1,689 research outputs found
Warm Molecular Layers in Protoplanetary Disks
We have investigated molecular distributions in protoplanetary disks,
adopting a disk model with a temperature gradient in the vertical direction.
The model produces sufficiently high abundances of gaseous CO and HCO+ to
account for line observations of T Tauri stars using a sticking probability of
unity and without assuming any non-thermal desorption. In regions of radius R >
10 AU, with which we are concerned, the temperature increases with increasing
height from the midplane. In a warm intermediate layer, there are significant
amounts of gaseous molecules owing to thermal desorption and efficient
shielding of ultraviolet radiation by the flared disk. The column densities of
HCN, CN, CS, H2CO, HNC and HCO+ obtained from our model are in good agreement
with the observations of DM Tau, but are smaller than those of LkCa15.
Molecular line profiles from our disk models are calculated using a
2-dimensional non-local-thermal-equilibrium (NLTE) molecular-line radiative
transfer code for a direct comparison with observations. Deuterated species are
included in our chemical model. The molecular D/H ratios in the model are in
reasonable agreement with those observed in protoplanetary disks.Comment: 11 pages, Latex (aa.cls), to be published in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Two-dimensional Distributions and Column Densities of Gaseous Molecules in Protoplanetary Disks II
We have investigated the two-dimensional (R,Z) distribution of deuterated
molecular species in circumstellar disks around young stellar objects. The
abundance ratios between singly deuterated and normal molecules (``D/H
ratios'') in disks evolve in a similar way as in molecular clouds.
Fractionation is caused by rapid exchange reactions that are exothermic because
of energy differences between deuterated and normal species. In the midplane
region, where molecules are heavily depleted onto grain surfaces, the D/H
ratios of gaseous molecules are higher than at larger heights. The D/H ratios
for the vertical column densities of NH3, H2O, and HCO+ are sensitive to the
temperature, and decrease significantly with decreasing radial distance for R <
300 AU. The analogous D/H ratios for CH4 and H2CO, on the other hand, are not
very sensitive to the temperature in the range (T=10-50 K) we are concerned
with, and do not decrease with decreasing R at R > 50 AU. The D/H
column-density ratios also depend on disk mass. In a disk with a larger mass,
the ratios of deuterated species to normal species are higher, because of
heavier depletion of molecules onto grains. In the second part of the paper, we
report molecular column densities for disks embedded in ambient cloud gas. Our
results suggest that CN and HCO+ can be tracers of gaseous disks, especially if
the central object is a strong X-ray source. Our results also suggest that the
radial distributions of CN, C2H, HCN, and H2CO may vary among disks depending
on the X-ray luminosity of the central star.Comment: 13 page
Modeling Molecular-Line Emission from Circumstellar Disks
Molecular lines hold valuable information on the physical and chemical
composition of disks around young stars, the likely progenitors of planetary
systems. This invited contribution discusses techniques to calculate the
molecular emission (and absorption) line spectrum based on models for the
physical and chemical structure of protoplanetary disks. Four examples of
recent research illutrate these techniques in practice: matching resolved
molecular-line emission from the disk around LkCa15 with theoertical models for
the chemistry; evaluating the two-dimensional transfer of ultraviolet radiation
into the disk, and the effect on the HCN/CN ratio; far-infrared CO line
emission from a superheated disk surface layer; and inward motions in the disk
around L1489 IRS.Comment: 6 pages, no figures. To appear in "The Dense Interstellar Medium in
Galaxies", Procs. Fourth Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt-Symposiu
Narrow-line magneto-optical trap for erbium
We report on the experimental realization of a robust and efficient
magneto-optical trap for erbium atoms, based on a narrow cooling transition at
583nm. We observe up to atoms at a temperature of about
. This simple scheme provides better starting conditions for direct
loading of dipole traps as compared to approaches based on the strong cooling
transition alone, or on a combination of a strong and a narrow kHz transition.
