2,436 research outputs found
The Origin of the Arches Stellar Cluster Mass Function
We investigate the time evolution of the mass distribution of pre-stellar
cores (PSCs) and their transition to the initial stellar mass function (IMF) in
the central parts of a molecular cloud (MC) under the assumption that the
coalescence of cores is important. Our aim is to explain the observed shallow
IMF in dense stellar clusters such as the Arches cluster. The initial
distributions of PSCs at various distances from the MC center are those of
gravitationally unstable cores resulting from the gravo-turbulent fragmentation
of the MC. As time evolves, there is a competition between the PSCs rates of
coalescence and collapse. Whenever the local rate of collapse is larger than
the rate of coalescence in a given mass bin, cores are collapsed into stars.
With appropriate parameters, we find that the coalescence-collapse model
reproduces very well all the observed characteristics of the Arches stellar
cluster IMF; Namely, the slopes at high and low mass ends and the peculiar bump
observed at ~5-6 M_sol. Our results suggest that today's IMF of the Arches
cluster is very similar to the primordial one and is prior to the dynamical
effects of mass segregation becoming importantComment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted to MNRAS Letter
Long-term X-ray changes in the emission from the anomalous X-ray pulsar 4U 0142+61
We present results obtained from X-ray observations of the anomalous X-ray
pulsar (AXP) 4U 0142+61 taken between 2000-2007 using XMM-Newton, Chandra and
Swift. In observations taken before 2006, the pulse profile is observed to
become more sinusoidal and the pulsed fraction increased with time. These
results confirm those derived using the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer and expand
the observed evolution to energies below 2 keV. The XMM-Newton total flux in
the 0.5-10 keV band is observed to be nearly constant in observations taken
before 2006, while an increase of ~10% is seen afterwards and coincides with
the burst activity detected from the source in 2006-2007. After these bursts,
the evolution towards more sinusoidal pulse profiles ceased while the pulsed
fraction showed a further increase. No evidence for large-scale, long-term
changes in the emission as a result of the bursts is seen. The data also
suggest a correlation between the flux and hardness of the spectrum, with
brighter observations on average having a harder spectrum. As pointed out by
other authors, we find that the standard blackbody plus power-law model does
not provide the best spectral fit to the emission from 4U 0142+61. We also
report on observations taken with the Gemini telescope after two bursts. These
observations show source magnitudes consistent with previous measurements. Our
results demonstrate the wide range of X-ray variability characteristics seen in
AXPs and we discuss them in light of current emission models for these sources.Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, in emulateapj style. Submitted to Ap
The measured compositions of Uranus and Neptune from their formation on the CO iceline
The formation mechanisms of the ice giants Uranus and Neptune, and the origin
of their elemental and isotopic compositions, have long been debated. The
density of solids in the outer protosolar nebula is too low to explain their
formation, and spectroscopic observations show that both planets are highly
enriched in carbon, very poor in nitrogen, and the ices from which they
originally formed might had deuterium-to-hydrogen ratios lower than the
predicted cometary value, unexplained properties observed in no other planets.
