5,376 research outputs found
A Silver Anniversary Observation of the X-ray Emitting SN1978K in NGC 1313
We describe the results of a 2003 Chandra ACIS-I observation of SN1978K. The
spectrum shows little flux below 0.6 keV, in contrast to the 2002 ACIS-S
observation that showed flux to 0.4 keV. Fitting the ACIS-I spectrum alone
leads to two solutions depending upon the value of the column density. A joint
fit using a dual thermal plasma model applied to the ACIS-I and a
contemporaneous XMM spectrum, which if fit alone also leads to a two-column
solution, yields a single column density fit. The fitted temperature of the
joint fit for the soft component remains constant with the errors from previous
Chandra, XMM, and ASCA data. The hard temperature recovers from its 2000-2002
decline and corresponds to an increase in the column density during that time.
The hard (2-10 keV) light curve is confirmed to be declining. The derived
number density represents a lower limit of 1e5 depending upon the adopted
filling factor of the emitting volume, leading to an estimated mass cooling
rate of 0.1-0.15 solar masses per year.Comment: accepted A
Soft X-ray Emission from the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313
The nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 has been observed with the PSPC
instr- ument on board the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Ten individual sources are
found. Three sources (X-1, X-2 and X-3 [SN~1978K]) are very bright (~10^40
erg/s) and are unusual in that analogous objects do not exist in our Galaxy. We
present an X-ray image of NGC~1313 and \xray spectra for the three bright
sources. The emission from the nuclear region (R ~< 2 kpc) is dominated by
source X-1, which is located ~1 kpc north of the photometric (and dynamical)
center of NGC~1313. Optical, far-infrared and radio images do not indicate the
presence of an active galactic nucleus at that position; however, the compact
nature of the \xray source (X-1) suggests that it is an accretion-powered
object with central mass M >~ 10^3 Msun. Additional emission (L_X ~ 10^39
erg/s) in the nuclear region extends out to ~2.6 kpc and roughly follows the
spiral arms. This emission is from 4 sources with luminosity of several x 10^38
erg/s, two of which are consistent with emission from population I sources
(e.g., supernova remnants, and hot interstellar gas which has been heated by
supernova remnants). The other two sources could be emission from population II
sources (e.g., low-mass \xray binaries). The bright sources X-2 and SN~1978K
are positioned in the southern disk of NGC~1313. X-2 is variable and has no
optical counterpart brighter than 20.8 mag (V-band). It is likely that it is an
accretion-powered object in NGC~1313. The type-II supernova SN~1978K (Ryder
\etal 1993) has become extra- ordinarily luminous in X-rays 13 years
after optical maximum.Comment: to appear in 10 Jun 1995 ApJ, 30 pgs uuencoded compressed postscript,
25 pgs of figures available upon request from colbert, whole preprint
available upon request from Sandy Shrader ([email protected]),
hopefully fixed unknown problem with postscript fil
New spectral classification technique for X-ray sources: quantile analysis
We present a new technique called "quantile analysis" to classify spectral
properties of X-ray sources with limited statistics. The quantile analysis is
superior to the conventional approaches such as X-ray hardness ratio or X-ray
color analysis to study relatively faint sources or to investigate a certain
phase or state of a source in detail, where poor statistics does not allow
spectral fitting using a model. Instead of working with predetermined energy
bands, we determine the energy values that divide the detected photons into
predetermined fractions of the total counts such as median (50%), tercile (33%
& 67%), and quartile (25% & 75%). We use these quantiles as an indicator of the
X-ray hardness or color of the source. We show that the median is an improved
substitute for the conventional X-ray hardness ratio. The median and other
quantiles form a phase space, similar to the conventional X-ray color-color
diagrams. The quantile-based phase space is more evenly sensitive over various
spectral shapes than the conventional color-color diagrams, and it is naturally
arranged to properly represent the statistical similarity of various spectral
shapes. We demonstrate the new technique in the 0.3-8 keV energy range using
Chandra ACIS-S detector response function and a typical aperture photometry
involving background subtraction. The technique can be applied in any energy
band, provided the energy distribution of photons can be obtained.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Effect of electron heating on self-induced transparency in relativistic intensity laser-plasma interaction
The effective increase of the critical density associated with the
interaction of relativistically intense laser pulses with overcritical plasmas,
known as self-induced transparency, is revisited for the case of circular
polarization. A comparison of particle-in-cell simulations to the predictions
of a relativistic cold-fluid model for the transparency threshold demonstrates
that kinetic effects, such as electron heating, can lead to a substantial
increase of the effective critical density compared to cold-fluid theory. These
results are interpreted by a study of separatrices in the single-electron phase
space corresponding to dynamics in the stationary fields predicted by the
