10,836 research outputs found
Atmospheric Sulfur Photochemistry on Hot Jupiters
We develop a new 1D photochemical kinetics code to address stratospheric
chemistry and stratospheric heating in hot Jupiters. Here we address optically
active S-containing species and CO2 at 1200 < T < 2000 K. HS (mercapto) and S2
are highly reactive species that are generated photochemically and
thermochemically from H2S with peak abundances between 1-10 mbar. S2 absorbs UV
between 240 and 340 nm and is optically thick for metallicities [SH] > 0 at T >
1200 K. HS is probably more important than S2, as it is generally more abundant
than S2 under hot Jupiter conditions and it absorbs at somewhat redder
wavelengths. We use molecular theory to compute an HS absorption spectrum from
sparse available data and find that HS should absorb strongly between 300 and
460 nm, with absorption at the longer wavelengths being temperature sensitive.
When the two absorbers are combined, radiative heating (per kg of gas) peaks at
100 microbars, with a total stratospheric heating of about 8 x 10^4 W/m^2 for a
jovian planet orbiting a solar-twin at 0.032 AU. Total heating is insensitive
to metallicity. The CO2 mixing ratio is a well-behaved quadratic function of
metallicity, ranging from 1.6 x 10^-8 to 1.6 x 10^-4 for -0.3 < [M/H] < 1.7.
CO2 is insensitive to insolation, vertical mixing, temperature (1200 < T <2000
K), and gravity. The photochemical calculations confirm that CO2 should prove a
useful probe of planetary metallicity.Comment: Astrophysical Journal Lett. in press; important revision includes
effect of updated thermodynamic data and a new opacity sourc
The Hidden Spatial Geometry of Non-Abelian Gauge Theories
The Gauss law constraint in the Hamiltonian form of the gauge theory
of gluons is satisfied by any functional of the gauge invariant tensor variable
. Arguments are given that the tensor is a more appropriate variable. When the Hamiltonian
is expressed in terms of or , the quantity appears.
The gauge field Bianchi and Ricci identities yield a set of partial
differential equations for in terms of . One can show that
is a metric-compatible connection for with torsion, and that the curvature
tensor of is that of an Einstein space. A curious 3-dimensional
spatial geometry thus underlies the gauge-invariant configuration space of the
theory, although the Hamiltonian is not invariant under spatial coordinate
transformations. Spatial derivative terms in the energy density are singular
when . These singularities are the analogue of the centrifugal
barrier of quantum mechanics, and physical wave-functionals are forced to
vanish in a certain manner near . It is argued that such barriers are
an inevitable result of the projection on the gauge-invariant subspace of the
Hilbert space, and that the barriers are a conspicuous way in which non-abelian
gauge theories differ from scalar field theories.Comment: 19 pages, TeX, CTP #223
Three flavour Quark matter in chiral colour dielectric model
We investigate the properties of quark matter at finite density and
temperature using the nonlinear chiral extension of Colour Dielectric Model
(CCM). Assuming that the square of the meson fields devlop non- zero vacuum
expectation value, the thermodynamic potential for interacting three flavour
matter has been calculated. It is found that remain zero
in the medium whereas changes in the medium. As a result, and
quark masses decrease monotonically as the temperature and density of the quark
matter is increased.In the present model, the deconfinement density and
temperature is found to be lower compared to lattice results. We also study the
behaviour of pressure and energy density above critical temperature.Comment: Latex file. 5 figures available on request. To appear in Phys. Rev.
A Unified Theory for the Atmospheres of the Hot and Very Hot Jupiters: Two Classes of Irradiated Atmospheres
We highlight the importance of gaseous TiO and VO opacity on the highly
irradiated close-in giant planets. The atmospheres of these planets naturally
fall into two classes that are somewhat analogous to the M- and L-type dwarfs.
Those that are warm enough to have appreciable opacity due to TiO and VO gases
we term the ``pM Class'' planets, and those that are cooler we term ``pL
Class'' planets. We calculate model atmospheres for these planets, including
pressure-temperature profiles, spectra, and characteristic radiative time
constants. We show that pM Class planets have hot stratospheres 2000 K
and appear ``anomalously'' bright in the mid infrared secondary eclipse, as was
recently found for planets HD 149026b and HD 209458b. This class of planets
absorbs incident flux and emits thermal flux from high in their atmospheres.
