1,675 research outputs found
Millimeter polarisation of the protoplanetary nebula OH 231.8+4.2: A follow-up study with CARMA
In order to investigate the characteristics and influence of the magnetic
field in evolved stars, we performed a follow-up investigation of our previous
submillimeter analysis of the proto-planetary nebula (PPN) OH 231.8+4.2 (Sabin
et al. 2014), this time at 1.3mm with the CARMA facility in polarisation mode
for the purpose of a multi-scale analysis. OH 231.8+4.2 was observed at ~2.5"
resolution and we detected polarised emission above the 3-sigma threshold (with
a mean polarisation fraction of 3.5 %). The polarisation map indicates an
overall organised magnetic field within the nebula. The main finding in this
paper is the presence of a structure mostly compatible with an ordered toroidal
component that is aligned with the PPN's dark lane. We also present some
alternative magnetic field configuration to explain the structure observed.
These data complete our previous SMA submillimeter data for a better
investigation and understanding of the magnetic field structure in OH
231.8+4.2.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figures, 2 tables. Accepted for publication in MNRA
Modelling the alumina abundance of oxygen-rich evolved stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud
In order to determine the composition of the dust in the circumstellar
envelopes of oxygen-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars we have computed a
grid of modust radiative-transfer models for a range of dust compositions,
mass-loss rates, dust shell inner radii and stellar parameters. We compare the
resulting colours with the observed oxygen-rich AGB stars from the SAGE-Spec
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) sample, finding good overall agreement for stars
with a mid-infrared excess. We use these models to fit a sample of 37 O-rich
AGB stars in the LMC with optically thin circumstellar envelopes, for which
535-m Spitzer infrared spectrograph (IRS) spectra and broadband
photometry from the optical to the mid-infrared are available. From the
modelling, we find mass-loss rates in the range to
M, and we show that a grain
mixture consisting primarily of amorphous silicates, with contributions from
amorphous alumina and metallic iron provides a good fit to the observed
spectra. Furthermore, we show from dust models that the AKARI [11][15]
versus [3.2][7] colour-colour diagram, is able to determine the fractional
abundance of alumina in O-rich AGB stars.Comment: 22 pages, 17 figures, accepted MNRA
Spiky density of states in large complex Al-Mn phases
First-principle electronic structure calculations have been performed in
crystalline complex phases mu-Al4Mn and lambda-Al4Mn using the TB-LMTO method.
These atomic structures, related to quasicrystalline structures, contain about
560 atoms in a large hexagonal unit cell. One of the main characteristic of
their density of states is the presence of fine peaks the so-called "spiky
structure". From multiple-scattering calculations in real space, we show that
these fine peaks are not artifacts in ab-initio calculations, since they result
from a specific localization of electrons by atomic clusters of different
length scales
Analytic Estimates of the QCD Corrections to Neutrino-Nucleus Scattering
We study the QCD corrections to neutrino deep-inelastic scattering on a
nucleus, and analytically estimate their size. For an isoscalar target, we show
that the dominant QCD corrections to the ratio of the neutral- to
charged-current events are suppressed by sin^4 theta_W, where theta_W is the
weak mixing angle. We then discuss the implications for the NuTeV determination
of sin^2 theta_W.Comment: 16 pages, Late
An operator expansion for the elastic limit
A leading twist expansion in terms of bi-local operators is proposed for the
structure functions of deeply inelastic scattering near the elastic limit , which is also applicable to a range of other processes. Operators of
increasing dimensions contribute to logarithmically enhanced terms which are
supressed by corresponding powers of . For the longitudinal structure
function, in moment () space, all the logarithmic contributions of order
are shown to be resummable in terms of the anomalous dimension of
the leading operator in the expansion.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure, uses REVTEX 3.1 and axodra
Optical Spectroscopy of IRAS 02091+6333
We present a detailed spectroscopic investigation, spanning four winters, of
the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star IRAS 02091+6333. Zijlstra & Weinberger
(2002) found a giant wall of dust around this star and modelled this unique
phenomenon. However their work suffered from the quality of the optical
investigations of the central object. Our spectroscopic investigation allowed
us to define the spectral type and the interstellar foreground extinction more
precisely. Accurate multi band photometry was carried out. This provides us
with the possibility to derive the physical parameters of the system. The
measurements presented here suggest a weak irregular photometric variability of
the target, while there is no evidence of a spectroscopic variability over the
last four years.Comment: 5 pages, Latex, 3 tables, 4 figures, Astron. & Astrophys. - in pres
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