55,322 research outputs found
Observational constraint on the fourth derivative of the inflaton potential
We consider the flow-equations for the 3 slow-roll parameters n_S (scalar
spectral index), r (tensor to scalar ratio), and dn_S/dlnk (running of the
spectral index). We show that the combination of these flow-equations with the
observational bounds from cosmic microwave background and large scale structure
allows one to put a lower bound on the fourth derivative of the inflationary
potential, M_P^4(V''''/V) > -0.02.Comment: 3 pages, 3 figure
Reflexion M\"ossbauer analysis of the in situ oxidation products hydroxycarbonate green rust
The purpose of this study is to determine the nature of the oxidation
products of FeII-III hydroxycarbonate FeII4FeIII2(OH)12CO3~3H2O (green rust
GR(CO32-)) by using the miniaturised M\"ossbauer spectrometer MIMOS II. Two
M\"ossbauer measurements methods are used: method (i) with green rust pastes
coated with glycerol and spread into Plexiglas sample holders, and method (ii)
with green rust pastes in the same sample holders but introduced into a
gas-tight cell with a beryllium window under a continuous nitrogen flow. Method
(ii) allows us to follow the continuous deprotonation of GR(CO32-) into the
fully ferric deprotonated form FeIII6O4(OH)8CO3~3H2O by adding the correct
amount of H2O2, without any further oxidation or degradation of the samples
An Elemental Assay of Very, Extremely, and Ultra Metal-Poor Stars
We present a high-resolution elemental-abundance analysis for a sample of 23
very metal-poor (VMP; [Fe/H] < -2.0) stars, 12 of which are extremely
metal-poor (EMP; [Fe/H] < -3.0), and 4 of which are ultra metal-poor (UMP;
[Fe/H] < -4.0). These stars were targeted to explore differences in the
abundance ratios for elements that constrain the possible astrophysical sites
of element production, including Li, C, N, O, the alpha-elements, the iron-peak
elements, and a number of neutron-capture elements. This sample substantially
increases the number of known carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) and
nitrogen-enhanced metal-poor (NEMP) stars -- our program stars include eight
that are considered "normal" metal-poor stars, six CEMP-no stars, five CEMP-s
stars, two CEMP-r stars, and two CEMP-r/s stars. One of the CEMP- stars and
one of the CEMP-r/s stars are possible NEMP stars. We detect lithium for three
of the six CEMP-no stars, all of which are Li-depleted with respect to the
Spite plateau. The majority of the CEMP stars have [C/N] > 0. The stars with
[C/N] < 0 suggest a larger degree of mixing; the few CEMP-no stars that exhibit
this signature are only found at [Fe/H] < -3.4, a metallicity below which we
also find the CEMP-no stars with large enhancements in Na, Mg, and Al. We
confirm the existence of two plateaus in the absolute carbon abundances of CEMP
stars, as suggested by Spite et al. We also present evidence for a "floor" in
the absolute Ba abundances of CEMP-no stars at A(Ba)~ -2.0.Comment: 20 pages, 16 figures, Accepted for publication in Ap
Grid of theoretical NLTE equivalent widths of four Ba II lines and barium abundance in cool stars
We present a grid of computed non-local thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE)
equivalent widths (EW) and NLTE abundance corrections for four Ba II lines:
4554, 5853, 6141, and 6496 A. The grid can be useful in deriving the NLTE
barium abundance in stars having parameters in the following ranges: effective
temperature from 4000 K to 6500 K, surface gravity log g from 0 to 5,
microturbulent velocity 0 km s^-1 to 3 km s^-1, metallicity [Fe/H] from -2 to
+0.5, and [Ba/Fe] from -0.4 to +0.6. The NLTE abundance can be either derived
by EW interpolation (using the observed Ba II line EW) or by using the NLTE
correction applied to a previously determined LTE abundance. Ba II line
equivalent widths and the NLTE corrections were calculated using the updated
MULTI code and the Ba II atomic model that was previously applied to determine
the NLTE barium abundance in different types of stars. The grid is available
on-line through the web, and we find that the grid Ba NLTE corrections are
almost as accurate as direct NLTE profile fitting (to within 0.05-0.08 dex).