Our results on Er point to a general, simple and efficient approach to laser
cool samples of other lanthanide atoms (Ho, Dy, and Tm) for the production of
quantum-degenerate samples
A Constraint on the Amount of Hydrogen from the CO Chemistry in Debris Disks
The faint CO gases in debris disks are easily dissolved into C by UV
irradiation, while CO can be reformed via reactions with hydrogen. The
abundance ratio of C/CO could thus be a probe of the amount of hydrogen in the
debris disks. We conduct radiative transfer calculations with chemical
reactions for debris disks. For a typical dust-to-gas mass ratio of debris
disks, CO formation proceeds without the involvement of H because a small
amount of dust grains makes H formation inefficient. We find that the CO to
C number density ratio depends on a combination of
, where is the hydrogen nucleus
number density, is the metallicity, and is the FUV flux normalized
by the Habing flux. Using an analytic formula for the CO number density, we
give constraints on the amount of hydrogen and metallicity for debris disks. CO
formation is accelerated by excited H either when the dust-to-gas mass
ratio is increased or the energy barrier of chemisorption of hydrogen on the
dust surface is decreased. This acceleration of CO formation occurs only when
the shielding effects of CO are insignificant. In shielded regions, the CO
fractions are almost independent of the parameters of dust grains.Comment: 29pages, 13figures, accepted for Ap
Elevated lipoprotein(a) as a predictor for coronary events in older men
Elevated circulating lipoprotein (a) [Lp(a)] is associated with an increased risk of first and recurrent cardiovascular events; however, the effect of baseline Lp(a) levels on long-term outcomes in an elderly population is not well understood. The current single-center prospective study evaluated the association of Lp(a) levels with incident acute coronary syndrome to identify populations at risk of future events. Lp(a) concentration was assessed in 755 individuals (mean age of 71.9Â years) within the community and followed for up to 8Â years (median time to event, 4.5Â years; interquartile range, 2.5â6.5Â years). Participants with clinically relevant high levels of Lp(a) (>50Â mg/dl) had an increased absolute incidence rate of ASC of 2.00 (95% CI, 1.0041) over 8Â years (PÂ = 0.04). Moreover, Kaplan-Meier cumulative event analyses demonstrated the risk of ASC increased when compared with patients with low (<30Â mg/dl) and elevated (30â50Â mg/dl) levels of Lp(a) over 8Â years (Grayâs test; PÂ = 0.16). Within analyses adjusted for age and BMI, the hazard ratio was 2.04 (95% CI, 1.0â4.2; PÂ = 0.05) in the high versus low Lp(a) groups. Overall, this study adds support for recent guidelines recommending a one-time measurement of Lp(a) levels in cardiovascular risk assessment to identify subpopulations at risk and underscores the potential utility of this marker even among older individuals at a time when potent Lp(a)-lowering agents are undergoing evaluation for clinical use
Efficient production of polar molecular Bose-Einstein condensates via an all-optical R-type atom-molecule adiabatic passage
We propose a scheme of "-type" photoassociative adiabatic passage (PAP) to
create polar molecular condensates from two different species of ultracold
atoms. Due to the presence of a quasi-coherent population trapping state in the
scheme, it is possible to associate atoms into molecules with a
\textit{low-power} photoassociation (PA) laser. One remarkable advantage of our
scheme is that a tunable atom-molecule coupling strength can be achieved by
using a time-dependent PA field, which exhibits larger flexibility than using a
tunable magnetic field. In addition, our results show that the PA intensity
required in the "-type" PAP could be greatly reduced compared to that in a
conventional "-type" one.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, to appear in New Journal of Physic
NH_3(1_0-0_0) in the pre-stellar core L1544
Pre-stellar cores represent the initial conditions in the process of star and
planet formation, therefore it is important to study their physical and
chemical structure. Because of their volatility, nitrogen-bearing molecules are
key to study the dense and cold gas present in pre-stellar cores. The NH_3
rotational transition detected with Herschel-HIFI provides a unique combination
of sensitivity and spectral resolution to further investigate physical and
chemical processes in pre-stellar cores. Here we present the velocity-resolved
Herschel-HIFI observations of the ortho-NH_3(1_0-0_0) line at 572 GHz and study
the abundance profile of ammonia across the pre-stellar core L1544 to test
current theories of its physical and chemical structure.
Recently calculated collisional coefficients have been included in our
non-LTE radiative transfer code to reproduce Herschel observations. A gas-grain
chemical model, including spin-state chemistry and applied to the (static)
physical structure of L1544 is also used to infer the abundance profile of
ortho-NH_3 . The hyperfine structure of ortho-NH_3(1_0-0_0) is resolved for the
first time in space. All the hyperfine components are strongly self-absorbed.
The profile can be reproduced if the core is contracting in quasi-equilibrium,
consistent with previous work, and if the NH_3 abundance is slightly rising
toward the core centre, as deduced from previous interferometric observations
of para-NH_3(1,1). The chemical model overestimates the NH_3 abundance at radii
between ~ 4000 and 15000 AU by about two orders of magnitude and underestimates
the abundance toward the core centre by more than one order of magnitude. Our
observations show that chemical models applied to static clouds have problems
in reproducing NH_3 observations.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A Letter
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