20 research outputs found
Circumstellar interaction of the type Ia supernova 2002ic
We propose a model to account for the bolometric light curve, quasi-continuum
and the Ca II emission features of the peculiar type Ia supernova (SN) 2002ic,
which exploded in a dense circumstellar envelope. The model suggests that the
SN Ia had the maximum possible kinetic energy and that the ejecta expand in an
approximately spherically symmetric (possibly clumpy) circumstellar
environment. The Ca II and quasi-continuum are emitted by shocked SN ejecta
that underwent deformation and fragmentation in the intershock layer. Modeling
of the Ca II triplet implies that the contribution of the O I 8446 A line is
about 25% of the 8500 A feature on day 234, which permits us to recover the
flux in the Ca II 8579 A triplet from the flux of 8500 A blend reported by Deng
et al. (2004). We use the Ca II doublet and triplet fluxes on day 234 to derive
the electron temperature (~4400 K) in the Ca II line-emitting zone and the
ratio of the total area of dense fragments to the area of the shell, S/S_0 ~
100. We argue that Ca II bands and quasi-continuum originate from different
zones of the shocked ejecta that reflect the abundance stratification of the
supernova.Comment: 12 pages, MNRAS, in pres
Flow-Driven Cloud Formation and Fragmentation: Results From Eulerian and Lagrangian Simulations
The fragmentation of shocked flows in a thermally bistable medium provides a
natural mechanism to form turbulent cold clouds as precursors to molecular
clouds. Yet because of the large density and temperature differences and the
range of dynamical scales involved, following this process with numerical
simulations is challenging. We compare two-dimensional simulations of
flow-driven cloud formation without self-gravity, using the Lagrangian Smoothed
Particle Hydrodynamics (SPH) code VINE and the Eulerian grid code Proteus.
Results are qualitatively similar for both methods, yet the variable spatial
resolution of the SPH method leads to smaller fragments and thinner filaments,
rendering the overall morphologies different. Thermal and hydro-dynamical
instabilities lead to rapid cooling and fragmentation into cold clumps with
temperatures below 300K. For clumps more massive than 1 Msun/pc, the clump mass
function has an average slope of -0.8. The internal velocity dispersion of the
clumps is nearly an order of magnitude smaller than their relative motion,
rendering it subsonic with respect to the internal sound speed of the clumps,
but supersonic as seen by an external observer. For the SPH simulations most of
the cold gas resides at temperatures below 100K, while the grid-based models
show an additional, substantial component between 100 and 300K. Independently
of the numerical method our models confirm that converging flows of warm
neutral gas fragment rapidly and form high-density, low-temperature clumps as
possible seeds for star formation.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, MNRAS accepte
Supersonic turbulence in shock-bound interaction zones I: symmetric settings
Colliding hypersonic flows play a decisive role in many astrophysical
objects. In this paper, we look at the idealized model of a 2D plane parallel
isothermal slab (CDL) and at symmetric settings, where both flows have equal
parameters. We performed a set of high-resolution simulations with upwind Mach
numbers, 5 < M_u < 90.
We find that the CDL is irregularly shaped and has a patchy and filamentary
interior. The size of these structures increases with l_cdl, the extension of
the CDL. On average, but not at each moment, the solution is about self-similar
and depends only on M_u. We find the root mean square Mach number to scale as
M_rms ~ 0.2 M_u. Independent of M_u is the mean density, rho_m ~ 30 rho_u. The
fraction f_eff of the upwind kinetic energy that survives shock passage scales
as f_eff= 1 - M_rms^(-0.6). This dependence persists if the upwind flow
parameters differ from one side to the other of the CDL, indicating that the
turbulence within the CDL and its driving are mutually coupled. In the same
direction points the finding that the auto-correlation length of the confining
shocks and the characteristic length scale of the turbulence within the CDL are
proportional.
In summary, larger upstream Mach numbers lead to a faster expanding CDL with
more strongly inclined confining interfaces relative to the upstream flows,
more efficient driving, and finer interior structure relative to the extension
of the CDL.Comment: version sent to publisher, final language/typo corrections made. 23
pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in A&A, version with high quality
color images can be found at
http://www.astro.phys.ethz.ch/papers/folini/folini_p_nf.htm
Radiometric monitoring of atmospheric water vapor as it pertains to phase correction in millimeter interferometry
Water vapor in the Earth's troposphere produces
fluctuations in the phase of millimeter-wavelength radiation
from astronomical sources.
Such fluctuations seriously limit the spatial resolution
achievable with current millimeter interferometers.
Since water vapor is also a source of atmospheric
opacity at these wavelengths, radiometric measurements
of sky brightness may be used to monitor the fluctuating
water vapor content of the atmosphere and
thereby the fluctuations in the interferometric phase.
The atmospheric opacity depends on the frequency
and on the physical conditions of those
atmospheric regions in which the water vapor is located.
Atmospheric temperature influences the strengths of the various
absorption lines, and pressure influences the degree of line broadening.
The magnitude of the phase fluctuations
relative to the brightness fluctuations
is therefore also dependent on frequency, temperature, and pressure.
The frequency of a radiometric monitoring system may be chosen
to minimize the dependence of this ratio on the atmospheric parameters.â©
Human adipocyte glucose transport system. Biochemical and functional heterogeneity of hexose carriers.
We have investigated glucose transport proteins in isolated human adipocytes. Using the cytochalasin B binding assay to measure glucose transporters in subcellular membrane subfractions, we found that insulin induced translocation of intracellular glucose transporters to the cell surface. Isoelectric focusing of glucose transporters photolabeled with [3H]cytochalasin B revealed two distinct glucose transporter isoforms in low density microsomes focusing at pH 5.6 and pH 6.4, but only the pH 5.6 isoform was detectable in plasma membranes and only the pH 6.4 form was found in the high density microsomes. Insulin recruited only the pH 5.6 glucose transporter from the low density microsomes to the plasma membrane with no effect on the pH 6.4 transporter isoform. The results suggest that the pH 6.4 species is an immature form of the glucose transporter initially located in the high-density microsome fraction, which then migrates to the low-density microsomes where it matures (converted to pH 5.6 species) and becomes available for insulin-mediated recruitment to the plasma membrane
Human adipocyte glucose transport system. Biochemical and functional heterogeneity of hexose carriers.
Reduced reshock growth in a convergent/divergent system: Effect of reshock strength
The Richtmyer-Meshkov instability creates or seeds
hydrodynamic instabilities that will mix cold shell material into the hot DT
fuel in an ignition capsule and may prevent ignition. Characteristic of this
process is multiple shocks crossing converging interfaces. To mimic this
situation, strong converging shocks were created, passed over an unstable
interface, reflected by an inner cylinder, and then reshocked the interface.
Analysis of the mix width at the unstable surface shows no additional
growth, within experimental uncertainty, due to an initially perturbed
surface and no dependence on reshock strength