44 research outputs found
Reviving the gobbet: venerable sophistication for contemporary media literacy
This paper suggests that a technique for close textual reading used in history, the classics and theology for two almost two centuries, the gobbet, can be repurposed as a method of developing media literacy in higher education students in other disciplines. The gobbet is a bite-sized extract from a longer set text learners have studied that acts as an entry to the whole text, permitting critical, contextualised evaluation to take place. As a pedagogical tool, the gobbet can be a counterweight to discontinuous reading practices and abstracted information sources. It is highly effective for analysing contemporary media and discourse, in producing articulate learners confident in their ability to analyse information, and in developing transferrable critical and communication skills for scholarly, career and personal use. This paper situates the gobbet, reframed for modern use in an expanded range of scholarly disciplines, as a learner-centric method that develops agency and independence within a phenomenographic pedagogical frame
Spitzer 24 um Images of Planetary Nebulae
Spitzer MIPS 24 um images were obtained for 36 Galactic planetary nebulae
(PNe) whose central stars are hot white dwarfs (WDs) or pre-WDs with effective
temperatures of ~100,000 K or higher. Diffuse 24 um emission is detected in 28
of these PNe. The eight non-detections are angularly large PNe with very low
H-alpha surface brightnesses. We find three types of correspondence between the
24 um emission and H-alpha line emission of these PNe: six show 24 um emission
more extended than H-alpha emission, nine have a similar extent at 24 um and
H-alpha, and 13 show diffuse 24 um emission near the center of the H-alpha
shell. The sizes and surface brightnesses of these three groups of PNe and the
non-detections suggest an evolutionary sequence, with the youngest ones being
brightest and the most evolved ones undetected. The 24 um band emission from
these PNe is attributed to [O IV] 25.9 um and [Ne V] 24.3 um line emission and
dust continuum emission, but the relative contributions of these three
components depend on the temperature of the central star and the distribution
of gas and dust in the nebula.Comment: 24 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the Astronomical Journal, September
issue. Relace previous file; two references are added and typos are correcte
Solution processable direct bandgap copper-silver-bismuth iodide photovoltaics : compositional control of dimensionality and optoelectronic properties
Altres ajuts: SRR acknowledges the support from "laCaixa" Foundation (ID 100010434; LCF/BQ/PI20/11760024). Open access publishing facilitated by Monash University, as part of the Wiley - Monash University agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians.The search for lead-free alternatives to lead-halide perovskite photovoltaic materials resulted in the discovery of copper(I)-silver(I)-bismuth(III) halides exhibiting promising properties for optoelectronic applications. The present work demonstrates a solution-based synthesis of uniform CuAgBiI thin films and scrutinizes the effects of x on the phase composition, dimensionality, optoelectronic properties, and photovoltaic performance. Formation of pure 3D CuAgBiI at x = 1, 2D CuAgBiI at x = 2, and a mix of the two at 1 < x < 2 is demonstrated. Despite lower structural dimensionality, CuAgBiI has broader optical absorption with a direct bandgap of 1.89 ± 0.05 eV, a valence band level at -5.25 eV, improved carrier lifetime, and higher recombination resistance as compared to CuAgBiI. These differences are mirrored in the power conversion efficiencies of the CuAgBiI and CuAgBiI solar cells under 1 sun of 1.01 ± 0.06% and 2.39 ± 0.05%, respectively. The latter value is the highest reported for this class of materials owing to the favorable film morphology provided by the hot-casting method. Future performance improvements might emerge from the optimization of the CuAgBiI layer thickness to match the carrier diffusion length of ≈40-50 nm. Nonencapsulated CuAgBiI solar cells display storage stability over 240 days
Spitzer/IRAC Photometry of M, L, and T Dwarfs
We present the results of a program to acquire photometry for eighty-six
late-M, L, and T dwarfs using the Infrared Array Camera (IRAC) on the Spitzer
Space Telescope. We examine the behavior of these cool dwarfs in various
color-color and color-magnitude diagrams composed of near-IR and IRAC data. The
T dwarfs exhibit the most distinctive positions in these diagrams. In M_5.8
versus [5.8]-[8.0], the IRAC data for T dwarfs are not monotonic in either
magnitude or color, giving the clearest indication yet that the T dwarfs are
not a one parameter family in Teff. Because metallicity does not vary enough in
the solar neighborhood to act as the second parameter, the most likely
candidate then is gravity, which in turn translates to mass. Among objects with
similar spectral type, the range of mass suggested by our sample is about a
factor of five (~70 M_Jup to ~15 M_Jup), with the less massive objects making
up the younger members of the sample. We also find the IRAC 4.5 micron fluxes
to be lower than expected, from which we infer a stronger CO fundamental band
at ~4.67 microns. This suggests that equilibrium CH_4/CO chemistry
underestimates the abundance of CO in T dwarf atmospheres, confirming earlier
results based on M-band observations from the ground. In combining IRAC
photometry with near-IR JHK photometry and parallax data, we find the
combination of Ks, IRAC 3.6 micron, and 4.5 micron bands to provide the best
color-color discrimination for a wide range of M, L, and T dwarfs. Also
noteworthy is the M_Ks versus Ks-[4.5] relation, which shows a smooth
