its accretion structure
SgrA{sup *} is the supermassive black hole candidate at the center of the Galaxy and an ideal laboratory to test general relativity. Following previous work by other authors, we use the Polish doughnut model to describe an optically thin and constant angular momentum ion torus in hydrodynamical equilibrium and model the accretion structure around SgrA{sup *}. The radiation mechanisms are bremsstrahlung, synchrotron emission, and inverse Compton scattering. We compute the spectrum as seen by a distant observer in Kerr and non-Kerr spacetimes and we study how an accurate measurement can constrain possible deviations form the Kerr solution. As in the case of emission from a thin accretion disk, we find a substantial degeneracy between the determination of the spin and of possible deviations from the Kerr geometry, even when the parameters of the ion torus are fixed. This means that this technique cannot independently test the nature of SgrA{sup *} even in the presence of good data and with the systematics under control. However, it might do it in combination with other measurements (black hole shadow, radio pulsar, etc.)
Testing a class of non-Kerr metrics with hot spots orbiting SgrA*
SgrA*, the supermassive black hole candidate at the Galactic Center, exhibits flares in the X-ray, NIR, and sub-mm bands that may be interpreted within a hot spot model. Light curves and images of hot spots orbiting a black hole are affected by a number of special and general relativistic effects, and they can be potentially used to check whether the object is a Kerr black hole of general relativity. However, in a previous study we have shown that the relativistic features are usually subdominant with respect to the background noise and the model-dependent properties of the hot spot, and eventually it is at most possible to estimate the frequency of the innermost stable circular orbit. In this case, tests of the Kerr metric are only possible in combination with other measurements. In the present work, we consider a class of non-Kerr spacetimes in which the hot spot orbit may be outside the equatorial plane. These metrics are difficult to constrain from the study of accretion disks and indeed current X-ray observations of stellar-mass and supermassive black hole candidates cannot put interesting bounds. Here we show that near future observations of SgrA* may do it. If the hot spot is sufficiently close to the massive object, the image affected by Doppler blueshift is brighter than the other one and this provides a specific observational signature in the hot spot's centroid track. We conclude that accurate astrometric observations of SgrA* with an instrument like GRAVITY should be able to test this class of metrics, except in the more unlikely case of a small viewing angle.
CONSTRAINTS ON THE SPACETIME GEOMETRY AROUND 10 STELLAR-MASS BLACK HOLE CANDIDATES FROM THE DISK'S THERMAL SPECTRUM
In a previous paper, one of us (C. Bambi) described a code to compute the thermal spectrum of geometrically thin and optically thick accretion disks around generic stationary and axisymmetric black holes, which are not necessarily of the Kerr type. As the structure of the accretion disk and the propagation of electromagnetic radiation from the disk to the distant observer depend on the background metric, the analysis of the thermal spectrum of thin disks can be used to test the actual nature of black hole candidates. In this paper, we consider the 10 stellar-mass black hole candidates for which the spin parameter has already been estimated from the analysis of the disk's thermal spectrum under the assumption of the Kerr background, and we translate the measurements reported in the literature into constraints on the spin parameter-deformation parameter plane. The analysis of the disk's thermal spectrum can be used to estimate only one parameter of the geometry close to the compact object; therefore, it is not possible to get independent measurements of both the spin and the deformation parameters. The constraints obtained here will be used in combination with other measurements in future work with the final goal of breaking the degeneracy between the spin and possible deviations from the Kerr solution and thus test the Kerr black hole hypothesis.
Testing the nature of the supermassive black hole candidate in SgrA* with light curves and images of hot spots
General relativity makes clear predictions about the spacetime geometry around black holes. In the near future, new facilities will have the capability to explore the metric around SgrA*, the supermassive black hole candidate at the center of our Galaxy, and to open a new window to test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. In this paper, we compute light curves and images associated with compact emission regions (hot spots) orbiting around Kerr and non-Kerr black holes. We study how the analysis of the properties of the radiation emitted by a hot spot can be used to test the Kerr nature of SgrA*. We find that the sole observation of the hot spot light curve can at most constrain a combination of the black hole spin and of possible deviations from the Kerr solution. This happens because the same orbital frequency around a Kerr black hole can be found for a non-Kerr object with a different spin parameter. Second order corrections in the light curve due to the background geometry are typically too small to be identified. While the observation of the hot spot centroid track can potentially bound possible deviations from the Kerr solution, that is out of reach for the near future for the Very Large Telescope Interferometer instrument GRAVITY. The Kerr black hole hypothesis could really be tested in the case of the discovery of a radio pulsar in a compact orbit around SgrA*. Radio observations of such a pulsar would provide precise estimates of the mass and the spin of SgrA*, and the combination of these measurements (probing the weak field) with the hot spot light curve information (probing the strong field) may constrain/find possible deviations from the Kerr solution with quite good precision.
