3,503 research outputs found
The NextGen Model Atmosphere grid: II. Spherically symmetric model atmospheres for giant stars with effective temperatures between 3000 and 6800~K
We present the extension of our NextGen model atmosphere grid to the regime
of giant stars. The input physics of the models presented here is nearly
identical to the NextGen dwarf atmosphere models, however spherical geometry is
used self-consistently in the model calculations (including the radiative
transfer). We re-visit the discussion of the effects of spherical geometry on
the structure of the atmospheres and the emitted spectra and discuss the
results of NLTE calculations for a few selected models.Comment: ApJ, in press (November 1999), 13 pages, also available at
http://dilbert.physast.uga.edu/~yeti/PAPERS and at
ftp://calvin.physast.uga.edu/pub/preprints/NG-giants.ps.g
Influence of steps on the tilting and adsorption dynamics of ordered Pn films on vicinal Ag(111) surfaces
Here we present a structural study of pentacene (Pn) thin films on vicinal
Ag(111) surfaces by He atom diffraction measurements and density functional
theory (DFT) calculations supplemented with van der Waals (vdW) interactions.
Our He atom diffraction results suggest initial adsorption at the step edges
evidenced by initial slow specular reflection intensity decay rate as a
function of Pn deposition time. In parallel with the experimental findings, our
DFT+vdW calculations predict the step edges as the most stable adsorption site
on the surface. An isolated molecule adsorbs as tilted on the step edge with a
binding energy of 1.4 eV. In addition, a complete monolayer (ML) with
pentacenes flat on the terraces and tilted only at the step edges is found to
be more stable than one with all lying flat or tilted molecules, which in turn
influences multilayers. Hence our results suggest that step edges can trap Pn
molecules and act as nucleation sites for the growth of ordered thin films with
a crystal structure similar to that of bulk Pn.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
First observation of 55,56Zn
In an experiment at the SISSI/LISE3 facility of GANIL, the most proton-rich
zinc isotopes 55,56Zn have been observed for the first time. The experiment was
performed using a high-intensity 58Ni beam at 74.5 MeV/nucleon impinging on a
nickel target. The identification of 55,56Zn opens the way to 54Zn, a good
candidate for two-proton radioactivity according to theoretical predictions.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
Decay of proton-rich nuclei between 39Ti and 49Ni
Decay studies of very neutron-deficient nuclei ranging from 39Ti to 49Ni have
been performed during a projectile fragmentation experiment at the GANIL/LISE3
separator. For all nuclei studied in this work, 39,40Ti, 42,43Cr, 46Mn,
45,46,47Fe and 49Ni, half-lives and decay spectra have been measured. In a few
cases, gamma coincidence measurements helped to successfully identify the
initial and final states of transitions. In these cases, partial decay scheme
are proposed. For the most exotic isotopes, 39Ti, 42Cr, 45Fe and 49Ni, which
are candidates for two-proton radioactivity from the ground state, no clear
evidence of this process is seen in our spectra and we conclude rather on a
delayed particle decay.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures, submitted for publication in Eur. Phys. J.
