361 research outputs found
Understanding Astrophysical Noise from Stellar Surface Magneto-Convection
To obtain cm/s precision, stellar surface magneto-convection must be
disentangled from observed radial velocities (RVs). In order to understand and
remove the convective signature, we create Sun-as-a-star model observations
based on a 3D magnetohydrodynamic solar simulation. From these Sun-as-a-star
model observations, we find several line characteristics are correlated with
the induced RV shifts. The aim of this campaign is to feed directly into future
high precision RV studies, such as the search for habitable, rocky worlds, with
forthcoming spectrographs such as ESPRESSO.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures; presented at the 18th Cambridge Workshop on Cool
Stars, Stellar Systems, and the Sun (CoolStars18); to appear in the
proceedings of Lowell Observatory (9-13 June 2014), edited by G. van Belle &
H. Harris. Updated with correct y-axis units on righthand plot in figure
Radiative hydrodynamic modelling and observations of the X-class solar flare on 2011 March 9
We investigated the response of the solar atmosphere to non-thermal electron
beam heating using the radiative transfer and hydrodynamics modelling code
RADYN. The temporal evolution of the parameters that describe the non-thermal
electron energy distribution were derived from hard X-ray observations of a
particular flare, and we compared the modelled and observed parameters. The
evolution of the non-thermal electron beam parameters during the X1.5 solar
flare on 2011 March 9 were obtained from analysis of RHESSI X-ray spectra. The
RADYN flare model was allowed to evolve for 110 seconds, after which the
electron beam heating was ended, and was then allowed to continue evolving for
a further 300s. The modelled flare parameters were compared to the observed
parameters determined from extreme-ultraviolet spectroscopy. The model produced
a hotter and denser flare loop than that observed and also cooled more rapidly,
suggesting that additional energy input in the decay phase of the flare is
required. In the explosive evaporation phase a region of high-density cool
material propagated upward through the corona. This material underwent a rapid
increase in temperature as it was unable to radiate away all of the energy
deposited across it by the non-thermal electron beam and via thermal
conduction. A narrow and high-density ( cm) region at
the base of the flare transition region was the source of optical line emission
in the model atmosphere. The collision-stopping depth of electrons was
calculated throughout the evolution of the flare, and it was found that the
compression of the lower atmosphere may permit electrons to penetrate farther
into a flaring atmosphere compared to a quiet Sun atmosphere.Comment: 12 pages, 12 figure
Statistical Analysis of Small Ellerman Bomb Events
The properties of Ellerman bombs (EBs), small-scale brightenings in the
H-alpha line wings, have proved difficult to establish due to their size being
close to the spatial resolution of even the most advanced telescopes. Here, we
aim to infer the size and lifetime of EBs using high-resolution data of an
emerging active region collected using the Interferometric BIdimensional
Spectrometer (IBIS) and Rapid Oscillations of the Solar Atmosphere (ROSA)
instruments as well as the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) onboard the
Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO). We develop an algorithm to track EBs through
their evolution, finding that EBs can often be much smaller (around 0.3") and
shorter lived (less than 1 minute) than previous estimates. A correlation
between G-band magnetic bright points and EBs is also found. Combining SDO/HMI
and G-band data gives a good proxy of the polarity for the vertical magnetic
field. It is found that EBs often occur both over regions of opposite polarity
flux and strong unipolar fields, possibly hinting at magnetic reconnection as a
driver of these events.The energetics of EB events is found to follow a
power-law distribution in the range of "nano-flare" (10^{22-25} ergs).Comment: 19 pages. 7 Figure
Ca II H and K Chromospheric Emission Lines in Late K and M Dwarfs
We have measured the profiles of the Ca II H and K chromospheric emission
lines in 147 main sequence stars of spectral type M5-K7 (0.30-0.55 solar
masses) using multiple high resolution spectra obtained during six years with
the HIRES spectrometer on the Keck 1 telescope. Remarkably, the average FWHM,
equivalent widths, and line luminosities of Ca II H and K increase by a factor
of 3 with increasing stellar mass over this small range of stellar masses. We
fit the H and K lines with a double Gaussian model to represent both the
chromospheric emission and the non-LTE central absorption. Most of the sample
stars display a central absorption that is typically redshifted by ~0.1 km/s
relative to the emission, but the nature of this velocity gradient remains
unknown. The FWHM of the H and K lines increase with stellar luminosity,
reminiscent of the Wilson-Bappu effect in FGK-type stars. Both the equivalent
widths and FWHM exhibit modest temporal variability in individual stars. At a
given value of M_v, stars exhibit a spread in both the equivalent width and
FWHM of Ca II H and K, due both to a spread in fundamental stellar parameters
including rotation rate, age, and possibly metallicity, and to the spread in
stellar mass at a given M_v. The K line is consistently wider than the H line,
as expected, and its central absorption is more redshifted, indicating that the
H and K lines form at slightly different heights in the chromosphere where the
velocities are slightly different. The equivalent width of H-alpha correlates
with Ca II H and K only for stars having Ca II equivalent widths above ~2
angstroms, suggesting the existence of a magnetic threshold above which the
lower and upper chromospheres become thermally coupled.Comment: 40 pages including 12 figures and 17 pages of tables, accepted for
publication in PAS
The Radiated Energy Budget of Chromospheric Plasma in a Major Solar Flare Deduced From Multi-Wavelength Observations
This paper presents measurements of the energy radiated by the lower solar
atmosphere, at optical, UV, and EUV wavelengths, during an X-class solar flare
(SOL2011-02-15T01:56) in response to an injection of energy assumed to be in
the form of nonthermal electrons. Hard X-ray observations from RHESSI were used
