4,028 research outputs found
Carnegie Supernova Project-II: The Near-infrared Spectroscopy Program
Shifting the focus of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology to the near infrared (NIR) is a promising way to significantly reduce the systematic errors, as the strategy minimizes our reliance on the empirical width-luminosity relation and uncertain dust laws. Observations in the NIR are also crucial for our understanding of the origins and evolution of these events, further improving their cosmological utility. Any future experiments in the rest-frame NIR will require knowledge of the SN Ia NIR spectroscopic diversity, which is currently based on a small sample of observed spectra. Along with the accompanying paper, Phillips et al., we introduce the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), to follow-up nearby SNe Ia in both the optical and the NIR. In particular, this paper focuses on the CSP-II NIR spectroscopy program, describing the survey strategy, instrumental setups, data reduction, sample characteristics, and future analyses on the data set. In collaboration with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Supernova Group, we obtained 661 NIR spectra of 157 SNe Ia. Within this sample, 451 NIR spectra of 90 SNe Ia have corresponding CSP-II follow-up light curves. Such a sample will allow detailed studies of the NIR spectroscopic properties of SNe Ia, providing a different perspective on the properties of the unburned material; the radioactive and stable nickel produced; progenitor magnetic fields; and searches for possible signatures of companion stars
Critical behavior of the 3-state Potts model on Sierpinski carpet
We study the critical behavior of the 3-state Potts model, where the spins
are located at the centers of the occupied squares of the deterministic
Sierpinski carpet. A finite-size scaling analysis is performed from Monte Carlo
simulations, for a Hausdorff dimension . The phase
transition is shown to be a second order one. The maxima of the susceptibility
of the order parameter follow a power law in a very reliable way, which enables
us to calculate the ratio of the exponents . We find that the
scaling corrections affect the behavior of most of the thermodynamical
quantities. However, the sequence of intersection points extracted from the
Binder's cumulant provides bounds for the critical temperature. We are able to
give the bounds for the exponent as well as for the ratio of the
exponents , which are compatible with the results calculated from
the hyperscaling relation.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Near-IR studies of recurrent nova V745 Scorpii during its 2014 outburst
The recurrent nova (RN) V745 Scorpii underwent its third known outburst on
2014 February 6. Infrared monitoring of the eruption on an almost daily basis,
starting from 1.3d after discovery, shows the emergence of a powerful blast
wave generated by the high velocity nova ejecta exceeding 4000 kms
plowing into its surrounding environment. The temperature of the shocked gas is
raised to a high value exceeding 10K immediately after outburst
commencement. The energetics of the outburst clearly surpass those of similar
symbiotic systems like RS Oph and V407 Cyg which have giant secondaries. The
shock does not show a free-expansion stage but rather shows a decelerative
Sedov-Taylor phase from the beginning. Such strong shockfronts are known to be
sites for ray generation. V745 Sco is the latest nova, apart from five
other known novae, to show ray emission. It may be an important
testbed to resolve the crucial question whether all novae are generically
ray emitters by virtue of having a circumbinary reservoir of material
that is shocked by the ejecta rather than ray generation being
restricted to only symbiotic systems with a shocked red giant (RG) wind. The
lack of a free-expansion stage favors V745 Sco to have a density enhancement
around the white dwarf (WD), above that contributed by a RG wind. Our analysis
also suggests that the WD in V745 Sco is very massive and a potential
progenitor for a future SN Ia explosion.Comment: To appear in ApJ (Letters
Accretion and photodesorption of CO ice as a function of the incident angle of deposition
Non-thermal desorption of inter- and circum-stellar ice mantles on dust
grains, in particular ultraviolet photon-induced desorption, has gained
importance in recent years. These processes may account for the observed gas
phase abundances of molecules like CO toward cold interstellar clouds. Ice
mantle growth results from gas molecules impinging on the dust from all
directions and incidence angles. Nevertheless, the effect of the incident angle
for deposition on ice photo-desorption rate has not been studied. This work
explores the impact on the accretion and photodesorption rates of the incidence
angle of CO gas molecules with the cold surface during deposition of a CO ice
layer. Infrared spectroscopy monitored CO ice upon deposition at different
angles, ultraviolet-irradiation, and subsequent warm-up. Vacuum-ultraviolet
spectroscopy and a Ni-mesh measured the emission of the ultraviolet lamp.
