126 research outputs found
Abundance analyses of helium-rich subluminous B stars
The connection between helium-rich hot subdwarfs of spectral types O and B
(He-sdB) has been relatively unexplored since the latter were found in
significant numbers in the 1980's. In order to explore this connection further,
we have analysed the surface composition of six He-sdB stars, including LB
1766, LB 3229, SB 21 (= Ton-S 137 = BPS 29503-0009), BPS 22940-0009, BPS
29496-0010, and BPS 22956-0094. Opacity-sampled line-blanketed model
atmospheres have been used to derive atmospheric properties and elemental
abundances. All the stars are moderately metal-poor compared with the Sun
([Fe/H] ~ -0.5). Four stars are nitrogen-rich, two of these are carbon-rich,
and at least four appear to be neon-rich. The data are insufficient to rule out
binarity in any of the sample. The surface composition and locus of the N-rich
He-sdBs are currently best explained by the merger of two helium white dwarfs,
or possibly by the merger of a helium white dwarf with a post-sdB white dwarf.
C-rich He-sdBs require further investigation.Comment: Accepted 2010 July
Emergency Care Handover (ECHO study) across care boundaries : the need for joint decision making and consideration of psychosocial history
Background: Inadequate handover in emergency care is a threat to patient safety. Handover across care boundaries poses particular problems due to different professional, organisational and cultural backgrounds. While there have been many suggestions for standardisation of handover content, relatively little is known about the verbal behaviours that shape handover conversations. This paper explores both what is communicated (content) and how this is communicated (verbal behaviours) during different types of handover conversations across care boundaries in emergency care.
Methods: Three types of interorganisational (ambulance service to emergency department (ED) in ‘resuscitation’ and ‘majors’ areas) and interdepartmental handover conversations (referrals to acute medicine) were audio recorded in three National Health Service EDs. Handover conversations were segmented into utterances. Frequency counts for content and language forms were derived for each type of handover using Discourse Analysis. Verbal behaviours were identified using Conversation Analysis.
Results: 203 handover conversations were analysed. Handover conversations involving ambulance services were predominantly descriptive (60%–65% of utterances), unidirectional and focused on patient presentation (75%–80%). Referrals entailed more collaborative talk focused on the decision to admit and immediate care needs. Across all types of handover, only 1.5%–5% of handover conversation content related to the patient's social and psychological needs.
Conclusions: Handover may entail both descriptive talk aimed at information transfer and collaborative talk aimed at joint decision-making. Standardisation of handover needs to accommodate collaborative aspects and should incorporate communication of information relevant to the patient's social and psychological needs to establish appropriate care arrangements at the earliest opportunity
The railroad switch effect of seasonally reversing currents on the Bay of Bengal high salinity core
The Southwest Monsoon Current (SMC) flows eastward from the Arabian Sea into the Bay of Bengal (BoB) during summer, advecting a core of high salinity water. This high salinity core has been linked with Arabian Sea High Salinity Water that is presumed to enter the BoB directly from the Arabian Sea via the SMC. Here we show that the high salinity core originates primarily from the western equatorial Indian Ocean, reaching the BoB via the Somali Current, the Equatorial Undercurrent and the SMC. Years with anomalously saline high salinity cores are linked with the East Africa Coastal Current and the Somali Current winter convergence, and an anomalously strong Equatorial Undercurrent. Seasonal reversals that occur at the Somali Current and SMC junctions act as 'railroad switches' diverting water masses to different basins in the northern Indian Ocean. Interannual fluctuations of the Equatorial Undercurrent are linked to wind stress and El Nino
Discovery of a variable lead-rich hot subdwarf: UVO 0825+15
