5,100 research outputs found
The detection of soft X-rays with charged coupled detectors
The characteristics of an ideal soft X-ray imaging detector are enumerated. Of recent technical developments the CCD or charge coupled device goes furthest to meeting these requirements. Several properties of CCDs are described with reference to experimental work and their application to practical instruments is reviewed
The Quest for the Dominant Stellar Population in the Giant Elliptical NGC 5018
Newly obtained HST/WFPC2 images of the disturbed elliptical galaxy NGC 5018
show that the average amount of internal reddening due to the its complex
``dust web'' is as low as E(B-V)~0.02 within the IUE aperture, thus implying
that its observed and intrinsic energy distributions do not differ
significantly down to UV wavelengths. This, in turn, is quite relevant to the
current debate on the age of its dominant stellar population.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure. Proceedings of the conference "Galaxy Disks and
Disk Galaxies", ASP Conference Series, eds. J.G. Funes, S.J. and E.M. Corsin
Biochemical evidence that acetylcholine release from cholinergic nerve terminals is mostly vesicular
AbstractThe nature of the intraterminal compartments from which acetylcholine (ACh) is released following presynaptic stimulation was investigated. This was pursued by examining the effects of the anticholinergic drug 2-(4-phenylpiperidino)cyclohexanol (AH5183) on the release of newly synthesized [3H]ACh and of endogenous ACh from purified cholinergic nerve terminals (synaptosomes) which were isolated from the electric organs of Torpedo. Preincubation of the synaptosomes, with AH5183 (1â10 ÎŒM), does not affect either the intraterminal synthesis of [3H]ACh or the uptake of its precursors, but results in a marked inhibition (85%) of the release of the newly synthesized [3H]ACh. However, when AH5183 is added following the accumulation of [3H]ACh in the nerve terminals, it does not affect [3H]ACh release. AH5183 also has no effect on the release of preformed endogenous ACh. These findings, together with the previous in vitro demonstrations that AH5183 is a potent inhibitor of ACh uptake into isolated cholinergic vesicles, suggest that most of the synaptosomal ACh is secreted by a vesicular mechanism
The mid-UV population of the nucleus and the bulk of the post-merger NGC 3610
The very center of NGC~3610, a clearly disturbed giant elliptical generally
assumed to be a post-merger remnant, appears dominated in the mid-UV (2500-3200
A spectral region) by a stellar population markedly different from that
dominating the bulk of its stellar body. I want here to make use of the mid-UV
spectra of NGC~3610 as seen through tiny (1") and large (10"20")
apertures as a diagnostic population tool. I compare archive IUE/LWP large
aperture and HST/FOS UV data of NGC 3610. The strength of mid-UV triplet
(dominated by the turnoff population) shows a remarkable drop when switching
from the galaxy central arcsec (FOS aperture) to an aperture size comparable to
0.5 r (IUE). The sub-arsec (mid)-UV properties of this galaxy
involved in a past merger reveal a central metal enrichment which left intact
the bulk of its pre-existing population.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in astronomy and
Astrophysic
An optical spectroscopic survey of the 3CR sample of radio galaxies with z<0.3. III. Completing the sample
We present optical nuclear spectra for nine 3CR radio sources obtained with
the Telescopio Nazionale Galileo, that complete our spectroscopic observations
of the sample up to redshifts 0.3. We measure emission line luminosities
and ratios, and derive a spectroscopic classification for these sources.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A. We provide as additional material
two tables presenting the main data for the whole sample, combining the
results presented here with those of Paper I and Paper I
A Statistical Treatment of the Gamma-Ray Burst "No Host Galaxy" Problem: II. Energies of Standard Candle Bursts
With the discovery that the afterglows after some bursts are coincident with
faint galaxies, the search for host galaxies is no longer a test of whether
bursts are cosmological, but rather a test of particular cosmological models.
