1,140 research outputs found
A Cluster of Compact Radio Sources in NGC 2024 (Orion B)
We present deep 3.6 cm radio continuum observations of the H II region NGC
2024 in Orion B obtained using the Very Large Array in its A-configuration,
with angular resolution. We detect a total of 25 compact radio
sources in a region of . We discuss the nature of these sources
and its relation with the infrared and X-ray objects in the region. At least
two of the radio sources are obscured proplyds whose morphology can be used to
restrict the location of the main ionizing source of the region. This cluster
of radio sources is compared with others that have been found in regions of
recent star formation.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figure
Track reconstruction with MIMAC
Directional detection of Dark Matter is a promising search strategy. However,
to perform such kind of detection, the recoiling tracks have to be accurately
reconstructed: direction, sense and position in the detector volume. In order
to optimize the track reconstruction and to fully exploit the data from the
MIMAC detector, we developed a likelihood method dedicated to the track
reconstruction. This likelihood approach requires a full simulation of track
measurements with MIMAC in order to compare real tracks to simulated ones.
Finally, we found that the MIMAC detector should have the required performance
to perform a competitive directional detection of Dark Matter.Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures; Proceedings of the 3rd International conference
on Directional Detection of Dark Matter (CYGNUS 2011), Aussois, France, 8-10
June 201
Phase transitions in a gas of anyons
We continue our numerical Monte Carlo simulation of a gas of closed loops on
a 3 dimensional lattice, however now in the presence of a topological term
added to the action corresponding to the total linking number between the
loops. We compute the linking number using certain notions from knot theory.
Adding the topological term converts the particles into anyons. Using the
correspondence that the model is an effective theory that describes the
2+1-dimensional Abelian Higgs model in the asymptotic strong coupling regime,
the topological linking number simply corresponds to the addition to the action
of the Chern-Simons term. We find the following new results. The system
continues to exhibit a phase transition as a function of the anyon mass as it
becomes small \cite{mnp}, although the phases do not change the manifestation
of the symmetry. The Chern-Simons term has no effect on the Wilson loop, but it
does affect the {\rm '}t Hooft loop. For a given configuration it adds the
linking number of the 't Hooft loop with all of the dynamical vortex loops to
the action. We find that both the Wilson loop and the 't Hooft loop exhibit a
perimeter law even though there are no massless particles in the theory, which
is unexpected.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
The White Dwarf Cooling Age of M67
A deep imaging survey covering the entire 23\arcmin diameter of the old
open cluster M67 to has been carried out using the mosaic imager
(UHCam) on the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The cluster color-magnitude
diagram (CMD) can be traced from stars on its giant branch at down
through main sequence stars at least as faint as . Stars this low
in luminosity have masses below . A modest white dwarf (WD)
cooling sequence is also observed commencing slightly fainter than
and, after correction for background galaxy and stellar field contamination,
terminating near . The observed WDs follow quite closely a
theoretical cooling sequence for pure carbon core WDs with
hydrogen-rich atmospheres (DA WDs). The cooling time to an of 14.6 for
such WDs is 4.3 Gyr which we take as the WD cooling age of the cluster. A fit
of a set of isochrones to the cluster CMD indicates a turnoff age of 4.0 Gyr.
The excellent agreement between these results suggests that ages derived from
white dwarf cooling should be considered as reliable as those from other dating
techniques. The WDs currently contribute about 9% of the total cluster mass but
the number seen appears to be somewhat low when compared with the number of
giants observed in the cluster.Comment: 15 pages plus 3 diagrams, minor corrections, Accepted for publication
in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, to be published September 10, 199
Deep near-IR observations of the Globular Cluster M4: Hunting for Brown Dwarfs
We present an analysis of deep HST/WFC3 near-IR (NIR) imaging data of the
globular cluster M4. The best-photometry NIR colour-magnitude diagram (CMD)
clearly shows the main sequence extending towards the expected end of the
Hydrogen-burning limit and going beyond this point towards fainter sources. The
white dwarf sequence can be identified. As such, this is the deepest NIR CMD of
a globular cluster to date. Archival HST optical data were used for
proper-motion cleaning of the CMD and for distinguishing the white dwarfs (WDs)
from brown dwarf (BD) candidates. Detection limits in the NIR are around F110W
approx 26.5 mag and F160W approx27 mag, and in the optical around F775W approx
28 mag. Comparing our observed CMDs with theoretical models, we conclude that
we have reached beyond the H-burning limit in our NIR CMD and are probably just
above or around this limit in our optical-NIR CMDs. Thus, any faint NIR sources
that have no optical counterpart are potential BD candidates, since the optical
data are not deep enough to detect them. We visually inspected the positions of
NIR sources which are fainter than the H-burning limit in F110W and for which
the optical photometry did not return a counterpart. We found in total five
sources for which we did not get an optical measurement. For four of these five
sources, a faint optical counterpart could be visually identified, and an upper
optical magnitude was estimated. Based on these upper optical magnitude limits,
we conclude that one source is likely a WD, one source could either be a WD or
BD candidate, and the remaining two sources agree with being BD candidates. For
only one source no optical counterpart could be detected, which makes this
source a good BD candidate. We conclude that we found in total four good BD
candidates.Comment: ApJ accepted, 28 pages including 16 figure
Models of Metal Poor Stars with Gravitational Settling and Radiative Accelerations: I. Evolution and Abundance Anomalies
Evolutionary models have been calculated for Pop II stars of 0.5 to
1.0 from the pre-main-sequence to the lower part of the giant branch.