Consequently, they will have large day/night temperature contrasts and
negligible phase shifts between orbital phase and thermal emission light
curves, because radiative timescales are much shorter than possible dynamical
timescales. The pL Class planets absorb incident flux deeper in the atmosphere
where atmospheric dynamics will more readily redistribute absorbed energy. This
will lead to cooler day sides, warmer night sides, and larger phase shifts in
thermal emission light curves. Around a Sun-like primary this boundary occurs
at 0.04-0.05 AU. The eccentric transiting planets HD 147506b and HD
17156b alternate between the classes. Thermal emission in the optical from pM
Class planets is significant red-ward of 400 nm, making these planets
attractive targets for optical detection. The difference in the observed
day/night contrast between ups Andromeda b (pM Class) and HD 189733b (pL Class)
is naturally explained in this scenario. (Abridged.)Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
Tidally Triggered Star Formation in Close Pairs of Galaxies: Major and Minor Interactions
We study star formation in a sample of 345 galaxies in 167 pairs and compact
groups drawn from the original CfA2 Redshift Survey and from a follow-up search
for companions. We construct our sample with attention to including pairs with
luminosity contrast |\Delta m_R| >= 2. These 57 galaxies with |\Delta m_R| >= 2
provide a set of nearby representative cases of minor interactions, a central
feature of the hierarchical galaxy formation model. Here we report the
redshifts and positions of the 345 galaxies in our sample, and of 136 galaxies
in apparent pairs that are superpositions. In the pairs sample as a whole,
there are strong correlations between the equivalent width of the H\alpha
emission line and the projected spatial and the line-of-sight velocity
separation of the pair. For pairs of small luminosity contrast, |\Delta m_R| <
2, the member galaxies show a correlation between the equivalent width of
H\alpha and the projected spatial separation of the pair. However, for pairs
with large luminosity contrast, |\Delta m_R| >= 2, we detect no correlation
between the equivalent width of H\alpha and the projected spatial separation.
The relative luminosity of the companion galaxy is more important in a
gravitational tidal interaction than the intrinsic luminosity of the galaxy.
Central star formation across the entire pairs sample depends strongly on the
luminosity ratio, |\Delta m_R|, a reasonable proxy for the mass ratio of the
pair; pairs composed of similarly luminous galaxies produce the strongest
bursts of star formation. Pairs with |\Delta m_R| >= 2 rarely have EW(H\alpha)
>~ 70 Ang.Comment: Minor revisions following journal proof
Half-Life of O
We have measured the half-life of O, a superallowed decay isotope. The O was produced by the
C(He,n)O reaction using a carbon aerogel target. A
low-energy ion beam of O was mass separated and implanted in a thin
beryllium foil. The beta particles were counted with plastic scintillator
detectors. We find s. This result is
higher than an average value from six earlier experiments, but agrees more
closely with the most recent previous measurement.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Energies of knot diagrams
We introduce and begin the study of new knot energies defined on knot
diagrams. Physically, they model the internal energy of thin metallic solid
tori squeezed between two parallel planes. Thus the knots considered can
perform the second and third Reidemeister moves, but not the first one. The
energy functionals considered are the sum of two terms, the uniformization term
(which tends to make the curvature of the knot uniform) and the resistance term
(which, in particular, forbids crossing changes). We define an infinite family
of uniformization functionals, depending on an arbitrary smooth function
and study the simplest nontrivial case , obtaining neat normal forms
(corresponding to minima of the functional) by making use of the Gauss
representation of immersed curves, of the phase space of the pendulum, and of
elliptic functions
Comparative Planetary Atmospheres: Models of TrES-1 and HD209458b
We present new self-consistent atmosphere models for transiting planets
TrES-1 and HD209458b. The planets were recently observed with the Spitzer Space
Telescope in bands centered on 4.5 and 8.0 m, for TrES-1, and 24 m,
for HD209458b. We find that standard solar metallicity models fit the
observations for HD209458b. For TrES-1, which has an T_eff ~300 K cooler, we
find that models with a metallicity 3-5 times enhanced over solar abundances
can match the 1 error bar at 4.5 m and 2 at 8.0m.
Models with solar abundances that included energy deposition into the
stratosphere give fluxes that fall within the 2 error bars in both
bands. The best-fit models for both planets assume that reradiation of absorbed
stellar flux occurs over the entire planet. For all models of both planets we
predict planet/star flux ratios in other Spitzer bandpasses.Comment: Accepted to the Astrophysical Journal Letters, May 17, 200
Visual categorization and the parietal cortex
The primate brain is adept at rapidly grouping items and events into functional classes, or categories, in order to recognize the significance of stimuli and guide behavior. Higher cognitive functions have traditionally been considered the domain of frontal areas. However, increasing evidence suggests that parietal cortex is also involved in categorical and associative processes. Previous work showed that the parietal cortex is highly involved in spatial processing, attention, and saccadic eye movement planning, and more recent studies have found decision-making signals in lateral intraparietal area (LIP). We recently found that a subdivision of parietal cortex, LIP, reflects learned categories for multiple types of visual stimuli. Additionally, a comparison of categorization signals in parietal and frontal areas found stronger and earlier categorization signals in parietal cortex arguing that, in trained animals, parietal abstract association or category signals are unlikely to arise via feedback from prefrontal cortex (PFC)
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