4,323 research outputs found
Space Velocities of L- and T-type Dwarfs
(Abridged) We have obtained radial velocities of a sample of 18 ultracool
dwarfs (M6.5-T8) using high-resolution, near-infrared spectra obtained with
NIRSPEC and the Keck II telescope. We have confirmed that the radial velocity
of Gl 570 D is coincident with that of the K-type primary star Gl 570 A, thus
providing additional support for their true companionship. The presence of
planetary-mass companions around 2MASS J05591914-1404488 (T4.5V) has been
analyzed using five NIRSPEC radial velocity measurements obtained over a period
of 4.37 yr. We have computed UVW space motions for a total of 21 L and T dwarfs
within 20 pc of the Sun. This population shows UVW velocities that nicely
overlap the typical kinematics of solar to M-type stars within the same spatial
volume. However, the mean Galactic (44.2 km/s) and tangential (36.5 km/s)
velocities of the L and T dwarfs appear to be smaller than those of G to M
stars. A significant fraction (~40%) of the L and T dwarfs lies near the Hyades
moving group (0.4-2 Gyr), which contrasts with the 10-12% found for
earlier-type stellar neighbors. Additionally, the distributions of all three
UVW components (sigma_{UVW} = 30.2, 16.5, 15.8 km/s) and the distributions of
the total Galactic (sigma_{v_tot} = 19.1 km/s) and tangential (sigma_{v_t} =
17.6 km/s) velocities derived for the L and T dwarf sample are narrower than
those measured for nearby G, K, and M-type stars, but similar to the
dispersions obtained for F stars. This suggests that, in the solar
neighborhood, the L- and T-type ultracool dwarfs in our sample (including brown
dwarfs) is kinematically younger than solar-type to early M stars with likely
ages in the interval 0.5-4 Gyr.Comment: Accepted for publication in Ap
Chemical-looping combustion - a thermodynamic study
Published versio
Revisiting the transits of CoRoT-7b at a lower activity level
CoRoT-7b, the first super-Earth with measured radius discovered, has opened
the new field of rocky exoplanets characterisation. To better understand this
interesting system, new observations were taken with the CoRoT satellite.
During this run 90 new transits were obtained in the imagette mode. These were
analysed together with the previous 151 transits obtained in the discovery run
and HARPS radial velocity observations to derive accurate system parameters. A
difference is found in the posterior probability distribution of the transit
parameters between the previous CoRoT run (LRa01) and the new run (LRa06). We
propose this is due to an extra noise component in the previous CoRoT run
suspected to be transit spot occultation events. These lead to the mean transit
shape becoming V-shaped. We show that the extra noise component is dominant at
low stellar flux levels and reject these transits in the final analysis. We
obtained a planetary radius, , in agreement
with previous estimates. Combining the planetary radius with the new mass
estimates results in a planetary density of
which is consistent with a rocky composition. The CoRoT-7 system remains an
excellent test bed for the effects of activity in the derivation of planetary
parameters in the shallow transit regime.Comment: 13 pages, 13 figures, accepted to A&
Corotation: its influence on the chemical abundance pattern of the Galaxy
A simple theory for the chemical enrichment of the Galaxy which takes into
account the effects of spiral arms on heavy elements output was developed. In
the framework of the model with the corotation close to the position of the Sun
in the Galaxy the observed abundance features are explained.Comment: LaTeX, 6 pages, 5 jpg figures, uses aastex.sty, submitted to ApJ Let
Stellar surface magneto-convection as a source of astrophysical noise II. Center-to-limb parameterisation of absorption line profiles and comparison to observations
Manifestations of stellar activity (such as star-spots, plage/faculae, and
convective flows) are well known to induce spectroscopic signals often referred
to as astrophysical noise by exoplanet hunters. For example, setting an
ultimate goal of detecting true Earth-analogs demands reaching radial velocity
(RV) precisions of ~9 cm/s. While this is becoming technically feasible with
the latest generation of highly stabilised spectrographs, it is astrophysical
noise that sets the true fundamental barrier on attainable RV precisions. In
this paper we parameterise the impact of solar surface magneto-convection on
absorption line profiles, and extend the analysis from the solar disc centre
(Paper I) to the solar limb. Off disc-centre, the plasma flows orthogonal to
the granule tops begin to lie along the line-of-sight and those parallel to the
granule tops are no longer completely aligned with the observer. Moreover, the
granulation is corrugated and the granules can block other granules, as well as
