Test anxiety, working memory, and cognitive performance: Supportive effects of sequential demands

Substantial evidence suggests that test anxiety is associated with poor performance in complex tasks. Based on the differentiation of coordinative and sequential demands on working memory (Mayr & Kliegl, 1993), two studies examined the effects of sequential demands on the relationship between test anxiety and cognitive performance. Both studies found that high sequential demands had beneficial effects on the speed and accuracy of the performance of test-anxious participants. It is suggested that the more frequent memory updates associated with high sequential demands may represent external processing aids that compensate for the restricted memory capacity of individuals with high test anxiet

Circumstellar Disks revealed by HH/KK Flux Variation Gradients

The variability of young stellar objects (YSO) changes their brightness and color preventing a proper classification in traditional color-color and color magnitude diagrams. We have explored the feasibility of the flux variation gradient (FVG) method for YSOs, using $H$ and $K$ band monitoring data of the star forming region RCW\,38 obtained at the University Observatory Bochum in Chile. Simultaneous multi-epoch flux measurements follow a linear relation $F_{H}=\alpha + \beta \cdot F_{K}$ for almost all YSOs with large variability amplitude. The slope $\beta$ gives the mean $HK$ color temperature $T_{var}$ of the varying component. Because $T_{var}$ is hotter than the dust sublimation temperature, we have tentatively assigned it to stellar variations. If the gradient does not meet the origin of the flux-flux diagram, an additional non- or less-varying component may be required. If the variability amplitude is larger at the shorter wavelength, e.g. $\alpha < 0$, this component is cooler than the star (e.g. a circumstellar disk); vice versa, if $\alpha > 0$, the component is hotter like a scattering halo or even a companion star. We here present examples of two YSOs, where the $HK$ FVG implies the presence of a circumstellar disk; this finding is consistent with additional data at $J$ and $L$. One YSO shows a clear $K$-band excess in the $JHK$ color-color diagram, while the significance of a $K$-excess in the other YSO depends on the measurement epoch. Disentangling the contributions of star and disk it turns out that the two YSOs have huge variability amplitudes ($\sim 3-5$\,mag). The $HK$ FVG analysis is a powerful complementary tool to analyze the varying components of YSOs and worth further exploration of monitoring data at other wavelengths.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

The broad-line region and dust torus size of the Seyfert 1 galaxy PGC50427

We present the results of a three years monitoring campaigns of the $z = 0.024$ type-1 active galactic nucleus (AGN) PGC50427. Through the use of Photometric Reverberation Mapping with broad and narrow band filters, we determine the size of the broad-line emitting region by measuring the time delay between the variability of the continuum and the H$\alpha$ emission line. The H$\alpha$ emission line responds to blue continuum variations with an average rest frame lag of $19.0 \pm 1.23$ days. Using single epoch spectroscopy we determined a broad-line H$\alpha$ velocity width of 1020 km s$^{-1}$ and in combination with the rest frame lag and adoption a geometric scaling factor $f = 5.5$, we calculate a black hole mass of $M_{BH} \sim 17 \times 10^{6} M_{\odot}$. Using the flux variation gradient method, we separate the host galaxy contribution from that of the AGN to calculate the rest frame 5100\AA~ luminosity at the time of our monitoring campaign. The rest frame lag and the host-subtracted luminosity permit us to derive the position of PGC50427 in the BLR size -- AGN luminosity diagram, which is remarkably close to the theoretically expected relation of $R \propto L^{0.5}$. The simultaneous optical and NIR ($J$ and $K_{s}$) observations allow us to determine the size of the dust torus through the use of dust reverberation mapping method. We find that the hot dust emission ($\sim 1800K$) lags the optical variations with an average rest frame lag of $46.2 \pm 2.60$ days. The dust reverberation radius and the nuclear NIR luminosity permit us to derive the position of PGC50427 on the known $\tau - M{V}$ diagram. The simultaneus observations for the broad-line region and dust thermal emission demonstrate that the innermost dust torus is located outside the BLR in PGC50427, supporting the unified scheme for AGNs. (Abstract shortened, see the manuscript.)Comment: 11 pages, 23 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

A Pan-STARRS + UKIDSS Search for Young, Wide Planetary-Mass Companions in Upper Scorpius

We have combined optical and NIR photometry from Pan-STARRS 1 and UKIDSS to search the young (5-10 Myr) star-forming region of Upper Scorpius for wide (~400-4000 AU) substellar companions down to ~5 Mjup. Our search is ~4mag deeper than previous work based on 2MASS. We identified several candidates around known stellar members using a combination of color selection and spectral energy distribution fitting. Our followup spectroscopy has identified two new companions as well as confirmed two companions previously identified from photometry, with spectral types of M7.5-M9 and masses of ~15-60 Mjup, indicating a frequency for such wide substellar companions of ~0.6+/-0.3%. Both USco1610-1913B and USco1612-1800B are more luminous than expected for their spectral type compared with known members of Upper Sco. HIP77900B has an extreme mass ratio (M2/M1~0.005) and an extreme separation of 3200 AU. USco1602-2401B also has a very large separation of 1000 AU. We have also confirmed a low-mass stellar companion, USco1610-2502B (730AU, M5.5). Our substellar companions appear both non-coeval with their primary stars according to evolutionary models and, as a group, are systematically more luminous than the Upper Sco cluster sequence. One possible reason for these luminosity discrepancies could be different formation processes or accretion histories for these objects.Comment: Accepted to ApJ; 10 pages, 9 figures, 5 table

