A 2.3-Day Periodic Variability in the Apparently Single Wolf-Rayet Star WR 134: Collapsed Companion or Rotational Modulation?

We present the results of an intensive campaign of spectroscopic and photometric monitoring of the peculiar Wolf-Rayet star WR 134 from 1989 to 1997. This unprecedentedly large data set allows us to confirm unambiguously the existence of a coherent 2.25 +/- 0.05 day periodicity in the line-profile changes of He II 4686, although the global pattern of variability is different from one epoch to another. This period is only marginally detected in the photometric data set. Assuming the 2.25 day periodic variability to be induced by orbital motion of a collapsed companion, we develop a simple model aiming at investigating (i) the effect of this strongly ionizing, accreting companion on the Wolf-Rayet wind structure, and (ii) the expected emergent X-ray luminosity. We argue that the predicted and observed X-ray fluxes can only be matched if the accretion on the collapsed star is significantly inhibited. Additionally, we performed simulations of line-profile variations caused by the orbital revolution of a localized, strongly ionized wind cavity surrounding the X-ray source. A reasonable fit is achieved between the observed and modeled phase-dependent line profiles of He II 4686. However, the derived size of the photoionized zone substantially exceeds our expectations, given the observed low-level X-ray flux. Alternatively, we explore rotational modulation of a persistent, largely anisotropic outflow as the origin of the observed cyclical variability. Although qualitative, this hypothesis leads to greater consistency with the observations.Comment: 34 pages, 16 figures. Accepted by the Astrophysical Journa

Optical Spectroscopy of X-Mega targets in Carina Nebula : III. The multiple system Tr 16-104 (≡CPD -59° 2603)

We discuss the orbital elements of the multiple system Tr 16-104 which is usually believed to be a member of the open cluster Trumpler 16 in the Carina complex. We show that Tr 16-104 could be a hierarchical triple system consisting of a short-period (2.15 d) eclipsing O7 V+O9.5 V binary bound to a B0.2 IV star. Our preliminary orbital solution of the third body indicates that the B star most probably describes an eccentric orbit with a period of ∼285 or ∼1341 d around the close binary. Folding photometric data from the literature with our new ephemerides, we find that the light curve of the close binary exhibits rather narrow eclipses indicating that the two O stars must be well inside their Roche lobes. Our analysis of the photometric data yields a lower limit on the inclination of the orbit of the close binary of i≥77°. The stellar radii and luminosities of the O7 V and O9.5 V stars are significantly smaller than expected for stars of this spectral type. Our results suggest that Tr 16-104 lies at a distance of the order of 2.5 kpc and support a fainter absolute magnitude for zero-age main-sequence O stars than usually adopted. We find that the dynamical configuration of Tr 16-104 corresponds to a hierarchical system that should remain stable provided that it suffers no strong perturbation. Finally, we also report long-term temporal variations of high-velocity interstellar Ca ii absorptions in the line of sight towards Tr 16-104.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

A phase-resolved XMM-Newton Campaign on the Colliding Wind Binary HD 152248

We report the first results of an XMM-Newton monitoring campaign of the NGC 6231 open cluster in the Sco OB1 association. This first paper focuses on the massive colliding wind binary HD 152248, which is the brightest X-ray source of the cluster. The campaign, with a total duration of 180 ksec, was split into six separate observations, following the orbital motion of HD 152248. The X-ray flux from this system presents a clear, asymmetric modulation with the phase and ranges from 0.73 to 1.18 10-12 erg s-1 cm-2 in the [0.5-10.0 keV] energy band. The maximum of the emission is reached slightly after apastron. The EPIC spectra are quite soft and peak around 0.8-0.9 keV. We characterize their shape using several combinations of mekal models and power-law spectra and we detect significant spectral variability in the [0.5-2.5 keV] energy band. We also perform 2-D hydrodynamical simulations using different sets of parameters that closely reproduce the physical and orbital configuration of the HD 152248 system at the time of the six XMM-Newton pointings. This allows a direct confrontation of the model predictions with the constraints deduced from the X-ray observations of the system. We show that the observed variation of the flux can be explained by a variation of the X-ray emission from the colliding wind zone, diluted by the softer X-ray contribution of the two O-type stars of the system. Our simulations also reveal that the interaction region of HD 152248 should be highly unstable, giving rise to shells of dense gas that are separated by low density regions. Finally, we perform a search for short-term variability in the light curves of the system and we show that trends are present within several of the 30 ksec exposures of our campaign. Further, most of these trends are in good .Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 22 pages; without figures; complete PS version (including figures) on http://vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/Preprints/index.htm

Optical Spectroscopy of X-Mega targets in Carina Nebula : III. The multiple system Tr 16-104 (≡CPD -59° 2603)

We discuss the orbital elements of the multiple system Tr 16-104 which is usually believed to be a member of the open cluster Trumpler 16 in the Carina complex. We show that Tr 16-104 could be a hierarchical triple system consisting of a short-period (2.15 d) eclipsing O7 V+O9.5 V binary bound to a B0.2 IV star. Our preliminary orbital solution of the third body indicates that the B star most probably describes an eccentric orbit with a period of ∼285 or ∼1341 d around the close binary. Folding photometric data from the literature with our new ephemerides, we find that the light curve of the close binary exhibits rather narrow eclipses indicating that the two O stars must be well inside their Roche lobes. Our analysis of the photometric data yields a lower limit on the inclination of the orbit of the close binary of i≥77°. The stellar radii and luminosities of the O7 V and O9.5 V stars are significantly smaller than expected for stars of this spectral type. Our results suggest that Tr 16-104 lies at a distance of the order of 2.5 kpc and support a fainter absolute magnitude for zero-age main-sequence O stars than usually adopted. We find that the dynamical configuration of Tr 16-104 corresponds to a hierarchical system that should remain stable provided that it suffers no strong perturbation. Finally, we also report long-term temporal variations of high-velocity interstellar Ca ii absorptions in the line of sight towards Tr 16-104.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y Geofísica