For the weakest Ba II line (5853 A) the LTE abundances almost agree with the
NLTE abundances, whereas the other three Ba II lines, 4554, 6141, and 6496 A,
need NLTE corrections even at the highest metallicities tested here. The 4554 A
line is extremely strong and should not be used for abundance analysis above
[Fe/H]= -1. Furthermore, we tested the impact of different model atmospheres
and spectrum synthesis codes and found average differences of 0.06 dex and 0.09
dex, respectively, for all four lines. At these metallicities we find an
average Delta NLTE of +/-0.1 dex for the three useful Ba lines for subsolar
cool dwarfs.Comment: 9 pages 8 figures submitted to A&
On the frequency and remnants of Hypernovae
Under the hypothesis that some fraction of massive stellar core collapses
give rise to unusually energetic events, termed hypernovae, I examine the
required rates assuming some fraction of such events yield gamma ray bursts. I
then discuss evidence from studies of pulsars and r-process nucleosynthesis
that independently suggests the existence of a class of unusually energetic
events. Finally I describe a scenario which links these different lines of
evidence as supporting the hypernova hypothesis.Comment: TeX, To appear in ApJ Letter
Investigation of Polymer–Plasticizer Blends as SH-SAW Sensor Coatings for Detection of Benzene in Water with High Sensitivity and Long-Term Stability
We report the first-ever direct detection of benzene in water at concentrations below 100 ppb (parts per billion) using acoustic wave (specifically, shear-horizontal surface acoustic wave, SH-SAW) sensors with plasticized polymer coatings. Two polymers and two plasticizers were studied as materials for sensor coatings. For each polymer–plasticizer combination, the influence of the mixing ratio of the blend on the sensitivity to benzene was measured and compared to commercially available polymers that were used for BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene) detection in previous work. After optimizing the coating parameters, the highest sensitivity and lowest detection limit for benzene were found for a 1.25 μm thick sensor coating of 17.5%-by-weight diisooctyl azelate-polystyrene on the tested acoustic wave device. The calculated detection limit was 45 ppb, with actual sensor responses to concentrations down to 65 ppb measured directly. Among the sensor coatings that showed good sensitivity to benzene, the best long-term stability was found for a 1.0 μm thick coating of 23% diisononyl cyclohexane-1,2-dicarboxylate-polystyrene, which was studied here because it is known to show no detectable leaching in water. The present work demonstrates that, by varying type of plasticizer, mixing ratio, and coating thickness, the mechanical and chemical properties of the coatings can be conveniently tailored to maximize analyte sorption and partial chemical selectivity for a given class of analytes as well as to minimize acoustic-wave attenuation in contact with an aqueous phase at the operating frequency of the sensor device
Energy Dependence of Breakup Cross Sections of Halo Nucleus 8B and Effective Interactions
We study the energy dependence of the cross sections for nucleon removal of
8B projectiles. It is shown that the Glauber model calculations with
nucleon-nucleon t-matrix reproduce well the energy dependence of the breakup
cross sections of 8B. A DWBA model for the breakup cross section is also
proposed and results are compared with those of the Glauber model. We show that
to obtain an agreement between the DWBA calculations, the Glauber formalism,
and the experimental data, it is necessary to modify the energy behavior of the
effective interaction. In particular, the breakup potential has a quite
different energy dependence than the strong absorption potential.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure
Effective Dielectric Tensor for Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Random Media
We derive exact strong-contrast expansions for the effective dielectric
tensor \epeff of electromagnetic waves propagating in a two-phase composite
random medium with isotropic components explicitly in terms of certain
integrals over the -point correlation functions of the medium. Our focus is
the long-wavelength regime, i.e., when the wavelength is much larger than the
scale of inhomogeneities in the medium. Lower-order truncations of these
expansions lead to approximations for the effective dielectric constant that
depend upon whether the medium is below or above the percolation threshold. In
particular, we apply two- and three-point approximations for \epeff to a
variety of different three-dimensional model microstructures, including
dispersions of hard spheres, hard oriented spheroids and fully penetrable
spheres as well as Debye random media, the random checkerboard, and
power-law-correlated materials. We demonstrate the importance of employing
-point correlation functions of order higher than two for high
dielectric-phase-contrast ratio. We show that disorder in the microstructure
results in an imaginary component of the effective dielectric tensor that is
directly related to the {\it coarseness} of the composite, i.e., local
volume-fraction fluctuations for infinitely large windows. The source of this
imaginary component is the attenuation of the coherent homogenized wave due to
scattering. We also remark on whether there is such attenuation in the case of
a two-phase medium with a quasiperiodic structure.Comment: 40 pages, 13 figure
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