18,229 research outputs found
Constraints on the formation mechanism of the planetary mass companion of 2MASS 1207334-393254
In this paper we discuss the nature and the possible formation scenarios of
the companion of the brown dwarf 2MASS 1207334-393254. We initially discuss the
basic physical properties of this object and conclude that, although from its
absolute mass (), it is a planetary object, in terms of its mass
ratio and of its separation with respect to the primary brown dwarf, it
is consistent with the statistical properties of binaries with higher primary
mass. We then explore the possible formation mechanism for this object. We show
that the standard planet formation mechanism of core accretion is far too slow
to form this object within 10 Myr, the observed age of the system. On the other
hand, the alternative mechanism of gravitational instability (proposed both in
the context of planet and of binary formation) may, in principle, work and form
a system with the observed properties.Comment: 5 pages, MNRAS in pres
ARES v2 - new features and improved performance
Aims: We present a new upgraded version of ARES. The new version includes a
series of interesting new features such as automatic radial velocity
correction, a fully automatic continuum determination, and an estimation of the
errors for the equivalent widths. Methods: The automatic correction of the
radial velocity is achieved with a simple cross-correlation function, and the
automatic continuum determination, as well as the estimation of the errors,
relies on a new approach to evaluating the spectral noise at the continuum
level. Results: ARES v2 is totally compatible with its predecessor. We show
that the fully automatic continuum determination is consistent with the
previous methods applied for this task. It also presents a significant
improvement on its performance thanks to the implementation of a parallel
computation using the OpenMP library.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Figures; accepted in A&A; ARES Webpage:
www.astro.up.pt/~sousasag/are
Bosonic and fermionic Weinberg-Joos (j,0)+ (0,j) states of arbitrary spins as Lorentz-tensors or tensor-spinors and second order theory
We propose a general method for the description of arbitrary single spin-j
states transforming according to (j,0)+(0,j) carrier spaces of the Lorentz
algebra in terms of Lorentz-tensors for bosons, and tensor-spinors for
fermions, and by means of second order Lagrangians. The method allows to avoid
the cumbersome matrix calculus and higher \partial^{2j} order wave equations
inherent to the Weinberg-Joos approach. We start with reducible Lorentz-tensor
(tensor-spinor) representation spaces hosting one sole (j,0)+(0,j) irreducible
sector and design there a representation reduction algorithm based on one of
the Casimir invariants of the Lorentz algebra. This algorithm allows us to
separate neatly the pure spin-j sector of interest from the rest, while
preserving the separate Lorentz- and Dirac indexes. However, the Lorentz
invariants are momentum independent and do not provide wave equations. Genuine
wave equations are obtained by conditioning the Lorentz-tensors under
consideration to satisfy the Klein-Gordon equation. In so doing, one always
ends up with wave equations and associated Lagrangians that are second order in
the momenta. Specifically, a spin-3/2 particle transforming as (3/2,0)+ (0,3/2)
is comfortably described by a second order Lagrangian in the basis of the
totally antisymmetric Lorentz tensor-spinor of second rank, \Psi_[ \mu\nu].
Moreover, the particle is shown to propagate causally within an electromagnetic
background. In our study of (3/2,0)+(0,3/2) as part of \Psi_[\mu\nu] we
reproduce the electromagnetic multipole moments known from the Weinberg-Joos
theory. We also find a Compton differential cross section that satisfies
unitarity in forward direction. The suggested tensor calculus presents itself
very computer friendly with respect to the symbolic software FeynCalc.Comment: LaTex 34 pages, 1 table, 8 figures. arXiv admin note: text overlap
with arXiv:1312.581
A hierarchical Bayesian model to infer PL(Z) relations using Gaia parallaxes
Aims. We aim at creating a Bayesian model to infer the coefficients of PL or
PLZ relations that propagates uncertainties in the observables in a rigorous
and well founded way. Methods. We propose a directed acyclic graph to encode
the conditional probabilities of the inference model that will allow us to
infer probability distributions for the PL and PL(Z) relations. We evaluate the
model with several semi-synthetic data sets and apply it to a sample of 200
fundamental mode and first overtone mode RR Lyrae stars for which Gaia DR1
parallaxes and literature Ks-band mean magnitudes are available. We define and
test several hyperprior probabilities to verify their adequacy and check the
sensitivity of the solution with respect to the prior choice. Results. The main
conclusion of this work is the absolute necessity of incorporating the existing
correlations between the observed variables (periods, metallicities and
parallaxes) in the form of model priors in order to avoid systematically biased
results, especially in the case of non-negligible uncertainties in the
parallaxes. The tests with the semi-synthetic data based on the data set used
in Gaia Collaboration et al. (2017) reveal the significant impact that the
existing correlations between parallax, metallicity and periods have on the
inferred parameters. The relation coefficients obtained here have been
superseded by those presented in Muraveva et al. (2018a), that incorporates the
findings of this work and the more recent Gaia DR2 measurements.Comment: 14 pages, 12 figures. Submitted to A&
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