3,867 research outputs found
Measuring η Carinae's High Mass Ejecta in the Infrared and Sub-millimeter
I address uncertainties on the spatial distribution and mass of the dust formed in η Carinae's Homunculus nebula with data being combined from several space- and ground-based facilities spanning near-infrared to sub-mm wavelengths, in terms of observational constraints and modeling. Until these aspects are better understood, the mass loss history and mechanisms responsible for η Car's enormous eruption(s) remain poorly constrained
Red Eyes on Wolf-Rayet Stars: 60 New Discoveries via Infrared Color Selection
We have spectroscopically identified 60 Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars,
including 38 nitrogen types (WN) and 22 carbon types (WC). Using photometry
from the Spitzer/GLIMPSE and 2MASS databases, the WRs were selected via a
method we have established that exploits their unique infrared colors, which is
mainly the result of excess radiation from free-free scattering within their
dense ionized winds. The selection criteria has been refined since our last
report, and now yields WRs at a rate of ~20% in spectroscopic follow-up of
candidates that comprise a broad color space defined by the color distribution
of all known WRs having B>14 mag. However, there are subregions within the
broad color space which yield WRs at a rate of >50%. Cross-correlation of WR
candidates with archival X-ray point-source catalogs increases the WR detection
rate of the broad color space to ~40%; ten new WR X-ray sources have been
found, in addition to a previously unrecognized X-ray counterpart to a known
WR. The extinction values, distances, and galactocentric radii of all new WRs
are calculated using the method of spectroscopic parallax. Although the
majority of the new WRs have no obvious association with stellar clusters, two
WC8 stars reside in a previously unknown massive-star cluster that lies near
the intersection of the Scutum-Centaurus Arm and the Galaxy's bar, in which
five OB supergiants were also identified. In addition, two WC and four WN stars
were identified in association with the stellar clusters Danks 1 and 2. A WN9
star has also been associated with the cluster [DBS2003] 179. This work brings
the total number of known Galactic WRs to 476, or ~7-8% of the total
empirically estimated population. An examination of their Galactic distribution
reveals a tracing of spiral arms and an enhanced WR surface density toward
several massive-star formation sites (abridged).Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journal on May 20, 2011. Document is 39
pages, including 20 figures and 8 table
Applications of flight control system methods to an advanced combat rotorcraft
Advanced flight control system design, analysis, and testing methodologies developed at the Ames Research Center are applied in an analytical and flight test evaluation of the Advanced Digital Optical Control System (ADOCS) demonstrator. The primary objectives are to describe the knowledge gained about the implications of digital flight control system design for rotorcraft, and to illustrate the analysis of the resulting handling-qualities in the context of the proposed new handling-qualities specification for rotorcraft. Topics covered in-depth are digital flight control design and analysis methods, flight testing techniques, ADOCS handling-qualities evaluation results, and correlation of flight test results with analytical models and the proposed handling-qualities specification. The evaluation of the ADOCS demonstrator indicates desirable response characteristics based on equivalent damping and frequency, but undersirably large effective time-delays (exceeding 240 m sec in all axes). Piloted handling-qualities are found to be desirable or adequate for all low, medium, and high pilot gain tasks; but handling-qualities are inadequate for ultra-high gain tasks such as slope and running landings
Applications of Machine-Learning Algorithms for Infrared Colour Selection of Galactic Wolf-Rayet Stars
We have investigated and applied machine-learning algorithms for Infrared
Colour Selection of Galactic Wolf-Rayet (WR) candidates. Objects taken from the
GLIMPSE catalogue of the infrared objects in the Galactic plane can be
classified into different stellar populations based on the colours inferred
from their broadband photometric magnitudes (, and from 2MASS, and
the four \textit{Spitzer}/IRAC bands). The algorithms tested in this pilot
study are variants of the -Nearest Neighbours (-NN) approach, which is
ideal for exploratory studies of classification problems where interrelations
between variables and classes are complicated. The aims of this study are (1)
to provide an automated tool to select reliable WR candidates and potentially
other classes of objects, (2) to measure the efficiency of infrared colour
selection at performing these tasks and, (3) to lay the groundwork for
statistically inferring the total number of WR stars in our Galaxy. We report
the performance results obtained over a set of known objects and selected
candidates for which we have carried out follow-up spectroscopic observations,
and confirm the discovery of 4 new WR stars.Comment: Authors' version of published paper, now at MNRAS, 473, 256
Vertex corrections in localized and extended systems
Within many-body perturbation theory we apply vertex corrections to various
closed-shell atoms and to jellium, using a local approximation for the vertex
consistent with starting the many-body perturbation theory from a DFT-LDA
Green's function. The vertex appears in two places -- in the screened Coulomb
interaction, W, and in the self-energy, \Sigma -- and we obtain a systematic
discrimination of these two effects by turning the vertex in \Sigma on and off.