Here we show that all these properties can be explained naturally if Uranus and
Neptune both formed at the carbon monoxide iceline. Due to the diffusive
redistribution of vapors, this outer region of the protosolar nebula
intrinsically has enough surface density to form both planets from carbon-rich
solids but nitrogen-depleted gas, in abundances consistent with their observed
values. Water rich interiors originating mostly from transformed CO ices
reconcile the D/H value of Uranus and Neptune's building blocks with the
cometary value. Finally, Our scenario generalizes a well known hypothesis that
Jupiter formed on an iceline (water snowline) for the two ice giants, and might
be a first step towards generalizing this mechanism for other giant planets.Comment: The Astrophysical Journal (in press), 8 pages, 5 figure
Neutrino emission rates in highly magnetized neutron stars revisited
Magnetars are a subclass of neutron stars whose intense soft-gamma-ray bursts
and quiescent X-ray emission are believed to be powered by the decay of a
strong internal magnetic field. We reanalyze neutrino emission in such stars in
the plausibly relevant regime in which the Landau band spacing of both protons
and electrons is much larger than kT (where k is the Boltzmann constant and T
is the temperature), but still much smaller than the Fermi energies. Focusing
on the direct Urca process, we find that the emissivity oscillates as a
function of density or magnetic field, peaking when the Fermi level of the
protons or electrons lies about 3kT above the bottom of any of their Landau
bands. The oscillation amplitude is comparable to the average emissivity when
the Landau band spacing mentioned above is roughly the geometric mean of kT and
the Fermi energy (excluding mass), i. e., at fields much weaker than required
to confine all particles to the lowest Landau band. Since the density and
magnetic field strength vary continuously inside the neutron star, there will
be alternating surfaces of high and low emissivity. Globally, these
oscillations tend to average out, making it unclear whether there will be any
observable effects.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures; accepted for publication in Astronomy &
Astrophysic
Three Libyan poets of the 20th century a study of their political poetry
The present study consists of three parts, together with\anthology of Libyan political poetry Its aim is to deal with the surviving political works of three well-known modern poets, Ahmad al-Sharif, Ahmad Rafiq and Ahmad Qanabah To be precise, it deals only with their political works which were composed during the Italian and British occupations from 1911 to 1951The first part provides biographical sketches of the above- mentioned poets, their career and circumstances Chapter I deals with Ahmad al-Sharif's life, the second with Ahmad Rafiq's and the third with Ahmad Qanabah's Because their lives spanned the second half of the nineteenth and the first half of the twentieth centuries, the second part gives a comprehensive picture of the environment in which the poets lived. Chapter I describes Libya under the second Ottoman period from 1835 to 1911, paying particular attention to certain historical events which helped in developing political life in Libya at the time Chapter II and III deal with the Italian and British occupations from 1911 to 1951, laying great emphasis on the socio-economic, educational and political conditions as the main factors which formed their outlook and personality and affected their poetry In the light of these two parts, the third part studies the political trends in their poetry, Ottomanism and Islam, patriotism and Arabism successively In Chapter I a general survey is made on the development of modern Libyan poetry Chapter II examines the Ottoman and Islamic trend in their works Chapter III deals with the patriotic trend Chapter IV studies the trend of Arabisn Finally, Chapter V assesses the aesthetic value of their political poetry and Its styl
X-ray and Near-IR Variability of the Anomalous X-ray Pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937: From Quiescence Back to Activity
(Abridged) We report on new and archival X-ray and near-infrared observations
of the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1048.1-5937 performed between 2001-2007 with
RXTE, CXO, Swift, HST, and VLT. During its ~2001-2004 active period, 1E
1048.-5937 exhibited two large, long-term X-ray pulsed-flux flares as well as
short bursts, and large (>10x) torque changes. Monitoring with RXTE revealed
that the source entered a phase of timing stability in 2004; at the same time,
a series of four simultaneous observations with CXO and HST in 2006 showed that
its X-ray flux and spectrum and near-IR flux, all variable prior to 2005,
stabilized. The near-IR flux, when detected by HST (H~22.7 mag) and VLT
(K_S~21.0 mag), was considerably fainter than previously measured. Recently, in
2007 March, this newfound quiescence was interrupted by a sudden flux
enhancement, X-ray spectral changes and a pulse morphology change, simultaneous
with a large spin-up glitch and near-IR enhancement. Our RXTE observations
revealed a sudden pulsed flux increase by a factor of ~3 in the 2-10 keV band.
In observations with CXO and Swift, we found that the total X-ray flux
increased much more than the pulsed flux, reaching a peak value of >7 times the
quiescent value (2-10 keV). With these recent data, we find a strong
anti-correlation between X-ray flux and pulsed fraction, and a correlation
between X-ray spectral hardness and flux. Simultaneously with the radiative and
timing changes, we observed a significant X-ray pulse morphology change such
that the profile went from nearly sinusoidal to having multiple peaks. We
compare these remarkable events with other AXP outbursts and discuss
implications in the context of the magnetar model and other models of AXP
emission.Comment: 13 pages (6 figures) in emulateapj style. Accepted for publication in
ApJ. New version includes referee's corrections; split Figure 1 into 2
figures; modified Figs. 4b and 6b; rearranged and renumbered of some figures
and sections; added an X-ray dataset; improved analysis of pulse morphology
and pulsed fraction; added paragraph to sec. 3.2.
