11,961 research outputs found
Pulsation in carbon-atmosphere white dwarfs: A new chapter in white dwarf asteroseismology
We present some of the results of a survey aimed at exploring the
asteroseismological potential of the newly-discovered carbon-atmosphere white
dwarfs. We show that, in certains regions of parameter space, carbon-atmosphere
white dwarfs may drive low-order gravity modes. We demonstrate that our
theoretical results are consistent with the recent exciting discovery of
luminosity variations in SDSS J1426+5752 and some null results obtained by a
team of scientists at McDonald Observatory. We also present follow-up
photometric observations carried out by ourselves at the Mount Bigelow 1.6-m
telescope using the new Mont4K camera. The results of follow-up spectroscopic
observations at the MMT are also briefly reported, including the surprising
discovery that SDSS J1426+5752 is not only a pulsating star but that it is also
a magnetic white dwarf with a surface field near 1.2 MG. The discovery of
-mode pulsations in SDSS J1426+5752 is quite significant in itself as it
opens a fourth asteroseismological "window", after the GW Vir, V777 Her, and ZZ
Ceti families, through which one may study white dwarfs.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, to appear in Journal of Physics Conference
Proceedings for the 16th European White Dwarf Worksho
Cytological examination and cellular composition of bone marrow in healthy, adult, cynomolgus monkeys ( Macaca fascicularis )
The purpose of this study was to evaluate the cellular composition of the bone marrow of cynomolgus monkeys (Macaca fascicularis). Femoral bone marrow smears from 23 healthy, adult animals (11 males and 12 females) were examined. For each animal, three femoral bone marrow smears were prepared immediately after euthanasia and stained with May-Grünwald-Giemsa. On two of the three smears available, and for each of these smears, a 500-cell differential count was performed and the myeloid: erythroid (M:E) ratio established. The M:E ratio for males varied from 0.67∶1.00 to 1.85∶1.00 with a mean of 1.03∶1.00 and for females from 0.67∶1.00 to 1.63∶1.00 with a mean of 1.02∶1.00. The mean percentage of granulocytic, lymphocytic, plasmacytic and erythroid series was 47.60, 5.44, 1.45 and 46.05% for males and 47.28, 5.12, 1.49 and 46.28% for females. No significant differences were noted between males and females. All cell lines were well represented and showed normal maturation in both sexes. Megakaryocytes were adequate in number and morphology in all animals. Cynomolgus monkeys showed a bone marrow composition similar to rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Cytological examination of bone marrow was found to be a simple and rapid procedure, well suited to the toxicological research environment. It provided excellent information on cell distribution, morphology and maturation of the haematopoietic syste
Asteroseismic test of rotational mixing in low-mass white dwarfs
We exploit the recent discovery of pulsations in mixed-atmosphere (He/H),
extremely low-mass white dwarf precursors (ELM proto-WDs) to test the
proposition that rotational mixing is a fundamental process in the formation
and evolution of low-mass helium core white dwarfs. Rotational mixing has been
shown to be a mechanism able to compete efficiently against gravitational
settling, thus accounting naturally for the presence of He, as well as traces
of metals such as Mg and Ca, typically found in the atmospheres of ELM
proto-WDs. Here we investigate whether rotational mixing can maintain a
sufficient amount of He in the deeper driving region of the star, such that it
can fuel, through HeII-HeIII ionization, the observed pulsations in this type
of stars. Using state-of-the-art evolutionary models computed with MESA, we
show that rotational mixing can indeed explain qualitatively the very existence
and general properties of the known pulsating, mixed-atmosphere ELM proto-WDs.
Moreover, such objects are very likely to pulsate again during their final WD
cooling phase.Comment: accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Just how hot are the Centauri extreme horizontal branch pulsators?
Past studies based on optical spectroscopy suggest that the five Cen
pulsators form a rather homogeneous group of hydrogen-rich subdwarf O stars
with effective temperatures of around 50 000 K. This places the stars below the
red edge of the theoretical instability strip in the log Teff diagram,
where no pulsation modes are predicted to be excited. Our goal is to determine
whether this temperature discrepancy is real, or whether the stars' effective
temperatures were simply underestimated. We present a spectral analysis of two
rapidly pulsating extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars found in Cen.
