The Mass of the Convective Zone in FGK Main Sequence Stars and the Effect of Accreted Planetary Material on Apparent Metallicity Determinations

The mass of the outer convective zone in FGK main sequence stars decreases dramatically with stellar mass. Therefore, any contamination of a star's atmosphere by accreted planetary material should affect hotter stars much more than cool stars. If recent suggestions that high metal abundances in stars with planets are caused by planetesimal accretion are correct, then metallicity enhancements in earlier-type stars with planets should be very pronounced. No such trend is seen, however.Comment: Submitted ApJ Letters March 26th; accepted April 30th. 12 pages, 2 figure

The agar disc method for studying the contamination from metal surfaces

A procedure, designated the agar disc method, has been developed at the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station2 for the study of the contamination from churns. It consists of allowing a small amount of a special agar medium to solidify in contact with the surface to be studied, the transferring of the disc thus formed to a sterile petri dish and, finally, the counting of the colonies that develop on incubation. The usefulness of the method for the examination of churns, especially when the churns are at some distance from the laboratory3, suggests its application to the study of the contamination from metal utensils and equipment. Trials on milk cans, vats, coolers, bottlers, freezers, sanitary piping, etc., indicate that the agar disc method is readily applicable to metal surfaces

Gamma-Ray Burst Sequences in Hardness Ratio-Peak Energy Plane

The narrowness of the distribution of the peak energy of $\nu F_{\nu}$ spectrum of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) and the unification of GRB population are great puzzles yet to be solved. We investigate the two puzzles based on the global spectral behaviors of different GRB population in the $HR-E_{\rm{p}}$ plane (HR the spectral hardness ratio) with BATSE and HETE-2 observations. It is found that long GRBs and XRFs observed by HETE-2 seem to follow the same sequence in the $HR-E_{\rm{p}}$ plane, with the XRFs at the low end of this sequence. The long and short GRBs observed by BATSE follow significantly different sequences in the $HR-E_{\rm p}$ plane, with most of the short GRBs having a larger hardness ratio than the long GRBs at a given $E_{\rm{p}}$. These results indicate that the global spectral behaviors of the long GRB sample and the XRF sample are similar, while that of short GRBs is different. The short GRBs seem to be a unique subclass of GRBs, and they are not the higher energy extension of the long GRBs (abridged).Comment: 9 pages, 3 figure

Caby Photometry of the Hyades: Comparisons to the Field Stars

Intermediate-band photometry of the Hyades cluster on the Caby system is presented for dwarf stars ranging from spectral type A through late K. A mean hk, b-y relation is constructed using only single stars without anomalous atmospheres and compared to the field stars of the solar neighborhood. For the F dwarfs, the Hyades relation defines an approximate LOWER bound in the two-color diagram, consistent with an [Fe/H] between +0.10 and +0.15. These index-color diagrams follow the common convention of presenting stars with highest abundance at the bottom of the plot although the index values for the metal-rich stars are numerically larger. For field F dwarfs in the range [Fe/H] between +0.4 and -1.0, [Fe/H] = -5.6 delta-hk + 0.125, with no evidence for a color dependence in the slope. For the G and K dwarfs, the Hyades mean relation crosses the field star distribution in the two-color diagram, defining an approximate UPPER bound for the local disk stars. Stars found above the Hyades stars fall in at least one of three categories: [Fe/H] below -0.7, [Fe/H] above that of the Hyades, or chromospherically active. It is concluded that, contrary to the predictions of model atmospheres, the hk index for cool dwarfs at a given color hits a maximum value for stars below solar composition and, with increasing [Fe/H] above some critical value, declines. This trend is consistent, however, with the predictions from synthetic indices based upon much narrower Ca filters where the crossover is caused by the metallicity sensitivity of b-y.Comment: 13 pages, 9 eps figures, 1 tex table, 1 ascii tabl

3D-Matched-Filter Galaxy Cluster Finder I: Selection Functions and CFHTLS Deep Clusters

