7,293 research outputs found
[TiII] and [NiII] emission from the strontium filament of eta Carinae
We study the nature of the [TiII] and [NiII] emission from the so-called
strontium filament found in the ejecta of eta Carinae. To this purpose we
employ multilevel models of the TiII and NiII systems which are used to
investigate the physical condition of the filament and the excitation
mechanisms of the observed lines. For the TiII ion, for which no atomic data
was previously available, we carry out ab initio calculations of radiative
transition rates and electron impact excitation rate coefficients. It is found
that the observed spectrum is consistent with the lines being excited in a
mostly neutral region with an electron density of the order of cm
and a temperature around 6000 K. In analyzing three observations with different
slit orientations recorded between March~2000 and November~2001 we find line
ratios that change among various observations, in a way consistent with changes
of up to an order of magnitude in the strength of the continuum radiation
field. These changes result from different samplings of the extended filament,
due to the different slit orientations used for each observation, and yield
clues on the spatial extent and optical depth of the filament. The observed
emission indicates a large Ti/Ni abundance ratio relative to solar abundances.
It is suggested that the observed high Ti/Ni ratio in gas is caused by dust-gas
fractionation processes and does not reflect the absolute Ti/Ni ratio in the
ejecta of \etacar. We study the condensation chemistry of Ti, Ni and Fe within
the filament and suggest that the observed gas phase overabundance of TiComment: 14 paginas, 12 figure
Studying the High-Energy Gamma-Ray Sky with Glast
Building on the success of the Energetic Gamma Ray Experiment Telescope
(EGRET) on the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, the Gamma-ray Large Area Space
Telescope (GLAST) will make a major step in the study of such subjects as
blazars, gamma-ray bursts, the search for dark matter, supernova remnants,
pulsars, diffuse radiation, and unidentified high-energy sources. The
instrument will be built on new and mature detector technologies such as
silicon strip detectors, low-power low-noise LSI, and a multilevel data
acquisition system. GLAST is in the research and development phase, and one
full tower (of 25 total) is now being built in collaborating institutes. The
prototype tower will be tested thoroughly at SLAC in the fall of 1999.Comment: 6 pages with 2 figures, to appear in the proceedings of the COSPAR 98
Symposium E 1.1, postscript file also available at
http://glast.gsfc.nasa.gov/COSPAR
A near-NHEK/CFT correspondence
We consider excitations around the recently introduced near-NHEK metric
describing the near-horizon geometry of the near-extremal four-dimensional Kerr
black hole. This geometry has a U(1)_L x U(1)_R isometry group which can be
enhanced to a pair of commuting Virasoro algebras. We present boundary
conditions for which the conserved charges of the corresponding asymptotic
symmetries are well defined and non-vanishing and find the central charges
c_L=12J/hbar and c_R=0 where J is the angular momentum of the black hole.
Applying the Cardy formula reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the
black hole. This suggests that the near-extremal Kerr black hole is
holographically dual to a non-chiral two-dimensional conformal field theory.Comment: 11 pages, v2: references updated, adde
On the CFT duals for near-extremal black holes
We consider Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black holes near extremality and work out the
near-horizon geometry of these near-extremal black holes. We identify the exact
U(1)_L x U(1)_R isometries of the near-horizon geometry and provide boundary
conditions enhancing them to a pair of commuting Virasoro algebras. The
conserved charges of the corresponding asymptotic symmetries are found to be
well defined and non-vanishing and to yield central charges c_L\neq0 and c_R=0.
The Cardy formula subsequently reproduces the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the
black hole. This suggests that the near-extremal Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS black hole
is holographically dual to a non-chiral two-dimensional conformal field theory.Comment: 11 page
A note on Kerr/CFT and free fields
The near-horizon geometry of the extremal four-dimensional Kerr black hole
and certain generalizations thereof has an SL(2,R) x U(1) isometry group.
Excitations around this geometry can be controlled by imposing appropriate
boundary conditions. For certain boundary conditions, the U(1) isometry is
enhanced to a Virasoro algebra. Here, we propose a free-field construction of
this Virasoro algebra.Comment: 10 pages, v2: comments and references adde
Excitation of Sr II lines in Eta Carinae
We study the nature of the peculiar [Sr II] and Sr II emission filament found in the ejecta of Eta Carinae. To this purpose we carry out abinitio calculations of radiative transition probabilities and electron impact excitation rate coefficients for Sr II. Then we build a multilevel model for the system which is used to investigate the physical condition of the filament and the nature of the observed allowed and forbidden Sr II optical emission. It is found that the observed spectrum is consistent with the lines being pumped by the continuum radiation field in a mostly neutral region with electron density near 107cm-3 . Under these conditions, the observed emission can be explained without the need for a large Sr overabundance
CFT Duals for Extreme Black Holes
It is argued that the general four-dimensional extremal Kerr-Newman-AdS-dS
black hole is holographically dual to a (chiral half of a) two-dimensional CFT,
generalizing an argument given recently for the special case of extremal Kerr.
Specifically, the asymptotic symmetries of the near-horizon region of the
general extremal black hole are shown to be generated by a Virasoro algebra.
Semiclassical formulae are derived for the central charge and temperature of
the dual CFT as functions of the cosmological constant, Newton's constant and
the black hole charges and spin. We then show, assuming the Cardy formula, that
the microscopic entropy of the dual CFT precisely reproduces the macroscopic
Bekenstein-Hawking area law. This CFT description becomes singular in the
extreme Reissner-Nordstrom limit where the black hole has no spin. At this
point a second dual CFT description is proposed in which the global part of the
U(1) gauge symmetry is promoted to a Virasoro algebra. This second description
is also found to reproduce the area law. Various further generalizations
including higher dimensions are discussed.Comment: 18 pages; v2 minor change
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