Characterizing CO Fourth Positive Emission in Young Circumstellar Disks
Carbon Monoxide is a commonly used IR/sub-mm tracer of gas in protoplanetary
disks. We present an analysis of ultraviolet CO emission in {HST}-COS spectra
for 12 Classical T Tauri stars. Several ro-vibrational bands of the CO A^1\Pi -
X^1\Sigma^+ (Fourth Positive) electronic transition system are spectrally
resolved from emission of other atoms and H_2. The CO A^1\Pi v'=14 state is
populated by absorption of Ly\alpha photons, created at the accretion column on
the stellar surface. For targets with strong CO emission, we model the Ly\alpha
radiation field as an input for a simple fluorescence model to estimate CO
rotational excitation temperatures and column densities. Typical column
densities range from N_{CO} = 10^{18} - 10^{19} cm^{-2}. Our measured
excitation temperatures are mostly below T_{CO} = 600 K, cooler than typical
M-band CO emission. These temperatures and the emission line widths imply that
the UV emission originates in a different population of CO than that which is
IR-emitting. We also find a significant correlation between CO emission and the
disk accretion rate M_{acc} and age. Our analysis shows that ultraviolet CO
emission can be a useful diagnostic of CTTS disk gas
The Nature of the Secondary Star in the Black Hole X-Ray Transient V616 Mon (=A0620-00)
We have used NIRSPEC on Keck II to obtain -band spectroscopy of the low
mass X-ray binary V616 Mon (= A062000). V616 Mon is the proto-typical soft
x-ray transient containing a black hole primary. As such it is important to
constrain the masses of the binary components. The modeling of the infrared
observations of ellipsoidal variations in this system lead to a derived mass of
11.0 M_{\sun} for the black hole. The validity of this derivation has been
called into question due to the possiblity that the secondary star's spectral
energy distribution is contaminated by accretion disk emission (acting to
dilute the variations). Our new -band spectrum of V616 Mon reveals a
late-type K dwarf secondary star, but one that has very weak CO
absorption features. Comparison of V616 Mon with SS Cyg leads us to estimate
that the accretion disk supplies only a small amount of -band flux, and the
ellipsoidal variations are not seriously contaminated. If true, the derived
orbital inclination of V616 Mon is not greatly altered, and the mass of the
black hole remains large. A preliminary stellar atmosphere model for the
-band spectrum of V616 Mon reveals that the carbon abundance is
approximately 50% of the solar value. We conclude that the secondary star in
V616 Mon has either suffered serious contamination from the accretion of
supernova ejecta that created the black hole primary, or it is the stripped
remains of a formerly more massive secondary star, one in which the CNO cycle
had been active.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure
On the discovery of doubly-magic Ni
The paper reports on the first observation of doubly-magic Nickel-48 in an
experimental at the SISSI/LISE3 facility of GANIL. Four Nickel-48 isotopes were
identified. In addition, roughly 100 Nickel-49, 50 Iron-45, and 290 Chromium-42
isotopes were observed. This opens the possibility to search for two-proton
emission from these nuclei.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. Let
Low State, Phase-Resolved IR Spectroscopy of VV Puppis
We present phase-resolved low resolution and higher resolution -band
spectroscopy of the polar VV Pup. All observations were obtained when VV Pup
was in a low accretion state having a K magnitude near 15. The low resolution
observations reveal cyclotron emission in the band during some phases,
consistent with an origin near the active 30.5 MG pole on the white dwarf. The
secondary in VV Pup appears to be a normal M7V star and we find that the
and band fluxes are entirely due to this star at all orbital phases during
the low accretion state. We use our higher resolution Keck spectroscopy to
produce the first -band radial velocity curve for VV Pup. Our orbital
solution yields =414 km sec and leads to mass estimates of
M=0.730.05 M and M=0.100.02 M. We find
that the mass accretion rates during the normal low states of the polars VV
Pup, EF Eri, and EQ Cet are near 10 M yr. The fact
that \.M is not zero in low state polars indicates active secondary stars in
these binary systems, including the sub-stellar donor star present in EF Eri.Comment: Accepted in Astronomical Journal 5 figure
Suppressed Far-UV stellar activity and low planetary mass-loss in the WASP-18 system
WASP-18 hosts a massive, very close-in Jupiter-like planet. Despite its young age (R′HK activity parameter lies slightly below the basal level; there is no significant time-variability in the log R′HK value; there is no detection of the star in the X-rays. We present results of far-UV observations of WASP-18 obtained with COS on board of HST aimed at explaining this anomaly. From the star’s spectral energy distribution, we infer the extinction (E(B − V) ≈ 0.01mag) and then the ISM column density for a number of ions, concluding that ISM absorption is not the origin of the anomaly. We measure the flux of the four stellar emission features detected in the COS spectrum (C II, C III, C IV, Si IV). Comparing the C II/C IV flux ratio measured for WASP-18 with that derived from spectra of nearby stars with known age, we see that the far-UV spectrum of WASP-18 resembles that of old (>5Gyr), inactive stars, in stark contrast with its young age. We conclude that WASP-18 has an intrinsically low activity level, possibly caused by star-planet tidal interaction, as suggested by previous studies. Re-scaling the solar irradiance reference spectrum to match the flux of the Si IV line, yields an XUV integrated flux at the planet orbit of 10.2 erg s−1 cm−2. We employ the rescaled XUV solar fluxes to model of the planetary upper atmosphere, deriving an extremely low thermal mass-loss rate of 10−20MJ Gyr−1. For such high-mass planets, thermal escape is not energy limited, but driven by Jeans escape
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