4,397 research outputs found
A model for upper kHz QPO coherence of accreting neutron star
{We investigate the coherence of the twin kilohertz quasi-periodic
oscillations (kHz QPOs) in the low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) theoretically. The
profile of upper kHz QPO, interpreted as Keplerian frequency, is ascribed to
the radial extent of the kHz QPO emission region, associated with the
transitional layer at the magnetosphere-disk boundary, which corresponds to the
coherence of upper kHz QPO. The theoretical model for Q-factor of upper kHz QPO
is applied to the observational data of five Atoll and five Z sources, and the
consistence is implied.Comment: accepted by A&
Ultrafast light-induced response of photoactive yellow protein chromophore analogues
The fluorescence decays of several analogues of the photoactive yellow protein (PYP) chromophore in aqueous solution have been measured by femtosecond fluorescence up-conversion and the corresponding time-resolved fluorescence spectra have been reconstructed. The native chromophore of PYP is a thioester derivative of p-coumaric acid in its trans deprotonated form. Fluorescence kinetics are reported for a thioester phenyl analogue and for two analogues where the thioester group has been changed to amide and carboxylate groups. The kinetics are compared to those we previously reported for the analogues bearing ketone and ester groups. The fluorescence decays of the full series are found to lie in the 1–10 ps range depending on the electron-acceptor character of the substituent, in good agreement with the excited-state relaxation kinetics extracted from transient absorption measurements. Steady-state photolysis is also examined and found to depend strongly on the nature of the substituent. While it has been shown that the ultrafast light-induced response of the chromophore in PYP is controlled by the properties of the protein nanospace, the present results demonstrate that, in solution, the relaxation dynamics and pathway of the chromophore is controlled by its electron donor–acceptor structure: structures of stronger electron donor–acceptor character lead to faster decays and less photoisomerisation
A reaction-diffusion model for the hydration/setting of cement
We propose a heterogeneous reaction-diffusion model for the hydration and
setting of cement. The model is based on diffusional ion transport and on
cement specific chemical dissolution/precipitation reactions under spatial
heterogeneous solid/liquid conditions. We simulate the spatial and temporal
evolution of precipitated micro structures starting from initial random
configurations of anhydrous cement particles. Though the simulations have been
performed for two dimensional systems, we are able to reproduce qualitatively
basic features of the cement hydration problem. The proposed model is also
applicable to general water/mineral systems.Comment: REVTeX (12 pages), 4 postscript figures, tarred, gzipped, uuencoded
using `uufiles', coming with separate file(s). Figure 1 consists of 6 color
plates; if you have no color printer try to send it to a black&white
postscript-plotte
RXTE Studies of X-ray Spectral Variations with Accretion Rate in 4U 1915-05
We present the results of detailed spectral studies of the ultra-compact low
mass X-ray binary (LMXB) 4U 1915-05 carried out with the Rossi X-ray Timing
Explorer (RXTE) during 1996. 4U 1915-05 is an X-ray burster (XRB) known to
exhibit a ~199-day modulation in its 2--12 keV flux. Observations were
performed with the PCA and HEXTE instruments on RXTE at roughly one-month
intervals to sample this long-term period and study accretion rate-related
spectral changes. We obtain good fits with a model consisting of a blackbody
and an exponentially cut-off power law. The spectral parameters are strongly
correlated with both the broad-band (2--50 keV) luminosity and the position in
the color-color diagram, with the source moving from a low hard state to a high
soft state as the accretion rate increases. The blackbody component appears to
drive the spectral evolution. Our results are consistent with a geometry in
which the soft component arises from an optically thick boundary layer and the
hard component from an extended Comptonizing corona. Comparing our results with
those of a similar study of the brighter source 4U 1820-30 (Bloser et al.