UVO 0825+15 is a hot bright helium-rich subdwarf which lies in K2 Field 5 and in a sample of intermediate helium-rich subdwarfs observed the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. The K2 light curve shows low-amplitude variations, whilst the Subaru spectrum shows Pb IV absorption lines, indicative of a very high lead overabundance. UVO 0825+15 also has a high proper motion with kinematics typical for a thick disc star. Analyses of ultraviolet and intermediate dispersion optical spectra rule out a short-period binary companion and provide fundamental atmospheric parameters of Teff=38 900±270 K, logg/cms−2=5.97±0.11, log nHe/nH = −0.57 ± 0.01, EB − V ≈ 0.03, and angular radius θ = 1.062 ± 0.006 × 10−11 radians (formal errors). The high-resolution spectrum shows that carbon is \u3e2 dex subsolar, iron is approximately solar, and all other elements heavier than argon are at least 2–4 dex overabundant, including germanium, yttrium and lead. Approximately 150 lines in the blue-optical spectrum remain unidentified. The chemical structure of the photosphere is presumed to be determined by radiatively dominated diffusion. The K2 light curve shows a dominant period around 10.8 h, with a variable amplitude, its first harmonic, and another period at 13.3 h. The preferred explanation is multiperiodic non-radial oscillation due to g modes with very high radial order, although this presents difficulties for pulsation theory. Alternative explanations fail for lack of radial-velocity evidence. UVO 0825+15 represents the fourth member of a group of hot subdwarfs having helium-enriched photospheres and 3–4 dex overabundances of trans-iron elements and is the first lead-rich subdwarf to show evidence of pulsations
Some functional equations related to the characterizations of information measures and their stability
The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the stability problem of
some functional equations that appear in the characterization problem of
information measures.Comment: 36 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1307.0657,
arXiv:1307.0631, arXiv:1307.0664, arXiv:1307.065
Discovery of a variable lead-rich hot subdwarf: UVO 0825+15
UVO 0825+15 is a hot bright helium-rich subdwarf which lies in K2 Field 5 and in a sample of intermediate helium-rich subdwarfs observed the Subaru High Dispersion Spectrograph. The K2 light curve shows low-amplitude variations, whilst the Subaru spectrum shows Pb IV absorption lines, indicative of a very high lead overabundance. UVO 0825+15 also has a high proper motion with kinematics typical for a thick disc star. Analyses of ultraviolet and intermediate dispersion optical spectra rule out a short-period binary companion and provide fundamental atmospheric parameters of Teff=38 900±270 K, logg/cms−2=5.97±0.11, log nHe/nH = −0.57 ± 0.01, EB − V ≈ 0.03, and angular radius θ = 1.062 ± 0.006 × 10−11 radians (formal errors). The high-resolution spectrum shows that carbon is \u3e2 dex subsolar, iron is approximately solar, and all other elements heavier than argon are at least 2–4 dex overabundant, including germanium, yttrium and lead. Approximately 150 lines in the blue-optical spectrum remain unidentified. The chemical structure of the photosphere is presumed to be determined by radiatively dominated diffusion. The K2 light curve shows a dominant period around 10.8 h, with a variable amplitude, its first harmonic, and another period at 13.3 h. The preferred explanation is multiperiodic non-radial oscillation due to g modes with very high radial order, although this presents difficulties for pulsation theory. Alternative explanations fail for lack of radial-velocity evidence. UVO 0825+15 represents the fourth member of a group of hot subdwarfs having helium-enriched photospheres and 3–4 dex overabundances of trans-iron elements and is the first lead-rich subdwarf to show evidence of pulsations
Three-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations of red giant stars: semi-global models for the interpretation of interferometric observations
Context. Theoretical predictions from models of red giant branch stars are a
valuable tool for various applications in astrophysics ranging from galactic
chemical evolution to studies of exoplanetary systems. Aims. We use the
radiative transfer code OPTIM3D and realistic 3D radiative-hydrodynamical (RHD)
surface convection simulations of red giants to explore the impact of
granulation on interferometric observables. Methods. We compute intensity maps
for the 3D simulation snapshots in two filters: in the optical at 5000 \pm 300
{\AA} and in the K band 2.14 0.26 {\mu}m FLUOR filter, corresponding to
the wavelength-range of instruments mounted on the CHARA interferometer. From
the intensity maps, we construct images of the stellar disks, accounting for
center-to-limb variations. We then derive interferometric visibility amplitudes
and phases. We study their behavior with position angle and wavelength.
