The High Chromospheres of the Late A Stars

We report the detection of N V 1239 A transition region emission in HST/GHRS spectra of the A7 V stars, Alpha Aql and Alpha Cep. Our observations provide the first direct evidence of 1-3 x 10^5 K material in the atmospheres of normal A-type stars. For both stars, and for the mid-A--type star Tau3 Eri, we also report the detection of chromospheric emission in the Si III 1206 A line. At a B-V color of 0.16 and an effective temperature of 8200 K, Tau3 Eri becomes the hottest main sequence star known to have a chromosphere and thus an outer convection zone. We see no firm evidence that the Si III line surface fluxes of the A stars are any lower than those of moderately active, solar-type, G and K stars. This contrasts sharply with their coronal X-ray emission, which is >100 times weaker than that of the later-type stars. Given the strength of the N V emission observed here, it now appears unlikely that the X-ray faintness of the A stars is due to their forming very cool, <= 1 MK coronae. An alternative explanation in terms of mass loss in coronal winds remains a possibility, though we conclude from moderate resolution spectra of the Si III lines that such winds, if they exist, do not penetrate into the chromospheric Si III--forming layers of the star, since the profiles of these lines are *not* blueshifted, and may well be redshifted with respect to the star.Comment: LaTex, 12 pages, 3 Postscript figures, uses aaspp4, accepted by Ap

Helioseismology of Pre-Emerging Active Regions II: Average Emergence Properties

We report on average subsurface properties of pre-emerging active regions as compared to areas where no active region emergence was detected. Helioseismic holography is applied to samples of the two populations (pre-emergence and without emergence), each sample having over 100 members, which were selected to minimize systematic bias, as described in Leka et al. We find that there are statistically significant signatures (i.e., difference in the means of more than a few standard errors) in the average subsurface flows and the apparent wave speed that precede the formation of an active region. The measurements here rule out spatially extended flows of more than about 15 m/s in the top 20 Mm below the photosphere over the course of the day preceding the start of visible emergence. These measurements place strong constraints on models of active region formation.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, ApJ (published

Coordinate Confusion in Conformal Cosmology

A straight-forward interpretation of standard Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmologies is that objects move apart due to the expansion of space, and that sufficiently distant galaxies must be receding at velocities exceeding the speed of light. Recently, however, it has been suggested that a simple transformation into conformal coordinates can remove superluminal recession velocities, and hence the concept of the expansion of space should be abandoned. This work demonstrates that such conformal transformations do not eliminate superluminal recession velocities for open or flat matter-only FRLW cosmologies, and all possess superluminal expansion. Hence, the attack on the concept of the expansion of space based on this is poorly founded. This work concludes by emphasizing that the expansion of space is perfectly valid in the general relativistic framework, however, asking the question of whether space really expands is a futile exercise.Comment: 5 pages, accepted for publication in MNRAS Letter

A more informative way to name plutonic rocks — comment by Frost et al.

Published versio

Prospects for Redshifted 21-cm observations of quasar HII regions

The introduction of low-frequency radio arrays over the coming decade is expected to revolutionize the study of the reionization epoch. Observation of the contrast in redshifted 21cm emission between a large HII region and the surrounding neutral IGM will be the simplest and most easily interpreted signature. We find that an instrument like the planned Mileura Widefield Array Low-Frequency Demonstrator (LFD) will be able to obtain good signal to noise on HII regions around the most luminous quasars, and determine some gross geometric properties, e.g. whether the HII region is spherical or conical. A hypothetical follow-up instrument with 10 times the collecting area of the LFD (MWA-5000) will be capable of mapping the detailed geometry of HII regions, while SKA will be capable of detecting very narrow spectral features as well as the sharpness of the HII region boundary. The MWA-5000 will discover serendipitous HII regions in widefield observations. We estimate the number of HII regions which are expected to be generated by quasars. Assuming a late reionization at z~6 we find that there should be several tens of quasar HII regions larger than 4Mpc at z~6-8 per field of view. Identification of HII regions in forthcoming 21cm surveys can guide a search for bright galaxies in the middle of these regions. Most of the discovered galaxies would be the massive hosts of dormant quasars that left behind fossil HII cavities that persisted long after the quasar emission ended, owing to the long recombination time of intergalactic hydrogen. A snap-shot survey of candidate HII regions selected in redshifted 21cm image cubes may prove to be the most efficient method for finding very high redshift quasars and galaxies.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures. Submitted to Ap

On the Symmetries of the Edgar-Ludwig Metric

The conformal Killing equations for the most general (non-plane wave) conformally flat pure radiation field are solved to find the conformal Killing vectors. As expected fifteen independent conformal Killing vectors exist, but in general the metric admits no Killing or homothetic vectors. However for certain special cases a one-dimensional group of homotheties or motions may exist and in one very special case, overlooked by previous investigators, a two-dimensional homethety group exists. No higher dimensional groups of motions or homotheties are admitted by these metrics.Comment: Plain TeX, 7 pages, No figure

Recombinant factorVIII Fc fusion protein for the prevention and treatment of bleeding in children with severe hemophilia A

This work was supported by funding from Biogen, including funding for the editorial and writing support in the the development of this paper

Use of 2G coated conductors for efficient shielding of DC magnetic fields

This paper reports the results of an experimental investigation of the performance of two types of magnetic screens assembled from YBa2Cu3O7-d (YBCO) coated conductors. Since effective screening of the axial DC magnetic field requires the unimpeded flow of an azimuthal persistent current, we demonstrate a configuration of a screening shell made out of standard YBCO coated conductor capable to accomplish that. The screen allows the persistent current to flow in the predominantly azimuthal direction at a temperature of 77 K. The persistent screen, incorporating a single layer of superconducting film, can attenuate an external magnetic field of up to 5 mT by more than an order of magnitude. For comparison purposes, another type of screen which incorporates low critical temperature quasi-persistent joints was also built. The shielding technique we describe here appears to be especially promising for the realization of large scale high-Tc superconducting screens.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figure