4,152 research outputs found
Mu and Tau Neutrino Thermalization and Production in Supernovae: Processes and Timescales
We investigate the rates of production and thermalization of and
neutrinos at temperatures and densities relevant to core-collapse
supernovae and protoneutron stars. Included are contributions from electron
scattering, electron-positron annihilation, nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung, and
nucleon scattering. For the scattering processes, in order to incorporate the
full scattering kinematics at arbitrary degeneracy, the structure function
formalism developed by Reddy et al. (1998) and Burrows and Sawyer (1998) is
employed. Furthermore, we derive formulae for the total and differential rates
of nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung for arbitrary nucleon degeneracy in
asymmetric matter. We find that electron scattering dominates nucleon
scattering as a thermalization process at low neutrino energies
( MeV), but that nucleon scattering is always faster
than or comparable to electron scattering above MeV. In
addition, for g cm, MeV, and
neutrino energies MeV, nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung always
dominates electron-positron annihilation as a production mechanism for
and neutrinos.Comment: 29 pages, LaTeX (RevTeX), 13 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. C. Also
to be found at anonymous ftp site http://www.astrophysics.arizona.edu; cd to
pub/thompso
The magnetic field effect on the transport and efficiency of group III tris(8-hydroxyquinoline) organic light emitting diodes
Copyright 2008 American Institute of Physics. This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and the American Institute of Physics. This article appeared in Journal of Applied Physics 103, 103715 (2008) and may be found at
Distances to the high galactic latitude molecular clouds G192-67 and MBM 23-24
We report on distance determinations for two high Galactic latitude cloud
complexes, G192-67 and MBM 23-24. No distance determination exists in the
literature for either cloud. Thirty-four early type stars were observed towards
the two clouds, more than half of which have parallaxes measured by the
Hipparcos satellite. For the remaining stars we have made spectroscopic
distance estimates. The data consist of high resolution echelle spectra
centered on the Na I D lines, and were obtained over six nights at the Coude
Feed telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory. Interstellar absorption lines
were detected towards some of the stars, enabling estimates of the distances to
the clouds of 109 +/- 14 pc for G192-67, and of 139 +/- 33 pc for MBM 23-24. We
discuss the relationship of these clouds to other ISM features such as the
Local Hot Bubble and the local cavity in neutral hydrogen.Comment: 15 pages, 6 embedded figures, to be published in the ApJ Vol. 516,
No.
Chemical Equilibrium Abundances in Brown Dwarf and Extrasolar Giant Planet Atmospheres
We calculate detailed chemical abundance profiles for a variety of brown
dwarf and extrasolar giant planet atmosphere models, focusing in particular on
Gliese 229B, and derive the systematics of the changes in the dominant
reservoirs of the major elements with altitude and temperature. We assume an
Anders and Grevesse (1989) solar composition of 27 chemical elements and track
330 gas--phase species, including the monatomic forms of the elements, as well
as about 120 condensates. We address the issue of the formation and composition
of clouds in the cool atmospheres of substellar objects and explore the rain
out and depletion of refractories. We conclude that the opacity of clouds of
low--temperature (900 K), small--radius condensibles (specific chlorides
and sulfides), may be responsible for the steep spectrum of Gliese 229B
observed in the near infrared below 1 \mic. Furthermore, we assemble a
temperature sequence of chemical transitions in substellar atmospheres that may
be used to anchor and define a sequence of spectral types for substellar
objects with Ts from 2200 K to 100 K.Comment: 57 pages total, LaTeX, 14 figures, 5 tables, also available in
uuencoded, gzipped, and tarred form via anonymous ftp at
www.astrophysics.arizona.edu (cd to pub/burrows/chem), submitted to Ap.
The Inner Rings of Beta Pictoris
We present Keck images of the dust disk around Beta Pictoris at 17.9 microns
that reveal new structure in its morphology. Within 1" (19 AU) of the star, the
long axis of the dust emission is rotated by more than 10 degrees with respect
to that of the overall disk. This angular offset is more pronounced than the
warp detected at 3.5" by HST, and in the opposite direction. By contrast, the
long axis of the emission contours at ~ 1.5" from the star is aligned with the
HST warp. Emission peaks between 1.5" and 4" from the star hint at the presence
of rings similar to those observed in the outer disk at ~ 25" with HST/STIS. A
deconvolved image strongly suggests that the newly detected features arise from
a system of four non-coplanar rings. Bayesian estimates based on the primary
image lead to ring radii of 14+/-1 AU, 28+/-3 AU, 52+/-2 AU and 82+/-2 AU, with
orbital inclinations that alternate in orientation relative to the overall disk
and decrease in magnitude with increasing radius. We believe these new results
make a strong case for the existence of a nascent planetary system around Beta
Pic.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, PDF format. Published in ApJL, December 20,200
Nucleon Spin Fluctuations and the Supernova Emission of Neutrinos and Axions
In the hot and dense medium of a supernova (SN) core, the nucleon spins
fluctuate so fast that the axial-vector neutrino opacity and the axion
emissivity are expected to be significantly modified. Axions with
m_a\alt10^{-2}\,{\rm eV} are not excluded by SN~1987A. A substantial transfer
of energy in neutrino-nucleon () collisions is enabled which may alter
the spectra of SN neutrinos relative to calculations where energy-conserving
collisions had been assumed near the neutrinosphere.Comment: 8 pages. REVTeX. 2 postscript figures, can be included with epsf.