the intergranular lane components. Overall, the visible plasma flows and
geometry of the corrugated surface significantly impact the resultant line
profiles and induce centre-to-limb variations in shape and net position. We
detail these herein, and compare to various solar observations. We find our
granulation parameterisation can recreate realistic line profiles and induced
radial velocity shifts, across the stellar disc, indicative of both those found
in computationally heavy radiative 3D magnetohydrodynamical simulations and
empirical solar observations.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, accepted to Ap
The ATLAS SCT grounding and shielding concept and implementation
This paper presents a complete description of Virgo, the French-Italian gravitational wave detector. The detector, built at Cascina, near Pisa (Italy), is a very large Michelson interferometer, with 3 km-long arms. In this paper, following a presentation of the physics requirements, leading to the specifications for the construction of the detector, a detailed description of all its different elements is given. These include civil engineering infrastructures, a huge ultra-high vacuum (UHV) chamber (about 6000 cubic metres), all of the optical components, including high quality mirrors and their seismic isolating suspensions, all of the electronics required to control the interferometer and for signal detection. The expected performances of these different elements are given, leading to an overall sensitivity curve as a function of the incoming gravitational wave frequency. This description represents the detector as built and used in the first data-taking runs. Improvements in different parts have been and continue to be performed, leading to better sensitivities. These will be detailed in a forthcoming paper
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Airborne measurements of trace gases and aerosols over the London metropolitan region
The Emissions around the M25 motorway (EM25) campaign took place over the megacity of London in the United Kingdom in June 2009 with the aim of characterising trace gas and aerosol composition and properties entering and emitted from the urban region. It featured two mobile platforms, the UK BAe-146 Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) research aircraft and a ground-based mobile lidar van, both travelling in circuits around London, roughly following the path of the M25 motorway circling the city. We present an overview of findings from the project, which took place during typical UK summertime pollution conditions. Emission ratios of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to acetylene and carbon monoxide emitted from the London region were consistent with measurements in and downwind of other large urban areas and indicated traffic and associated fuel evaporation were major sources. Sub-micron aerosol composition was dominated by secondary species including sulphate (24% of sub-micron mass in the London plume and 29% in the non-plume regional aerosol), nitrate (24% plume; 20% regional) and organic aerosol (29% plume; 31% regional). The primary sub-micron aerosol emissions from London were minor compared to the larger regional background, with only limited increases in aerosol mass in the urban plume compared to the background (~12% mass increase on average). Black carbon mass was the major exception and more than doubled in the urban plume, leading to a decrease in the single scattering albedo from 0.91 in the regional aerosol to 0.86 in the London plume, on average. Our observations indicated that regional aerosol plays a major role on aerosol concentrations around London, at least during typical summertime conditions, meaning future efforts to reduce PM levels in London must account for regional as well as local aerosol sources
IGFBP-1 in Cardiometabolic Pathophysiology—Insights From Loss-of-Function and Gain-of-Function Studies in Male Mice
We have previously reported that overexpression of human insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP)-1 in mice leads to vascular insulin sensitization, increased nitric oxide bioavailability, reduced atherosclerosis, and enhanced vascular repair, and in the setting of obesity improves glucose tolerance. Human studies suggest that low levels of IGFBP-1 are permissive for the development of diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Here we seek to determine whether loss of IGFBP-1 plays a causal role in the predisposition to cardiometabolic disease. Metabolic phenotyping was performed in transgenic mice with homozygous knockout of IGFBP-1. This included glucose, insulin, and insulin-like growth factor I tolerance testing under normal diet and high-fat feeding conditions. Vascular phenotyping was then performed in the same mice using vasomotor