Constraining the spin and the deformation parameters from the black hole shadow
Within 5–10 years, very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI) facilities will be able to directly image the accretion flow around SgrA*, the super-massive black hole candidate at the center of the Galaxy, and observe the black hole ''shadow''. In 4-dimensional general relativity, the no-hair theorem asserts that uncharged black holes are described by the Kerr solution and are completely specified by their mass M and by their spin parameter a. In this paper, we explore the possibility of distinguishing Kerr and Bardeen black holes from their shadow. In Hioki and Maeda (2009), under the assumption that the background geometry is described by the Kerr solution, the authors proposed an algorithm to estimate the value of a/M by measuring the distortion parameter δ, an observable quantity that characterizes the shape of the shadow. Here, we try to extend their approach. Since the Hioki-Maeda distortion parameter is degenerate with respect to the spin and possible deviations from the Kerr solution, one has to measure another quantity to test the Kerr black hole hypothesis. We study a few possibilities. We find that it is extremely difficult to distinguish Kerr and Bardeen black holes from the sole observation of the shadow, and out of reach for the near future. The combination of the measurement of the shadow with possible accurate radio observations of a pulsar in a compact orbit around SgrA* could be a more promising strategy to verify the Kerr black hole paradigm.
Measuring the Kerr spin parameter of regular black holes from their shadow
In a previous paper, one of us has showed that, at least in some cases, the Kerr-nature of astrophysical black hole candidates is extremely difficult to test and current techniques, even in presence of excellent data not available today, cannot distinguish a Kerr black hole from a Bardeen one, despite the substantial difference of the two backgrounds. In this paper, we investigate if the detection of the ''shadow'' of nearby super-massive black hole candidates by near future mm/sub-mm very long baseline interferometry experiments can do the job. More specifically, we consider the measurement of the Kerr spin parameter of the Bardeen and Hayward regular black holes from their shadow, and we then compare the result with the estimate inferred from the Kα iron line and from the frequency of the innermost stable circular orbit. For non-rotating black holes, the shadow approach provides different values, and therefore the Kerr black hole hypothesis can potentially be tested. For near extremal objects, all the approaches give quite similar results, and therefore it is not possible to constrain deviations from the Kerr solution. The present work confirms that it is definitively challenging to test this kind of metrics, even with future facilities. However, the detection of a source that looks like a fast-rotating Kerr black hole can put meaningful constraints on the nature of the compact object.
Super-spinning compact objects generated by thick accretion disks
If astrophysical black hole candidates are the Kerr black holes predicted by General Relativity, the value of their spin parameter must be subject to the theoretical bound |a{sub *}| ≤ 1. In this work, we consider the possibility that these objects are either non-Kerr black holes in an alternative theory of gravity or exotic compact objects in General Relativity. We study the accretion process when their accretion disk is geometrically thick with a simple version of the Polish doughnut model. The picture of the accretion process may be qualitatively different from the one around a Kerr black hole. The inner edge of the disk may not have the typical cusp on the equatorial plane any more, but there may be two cusps, respectively above and below the equatorial plane. We extend previous work on the evolution of the spin parameter and we estimate the maximum value of a{sub *} for the super-massive black hole candidates in galactic nuclei. Since measurements of the mean radiative efficiency of AGNs require η > 0.15, we infer the ''observational'' bound |a{sub *}|∼<1.3, which seems to be quite independent of the exact nature of these objects. Such a bound is only slightly weaker than |a{sub *}|∼<1.2 found in previous work for thin disks.