Stellar escapers from M67 can reach solar-like Galactic orbits

We investigate the possibility that the Sun could have been born in M67 by carrying out $N$-body simulations of M67-like clusters in a time-varying Galactic environment, and following the galactic orbits of stars that escape from them. We find that model clusters that occupy similar orbits to M67 today can be divided up into three groups. Hot clusters are born with a high initial $z$-velocity, depleted clusters are born on cold orbits but are destroyed by GMC encounters in the Galactic disc, and scattered clusters are born on cold orbits and survive with more than 1000 stars at an age of 4.6 Gyr. We find that all cluster models in all three cluster groups have stellar escapers that are kinematicaly similar to the Sun. Hot clusters having the lowest such fraction $f_{\odot} = 0.06$ %, whilst depleted clusters have the highest fraction, $f_{\odot} = 6.61$ %. We calculate that clusters that are destroyed in the Galactic disc have a specific frequency of escapers that end up on solar-like orbits that is $\sim$ 2 times that of escapers from clusters that survive their journey

Firewood, food and niche construction : the potential role of Mesolithic hunter-gatherers in actively structuring Scotland's woodlands.

Over the past few decades the potential role of Mesolithic hunter–gatherers in actively constructing their own niches, through the management of wild plants, has frequently been discussed. It is probable that Mesolithic hunter–gatherers systematically exploited specific woodland resources for food and fuel and influenced the ‘natural’ abundance or distribution of particular species within Mesolithic environments. Though there has been considerable discussion of the pollen evidence for potential small-scale human-woodland manipulation in Mesolithic Scotland, the archaeobotanical evidence for anthropogenic firewood and food selection has not been discussed in this context. This paper assesses the evidence for the active role of Mesolithic hunter–gatherer communities in systematically exploiting and managing woodlands for food and fuel in Scotland. While taphonomic factors may have impacted on the frequency of specific species in archaeobotanical assemblages, it is suggested that hunter–gatherers in Mesolithic Scotland were systematically using woodland plants, and in particular hazel and oak, for food and fuel. It is argued that the pollen evidence for woodland management is equivocal, but hints at the role of hunter–gatherers in shaping the structure of their environments, through the maintenance or creation of woodland clearings for settlement or as part of vegetation management strategies. It is proposed that Mesolithic hunter–gatherers may have actively contributed to niche construction and that the systematic use of hazel and oak as a fuel may reflect the deliberate pruning of hazel trees to increase nut-yields and the inadvertent – or perhaps deliberate – coppicing of hazel and oak during greenwood collection

The Distribution of X-ray Dips with Orbital Phase in Cygnus X-1

We present results of a comprehensive study of the distribution of absorption dips with orbital phase in Cygnus X-1. Firstly, the distribution was obtained using archival data from all major X-ray observatories and corrected for the selection effect that phase zero (superior conjunction of the black hole) has been preferentially observed. Dip occurrence was seen to vary strongly with orbital phase \phi, with a peak at \phi ~ 0.95, i.e. was not symmetric about phase zero. Secondly, the RXTE ASM has provided continuous coverage of the Low State of Cygnus X-1 since Sept. 1996, and we have selected dip data based on increases in hardness ratio. The distribution, with much increased numbers of dip events, confirms that the peak is at \phi ~ 0.95, and we report the discovery of a second peak at \phi ~ 0.6. We attribute this peak to absorption in an accretion stream from the companion star HDE 226868. We have estimated the ionization parameter at different positions showing that radiative acceleration of the wind is suppressed by photoionization in particular regions in the binary system. To obtain the variation of column density with phase, we make estimates of neutral wind density for the extreme cases that acceleration of the wind is totally suppressed, or not suppressed at all. An accurate description will lie between these extremes. In each case, a strong variation of column density with orbital phase resulted, similar to the variation of dip occurrence. This provides evidence that formation of the blobs in the wind which lead to absorption dips depends on the density of the neutral component in the wind, suggesting possible mechanisms for blob growth.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, 7 ps figures. accepted by MNRA

Supernova enrichment and dynamical histories of solar-type stars in clusters

We use N-body simulations of star cluster evolution to explore the hypothesis that short-lived radioactive isotopes found in meteorites, such as 26-Al, were delivered to the Sun's protoplanetary disc from a supernova at the epoch of Solar System formation. We cover a range of star cluster formation parameter space and model both clusters with primordial substructure, and those with smooth profiles. We also adopt different initial virial ratios - from cool, collapsing clusters to warm, expanding associations. In each cluster we place the same stellar population; the clusters each have 2100 stars, and contain one massive 25M_Sun star which is expected to explode as a supernova at about 6.6Myr. We determine the number of Solar (G)-type stars that are within 0.1 - 0.3pc of the 25M_Sun star at the time of the supernova, which is the distance required to enrich the protoplanetary disc with the 26-Al abundances found in meteorites. We then determine how many of these G-dwarfs are unperturbed `singletons'; stars which are never in close binaries, nor suffer sub-100au encounters, and which also do not suffer strong dynamical perturbations. The evolution of a suite of twenty initially identical clusters is highly stochastic, with the supernova enriching over 10 G-dwarfs in some clusters, and none at all in others. Typically only ~25 per cent of clusters contain enriched, unperturbed singletons, and usually only 1 - 2 per cluster (from a total of 96 G-dwarfs in each cluster). The initial conditions for star formation do not strongly affect the results, although a higher fraction of supervirial (expanding) clusters would contain enriched G-dwarfs if the supernova occurred earlier than 6.6Myr. If we sum together simulations with identical initial conditions, then ~1 per cent of all G-dwarfs in our simulations are enriched, unperturbed singletons.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA

Ballistic thermal conductance limited by phonon roughness scattering: A comparison of power-law and Gaussian roughness

In this work, we have investigated the influence of power-law roughness on the ballistic thermal conductance KTH for a nanosized beam adiabatically connected between two heat reservoirs. The sideways wall beam roughness is assumed to be power-law type, which is described by the roughness amplitude w, the in-plane roughness correlation length ξ and the roughness exponent 0≤H≤1. Distinct differences occur in between power-law and Gaussian wall roughness. For power-law roughness with low roughness exponents H (<0.5), the influence of phonon scattering can be rather destructive leading to significant deviations from the universal conductance value for flat beam walls. On the other hand for large roughness exponents (H>0.5) the conductance drop is significantly smaller than that of Gaussian roughness assuming similar roughness ratios w/ξ.

A New Light Higgs Boson and Short-Baseline Neutrino Anomalies

The low-energy excesses observed by the MiniBooNE experiment have, to date, defied a convinc- ing explanation under the standard model even with accommodation for non-zero neutrino mass. In this paper we explore a new oscillation mechanism to explain these anomalies, invoking a light neu- trinophilic Higgs boson, conceived to induce a low Dirac neutrino mass in accord with experimental limits. Beam neutrinos forward-scattering off of a locally over-dense relic neutrino background give rise to a novel matter-effect with an energy-specific resonance. An enhanced oscillation around this resonance peak produces flavor transitions which are highly consistent with the MiniBooNE neutrino- and antineutrino-mode data sets. The model provides substantially improved $\chi^2$ values beyond either the no-oscillation hypothesis or the more commonly explored 3+1 sterile neutrino hy- pothesis. This mechanism would introduce distinctive signatures at each baseline in the upcoming SBN program at Fermilab, presenting opportunities for further exploration.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, submitted to PR