73 research outputs found
X-ray Spectroscopy of the Contact Binary VW Cephei
Short-period binaries represent extreme cases in the generation of stellar
coronae via a rotational dynamo. Such stars are important for probing the
origin and nature of coronae in the regimes of rapid rotation and activity
saturation. VW Cep (P=0.28 d) is a relatively bright, partially eclipsing, and
very active object. Light curves made from Chandra/HETGS data show flaring and
rotational modulation, but no eclipses. Velocity modulation of emission lines
indicates that one component dominates the X-ray emission. The emission measure
is highly structured, having three peaks. Helium-like triplet lines give
electron densities of about 3.0E+10 - 18.0E+10 /cm^3. We conclude that the
corona is predominantly on the polar regions of the primary star and compact.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astropysical Journal, 23 June 2006;
22 pages, 15 figure
Chandra/HETGS Observations of the Capella System: the Primary as a Dominating X-ray Source
Using the Chandra/High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer (hereafter
HETGS) we have detected Doppler motion of Capella's X-ray emission lines in the
6 -- 25AA wave-band. The observed motion follows the expected orbital motion of
Capella's primary. This finding implies that the primary G8 III star, not the
secondary G1 III star in the Hertzsprung gap, has been the dominant source of
hot 10^{6.8} -- 10^{7}K plasma at least in the last six years. In addition, the
results demonstrate the long-term stability of the HETGS and demonstrate small
uncertainties of 25 and 33 km/s in the velocity determination with the HEG and
MEG, respectively.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journal Letter
X-ray Properties of Low-Mass Pre-Main Sequence Stars in the Orion Trapezium Cluster
The Chandra High Energy Transmission Gratings (HETG) Orion Legacy Project
(HOLP) is the first comprehensive set of observations of a very young massive
stellar cluster which provides high resolution X-ray spectra of very young
stars over a wide mass range (0.7 - 2.3 Msun). In this paper, we focus on the
six brightest X-ray sources with T Tauri stellar counterparts which are
well-characterized at optical and infra-red wavelengths. All stars show column
densities which are substantially smaller than expected from optical extinction
indicating that the sources are located on the near side of the cluster with
respect to the observer as well as that these stars are embedded in more dusty
environments. Stellar X-ray luminosities are well above erg/s, in
some cases exceeding erg/s for a substantial amount of time. The
stars during these observations show no flares but are persistently bright. The
spectra can be well fit with two temperature plasma components of 10 MK and 40
MK, of which the latter dominates the flux by a ratio 6:1 on average. The total
EMs range between 3 - 8 cm and are comparable to active
coronal sources. Limits on the forbidden to inter-combination line ratios in
the He-Like K-shell lines show that we observe a predominantely optically thin
plasma with electron densities below cm. Observed abundances
compare well with active coronal sources underlying the coronal nature of these
sources. The surface flux in this sample of 0.6 to 2.3 Msun classical T Tauri
stars shows that coronal activity and possibly coronal loop size increase
significantly between ages 0.1 to 10 Myrs.Comment: 13 pages, 12 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa
TGCat, The Chandra Transmission Grating Catalog and Archive: Systems, Desgin and Accessibility
The recently released Chandra Transmission Grating Catalog and Archive, TGCat, presents a fully dynamic on-line catalog allowing users to browse and categorize Chandra gratings observations quickly and easily, generate custom plots of resulting response corrected spectra on-line without the need for special software and to download analysis ready products from multiple observations in one convenient operation. TGCat has been registered as a VO resource with the NVO providing direct access to the catalogs interface. The catalog is supported by a back-end designed to automatically fetch newly public data, process, archive and catalog them, At the same time utilizing an advanced queue system integrated into the archive's MySQL database allowing large processing projects to take advantage of an unlimited number of CPUs across a network for rapid completion. A unique feature of the catalog is that all of the high level functions used to retrieve inputs from the Chandra archive and to generate the final data products are available to the user in an ISIS written library with detailed documentation. Here we present a structural overview of the Systems, Design, and Accessibility features of the catalog and archive.United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Chandra X-ray Center (CXC) NASA contract NAS8-03060)United States. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO) contract SV3-73016 for the Chandra X-Ray Center and Science Instruments
A new type of X-ray pulsar
X-ray emission from stars much more massive than the Sun was discovered only
35 years ago. Such stars drive fast stellar winds where shocks can develop, and
it is commonly assumed that the X-rays emerge from the shock-heated plasma.
Many massive stars additionally pulsate. However, hitherto it was neither
theoretically predicted nor observed that these pulsations would affect their
X-ray emission. Here we report the discovery of pulsating X-rays from the
massive B-type star Xi1 Canis Majoris. This star is a variable of beta Cephei
type and has a strong magnetic field. Our observations with the XMM-Newton
telescope reveal X-ray pulsations with the same period as the fundamental
stellar pulsation. This discovery challenges our understanding of stellar winds
from massive stars, their X-ray emission, and their magnetism.Comment: manuscript draft. The revised paper is published in Nature
Communication
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