Nuclear neutrino energy spectra in high temperature astrophysical environments

Astrophysical environments that reach temperatures greater than $\sim$ 100 keV can have significant neutrino energy loss via both plasma processes and nuclear weak interactions. We find that nuclear processes likely produce the highest-energy neutrinos. Among the important weak nuclear interactions are both charged current channels (electron capture/emission and positron capture/emission) and neutral current channels (de-excitation of nuclei via neutrino pair emission). We show that in order to make a realistic prediction of the nuclear neutrino spectrum, one must take nuclear structure into account; in some cases, the most important transitions may involve excited states, possibly in both parent and daughter nuclei. We find that the standard technique of producing a neutrino energy spectrum by using a single transition with a Q-value and matrix element chosen to fit published neutrino production rates and energy losses will not accurately capture important spectral features.Comment: 11 pages, 17 figure

Neutrino Spectra from Nuclear Weak Interactions in sdsd-Shell Nuclei Under Astrophysical Conditions

We present shell model calculations of nuclear neutrino energy spectra for 70 $sd$-shell nuclei over the mass number range $A=21-35$. Our calculations include nuclear excited states as appropriate for the hot and dense conditions characteristic of pre-collapse massive stars. We consider neutrinos produced by charged lepton captures and decays and, for the first time in tabular form, neutral current nuclear deexcitation, providing neutrino energy spectra on the Fuller-Fowler-Newman temperature-density grid for these interaction channels for each nucleus. We use the full $sd$-shell model space to compute initial nuclear states up to 20 MeV excitation with transitions to final states up to 35-40 MeV, employing a modification of the Brink-Axel hypothesis to handle high temperature population factors and the nuclear partition functions.Comment: 15 pages, 8 figures. Until data available at JINA-CEE, contact GWM for spectra data file

Neutrino Pair Emission from Hot Nuclei During Stellar Collapse

We present shell-model calculations showing that residual interaction-induced configuration mixing enhances the rate of neutral current de-excitation of thermally excited nuclei into neutrino-antineutrino pairs. Though our calculations reinforce the conclusions of previous studies that this process is the dominant source of neutrino pairs near the onset of neutrino trapping during stellar collapse, our shell-model result has the effect of increasing the energy of these pairs, possibly altering their role in entropy transport in supernovae.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figure

Modification of the Brink-Axel Hypothesis for High Temperature Nuclear Weak Interactions

We present shell model calculations of electron capture strength distributions in A=28 nuclei and computations of the corresponding capture rates in supernova core conditions. We find that in these nuclei the Brink-Axel hypothesis for the distribution of Gamow-Teller strength fails at low and moderate initial excitation energy, but may be a valid tool at high excitation. The redistribution of GT strength at high initial excitation may affect capture rates during collapse. If these trends which we have found in lighter nuclei also apply for the heavier nuclei which provide the principal channels for neutronization during stellar collapse, then there could be two implications for supernova core electron capture physics. First, a modified Brink-Axel hypothesis could be a valid approximation for use in collapse codes. Second, the electron capture strength may be moved down significantly in transition energy, which would likely have the effect of increasing the overall electron capture rate during stellar collapse.Comment: 15 pages, 19 figure

Composition Effects on Kilonova Spectra and Light Curves: I

The merger of neutron star binaries is believed to eject a wide range of heavy elements into the universe. By observing the emission from this ejecta, scientists can probe the ejecta properties (mass, velocity and composition distributions). The emission (a.k.a. kilonova) is powered by the radioactive decay of the heavy isotopes produced in the merger and this emission is reprocessed by atomic opacities to optical and infra-red wavelengths. Understanding the ejecta properties requires calculating the dependence of this emission on these opacities. The strong lines in the optical and infra-red in lanthanide opacities have been shown to significantly alter the light-curves and spectra in these wavelength bands, arguing that the emission in these wavelengths can probe the composition of this ejecta. Here we study variations in the kilonova emission by varying individual lanthanide (and the actinide uranium) concentrations in the ejecta. The broad forest of lanthanide lines makes it difficult to determine the exact fraction of individual lanthanides. Nd is an exception. Its opacities above 1 micron are higher than other lanthanides and observations of kilonovae can potentially probe increased abundances of Nd. Similarly, at early times when the ejecta is still hot (first day), the U opacity is strong in the 0.2-1 micron wavelength range and kilonova observations may also be able to constrain these abundances

Survival of dental implants in patients with oral cancer treated by surgery and radiotherapy: a retrospective study

BACKGROUND: The aim of this retrospective study was to evaluate the survival of dental implants placed after ablative surgery, in patients affected by oral cancer treated with or without radiotherapy. METHODS: We collected data for 34 subjects (22 females, 12 males; mean age: 51 ± 19) with malignant oral tumors who had been treated with ablative surgery and received dental implant rehabilitation between 2007 and 2012. Postoperative radiation therapy (less than 50 Gy) was delivered before implant placement in 12 patients. A total of 144 titanium implants were placed, at a minimum interval of 12 months, in irradiated and non-irradiated residual bone. RESULTS: Implant loss was dependent on the position and location of the implants (P = 0.05-0.1). Moreover, implant survival was dependent on whether the patient had received radiotherapy. This result was highly statistically significant (P < 0.01). Whether the implant was loaded is another highly significant (P < 0.01) factor determinin

Variability of Moderate Luminosity Active Galactic Nuclei at z=0.36

We monitored 13 moderate luminosity active galactic nuclei at z=0.36 to measure flux variability, explore feasibility of reverberation mapping, and determine uncertainties on estimating black hole mass from single-epoch data. Spectra and images were obtained with approximately weekly cadence for up to 4 months, using the KAST spectrograph on the 3-m Shane Telescope. In broad band we detect peak-to-peak variations of 9-37% and rms variations of 2-10%. The observed flux variability in the g' band (rest-frame 2800-4000\AA) is consistent with that in the r' band (rest-frame 4000-5200\AA), but with larger amplitude. However, after correcting for stellar light dilution, using Hubble Space Telescope images, we find nuclear variability of 3-24% (rms variation) with similar amplitudes in the g' and r' bands within the errors. Intrinsic flux variability of the H$\beta$ line is also detected at the 3-13% level, after accounting for systematic errors on the spectrophotometry. This demonstrates that a reverberation mapping campaign beyond the local universe can be carried out with a 3-m class telescope, provided that sufficiently long light curves are obtained. Finally, we compare the H$\beta$ FWHM measured from mean spectra with that measured from single-epoch data, and find no bias but an rms scatter of 14%, mostly accounted for by the uncertainty on FWHM measurements. The propagated uncertainty on black hole mass estimates, due to the FWHM measurement errors using low S/N (10--15 per pixel) single-epoch spectra, is 30%.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures, accepted by Ap