Electron Cooling Experiments in CSR

The six species heavy ion beam was accumulated with the help of electron cooling in the main ring of Cooler Storage Ring of Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou(HIRFL-CSR), the ion beam accumulation dependence on the parameters of cooler was investigated experimentally. The 400MeV/u 12C6+ and 200MeV/u 129Xe54+ was stored and cooled in the experimental ring CSRe, the cooling force was measured in different condition.Comment: 5 pages 11 figure

Age and gender peculiarities of hysterical neurotic psychopathology

The purpose of research was definition of psychopathological peculiarities of hysterical neurotic disorders and to reveal influence of age and gender factors. We investigated 109 patients. There were 62 patients in the basic group (23 of them were men and 39 of them were women) at the age from 45 to 63 and 47 patient in the control group (19 of them were men and 28 were women) at the age from 18 to 44. It is established that old age is characterized in anxious depression with egocentric orientation, shocking blackmailing destructive aggressive infantile behavior, substantial dimorphism of conversion displays, somatophorms disorders of women and obsessive compulsive disorders of men.Цель работы: с целью определения психопатологических особенностей истерических невротических расстройств у больных с учётом патоформирующего влияния возрастного и гендерного факторов обследовано 109 пациентов: 62 пациента (23 мужчины и 39 женщин) в возрасте от 45 до 63 лет составили основную группу, 47 пациентов (19 мужчин и 28 женщин) в возрасте от 18 до 44 лет - контрольную. Установлено, что истерическому неврозу в позднем возрасте свойственна тревожная депрессия с эгоцентрической направленностью, эпатажно-шантажным деструктивно-агрессивным инфантильным поведением, содержательным диморфизмом конверсионных проявлений, соматоформными расстройствами у женщин и обсессивно-компульсивными расстройствами - у мужчин

The influence of the family status on the hospitalizations of the aged mental patients

The purpose of our study is to determine the influence of the family status and associated life conditions, sociopsychological and clinical factors on the frequency and duration of hospitalizations of the aged mental patients. By means of clinical and sociopsychological techniques two groups of patients over 60 were examined. Single persons (living lonely) (127 persons) formed the main group, control one consisted of patients living within the family (121 persons). There were no differences in age, sex and clinical composition between the groups. The specific weight of single persons was estimated to be higher (p<0.05), they were hospitalized more often and the duration of staying in hospital was longer (p<0.05). Indicated diffe-.rences are connected not so much with clinicopsychopathological factors as with life conditions and sociopsychological ones, as well as with more marked somatic pathology.Цель работы: Определение влияния семейного статуса и сопряжённого с ним социально-бытовых, социально­психологических и клинических факторов на частоту и длительность госпитализаций психически больных позднего воз-раста. Клиническим и социально-психологическим методом обследованы две группы больных старше 60 лет. Основную составили одиноко проживающие (127 чел.), контрольную — проживающие в семье (121 чел.). По полу, возрасту и клиническому составу группы не отличались. Установлено, что у одиноких удельный вес госпитализированных больных был выше (р<0,05), они чаще поступали в больницу и продолжительность стационирования у них была больше (р<0,05). Указанные различия связаны не столько с клинико-психопатологическими факторами, сколько с социально-бькговыми и социально-психологическими, а также более выраженной соматической патологией

XMM-Newton observations of the giant HII region N11 in the LMC

Using the sensitive XMM-Newton observatory, we have observed the giant HII region N11 in the LMC for \sim30 ks. We have detected several large areas of soft diffuse X-ray emission along with 37 point sources. One of the most interesting results is the possible association of a faint X-ray source with BSDL 188, a small extended object of uncertain nature. The OB associations in the field-of-view (LH9, LH10 and LH13) are all detected with XMM-Newton, but they appear very different from one another. [...] (for complete abstract, see paper) Finally, our XMM-Newton observation included simultaneous observations with the OM camera that provide us with unique UV photometry of more than 6000 sources and enable the discovery of the UV emission from the SNR N11L.Comment: 13 pages, 16 figures (10 in gif or jpg), accepted by A&A, also available from http://vela.astro.ulg.ac.be/Preprints/P88/index.htm

The DIRC Particle Identification System for the BABAR Experiment

A new type of ring-imaging Cherenkov detector is being used for hadronic particle identification in the BABAR experiment at the SLAC B Factory (PEP-II). This detector is called DIRC, an acronym for Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov (Light). This paper will discuss the construction, operation and performance of the BABAR DIRC in detail

Feasibility studies for the measurement of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors from p¯ p→ μ+μ- at P ¯ ANDA at FAIR

This paper reports on Monte Carlo simulation results for future measurements of the moduli of time-like proton electromagnetic form factors, | GE| and | GM| , using the p¯ p→ μ+μ- reaction at P ¯ ANDA (FAIR). The electromagnetic form factors are fundamental quantities parameterizing the electric and magnetic structure of hadrons. This work estimates the statistical and total accuracy with which the form factors can be measured at P ¯ ANDA , using an analysis of simulated data within the PandaRoot software framework. The most crucial background channel is p¯ p→ π+π-, due to the very similar behavior of muons and pions in the detector. The suppression factors are evaluated for this and all other relevant background channels at different values of antiproton beam momentum. The signal/background separation is based on a multivariate analysis, using the Boosted Decision Trees method. An expected background subtraction is included in this study, based on realistic angular distributions of the background contribution. Systematic uncertainties are considered and the relative total uncertainties of the form factor measurements are presented