10,886 research outputs found
Broadening of HO rotational lines by collision with He atoms at low temperature
We report pressure broadening coefficients for the 21 electric-dipole
transitions between the eight lowest rotational levels of ortho-HO and
para-HO molecules by collisions with He at temperatures from 20 to 120 K.
These coefficients are derived from recently published experimental
state-to-state rate coefficients for HO:He inelastic collisions, plus an
elastic contribution from close coupling calculations. The resulting
coefficients are compared to the available experimental data. Mostly due to the
elastic contribution, the pressure broadening coefficients differ much from
line to line, and increase markedly at low temperature. The present results are
meant as a guide for future experiments and astrophysical observations.Comment: 2 figures, 2 table
The Black Hole Binary Nova Scorpii 1994 (GRO J1655-40): An improved chemical analysis
The chemical analysis of secondary stars of low mass X-ray binaries provides
an opportunity to study the formation processes of compact objects, either
black holes or neutron stars. Following the discovery of overabundances of
-elements in the HIRES/Keck spectrum of the secondary star of Nova
Scorpii 1994 (Israelian et al. 1999), we obtained UVES/VLT high-resolution
spectroscopy with the aim of performing a detailed abundance analysis of this
secondary star. Using a -minimization procedure and a grid of synthetic
spectra, we derive the stellar parameters and atmospheric abundances of O, Mg,
Al, Ca, Ti, Fe and Ni, using a new UVES spectrum and the HIRES spectrum.The
abundances of Al, Ca, Ti, Fe and Ni seem to be consistent with solar values,
whereas Na, and especially O, Mg, Si and S are significantly enhanced in
comparison with Galactic trends of these elements. A comparison with
spherically and non-spherically symmetric supernova explosion models may
provide stringent constraints to the model parameters as mass-cut and the
explosion energy, in particular from the relative abundances of Si, S, Ca, Ti,
Fe and Ni. Most probably the black hole in this system formed in a hypernova
explosion of a 30--35 \Msun progenitor star with a mass-cut in the range 2--3.5
\Msun. However, these models produce abundances of Al and Na almost ten times
higher than the observed values.Comment: New Accepted version for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics
Table 2: Correcte
Chemical abundances of stars with brown-dwarf companions
It is well-known that stars with giant planets are on average more metal-rich
than stars without giant planets, whereas stars with detected low-mass planets
do not need to be metal-rich. With the aim of studying the weak boundary that
separates giant planets and brown dwarfs (BDs) and their formation mechanism,
we analyze the spectra of a sample of stars with already confirmed BD
companions both by radial velocity and astrometry. We employ standard and
automatic tools to perform an EW-based analysis and to derive chemical
abundances from CORALIE spectra of stars with BD companions. We compare these
abundances with those of stars without detected planets and with low-mass and
giant-mass planets. We find that stars with BDs do not have metallicities and
chemical abundances similar to those of giant-planet hosts but they resemble
the composition of stars with low-mass planets. The distribution of mean
abundances of -elements and iron peak elements of stars with BDs
exhibit a peak at about solar abundance whereas for stars with low-mass and
high-mass planets the [X/H] and [X/H] peak abundances
remain at ~dex and ~dex, respectively. We display these
element abundances for stars with low-mass and high-mass planets, and BDs
versus the minimum mass, , of the most-massive substellar companion
in each system, and we find a maximum in -element as well as Fe-peak
abundances at jupiter masses. We discuss the
implication of these results in the context of the formation scenario of BDs in
comparison with that of giant planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Three carbon-enhanced metal-poor dwarf stars from the SDSS - Chemical abundances from CO^5BOLD 3D hydrodynamical model atmospheres
The origin of carbon-enhanced metal-poor stars enriched with both s and r
elements is highly debated. Detailed abundances of these types of stars are
crucial to understand the nature of their progenitors. The aim of this
investigation is to study in detail the abundances of SDSS J1349-0229, SDSS
J0912+0216 and SDSS J1036+1212, three dwarf CEMP stars, selected from the Sloan
Digital Sky Survey. Using high resolution VLT/UVES spectra (R ~ 30 000) we
determine abundances for Li, C, N, O, Na, Mg, Al, Ca, Sc, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Co,
Ni and 21 neutron-capture elements. We made use of CO^5BOLD 3D hydrodynamical
model atmospheres in the analysis of the carbon, nitrogen and oxygen
abundances. NLTE corrections for C I and O I lines were computed using the Kiel
code. We classify SDSS J1349-0229 and SDSS J0912+0216 as CEMP-r+s stars. SDSS
J1036+1212 belongs to the class CEMP-no/s, with enhanced Ba, but deficient Sr,
of which it is the third member discovered to date. Radial-velocity variations
have been observed in SDSS J1349-0229, providing evidence that it is a member
of a binary system. The chemical composition of the three stars is generally
compatible with mass transfer from an AGB companion. However, many details
remain difficult to explain. Most notably of those are the abundance of Li at
the level of the Spite plateau in SDSS J1036+1212 and the large over-abundance
of the pure r-process element Eu in all three stars.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
Strain balanced quantum posts
Quantum posts are assembled by epitaxial growth of closely spaced quantum dot
layers, modulating the composition of a semiconductor alloy, typically InGaAs.