2000), we find that the two ultra-compact LMXBs occupy similar spectral states
even though the transitions occur at very different total luminosities.Comment: 27 pages LaTeX, 8 figures, accepted to the Astrophysical Journa
Morphological analysis on the coherence of kHz QPOs
We take the recently published data of twin kHz quasi-period oscillations
(QPOs) in neutron star (NS) lowmass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) as the samples, and
investigate the morphology of the samples, which focuses on the quality factor,
peak frequency of kHz QPOs, and try to infer their physical mechanism. We
notice that: (1) The quality factors of upper kHz QPOs are low (2 ~ 20 in
general) and increase with the kHz QPO peak frequencies for both Z and Atoll
sources. (2) The distribution of quality factor versus frequency for the lower
kHz QPOs are quite different between Z and Atoll sources. For most Z source
samples, the quality factors of lower kHz QPOs are low (usually lower than 15)
and rise steadily with the peak frequencies except for Sco X-1, which drop
abruptly at the frequency of about 750 Hz. While for most Atoll sources, the
quality factors of lower kHz QPOs are very high (from 2 to 200) and usually
have a rising part, a maximum and an abrupt drop. (3) There are three Atoll
sources (4U 1728-34, 4U 1636-53 and 4U 1608-52) of displaying very high quality
factors for lower kHz QPOs. These three sources have been detected with the
spin frequencies and sidebands, in which the source with higher spin frequency
presents higher quality factor of lower kHz QPOs and lower difference between
sideband frequency and lower kHz QPO frequency.Comment: 8 pages, 8 figures, publishe
Effect of the Equivalence Between Topological and Electric Charge on the Magnetization of the Hall Ferromagnet
The dependence on temperature of the spin magnetization of a two-dimensional
electron gas at filling factor unity is studied. Using classical Monte Carlo
simulations we analyze the effect that the equivalence between topological and
electrical charge has on the the behavior of the magnetization. We find that at
intermediate temperatures the spin polarization increases in a thirty per cent
due to the Hartree interaction between charge fluctuations.Comment: 4 pages. Submitted to Phys.Rev.
Application of wavelets to singular integral scattering equations
The use of orthonormal wavelet basis functions for solving singular integral
scattering equations is investigated. It is shown that these basis functions
lead to sparse matrix equations which can be solved by iterative techniques.
The scaling properties of wavelets are used to derive an efficient method for
evaluating the singular integrals. The accuracy and efficiency of the wavelet
transforms is demonstrated by solving the two-body T-matrix equation without
partial wave projection. The resulting matrix equation which is characteristic
of multiparticle integral scattering equations is found to provide an efficient
method for obtaining accurate approximate solutions to the integral equation.
These results indicate that wavelet transforms may provide a useful tool for
studying few-body systems.Comment: 11 pages, 4 figure
Evolution of AQL X-1 During the Rising Phase of its 1998 Outburst
We present results from 16 snapshots of Aql X-1 with RXTE during the rising
phase of its recent outburst. The observations were carried out at a typical
rate of once or twice per day. The source shows interesting spectral evolution
during this period. Phenomenologically, it bears remarkable similarities to
``atoll'' sources. Shortly after the onset of the outburst, the source is seen
to be in an ``island'' state, but with little X-ray variability. It then
appears to have made a rapid spectral transition (on a time scale less than
half a day) to another ``island'' state, where it evolves slightly and stays
for 4 days. In this state, the observed X-ray flux becomes increasingly
variable as the source brightens. Quasi-period oscillation (QPO) in the X-ray
intensity is detected in the frequency range 670--870 Hz. The QPO frequency
increases with the X-ray flux while its fractional rms decreases. The QPO
becomes undetectable following a transition to a ``banana'' state, where the
source continues its evolution by moving up and down the ``banana'' branch in
the color-color diagram as the flux (presumably, the mass accretion rate)
fluctuates around the peak of the outburst. Throughout the entire period, the
power density spectrum is dominated by very-low frequency noises. Little power
can be seen above ~1 Hz, which is different from typical ``atoll'' sources. In
the ``banana'' state, the overall X-ray variability remains low (with
fractional rms ~3--4%) but roughly constant. The observed X-ray spectrum is
soft with few photons from above 25 keV, implying the thermal origin of
the emission. The evolution of both spectral and temporal X-ray properties is
discussed in the context of disk-instability models.Comment: 13 pages, including one table and five figures. To appear in ApJ
Letters (July 20
- …