13,014 research outputs found
The String Deviation Equation
The relative motion of many particles can be described by the geodesic
deviation equation. This can be derived from the second covariant variation of
the point particle's action. It is shown that the second covariant variation of
the string action leads to a string deviation equation.Comment: 18 pages, some small changes, no tables or diagrams, LaTex2
The SED of Low-Luminosity AGNs at high-spatial resolution
The inner structure of AGNs is expected to change below a certain luminosity
limit. The big blue bump, footprint of the accretion disk, is absent for the
majority of low-luminosity AGNs (LLAGNs). Moreover, recent simulations suggest
that the torus, a keystone in the Unified Model, vanishes for nuclei with L_bol
< 10^42 erg/s. However, the study of LLAGN is a complex task due to the
contribution of the host galaxy, which light swamps these faint nuclei. This is
specially critical in the IR range, at the maximum of the torus emission, due
to the contribution of the old stellar population and/or dust in the nuclear
region. Adaptive optics imaging in the NIR (VLT/NaCo) together with diffraction
limited imaging in the mid-IR (VLT/VISIR) permit us to isolate the nuclear
emission for some of the nearest LLAGNs in the Southern Hemisphere. These data
were extended to the optical/UV range (HST), radio (VLA, VLBI) and X-rays
(Chandra, XMM-Newton, Integral), in order to build a genuine spectral energy
distribution (SED) for each AGN with a consistent spatial resolution (< 0.5")
across the whole spectral range. From the individual SEDs, we construct an
average SED for LLAGNs sampled in all the wavebands mentioned before. Compared
with previous multiwavelength studies of LLAGNs, this work covers the mid-IR
and NIR ranges with high-spatial resolution data. The LLAGNs in the sample
present a large diversity in terms of SED shapes. Some of them are very well
described by a self-absorbed synchrotron (e.g. NGC 1052), while some other
present a thermal-like bump at ~1 micron (NGC 4594). All of them are
significantly different when compared with bright Seyferts and quasars,
suggesting that the inner structure of AGNs (i.e. the torus and the accretion
disk) suffers intrinsic changes at low luminosities.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures. To appear in the proceedings of "Astrophysics at
High Angular Resolution" (AHAR 2011
Anomalous transport properties of the halfmetallic ferromagnets Co2TiSi, Co2TiGe, and Co2TiSn
In this work the theoretical and experimental investigations of Co2TiZ (Z =
Si, Ge, or Sn) compounds are reported. Half-metallic ferromagnetism is
predicted for all three compounds with only two bands crossing the Fermi energy
in the majority channel. The magnetic moments fulfill the Slater-Pauling rule
and the Curie temperatures are well above room temperature. All compounds show
a metallic like resistivity for low temperatures up to their Curie temperature,
above the resistivity changes to semiconducting like behavior. A large negative
magnetoresistance of 55% is observed for Co2TiSn at room temperature in an
applied magnetic field of 4T which is comparable to the large negative
magnetoresistances of the manganites. The Seebeck coefficients are negative for
all three compounds and reach their maximum values at their respective Curie
temperatures and stay almost constant up to 950 K. The highest value achieved
is -52muV/K m for Co2TiSn which is large for a metal. The combination of
half-metallicity and the constant large Seebeck coefficient over a wide
temperature range makes these compounds interesting materials for
thermoelectric applications and further spincaloric investigations.Comment: 4 pages 4 figure
The Host Galaxy and Central Engine of the Dwarf AGN POX 52
We present new multi-wavelength observations of the dwarf Seyfert 1 galaxy
POX 52 in order to investigate the properties of the host galaxy and the active
nucleus, and to examine the mass of its black hole, previously estimated to be
~ 10^5 M_sun. Hubble Space Telescope ACS/HRC images show that the host galaxy
has a dwarf elliptical morphology (M_I = -18.4 mag, Sersic index n = 4.3) with
no detected disk component or spiral structure, confirming previous results
from ground-based imaging. X-ray observations from both Chandra and XMM show
strong (factor of 2) variability over timescales as short as 500 s, as well as
a dramatic decrease in the absorbing column density over a 9 month period. We
attribute this change to a partial covering absorber, with a 94% covering
fraction and N_H = 58^{+8.4}_{-9.2} * 10^21 cm^-2, that moved out of the line
of sight in between the XMM and Chandra observations. Combining these data with
observations from the VLA, Spitzer, and archival data from 2MASS and GALEX, we
examine the spectral energy distribution (SED) of the active nucleus. Its shape
is broadly similar to typical radio-quiet quasar SEDs, despite the very low