We also make comparisons to standard GW results within the usual random-phase
approximation (RPA), which omits the vertex from both. When a vertex is
included for closed-shell atoms, both ground-state and excited-state properties
demonstrate only limited improvements over standard GW. For jellium we observe
marked improvement in the quasiparticle band width when the vertex is included
only in W, whereas turning on the vertex in \Sigma leads to an unphysical
quasiparticle dispersion and work function. A simple analysis suggests why
implementation of the vertex only in W is a valid way to improve quasiparticle
energy calculations, while the vertex in \Sigma is unphysical, and points the
way to development of improved vertices for ab initio electronic structure
calculations.Comment: 8 Pages, 6 Figures. Updated with quasiparticle neon results, extended
conclusions and references section. Minor changes: Updated references, minor
improvement
Carinae's Dusty Homunculus Nebula from Near-Infrared to Submillimeter Wavelengths: Mass, Composition, and Evidence for Fading Opacity
Infrared observations of the dusty, massive Homunculus Nebula around the
luminous blue variable Carinae are crucial to characterize the mass-loss
history and help constrain the mechanisms leading to the Great Eruption. We
present the 2.4 - 670 m spectral energy distribution, constructed from
legacy ISO observations and new spectroscopy obtained with the {\em{Herschel
Space Observatory}}. Using radiative transfer modeling, we find that the two
best-fit dust models yield compositions which are consistent with CNO-processed
material, with iron, pyroxene and other metal-rich silicates, corundum, and
magnesium-iron sulfide in common. Spherical corundum grains are supported by
the good match to a narrow 20.2 m feature. Our preferred model contains
nitrides AlN and SiN in low abundances. Dust masses range from 0.25 to
0.44 but 45 in both cases due to an
expected high Fe gas-to-dust ratio. The bulk of dust is within a 5
7 central region. An additional compact feature is detected at 390 m.
We obtain = 2.96 10 , a 25\% decline from
an average of mid-IR photometric levels observed in 1971-1977. This indicates a
reduction in circumstellar extinction in conjunction with an increase in visual
brightness, allowing 25-40\% of optical and UV radiation to escape from the
central source. We also present an analysis of CO and CO through lines, showing that the abundances are consistent with
expectations for CNO-processed material. The [C~{\sc{ii}}] line is
detected in absorption, which we suspect originates in foreground material at
very low excitation temperatures.Comment: Accepted in Ap
Cosmology and Astrophysics from Relaxed Galaxy Clusters II: Cosmological Constraints
We present cosmological constraints from measurements of the gas mass
fraction, , for massive, dynamically relaxed galaxy clusters. Our data
set consists of Chandra observations of 40 such clusters, identified in a
comprehensive search of the Chandra archive, as well as high-quality weak
gravitational lensing data for a subset of these clusters. Incorporating a
robust gravitational lensing calibration of the X-ray mass estimates, and
restricting our measurements to the most self-similar and accurately measured
regions of clusters, significantly reduces systematic uncertainties compared to
previous work. Our data for the first time constrain the intrinsic scatter in
, % in a spherical shell at radii 0.8-1.2 ,
consistent with the expected variation in gas depletion and non-thermal
pressure for relaxed clusters. From the lowest-redshift data in our sample we
obtain a constraint on a combination of the Hubble parameter and cosmic baryon
fraction, , that is insensitive to the
nature of dark energy. Combined with standard priors on and ,
this provides a tight constraint on the cosmic matter density,
, which is similarly insensitive to dark energy. Using
the entire cluster sample, extending to , we obtain consistent results for
and interesting constraints on dark energy:
for non-flat CDM models, and
for flat constant- models. Our results are both competitive
and consistent with those from recent CMB, SNIa and BAO data. We present
constraints on models of evolving dark energy from the combination of
data with these external data sets, and comment on the possibilities for
improved constraints using current and next-generation X-ray
observatories and lensing data. (Abridged)Comment: 25 pages, 14 figures, 8 tables. Accepted by MNRAS. Code and data can
be downloaded from http://www.slac.stanford.edu/~amantz/work/fgas14/ . v2:
minor fix to table 1, updated bibliograph
A Hidden Population of Massive Stars with Circumstellar Shells Discovered with the Spitzer Space Telescope
We have discovered a large number of circular and elliptical shells at 24
microns around luminous central sources with the MIPS instrument on-board the
Spitzer Space Telescope. Our archival follow-up effort has revealed 90% of
these circumstellar shells to be previously unknown. The majority of the shells
is only visible at 24 microns, but many of the central stars are detected at
multiple wavelengths from the mid- to the near-IR regime. The general lack of
optical counterparts, however, indicates that these sources represent a
population of highly obscured objects. We obtained optical and near-IR
spectroscopic observations of the central stars and find most of these objects
to be massive stars. In particular, we identify a large population of sources
that we argue represents a narrow evolutionary phase, closely related or
identical to the LBV stage of massive stellar evolution.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, accepted for publication in A
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