68,921 research outputs found
Around 200 new X-ray binary IDs from 13 years of Chandra observations of the M31 center
We have created 0.3--10 keV, 13 year, unabsorbed luminosity lightcurves for
528 X-ray sources in the central 20' of M31. We have 174 Chandra observations
spaced at ~1 month intervals thanks to our transient monitoring program, deeper
observations of the M31 nucleus, and some public data from other surveys. We
created 0.5--4.5 keV structure functions (SFs) for each source, for comparison
with the ensemble structure function of AGN. We find 220 X-ray sources with
luminosities > ~1E+35 erg/s that have SFs with significantly more variability
than the ensemble AGN SF, and are likely X-ray binaries (XBs). A further 30
X-ray sources were identified as XBs using other methods. We therefore have 250
probable XBs in total, including ~200 new identifications. This result
represents great progress over the ~50 XBs and ~40 XB candidates previously
identified out of the ~2000 X-ray sources within the D_25 region of M31; it
also demonstrates the power of SF analysis for identifying XBs in external
galaxies. We also identify a new transient black hole candidate, associated
with the M31 globular cluster B128.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ; 20 pages, 7 figures; Tables 1 and 2
continue after the references (8 pages
The impact of the air-fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters of ultra-high energy cosmic rays
An accurate knowledge of the fluorescence yield and its dependence on
atmospheric properties such as pressure, temperature or humidity is essential
to obtain a reliable measurement of the primary energy of cosmic rays in
experiments using the fluorescence technique. In this work, several sets of
fluorescence yield data (i.e. absolute value and quenching parameters) are
described and compared. A simple procedure to study the effect of the assumed
fluorescence yield on the reconstructed shower parameters (energy and shower
maximum depth) as a function of the primary features has been developed. As an
application, the effect of water vapor and temperature dependence of the
collisional cross section on the fluorescence yield and its impact on the
reconstruction of primary energy and shower maximum depth has been studied.Comment: Accepted in Astroparticle Physic
Dark matter, neutron stars and strange quark matter
We show that self-annihilating neutralino WIMP dark matter accreted onto
neutron stars may provide a mechanism to seed compact objects with long-lived
lumps of strange quark matter, or strangelets, for WIMP masses above a few GeV.
This effect may trigger a conversion of most of the star into a strange star.
We use an energy estimate for the long-lived strangelet based on the Fermi gas
model combined with the MIT bag model to set a new limit on the possible values
of the WIMP mass that can be especially relevant for subdominant species of
massive neutralinos.Comment: 5 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Evolving wormhole geometries within nonlinear electrodynamics
In this work, we explore the possibility of evolving (2+1) and
(3+1)-dimensional wormhole spacetimes, conformally related to the respective
static geometries, within the context of nonlinear electrodynamics. For the
(3+1)-dimensional spacetime, it is found that the Einstein field equation
imposes a contracting wormhole solution and the obedience of the weak energy
condition. Nevertheless, in the presence of an electric field, the latter
presents a singularity at the throat, however, for a pure magnetic field the
solution is regular. For the (2+1)-dimensional case, it is also found that the
physical fields are singular at the throat. Thus, taking into account the
principle of finiteness, which states that a satisfactory theory should avoid
physical quantities becoming infinite, one may rule out evolving
(3+1)-dimensional wormhole solutions, in the presence of an electric field, and
the (2+1)-dimensional case coupled to nonlinear electrodynamics.Comment: 17 pages, 1 figure; to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity. V2:
minor corrections, including a referenc
Symmetry breaking and clustering in a vibrated granular gas with several macroscopically connected compartments
The spontaneous symmetry breaking in a vibro-fluidized low-density granular
gas in three connected compartments is investigated. When the total number of
particles in the system becomes large enough, particles distribute themselves
unequally among the three compartments. Particles tend to concentrate in one of
the compartments, the other two having the (relatively small) same average
number of particles. A hydrodynamical model that accurately predicts the
bifurcation diagram of the system is presented. The theory can be easily
extended to the case of an arbitrary number of connected compartments
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