Rosseland opacities and radiative accelerations were calculated taking into
account the concentration variations of 28 chemical species, including all
species contributing to Rosseland opacities in the OPAL tables. The effects of
radiative accelerations, thermal diffusion and gravitational settling are
included. While models were calculated both for Z=0.00017 and 0.0017, we
concentrate on models with Z=0.00017 in this paper. These are the first Pop II
models calculated taking radiative acceleration into account. It is shown that,
at least in a 0.8 star, it is a better approximation not to let Fe
diffuse than to calculate its gravitational settling without including the
effects of . In the absence of any turbulence outside of
convection zones, the effects of atomic diffusion are large mainly for stars
more massive than 0.7. Overabundances are expected in some stars with
\teff \ge 6000K. Most chemical species heavier than CNO are affected. At 12
Gyr, overabundance factors may reach 10 in some cases (e.g. for Al or Ni) while
others are limited to 3 (e.g. for Fe). The calculated surface abundances are
compared to recent observations of abundances in globular clusters as well as
to observations of Li in halo stars. It is shown that, as in the case of Pop I
stars, additional turbulence appears to be present.Comment: 40 pages, 17 color figures, to appear in The Astrophysical Journal,
April 2002 (paper with original high resolution figures can be found at
http://www.cerca.umontreal.ca/~richer/Fichiersps/popII_1.ps
Effectiveness of a 10-day melarsoprol schedule for the treatment of late-stage human African trypanosomiasis: confirmation from a multinational study (IMPAMEL II).
BACKGROUND: Treatment of late-stage human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) with melarsoprol can be improved by shortening the regimen. A previous trial demonstrated the safety and efficacy of a 10-day treatment schedule. We demonstrate the effectiveness of this schedule in a noncontrolled, multinational drug-utilization study. METHODS: A total of 2020 patients with late-stage HAT were treated with the 10-day melarsoprol schedule in 16 centers in 7 African countries. We assessed outcome on the basis of major adverse events and the cure rate after treatment and during 2 years of follow-up. RESULTS: The cure rate 24 h after treatment was 93.9%; 2 years later, it was 86.2%. However, 49.3% of patients were lost to follow-up. The overall fatality rate was 5.9%. Of treated patients, 8.7% had an encephalopathic syndrome that was fatal 45.5% of the time. The rate of severe bullous and maculopapular eruptions was 0.8% and 6.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The 10-day treatment schedule was well implemented in the field and was effective. It reduces treatment duration, drug amount, and hospitalization costs per patient, and it increases treatment-center capacity. The shorter protocol has been recommended by the International Scientific Council for Trypanosomiasis Research and Control for the treatment of late-stage HAT caused by Trypanosoma brucei gambiense
Measurement of the electron drift velocity for directional dark matter detectors
Three-dimensional track reconstruction is a key issue for directional Dark
Matter detection. It requires a precise knowledge of the electron drift
velocity. Magboltz simulations are known to give a good evaluation of this
parameter. However, large TPC operated underground on long time scale may be
characterized by an effective electron drift velocity that may differ from the
value evaluated by simulation. In situ measurement of this key parameter is
hence a way to avoid bias in the 3D track reconstruction. We present a
dedicated method for the measurement of the electron drift velocity with the
MIMAC detector. It is tested on two gas mixtures : and . We also show that adding allows us to lower the
electron drift velocity while keeping almost the same Fluorine content of the
gas mixture.Comment: Proceedings of the 4th international conference on Directional
Detection of Dark Matter (CYGNUS 2013), 10-12 June 2013, Toyama, Japa
In situ measurement of the electron drift velocity for upcoming directional Dark Matter detectors
Three-dimensional track reconstruction is a key issue for directional Dark
Matter detection and it requires a precise knowledge of the electron drift
velocity. Magboltz simulations are known to give a good evaluation of this
parameter. However, large TPC operated underground on long time scale may be
characterized by an effective electron drift velocity that may differ from the
value evaluated by simulation. In situ measurement of this key parameter is
hence needed as it is a way to avoid bias in the 3D track reconstruction. We
present a dedicated method for the measurement of the electron drift velocity
with the MIMAC detector. It is tested on two gas mixtures: CF4 and CF4 + CHF3.
The latter has been chosen for the MIMAC detector as we expect that adding CHF3
to pure CF4 will lower the electron drift velocity. This is a key point for
directional Dark Matter as the track sampling along the drift field will be
improved while keeping almost the same Fluorine content of the gas mixture. We
show that the drift velocity at 50 mbar is reduced by a factor of about 5 when
adding 30% of CHF3.Comment: 19 pages, 14 figures. Minor corrections, matches published version in
JINS
- …