2,400 research outputs found
Gamma-ray Bursts, Classified Physically
From Galactic binary sources, to extragalactic magnetized neutron stars, to
long-duration GRBs without associated supernovae, the types of sources we now
believe capable of producing bursts of gamma-rays continues to grow apace. With
this emergent diversity comes the recognition that the traditional (and newly
formulated) high-energy observables used for identifying sub-classes does not
provide an adequate one-to-one mapping to progenitors. The popular
classification of some > 100 sec duration GRBs as ``short bursts'' is not only
an unpalatable retronym and syntactically oxymoronic but highlights the
difficultly of using what was once a purely phenomenological classification to
encode our understanding of the physics that gives rise to the events. Here we
propose a physically based classification scheme designed to coexist with the
phenomenological system already in place and argue for its utility and
necessity.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Slightly expanded version of solicited paper to
be published in the Proceedings of ''Gamma Ray Bursts 2007,'' Santa Fe, New
Mexico, November 5-9. Edited by E. E. Fenimore, M. Galassi, D. Palme
Aurophilic interactions in polynuclear Au(I) complexes with phosphine ligands containing imidazole rings
Aurophilic interactions in polynuclear Au(I)
complexes with phosphine ligands containing
imidazole rings
Fiorella Bachechiaa*, Alfredo Burinib, Rossana Galassib
aIstituto di Strutturistica Chimica, C.N.R., Area della Ricerca di Roma,
C.P. 10, 00016 Monterotondo St. (Roma), Italy., bDipartimento di Scienze
Chimiche, UniversitĂ di Camerino, 62032 Camerino, Italy. E-mail:
[email protected]
Keywords: gold complexes, aurophilicity, crystal
structures
The tertiary phosphines of the type (Bzim)3-nPhnP, where Bzim
is 1-benzyl-2-imidazolylphosphine and n varies from 0 to 2,
were synthesised as part of a program aimed to the study of
the coordination chemistry of phosphines containing imidazole
rings. The softer character of imidazole, with respect to other
heterocycles, turned out to be useful in the stabilization of
complexes with soft metals as those of Group 11 in low oxidation
states. These ligands can behave as monodentate or as P, N
bidentate forming dinuclear cationic complexes. With Au(I)
they were found to be able to favour the formation of intraand
intermolecular aurophilic interactions. TheAu(I) complexes
assume considerable interest when aurophilic bonds occur
between gold atoms, since their chemical and physical properties
change to particular characteristics with potential applications
in electronic, optical or sensor devices. In particular short
Au•••Au interactions are considered related to optoelectronic
properties as observed in a number of polynuclear gold
compounds. Here the structures of two Au(I) complexes are
reported. The binuclear complex [ÎĽ-(Bzim)Ph2PAu2(C6F5)2]
adopts a folded conformation with parallel, eclipsed C6F5
rings and a corresponding short AucccAu contact of 3.033(2)Ă….
The tetranuclear cluster complex {[μ-N,N’-(Bzim)3PAuCl]2
Au2}2+c AuCl2
- c AuCl4
- consists in a 12-membered macrocycle
with two gold atoms coordinated to two (Bzim)3P
molecules, in bridging mode, through the nitrogen atoms of the
imidazole rings and two gold atoms coordinated to the
phosphorus atoms of the (Bzim)3P ligands. Two chloride atoms
complete the Au bicoordination. Three strong aurophilic interactions,
Au(1)cccAu(4) [2.989(2)Ă…], Au(2)cccAu(3) [3.014(2)Ă…]
andAu(1)cccAu(2) [3.257(3)Ă…], occur.Aweak gold-gold contact,
Au(3)cccAu(4) [3.766(2)Ă…], is also present.
Understanding molecular interactions
23r
Functional biases in GRB's spectral parameter correlations
Gamma Ray Bursts (GRBs) show evidence of different spectral shapes, light
curves, duration, host galaxies and they explode within a wide redshift range.
However, the most of them seems to follow very tight correlations among some
observed quantities relating to their energetic. If true, these correlations
have significant implications on burst physics, giving constraints on
theoretical models. Moreover, several suggestions have been made to use these
correlations in order to calibrate GRBs as standard candles and to constrain
the cosmological parameters. We investigate the cosmological relation between
low energy index in GRBs prompt spectra and the redshift . We
present a statistical analysis of the relation between the total isotropic
energy and the peak energy (also known as Amati relation) in
GRBs spectra searching for possible functional biases. Possible implications on
the vs relation of the vs correlation are
evaluated. We used MonteCarlo simulations and the boostrap method to evaluate
how large are the effects of functional biases on the vs . We
show that high values of the linear correlation coefficent, up to about 0.8, in
the vs relation are obtained for random generated samples of
GRBs, confirming the relevance of functional biases. Astrophysical consequences
from vs relation are then to be revised after a more accurate
and possibly bias free analysis.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures, conference poster session: "070228: The Next
Decade of Gamma-Ray Burst Afterglows", Amsterdam, March 2007, MNRAS submitte
Phase transitions and phase diagram of the ferroelectric perovskite NBT-BT by anelastic and dielectric measurements
The complex elastic compliance and dielectric susceptibility of
(Na_{0.5}Bi_{0.5})_{1-x}Ba_{x}TiO_{3} (NBT-BT) have been measured in the
composition range between pure NBT and the morphotropic phase boundary
included, 0 <= x <= 0.08. The compliance of NBT presents sharp peaks at the
rhombohedral/tetragonal and tetragonal/cubic transitions, allowing the
determination of the tetragonal region of the phase diagram, up to now
impossible due to the strong lattice disorder and small distortions and
polarizations involved. In spite of ample evidence of disorder and structural
heterogeneity, the R-T transition remains sharp up to x = 0.06, whereas the T-C
transition merges into the diffuse and relaxor-like transition associated with
broad maxima of the dielectric and elastic susceptibilities. An attempt is made
at relating the different features in the anelastic and dielectric curves to
different modes of octahedral rotations and polar cation shifts. The
possibility is also considered that the cation displacements locally have
monoclinic symmetry, as for PZT near the morphotropic phase boundary.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev.