Power-law tail distributions and nonergodicity

We establish an explicit correspondence between ergodicity breaking in a system described by power-law tail distributions and the divergence of the moments of these distributions.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, corrected typo

Herbig-Haro flows in B335

We have observed optical (Halpha and [SII]) and near-IR (S(1) line of H2) deep fields and taken optical spectra using the 2.56m NOT, as well as a near-UV deep field (U band) using the 3.58m NTT. In addition we present new SPITZER (IRAC and MIPS) mid-IR observations. We use previous Halpha and S(1) observations taken 15 and 9 years earlier to make proper motion maps. We then investigate the shock physics by matching our spectra with planar shock models. We discover six new HH objects in B335. From proper motions we find an optically bright, roughly E-W oriented group with high space velocities (200-280 km/s) and a near-IR bright, slower group (15-75 km/s) moving to the ESE. We also find a system of at least 15 H2 knots in the western lobe. This (WNW) counterflow suggests the possibility of a binary outflow source, giving rise to two outflow axes with slightly different orientations. We find that the E-W flow is symmetrical with evidence for two outbursts. We make the first detection of [OI] 6300/63 in HH119 B and Hbeta in HH119 A and B and find their extinctions to be AV~1.4 and 4.4, respectively. HH119 A is found to expand much faster than expected from linear expansion with distance from the outflow source. Using planar shock models we find shock velocities of ~60 km/s (A) and ~35 km/s (B and C). This agrees with A being of higher excitation than B and C. In our U image we detect three of the HH objects and propose that the emission arise from the [OII] 3728 line and the blue continuum. New SPITZER observations show most of the HH objects at 4.5 micron and a E-W elongated hour-glass shaped structure at the outflow source. Even at 24 micron it is not clear whether most of the light is direct or reflected.Comment: 23 pages, 15 figures, accepted in A&

Brown Dwarfs in Young Moving Groups from Pan-STARRS1. I. AB Doradus

Substellar members of young ($\lesssim$150 Myr) moving groups are valuable benchmarks to empirically define brown dwarf evolution with age and to study the low-mass end of the initial mass function. We have combined Pan-STARRS1 (PS1) proper motions with optical$-$IR photometry from PS1, 2MASS and $\textit{WISE}$ to search for substellar members of the AB Dor Moving Group within $\approx$50 pc and with spectral types of late-M to early-L, corresponding to masses down to $\approx$30 M$_{Jup}$ at the age of the group ($\approx$125 Myr). Including both photometry and proper motions allows us to better select candidates by excluding field dwarfs whose colors are similar to young AB~Dor Moving Group members. Our near-IR spectroscopy has identified six ultracool dwarfs (M6$-$L4; $\approx$30$-$100 M$_{Jup}$) with intermediate surface gravities (INT-G) as candidate members of the AB Dor Moving Group. We find another two candidate members with spectra showing hints of youth but consistent with field gravities. We also find four field brown dwarfs unassociated with the AB Dor Moving Group, three of which have INT-G gravity classification. While signatures of youth are present in the spectra of our $\approx$125 Myr objects, neither their $J-K$ nor $W1-W2$ colors are significantly redder than field dwarfs with the same spectral types, unlike younger ultracool dwarfs. We also determined PS1 parallaxes for eight of our candidates and one previously identified AB Dor Moving Group candidate. Although radial velocities (and parallaxes, for some) are still needed to fully assess membership, these new objects provide valuable insight into the spectral characteristics and evolution of young brown dwarfs.Comment: ApJ, accepte

Speckle Control with a remapped-pupil PIAA-coronagraph

The PIAA is a now well demonstrated high contrast technique that uses an intermediate remapping of the pupil for high contrast coronagraphy (apodization), before restoring it to recover classical imaging capabilities. This paper presents the first demonstration of complete speckle control loop with one such PIAA coronagraph. We show the presence of a complete set of remapping optics (the so-called PIAA and matching inverse PIAA) is transparent to the wavefront control algorithm. Simple focal plane based wavefront control algorithms can thus be employed, without the need to model remapping effects. Using the Subaru Coronagraphic Extreme AO (SCExAO) instrument built for the Subaru Telescope, we show that a complete PIAA-coronagraph is compatible with a simple implementation of a speckle nulling technique, and demonstrate the benefit of the PIAA for high contrast imaging at small angular separation.Comment: 6 figures, submitted to PAS