progression over spectral type and splits the M, L, and T types cleanly.Comment: 32 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication to ApJ: revised to
adjust acknowledgments, add a few more references, and the correct
typographical errors in text and tables 1 and 3 (note as binaries
sds0926+5847 and 2ma1553+1532
Spitzer Survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud, Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) I: Overview and Initial Results
We are performing a uniform and unbiased, ~7x7 degrees imaging survey of the
Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), using the IRAC and MIPS instruments on board the
Spitzer Space Telescope in order to survey the agents of a galaxy's evolution
(SAGE), the interstellar medium (ISM) and stars in the LMC. The detection of
diffuse ISM with column densities >1.2x10^21 H cm^-2 permits detailed studies
of dust processes in the ISM. SAGE's point source sensitivity enables a
complete census of newly formed stars with masses >3 solar masses that will
determine the current star formation rate in the LMC. SAGE's detection of
evolved stars with mass loss rates >1x10^-8 solar masses per year will quantify
the rate at which evolved stars inject mass into the ISM of the LMC. The
observing strategy includes two epochs in 2005, separated by three months, that
both mitigate instrumental artifacts and constrain source variability. The SAGE
data are non-proprietary. The data processing includes IRAC and MIPS pipelines
and a database for mining the point source catalogs, which will be released to
the community in support of Spitzer proposal cycles 4 and 5. We present initial
results on the epoch 1 data with a special focus on the N79 and N83 region. The
SAGE epoch 1 point source catalog has ~4 million sources. The point source
counts are highest for the IRAC 3.6 microns band and decrease dramatically
towards longer wavelengths consistent with the fact that stars dominate the
point source catalogs and that the dusty objects, e.g. young stellar objects
and dusty evolved stars that detected at the longer wavelengths, are rare in
comparison. We outline a strategy for identifying foreground MW stars, that may
comprise as much as 18% of the source list, and background galaxies, that may
comprise ~12% of the source list.Comment: Accepted by the Astronomical Journa
Spitzer survey of the Large Magellanic Cloud, surveying the agents of a galaxy's evolution (SAGE). IV. Dust properties in the interstellar medium
The goal of this paper is to present the results of a preliminary analysis of the extended infrared (IR) emission by dust in the interstellar medium (ISM) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). We combine Spitzer Surveying the Agents of Galaxy Evolution (SAGE) and Infrared Astronomical Satellite (IRAS) data and correlate the infrared emission with gas tracers of H I, CO, and Hα. We present a global analysis of the infrared emission as well as detailed modeling of the spectral energy distribution (SED) of a few selected regions. Extended emission by dust associated with the neutral, molecular, and diffuse ionized phases of the ISM is detected at all IR bands from 3.6 μm to 160 μm. The relative abundance of the various dust species appears quite similar to that in the Milky Way (MW) in all the regions we have modeled. We construct maps of the temperature of large dust grains. The temperature map shows variations in the range 12.1-34.7 K, with a systematic gradient from the inner to outer regions, tracing the general distribution of massive stars and individual H II regions as well as showing warmer dust in the stellar bar. This map is used to derive the far-infrared (FIR) optical depth of large dust grains. We find two main departures in the LMC with respect to expectations based on the MW: (1) excess mid-infrared (MIR) emission near 70 μm, referred to as the 70 μm excess, and (2) departures from linear correlation between the FIR optical depth and the gas column density, which we refer to as FIR excess emission. The 70 μm excess increases gradually from the MW to the LMC to the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), suggesting evolution with decreasing metallicity. The excess is associated with the neutral and diffuse ionized gas, with the strongest excess region located in a loop structure next to 30 Dor. We show that the 70 μm excess can be explained by a modification of the size distribution of very small grains with respect to that in the MW, and a corresponding mass increase of ≃13% of the total dust mass in selected regions. The most likely explanation is that the 70 μm excess is due to the production of large very small grains (VSG) through erosion of larger grains in the diffuse medium. This FIR excess could be due to intrinsic variations of the dust/gas ratio, which would then vary from 4.6 to 2.3 times lower than the MW values across the LMC, but X_(CO) values derived from the IR emission would then be about three times lower than those derived from the Virial analysis of the CO data. We also investigate the possibility that the FIR excess is associated with an additional gas component undetected in the available gas tracers. Assuming a constant dust abundance in all ISM phases, the additional gas component would have twice the known H I mass. We show that it is plausible that the FIR excess is due to cold atomic gas that is optically thick in the 21 cm line, while the contribution by a pure H_2 phase with no CO emission remains a possible explanation
The Science Case for an Extended Spitzer Mission
Although the final observations of the Spitzer Warm Mission are currently
scheduled for March 2019, it can continue operations through the end of the
decade with no loss of photometric precision. As we will show, there is a
strong science case for extending the current Warm Mission to December 2020.