In contrast with most self-assembled nanostructures, the height of quantum
posts can be controlled with nanometer precision, up to a maximum value limited
by the accumulated stress due to the lattice mismatch. Here we present a strain
compensation technique based on the controlled incorporation of phosphorous,
which substantially increases the maximum attainable quantum post height. The
luminescence from the resulting nanostructures presents giant linear
polarization anisotropy.Comment: Submitted to Applied Physics Letters (7th March 2011). 4 pages, 4
figure
Chemical abundances of 1111 FGK stars from the HARPS GTO planet search program II: Cu, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, Ce, Nd and Eu
To understand the formation and evolution of the different stellar
populations within our Galaxy it is essential to combine detailed kinematical
and chemical information for large samples of stars. We derive chemical
abundances of Cu, Zn, Sr, Y, Zr, Ba, Ce, Nd and Eu for a large sample of more
than 1000 FGK dwarf stars with high-resolution (\,115000) and
high-quality spectra from the HARPS-GTO program. The abundances are derived by
a standard Local Thermodinamyc Equilibrium (LTE) analysis using measured
Equivalent Widths (EWs) injected to the code MOOG and a grid of Kurucz ATLAS9
atmospheres. We find that thick disk stars are chemically disjunct for Zn and
Eu and also show on average higher Zr but lower Ba and Y when compared to the
thin disk stars. We also discovered that the previously identified
high- metal-rich population is also enhanced in Cu, Zn, Nd and Eu with
respect to the thin disk but presents Ba and Y abundances lower on average,
following the trend of thick disk stars towards higher metallities and further
supporting the different chemical composition of this population. The ratio of
heavy-s to light-s elements of thin disk stars presents the expected behaviour
(increasing towards lower metallicities) and can be explained by a major
contribution of low-mass AGB stars for s-process production at disk
metallicities. However, the opposite trend found for thick disk stars suggests
that intermediate-mass AGB stars played an important role in the enrichment of
the gas from where these stars formed. Previous works in the literature also
point to a possible primary production of light-s elements at low metallicities
to explain this trend. Finally, we also find an enhancement of light-s elements
in the thin disk at super solar metallicities which could be caused by the
contribution of metal-rich AGB stars. (short version)Comment: 20 pages, 19 figures, accepted by A&
Searching for the signatures of terrestrial planets in F-, G-type main-sequence stars
We have studied the volatile-to-refractory abundance ratios to investigate
their possible relation with the low-mass planetary formation. We present a
fully differential chemical abundance analysis using high-quality HARPS and
UVES spectra of 61 late F- and early G-type main-sequence stars, 29 are planet
hosts and 32 are stars without detected planets. As the previous sample of
solar analogs, these stars slightly hotter than the Sun also provide very
accurate Galactic chemical abundance trends in the metallicity range . Stars with and without planets show similar mean abundance
ratios. Moreover, when removing the Galactic chemical evolution effects, these
mean abundance ratios, , versus condensation
temperature tend to exhibit less steep trends with nearly null or slightly
negative slopes. We have also analyzed a sub-sample of 26 metal-rich stars, 13
with and 13 without known planets and find the similar, although not equal,
abundance pattern with negative slopes for both samples of stars with and
without planets. Using stars at S/N provides equally steep abundance
trends with negative slopes for both stars with and without planets. We revisit
the sample of solar analogs to study the abundance patterns of these stars, in
particular, 8 stars hosting super-Earth-like planets. Among these stars having
very low-mass planets, only four of them reveal clear increasing abundance
trends versus condensation temperature. Finally, we have compared these
observed slopes with those predicted using a simple model which enables us to
compute the mass of rocks which have formed terrestrial planets in each
planetary system. We do not find any evidence supporting the conclusion that
the volatile-to-refractory abundance ratio is related to the presence of rocky
planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Reversible Graphene decoupling by NaCl photo-dissociation
We describe the reversible intercalation of Na under graphene on Ir(111) by
photo-dissociation of a previously adsorbed NaCl overlayer. After room
temperature evaporation, NaCl adsorbs on top of graphene forming a bilayer.
With a combination of electron diffraction and photoemission techniques we
demonstrate that the NaCl overlayer dissociates upon a short exposure to an
X-ray beam. As a result, chlorine desorbs while sodium intercalates under the
graphene, inducing an electronic decoupling from the underlying metal. Low
energy electron diffraction shows the disappearance of the moir\'e pattern when
Na intercalates between graphene and iridium. Analysis of the Na 2p core-level
by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy shows a chemical change from NaCl to
metallic buried Na at the graphene/Ir interface. The intercalation-decoupling
process leads to a n-doped graphene due to the charge transfer from the Na, as
revealed by constant energy angle resolved X-ray photoemission maps. Moreover,
the process is reversible by a mild annealing of the samples without damaging
the graphene
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