20,095 research outputs found
Nova Aquilae 1918 (V603 Aql) Faded by 0.44 mag/century from 1938-2013
We present the light curve of the old nova V603 Aql (Nova Aql 1918) from
1898-1918 and 1934-2013 using 22,721 archival magnitudes. All of our magnitudes
are either in, or accurately transformed into, the Johnson and
magnitude systems. This is vital because offsets in old sequences and the
visual-to- transformation make for errors from 0.1-1.0 magnitude if not
corrected. Our V603 Aql light curve is the first time that this has been done
for any nova. Our goal was to see the evolution of the mass accretion rate on
the century time scale, and to test the long-standing prediction of the
Hibernation model that old novae should be fading significantly in the century
after their eruption is long over. The 1918 nova eruption was completely
finished by 1938 when the nova decline stopped, and when the star had faded to
fainter than its pre-nova brightness of mag. We find that
the nova light from 1938-2013 was significantly fading, with this being seen
consistently in three independent data sets (the Sonneberg plates in , the
AAVSO light curve, and the non-AAVSO light curve). We find that V603
Aql is declining in brightness at an average rate of mag per
century since 1938. This work provides remarkable confirmation of an important
prediction of the Hibernation model.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure, 2 electronic online data tables, Accepted for
publication ApJLet
Mumford dendrograms and discrete p-adic symmetries
In this article, we present an effective encoding of dendrograms by embedding
them into the Bruhat-Tits trees associated to -adic number fields. As an
application, we show how strings over a finite alphabet can be encoded in
cyclotomic extensions of and discuss -adic DNA encoding. The
application leads to fast -adic agglomerative hierarchic algorithms similar
to the ones recently used e.g. by A. Khrennikov and others. From the viewpoint
of -adic geometry, to encode a dendrogram in a -adic field means
to fix a set of -rational punctures on the -adic projective line
. To is associated in a natural way a
subtree inside the Bruhat-Tits tree which recovers , a method first used by
F. Kato in 1999 in the classification of discrete subgroups of
.
Next, we show how the -adic moduli space of
with punctures can be applied to the study of time series of
dendrograms and those symmetries arising from hyperbolic actions on
. In this way, we can associate to certain classes of dynamical
systems a Mumford curve, i.e. a -adic algebraic curve with totally
degenerate reduction modulo .
Finally, we indicate some of our results in the study of general discrete
actions on , and their relation to -adic Hurwitz spaces.Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure
Gamma Ray Burst Host Galaxies Have `Normal' Luminosities
The galactic environment of Gamma Ray Bursts can provide good evidence about
the nature of the progenitor system, with two old arguments implying that the
burst host galaxies are significantly subluminous. New data and new analysis
have now reversed this picture: (A) Even though the first two known host
galaxies are indeed greatly subluminous, the next eight hosts have absolute
magnitudes typical for a population of field galaxies. A detailed analysis of
the 16 known hosts (ten with red shifts) shows them to be consistent with a
Schechter luminosity function with as expected for
normal galaxies. (B) Bright bursts from the Interplanetary Network are
typically 18 times brighter than the faint bursts with red shifts, however the
bright bursts do not have galaxies inside their error boxes to limits deeper
than expected based on the luminosities for the two samples being identical. A
new solution to this dilemma is that a broad burst luminosity function along
with a burst number density varying as the star formation rate will require the
average luminosity of the bright sample (
or ) to be much greater than the
average luminosity of the faint sample ( or ). This places the bright bursts at distances
for which host galaxies with a normal luminosity will not violate the observed
limits. In conclusion, all current evidence points to GRB host galaxies being
normal in luminosity.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, Submitted to ApJLet
Microcomputer Intelligence for Technical Training (MITT): The evolution of an intelligent tutoring system
Microcomputer Intelligence for Technical Training (MITT) uses Intelligent Tutoring System (OTS) technology to deliver diagnostic training in a variety of complex technical domains. Over the past six years, MITT technology has been used to develop training systems for nuclear power plant diesel generator diagnosis, Space Shuttle fuel cell diagnosis, and message processing diagnosis for the Minuteman missile. Presented here is an overview of the MITT system, describing the evolution of the MITT software and the benefits of using the MITT system
How to Collect your Water Sample and Interpret the Results for the Poultry Analytical Package
Rapidly growing birds may consume up to twice as much water as feed (Scantling and Watkins 2013), which means a plentiful supply of clean water is crucial for poultry health and productivity. To determine the quality of your poultry’s water resources, periodic sampling and analysis is needed. Analyzing water supplies can also be a crucial tool in identifying existing or potential challenges. The Arkansas Water Resources Center (AWRC) in cooperation with the UA Cooperative Extension Service offers several analytical packages to assess the quality of your water resources. This document is intended to provide guidance to poultry producers on collecting water samples for analysis and understanding the “Poultry Water Report Form” provided by the AWRC’s Water Quality Laboratory (Lab). The information contained within this fact sheet should be used as general guidance, and the reader is encouraged to seek advice from Extension specialists regarding the interpretation of individual reports and water testing results that may be of concern
Species Limits and Phylogeography of North American Cricket Frogs (Acris: Hylidae)
Cricket frogs are widely distributed across the eastern United States and two species, the northern cricket frog (Acris crepitans) and the southern cricket frog (A. gryllus) are currently recognized. We generated a phylogenetic hypothesis for Acris using fragments of nuclear and mitochondrial genes in separate and combined phylogenetic analyses. We also used distance methods and fixation indices to evaluate species limits within the genus and the validity of currently recognized subspecies of A. crepitans. The distributions of existing A. crepitans subspecies, defined by morphology and call types, do not match the distributions of evolutionary lineages recovered using our genetic data. We discuss a scenario of call evolution to explain this disparity. We also recovered distinct phylogeographic groups within A. crepitans and A. gryllus that are congruent with other codistributed taxa. Under a lineage-based species concept, we recognize Acris blanchardi as a distinct species. The importance of this revised taxonomy is discussed in light of the dramatic declines in A. blanchardi across the northern and western portions of its range
A Dusty Disk Around WD1150-153: Explaining the Metals in White Dwarfs by Accretion from the Interstellar Medium versus Debris Disks
We report the discovery of excess K-band radiation from a metal-rich DAV
white dwarf star, WD1150-153. Our near infrared spectroscopic observations show
that the excess radiation cannot be explained by a (sub)stellar companion, and
is likely to be caused by a debris disk similar to the other DAZ white dwarfs
with circumstellar debris disks. We find that the fraction of DAZ white dwarfs
with detectable debris disks is at least 14%. We also revisit the problem of
explaining the metals in white dwarf photospheres by accretion from the
interstellar medium (ISM). We use the observed interstellar column densities
toward stars in close angular proximity and similar distance as DAZ white
dwarfs to constrain the contribution of accretion from the ISM. We find no
correlation between the accretion density required to supply metals observed in
DAZs with the densities observed in their interstellar environment, indicating
that ISM accretion alone cannot explain the presence of metals in nearby DAZ
white dwarfs. Although ISM accretion will certainly contribute, our analysis
indicates that it is not the dominant source of metals for most DAZ white
dwarfs. Instead, the growing number of circumstellar debris disks around DAZs
suggests that circumstellar material may play a more dominant role in polluting
the white dwarf atmospheres.Comment: ApJ, in pres
- …