42,104 research outputs found
On the duration of the subsonic propeller state of neutron stars in wind-fed mass-exchange close binary systems
The condition for the subsonic propeller - accretor state transition of
neutron stars in wind-fed mass-exchange binary systems is discussed. I show
that the value of the break period, at which the neutron star change its state
to accretor, presented by Davies & Pringle (1981) is underestimated by a factor
of 7.5. The correct value is P_{\rm br} = 450 \mu_{30}^{16/21}
\dot{M}_{15}^{-5/7} (M/M_{\sun})^{-4/21} s. This result forced us to reconsider
some basic conclusions on the efficiency of the propeller spindown mechanism.Comment: 3 pages, published in A&A 368, L
New Cosmological Structures on Medium Angular Scales Detected with the Tenerife Experiments
We present observations at 10 and 15 GHz taken with the Tenerife experiments
in a band of the sky at Dec.=+35 degrees. These experiments are sensitive to
multipoles in the range l=10-30. The sensitivity per beam is 56 and 20 microK
for the 10 and the 15 GHz data, respectively. After subtraction of the
prediction of known radio-sources, the analysis of the data at 15 GHz at high
Galactic latitude shows the presence of a signal with amplitude Delta Trms ~ 32
microK. In the case of a Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum for the primordial
fluctuations, a likelihood analysis shows that this signal corresponds to a
quadrupole amplitude Q_rms-ps=20.1+7.1-5.4 microK, in agreement with our
previous results at Dec.+=40 degrees and with the results of the COBE DMR.
There is clear evidence for the presence of individual features in the RA range
190 degrees to 250 degrees with a peak to peak amplitude of ~110 microK. A
preliminary comparison between our results and COBE DMR predictions for the
Tenerife experiments clearly indicates the presence of individual features
common to both. The constancy in amplitude over such a large range in frequency
(10-90 GHz) is strongly indicative of an intrinsic cosmological origin for
these structures.Comment: ApJ Letters accepted, 13 pages Latex (uses AASTEX) and 4 encapsulated
postscript figures
Thermal Relics in Modified Cosmologies: Bounds on Evolution Histories of the Early Universe and Cosmological Boosts for PAMELA
Alternative cosmologies, based on extensions of General Relativity, predict
modified thermal histories in the Early Universe during the pre Big Bang
Nucleosynthesis (BBN) era, epoch which is not directly constrained by
cosmological observations. When the expansion rate is enhanced with respect to
the standard case, thermal relics typically decouple with larger relic
abundances. The correct value of the relic abundance is therefore obtained for
larger annihilation cross--sections, as compared to standard cosmology. A
direct consequence is that indirect detection rates are enhanced. Extending
previous analyses of ours, we derive updated astrophysical bounds on the dark
matter annihilation cross sections and use them to constrain alternative
cosmologies in the pre--BBN era. We also determine the characteristics of these
alternative cosmologies in order to provide the correct value of relic
abundance for a thermal relic for the (large) annihilation cross--section
required to explain the PAMELA results on the positron fraction, therefore
providing a "cosmological boost" solution to the dark matter interpretation of
the PAMELA data.Comment: 19 pages, 27 figures, matches published versio
The Tenerife Cosmic Microwave Background Maps: Observations and First Analysis
The results of the Tenerife Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments are
presented. These observations cover 5000 and 6500 square degrees on the sky at
10 and 15 GHz respectively centred around Dec.~ +35 degrees. The experiments
are sensitive to multipoles l=10-30 which corresponds to the Sachs-Wolfe
plateau of the CMB power spectra. The sensitivity of the results are ~31 and
\~12 microK at 10 and 15 GHz respectively in a beam-size region (5 degrees
FWHM). The data at 15 GHz show clear detection of structure at high Galactic
latitude; the results at 10 GHz are compatible with these, but at lower
significance. A likelihood analysis of the 10 and 15 GHz data at high Galactic
latitude, assuming a flat CMB band power spectra gives a signal Delta
T_l=30+10-8 microK (68 % C.L.). Including the possible contaminating effect due
to the diffuse Galactic component, the CMB signal is Delta T_l=30+15-11 microK.
These values are highly stable against the Galactic cut chosen. Assuming a
Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum for the primordial fluctuations, the above values
imply an expected quadrupole Q_RMS-PS=20+10-7 microK which confirms previous
results from these experiments, and which are compatible with the COBE DMR.Comment: 17 pages, 7 figures. Submitted to Ap
A Robust Age Indicator for Old Stellar Populations
We derive new spectral H_gamma index definitions which are robust age
indicators for old and relatively old stellar populations and thus have great
potential for solving the age-metallicity degeneracy of galaxy spectra. To
study H_gamma as a function of age, metallicity and resolution, we used a new
spectral synthesis model which predicts SEDs of single-age, single-metallicity
stellar populations at resolution FWHM=1.8A (which can be smoothed to different
resolutions), allowing direct measurements of the equivalent widths of
particular absorption features. We find that the H_gamma strong age
disentangling power strongly depends strongly on the adopted resolution and
galaxy velocity dispersion. We propose a system of indices which are completely
insensitive to metallicity and stable against resolution, allowing the study of
galaxies up to ~300 km/s. Observational spectra of very high S/N and relatively
high dispersion, are required to gain this unprecedented age discriminating
power. Once such spectra are obtained, accurate and reliable estimates for the
luminosity-weighted average stellar ages of these galaxies will become possible
for the first time, without assessing their metallicities. We measured this
index for two globular clusters, a number of low-luminosity elliptical galaxies
and a standard S0 galaxy. We find a large spread in the average stellar ages of
a sample of low-luminosity ellipticals. In particular these indices yield 4 Gyr
for M32, in agreement with the age provided by an extraordinary fit to the full
spectrum of this galaxy that we achieve here.Comment: 22 pages, 4 figures. ApJ, in press. Models and details can be found
at http://www.ioa.s.u-tokyo.ac.jp/~vazdekis
The supermassive black hole in NGC4486a detected with SINFONI at the VLT
The near-infrared integral field spectrograph SINFONI at the ESO VLT opens a
new window for the study of central supermassive black holes. With a near-IR
spatial resolution similar to HST optical and the ability to penetrate dust it
provides the possibility to explore the low-mass end of the M-sigma relation
(sigma<120km/s) where so far very few black hole masses were measured with
stellar dynamics. With SINFONI we observed the central region of the
low-luminosity elliptical galaxy NGC4486a at a spatial resolution of ~0.1arcsec
in the K band. The stellar kinematics was measured with a maximum penalised
likelihood method considering the region around the CO absorption band heads.
