1,645 research outputs found
Seismic diagnostics for transport of angular momentum in stars 2. Interpreting observed rotational splittings of slowly-rotating red giant stars
Asteroseismology with the space-borne missions CoRoT and Kepler provides a
powerful mean of testing the modeling of transport processes in stars.
Rotational splittings are currently measured for a large number of red giant
stars and can provide stringent constraints on the rotation profiles. The aim
of this paper is to obtain a theoretical framework for understanding the
properties of the observed rotational splittings of red giant stars with slowly
rotating cores. This allows us to establish appropriate seismic diagnostics for
rotation of these evolved stars. Rotational splittings for stochastically
excited dipolar modes are computed adopting a first-order perturbative approach
for two benchmark models assuming slowly rotating cores. For red
giant stars with slowly rotating cores, we show that the variation of the
rotational splittings of modes with frequency depends only on the
large frequency separation, the g-mode period spacing, and the ratio of the
average envelope to core rotation rates (). This leds us to propose a
way to infer directly from the observations. This method is
validated using the Kepler red giant star KIC 5356201. Finally, we provide a
theoretical support for the use of a Lorentzian profile to measure the observed
splittings for red giant stars.Comment: 15 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&
A fluorinated quinuclidine benzamide named LMA 10203 acts as an agonist of insect nicotinic acetylcholine receptors
In the present study, we take advantage of the fact that cockroach dorsal unpaired median neurons express different nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtypes to demonstrate that simple quinuclidine benzamides such as the 2-fluorinated benzamide LMA 10203, could act as an agonist of cockroach alpha-bungarotoxin-insensitive nicotinic acetylcholine receptor subtype, called nAChR2. Indeed, 1 mM LMA 10203 induced ionic currents which were partially blocked by 0.5 muM alpha-bungarotoxin and methyllycaconitine and completely blocked by 5 muM mecamylamine. Moreover, the current-voltage curve revealed that the ionic current induced by LMA 10203 increased from -30 mV to +20 mV confirming that it acted as an agonist of alpha-bungarotoxin-insensitive nAChR2. In addition, 1 mM LMA 10203 induced a depolarization of the sixth abdominal ganglion and this neuroexcitatory activity was completely blocked by 5 muM mecamylamine. These data suggest that nAChR2 was also expressed at the postsynaptic level on the synapse between the cercal afferent nerve and the giant interneurons. Interestingly, despite LMA 10203 being an agonist of cockroach nicotinic receptors, it had a poor insecticidal activity. We conclude that LMA 10203 could be used as an interesting compound to identify specific insect nAChR subtypes
A Paradigm Shift: Supply Chain Collaboration and Competition in and between Europe’s Chemical Clusters
With the attention of the chemical industry
focused on exploiting the low cost
feedstocks in the Middle East and the
growth markets of Brazil, Russia, India,
China and South East Asia, this report
provides a timely reminder to policy
makers, chemical companies and logistics
service providers of the significant
opportunities for improving business
potential in Europe’s chemical clusters.
Europe is still the largest, most sophisticated
global market for chemical products,
with a well developed, efficient,
highly productive asset base, sound
infrastructure, leading edge research and
development and significant purchasing
power. Provided these advantages are
sustained, including continued attention
to asset maintenance and operational
and supply chain improvements, Europe
can remain a competitive force in the
global market place, despite what the
doom-mongers may say to the contrary. ..
Mass-luminosity relation for FGK main sequence stars: metallicity and age contributions
The stellar mass-luminosity relation (MLR) is one of the most famous
empirical "laws", discovered in the beginning of the 20th century. MLR is still
used to estimate stellar masses for nearby stars, particularly for those that
are not binary systems, hence the mass cannot be derived directly from the
observations. It's well known that the MLR has a statistical dispersion which
cannot be explained exclusively due to the observational errors in luminosity
(or mass). It is an intrinsic dispersion caused by the differences in age and
chemical composition from star to star. In this work we discuss the impact of
age and metallicity on the MLR. Using the recent data on mass, luminosity,
metallicity, and age for 26 FGK stars (all members of binary systems, with
observational mass-errors <= 3%), including the Sun, we derive the MLR taking
into account, separately, mass-luminosity, mass-luminosity-metallicity, and
mass-luminosity-metallicity-age. Our results show that the inclusion of age and
metallicity in the MLR, for FGK stars, improves the individual mass estimation
by 5% to 15%.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, 1 table, accepted in Astrophysics and Space
Scienc
Spectra disentangling applied to the Hyades binary Theta^2 Tau AB: new orbit, orbital parallax and component properties
Theta^2 Tauri is a detached and single-lined interferometric-spectroscopic
binary as well as the most massive binary system of the Hyades cluster. The
system revolves in an eccentric orbit with a periodicity of 140.7 days. The
secondary has a similar temperature but is less evolved and fainter than the
primary. It is also rotating more rapidly. Since the composite spectra are
heavily blended, the direct extraction of radial velocities over the orbit of
component B was hitherto unsuccessful. Using high-resolution spectroscopic data
recently obtained with the Elodie (OHP, France) and Hermes (ORM, La Palma,
Spain) spectrographs, and applying a spectra disentangling algorithm to three
independent data sets including spectra from the Oak Ridge Observatory (USA),
we derived an improved spectroscopic orbit and refined the solution by
performing a combined astrometric-spectroscopic analysis based on the new
spectroscopy and the long-baseline data from the Mark III optical
interferometer. As a result, the velocity amplitude of the fainter component is
obtained in a direct and objective way. Major progress based on this new
determination includes an improved computation of the orbital parallax. Our
mass ratio is in good agreement with the older estimates of Peterson et al.