cold-fluid model. It is shown that perturbations due to electron heating
exceeding a certain finite threshold can force electrons to escape into the
vacuum, leading to laser pulse propagation. The modification of the
transparency threshold is linked to the temporal pulse profile, through its
effect on electron heating.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures; fixed some typos and improved discussion of
review materia
Plant Biomechanics: No Pain, No Gain for Birch Tree Stems
Allometric relationships between organism size and shape are often described in developmental or evolutionary terms. A new study characterizes a collapsing birch tree mutant and provides a genetic entry point into the biomechanical control of tree allometry
A Serendipitous XMM-Newton Observation of the Intermediate Polar WX Pyx
We briefly describe a serendipitous observation of the little-studied
intermediate polar WX Pyx using XMM-Newton. The X-ray spin period is 1557.3
sec, confirming the optical period published in 1996. An orbital period of
approximately 5.54 hr is inferred from the separation of the spin-orbit
sidelobe components. The soft and hard band spin-folded light curves are nearly
sinusoidal in shape. The best-fit spectrum is consistent with a bremsstrahlung
temperature of about 18 keV. An upper limit of approximately 300 eV is assigned
to the presence of Fe line emission. WX Pyx lies near TX and TV Col in the
P_spin-P_orb plane.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figs; accepted A&A 2004 Dec
Representations of celestial coordinates in FITS
In Paper I, Greisen & Calabretta (2002) describe a generalized method for
assigning physical coordinates to FITS image pixels. This paper implements this
method for all spherical map projections likely to be of interest in astronomy.
The new methods encompass existing informal FITS spherical coordinate
conventions and translations from them are described. Detailed examples of
header interpretation and construction are given.Comment: Consequent to Paper I: "Representations of world coordinates in
FITS". 45 pages, 38 figures, 13 tables, aa macros v5.2 (2002/Jun). Both
papers submitted to Astronomy & Astrophysics (2002/07/19). Replaced to try to
get figure and table placement right (no textual changes
Local structure controls shear and bulk moduli in disordered solids
This is the final version of the article. It first appeared from Nature Publishing Group via http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep18724Paradigmatic model systems, which are used to study the mechanical response of matter, are random networks of point-atoms, random sphere packings, or simple crystal lattices; all of these models assume central-force interactions between particles/atoms. Each of these models differs in the spatial arrangement and the correlations among particles. In turn, this is reflected in the widely different behaviours of the shear (G) and compression (K) elastic moduli. The relation between the macroscopic elasticity as encoded in G, K and their ratio, and the microscopic lattice structure/order, is not understood. We provide a quantitative analytical connection between the local orientational order and the elasticity in model amorphous solids with different internal microstructure, focusing on the two opposite limits of packings (strong excluded-volume) and networks (no excluded-volume). The theory predicts that, in packings, the local orientational order due to excluded-volume causes less nonaffinity (less softness or larger stiffness) under compression than under shear. This leads to lower values of G/K, a well-documented phenomenon which was lacking a microscopic explanation. The theory also provides an excellent one-parameter description of the elasticity of compressed emulsions in comparison with experimental data over a broad range of packing fractions.This work was supported by the Theoretical Condensed Matter programme grant from EPSRC. M.S. thanks the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung for their financial support
Detecting z > 2 Type IIn Supernovae
Type IIn supernovae (SNe IIn) dominate the brightest supernova events in
observed FUV flux (~1200-2000A). We show that multi-band, multi-epoch optical
surveys complete to m_r = 27 can detect the FUV emission of ~25 z > 2 SNe IIn
deg^-2 yr^-1 rest-frame (~10 SNe IIn deg^-2 yr^-1 observed-frame) to 4 sigma
using a technique monitoring color-selected galaxies. Moreover, the strength
and evolution of the bright emission lines observed in low redshift SNe IIn
imply that the Ly-a emission features in ~70% of z > 2 SNe IIn are above
8m-class telescope spectroscopic thresholds for ~2 yr rest-frame. As a result,
existing facilities have the capability to both photometrically detect and
spectroscopically confirm z > 2 SNe IIn and pave the way for efficient searches
by future 8m-class survey and 30m-class telescopes. The method presented here
uses the sensitivities and wide-field capabilities of current optical
instruments and exploits (1) the efficiency of z > 2 galaxy color-selection
techniques, (2) the intrinsic brightness distribution ( = -19.0 +/-0.9)
and blue profile of SNe IIn continua, (3) the presence of extremely bright,
long-lived emission features, and (4) the potential to detect blueshifted SNe
Ly-a emission shortward of host galaxy Ly-a features.Comment: 26 pages (pre-print), 6 figures, accepted Ap
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