2,973 research outputs found
Discovery of an Ultracool White Dwarf Companion
The discovery of a low luminosity common proper motion companion to the white
dwarf GD392 at a wide separation of is reported. photometry
suggests a low temperature ( K) while data strongly
indicate suppressed flux at all near infrared wavelengths. Thus, GD392B is one
of the few white dwarfs to show significant collision induced absorption due to
the presence of photospheric and the first ultracool white dwarf
detected as a companion to another star. Models fail to explain GD392B as a
normal mass white dwarf. If correct, the cool companion may be explained as a
low mass white dwarf or unresolved double degenerate. The similarities of
GD392B to known ultracool degenerates are discussed, including some possible
implications for the faint end of the white dwarf luminosity function.Comment: 27 pages, 9 figures, 4 tables, re-accepted to ApJ after some revisio
The Ultramassive White Dwarf EUVE J1746-706
We have obtained new optical and extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectroscopy of
the ultramassive white dwarf EUVE J1746-706. We revise Vennes et al.'s (1996a,
ApJ, 467, 784) original estimates of the atmospheric parameters and we measure
an effective temperature of 46,500 +/- 700 K and a surface gravity log g = 9.05
+/- 0.15 (~1.2 M_o), in agreement with Balmer line profiles and the EUV
continuum. We derive an upper limit on the atmospheric abundance of helium of
He/H = 1.3 x 10^{-4} and a neutral hydrogen column density in the local
interstellar medium N_HI = 1.8 +/- 0.4 x 10^{19} cm^{-2} from the EUV spectrum.
Our upper limit corresponds to half the helium abundance observed in the
atmosphere of the ultramassive white dwarf GD 50. We discuss the possibility
that EUVE J1746-706 represents an earlier phase of evolution relative to GD 50
and may, therefore, help us understand the origin and evolution of massive
white dwarfs.Comment: 6 pages, 4 postscript figures, uses aastex, to be published in ApJ
Letter
Recall termination in free recall
Although much is known about the dynamics of\ud
memory search in the free recall task, relatively little is\ud
known about the factors related to recall termination. Rean-\ud
alyzing individual trial data from 14 prior studies (1,079\ud
participants in 28,015 trials) and defining termination as\ud
occurring when a final response is followed by a long\ud
nonresponse interval, we observed that termination proba-\ud
bility increased throughout the recall period and that retriev-\ud
al was more likely to terminate following an error than\ud
following a correct response. Among errors, termination\ud
probability was higher following prior-list intrusions and\ud
repetitions than following extralist intrusions. To verify that\ud
this pattern of results can be seen in a single study, we report\ud
a new experiment in which 80 participants contributed recall\ud
data from a total of 9,122 trials. This experiment replicated\ud
the pattern observed in the aggregate analysis of the prior\ud
studies.\u
- …