4,174 research outputs found
Solar Carbon Monoxide, Thermal Profiling, and the Abundances of C, O, and their Isotopes
A solar photospheric "thermal profiling" analysis is presented, exploiting
the infrared rovibrational bands of carbon monoxide (CO) as observed with the
McMath-Pierce Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) at Kitt Peak, and from above
the Earth's atmosphere by the Shuttle-borne ATMOS experiment. Visible continuum
intensities and center-limb behavior constrained the temperature profile of the
deep photosphere, while CO center-limb behavior defined the thermal structure
at higher altitudes. The oxygen abundance was self consistently determined from
weak CO absorptions. Our analysis was meant to complement recent studies based
on 3-D convection models which, among other things, have revised the historical
solar oxygen (and carbon) abundance downward by a factor of nearly two;
although in fact our conclusions do not support such a revision. Based on
various considerations, an oxygen abundance of 700+/-100 ppm (parts per million
relative to hydrogen) is recommended; the large uncertainty reflects the model
sensitivity of CO. New solar isotopic ratios also are reported for 13C, 17O,
and 18O.Comment: 90 pages, 19 figures (some with parts "a", "b", etc.); to be
published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement
The Mg 2 h and k lines in a sample of dMe and dM stars
Both Mg II h and k line fluxes are presented for a sample of 4 dMe and 3 dM stars obtained with the IUE satellite in the long wavelength, low dispersion mode. The observed fluxes are converted to stellar surface flux units and the importance of chromospheric non radiative heating in this sample of M dwarf stars is intercompared. In addition, the net chromospheric radiative losses due to the Ca II H and K lines in those stars in the sample for which calibrated Ca II H and K line data exist are compared. Active region filling factors which likely give rise to the observed optical and ultraviolet chromospheric emission are estimated. The implications of the results for homogeneous, single component stellar model chromospheres analyses are discussed
Recent atmospheric neutrino results from Soudan 2
An updated measurement of the atmospheric nu_mu/nu_e ratio-of-ratios,
0.68+-0.11+-0.06, has been obtained using a 4.6-kty exposure of the Soudan-2
iron tracking calorimeter. The L/E distributions have been analyzed for effects
of nu_mu -> nu_x oscillations, and an allowed region in the Delta m^2 vs. sin^2
2 theta plane has been determined.Comment: 3 pages, 4 figures; presented at TAUP99, the 6th Int. Workshop on
Topics in Astroparticle and Underground Physics, Sept. 6-10, 1999, College de
France, Paris, Franc
A far-UV survey of three hot, metal-polluted white dwarf stars: WD0455-282, WD0621-376, and WD2211-495
Using newly obtained high-resolution data () from the
\textit{Hubble Space Telescope}, and archival UV data from the \textit{Far
Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer} we have conducted a detailed UV survey of
the three hot, metal-polluted white dwarfs WD0455-282, WD0621-376, and
WD2211-495. Using bespoke model atmospheres we measured , log
, and photospheric abundances for these stars. In conjunction with data from
Gaia we measured masses, radii, and gravitational redshift velocities for our
sample of objects. We compared the measured photospheric abundances with those
predicted by radiative levitation theory, and found that the observed Si
abundances in all three white dwarfs, and the observed Fe abundances in
WD0621-376 and WD2211-495, were larger than those predicted by an order of
magnitude. These findings imply not only an external origin for the metals, but
also ongoing accretion, as the metals not supported by radiative levitation
would sink on extremely short timescales. We measured the radial velocities of
several absorption features along the line of sight to the three objects in our
sample, allowing us to determine the velocities of the photospheric and
interstellar components along the line of sight for each star. Interestingly,
we made detections of circumstellar absorption along the line of sight to
WD0455-282 with three velocity components. To our knowledge, this is the first
such detection of multi-component circumstellar absorption along the line of
sight to a white dwarf.Comment: 19 pages, 23 figures, 8 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Societ
Regulating Scotland's social landlords: localised resistance to technologies of performance management
Influenced by Foucault's later work on governmentality, this paper explores the regulation of social landlords as a 'technology of performance' concerned with governing the conduct of dispersed welfare agencies and the professionals within them. This is a mode of power that is both voluntary and coercive; it seeks to realise its ambitions not through direct acts of intervention, but by promoting the responsible self-governance of autonomous subjects. Through an analysis of the regulatory framework for social landlords in Scotland, this paper highlights the creation of a performance culture that seeks to mobilise housing organisations to reconcile their local management systems and service provision to external standards, whilst simultaneously wielding punitive interventions for non-compliance. However, housing professionals are not passive in all of this, and indeed, actively challenged and resisted these top-down attempts to govern them at arm's-length
FK Comae Berenices, King of Spin: The COCOA-PUFS Project
COCOA-PUFS is an energy-diverse, time-domain study of the ultra-fast
spinning, heavily spotted, yellow giant FK Com (HD117555; G4 III). This single
star is thought to be a recent binary merger, and is exceptionally active by
measure of its intense ultraviolet and X-ray emissions, and proclivity to
flare. COCOA-PUFS was carried out with Hubble Space Telescope in the UV
(120-300 nm), using mainly its high-performance Cosmic Origins Spectrograph,
but also high-precision Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph; Chandra X-ray
Observatory in the soft X-rays (0.5-10 keV), utilizing its High-Energy
Transmission Grating Spectrometer; together with supporting photometry and
spectropolarimetry in the visible from the ground. This is an introductory
report on the project.
