A Parallactic Distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the Orion Nebula Cluster from Very Long Baseline Array Observations

We determine the parallax and proper motion of the flaring, non-thermal radio star GMR A, a member of the Orion Nebula Cluster, using Very Long Baseline Array observations. Based on the parallax, we measure a distance of 389 +24/-21 parsecs to the source. Our measurement places the Orion Nebula Cluster considerably closer than the canonical distance of 480 +/- 80 parsecs determined by Genzel et al. (1981). A change of this magnitude in distance lowers the luminosities of the stars in the cluster by a factor of ~ 1.5. We briefly discuss two effects of this change--an increase in the age spread of the pre-main sequence stars and better agreement between the zero-age main-sequence and the temperatures and luminosities of massive stars.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, emulateapj, accepted to Ap

Mapping Hydrogen in the Galaxy, Galactic Halo, and Local Group with ALFA: The GALFA-HI Survey Starting with TOGS

Radio observations of gas in the Milky Way and Local Group are vital for understanding how galaxies function as systems. The unique sensitivity of Arecibo's 305m dish, coupled with the 7-beam Arecibo L-Band Feed Array (ALFA), provides an unparalleled tool for investigating the full range of interstellar phenomena traced by the HI 21cm line. The GALFA (Galactic ALFA) HI Survey is mapping the entire Arecibo sky over a velocity range of -700 to +700 km/s with 0.2 km/s velocity channels and an angular resolution of 3.4 arcminutes. We present highlights from the TOGS (Turn on GALFA Survey) portion of GALFA-HI, which is covering thousands of square degrees in commensal drift scan observations with the ALFALFA and AGES extragalactic ALFA surveys. This work is supported in part by the National Astronomy and Ionosphere Center, operated by Cornell University under cooperative agreement with the National Science Foundation.Comment: 3 pages, including 2 figure pages; figure image quality significantly reduced; for full resolution version, please see http://www.naic.edu/~gibson/cv/ao08_writeup.pdf ; to be published in AIP conference proceedings for ``The Evolution of Galaxies through the Neutral Hydrogen Window'', eds. R. Minchin & E. Momjia

The GALFA-HI Compact Cloud Catalog

We present a catalog of 1964 isolated, compact neutral hydrogen clouds from the Galactic Arecibo L-Band Feed Array Survey Data Release One (GALFA-HI DR1). The clouds were identified by a custom machine-vision algorithm utilizing Difference of Gaussian kernels to search for clouds smaller than 20'. The clouds have velocities typically between |VLSR| = 20-400 km/s, linewidths of 2.5-35 km/s, and column densities ranging from 1 - 35 x 10^18 cm^-2. The distances to the clouds in this catalog may cover several orders of magnitude, so the masses may range from less than a Solar mass for clouds within the Galactic disc, to greater than 10^4 Solar Masses for HVCs at the tip of the Magellanic Stream. To search for trends, we separate the catalog into five populations based on position, velocity, and linewidth: high velocity clouds (HVCs); galaxy candidates; cold low velocity clouds (LVCs); warm, low positive-velocity clouds in the third Galactic Quadrant; and the remaining warm LVCs. The observed HVCs are found to be associated with previously-identified HVC complexes. We do not observe a large population of isolated clouds at high velocities as some models predict. We see evidence for distinct histories at low velocities in detecting populations of clouds corotating with the Galactic disc and a set of clouds that is not corotating.Comment: 34 Pages, 9 Figures, published in ApJ (2012, ApJ, 758, 44), this version has the corrected fluxes and corresponding flux histogram and masse

An Accurate Distance to High-Velocity Cloud Complex C

We report an accurate distance of d = 10+/-2.5kpc to the high-velocity cloud Complex C. Using high signal-to-noise Keck/HIRES spectra of two horizontal-branch stars, we have detected CaII K absorption lines from the cloud. Significant non-detections toward a further 3 stars yield robust lower distance limits. The resulting HI mass of Complex C is 4.9^{+2.8}_{-2.2} x 10^6 Msun; a total mass of 8.2^{+4.6}_{-2.6} x 10^6 Msun is implied, after corrections for helium and ionization. At 10kpc, Complex C has physical dimensions 3x15 kpc, and if it is as thick as it is wide, then the average density is log ~ -2.5. We estimate the contribution of Complex C to the mass influx may be as high as ~0.14 Msun/yr.Comment: Resubmitted to ApJ. 8 figure

Retired A Stars and Their Companions II: Jovian planets orbiting kappa Coronae Borealis and HD167042

We report precise Doppler measurements of two evolved stars, kappa CrB (HD142091) and HD 167042, obtained at Lick Observatory as part of our search for planets orbiting intermediate-mass subgiants. Periodic variations in the radial velocities of both stars reveal the presence of substellar orbital companions. These two stars are notably massive with stellar masses of 1.80 Msun and 1.64 Msun, indicating that they are former A-type dwarfs that have evolved off of the main sequence and are now K-type subgiants. The planet orbiting kappa CrB has a minimum mass Msini = 1.8 Mjup, eccentricity e = 0.146 and a 1208 day period, corresponding to a semimajor axis of 2.7 AU. The planet around HD167042 has a minimum mass Msini = 1.7 Mjup and a 412.6 day orbit, corresponding to a semimajor axis of 1.3 AU. The eccentricity of HD167042b is consistent with circular (e = 0.027+/-0.04), adding to the rare class of known exoplanets in long-period, circular orbits similar to the Solar System gas giants. Like all of the planets previously discovered around evolved A stars, kappa CrBb and HD167042b orbit beyond 0.8 AU.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 4 tables, ApJ Accepte

Transmission of a global financial crisis shock to an emerging economy

Using a unique dataset consisting of all corporate loans in Pakistan, we study the impact of the global financial crisis (GFC) on the lending ability of its banking sector. We also take into account various bank and loan types along with extensive margins, firm size effects, and impact of information asymmetry. Our findings show that the Pakistani banking sector was indeed affected by the GFC as high exposure banks, who borrow relatively more internationally, reduce lending to local firms and this impact is larger for small firms. We also find differences in the lending ability of various bank types and loan types. By using direct information asymmetry measure, we find that banks reduced lending after the global financial crisis shock. However, the information gathered from the previous relationship of the borrower with relatively low exposure banks can overcome the negative financial shock and increase lending after the shock. These findings are very relevant in the context of the spillover effects of the GFC and have important policy implications for emerging markets

Kinetic energy of solid neon by Monte Carlo with improved Trotter- and finite-size extrapolation

The kinetic energy of solid neon is calculated by a path-integral Monte Carlo approach with a refined Trotter- and finite-size extrapolation. These accurate data present significant quantum effects up to temperature T=20 K. They confirm previous simulations and are consistent with recent experiments.Comment: Text and figures revised for minor corrections (4 pages, 3 figures included by psfig