7,179 research outputs found
ISM composition through X-ray spectroscopy of LMXBs
The diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) is an integral part of the evolution of
the entire Galaxy. Metals are produced by stars and their abundances are the
direct testimony of the history of stellar evolution. However, the interstellar
dust composition is not well known and the total abundances are yet to be
accurately determined. We probe ISM dust composition, total abundances, and
abundance gradients through the study of interstellar absorption features in
the high-resolution X-ray spectra of Galactic low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs).
We use high-quality grating spectra of nine LMXBs taken with XMM-Newton. We
measure the column densities of O, Ne, Mg, and Fe with an empirical model and
estimate the Galactic abundance gradients. The column densities of the neutral
gas species are in agreement with those found in the literature. Solids are a
significant reservoir of metals like oxygen and iron. Respectively, 15-25 % and
65-90 % of the total amount of O I and Fe I is found in dust. The dust amount
and mixture seem to be consistent along all the lines-of-sight (LOS). Our
estimates of abundance gradients and predictions of local interstellar
abundances are in agreement with those measured at longer wavelengths. Our work
shows that X-ray spectroscopy is a very powerful method to probe the ISM. For
instance, on a large scale the ISM appears to be chemically homogeneous showing
similar gas ionization ratios and dust mixtures. The agreement between the
abundances of the ISM and the stellar objects suggests that the local Galaxy is
also chemically homogeneous.Comment: 13 pages, 10 figures, 5 tables, accepted to A&
Thermal recovery of colour centres induced in cubic yttria-stabilized zirconia by charged particle irradiations
We have used electron paramagnetic resonance to study the thermal annealing
of colour centres induced in cubic yttria-stabilized zirconia by swift electron
and heavy ion-irradiations. Single crystals were irradiated with 1 or 2-MeV
electrons, and 200-MeV 127I, or 200-MeV 197Au ions. Electron and ion beams
produce the same colour centres: namely i) an F+-like centre, ii) the so-called
T-centre (Zr3+ in a trigonal oxygen local environment), and iii) a hole center.
Isochronal annealing was performed up to 973 K. Isothermal annealing was
performed at various temperatures on samples irradiated with 2-MeV electrons.
The stability of paramagnetic centres increases with fluence and with a TCR
treatment at 1373 K under vacuum prior to the irradiations. Two distinct
recovery processes are observed depending on fluence and/or thermal treatment.
The single-stage type I process occurs for F+-like centres at low fluences in
as-received samples, and is probably linked to electron-hole recombination.
T-centres are also annealed according to a single-stage process regardless of
fluence. The annealing curves allow one to obtain activation energies for
recovery. The two-stage type II process is observed only for the F+-like
centres in as-received samples, at higher fluences, or in reduced samples.
These centres are first annealed in a first stage below 550 K, like in type I,
then transform into new paramagnetic centres in a second stage above 550 K. A
simple kinetics model is proposed for this process. Complete colour centre
bleaching is achieved at about 1000 K
EAPC task force on education for psychologists in palliative care
It is argued that psychological aspects of care and psychosocial problems are essential components of palliative care. However, the provision of appropriate services remains somewhat arbitrary. Unlike medical and nursing care, which are clearly delivered by doctors and nurses respectively, psychological and psychosocial support in palliative care are not assigned exclusively to psychologists. It is generally expected that all professionals working in palliative care should have some knowledge of the psychological dynamics in terminal illness, as well as skills in communication and psychological risk assessment. On the one hand, palliative care education programmes for nurses and doctors comprise a considerable amount of psychological and psychosocial content. On the other hand, only a few palliative care associations provide explicit information on the role and tasks of psychologists in palliative care. Psychologists’ associations do not deal much with this issue either. If they refer to it at all, it is in the context of the care of the aged, end-of-life care or how to deal with grief
Glassy features of crystal plasticity
Crystal plasticity occurs by deformation bursts due to the avalanche-like
motion of dislocations. Here we perform extensive numerical simulations of a
three-dimensional dislocation dynamics model under quasistatic
stress-controlled loading. Our results show that avalanches are power-law
distributed, and display peculiar stress and sample size dependence: The
average avalanche size grows exponentially with the applied stress, and the
amount of slip increases with the system size. These results suggest that
intermittent deformation processes in crystalline materials exhibit an extended
critical-like phase in analogy to glassy systems, instead of originating from a
non-equilibrium phase transition critical point.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, Supplemental Material as an ancillary file,
accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Noise Rectification and Fluctuations of an Asymmetric Inelastic Piston
We consider a massive inelastic piston, whose opposite faces have different
coefficients of restitution, moving under the action of an infinitely dilute
gas of hard disks maintained at a fixed temperature. The dynamics of the piston
is Markovian and obeys a continuous Master Equation: however, the asymmetry of
restitution coefficients induces a violation of detailed balance and a net
