5,968 research outputs found
How Well Do We Know the Beta-Decay of 16N and Oxygen Formation in Helium Burning
We review the status of the 12C(a,g)16O reaction rate, of importance for
stellar processes in a progenitor star prior to a super-nova collapse. Several
attempts to constrain the p-wave S-factor of the 12C(a,g)16O reaction at Helium
burning temperatures (200 MK) using the beta-delayed alpha-particle emission of
16N have been made, and it is claimed that this S-factor is known, as quoted by
the TRIUMF collaboration. In contrast reanalyses (by G.M. hale) of all thus far
available data (including the 16N data) does not rule out a small S-factor
solution. Furthermore, we improved our previous Yale-UConn study of the beta-
delayed alpha-particle emission of \n16 by improving our statistical sample (by
more than a factor of 5), improving the energy resolution of the experiment (by
20%), and in understanding our line shape, deduced from measured quantities.
Our newly measured spectrum of the beta-delayed alpha-particle emission of 16N
is not consistent with the TRIUMF('94) data, but is consistent with the
Seattle('95) data, as well as the earlier (unaltered !) data of Mainz('71). The
implication of this discrepancies for the extracted astrophysical p-wave
s-factor is briefly discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Invited Talk, Physics With Radioactive Beams,
Puri, India, Jan. 12-17, 1998, Work Supported by USDOE Grant No.
DE-FG02-94ER4087
Spitzer Mapping of PAHs and H2 in Photodissociation Regions
The mid-infrared (MIR) spectra of dense photodissociation regions (PDRs) are
typically dominated by emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs)
and the lowest pure rotational states of molecular hydrogen (H2); two species
which are probes of the physical properties of gas and dust in intense UV
radiation fields. We utilize the high angular resolution of the Infrared
Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope to construct spectral maps of the
PAH and H2 features for three of the best studied PDRs in the galaxy, NGC 7023,
NGC 2023 and IC 63. We present spatially resolved maps of the physical
properties, including the H2 ortho-to-para ratio, temperature, and G_o/n_H. We
also present evidence for PAH dehydrogenation, which may support theories of H2
formation on PAH surfaces, and a detection of preferential self-shielding of
ortho-H2. All PDRs studied exhibit average temperatures of ~500 - 800K, warm H2
column densities of ~10^20 cm^-2, G_o/n_H ~ 0.1 - 0.8, and ortho-to-para ratios
of ~ 1.8. We find that while the average of each of these properties is
consistent with previous single value measurements of these PDRs, when
available, the addition of spatial resolution yields a diversity of values with
gas temperatures as high as 1500 K, column densities spanning ~ 2 orders of
magnitude, and extreme ortho-to-para ratios of 3.Comment: 14 figure
Learning about pain through observation: the role of pain-related fear
Observational learning may contribute to development and maintenance of pain-related beliefs and behaviors. The current study examined whether observation of video primes could impact appraisals of potential back stressing activities, and whether this relationship was moderated by individual differences in pain-related fear. Participants viewed a video prime in which back-stressing activity was associated with pain and injury. Both before and after viewing the prime, participants provided pain and harm ratings of standardized movements drawn from the Photograph of Daily Activities Scale (PHODA). Results indicated that observational learning occurred for participants with high levels of pain-related fear but not for low fear participants. Specifically, following prime exposure, high fear participants showed elevated pain appraisals of activity images whereas low fear participants did not. High fear participants appraised the PHODA-M images as significantly more harmful regardless of prime exposure. The findings highlight individual moderators of observational learning in the context of pain
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