7,042 research outputs found
Atomic Diffusion and Mixing in Old Stars. III. Analysis of NGC 6397 Stars under New Constraints
We have previously reported on chemical abundance trends with evolutionary
state in the globular cluster NGC 6397 discovered in analyses of spectra taken
with FLAMES at the VLT. Here, we reinvestigate the FLAMES-UVES sample of 18
stars, ranging from just above the turnoff point (TOP) to the red giant branch
below the bump. Inspired by new calibrations of the infrared flux method, we
adopt a set of hotter temperature scales. Chemical abundances are determined
for six elements (Li, Mg, Ca, Ti, Cr, and Fe). Signatures of cluster-internal
pollution are identified and corrected for in the analysis of Mg.
On the modified temperature scales, evolutionary trends in the abundances of
Mg and Fe are found to be significant at the 2{\sigma} and 3{\sigma} levels,
respectively. The detailed evolution of abundances for all six elements agrees
with theoretical isochrones, calculated with effects of atomic diffusion and a
weak to moderately strong efficiency of turbulent mixing. The age of these
models is compatible with the external determination from the white dwarf
cooling sequence. We find that the abundance analysis cannot be reconciled with
the strong turbulent-mixing efficiency inferred elsewhere for halo field stars.
A weak mixing efficiency reproduces observations best, indicating a
diffusion-corrected primordial lithium abundance of log {\epsilon}(Li) = 2.57
+- 0.10. At 1.2{\sigma}, this value agrees well with WMAP-calibrated Big-Bang
nucleosynthesis predictions.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Ap
Pristine CNO abundances from Magellanic Cloud B stars II. Fast rotators in the LMC cluster NGC 2004
We present spectroscopic abundance analyses of three main-sequence B stars in
the young Large Magellanic Cloud cluster NGC 2004. All three targets have
projected rotational velocities around 130 km/s. Techniques are presented that
allow the derivation of stellar parameters and chemical abundances in spite of
these high v sin i values. Together with previous analyses of stars in this
cluster, we find no evidence among the main-sequence stars for effects due to
rotational mixing up to v sin i around 130 km/s. Unless the equatorial
rotational velocities are significantly larger than the v sin i values, this
finding is probably in line with theoretical expectations. NGC 2004/B30, a star
of uncertain evolutionary status located in the Blue Hertzsprung Gap, clearly
shows signs of mixing in its atmosphere. To verify the effects due to
rotational mixing will therefore require homogeneous analysis of statistically
significant samples of low-metallicity main-sequence B stars over a wide range
of rotational velocities.Comment: 12 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables; accepted for publication in ApJ (vol.
633, p. 899
Coherent states for the q-deformed quantum mechanics on a circle
The q-deformed coherent states for a quantum particle on a circle are
introduced and their properties investigated.Comment: 11 pages, 2 PostScript figure
Hybrid computer Monte-Carlo techniques
Hybrid analog-digital computer systems for Monte Carlo method application
Bichiral structure of feroelectric domain wall driven by flexoelectricity
The influence of flexoelectric coupling on the internal structure of neutral
domain walls in tetragonal phase of perovskite ferroelectrics is studied. The
effect is shown to lower the symmetry of 180-degree walls which are oblique
with respect to the cubic crystallographic axes, while {100} and {110} walls
stay "untouched". Being of the Ising type in the absence of the flexoelectric
interaction, the oblique domain walls acquire a new polarization component with
a structure qualitatively different from the classical Bloch-wall structure. In
contrast to the Bloch-type walls, where the polarization vector draws a helix
on passing from one domain to the other, in the flexoeffect-affected wall, the
polarization rotates in opposite directions on the two sides of the wall and
passes through zero in its center. Since the resulting polarization profile is
invariant upon inversion with respect to the wall center it does not brake the
wall symmetry in contrast to the classical Bloch-type walls. The flexoelectric
coupling lower the domain wall energy and gives rise to its additional
anisotropy that is comparable to that conditioned by the elastic anisotropy.