Spitzer has already made major impacts in the fields of exoplanets (including
microlensing events), characterizing near Earth objects, enhancing our
knowledge of nearby stars and brown dwarfs, understanding the properties and
structure of our Milky Way galaxy, and deep wide-field extragalactic surveys to
study galaxy birth and evolution. By extending Spitzer through 2020, it can
continue to make ground-breaking discoveries in those fields, and provide
crucial support to the NASA flagship missions JWST and WFIRST, as well as the
upcoming TESS mission, and it will complement ground-based observations by LSST
and the new large telescopes of the next decade. This scientific program
addresses NASA's Science Mission Directive's objectives in astrophysics, which
include discovering how the universe works, exploring how it began and evolved,
and searching for life on planets around other stars.Comment: 75 pages. See page 3 for Table of Contents and page 4 for Executive
Summar
The Balloon-Borne Large Aperture Submillimeter Telescope (BLAST) 2005: A 10 deg^2 Survey of Star Formation in Cygnus X
We present Cygnus X in a new multi-wavelength perspective based on an
unbiased BLAST survey at 250, 350, and 500 micron, combined with rich datasets
for this well-studied region. Our primary goal is to investigate the early
stages of high mass star formation. We have detected 184 compact sources in
various stages of evolution across all three BLAST bands. From their
well-constrained spectral energy distributions, we obtain the physical
properties mass, surface density, bolometric luminosity, and dust temperature.
Some of the bright sources reaching 40 K contain well-known compact H II
regions. We relate these to other sources at earlier stages of evolution via
the energetics as deduced from their position in the luminosity-mass (L-M)
diagram. The BLAST spectral coverage, near the peak of the spectral energy
distribution of the dust, reveals fainter sources too cool (~ 10 K) to be seen
by earlier shorter-wavelength surveys like IRAS. We detect thermal emission
from infrared dark clouds and investigate the phenomenon of cold ``starless
cores" more generally. Spitzer images of these cold sources often show stellar
nurseries, but these potential sites for massive star formation are ``starless"
in the sense that to date there is no massive protostar in a vigorous accretion
phase. We discuss evolution in the context of the L-M diagram. Theory raises
some interesting possibilities: some cold massive compact sources might never
form a cluster containing massive stars; and clusters with massive stars might
not have an identifiable compact cold massive precursor.Comment: 42 pages, 31 Figures, 6 table
Spatial variations of dust abundances across the Large Magellanic Cloud
Using the data obtained with the Spitzer Space telescope as part of the
Surveying the Agents of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) legacy survey, we have
studied the variations of the dust composition and abundance across the Large
Magellanic Cloud (LMC). Such variations are expected, as the explosive events
which have lead to the formation of the many HI shells observed should have
affected the dust properties. Using a model and comparing with a reference
spectral energy distribution from our Galaxy, we deduce the relative abundance
variations of small dust grains across the LMC. We examined the infrared color
ratios as well as the relative abundances of very small grains (VSGs) and
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) relative to the big grain (BG)
abundance. Results show that each dust component could have different origins
or evolution in the interstellar medium (ISM). The VSG abundance traces the
star formation activity and could result from shattering of larger grains,
whereas the PAH abundance increases around molecular clouds as well as in the
stellar bar, where they could have been injected into the ISM during mass loss
from old stars.Comment: Received 2009 February 13; Accepted 2009 April 2