88 research outputs found
The TSS-1 mission: Results on satellite charging
In the present paper we first give a short account of the mission TSS-1 flown on the Shuttle sts-46 in August 1992 and its basic electrical configurations. We then show some results obtained from the experiment RETE on board the satellite which are relevant for the issue of satellite charging
Discovery of a Nearby Low-Surface-Brightness Spiral Galaxy
During the course of a search for compact, isolated gas clouds moving with
anomalous velocities in or near our own Galaxy (Braun and Burton 1998 A&A, in
press), we have discovered, in the data of the Leiden/Dwingeloo survey
(Hartmann and Burton 1997, Atlas of Galactic Neutral Hydrogen, CUP) of Galactic
hydrogen, the HI signature of a large galaxy, moving at a recession velocity of
282 km/s, with respect to our Galaxy. Deep multicolor and spectroscopic optical
observations show the presence of star formation in scattered HII regions;
radio HI synthesis interferometry confirms that the galaxy is rich in HI and
has the rotation signature of a spiral galaxy; a submillimeter observation
failed to detect the CO molecule. The radio and optical evidence combined
suggest its classification as a low-surface-brightness spiral galaxy. It is
located in close spatial and kinematic proximity to the galaxy NGC 6946. The
newly-discovered galaxy, which we call Cepheus 1, is at a distance of about 6
Mpc. It is probably to be numbered amongst the nearest few LSB spirals.Comment: 13 page LaTeX, requires aastex, 4 GIF figures. Accepted for
publication in the AJ, January 199
Atom cooling and trapping by disorder
We demonstrate the possibility of three-dimensional cooling of neutral atoms
by illuminating them with two counterpropagating laser beams of mutually
orthogonal linear polarization, where one of the lasers is a speckle field,
i.e. a highly disordered but stationary coherent light field. This
configuration gives rise to atom cooling in the transverse plane via a Sisyphus
cooling mechanism similar to the one known in standard two-dimensional optical
lattices formed by several plane laser waves. However, striking differences
occur in the spatial diffusion coefficients as well as in local properties of
the trapped atoms.Comment: 11 figures (postscript
The Stellar Populations of M33's Outer Regions IV: Inflow History and Chemical Evolution
We have modelled the observed color-magnitude diagram (CMD) at one location
in M33's outskirts under the framework of a simple chemical evolution scenario
which adopts instantaneous and delayed recycling for the nucleosynthetic
products of Type II and Ia supernovae. In this scenario, interstellar gas forms
stars at a rate modulated by the Kennicutt-Schmidt relation and gas outflow
occurs at a rate proportional to the star formation rate (SFR). With this
approach, we put broad constraints on the role of gas flows during this
region's evolution and compare its [alpha/Fe] vs. [Fe/H] relation with that of
other Local Group systems. We find that models with gas inflow are
significantly better than the closed box model at reproducing the observed
distribution of stars in the CMD. The best models have a majority of gas inflow
taking place in the last 7 Gyr, and relatively little in the last 3 Gyr. These
models predict most stars in this region to have [alpha/Fe] ratios lower than
the bulk of the Milky Way's halo. The predictions for the present-day SFR, gas
mass, and oxygen abundance compare favorably to independent empirical
estimates. Our results paint a picture in which M33's outer disc formed from
the protracted inflow of gas over several Gyr with at least half of the total
inflow occurring since z ~ 1.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures, accepted to MNRA
The Star Formation History in The Far Outer Disc of M33
The outer regions of disc galaxies are becoming increasingly recognized as
key testing sites for models of disc assembly and evolution. Important issues
are the epoch at which the bulk of the stars in these regions formed and how
discs grow radially over time. To address these issues, we use Hubble Space
Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys imaging to study the star formation
history (SFH) of two fields at 9.1 and 11.6 kpc along M33's northern major
axis. These fields lie at ~ 4 and 5 V-band disc scale-lengths and straddle the
break in M33's surface brightness profile. The colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs)
reach the ancient main sequence turnoff with a signal-to-noise ratio of ~ 5.
From detailed modelling of the CMDs, we find that the majority of stars in both
fields combined formed at z < 1. The mean age in the inner field, S1, is ~ 3
+/- 1 Gyr and the mean metallicity is [M/H] ~ -0.5 +/- 0.2 dex. The star
formation history of S1 unambiguously reveals how the inside-out growth
previously measured for M33's inner disc out to ~ 6 kpc extends out to the disc
edge at ~ 9 kpc. In comparison, the outer field, S2, is older (mean age ~ 7 +/-
2 Gyr), more metal-poor (mean [M/H] ~ -0.8 +/- 0.3 dex), and contains ~ 30
times less stellar mass. These results provide the most compelling evidence yet
that M33's age gradient reverses at large radii near the disc break and that
this reversal is accompanied by a break in stellar mass surface density. We
discuss several possible interpretations of this behaviour including radial
stellar mixing, warping of the gaseous disc, a change in star formation
efficiency, and a transition to another structural component. These results
offer one of the most detailed views yet of the peripheral regions of any disc
galaxy and provide a much-needed observational constraint on the last major
epoch of star formation in the outer disc.Comment: 15 pages, 9 figures, accepted to MNRAS, hi-res version available at
http://www.roe.ac.uk/~mkb/astroph/m33hires.pd
The Planetary Nebula System of M33
We report the results of a photometric and spectroscopic survey for planetary
nebulae (PNe) in the Local Group spiral galaxy M33. We use our sample of 152
PNe to derive an [O III] planetary nebula luminosity function (PNLF) distance
of (m-M)_0 = 24.86^+0.07-0.11 (0.94^+0.03-0.05 Mpc). Although this value is ~
15% larger than the galaxy's Cepheid distance, the discrepancy likely arises
from differing assumptions about the system's internal extinction. Our
photometry (which extends >3 mag down the PNLF), also reveals that the
faint-end of M33's PN luminosity function is non-monotonic, with an inflection
point ~2 mag below the PNLF cutoff. We argue that this feature is due to the
galaxy's large population of high core-mass planetaries, and that its amplitude
may eventually be useful as a diagnostic for studies of stellar populations.
Fiber-coupled spectroscopy of 140 of the PN candidates confirms that M33's PN
population rotates along with the old disk, with a small asymmetric drift of \~
10km/s. Remarkably, the population's line-of-sight velocity dispersion varies
little over ~4 optical disk scale lengths, with sigma_{rad}~20km/s. We show
that this is due to a combination of factors, including a decline in the radial
component of the velocity ellipsoid at small galactocentric radii, and a
gradient in the ratio of the vertical to radial velocity dispersion. We use our
data to show that the mass scale length of M33's disk is ~2.3 times larger than
that of the system's IR luminosity and that the disk's V-band mass-to-light
ratio changes from M/L_V ~0.3 in the galaxy's inner regions to M/L_V ~2.0 at ~9
kpc. Models in which the dark matter is distributed in the plane of the galaxy
are excluded by our data. (abridged)Comment: 45 pages, including 12 figures (some with reduced resolution);
accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journa
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