Influence of the C/O ratio on titanium and vanadium oxides in protoplanetary disks
Context. The observation of carbon-rich disks have motivated several studies
questioning the influence of the C/O ratio on their gas phase composition in
order to establish the connection between the metallicity of hot-Jupiters and
that of their parent stars.
Aims. We to propose a method that allows the characterization of the adopted
C/O ratio in protoplanetary disks independently from the determination of the
host star composition. Titanium and vanadium chemistries are investigated
because they are strong optical absorbers and also because their oxides are
known to be sensitive to the C/O ratio in some exoplanet atmospheres.
Methods. We use a commercial package based on the Gibbs energy minimization
technique to compute the titanium and vanadium equilibrium chemistries in
protoplanetary disks for C/O ratios ranging from 0.05 to 10. Our calculations
are performed for pressures ranging from 1e-6 to 1e-2 bar, and for temperatures
ranging from 50 to 2000 K.
Results. We find that the vanadium nitride/vanadium oxide and titanium
hydride/titanium oxide gas phase ratios strongly depend on the C/O ratio in the
hot parts of disks (T > 1000 K). Our calculations suggest that, in these
regions, these ratios can be used as tracers of the C/O value in protoplanetary
disks.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Constraining Radio Emission from Magnetars
We report on radio observations of five magnetars and two magnetar candidates
carried out at 1950 MHz with the Green Bank Telescope in 2006-2007. The data
from these observations were searched for periodic emission and bright single
pulses. Also, monitoring observations of magnetar 4U0142+61 following its 2006
X-ray bursts were obtained. No radio emission was detected was detected for any
of our targets. The non-detections allow us to place luminosity upper limits
(at 1950 MHz) of approximately L < 1.60 mJy kpc^2 for periodic emission and L <
7.6 Jy kpc^2 for single pulse emission. These are the most stringent limits yet
for the magnetars observed. The resulting luminosity upper limits together with
previous results are discussed, as is the importance of further radio
observations of radio-loud and radio-quiet magnetars.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Reactivity of OH and CH3OH between 22 and 64 K: Modelling the gas phase production of CH3O in Barnard 1b
In the last years, ultra-low temperature chemical kinetic experiments have
demonstrated that some gas-phase reactions are much faster than previously
thought. One example is the reaction between OH and CH3OH, which has been
recently found to be accelerated at low temperatures yielding CH3O as main
product. This finding opened the question of whether the CH3O observed in the
dense core Barnard 1b could be formed by the gas-phase reaction of CH3OH and
OH. Several chemical models including this reaction and grain-surface processes
have been developed to explain the observed abundance of CHO with little
success. Here we report for the first time rate coefficients for the gas-phase
reaction of OH and CH3OH down to a temperature of 22 K, very close to those in
cold interstellar clouds. Two independent experimental set-ups based on the
supersonic gas expansion technique coupled to the pulsed laser photolysis-laser
induced fluorescence technique were used to determine rate coefficients in the
temperature range 22-64 K. The temperature dependence obtained in this work can
be expressed as k(22-64 K) = (3.6+/-0.1)e-12 (T/ 300)^(-1.0+/-0.2) cm3
molecule-1 s-1. Implementing this expression in a chemical model of a cold
dense cloud results in CH3O/CH3OH abundance ratios similar or slightly lower
than the value of 3e-3 observed in Barnard 1b. This finding confirms that the
gas-phase reaction between OH and CH3OH is an important contributor to the
formation of interstellar CH3O. The role of grain-surface processes in the
formation of CH3O, although it cannot be fully neglected, remains
controversial.Comment: Accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journa
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