bolometric luminosity of L_bol = 1.3 * 10^43 ergs/s. Finally, we compare black
hole mass estimators including methods based on X-ray variability, and optical
scaling relations using the broad H-beta line width and AGN continuum
luminosity, finding a range of black hole mass from all methods to be M_bh =
(2.2-4.2) * 10^5 M_sun, with an Eddington ratio of L_bol/L_edd = 0.2-0.5.Comment: 19 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
One-loop Quantum Gravity in Schwarzschild Spacetime
The quantum theory of linearized perturbations of the gravitational field of
a Schwarzschild black hole is presented. The fundamental operators are seen to
be the perturbed Weyl scalars and associated with the
Newman-Penrose description of the classical theory. Formulae are obtained for
the expectation values of the modulus squared of these operators in the
Boulware, Unruh and Hartle-Hawking quantum states. Differences between the
renormalized expectation values of both and
in the three quantum states are evaluated
numerically.Comment: 39 pages, 11 Postscript figures, using revte
Ab initio pseudopotential study of Fe, Co, and Ni employing the spin-polarized LAPW approach
The ground-state properties of Fe, Co, and Ni are studied with the
linear-augmented-plane-wave (LAPW) method and norm-conserving pseudopotentials.
The calculated lattice constant, bulk modulus, and magnetic moment with both
the local-spin-density approximation (LSDA) and the generalized gradient
approximation (GGA) are in good agreement with those of all-electron
calculations, respectively. The GGA results show a substantial improvement over
the LSDA results, i.e., better agreement with experiment. The accurate
treatment of the nonlinear core-valence exchange and correlation interaction is
found to be essential for the determination of the magnetic properties of 3d
transition metals. The present study demonstrates the successful application of
the LAPW pseudopotential approach to the calculation of ground-state properties
of magnetic 3d transition metals.Comment: RevTeX, 14 pages, 2 figures in uufiles for
Structure of self-organized Fe clusters grown on Au(111) analyzed by Grazing Incidence X-Ray Diffraction
We report a detailed investigation of the first stages of the growth of
self-organized Fe clusters on the reconstructed Au(111) surface by grazing
incidence X-ray diffraction. Below one monolayer coverage, the Fe clusters are
in "local epitaxy" whereas the subsequent layers adopt first a strained fcc
lattice and then a partly relaxed bcc(110) phase in a Kurdjumov-Sachs epitaxial
relationship. The structural evolution is discussed in relation with the
magnetic properties of the Fe clusters.Comment: 7 pages, 6 figures, submitted to Physical Review B September 200
VPLanet: The Virtual Planet Simulator
We describe a software package called VPLanet that simulates fundamental
aspects of planetary system evolution over Gyr timescales, with a focus on
investigating habitable worlds. In this initial release, eleven physics modules
are included that model internal, atmospheric, rotational, orbital, stellar,
and galactic processes. Many of these modules can be coupled simultaneously to
simulate the evolution of terrestrial planets, gaseous planets, and stars. The
code is validated by reproducing a selection of observations and past results.
VPLanet is written in C and designed so that the user can choose the physics
modules to apply to an individual object at runtime without recompiling, i.e.,
a single executable can simulate the diverse phenomena that are relevant to a
wide range of planetary and stellar systems. This feature is enabled by
matrices and vectors of function pointers that are dynamically allocated and
populated based on user input. The speed and modularity of VPLanet enables
large parameter sweeps and the versatility to add/remove physical phenomena to
assess their importance. VPLanet is publicly available from a repository that
contains extensive documentation, numerous examples, Python scripts for
plotting and data management, and infrastructure for community input and future
development.Comment: 75 pages, 34 figures, 10 tables, accepted to the Proceedings of the
Astronomical Society of the Pacific. Source code, documentation, and examples
available at https://github.com/VirtualPlanetaryLaboratory/vplane
Efficient total energy calculations from self-energy models
We propose a new method for calculating total energies of systems of interacting electrons, which requires little more computational resources than standard density-functional theories. The total energy is calculated within the framework of many-body perturbation theory by using an efficient model of the self-energy, that nevertheless retains the main features of the exact operator. The method shows promising performance when tested against quantum Monte Carlo results for the linear response of the homogeneous electron gas and structural properties of bulk silicon
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