GRBs and the thermalization process of electron-positron plasmas
We discuss the temporal evolution of the pair plasma created in Gamma-Ray
Burst sources. A particular attention is paid to the relaxation of the plasma
into thermal equilibrium. We also discuss the connection between the dynamics
of expansion and the spatial geometry of the plasma. The role of the baryonic
loading parameter is emphasized.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, in the Proceedings of the "Gamma Ray Bursts 2007"
meeting, November 5-9, 2007, Santa Fe, New Mexico, US
Exact Green's Function of the reversible diffusion-influenced reaction for an isolated pair in 2D
We derive an exact Green's function of the diffusion equation for a pair of
spherical interacting particles in 2D subject to a back-reaction boundary
condition.Comment: 6 pages, 1 Figur
Efficient numerical diagonalization of hermitian 3x3 matrices
A very common problem in science is the numerical diagonalization of
symmetric or hermitian 3x3 matrices. Since standard "black box" packages may be
too inefficient if the number of matrices is large, we study several
alternatives. We consider optimized implementations of the Jacobi, QL, and
Cuppen algorithms and compare them with an analytical method relying on
Cardano's formula for the eigenvalues and on vector cross products for the
eigenvectors. Jacobi is the most accurate, but also the slowest method, while
QL and Cuppen are good general purpose algorithms. The analytical algorithm
outperforms the others by more than a factor of 2, but becomes inaccurate or
may even fail completely if the matrix entries differ greatly in magnitude.
This can mostly be circumvented by using a hybrid method, which falls back to
QL if conditions are such that the analytical calculation might become too
inaccurate. For all algorithms, we give an overview of the underlying
mathematical ideas, and present detailed benchmark results. C and Fortran
implementations of our code are available for download from
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~globes/3x3/ .Comment: 13 pages, no figures, new hybrid algorithm added, matches published
version, typo in Eq. (39) corrected; software library available at
http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/~globes/3x3
The hidden X-ray breaks in afterglow light curves
Gamma-Ray Burst (GRB) afterglow observations in the Swift era have a
perceived lack of achromatic jet breaks compared to the BeppoSAX, or pre-Swift
era. Specifically, relatively few breaks, consistent with jet breaks, are
observed in the X-ray light curves of these bursts. If these breaks are truly
missing, it has serious consequences for the interpretation of GRB jet
collimation and energy requirements, and the use of GRBs as standard candles.
Here we address the issue of X-ray breaks which are possibly 'hidden' and
hence the light curves are misinterpreted as being single power-laws. We show
how a number of precedents, including GRB 990510 & GRB 060206, exist for such
hidden breaks and how, even with the well sampled light curves of the Swift
era, these breaks may be left misidentified. We do so by synthesising X-ray
light curves and finding general trends via Monte Carlo analysis. Furthermore,
in light of these simulations, we discuss how to best identify achromatic
breaks in afterglow light curves via multi-wavelength analysis.Comment: 4 pages, contributed talk, submitted to the proceedings of Gamma Ray
Bursts 2007, Santa Fe, New Mexico, November 5-9 200
Interacting Binaries with Eccentric Orbits. III. Orbital Evolution due to Direct Impact and Self-Accretion
The rapid circularization and synchronization of the stellar components in an
eccentric binary system at the onset of Roche lobe overflow (RLO) is a
fundamental assumption common to all binary stellar evolution and population
synthesis codes, even though the validity of this assumption is questionable
both theoretically and observationally. Here we calculate the evolution of the
orbital elements of an eccentric binary through the direct three-body
integration of a massive particle ejected through the inner Lagrangian point of
the donor star at periastron. The trajectory of this particle leads to three
possible outcomes: direct accretion (DA) onto the companion star within a
single orbit, self-accretion (SA) back onto the donor star within a single
orbit, or a quasi-periodic orbit around the companion star. We calculate the
secular evolution of the binary orbit in the first two cases and conclude that
DA can increase or decrease the orbital semi-major axis and eccentricity, while
SA always decreases the orbital both orbital elements. In cases where mass
overflow contributes to circularizing the orbit, circularization can set in on
timescales as short as a few per cent of the mass transfer timescale. In cases
where mass overflow increases the eccentricity, the orbital evolution is
governed by competition between mass overflow and tidal torques. In the absence
of tidal torques, mass overflow resulting in DI can lead to substantially
subsynchronously rotating donor stars. Contrary to common assumptions, DI
furthermore does not always provide a strong sink of orbital angular momentum
in close mass-transferring binaries; in fact we instead find that a significant
part can be returned to the orbit during the particle orbit. The formulation
presented here can be combined with stellar and binary evolution codes to
generate a better picture of the evolution of eccentric, RLO binary star
systems.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
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