The methodology we developed to investigate the original "no host galaxy"
problem is equally valid for testing different cosmological models, and is
applicable to the galaxies coincident with optical transients. We apply this
methodology to a family of models where we vary the total energy of standard
candle bursts. We find that total isotropic energies of E<2e52~erg are ruled
out while log(E)~53 erg is favored.Comment: To appear in Ap.J., 514, 15 pages + 7 figures, AASTeX 4.0. Revisions
are: additional author, updated data, and minor textual change
Recommended from our members
Bottom-up Markup Fluctuations
We study markup cyclicality in a granular macroeconomic model with oligopolistic competition. We characterize the comovement of firm, sectoral, and economy-wide markups with sectoral and aggregate output following firm-level shocks. We then quantify the modelâs ability to reproduce salient features of the cyclical properties of markups in French administrative firm-level data, from the bottom (firm) level to the aggregate level. Our model helps rationalize various, seemingly conflicting, measures of markup cyclicality in the French data
Color--Luminosity Relations for the Resolved Hot Stellar Populations in the Centers of M 31 and M 32
We present Faint Object Camera (FOC) ultraviolet images of the central
14x14'' of Messier 31 and Messier 32. The hot stellar population detected in
the composite UV spectra of these nearby galaxies is partially resolved into
individual stars, and their individual colors and apparent magnitudes are
measured. We detect 433 stars in M 31 and 138 stars in M 32, down to detection
limits of m_F275W = 25.5 mag and m_F175W = 24.5 mag. We investigate the
luminosity functions of the sources, their spatial distribution, their
color-magnitude diagrams, and their total integrated far-UV flux. Although M 32
has a weaker UV upturn than M 31, the luminosity functions and color-magnitude
diagrams of M 31 and M 32 are surprisingly similar, and are inconsistent with a
majority contribution from any of the following: PAGB stars more massive than
0.56 Msun, main sequence stars, or blue stragglers. Both the the luminosity
functions and color-magnitude diagrams are consistent with a dominant
population of stars that have evolved from the extreme horizontal branch (EHB)
along tracks with masses between 0.47 and 0.53 Msun. These stars are well below
the detection limits of our images while on the zero-age EHB, but become
detectable while in the more luminous (but shorter) AGB-Manque' and post-early
asymptotic giant branch (PEAGB) phases. The FOC observations require that only
a only a very small fraction of the main sequence population (2% in M 31 and
0.5% in M 32) in these two galaxies evolve though the EHB and post-EHB phases,
with the remainder evolving through bright PAGB evolution that is so rapid that
few if any stars are expected in the small field of view covered by the FOC.Comment: 35 pages, Latex. 19 figures. To appear in ApJ. Uses emulateapj.sty
and apjfonts.sty (included). Color plates distributed seperatedly: fig1.jpg
and fig2.jp
M Dwarfs from Hubble Space Telescope Star Counts. IV
We study a sample of about 1400 disk M dwarfs that are found in 148 fields
observed with the Wide Field Camera 2 (WFC2) on the Hubble Space Telescope and
162 fields observed with pre-repair Planetary Camera 1 (PC1), of which 95 of
the WFC2 fields are newly analyzed. The method of maximum likelihood is applied
to derive the luminosity function and the Galactic disk parameters. At first,
we use a local color-magnitude relation and a locally determined
mass-luminosity relation in our analysis. The results are consistent with those
of previous work but with considerably reduced statistical errors. These small
statistical errors motivate us to investigate the systematic uncertainties.
Considering the metallicity gradient above the Galactic plane, we introduce a
modified color-magnitude relation that is a function of Galactic height. The
resultant M dwarf luminosity function has a shape similar to that derived using
the local color-magnitude relation but with a higher peak value. The peak
occurs at and the luminosity function drops sharply toward . We then apply a height-dependent mass-luminosity function
interpolated from theoretical models with different metallicities to calculate
the mass function. Unlike the mass function obtained using local relations,
which has a power-law index , the one derived from the
height-dependent relations tends to be flat (). The resultant
local surface density of disk M dwarfs (12.2 +/- 1.6 M_sun pc^{-2}) is somewhat
smaller than the one obtained using local relations (14.3 +/- 1.3 M_sun
pc^{-2}). Our measurement favors a short disk scale length, H = 2.75 +/- 0.16
(statistical) +/- 0.25 (systematic) kpc.Comment: 20 pages, 10 ps figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Simulating a guitar with a conventional sonometer
Musical acoustics is an interesting sub-field of physics which is usually
able to engage students in a dual perspective, by combining science and art
together. The physics principles involved in most musical instruments can be
easily demonstrated with standard laboratory equipment and can become part of
lecture or lab activities. In particular, we will show in this paper how to
simulate a guitar using a conventional sonometer, in relation to the problem of
the instrument intonation, i.e., how to obtain correctly tuned notes on a
guitar or similar string instruments.Comment: Submitted to The Physics Teacher; 9 pages, including 4 figure
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