FK Com displayed variability on a wide range of time scales, over all
wavelengths, during the week-long main campaign, including a large X-ray flare;
"super-rotational broadening" of the far-ultraviolet "hot-lines" (e.g., Si IV
139 nm (T~80,000 K) together with chromospheric Mg II 280 nm and C II 133 nm
(10,000-30,000 K); large Doppler swings suggestive of bright regions
alternately on advancing and retreating limbs of the star; and substantial
redshifts of the epoch-average emission profiles. These behaviors paint a
picture of a highly extended, dynamic, hot (10 MK) coronal magnetosphere around
the star, threaded by cooler structures perhaps analogous to solar prominences,
and replenished continually by surface activity and flares. Suppression of
angular momentum loss by the confining magnetosphere could temporarily postpone
the inevitable stellar spindown, thereby lengthening this highly volatile stage
of coronal evolution.Comment: to be published in ApJ
The cool-star spectral catalog: A uniform collection of IUE SWP-LOs
Over the past decade and a half of its operations, the International Ultraviolet Explorer has recorded low-dispersion spectrograms in the 1150-2000 A interval of more than 800 stars of late spectral type (F-M). The sub-2000 A region contains a number of emission lines that are key diagnostics of physical conditions in the high-excitation chromospheres and subcoronal 'transition zones' of such stars. Many of the sources have been observed a number of times, and the available collection of SWP-LO exposures in the IUE Archives exceeds 4,000. With support from the Astrophysics Data Program, we have assembled the archival material into a catalog of IUE far-UV fluxes of late-type stars. In order to ensure uniform processing of the spectra, we: (1) photometrically corrected the raw vidicon images with a custom version of the 1985 SWP ITF; (2) identified and eliminated, sharp cosmic-ray 'hits' by means of a spatial filter; (3) extracted the spectral traces with the 'optimal' (weighted-slit) strategy; and (4) calibrated them against a well-characterized reference source, the DA white dwarf G191-B2B. Our approach is similar to that adopted by the IUE Project for its 'Final Archive', but our implementation is specialized to the case of chromospheric emission-line sources. We measured the resulting SWP-LO spectra using a semi-autonomous algorithm that establishes a smooth continuum by numerical filtering, and then fits the significant emissions (or absorptions) by means of a constrained Bevington-type multiple-Gaussian procedure. The algorithm assigns errors to the fitted fluxes - or upper limits in the absence of a significant detection - according to a model based on careful measurements of the noise properties of the IUE's intensified SEC cameras. Here, we describe the 'visualization' strategies we adopted to ensure human-review of the semi-autonomous processing and measuring algorithms; the derivation of the noise model and the assignment of errors; and the structure of the final catalog as delivered to the Astrophysics Data System
First high-resolution look at the quiet Sun with ALMA at 3 mm
We present an overview of high resolution quiet Sun observations, from disk
center to the limb, obtained with the Atacama Large mm and sub-mm Array (ALMA)
at 3 mm. Seven quiet Sun regions were observed with resolution of up to 2.5" by
4.5". We produced both average and snapshot images by self-calibrating the ALMA
visibilities and combining the interferometric images with full disk solar
images. The images show well the chromospheric network, which, based on the
unique segregation method we used, is brighter than the average over the fields
of view of the observed regions by K while the intranetwork is less
bright by K, with a slight decrease of the network/intranetwork
contrast toward the limb. At 3 mm the network is very similar to the 1600 \AA\
images, with somewhat larger size. We detected for the first time spicular
structures, rising up to 15" above the limb with a width down to the image
resolution and brightness temperature of 1800 K above the local
background. No trace of spicules, either in emission or absorption, was found
on the disk. Our results highlight ALMA's potential for the study of the quiet
chromosphere.Comment: Astronomy and Astrophysics (Letters), in pres
Coexistence of orbital and quantum critical magnetoresistance in FeSeS
The recent discovery of a non-magnetic nematic quantum critical point (QCP)
in the iron chalcogenide family FeSeS has raised the prospect of
investigating, in isolation, the role of nematicity on the electronic
properties of correlated metals. Here we report a detailed study of the normal
state transverse magnetoresistance (MR) in FeSeS for a series of
S concentrations spanning the nematic QCP. For all temperatures and
\textit{x}-values studied, the MR can be decomposed into two distinct
components: one that varies quadratically in magnetic field strength
and one that follows precisely the quadrature scaling form
recently reported in metals at or close to a QCP and characterized by a
\textit{H}-linear MR over an extended field range. The two components evolve
systematically with both temperature and S-substitution in a manner that is
determined by their proximity to the nematic QCP. This study thus reveals
unambiguously the coexistence of two independent charge sectors in a quantum
critical system. Moreover, the quantum critical component of the MR is found to
be less sensitive to disorder than the quadratic (orbital) MR, suggesting that
detection of the latter in previous MR studies of metals near a QCP may have
been obscured.Comment: 19 pages (including Supplemental Material), 12 figure
Construction of the Soudan 2 detector
Progress in the construction of the Soudan 2 nucleon decay detector which is being built at the Soudan iron mine in Minnesota is discussed. The expected event rate and characteristics of low energy neutrino events, muon events, multiple muon events, and other cosmic ray phenomena are discussed
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