2,795 research outputs found
Searching for additional heating - [OII] emission in the diffuse ionized gas of NGC891, NGC4631 and NGC3079
We present spectroscopic data of ionized gas in the disk--halo regions of
three edge-on galaxies, NGC 891, NGC 4631 and NGC 3079, covering a wavelength
range from [\ion{O}{2}] 3727\AA to [\ion{S}{2}] 6716.4\AA.
The inclusion of the [\ion{O}{2}] emission provides new constraints on the
properties of the diffuse ionized gas (DIG), in particular, the origin of the
observed spatial variations in the line intensity ratios. We used three
different methods to derive electron temperatures, abundances and ionization
fractions along the slit. The increase in the [\ion{O}{2}]/H line ratio
towards the halo in all three galaxies requires an increase either in electron
temperature or in oxygen abundance. Keeping the oxygen abundance constant
yields the most reasonable results for temperature, abundances, and ionization
fractions. Since a constant oxygen abundance seems to require an increase in
temperature towards the halo, we conclude that gradients in the electron
temperature play a significant role in the observed variations in the optical
line ratios from extraplanar DIG in these three spiral galaxies.Comment: 43 pages, 29 figure
Magneto-quantum oscillations of the conductance of a tunnel point-contact in the presence of a single defect
The influence of a quantizing magnetic field to the conductance of a
tunnel point contact in the presence of the single defect has been considered.
We demonstrate that the conductance exhibits specific magneto-quantum
oscillations, the amplitude and period of which depend on the distance between
the contact and the defect. We show that a non-monotonic dependence of the
point-contact conductance results from a superposition of two types of
oscillations: A short period oscillation arising from electron focusing by the
field and a long period oscillation of Aharonov-Bohm-type originated from
the magnetic flux passing through the closed trajectories of electrons moving
from the contact to the defect and returning back to the contact.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figure
Controlled complete suppression of single-atom inelastic spin and orbital cotunnelling
The inelastic portion of the tunnel current through an individual magnetic
atom grants unique access to read out and change the atom's spin state, but it
also provides a path for spontaneous relaxation and decoherence. Controlled
closure of the inelastic channel would allow for the latter to be switched off
at will, paving the way to coherent spin manipulation in single atoms. Here we
demonstrate complete closure of the inelastic channels for both spin and
orbital transitions due to a controlled geometric modification of the atom's
environment, using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). The observed
suppression of the excitation signal, which occurs for Co atoms assembled into
chain on a CuN substrate, indicates a structural transition affecting the
d orbital, effectively cutting off the STM tip from the spin-flip
cotunnelling path.Comment: 4 figures plus 4 supplementary figure
First Detection of the Crab Pulsar above 100 GeV
We present the detection of pulsed gamma-ray emission from the Crab pulsar
above 100 GeV with the VERITAS array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes.
Gamma-ray emission at theses energies was not expected in pulsar models. The
detection of pulsed emission above 100 GeV and the absence of an exponential
cutoff makes it unlikely that curvature radiation is the primary production
mechanism of gamma rays at these energies.Comment: 5 pages, proceedings of the TAUP 2011 conference in Munich, German
Vibrationally Induced Two-Level Systems in Single-Molecule Junctions
Single-molecule junctions are found to show anomalous spikes in dI/dV
spectra. The position in energy of the spikes are related to local vibration
mode energies. A model of vibrationally induced two-level systems reproduces
the data very well. This mechanism is expected to be quite general for
single-molecule junctions. It acts as an intrinsic amplification mechanism for
local vibration mode features and may be exploited as a new spectroscopic tool.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Observation of electronic and atomic shell effects in gold nanowires
The formation of gold nanowires in vacuum at room temperature reveals a
periodic spectrum of exceptionally stable diameters. This is identified as
shell structure similar to that which was recently discovered for alkali metals
at low temperatures. The gold nanowires present two competing `magic' series of
stable diameters, one governed by electronic structure and the other by the
atomic packing.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Fast recovery of the magnetic vacuum configurations of the WEGA stellarator with error field effects
The Warm Ionized Medium in the Milky Way and Other Galaxies
Observations of the "Warm Ionized Medium" (or, equivalently, the "Diffuse
Ionized Gas") of the local ISM, the Perseus arm in the Milky Way, and also in
several other galaxies show strong [NII]6563 (~H-alpha in some cases) and
[SII]6717/[NII]6583 = 0.6 - 0.7 in all locations and objects. Other line ratios
(e.g., [O III]5007/H-beta) vary considerably. Simple photoionization models
reproduce the observed spectra, providing extra heating beyond that supplied by
photoionization is assumed (Reynolds, Haffner, & Tufte 1999). With observed
gas-phase abundances (not solar), the line ratios in the local arm at b = 0 deg
are fitted with no extra heating and (S/H) = 13 ppm (solar is 20 ppm). Local
gas observed at b = -35 deg requires extra heating of about gamma = 0.75, where
gamma is the extra heating in units of 10^{-25} erg H^{-1} s^{-1}. In the
Perseus arm, there are similar results, with a domposition consistent with the
Galactic abundance gradient. The requirements for NGC 891 are similar to the
Perseus arm: little or no extra heating at |z| = 1 kpc and gamma 3 at 2 kpc. In
NGC 891 there is also an increase of 5007/H-alpha with |z| that can only come
about if most of the ionizing radiation is supplied by stars with T~50000 K.
Either their radiation must propagate from the plane to high |z| through very
little intervening matter, or else the stars are located at high |z|. The total
power requirement of the extra heating is <15% of the photoionization power.
[O~II]3727/H-beta can serve as a useful diagnostic of extra heating, but
[S~III] 9065,9531/H-alpha is not useful in this regard.Comment: 32 pages, including 2 figures. To appear in November 20 Ap
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