We obtained Hubble Space Telescope/COS UV spectra of two Cen
pulsators, V1 and V5, and used the ionisation equilibrium of UV metallic lines
to better constrain their effective temperatures. As a by-product we also
obtained FUV lightcurves of the two pulsators. Using the relative strength of
the N IV and N V lines as a temperature indicator yields Teff values close to
60 000 K, significantly hotter than the temperatures previously derived. From
the FUV light curves we were able to confirm the main pulsation periods known
from optical data. With the UV spectra indicating higher effective temperatures
than previously assumed, the sdO stars would now be found within the predicted
instability strip. Such higher temperatures also provide consistent
spectroscopic masses for both the cool and hot EHB stars of our previously
studied sample.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Self-driven lattice-model Monte Carlo simulations of alloy thermodynamic
Monte Carlo (MC) simulations of lattice models are a widely used way to
compute thermodynamic properties of substitutional alloys. A limitation to
their more widespread use is the difficulty of driving a MC simulation in order
to obtain the desired quantities. To address this problem, we have devised a
variety of high-level algorithms that serve as an interface between the user
and a traditional MC code. The user specifies the goals sought in a high-level
form that our algorithms convert into elementary tasks to be performed by a
standard MC code. For instance, our algorithms permit the determination of the
free energy of an alloy phase over its entire region of stability within a
specified accuracy, without requiring any user intervention during the
calculations. Our algorithms also enable the direct determination of
composition-temperature phase boundaries without requiring the calculation of
the whole free energy surface of the alloy system
Multiwavelength Observations of the Hot DB Star PG 0112+104
We present a comprehensive multiwavelength analysis of the hot DB white dwarf
PG 0112+104. Our analysis relies on newly-acquired FUSE observations, on
medium-resolution FOS and GHRS data, on archival high-resolution GHRS
observations, on optical spectrophotometry both in the blue and around Halpha,
as well as on time-resolved photometry. From the optical data, we derive a
self-consistent effective temperature of 31,300+-500 K, a surface gravity of
log g = 7.8 +- 0.1 (M=0.52 Msun), and a hydrogen abundance of log N(H)/N(He) <
-4.0. The FUSE spectra reveal the presence of CII and CIII lines that
complement the previous detection of CII transitions with the GHRS. The
improved carbon abundance in this hot object is log N(C)/N(He) = -6.15 +- 0.23.
No photospheric features associated with other heavy elements are detected. We
reconsider the role of PG 0112+104 in the definition of the blue edge of the
V777 Her instability strip in light of our high-speed photometry, and contrast
our results with those of previous observations carried out at the McDonald
Observatory.Comment: 10 pages in emulateapj, 9 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Theory of temperature dependence of the Fermi surface-induced splitting of the alloy diffuse-scattering intensity peak
The explanation is presented for the temperature dependence of the fourfold
intensity peak splitting found recently in diffuse scattering from the
disordered Cu3Au alloy. The wavevector and temperature dependence of the
self-energy is identified as the origin of the observed behaviour. Two
approaches for the calculation of the self-energy, the high-temperature
expansion and the alpha-expansion, are proposed. Applied to the Cu3Au alloy,
both methods predict the increase of the splitting with temperature, in
agreement with the experimental results.Comment: 4 pages, 3 EPS figures, RevTeX, submitted to J. Phys. Condens. Matter
(Letter to the Editor
Studies of the use of high-temperature nuclear heat from an HTGR for hydrogen production
The results of a study which surveyed various methods of hydrogen production using nuclear and fossil energy are presented. A description of these methods is provided, and efficiencies are calculated for each case. The process designs of systems that utilize the heat from a general atomic high temperature gas cooled reactor with a steam methane reformer and feed the reformer with substitute natural gas manufactured from coal, using reforming temperatures, are presented. The capital costs for these systems and the resultant hydrogen production price for these cases are discussed along with a research and development program
Interplay between magnetic anisotropy and interlayer coupling in nanosecond magnetization reversal of spin-valve trilayers
The influence of magnetic anisotropy on nanosecond magnetization reversal in
coupled FeNi/Cu/Co trilayers was studied using a photoelectron emission
microscope combined with x-ray magnetic circular dicroism. In quasi-isotropic
samples the reversal of the soft FeNi layer is determined by domain wall
pinning that leads to the formation of small and irregular domains. In samples
with uniaxial magnetic anisotropy, the domains are larger and the influence of
local interlayer coupling dominates the domain structure and the reversal of
the FeNi layer
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