517 research outputs found
KIC 4150611: a rare multi-eclipsing quintuple with a hybrid pulsator
We present the results of our analysis of KIC 4150611 (HD 181469) - an
interesting, bright quintuple system that includes a hybrid
Sct/ Dor pulsator. Four periods of eclipses - 94.2, 8.65, 1.52 and 1.43
d - have been observed by the Kepler satellite, and three point sources (A, B,
and C) are seen in high angular resolution images.
From spectroscopic observations made with the HIDES spectrograph attached to
the 1.88-m telescope of the Okayama Astrophysical Observatory (OAO), for the
first time we calculated radial velocities (RVs) of the component B - a pair of
G-type stars - and combined them with Kepler photometry in order to obtain
absolute physical parameters of this pair. We also managed to directly measure
RVs of the pulsator, also for the first time. Additionally, we modelled the
light curves of the 1.52 and 1.43-day pairs, and measured their eclipse timing
variations (ETVs). We also performed relative astrometry and photometry of
three sources seen on the images taken with the NIRC2 camera of the Keck II
telescope. Finally, we compared our results with theoretical isochrones.
The brightest component Aa is the hybrid pulsator, transited every 94.2 days
by a pair of K/M-type stars (Ab1+Ab2), which themselves form a 1.52-day
eclipsing binary. The components Ba and Bb are late G-type stars, forming
another eclipsing pair with a 8.65 day period. Their masses and radii are
M, R for the
primary, and M, R
for the secondary. The remaining period of 1.43 days is possibly related to a
faint third star C, which itself is most likely a background object. The
system's properties are well-represented by a 35 Myr isochrone. There are also
hints of additional bodies in the system.Comment: 14 pages, 15 figures, 7 tables, to appear in A&A, abstract modified
in order to fit the arXiv limi
Brillouin scattering studies in FeO across the Verwey transition
Brillouin scattering studies have been carried out on high quality single
crystals of FeO with [100] and [110] faces in the temperature range of
300 to 30 K. The room temperature spectrum shows a surface Rayleigh wave (SRW)
mode at 8 GHz and a longitudinal acoustic (LA) mode at 60 GHz. The SRW mode
frequency shows a minimum at the Verwey transition temperature of 123 K.
The softening of the SRW mode frequency from about 250 K to can be
quantitatively understood as a result of a decrease in the shear elastic
constant C, arising from the coupling of shear strain to charge
fluctuations. On the other hand, the LA mode frequency does not show any
significant change around , but shows a large change in its intensity. The
latter shows a maximum at around 120 K in the cooling run and at 165 K in the
heating run, exhibiting a large hysteresis of 45 K. This significant change in
intensity may be related to the presence of stress-induced ordering of
Fe and Fe at the octahedral sites, as well as to stress-induced
domain wall motion.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, accepted in Physical Review B 200
Quasar Selection Based on Photometric Variability
We develop a method for separating quasars from other variable point sources
using SDSS Stripe 82 light curve data for ~10,000 variable objects. To
statistically describe quasar variability, we use a damped random walk model
parametrized by a damping time scale, tau, and an asymptotic amplitude
(structure function), SF_inf. With the aid of an SDSS spectroscopically
confirmed quasar sample, we demonstrate that variability selection in typical
extragalactic fields with low stellar density can deliver complete samples with
reasonable purity (or efficiency, E). Compared to a selection method based
solely on the slope of the structure function, the inclusion of the tau
information boosts E from 60% to 75% while maintaining a highly complete sample
(98%) even in the absence of color information. For a completeness of C=90%, E
is boosted from 80% to 85%. Conversely, C improves from 90% to 97% while
maintaining E=80% when imposing a lower limit on tau. With the aid of color
selection, the purity can be further boosted to 96%, with C= 93%. Hence,
selection methods based on variability will play an important role in the
selection of quasars with data provided by upcoming large sky surveys, such as
Pan-STARRS and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). For a typical
(simulated) LSST cadence over 10 years and a photometric accuracy of 0.03 mag
(achieved at i~22), C is expected to be 88% for a simple sample selection
criterion of tau>100 days. In summary, given an adequate survey cadence,
photometric variability provides an even better method than color selection for
separating quasars from stars.Comment: (v2) 50 pages, accepted to Ap
A Description of Quasar Variability Measured Using Repeated SDSS and POSS Imaging
We provide a quantitative description and statistical interpretation of the
optical continuum variability of quasars. The Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS)
has obtained repeated imaging in five UV-to-IR photometric bands for 33,881
spectroscopically confirmed quasars. About 10,000 quasars have an average of 60
observations in each band obtained over a decade along Stripe 82 (S82), whereas
the remaining ~25,000 have 2-3 observations due to scan overlaps. The observed
time lags span the range from a day to almost 10 years, and constrain quasar
variability at rest-frame time lags of up to 4 years, and at rest-frame
wavelengths from 1000A to 6000A. We publicly release a user-friendly catalog of
quasars from the SDSS Data Release 7 that have been observed at least twice in
SDSS or once in both SDSS and the Palomar Observatory Sky Survey, and we use it
to analyze the ensemble properties of quasar variability. Based on a damped
random walk (DRW) model defined by a characteristic time scale and an
asymptotic variability amplitude that scale with the luminosity, black hole
mass, and rest wavelength for individual quasars calibrated in S82, we can
fully explain the ensemble variability statistics of the non-S82 quasars such
as the exponential distribution of large magnitude changes. All available data
are consistent with the DRW model as a viable description of the optical
continuum variability of quasars on time scales of ~5-2000 days in the rest
frame. We use these models to predict the incidence of quasar contamination in
transient surveys such as those from PTF and LSST.Comment: 33 pages, 19 figures, replaced with accepted version. Catalog is
available at http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/ivezic/macleod/qso_dr7
On the equivalence of the Ashkin-Teller and the four-state Potts-glass models of neural networks
We show that for a particular choice of the coupling parameters the
Ashkin-Teller spin-glass neural network model with the Hebb learning rule and
one condensed pattern yields the same thermodynamic properties as the
four-state anisotropic Potts-glass neural network model. This equivalence is
not seen at the level of the Hamiltonians.Comment: 3 pages, revtex, additional arguments presente
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