Small modifications of the text, a new "Note Added", and three new
references. To be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Shock Breakout in Core-Collapse Supernovae and its Neutrino Signature
(Abridged) We present results from dynamical models of core-collapse
supernovae in one spatial dimension, employing a newly-developed Boltzmann
neutrino radiation transport algorithm, coupled to Lagrangean hydrodynamics and
a consistent high-density nuclear equation of state. We focus on shock breakout
and its neutrino signature and follow the dynamical evolution of the cores of
11 M_sun, 15 M_sun, and 20 M_sun progenitors through collapse and the first 250
milliseconds after bounce. We examine the effects on the emergent neutrino
spectra, light curves, and mix of species of artificial opacity changes, the
number of energy groups, the weak magnetism/recoil corrections, nucleon-nucleon
bremsstrahlung, neutrino-electron scattering, and the compressibility of
nuclear matter. Furthermore, we present the first high-resolution look at the
angular distribution of the neutrino radiation field both in the
semi-transparent regime and at large radii and explore the accuracy with which
our tangent-ray method tracks the free propagation of a pulse of radiation in a
near vacuum. Finally, we fold the emergent neutrino spectra with the
efficiencies and detection processes for a selection of modern underground
neutrino observatories and argue that the prompt electron-neutrino breakout
burst from the next galactic supernova is in principle observable and usefully
diagnostic of fundamental collapse/supernova behavior. Though we are not in
this study focusing on the supernova mechanism per se, our simulations support
the theoretical conclusion (already reached by others) that spherical (1D)
supernovae do not explode when good physics and transport methods are employed.Comment: 16 emulateapj pages, plus 24 postscript figures, accepted to The
Astrophysical Journal; text revised; neutrino oscillation section expanded;
Fig. 22 correcte
Numerical Toy-Model Calculation of the Nucleon Spin Autocorrelation Function in a Supernova Core
We develop a simple model for the evolution of a nucleon spin in a hot and
dense nuclear medium. A given nucleon is limited to one-dimensional motion in a
distribution of external, spin-dependent scattering potentials. We calculate
the nucleon spin autocorrelation function numerically for a variety of
potential densities and distributions which are meant to bracket realistic
conditions in a supernova core. For all plausible configurations the width of
the spin-density structure function is found to be less than the temperature.
This is in contrast with a naive perturbative calculation based on the one-pion
exchange potential which overestimates the width and thus suggests a large
suppression of the neutrino opacities by nucleon spin fluctuations. Our results
suggest that it may be justified to neglect the collisional broadening of the
spin-density structure function for the purpose of estimating the neutrino
opacities in the deep inner core of a supernova. On the other hand, we find no
indication that processes such as axion or neutrino pair emission, which depend
on nucleon spin fluctuations, are substantially suppressed beyond the
multiple-scattering effect already discussed in the literature. Aside from
these practical conclusions, our model reveals a number of interesting and
unexpected insights. For example, the spin-relaxation rate saturates with
increasing potential strength only if bound states are not allowed to form by
including a repulsive core. There is no saturation with increasing density of
scattering potentials until localized eigenstates of energy begin to form.Comment: 14 latex pages in two-column format, 15 postscript figures included,
uses revtex.sty and epsf.sty. Submitted to Physical Review
Crucial Physical Dependencies of the Core-Collapse Supernova Mechanism
We explore with self-consistent 2D F{\sc{ornax}} simulations the dependence
of the outcome of collapse on many-body corrections to neutrino-nucleon cross
sections, the nucleon-nucleon bremsstrahlung rate, electron capture on heavy
nuclei, pre-collapse seed perturbations, and inelastic neutrino-electron and
neutrino-nucleon scattering. Importantly, proximity to criticality amplifies
the role of even small changes in the neutrino-matter couplings, and such
changes can together add to produce outsized effects. When close to the
critical condition the cumulative result of a few small effects (including
seeds) that individually have only modest consequence can convert an anemic
into a robust explosion, or even a dud into a blast. Such sensitivity is not
seen in one dimension and may explain the apparent heterogeneity in the
outcomes of detailed simulations performed internationally. A natural
conclusion is that the different groups collectively are closer to a realistic
understanding of the mechanism of core-collapse supernovae than might have
seemed apparent.Comment: 25 pages; 10 figure
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