21,472 research outputs found
Detection of an X-ray Pulsar Wind Nebula and Tail in SNR N157B
We report Chandra X-ray observations of the supernova remnant N157B in the
Large Magellanic Cloud, which are presented together with an archival HST
optical image and a radio continuum map for comparison. This remnant contains
the recently discovered 16 ms X-ray pulsar PSR J0537-6910, the most rapidly
rotating young pulsar known.
Using phase-resolved Chandra imaging, we pinpoint the location of the pulsar
to within an uncertainty of less than 1 arcsec. PSR J0537-6910 is not detected
in any other wavelength band. The X-ray observations resolve three distinct
features: the pulsar itself, a surrounding compact wind nebula which is
strongly elongated and a feature of large-scale diffuse emission trailing from
the pulsar. This latter comet tail-shaped feature coexists with enhanced radio
emission and is oriented nearly perpendicular to the major axis of the pulsar
wind nebula. We propose the following scenario to explain these features. The
bright, compact nebula is likely powered by a toroidal pulsar wind of
relativistic particles which is partially confined by the ram-pressure from the
supersonic motion of the pulsar. The particles, after being forced out from the
compact nebula (the head of the ``comet''), are eventually dumped into a bubble
(the tail), which is primarily responsible for the extended diffuse X-ray and
radio emission. The ram-pressure confinement also allows a natural explanation
for the observed X-ray luminosity of the compact nebula and for the unusually
small X-ray to spin-down luminosity ratio, compared to similarly energetic
pulsars. We estimate the pulsar wind Lorentz factor of N157B as about 4 times
10^6 (with an uncertainty of a factor about 2, consistent with that inferred
from the modeling of the Crab Nebula.Comment: 15 pages plus 4 figures. The postscript file of the whole paper is
available at http://xray.astro.umass.edu/wqd/papers/n157b/n157b.ps. accepted
for publication in Ap
Bubbles and Superbubbles
An isolated massive star can blow a bubble, while a group of massive stars
can blow superbubbles. In this paper, we examine three intriguing questions
regarding bubbles and superbubbles: (1) why don't we see interstellar bubbles
around every O star? (2) how hot are the bubble interiors? and (3) what is
going on at the hot/cold gas interface in a bubble?Comment: 8 page, 5 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "How does the
Galaxy work? A Galactic Tertulia with Don Cox and Ron Reynolds", eds Alfaro,
Perez & Franc
Vortex avalanches and self organized criticality in superconducting niobium
In 1993 Tang proposed [1] that vortex avalanches should produce a self
organized critical state in superconductors, but conclusive evidence for this
has heretofore been lacking. In the present paper, we report extensive
micro-Hall probe data from the vortex dynamics in superconducting niobium,
where a broad distribution of avalanche sizes scaling as a power-law for more
than two decades is found. The measurements are combined with magneto-optical
imaging, and show that over a widely varying magnetic landscape the scaling
behaviour does not change, hence establishing that the dynamics of
superconducting vortices is a SOC phenomenon.Comment: 3 pages + 4 figures, a reference added, citation typos fixe
Unusual Field-Dependence of the Intragrain Superconductive Transition in RuSr2EuCu2O8
A narrow intragrain phase-lock transition was observed in RuSr2EuCu2O8 under
a magnetic field H up to a few Tesla. The corresponding transition temperature,
T2, decreases rapidly (about 100 K/T at low fields) with H indicating that the
grains of RuSr2EuCu2O8 behave like a Josephson-junction-array instead of a
homogeneous bulk superconductor. Our data suggest that the bulk superconducting
transition may occur on a length scale well below the grain size of 2 to 6
micrometer
Probing the role of single defects on the thermodynamics of electric-field induced phase transitions
The kinetics and thermodynamics of first order transitions is universally
controlled by defects that act as nucleation sites and pinning centers. Here we
demonstrate that defect-domain interactions during polarization reversal
processes in ferroelectric materials result in a pronounced fine structure in
electromechanical hysteresis loops. Spatially-resolved imaging of a single
defect center in multiferroic BiFeO3 thin film is achieved, and the defect size
and built-in field are determined self-consistently from the single-point
spectroscopic measurements and spatially-resolved images. This methodology is
universal and can be applied to other reversible bias-induced transitions
including electrochemical reactions.Comment: 34 pages,4 figures, high quality figures are available upon request,
submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
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