We determined a black hole mass of M_BH=1.25^{+0.75}_{-0.79} x 10^7 M_sun (90%
C.L.) using the Schwarzschild orbit superposition method including the full
2-dimensional spatial information. This mass agrees with the predictions of the
M-sigma relation, strengthening its validity at the lower sigma end.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by MNRA
Are There Magnetars in High Mass X-ray Binaries? The Case of SuperGiant Fast X-Ray Transients
In this paper we survey the theory of wind accretion in high mass X-ray
binaries hosting a magnetic neutron star and a supergiant companion.
We concentrate on the different types of interaction between the inflowing
wind matter and the neutron star magnetosphere that are relevant when accretion
of matter onto the neutron star surface is largely inhibited; these include the
inhibition through the centrifugal and magnetic barriers. Expanding on earlier
work, we calculate the expected luminosity for each regime and derive the
conditions under which transition from one regime to another can take place. We
show that very large luminosity swings (~10^4 or more on time scales as short
as hours) can result from transitions across different regimes.
The activity displayed by supergiant fast X-ray transients, a recently
discovered class of high mass X-ray binaries in our galaxy, has often been
interpreted in terms of direct accretion onto a neutron star immersed in an
extremely clumpy stellar wind. We show here that the transitions across the
magnetic and/or centrifugal barriers can explain the variability properties of
these sources as a results of relatively modest variations in the stellar wind
velocity and/or density. According to this interpretation we expect that
supergiant fast X-ray transients which display very large luminosity swings and
host a slowly spinning neutron star are characterized by magnetar-like fields,
irrespective of whether the magnetic or the centrifugal barrier applies.
Supergiant fast X-ray transients might thus provide a new opportunity to
detect and study magnetars in binary systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 16 pages, 6 figure
The detection of FIR emission from high redshift star-forming galaxies in the ECDF-S
ABRIDGED: We have used the LABOCA Survey of the ECDF-S (LESS) to investigate
rest-frame FIR emission from typical SF systems (LBGs) at redshift 3, 4, and 5.
We initially concentrate on LBGs at z~3 and select three subsamples on stellar
mass, extinction corrected SF and rest-frame UV-magnitude. We produce composite
870micron images of the typical source in our subsamples, obtaining ~4sigma
detections and suggesting a correlation between FIR luminosity and stellar
mass. We apply a similar procedure to our full samples at z~3, 4, 4.5 and 5 and
do not obtain detections - consistent with a simple scaling between FIR
luminosity and stellar mass. In order to constrain the FIR SED of these systems
we explore their emission at multiple wavelengths spanning the peak of dust
emission at z~3 using the Herschel SPIRE observations of the field. We obtain
detections at multiple wavelengths for both our stellar mass and UV-magnitude
selected samples, and find a best-fit SED with T_dust in the ~33-41K range. We
calculate L_FIR, obscured SFRs and M_dust, and find that a significant fraction
of SF in these systems is obscured. Interestingly, our extinction corrected SFR
sample does not display the large FIR fluxes predicted from its red UV-spectral
slope. This suggests that the method of assuming an intrinsic UV-slope and
correcting for dust attenuation may be invalid for this sample - and that these
are not in fact the most actively SF systems. All of our z~3 samples fall on
the `main sequence' of SF galaxies at z~3 and our detected subsamples are
likely to represent the high obscuration end of LBGs at their epoch. We compare
the FIR properties of our subsamples with various other populations, finding
that our stellar mass selected sample shows similar FIR characteristics to SMGs
at the same epoch and therefore potentially represents the low L_FIR end of the
high redshift FIR luminosity function.Comment: 18 pages, 10 figure, MNRAS accepted, corrected typos,
acknowledgements adde
Spin resonance in the superconducting state of LiFeODFeSe observed by neutron spectroscopy
We have performed inelastic neutron scattering measurements on a powder
sample of the superconductor lithium iron selenide hydroxide
LiFeODFeSe (, \,K). The spectrum shows an enhanced intensity below over an
energy range , where is the
superconducting gap, with maxima at the wave vectors \,\AA and \,\AA. The behavior of this
feature is consistent with the spin resonance mode found in other
unconventional superconductors, and strongly resembles the spin resonance
observed in the spectrum of the molecular-intercalated iron selenide,
Li(ND)(ND)FeSe. The signal can
be described with a characteristic two-dimensional wave vector
in the Brillouin zone of the iron square lattice, consistent with the nesting
vector between electron Fermi sheets
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