9,262 research outputs found
A New Photometric Model of the Galactic Bar using Red Clump Giants
We present a study of the luminosity density distribution of the Galactic bar
using number counts of red clump giants (RCGs) from the OGLE-III survey. The
data were recently published by Nataf et al. (2013) for 9019 fields towards the
bulge and have RC stars over a viewing area of . The data include the number counts, mean distance modulus
(), dispersion in and full error matrix, from which we fit the data
with several tri-axial parametric models. We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo
(MCMC) method to explore the parameter space and find that the best-fit model
is the model, with the distance to the GC is 8.13 kpc, the ratio of
semi-major and semi-minor bar axis scale lengths in the Galactic plane
, and vertical bar scale length , is (close to being prolate). The scale length of the stellar
density profile along the bar's major axis is 0.67 kpc and has an angle
of , slightly larger than the value obtained from a similar study
based on OGLE-II data. The number of estimated RC stars within the field of
view is , which is systematically lower than the observed
value. We subtract the smooth parametric model from the observed counts and
find that the residuals are consistent with the presence of an X-shaped
structure in the Galactic centre, the excess to the estimated mass content is
. We estimate the total mass of the bar is . Our results can be used as a key ingredient to construct new density
models of the Milky Way and will have implications on the predictions of the
optical depth to gravitational microlensing and the patterns of hydrodynamical
gas flow in the Milky Way.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. MNRAS accepte
Optimal Microlensing Observations
One of the major limitations of microlensing observations toward the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC) is the low rate of event detection. What can be done to
improve this rate? Is it better to invest telescope time in more frequent
observations of the inner high surface-brightness fields, or in covering new,
less populated outer fields? How would a factor 2 improvement in CCD
sensitivity affect the detection efficiency? Would a series of major (factor
2--4) upgrades in telescope aperture, seeing, sky brightness, camera size, and
detector efficiency increase the event rate by a huge factor, or only
marginally? I develop a simplified framework to address these questions. With
observational resources fixed at the level of the MACHO and EROS experiments,
the biggest improvement (factor ~2) would come by reducing the time spent on
the inner ~25 deg^2 and applying it to the outer ~100 deg^2. By combining this
change with the characteristics of a good medium-size telescope (2.5 m mirror,
1" point spread function, thinned CCD chips, 1 deg^2 camera, and dark sky), it
should be possible to increase the detection of LMC events to more than 100 per
year (assuming current estimates of the optical depth apply to the entire LMC).Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 13 pages plus 3 figure
Long-range potentials and molecular resonances in an ultracold rydberg gas
We have calculated long-range molecular potentials of the ,
and symmetries between highly-excited rubidium atoms. Strong
potentials characterized by these symmetries are important in
describing interaction-induced phenomena in the excitation spectra of high
Rydberg states. Long-range molecular resonances are such phenomena and they
were first reported in S.M. Farooqi {\it et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 91}
183002. One class of these resonances occurs at energies corresponding to
excited atom pairs . Such resonances are attributed to -mixing
due to Rydberg-Rydberg interactions so that otherwise forbidden molecular
transitions become allowed. We calculate molecular potentials in Hund's case
(c), use them to find the resonance lineshape and compare to experimental
results.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figure
Stellar Contribution to the Galactic Bulge Microlensing Optical Depth
We estimate the optical depth to self-lensing by stars in the Galactic bulge
using the HST star counts of Holtzman et al and Zoccali et al as extrapolated
by Gould into the brown-dwarf and remnant regimes and deprojected along the
line of sight using the model of Dwek et al. We find a self-lensing optical
depth tau(bulge-bulge)=0.98 x 10^{-6}. When combined with the lensing of bulge
stars by foreground stars in the disk, this yields tau(bulge-total)=1.63 x
10^{-6}, in reasonable agreement with the estimates of tau=2.13 +/- 0.40 x
10^{-6} and tau=1.08 +/- 0.30 x 10^{-6} based on observations of clump giants
by the MACHO and EROS collaborations.Comment: 10 pages, including 1 figure. Submitted to Ap
Tailoring Gold Nanoparticle Characteristics and the Impact on Aqueous-Phase Oxidation of Glycerol
Poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA)-stabilized Au nanoparticles (NPs) were synthesized by colloidal methods in which temperature variations (−75 to 75 °C) and mixed H2O/EtOH solvent ratios (0, 50, and 100 vol/vol) were used. The resulting Au NPs were immobilized on TiO2 (P25), and their catalytic performance was investigated for the liquid phase oxidation of glycerol. For each unique solvent system, there was a systematic increase in the average Au particle diameter as the temperature of the colloidal preparation increased. Generation of the Au NPs in H2O at 1 °C resulted in a high observed activity compared with current Au/TiO2 catalysts (turnover frequency = 915 h–1). Interestingly, Au catalysts with similar average particle sizes but prepared under different conditions had contrasting catalytic performance. For the most active catalyst, aberration-corrected high angle annular dark field scanning transmission electron microscopy analysis identified the presence of isolated Au clusters (from 1 to 5 atoms) for the first time using a modified colloidal method, which was supported by experimental and computational CO adsorption studies. It is proposed that the variations in the populations of these species, in combination with other solvent/PVA effects, is responsible for the contrasting catalytic properties
Molecular beam epitaxy of high structural quality Bi2Se3 on lattice matched InP(111) substrates
Epitaxial layers of the topological insulator Bi2Se3 have been grown by
molecular beam epitaxy on laterally lattice-matched InP(111)B substrates. High
resolution X-ray diffraction shows a significant improvement of Bi2Se3 crystal
quality compared to layers deposited on other substrates. The measured full
width at half maximum of the rocking curve is Delta omega=13 arcsec, and the
(omega-2theta) scans exhibit clear layer thickness fringes. Atomic force
microscope images show triangular twin domains with sizes increasing with layer
thickness. The structural quality of the domains is confirmed on the
microscopic level by transmission electron microscopy.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The semantics of road congestion
Most live road traffic information systems, such as Google Traffic, do not provide the user with the context of congestion. To usefully support decision making, by drivers and network managers, such systems need to provide information such as the probable cause of the congestion and its likely time span. The focus of this work is on non-recurrent congestion. We aim to develop a system that captures the semantics of road congestion by interpreting sensor data collected in the Greater Manchester region. This data consists of journey time data (collected by Bluetooth sensors) and volume, or count, data collected by induction loops. Rather than supplying information such as the current journey time on a particular road link, which is meaningless without context, we aim to provide context sensitive information such as increasing, abnormal, journey times near the football stadium, in the direction of the football stadium. Clusters of anomalous sensor readings are identified using an agglomerative hierarchical clustering algorithm in R. The main challenge is in determining which readings are anomalous. The characteristics of the largest clusters are then taken as typical of that kind of congestion causing event. Initial work has involved identifying the journey time and volume patterns of a known attractor, a football match and we aim to extend the work to automatically identify unplanned events such as road accidents, using the sensor data
Detection of Coronal Mass Ejections in V471 Tauri with the Hubble Space Telescope
V471 Tauri, an eclipsing system consisting of a hot DA white dwarf (WD) and a
dK2 companion in a 12.5-hour orbit, is the prototype of the pre-cataclysmic
binaries. The late-type component is magnetically active, due to its being
constrained to rotate synchronously with the short orbital period. During a
program of UV spectroscopy of V471 Tau, carried out with the Goddard High
Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) onboard the Hubble Space Telescope, we
serendipitously detected two episodes in which transient absorptions in the Si
III 1206 A resonance line appeared suddenly, on a timescale of <2 min. The
observations were taken in a narrow spectral region around Ly-alpha, and were
all obtained near the two quadratures of the binary orbit, i.e., at maximum
projected separation (~3.3 Rsun) of the WD and K star.
We suggest that these transient features arise when coronal mass ejections
(CME's) from the K2 dwarf pass across the line of sight to the WD. Estimates of
the velocities, densities, and masses of the events in V471 Tau are generally
consistent with the properties of solar CME's. Given our detection of 2 events
during 6.8 hr of GHRS observing, along with a consideration of the restricted
range of latitudes and longitudes on the K star's surface that can give rise to
trajectories passing in front of the WD as seen from Earth, we estimate that
the active V471 Tau dK star emits some 100-500 CME's per day, as compared to
1-3 per day for the Sun. The K dwarf's mass-loss rate associated with CME's is
at least (5-25) x 10^{-14} Msun/yr, but it may well be orders of magnitude
higher if most of the silicon is in ionization states other than Si III.Comment: 24 pages AASTeX, 4 figures. Accepted by Astrophysical Journa
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