2,870 research outputs found
UVES and X-Shooter spectroscopy of the emission line AM CVn systems GP Com and V396 Hya
We present time-resolved spectroscopy of the AM CVn-type binaries GP Com and
V396 Hya obtained with VLT/X-Shooter and VLT/UVES. We fully resolve the narrow
central components of the dominant helium lines and determine radial velocity
semi-amplitudes of km s for GP Com and
km s for V396 Hya. The mean velocities of
the narrow central components show variations from line to line. Compared to
calculated line profiles that include Stark broadening we are able to explain
the displacements, and the appearance of forbidden helium lines, by additional
Stark broadening of emission in a helium plasma with an electron density
cm. More than nitrogen and more than
neon lines emission lines were detected in both systems. Additionally,
nitrogen absorption lines are only seen in GP Com. The radial velocity
variations of these lines show the same phase and velocity amplitude as the
central helium emission components. The small semi-amplitude of the central
helium emission component, the consistency of phase and amplitude with the
absorption components in GP Com as well as the measured Stark effect shows that
the central helium emission component, the so-called central-spike, is
consistent with an origin on the accreting white dwarf. We use the dynamics of
the bright spot and the central spike to constrain the binary parameters for
both systems and find a donor mass of - M for GP
Com and - M for V396 Hya. We find an upper limit
for the rotational velocity of the accretor of km s for
GP Com and km s for V396 Hya which excludes a fast
rotating accretor in both systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 15 pages, 14 figures, 5 table
Electro-Mechanical Fredericks Effects in Nematic Gels
The solid nematic equivalent of the Fredericks transition is found to depend
on a critical field rather than a critical voltage as in the classical case.
This arises because director anchoring is principally to the solid rubbery
matrix of the nematic gel rather than to the sample surfaces. Moreover, above
the threshold field, we find a competition between quartic (soft) and
conventional harmonic elasticity which dictates the director response. By
including a small degree of initial director misorientation, the calculated
field variation of optical anisotropy agrees well with the conoscopy
measurements of Chang et al (Phys.Rev.E56, 595, 1997) of the electro-optical
response of nematic gels.Comment: Latex (revtex style), 5 EPS figures, submitted to PRE, corrections to
discussion of fig.3, cosmetic change
Sifting for Sapphires: Systematic Selection of Tidal Disruption Events in iPTF
We present results from a systematic selection of tidal disruption events
(TDEs) in a wide-area (4800~deg), band, Intermediate Palomar
Transient Factory (iPTF) experiment. Our selection targets typical
optically-selected TDEs: bright (60\% flux increase) and blue transients
residing in the center of red galaxies. Using photometric selection criteria to
down-select from a total of 493 nuclear transients to a sample of 26 sources,
we then use follow-up UV imaging with the Neil Gehrels Swift Telescope,
ground-based optical spectroscopy, and light curve fitting to classify them as
14 Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia), 9 highly variable active galactic nuclei
(AGNs), 2 confirmed TDEs, and 1 potential core-collapse supernova. We find it
possible to filter AGNs by employing a more stringent transient color cut ( 0.2 mag); further, UV imaging is the best discriminator for filtering
SNe, since SNe Ia can appear as blue, optically, as TDEs in their early phases.
However, when UV-optical color is unavailable, higher precision astrometry can
also effectively reduce SNe contamination in the optical. Our most stringent
optical photometric selection criteria yields a 4.5:1 contamination rate,
allowing for a manageable number of TDE candidates for complete spectroscopic
follow-up and real-time classification in the ZTF era. We measure a TDE per
galaxy rate of 1.7 10 gal yr (90\%
CL in Poisson statistics). This does not account for TDEs outside our selection
criteria, thus may not reflect the total TDE population, which is yet to be
fully mapped.Comment: 24 pages, 21 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal Supplement Serie
Aging and memory phenomena in magnetic and transport properties of vortex matter: a brief review
There is mounting experimental evidence that strong off-equilibrium
phenomena, such as ``memory'' or ``aging'' effects, play a crucial role in the
physics of vortices in type II superconductors. We give a short review, based
on a recently introduced schematic vortex model, of current progresses in
understanding out of equilibrium vortex behaviours. We develop a unified
description of ``memory'' phenomena in magnetic and transport properties, such
as magnetisation loops and their ``anomalous'' 2nd peak, logarithmic creep,
``anomalous'' finite creep rate in the limit of vanishing temperature,
``memory'' and ``irreversibility'' in I-V characteristics, time dependent
critical currents, ``rejuvenation'' and ``aging'' of the system response.Comment: updated versio
Unified order-disorder vortex phase transition in high-Tc superconductors
The diversity of vortex melting and solid-solid transition lines measured in
different high-T superconductors is explained, postulating a unified
order-disorder phase transition driven by both thermally- and disorder-induced
fluctuations. The temperature dependence of the transition line and the nature