to track the evolution of the parameters of the nonthermal electron
distribution to reveal the total power contained in flare accelerated
electrons. By integrating over the duration of the impulsive phase, the total
energy contained in the nonthermal electrons was found to be
erg. The response of the lower solar atmosphere was measured in the free-bound
EUV continua of H I (Lyman), He I, and He II, plus the emission lines of He II
at 304\AA\ and H I (Ly) at 1216\AA\ by SDO/EVE, the UV continua at
1600\AA\ and 1700\AA\ by SDO/AIA, and the WL continuum at 4504\AA, 5550\AA, and
6684\AA, along with the Ca II H line at 3968\AA\ using Hinode/SOT. The summed
energy detected by these instruments amounted to erg;
about 15% of the total nonthermal energy. The Ly line was found to
dominate the measured radiative losses. Parameters of both the driving electron
distribution and the resulting chromospheric response are presented in detail
to encourage the numerical modelling of flare heating for this event, to
determine the depth of the solar atmosphere at which these line and continuum
processes originate, and the mechanism(s) responsible for their generation.Comment: 14 pages, 18 figures. Accepted for publication in Astrophysics
Journa
A Thioredoxin Domain-Containing Protein Interacts with Pepino mosaic virus Triple Gene Block Protein 1
Pepino mosaic virus (PepMV) is a mechanically-transmitted tomato pathogen of importance worldwide. Interactions between the PepMV coat protein and triple gene block protein (TGBp1) with the host heat shock cognate protein 70 and catalase 1 (CAT1), respectively, have been previously reported by our lab. In this study, a novel tomato interactor (SlTXND9) was shown to bind the PepMV TGBp1 in yeast-two-hybrid screening, in vitro pull-down and bimolecular fluorescent complementation (BiFC) assays. SlTXND9 possesses part of the conserved thioredoxin (TRX) active site sequence (W__PC vs. WCXPC), and TXND9 orthologues cluster within the TRX phylogenetic superfamilyclosesttophosducin-likeprotein-3. InPepMV-infectedandhealthyNicotianabenthamiana plants,NbTXND9mRNAlevelswerecomparable,andexpressionlevelsremainedstableinbothlocal and systemic leaves for 10 days post inoculation (dpi), as was also the case for catalase 1 (CAT1). To localize the TXND9 in plant cells, a polyclonal antiserum was produced. Purified α-SlTXND9 immunoglobulin (IgG) consistently detected a set of three protein bands in the range of 27–35 kDa, in the 1000 and 30,000 g pellets, and the soluble fraction of extracts of healthy and PepMV-infected N. benthamiana leaves, but not in the cell wall. These bands likely consist of the homologous protein NbTXND9 and its post-translationally modified derivatives. On electron microscopy, immuno-gold labellingofultrathinsectionsofPepMV-infectedN.benthamianaleavesusingα-SlTXND9IgGrevealed particle accumulation close to plasmodesmata, suggesting a role in virus movement. Taken together, this study highlights a novel tomato-PepMV protein interaction and provides data on its localization in planta. Currently, studies focusing on the biological function of this interaction during PepMV infection are in progress
Solar Ellerman Bombs in 1D Radiative Hydrodynamics
Recent observations from the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS)
appear to show impulsive brightenings in high temperature lines, which when
combined with simultaneous ground based observations in H, appear
co-spatial to Ellerman Bombs (EBs). We use the RADYN 1-dimensional radiative
transfer code in an attempt to try and reproduce the observed line profiles and
simulate the atmospheric conditions of these events. Combined with the MULTI/RH
line synthesis codes, we compute the H, Ca II 8542~\AA, and Mg II h \&
k lines for these simulated events and compare them to previous observations.
Our findings hint that the presence of superheated regions in the photosphere
(10,000 K) is not a plausible explanation for the production of EB
signatures. While we are able to recreate EB-like line profiles in H,
Ca II 8542~\AA, and Mg II h \& k, we cannot achieve agreement with all of these
simultaneously.Comment: Accepted into ApJL. 4 Figures, 1 Tabl
A New Multiple Stellar System in the Solar Neighborhood
Adaptive optics corrected images obtained with the CIAO instrument at the
Subaru 8.2-meter telescope show the presence of two subarsecond companions to
the nearby (d=19.3 pc) young star GJ 900, which was previously classified as a
single member of the IC 2391 supercluster. The two companions share the same
proper motion as the primary and are redder. Their projected separations from
the primary are 10 AU and 14.5 AU for B and C, respectively. The estimated
masses for the two new companions depend strongly on the age of the system. For
the range of ages found in the literature for IC 2391 supercluster members
(from 35 Myr to 200 Myr), the expected masses range from 0.2 M to 0.4
M for the B component, and from 0.09 M to 0.22 M for
the C component. The determination of the dynamical mass of the faintest
component of GJ 900 will yield the age of the system using theoretical
evolutionary tracks. The apparent separations of the GJ 900 system components
meet the observational criterion for an unstable Trapezium-type system, but
this could be a projection effect. Further observations are needed to establish
the nature of this interesting low-mass multiple system.Comment: Scheduled for publication in the Astronomical Journal (August 2003
Structure, stability and stress properties of amorphous and nanostructured carbon films
Structural and mechanical properties of amorphous and nanocomposite carbon
are investigated using tight-binding molecular dynamics and Monte Carlo
simulations. In the case of amorphous carbon, we show that the variation of
sp^3 fraction as a function of density is linear over the whole range of
possible densities, and that the bulk moduli follow closely the power-law
variation suggested by Thorpe. We also review earlier work pertained to the
intrinsic stress state of tetrahedral amorphous carbon. In the case of
nanocomposites, we show that the diamond inclusions are stable only in dense
amorphous tetrahedral matrices. Their hardness is considerably higher than that
of pure amorphous carbon films. Fully relaxed diamond nanocomposites possess
zero average intrinsic stress.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
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