38,090 research outputs found
The Galactic plane at faint X-ray fluxes - II. Stacked X-ray spectra of a sample of serendipitous XMM-Newton sources
We have investigated the X-ray spectral properties of a sample of 138 X-ray
sources detected serendipitously in observations of the Galactic
plane, at an intermediate to faint flux level. We divide our sample into 5
subgroups according to the spectral hardness of the sources, and stack (i.e.
co-add) the individual source spectra within each subgroup. As expected these
stacked spectra show a softening trend from the hardest to the softest
subgroups, which is reflected in the inferred line-of-sight column density. The
spectra of the three hardest subgroups are characterized by a hard continuum
plus superimpose Fe-line emission in the 6--7 keV bandpass. The average
equivalent width (EW) of the 6.7-keV He-like Fe-K line is
170 eV, whereas the 6.4-keV Fe-K fluorescence line from neutral
iron and the 6.9-keV H-like Fe-Ly line have EWs of 89 eV
and 81 eV respectively, i.e. roughly half that of the 6.7-keV
line. The remaining subgroups exhibit soft thermal spectra. Virtually all of
the spectrally-soft X-ray sources can be associated with relatively nearby
coronally-active late-type stars, which are evident as bright near-infrared
(NIR) objects within the X-ray error circles. On a similar basis only a
minority of the spectrally-hard X-ray sources have likely NIR identifications.
The average continuum and Fe-line properties of the spectrally-hard sources are
consistent with those of magnetic cataclysmic variables but the direct
identification of large numbers of such systems in Galactic X-ray surveys,
probing intermediate to faint flux levels, remains challenging.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, accepted for publication in MNRA
Optimality of programmable quantum measurements
We prove that for a programmable measurement device that approximates every
POVM with an error , the dimension of the program space has to grow
at least polynomially with . In the case of qubits we can
improve the general result by showing a linear growth. This proves the
optimality of the programmable measurement devices recently designed in [G. M.
D'Ariano and P. Perinotti, Phys. Rev. Lett. \textbf{94}, 090401 (2005)]
ContribuciĂłn de la historia y de la filosofĂa de las ciencias al desarrollo de un modelo de enseñanza/aprendizaje como investigaciĂłn
After the fiasco of the alearning by discovery» orientation and the serious limitations of the areception learningn paradigm, a new consensus is emerging on the nature of mathematics and science learning as a construction of knowledge. These constructivist approaches have taken explicitly into account contemporary views in philosophy of science as an epistemological base for a conception of learning as a conceptual change. Teaching strategies oriented to produce conceptual changes have been developed with promising results, but serious difficulties have also appeared. Our contribution will try to show that those difficulties are due to a still insufficient consideration of the nature of science in the teaching strategies. Consequently, we shall propose some modifications of these strategies, taking more carefully into account the relationship between the nature of science and the nature of learning
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