4,724 research outputs found
Extending emission line Doppler tomography ; mapping modulated line flux
Emission line Doppler tomography is a powerful tool that resolves the
accretion flow in binaries on micro-arcsecond scales using time-resolved
spectroscopy. I present an extension to Doppler tomography that relaxes one of
its fundamental axioms and permits the mapping of time-dependent emission
sources. Significant variability on the orbital period is a common
characteristic of the emission sources that are observed in the accretion flows
of cataclysmic variables and X-ray binaries. Modulation Doppler tomography maps
sources varying harmonically as a function of the orbital period through the
simultaneous reconstruction of three Doppler tomograms. One image describes the
average flux distribution like in standard tomography, while the two additional
images describe the variable component in terms of its sine and cosine
amplitudes. I describe the implementation of such an extension in the form of
the maximum entropy based fitting code MODMAP. Test reconstructions of
synthetic data illustrate that the technique is robust and well constrained.
Artifact free reconstructions of complex emission distributions can be achieved
under a wide range of signal to noise levels. An application of the technique
is illustrated by mapping the orbital modulations of the asymmetric accretion
disc emission in the dwarf nova IP Pegasi.Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
Infusing Problem-Based Learning (PBL) Into Science Methods Courses Across Virginia
This article outlines the results of a collaborative study of the effects of infusing problem-based learning (PBL) into K-12 science methods courses across four universities in Virginia. Changes in pre-service teachers\u27 attitudes surrounding science teaching were measured before and after completing a science methods course in which they experienced PBL first-hand as participants, and then practiced designing their own PBL units for use in their future classrooms. The results indicate that exposure to PBL enhances pre-service teachers\u27 knowledge of inquiry methods and self-efficacy in teaching science
Reverberation Mapping of Active Galactic Nuclei
Reverberation mapping is a proven technique that is used to measure the size
of the broad emission-line region and central black hole mass in active
galactic nuclei. More ambitious reverberation mapping programs that are well
within the capabilities of Hubble Space Telescope could allow us to determine
the nature and flow of line-emitting gas in active nuclei and to assess
accurately the systematic uncertainties in reverberation-based black hole mass
measurements.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. To appear in Planets to Cosmology: Essential
Science in Hubble's Final Years, ed. M. Livio (Cambridge: CUP), in press
(2005
Estimating Be Star Disk Radii using H-alpha Emission Equivalent Widths
We present numerical models of the circumstellar disks of Be stars, and we
describe the resulting synthetic H-alpha emission lines and maps of the
wavelength-integrated emission flux projected onto the sky. We demonstrate that
there are monotonic relationships between the emission line equivalent width
and the ratio of the angular half-width at half maximum of the projected disk
major axis to the radius of the star. These relationships depend mainly upon
the temperatures of the disk and star, the inclination of the disk normal to
the line of sight, and the adopted outer boundary for the disk radius. We show
that the predicted H-alpha disk radii are consistent with those observed
directly through long baseline interferometry of nearby Be stars (especially
once allowance is made for disk truncation in binaries and for dilution of the
observed H-alpha equivalent width by continuum disk flux in the V-band).Comment: 12 pages, 2 figures, ApJL in pres
The evolution of the high energy tail in the quiescent spectrum of the soft X-ray transient Aql X-1
A moderate level of variability has been detected in the quiescent luminosity
of several neutron star soft X-ray transients. Spectral variability was first
revealed by Chandra observations of Aql X-1 in the four months that followed
the 2000 X-ray outburst. By adopting the canonical model for quiescent spectrum
of soft X-ray transients, i.e. an absorbed neutron star atmosphere model plus a
power law tail, Rutledge et al. (2002a) concluded that the observed spectral
variations can be ascribed to temperature variations of the neutron star
atmosphere. These results can hardly be reconciled with the neutron star
cooling that is expected to take place in between outbursts (after deep crustal
heating in the accretion phase). Here we reanalyse the Chandra spectra of Aql
X-1, together with a long BeppoSAX observation in the same period, and propose
a different interpretation of the spectral variability: that this is due to
correlated variations of the power law component and the column density (>5, a
part of which might be intrinsic to the source), while the temperature and flux
of the neutron star atmospheric component remained unchanged. This lends
support to the idea that the power law component arises from emission at the
shock between a radio pulsar wind and inflowing matter from the companion star.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures. Accepted for publication on Ap
Quantification of complementarity in multi-qubit systems
Complementarity was originally introduced as a qualitative concept for the
discussion of properties of quantum mechanical objects that are classically
incompatible. More recently, complementarity has become a \emph{quantitative}
relation between classically incompatible properties, such as visibility of
interference fringes and "which-way" information, but also between purely
quantum mechanical properties, such as measures of entanglement. We discuss
different complementarity relations for systems of 2-, 3-, or \textit{n}
qubits. Using nuclear magnetic resonance techniques, we have experimentally
verified some of these complementarity relations in a two-qubit system.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures (A display error about the figures in the
previous version
Emission Line Flickering from the Secondary Star in Cataclysmic Variables? A study of V3885 Sagitarii
Spectrophotometric observations of H-alpha and He I 6678 emission lines of
the nova-like Cataclysmic Variable V3885 Sgr are presented and analyzed. The
binary orbital period was determined as P = 0.20716071(22) days. Doppler
Tomography was performed with both H-alpha and He I lines. Disc radial
emissivity profiles were also computed. The tomography mapping of flickering
sources was performed using the H-alpha line, from which we concluded that the
flickering is not uniformly distributed on the disc. The observed tomogram of
the flickering was compared with simulations, suggesting that the most intense
flickering source in the H-alpha is not located in the accretion disc. It is
proposed that the main line flickering source may be associated with the
illuminated secondary star.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, 1 table. Accepted to be published on AJ. to
donwload high resolution figures:
http://www.astro.iag.usp.br/~fabiola/V3885_hires.pd
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