Long-Wavelength Excesses in Two Highly Obscured High-Mass X-Ray Binaries: IGR J16318–4848 and GX 301–2

We present evidence for excess long-wavelength emission from two high-mass X-ray binaries, IGR J16318-4848 and GX 301-2, that show enormous obscuration (N_H ≃ 10^(23)-10^(24) cm^(-2)) in their X-ray spectra. Using archival near- and mid-infrared data, we show that the spectral energy distributions of IGR J16318-4848 and GX 301-2 are substantially higher in the mid-infrared than their expected stellar emission. We successfully fit the excesses with ~1000 K blackbodies, which suggests that they are due to warm circumstellar dust that also gives rise to the X-ray absorption. However, we need further observations to constrain the detailed properties of the excesses. This discovery highlights the importance of mid-infrared observations for understanding highly obscured X-ray binaries

Investigation of line-of-sight propagation in dense atmosphere, phase 3, part 1

The investigation of microwave absorption in the 1 to 10 GHz frequency band by the Jovian atmosphere has continued, and an estimate of the strength of signal fading at these frequencies due to layers of turbulence in Jupiter's atmosphere is given. The microwave absorption due to gaseous ammonia is estimated both in terms of a power loss in dB/km, and in total power loss in dB for slant-path communication with a probe at altitudes down to pressures of several tens of atmospheres. The graphs indicate a frequency-squared scaling of the absorption, and appreciable losses at altitudes where the pressure is several atmospheres. An estimate of turbulence strength is given. This may turn out to be quite crude considering the absence of any relevant data. A planetary scaling law which appears to hold reasonably well for Earth to Venus, is extrapolated to Jupiter. No reasonable modifications of the estimate can alter the conclusion that direct-path fading is negligible for pressure regimes up to 20 atm

The Long and Short of Nuclear Effective Field Theory Expansions

Nonperturbative effective field theory calculations for NN scattering seem to break down at rather low momenta. By examining several toy models, we clarify how effective field theory expansions can in general be used to properly separate long- and short-range effects. We find that one-pion exchange has a large effect on the scattering phase shift near poles in the amplitude, but otherwise can be treated perturbatively. Analysis of a toy model that reproduces 1S0 NN scattering data rather well suggests that failures of effective field theories for momenta above the pion mass can be due to short-range physics rather than the treatment of pion exchange. We discuss the implications this has for extending the applicability of effective field theories.Comment: 22 pages, 9 figures, references corrected, minor modification

Regular R-R and NS-NS BPS black holes

We show in a precise group theoretical fashion how the generating solution of regular BPS black holes of N=8 supergravity, which is known to be a solution also of a simpler N=2 STU model truncation, can be characterized as NS-NS or R-R charged according to the way the corresponding STU model is embedded in the original N=8 theory. Of particular interest is the class of embeddings which yield regular BPS black hole solutions carrying only R-R charge and whose microscopic description can possibly be given in terms of bound states of D-branes only. The microscopic interpretation of the bosonic fields in this class of STU models relies on the solvable Lie algebra (SLA) method. In the present article we improve this mathematical technique in order to provide two distinct descriptions for type IIA and type IIB theories and an algebraic characterization of S*T--dual embeddings within the N=8,d=4 theory. This analysis will be applied to the particular example of a four parameter (dilatonic) solution of which both the full macroscopic and microscopic descriptions will be worked out.Comment: latex, 30 pages. Final version to appear on Int.J.Mod.Phy

The Delta-Delta Intermediate State in 1S0 Nucleon-Nucleon Scattering From Effective Field Theory

We examine the role of the Delta-Delta intermediate state in low energy NN scattering using effective field theory. Theories both with and without pions are discussed. They are regulated with dimensional regularization and MSbar subtraction. We find that the leading effects of the Delta-Delta state can be absorbed by a redefinition of the contact terms in a theory with nucleons only. It does not remove the requirement of a higher dimension operator to reproduce data out to moderate momentum. The explicit decoupling of the Delta-Delta state is shown for the theory without pions.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, uses harvma