The atomic orderof- magnitude estimates shows that the new polarization
component P2 may be comparable with spontaneous polarization Ps, thus
suggesting that, in general, the flexoelectric coupling should be mandatory
included in domain wall simulations in ferroelectrics. Calculations performed
for barium titanate yields the maximal value of the P2, which is much smaller
than that of the spontaneous polarization. This smallness is attributed to an
anomalously small value of a component of the "strain-polarization"
elecrostictive tensor in this material
Coherent states of a charged particle in a uniform magnetic field
The coherent states are constructed for a charged particle in a uniform
magnetic field based on coherent states for the circular motion which have
recently been introduced by the authors.Comment: 2 eps figure
The Hamburg/ESO R-process Enhanced Star survey (HERES) IV. Detailed abundance analysis and age dating of the strongly r-process enhanced stars CS 29491-069 and HE 1219-0312
We report on a detailed abundance analysis of two strongly r-process
enhanced, very metal-poor stars newly discovered in the HERES project, CS
29491-069 ([Fe/H]=-2.51, [r/Fe]=+1.1) and HE 1219-0312 ([Fe/H]=-2.96,
[r/Fe]=+1.5). The analysis is based on high-quality VLT/UVES spectra and MARCS
model atmospheres. We detect lines of 15 heavy elements in the spectrum of CS
29491-069, and 18 in HE 1219-0312; in both cases including the Th II 4019 {\AA}
line. The heavy-element abundance patterns of these two stars are mostly
well-matched to scaled solar residual abundances not formed by the s-process.
We also compare the observed pattern with recent high-entropy wind (HEW)
calculations, which assume core-collapse supernovae of massive stars as the
astrophysical environment for the r-process, and find good agreement for most
lanthanides. The abundance ratios of the lighter elements strontium, yttrium,
and zirconium, which are presumably not formed by the main r-process, are
reproduced well by the model. Radioactive dating for CS 29491-069 with the
observed thorium and rare-earth element abundance pairs results in an average
age of 9.5 Gyr, when based on solar r-process residuals, and 17.6 Gyr, when
using HEW model predictions. Chronometry seems to fail in the case of HE
1219-0312, resulting in a negative age due to its high thorium abundance. HE
1219-0312 could therefore exhibit an overabundance of the heaviest elements,
which is sometimes called an "actinide boost"
A proposal for a new type of thin-film field-emission display by edge breakdown of MIS structure
A new type of field emission display(FED) based on an edge-enhance electron
emission from metal-insulator-semiconductor (MIS) thin film structure is
proposed. The electrons produced by an avalanche breakdown in the semiconductor
near the edge of a top metal electrode are initially injected to the thin film
of an insulator with a negative electron affinity (NEA), and then are injected
into vacuum in proximity to the top electrode edge. The condition for the
deep-depletition breakdown near the edge of the top metal electrode is
analytically found in terms of ratio of the insulator thickness to the maximum
(breakdown) width of the semiconductor depletition region: this ratio should be
less than 2/(3 \pi - 2) = 0.27. The influence of a neighboring metal electrode
and an electrode thickness on this condition are analyzed. Different practical
schemes of the proposed display with a special reference to M/CaF_2/Si
structure are considered.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
Phase field theory of interfaces and crystal nucleation in a eutectic system of fcc structure: I. Transitions in the one-phase liquid region
The published version of this Article can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2007 American Institute of PhysicsThe phase field theory (PFT) has been applied to predict equilibrium interfacial properties and nucleation barrier in the binary eutectic system Ag-Cu using double well and interpolation functions deduced from a Ginzburg-Landau expansion that considers fcc (face centered cubic) crystal symmetries. The temperature and composition dependent free energies of the liquid and solid phases are taken from CALculation of PHAse Diagrams-type calculations. The model parameters of PFT are fixed so as to recover an interface thickness of approximately 1 nm from molecular dynamics simulations and the interfacial free energies from the experimental dihedral angles available for the pure components. A nontrivial temperature and composition dependence for the equilibrium interfacial free energy is observed. Mapping the possible nucleation pathways, we find that the Ag and Cu rich critical fluctuations compete against each other in the neighborhood of the eutectic composition. The Tolman length is positive and shows a maximum as a function of undercooling. The PFT predictions for the critical undercooling are found to be consistent with experimental results. These results support the view that heterogeneous nucleation took place in the undercooling experiments available at present. We also present calculations using the classical droplet model classical nucleation theory (CNT) and a phenomenological diffuse interface theory (DIT). While the predictions of the CNT with a purely entropic interfacial free energy underestimate the critical undercooling, the DIT results appear to be in a reasonable agreement with the PFT predictions.This work has been supported by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences under Contract No. OTKA-K-62588 and by the ESA PECS Contract Nos. 98005, 98021, and 98043
Static deformation of heavy spring due to gravity and centrifugal force
The static equilibrium deformation of a heavy spring due to its own weight is
calculated for two cases. First for a spring hanging in a constant
gravitational field, then for a spring which is at rest in a rotating system
where it is stretched by the centrifugal force. Two different models are
considered. First a discrete model assuming a finite number of point masses
connected by springs of negligible weight. Then the continuum limit of this
model. In the second case the differential equation for the deformation is
obtained by demanding that the potential energy is minimized. In this way a
simple application of the variational calculus is obtained.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figure
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