Results. We provide average limb-darkening coefficients for different
metallicities and wavelength-ranges. We detail the prospects for the detection
and characterization of granulation and center-to-limb variations of red giant
stars with today's interferometers. We find that the effect of
convective-related surface structures depends on metallicity and surface
gravity. We provided theoretical closure phases that should be incorporated
into the analysis of red giant planet companion closure phase signals. We
estimate 3D-1D corrections to stellar radii determination: 3D models are ~ 3.5%
smaller to ~ 1% larger in the optical with respect to 1D, and roughly 0.5 to
1.5% smaller in the infrared. Even if these corrections are small, they are
important to properly set the zero point of effective temperature scale derived
by interferometry and to strengthen the confidence of existing red giant
catalogues of calibrating stars for interferometry.Comment: Accepted for publication on Astronomy & Astrophysics, 14 pages, 13
figure
Barium abundance in red giants of NGC 6752. Non-local thermodynamic equilibrium and three-dimensional effects
(Abridged) Aims: We study the effects related to departures from non-local
thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) and homogeneity in the atmospheres of red
giant stars in Galactic globular cluster NGC 6752, to assess their influence on
the formation of Ba II lines. Methods: One-dimensional (1D) local thermodynamic
equilibrium (LTE) and 1D NLTE barium abundances were derived using classical 1D
ATLAS stellar model atmospheres. The three-dimensional (3D) LTE abundances were
obtained for 8 red giants on the lower RGB, by adjusting their 1D LTE
abundances using 3D-1D abundance corrections, i.e., the differences between the
abundances obtained from the same spectral line using the 3D hydrodynamical
(CO5BOLD) and classical 1D (LHD) stellar model atmospheres. Results: The mean
1D barium-to-iron abundance ratios derived for 20 giants are _{1D
NLTE} = 0.05 \pm0.06 (stat.) \pm0.08 (sys.). The 3D-1D abundance correction
obtained for 8 giants is small (~+0.05 dex), thus leads to only minor
adjustment when applied to the mean 1D NLTE barium-to-iron abundance ratio for
the 20 giants, _{3D+NLTE} = 0.10 \pm0.06(stat.) \pm0.10(sys.). The
intrinsic abundance spread between the individual cluster stars is small and
can be explained in terms of uncertainties in the abundance determinations.
Conclusions: Deviations from LTE play an important role in the formation of
barium lines in the atmospheres of red giants studied here. The role of 3D
hydrodynamical effects should not be dismissed either, even if the obtained
3D-1D abundance corrections are small. This result is a consequence of subtle
fine-tuning of individual contributions from horizontal temperature
fluctuations and differences between the average temperature profiles in the 3D
and 1D model atmospheres: owing to the comparable size and opposite sign, their
contributions nearly cancel each other.Comment: Minor typos corrected. Accepted for publication in A&A (9 pages, 3
figures, 6 tables
Double white dwarf mergers and elemental surface abundances in extreme helium and R Coronae Borealis stars
The surface abundances of extreme helium (EHe) and R Coronae Borealis (RCB)
stars are discussed in terms of the merger of a carbon-oxygen white dwarf with
a helium white dwarf. The model is expressed as a linear mixture of the
individual layers of both constituent white dwarfs, taking account of the
specific evolution of each star. In developing this recipe from previous
versions, particular attention has been given to the inter-shell abundances of
the asymptotic giant branch star which evolved to become the carbon-oxygen
white dwarf. Thus the surface composition of the merged star is estimated as a
function of the initial mass and metallicity of its progenitor. The question of
whether additional nucleosynthesis occurs during the white dwarf merger has
been examined.
The high observed abundances of carbon and oxygen must either originate by
dredge-up from the core of the carbon-oxygen white dwarf during a cold merger
or be generated directly by alpha-burning during a hot merger. The presence of
large quantities of O18 may be consistent with both scenarios, since a
significant O18 pocket develops at the carbon/helium boundary in a number of
our post-AGB models.
The production of fluorine, neon and phosphorus in the AGB intershell
produces n overabundance at the surface of the merged stars, but generally not
in sufficient quantity. However, the evidence for an AGB origin for these
elements points to progenitor stars with initial masses in the range 1.9 - 3
solar masses.
There is not yet sufficient information to discriminate the origin (fossil or
prompt) of all the abundance anomalies observed in EHe and RCB stars. Further
work is required on argon and s-process elements in the AGB intershell, and on
the predicted yields of all elements from a hot merger.Comment: 20 pages, 8 figures, 3 tables, MNRAS in pres
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