aortic ring studies, flow cytometry, vascular wire injury, and angiogenesis assays. These were complemented with vascular phenotyping of IGFBP-1 overexpressing mice. Metabolic phenotype was similar in IGFBP-1 knockout and wild-type mice subjected to obesity. Deletion of IGFBP-1 inhibited endothelial regeneration following injury, suggesting that IGFBP-1 is required for effective vascular repair. Developmental angiogenesis was unaltered by deletion or overexpression of IGFBP-1. Recovery of perfusion following hind limb ischemia was unchanged in mice lacking or overexpressing IGFBP-1; however, overexpression of IGFBP-1 stimulated hindlimb perfusion and angiogenesis in insulin-resistant mice. These findings provide new insights into the role of IGFBP-1 in metabolic and vascular pathophysiology. Irrespective of whether loss of IGFBP-1 plays a causal role in the development of cardiometabolic disorders, increasing IGFBP-1 levels appears effective in promoting neovascularization in response to ischemia
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Evaluating the structure and magnitude of the ash plume during the initial phase of the 2010 Eyjafjallajökull eruption using lidar observations and NAME simulations
The Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland erupted explosively on 14 April 2010, emitting a plume of ash into the atmosphere. The ash was transported from Iceland toward Europe where mostly cloud-free skies allowed ground-based lidars at Chilbolton in England and Leipzig in Germany to estimate the mass concentration in the ash cloud as it passed overhead. The UK Met Office's Numerical Atmospheric-dispersion Modeling Environment (NAME) has been used to simulate the evolution of the ash cloud from the Eyjafjallajökull volcano during the initial phase of the ash emissions, 14–16 April 2010. NAME captures the timing and sloped structure of the ash layer observed over Leipzig, close to the central axis of the ash cloud. Relatively small errors in the ash cloud position, probably caused by the cumulative effect of errors in the driving meteorology en route, result in a timing error at distances far from the central axis of the ash cloud. Taking the timing error into account, NAME is able to capture the sloped ash layer over the UK. Comparison of the lidar observations and NAME simulations has allowed an estimation of the plume height time series to be made. It is necessary to include in the model input the large variations in plume height in order to accurately predict the ash cloud structure at long range. Quantitative comparison with the mass concentrations at Leipzig and Chilbolton suggest that around 3% of the total emitted mass is transported as far as these sites by small (<100 μm diameter) ash particles
Radial Mixing in Galactic Disks: The Effects of Disk Structure and Satellite Bombardment
We use a suite of numerical simulations to investigate the mechanisms and
effects of radial migration of stars in disk galaxies like the Milky Way (MW).
An isolated, collisionless stellar disk with a MW-like scale-height shows only
the radial "blurring" expected from epicyclic orbits. Reducing the disk
thickness or adding gas to the disk substantially increases the level of radial
migration, induced by interaction with transient spiral arms and/or a central
bar. We also examine collisionless disks subjected to gravitational
perturbations from a cosmologically motivated satellite accretion history. In
the perturbed disk that best reproduces the observed properties of the MW, 20%
of stars that end up in the solar annulus 7 kpc < R < 9 kpc started at R < 6
kpc, and 7% started at R > 10 kpc. This level of migration would add
considerable dispersion to the age-metallicity relation of solar neighborhood
stars. In the isolated disk models, the probability of migration traces the
disk's radial mass profile, but in perturbed disks migration occurs
preferentially at large radii, where the disk is more weakly bound. The orbital
dynamics of migrating particles are also different in isolated and perturbed
disks: satellite perturbations drive particles to lower angular momentum for a
given change in radius. Thus, satellite perturbations appear to be a distinct
mechanism for inducing radial migration, which can operate in concert with
migration induced by bars and spiral structure. We investigate correlations
between changes in radius and changes in orbital circularity or vertical
energy, identifying signatures that might be used to test models and
distinguish radial migration mechanisms in chemo-dynamical surveys of the MW
disk.Comment: Full resolution paper available at
http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~bird/bkw11_fullres.pdf . 13 pages, 12
figures; emulate MNRAS format. Accepted for publication in MNRA
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