of the disordered phase (solid, liquid, or pinned liquid) are determined by the
relative contributions of these fluctuations and by the pinning mechanism. By
varying the pinning mechanism and the pinning strength one obtains a spectrum
of monotonic and non-monotonic transition lines similar to those measured in
BiSrCaCuO, YBaCuO,
NdCeCuO,
BiPbSrCaCuO and (LaSr)CuOComment: To be published in Phys. Rev. B Rapid Com
Testing common classical LTE and NLTE model atmosphere and line-formation codes for quantitative spectroscopy of early-type stars
It is generally accepted that the atmospheres of cool/lukewarm stars of
spectral types A and later are described well by LTE model atmospheres, while
the O-type stars require a detailed treatment of NLTE effects. Here model
atmosphere structures, spectral energy distributions and synthetic spectra
computed with ATLAS9/SYNTHE and TLUSTY/SYNSPEC, and results from a hybrid
method combining LTE atmospheres and NLTE line-formation with DETAIL/SURFACE
are compared. Their ability to reproduce observations for effective
temperatures between 15000 and 35000 K are verified. Strengths and weaknesses
of the different approaches are identified. Recommendations are made as to how
to improve the models in order to derive unbiased stellar parameters and
chemical abundances in future applications, with special emphasis on Gaia
science.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures; accepted for publication in Journal of Physics:
Conference Series, GREAT-ESF Workshop: Stellar Atmospheres in the Gaia Er
Peak effect and its evolution with defect structure in YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films at microwave frequencies
The vortex dynamics in YBa2Cu3O7-d thin films have been studied at microwave
frequencies. A pronounced peak in the surface resistance, Rs, is observed in
these films at frequencies of 4.88 and 9.55 GHz for magnetic fields varying
from 0.2 to 0.8 T. The peak is associated with an order-disorder transformation
of the flux line lattice as the temperature or field is increased. The
occurrence of the peak in Rs is crucially dependent on the depinning frequency,
wp and on the nature and concentration of growth defects present in these
films. Introduction of artificial defects by swift heavy ion irradiation with
200 MeV Ag ion at a fluence of 4x1010 ions/cm2 enhances wp and suppresses the
peak at 4.88 GHz but the peak at 9.55 GHz remains unaffected. A second peak at
lower temperature has also been observed at 9.55 GHz. This is related to twin
boundaries from angular dependence studies of Rs. Based on the temperature
variation of Rs, vortex phase diagrams have been constructed at 9.55 GHz.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures Submitted to Physical Review
The helium-rich cataclysmic variable SBSS 1108+574
We present time-resolved spectroscopy and photometry of the dwarf nova SBSS 1108+574, obtained during the 2012 outburst. Its quiescent spectrum is unusually rich in helium, showing broad, double-peaked emission lines from the accretion disc. We measure a line flux ratio He I 5875/Hα = 0.81 ± 0.04, a much higher ratio than typically observed in cataclysmic variable stars (CVs). The outburst spectrum shows hydrogen and helium in absorption, with weak emission of Hα and He I 6678, as well as strong He II emission.
From our photometry, we find the superhump period to be 56.34 ± 0.18 min, in agreement with the previously published result. The spectroscopic period, derived from the radial velocities of the emission lines, is found to be 55.3 ± 0.8 min, consistent with a previously identified photometric orbital period, and significantly below the normal CV period minimum. This indicates that the donor in SBSS 1108+574 is highly evolved. The superhump excess derived from our photometry implies a mass ratio of q = 0.086 ± 0.014. Our spectroscopy reveals a grazing eclipse of the large outbursting disc. As the disc is significantly larger during outburst, it is unlikely that an eclipse will be detectable in quiescence. The relatively high accretion rate implied by the detection of outbursts, together with the large mass ratio, suggests that SBSS 1108+574 is still evolving towards its period minimum
Ligand-Receptor Interactions
The formation and dissociation of specific noncovalent interactions between a
variety of macromolecules play a crucial role in the function of biological
systems. During the last few years, three main lines of research led to a
dramatic improvement of our understanding of these important phenomena. First,
combination of genetic engineering and X ray cristallography made available a
simultaneous knowledg of the precise structure and affinity of series or
related ligand-receptor systems differing by a few well-defined atoms. Second,
improvement of computer power and simulation techniques allowed extended
exploration of the interaction of realistic macromolecules. Third, simultaneous
development of a variety of techniques based on atomic force microscopy,
hydrodynamic flow, biomembrane probes, optical tweezers, magnetic fields or
flexible transducers yielded direct experimental information of the behavior of
single ligand receptor bonds. At the same time, investigation of well defined
cellular models raised the interest of biologists to the kinetic and mechanical
properties of cell membrane receptors. The aim of this review is to give a
description of these advances that benefitted from a largely multidisciplinar
approach
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