We present an optimised galaxy cluster finder, 3D-Matched-Filter (3D-MF), which utilises galaxy cluster radial profiles, luminosity functions and redshift information to detect galaxy clusters in optical surveys. This method is an improvement over other matched-filter methods, most notably through implementing redshift slicing of the data to significantly reduce line-of-sight projections and related false positives. We apply our method to the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey (CFHTLS) Deep fields, finding ~170 galaxy clusters per square degree in the 0.2 <= z <= 1.0 redshift range. Future surveys such as LSST and JDEM can exploit 3D-MF's automated methodology to produce complete and reliable galaxy cluster catalogues. We determine the reliability and accuracy of the statistical approach of our method through a thorough analysis of mock data from the Millennium Simulation. We detect clusters with 100% completeness for M_200 >= 3.0x10^(14)M_sun, 88% completeness for M_200 >= 1.0x10^(14)M_sun, and 72% completeness well into the 10^(13)M_sun cluster mass range. We show a 36% multiple detection rate for cluster masses >= 1.5x10^(13)M_sun and a 16% false detection rate for galaxy clusters >~ 5x10^(13)M_sun, reporting that for clusters with masses <~ 5x10^(13)M_sun false detections may increase up to ~24%. Utilising these selection functions we conclude that our galaxy cluster catalogue is the most complete CFHTLS Deep cluster catalogue to date.Comment: 18 pages, 17 figures, 5 tables; v2: added Fig 5, minor edits to match version published in MNRA

DE 1 RIMS operational characteristics

The Retarding Ion Mass Spectrometer (RIMS) on the Dynamics Explorer 1 spacecraft observes both the thermal and superthermal (50 eV) ions of the ionosphere and inner magnetosphere. It is capable of measuring the detailed species distribution function of these ions in many cases. It was equipped with an integral electrometer to permit in-flight calibration of the detector sensitivities and variations thereof. A guide to understanding the RIMS data set is given. The reduction process from count rates to physical quantities is discussed in some detail. The procedure used to establish in-flight calibration is described, and results of a comparison with densities from plasma wave measurements are provided. Finally, a discussion is provided of various anomalies in the data set, including changes of channeltron efficiency with time, spin modulation of the axial sensor heads, apparent potential differences between the sensor heads, and failures of the radial head retarding potential sweep and of the -Z axial head aperture plane bias. Studies of the RIMS data set should be conducted only with a thorough awareness of the material presented here, or in collaboration with one of the scientists actively involved with RIMS data analysis

Integrating Business Intelligence And Decision Focused Database Methods: A Prescriptive Principles Approach

Inasmuch as the field of Management Information Systems has seen significant changes, business school curriculums have not kept pace with the growing demands in the market. This approach closes that gap between the needs of the market and the products, or students, universities are supplying. Using Prescriptive Principles, this module gives students a business question to be answered, has the instructor demonstrate SQL functions and querying techniques, sets the scene for the students to reflect on the application of this business intelligence project, encourages students to use their previous experience to develop a business strategy to utilize the insight gained from their developed SQL functions, and finally sets up a frame work whereby their findings can be presented to their peers, as business “stakeholders,” and demonstrate their new understanding. Such a method will create students capable of understanding code, but more so, it will create students who will understand how that code can help sustain a business’s growth strategy and its bottom-line

The CORALIE survey for southern extra-solar planets IX. A 1.3-day period brown dwarf disguised as a planet

In this article we present the case of HD 41004 AB, a system composed of a K0V star and a 3.7-magnitude fainter M-dwarf companion separated by only 0.5 arcsec. An analysis of CORALIE radial-velocity measurements has revealed a variation with an amplitude of about 50m/s and a periodicity of 1.3days. This radial-velocity signal is consistent with the expected variation induced by the presence a very low mass giant planetary companion to HD 41004 A, whose light dominates the spectra. The radial-velocity measurements were then complemented with a photometric campaign and with the analysis of the bisector of the CORALIE Cross-Correlation Function (CCF). While the former revealed no significant variations within the observational precision of 0.003-0.004 mag (except for an observed flare event), the bisector analysis showed that the line profiles are varying in phase with the radial-velocity. This latter result, complemented with a series of simulations, has shown that we can explain the observations by considering that HD 41004 B has a brown-dwarf companion orbiting with the observed 1.3-day period. If confirmed, this detection represents the first discovery of a brown dwarf in a very short period (1.3-day) orbit around an M dwarf. Finally, this case should be taken as a serious warning about the importance of analyzing the bisector when looking for planets using radial-velocity techniques.Comment: 16 pages, 17 eps figures, A&A in press (Figure 11 not as in original version due to size