10,505 research outputs found
Influence of the Tachocline on Solar Evolution
Recently helioseismic observations have revealed the presence of a shear
layer at the base of the convective zone related to the transition from
differential rotation in the convection zone to almost uniform rotation in the
radiative interior, the tachocline. At present, this layer extends only over a
few percent of the solar radius and no definitive explanations have been given
for this thiness. Following Spiegel and Zahn (1992, Astron. Astrophys.), who
invoke anisotropic turbulence to stop the spread of the tachocline deeper in
the radiative zone as the Sun evolves, we give some justifications for their
hypothesis by taking into account recent results on rotating shear instability
(Richard and Zahn 1999, Astron. Astrophys.). We study the impact of the
macroscopic motions present in this layer on the Sun's structure and evolution
by introducing a macroscopic diffusivity in updated solar models. We find
that a time dependent treatment of the tachocline significantly improves the
agreement between computed and observed surface chemical species, such as the
Li and modify the internal structure of the Sun (Brun, Turck-Chi\`eze and
Zahn, 1999, in Astrophys. J.).Comment: to appear in Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, vol 898.
Postscript file, 9 pages and 5 figures New Email Address for A. S. Brun:
[email protected]
Antiproton and Positron Signal Enhancement in Dark Matter Mini-Spikes Scenarios
The annihilation of dark matter (DM) in the Galaxy could produce specific
imprints on the spectra of antimatter species in Galactic cosmic rays, which
could be detected by upcoming experiments such as PAMELA and AMS02. Recent
studies show that the presence of substructures can enhance the annihilation
signal by a "boost factor" that not only depends on energy, but that is
intrinsically a statistical property of the distribution of DM substructures
inside the Milky Way. We investigate a scenario in which substructures consist
of "mini-spikes" around intermediate-mass black holes. Focusing on
primary positrons and antiprotons, we find large boost factors, up to a few
thousand, that exhibit a large variance at high energy in the case of positrons
and at low energy in the case of antiprotons. As a consequence, an estimate of
the DM particle mass based on the observed cut-off in the positron spectrum
could lead to a substantial underestimate of its actual value.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, minor changes, version accepted for publication
in PR
Procedure for measuring liquid-water content and droplet sizes in supercooled clouds by rotating multicylinder method
Damped Lyman Alpha Systems at z<1.65: The Expanded SDSS HST Sample
We present results of our HST Cycle 11 Survey for low-redshift (z<1.65) DLAs
in the UV spectra of quasars selected from the SDSS Early Data Release. These
quasars have strong intervening MgII-FeII systems which are known signatures of
high column density neutral gas. In total, UV observations of Ly-alpha
absorption in 197 MgII systems with z<1.65 and rest equivalent width (REW)
W2796 \ge 0.3A have now been obtained. The main results are: (1) 36(+/- 6)% of
systems with W2796 \ge 0.5 A and FeII W2600 \ge 0.5 A are DLAs. This increases
to 42(+/- 7)% for systems with W2796/W2600 0.1 A. (2) The
mean N(HI) of MgII systems with 0.3 A \le W2796 < 0.6 A is a factor of ~36
lower than that of systems with W2796 \ge 0.6 A. (3) The DLA incidence per unit
redshift is consistent with no evolution for z <~ 2 (Omega_L=0.7, Omega_M =
0.3), but exhibits significant evolution for z >~ 2. (4) Omega_{DLA} is
constant for 0.5<z<5.0 to within the uncertainties. This is larger than
Omega_{gas}(z=0) by a factor of ~2. (5) The slope of the N(HI) distribution
does not change significantly with redshift. However, the low redshift
distribution is marginally flatter due to the higher fraction of high N(HI)
systems in our sample. (6) Finally, using the precision of MgII survey
statistics, we find that there may be evidence of a decreasing Omega_{DLA} from
z=0.5 to z=0. We reiterate the conclusion of Hopkins, Rao, & Turnshek that very
high columns of neutral gas might be missed by DLA surveys because of their
very small cross sections, and therefore, that Omega_{DLA} might not include
the bulk of the neutral gas mass in the Universe. (Abridged)Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 22 pages, 22 figure
Impingement of Cloud Droplets on a Cylinder and Procedure for Measuring Liquid-Water Content and Droplet Sizes in Supercooled Clouds by Rotating Multicylinder Method
No abstract availabl
Analysis of the Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Images of the Charge Density Wave Phase in Quasi-one-dimensional Rb0.3MoO3
The experimental STM images for the CDW phase of the blue bronze RbMoO3 have
been successfully explained on the basis of first-principles DFT calculations.
Although the density of states near the Fermi level strongly concentrates in
two of the three types of Mo atoms Mo-II and Mo-III, the STM measurement mostly
probes the contribution of the uppermost O atoms of the surface, associated
with the Mo-IO6 octahedra. In addition, it is found that the surface
concentration of Rb atoms plays a key role in determining the surface nesting
vector and hence the periodicity of the CDW modulation. Significant
experimental inhomogeneities of the b* surface component of the wavevector of
the modulation, probed by STM, are reported. The calculated changes in the
surface nesting vector are consistent with the observed experimental
inhomogeneities.Comment: 4 pages 5 Figure
Seismic tests for solar models with tachocline mixing
We have computed accurate 1-D solar models including both a macroscopic
mixing process in the solar tachocline as well as up-to-date microscopic
physical ingredients. Using sound speed and density profiles inferred through
primary inversion of the solar oscillation frequencies coupled with the
equation of thermal equilibrium, we have extracted the temperature and hydrogen
abundance profiles. These inferred quantities place strong constraints on our
theoretical models in terms of the extent and strength of our macroscopic
mixing, on the photospheric heavy elements abundance, on the nuclear reaction
rates such as and and on the efficiency of the microscopic
diffusion. We find a good overall agreement between the seismic Sun and our
models if we introduce a macroscopic mixing in the tachocline and allow for
variation within their uncertainties of the main physical ingredients. From our
study we deduce that the solar hydrogen abundance at the solar age is and that based on the Be photospheric depletion, the
maximum extent of mixing in the tachocline is 5% of the solar radius. The
nuclear reaction rate for the fundamental reaction is found to be
MeV barns, i.e., 1.5% higher than the
present theoretical determination. The predicted solar neutrino fluxes are
discussed in the light of the new SNO/SuperKamiokande results.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, A&A in press (1) JILA, University of Colorado,
Boulder, CO 80309-0440, USA, (2) LUTH, Observatoire de Paris-Meudon, 92195
Meudon, France, (3) Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Homi Bhabha road,
Mumbai 400005, India, (4) Department of Physics, University of Mumbai, Mumbai
400098, Indi
Probe of Lorentz Invariance Violation effects and determination of the distance of PG 1553+113
The high frequency peaked BL Lac object PG 1553+113 underwent a flaring event
in 2012. The High Energy Stereoscopic System (H.E.S.S.) observed this source
for two consecutive nights at very high energies (VHE, 100~GeV). The data
show an increase of a factor of three of the flux with respect to archival
measurements with the same instrument and hints of intra-night variability. The
data set has been used to put constraints on possible Lorentz invariance
violation (LIV), manifesting itself as an energy dependence of the velocity of
light in vacuum, and to set limits on the energy scale at which Quantum Gravity
effects causing LIV may arise. With a new method to combine H.E.S.S. and Fermi
large area telescope data, the previously poorly known redshift of PG 1555+113
has been determined to be close to the value derived from optical measurements.Comment: 2014 Fermi Symposium proceedings - eConf C14102.
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