(1991, 1993), but the mass of the primary is 15-25% higher than the more recent
estimates by Torres et al. (1997) and Armstrong et al. (2006). Due to the
strategic position of the components in the turnoff region of the cluster,
these new determinations imply stricter constraints for the age and the
metallicity of the Hyades cluster. The location of component B can be explained
by current evolutionary models, but the location of the more evolved component
A is not trivially explained and requires a detailed abundance analysis of its
disentangled spectrum.Comment: in press, 13 pages, 10 Postscript figures, 5 tables. Table~4 is
available as online material. Keywords: astrometry - techniques: high angular
resolution - stars: binaries: visual - stars: binaries: spectroscopic -
stars: fundamental parameter
Seismic diagnostics for transport of angular momentum in stars 1. Rotational splittings from the PMS to the RGB
Rotational splittings are currently measured for several main sequence stars
and a large number of red giants with the space mission Kepler. This will
provide stringent constraints on rotation profiles. Our aim is to obtain
seismic constraints on the internal transport and surface loss of angular
momentum of oscillating solar-like stars. To this end, we study the evolution
of rotational splittings from the pre-main sequence to the red-giant branch for
stochastically excited oscillation modes. We modified the evolutionary code
CESAM2K to take rotationally induced transport in radiative zones into account.
Linear rotational splittings were computed for a sequence of
models. Rotation profiles were derived from our evolutionary models and
eigenfunctions from linear adiabatic oscillation calculations. We find that
transport by meridional circulation and shear turbulence yields far too high a
core rotation rate for red-giant models compared with recent seismic
observations. We discuss several uncertainties in the physical description of
stars that could have an impact on the rotation profiles. For instance, we find
that the Goldreich-Schubert-Fricke instability does not extract enough angular
momentum from the core to account for the discrepancy. In contrast, an increase
of the horizontal turbulent viscosity by 2 orders of magnitude is able to
significantly decrease the central rotation rate on the red-giant branch. Our
results indicate that it is possible that the prescription for the horizontal
turbulent viscosity largely underestimates its actual value or else a mechanism
not included in current stellar models of low mass stars is needed to slow down
the rotation in the radiative core of red-giant stars.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Masses of the components of SB2 binaries observed with Gaia. II. Masses derived from PIONIER interferometric observations for Gaia validation
In anticipation of the Gaia astrometric mission, a sample of spectroscopic
binaries is being observed since 2010 with the Sophie spectrograph at the
Haute--Provence Observatory. Our aim is to derive the orbital elements of
double-lined spectroscopic binaries (SB2s) with an accuracy sufficient to
finally obtain the masses of the components with relative errors as small as 1
% when combined with Gaia astrometric measurements. In order to validate the
masses derived from Gaia, interferometric observations are obtained for three
SB2s in our sample with F-K components: HIP 14157, HIP 20601 and HIP 117186.
The masses of the six stellar components are derived. Due to its edge-on
orientation, HIP 14157 is probably an eclipsing binary. We note that almost all
the derived masses are a few percent larger than the expectations from the
standard spectral-type-mass calibration and mass-luminosity relation. Our
calculation also leads to accurate parallaxes for the three binaries, and the
Hipparcos parallaxes are confirmed.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, accepted by MNRA
Rainwater, wastewater and water resources: needs for a strategic reflection on the global water cycle in town
Modelling a high-mass red giant observed by CoRoT
The G6 giant HR\,2582 (HD\,50890) was observed by CoRoT for approximately 55
days. Mode frequencies are extracted from the observed Fourier spectrum of the
light curve. Numerical stellar models are then computed to determine the
characteristics of the star (mass, age, etc...) from the comparison with
observational constraints. We provide evidence for the presence of solar-like
oscillations at low frequency, between 10 and 20\,Hz, with a regular
spacing of Hz between consecutive radial orders. Only radial
modes are clearly visible. From the models compatible with the observational
constraints used here, We find that HR\,2582 (HD\,50890) is a massive star with
a mass in the range (3--\,5\,), clearly above the red clump. It
oscillates with rather low radial order ( = 5\,--\,12) modes. Its
evolutionary stage cannot be determined with precision: the star could be on
the ascending red giant branch (hydrogen shell burning) with an age of
approximately 155 Myr or in a later phase (helium burning). In order to obtain
a reasonable helium amount, the metallicity of the star must be quite subsolar.
Our best models are obtained with a mixing length significantly smaller than
that obtained for the Sun with the same physical description (except
overshoot). The amount of core overshoot during the main-sequence phase is
found to be mild, of the order of 0.1\,.Comment: Accepted in A&
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