Molecules ejected from the ice to the gas during irradiation or warm-up were
characterized by a quadrupole mass spectrometer. The photodesorption rate of CO
ice deposited at 11 K and different incident angles was rather stable between 0
and 45. A maximum in the CO photodesorption rate appeared around
70-incidence deposition angle. The same deposition angle leads to the
maximum surface area of water ice. Although this study of the surface area
could not be performed for CO ice, the similar angle dependence in the
photodesorption and the ice surface area suggests that they are closely
related. Further evidence for a dependence of CO ice morphology on deposition
angle is provided by thermal desorption of CO ice experiments
Strong near-infrared carbon in the Type Ia supernova iPTF13ebh
We present near-infrared (NIR) time-series spectroscopy, as well as complementary ultraviolet (UV), optical, and NIR data, of the Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) iPTF13ebh, which was discovered within two days from the estimated time of explosion. The first NIR spectrum was taken merely 2.3 days after explosion and may be the earliest NIR spectrum yet obtained of a SN Ia. The most striking features in the spectrum are several NIR C i lines, and the C iλ1.0693 μm line is the strongest ever observed in a SN Ia. Interestingly, no strong optical C ii counterparts were found, even though the optical spectroscopic time series began early and is densely cadenced. Except at the very early epochs, within a few days from the time of explosion, we show that the strong NIR C i compared to the weaker optical C ii appears to be general in SNe Ia. iPTF13ebh is a fast decliner with Δm15(B) = 1.79 ± 0.01, and its absolute magnitude obeys the linear part of the width-luminosity relation. It is therefore categorized as a “transitional” event, on the fast-declining end of normal SNe Ia as opposed to subluminous/91bg-like objects. iPTF13ebh shows NIR spectroscopic properties that are distinct from both the normal and subluminous/91bg-like classes, bridging the observed characteristics of the two classes. These NIR observations suggest that composition and density of the inner core are similar to that of 91bg-like events, and that it has a deep-reaching carbon burning layer that is not observed in more slowly declining SNe Ia. There is also a substantial difference between the explosion times inferred from the early-time light curve and the velocity evolution of the Si iiλ0.6355 μm line, implying a long dark phase of ~4 days
Polymers grafted to porous membranes
We study a single flexible chain molecule grafted to a membrane which has
pores of size slightly larger than the monomer size. On both sides of the
membrane there is the same solvent. When this solvent is good, i.e. when the
polymer is described by a self avoiding walk, it can fairly easily penetrate
the membrane, so that the average number of membrane crossings tends, for chain
length , to a positive constant. The average numbers of monomers on
either side of the membrane diverges in this limit, although their ratio
becomes infinite. For a poor solvent, in contrast, the entire polymer is
located, for large , on one side of the membrane. For good and for theta
solvents (ideal polymers) we find scaling laws, whose exponents can in the
latter case be easily understood from the behaviour of random walks.Comment: 4 pages, 6 figure
Carnegie Supernova Project-II: The Near-infrared Spectroscopy Program
Shifting the focus of Type Ia supernova (SN Ia) cosmology to the near infrared (NIR) is a promising way to significantly reduce the systematic errors, as the strategy minimizes our reliance on the empirical width-luminosity relation and uncertain dust laws. Observations in the NIR are also crucial for our understanding of the origins and evolution of these events, further improving their cosmological utility. Any future experiments in the rest-frame NIR will require knowledge of the SN Ia NIR spectroscopic diversity, which is currently based on a small sample of observed spectra. Along with the accompanying paper, Phillips et al., we introduce the Carnegie Supernova Project-II (CSP-II), to follow-up nearby SNe Ia in both the optical and the NIR. In particular, this paper focuses on the CSP-II NIR spectroscopy program, describing the survey strategy, instrumental setups, data reduction, sample characteristics, and future analyses on the data set. In collaboration with the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) Supernova Group, we obtained 661 NIR spectra of 157 SNe Ia. Within this sample, 451 NIR spectra of 90 SNe Ia have corresponding CSP-II follow-up light curves. Such a sample will allow detailed studies of the NIR spectroscopic properties of SNe Ia, providing a different perspective on the properties of the unburned material; the radioactive and stable nickel produced; progenitor magnetic fields; and searches for possible signatures of companion stars
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