Asteroseismology and calibration of alpha Cen binary system

Using the oscillation frequencies of alpha Cen A recently discovered by Bouchy & Carrier, the available astrometric, photometric and spectroscopic data, we tried to improve the calibration of the visual binary system alpha Cen. With the revisited masses of Pourbaix et al. (2002) we do not succeed to obtain a solution satisfying all the seismic observational constraints. Relaxing the constraints on the masses, we have found an age t_alpha Cen=4850+-500 Myr, an initial helium mass fraction Y_i = 0.300+-0.008, and an initial metallicity (Z/X)_i=0.0459+-0.0019, with M_A=1.100+-0.006M_o and M_B=0.907+-0.006M_o for alpha Cen A&B.Comment: accepted for publication as a letter in A&

Solar-like oscillations in the metal-poor subgiant nu Indi: II. Acoustic spectrum and mode lifetime

Convection in stars excites resonant acoustic waves which depend on the sound speed inside the star, which in turn depends on properties of the stellar interior. Therefore, asteroseismology is an unrivaled method to probe the internal structure of a star. We made a seismic study of the metal-poor subgiant star nu Indi with the goal of constraining its interior structure. Our study is based on a time series of 1201 radial velocity measurements spread over 14 nights obtained from two sites, Siding Spring Observatory in Australia and ESO La Silla Observatory in Chile. The power spectrum of the high precision velocity time series clearly presents several identifiable peaks between 200 and 500 uHz showing regularity with a large and small spacing of 25.14 +- 0.09 uHz and 2.96 +- 0.22 uHz at 330 uHz. Thirteen individual modes have been identified with amplitudes in the range 53 to 173 cm/s. The mode damping time is estimated to be about 16 days (1-sigma range between 9 and 50 days), substantially longer than in other stars like the Sun, the alpha Cen system or the giant xi Hya.Comment: 5 pages, 7 figures, A&A accepte

Searching for solar-like oscillations in the delta Scuti star rho Puppis

Despite the shallow convective envelopes of delta Scuti pulsators, solar-like oscillations are theoretically predicted to be excited in those stars as well. To search for such stochastic oscillations we organised a spectroscopic multi-site campaign for the bright, metal-rich delta Sct star rho Puppis. We obtained a total of 2763 high-resolution spectra using four telescopes. We discuss the reduction and analysis with the iodine cell technique, developed for searching for low-amplitude radial velocity variations, in the presence of high-amplitude variability. Furthermore, we have determined the angular diameter of rho Puppis to be 1.68 \pm 0.03 mas, translating into a radius of 3.52 \pm 0.07Rsun. Using this value, the frequency of maximum power of possible solar-like oscillations, is expected at ~43 \pm 2 c/d (498 \pm 23 muHz). The dominant delta Scuti-type pulsation mode of rho Puppis is known to be the radial fundamental mode which allows us to determine the mean density of the star, and therefore an expected large frequency separation of 2.73 c/d (31.6 muHz). We conclude that 1) the radial velocity amplitudes of the delta Scuti pulsations are different for different spectral lines; 2) we can exclude solar-like oscillations to be present in rho Puppis with an amplitude per radial mode larger than 0.5 m/s.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figure, accepted for MNRA

Vector-soliton collision dynamics in nonlinear optical fibers

We consider the interactions of two identical, orthogonally polarized vector solitons in a nonlinear optical fiber with two polarization directions, described by a coupled pair of nonlinear Schroedinger equations. We study a low-dimensional model system of Hamiltonian ODE derived by Ueda and Kath and also studied by Tan and Yang. We derive a further simplified model which has similar dynamics but is more amenable to analysis. Sufficiently fast solitons move by each other without much interaction, but below a critical velocity the solitons may be captured. In certain bands of initial velocities the solitons are initially captured, but separate after passing each other twice, a phenomenon known as the two-bounce or two-pass resonance. We derive an analytic formula for the critical velocity. Using matched asymptotic expansions for separatrix crossing, we determine the location of these "resonance windows." Numerical simulations of the ODE models show they compare quite well with the asymptotic theory.Comment: 32 pages, submitted to Physical Review

Experimental Success and the Revelation of Reality: The Miracle Argument for Scientific Realism

Carrier M. Experimental Success and the Revelation of Reality: The Miracle Argument for Scientific Realism. In: Carrier M, Roggenhofer J, Küppers G, Blanchard P, eds. Knowledge and the World: Challenges Beyond the Science Wars. The frontiers collection. Berlin [u.a.]: Springer; 2004: 137-161

The analytic structure of 2D Euler flow at short times

Using a very high precision spectral calculation applied to the incompressible and inviscid flow with initial condition $\psi_0(x_1, x_2) = \cos x_1+\cos 2x_2$, we find that the width $\delta(t)$ of its analyticity strip follows a $\ln(1/t)$ law at short times over eight decades. The asymptotic equation governing the structure of spatial complex-space singularities at short times (Frisch, Matsumoto and Bec 2003, J.Stat.Phys. 113, 761--781) is solved by a high-precision expansion method. Strong numerical evidence is obtained that singularities have infinite vorticity and lie on a complex manifold which is constructed explicitly as an envelope of analyticity disks.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures, published versio

Effects of rotational mixing on the asteroseismic properties of solar-type stars

The influence of rotational mixing on the evolution and asteroseismic properties of solar-type stars is studied. Rotational mixing changes the global properties of a solar-type star with a significant increase of the effective temperature resulting in a shift of the evolutionary track to the blue part of the HR diagram. These differences are related to changes of the chemical composition, because rotational mixing counteracts the effects of atomic diffusion leading to larger helium surface abundances for rotating models than for non-rotating ones. Higher values of the large frequency separation are then found for rotating models than for non-rotating ones at the same evolutionary stage, because the increase of the effective temperature leads to a smaller radius and hence to an increase of the stellar mean density. Rotational mixing also has a considerable impact on the structure and chemical composition of the central stellar layers by bringing fresh hydrogen fuel to the core, thereby enhancing the main-sequence lifetime. The increase of the central hydrogen abundance together with the change of the chemical profiles in the central layers result in a significant increase of the values of the small frequency separations and of the ratio of the small to large separations for models including shellular rotation. This increase is clearly seen for models with the same age sharing the same initial parameters except for the inclusion of rotation as well as for models with the same global stellar parameters and in particular the same location in the HR diagram. By computing rotating models of solar-type stars including the effects of a dynamo that possibly occurs in the radiative zone, we find that the efficiency of rotational mixing is strongly reduced when the effects of magnetic fields are taken into account, in contrast to what happens in massive stars.Comment: 11 pages, 15 figures, accepted for publication in A&