20,442 research outputs found
The southern dust pillars of the Carina Nebula
We present preliminary results from a detailed study towards four previously
detected bright mid-infrared sources in the southern part of the Carina Nebula:
G287.73--0.92, G287.84--0.82, G287.93--0.99 and G288.07--0.80. All of these
sources are located at the heads of giant dust pillars that point towards the
nearby massive star cluster, Trumpler 16. It is unclear if these pillars are
the prime sites for a new generation of triggered star formation or if instead
they are the only remaining parts of the nebula where ongoing star fromation
can take place.Comment: 2 pages, to appear in the proceedings of "Hot Star Workshop III: The
Earliest Phases of Massive Star Birth" (ed. P.A. Crowther
Nonlinear stabilitty for steady vortex pairs
In this article, we prove nonlinear orbital stability for steadily
translating vortex pairs, a family of nonlinear waves that are exact solutions
of the incompressible, two-dimensional Euler equations. We use an adaptation of
Kelvin's variational principle, maximizing kinetic energy penalised by a
multiple of momentum among mirror-symmetric isovortical rearrangements. This
formulation has the advantage that the functional to be maximized and the
constraint set are both invariant under the flow of the time-dependent Euler
equations, and this observation is used strongly in the analysis. Previous work
on existence yields a wide class of examples to which our result applies.Comment: 25 page
The molecular environment of massive star forming cores associated with Class II methanol maser emission
Methanol maser emission has proven to be an excellent signpost of regions
undergoing massive star formation (MSF). To investigate their role as an
evolutionary tracer, we have recently completed a large observing program with
the ATCA to derive the dynamical and physical properties of molecular/ionised
gas towards a sample of MSF regions traced by 6.7 GHz methanol maser emission.
We find that the molecular gas in many of these regions breaks up into multiple
sub-clumps which we separate into groups based on their association
with/without methanol maser and cm continuum emission. The temperature and
dynamic state of the molecular gas is markedly different between the groups.
Based on these differences, we attempt to assess the evolutionary state of the
cores in the groups and thus investigate the role of class II methanol masers
as a tracer of MSF.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, IAU Symposium 242 Conference Proceeding
Multiple Molecular H2 Outflows in AFGL 618
We report high spatial (0.5 arcsec) and high spectral (9 km/s) resolution
spectro-imaging of the 2.12 micron H2 1-0 S(1) line in the proto-planetary
nebula AFGL 618 using BEAR at the CFHT. The observations reveal the presence of
multiple, high-velocity, molecular outflows that align with the remarkable
optical jets seen in HST images. The structure and kinematics of the outflows
show how jets interact with circumstellar gas and shape the environment in
which planetary nebulae form.Comment: 14 pages, 5 figures. To appear in The Astrophysical Journal Letter
A new earthquake catalogue for Bulgaria and the conterminous Balkan high hazard region
A new homogenous earthquake catalogue covering Bulgaria and the surrounding Balkan area has been created with intention of performing a consistent seismic hazard assessment across the region. In keeping with modern requirements of cataloguing seismicity, this catalogue has been made homogenous as far as possible with regards to magnitude, which has been provided on any of four different reported scales for each event; mb, Ms, Mw and ML. A key historical catalogue for the region has been used to represent the early instrumental period of earthquake recording (1900 to 1963), whilst data have been obtained from the International Seismological Centre (ISC), National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) and National Observatory of Athens (NOA) to cover the instrumental period of earthquake recording (1964 to 2004). ISC data have also been used to develop a new mbâMs magnitude conversion equation for the catalogued region. Application of this new magnitude conversion relation, in combination with other selected magnitude scale correlations, ensures reported magnitudes can be systematically rendered onto homogenized Ms and Mw scales for all earthquakes. This catalogue contains 3681 events with homogenized magnitudes â„4.0 Mw, for the time interval 1900 to 2004 (inclusive), located in the region bounded by 39°â45° N, 19°â29° E, at focal depths of 0.0 km to 401.0 km and in a magnitude range 4.0â€Mwâ€7.2. Selected large magnitude (Mâ„6.0 Ms) earthquakes have had their reported magnitudes reassessed â and adjusted if necessary â in light of work by other authors. Applied statistical approaches aimed at determining the lower threshold to magnitude completeness suggest this catalogue is complete down to a homogenized surface-wave magnitude of 4.6 Ms
Mapping warm molecular hydrogen with Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC)
Photometric maps, obtained with Spitzer's Infrared Array Camera (IRAC), can
provide a valuable probe of warm molecular hydrogen within the interstellar
medium. IRAC maps of the supernova remnant IC443, extracted from the Spitzer
archive, are strikingly similar to spectral line maps of the H2 pure rotational
transitions that we obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) instrument on
Spitzer. IRS spectroscopy indicates that IRAC Bands 3 and 4 are indeed
dominated by the H2 v=0-0 S(5) and S(7) transitions, respectively. Modeling of
the H2 excitation suggests that Bands 1 and 2 are dominated by H2 v=1-0 O(5)
and v=0-0 S(9). Large maps of the H2 emission in IC433, obtained with IRAC,
show band ratios that are inconsistent with the presence of gas at a single
temperature. The relative strengths of IRAC Bands 2, 3, and 4 are consistent
with pure H2 emission from shocked material with a power-law distribution of
gas temperatures. CO vibrational emissions do not contribute significantly to
the observed Band 2 intensity. Assuming that the column density of H2 at
temperatures T to T+dT is proportional to T raised to the power -b for
temperatures up to 4000 K, we obtained a typical estimate of 4.5 for b. The
power-law index, b, shows variations over the range 3 to 6 within the set of
different sight-lines probed by the maps, with the majority of sight-lines
showing b in the range 4 to 5. The observed power-law index is consistent with
the predictions of simple models for paraboloidal bow shocks.Comment: 27 pages, including 11 figures. Accepted for publication in Ap
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