drift of the piston, as in a Brownian ratchet. Numerical investigations of such
non-equilibrium stationary state show that the velocity fluctuations of the
piston are symmetric around the mean value only in the limit of large piston
mass, while they are strongly asymmetric in the opposite limit. Only taking
into account such an asymmetry, i.e. including a third parameter in addition to
the mean and the variance of the velocity distribution, it is possible to
obtain a satisfactory analytical prediction for the ratchet drift velocity.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, to be published on Europhysics Letters; some
references have been adde
Chandra imaging of the kpc extended outflow in 1H 0419-577
The Seyfert 1 galaxy 1H 0419-577 hosts a kpc extended outflow that is
evident in the [\ion{O}{iii}] image and that is also detected as a warm
absorber in the UV/X-ray spectrum. Here, we analyze a 30 ks Chandra-ACIS
X-ray image, with the aim of resolving the diffuse extranuclear X-ray emission
and of investigating its relationship with the galactic outflow. Thanks to its
sub-arcsecond spatial resolution, Chandra resolves the circumnuclear X-ray
emission, which extends up to a projected distance of at least 16 kpc
from the center. The morphology of the diffuse X-ray emission is spherically
symmetrical. We could not recover a morphological resemblance between the soft
X-ray emission and the ionization bicone that is traced by the [\ion{O}{iii}]
outflow. we argue that the photoionized gas nebula must be distributed mostly
along the polar directions, outside our line of sight. In this geometry, the
X-ray/UV warm absorber must trace a different gas component, physically
disconnected from the emitting gas, and located closer to the equatorial plane.Comment: accepted for publications A&
Unveiling the environment surrounding LMXB SAX J1808.4-3658
Low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) are a natural workbench to study accretion
disk phenomena and optimal background sources to measure elemental abundances
in the Interstellar medium (ISM). In high-resolution XMM-Newton spectra, the
LMXB SAX J1808.4-3658 showed in the past a neon column density significantly
higher than expected given its small distance, presumably due to additional
absorption from a neon-rich circumstellar medium (CSM). It is possible to
detect intrinsic absorption from the CSM by evidence of Keplerian motions or
outflows. For this purpose, we use a recent, deep (100 ks long),
high-resolution Chandra/LETGS spectrum of SAX J1808.4-3658 in combination with
archival data. We estimated the column densities of the different absorbers
through the study of their absorption lines. We used both empirical and
physical models involving photo- and collisional-ionization in order to
determine the nature of the absorbers. The abundances of the cold interstellar
gas match the solar values as expected given the proximity of the X-ray source.
For the first time in this source, we detected neon and oxygen blueshifted
absorption lines that can be well modeled with outflowing photoionized gas. The
wind is neon rich (Ne/O>3) and may originate from processed, ionized gas near
the accretion disk or its corona. The kinematics (v=500-1000 km/s) are indeed
similar to those seen in other accretion disks. We also discovered a system of
emission lines with very high Doppler velocities (v~24000 km/s) originating
presumably closer to the compact object. Additional observations and UV
coverage are needed to accurately determine the wind abundances and its
ionization structure.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication on A&
Velocity fluctuations in a one dimensional Inelastic Maxwell model
We consider the velocity fluctuations of a system of particles described by
the Inelastic Maxwell Model. The present work extends the methods, previously
employed to obtain the one-particle velocity distribution function, to the
study of the two particle correlations. Results regarding both the homogeneous
cooling process and the steady state driven regime are presented. In particular
we obtain the form of the pair correlation function in the scaling region of
the homogeneous cooling process and show that some of its moments diverge. This
fact has repercussions on the behavior of the energy fluctuations of the model.Comment: 16 pages, 1 figure, to be published on Journal of Statistical
Mechanics: Theory and Experiment
Thermal annealing study of swift heavy-ion irradiated zirconia
Sintered samples of monoclinic zirconia (alpha-ZrO2) have been irradiated at
room temperature with 6.0-GeV Pb ions in the electronic slowing down regime.
X-ray diffraction (XRD) and micro-Raman spectroscopy measurements showed
unambiguously that a transition to the 'metastable' tetragonal phase
(beta-ZrO2) occurred at a fluence of 6.5x10^12 cm-2 for a large electronic
stopping power value (approx 32.5 MeV m-1). At a lower fluence of
1.0x10^12 cm-2, no such phase transformation was detected. The
back-transformation from beta- to alpha-ZrO2 induced by isothermal or
isochronal thermal annealing was followed by XRD analysis. The
back-transformation started at an onset temperature around 500 K and was
completed by 973 K. Plots of the residual tetragonal phase fraction deduced
from XRD measurements versus annealing temperature or time are analyzed with
first- or second-order kinetic models. An activation energy close to 1 eV for
the back-transformation process is derived either from isothermal annealing
curves, using the so-called "cross-cut" method, or from the isochronal
annealing curve, using a second-order kinetic law. Correlation with the thermal
recovery of ion-induced paramagnetic centers monitored by EPR spectroscopy is
discussed. Effects of crystallite size evolution and oxygen migration upon
annealing are also addressed
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