244 research outputs found
Observation of narrow polar jets in the nascent wind of oxygen-rich AGB star EP Aqr
Using ALMA observations of CO(2-1), SiO(5-4) and
SO(16-17) emissions of the circumstellar envelope
of AGB star EP Aqr, we describe the morpho-kinematics governing the nascent
wind. Main results are: 1) Two narrow polar structures, referred to as jets,
launched from less than 25 au away from the star, build up between 20 au
and 100 au to a velocity of 20 \kms. They fade away at larger
distances and are barely visible in CO data. 2) SO, SiO and CO emissions
explore radial ranges reaching respectively 30 au, 250 au and 1000 au
from the star, preventing the jets to be detected in SO data. 3) Close to
the star photosphere, rotation (undetected in SiO and CO data) and isotropic
radial expansion combine with probable turbulence to produce a broad SO
line profile ( 7.5 \kms\ FWHM). 4) A same axis serves as axis of rotation
close to the star, as jet axis and as axi-symmetry axis at large distances. 5)
A radial wind builds up at distances up to 300 au from the star, with
larger velocity near polar than equatorial latitudes. 6) A sharp depletion of
SiO and CO emissions, starting near the star, rapidly broadens to cover the
whole blue-western quadrant, introducing important asymmetry in the CO and
particularly SiO observations. 7) The C/C abundance ratio is
measured as 92. 8) Plausible interpretations are discussed, in particular
assuming the presence of a companion.Comment: 18 pages, 16 figures, MNRAS accepte
12CO emission from EP Aqr: Another example of an axi-symmetric AGB wind?
The CO(1-0) and (2-1) emission of the circumstellar envelope of the AGB star
EP Aqr has been observed using the IRAM PdBI and the IRAM 30-m telescope. The
line profiles reveal the presence of two distinct components centered on the
star velocity, a broad component extending up to ~10 km/s and a narrow
component indicating an expansion velocity of ~2 km/s. An early analysis of
these data was performed under the assumption of isotropic winds. The present
study revisits this interpretation by assuming instead a bipolar outflow nearly
aligned with the line of sight. A satisfactory description of the observed flux
densities is obtained with a radial expansion velocity increasing from ~2 km/s
at the equator to ~10 km/s near the poles. The angular aperture of the bipolar
outflow is ~45 deg with respect to the star axis, which makes an angle of ~13
deg with the line of sight. A detailed study of the CO(1-0) to CO(2-1) flux
ratio reveals a significant dependence of the temperature on the star latitude,
smaller and steeper at the poles than at the equator at large distances from
the star. Under the hypothesis of radial expansion and of rotation invariance
about the star axis, the effective density has been evaluated in space as a
function of star coordinates. Evidence is found for an enhancement of the
effective density in the northern hemisphere of the star at angular distances
in excess of ~3" and covering the whole longitudinal range. The peak velocity
of the narrow component is observed to vary slightly with position on the sky,
a variation consistent with the model and understood as the effect of the
inclination of the star axis with respect to the line of sight. While the
phenomenological model presented here reproduces well the general features of
the observations, significant differences are also revealed, which would
require a better spatial resolution to be properly described.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
The morpho-kinematics of the circumstellar envelope around the AGB star EP Aqr
ALMA observations of CO(1-0) and CO(2-1) emissions of the circumstellar
envelope of EP Aqr, an oxygen-rich AGB star, are reported. A thorough analysis
of their properties is presented using an original method based on the
separation of the data-cube into a low velocity component associated with an
equatorial outflow and a faster component associated with a bipolar outflow. A
number of important and new results are obtained concerning the distribution in
space of the effective emissivity, the temperature, the density and the flux of
matter. A mass loss rate of (1.60.4)10 solar masses per year is
measured. The main parameters defining the morphology and kinematics of the
envelope are evaluated and uncertainties inherent to de-projection are
critically discussed. Detailed properties of the equatorial region of the
envelope are presented including a measurement of the line width and a precise
description of the observed inhomogeneity of both morphology and kinematics. In
particular, in addition to the presence of a previously observed spiral
enhancement of the morphology at very small Doppler velocities, a similarly
significant but uncorrelated circular enhancement of the expansion velocity is
revealed, both close to the limit of sensitivity. The results of the analysis
place significant constraints on the parameters of models proposing
descriptions of the mass loss mechanism, but cannot choose among them with
confidence.Comment: 26 pages, 31 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
R-matrix and K-matrix analysis of elastic alpha-alpha scattering
The R- and K-matrix parametrizations are analyzed and compared for the
elastic alpha-alpha scattering at center-of-mass energies below 40 MeV. The two
parametrizations differ in their definitions of the resonance energy which can
lead to quite different results. The physical values of the best-fit parameters
are compared with those computed for a potential model. The existence of a
broad resonance near 9 MeV is not supported by the data or by the potential
model. We discuss the positive and negative aspects for both parametrizations.Comment: 14 pages with 4 figure
Hard scattering and jets--from p-p collisions in the 1970's to Au+Au collisions at RHIC
Hard scattering in p-p collisions, discovered at the CERN ISR in 1972 by the
method of leading particles, proved that the partons of Deeply Inelastic
Scattering strongly interacted with each other. Further ISR measurements
utilizing inclusive single or pairs of hadrons established that high pT
particles are produced from states with two roughly back-to-back jets which are
the result of scattering of constituents of the nucleons as described by
Quantum Chromodynamics (QCD), which was developed during the course of these
measurements. These techniques, which are the only practical method to study
hard-scattering and jet phenomena in Au+Au central collisions, are reviewed,
with application to measurements at RHIC.Comment: 4 pages, 5 figures, Proceedings of Hard Probes 2004, International
Conference on Hard and Electromagnetic Probes of High Energy Nuclear
Collisions, Nov 4-10, 2004, to appear in EPJ
Anisotropy studies around the galactic centre at EeV energies with the Auger Observatory
Data from the Pierre Auger Observatory are analyzed to search for
anisotropies near the direction of the Galactic Centre at EeV energies. The
exposure of the surface array in this part of the sky is already significantly
larger than that of the fore-runner experiments. Our results do not support
previous findings of localized excesses in the AGASA and SUGAR data. We set an
upper bound on a point-like flux of cosmic rays arriving from the Galactic
Centre which excludes several scenarios predicting sources of EeV neutrons from
Sagittarius . Also the events detected simultaneously by the surface and
fluorescence detectors (the `hybrid' data set), which have better pointing
accuracy but are less numerous than those of the surface array alone, do not
show any significant localized excess from this direction.Comment: Matches published versio
An upper limit to the photon fraction in cosmic rays above 10^19 eV from the Pierre Auger Observatory
An upper limit of 16% (at 95% c.l.) is derived for the photon fraction in cosmic rays with energies above 10^19 eV, based on observations of the depth of shower maximum performed with the hybrid detector of the Pierre Auger Observatory. This is the first such limit on photons obtained by observing the fluorescence light profile of air showers. This upper limit confirms and improves on previous results from the Haverah Park and AGASA surface arrays. Additional data recorded with the Auger surface detectors for a subset of the event sample, support the conclusion that a photon origin of the observed events is not favoured
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