Discovery of an OVI Emitting Nebula around the Hot White Dwarf KPD 0005+5106

A survey of diffuse interstellar sight lines observed with the Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer has led to the serendipitous discovery of a high-ionization nebula around the hot white dwarf KPD 0005+5106. The nebula has an OVI 1032A surface brightness of up to 25,000 photons/s/cm^2/sr, making it the brightest region of extended OVI emission in our survey. Photoionization models using the incident white dwarf continuum successfully reproduce the observed OVI intensity. The OVI emission arises in the highly ionized inner region of a planetary nebula around KPD 0005+5106. This newly discovered nebula may be one member of a class of high-ionization planetary nebulae that are difficult to detect in the optical, but which can be easily identified in the ultraviolet.Comment: accepted for publication in ApJL, 11 pages including 2 figure

Element Abundance Determination in Hot Evolved Stars

The hydrogen-deficiency in extremely hot post-AGB stars of spectral class PG1159 is probably caused by a (very) late helium-shell flash or a AGB final thermal pulse that consumes the hydrogen envelope, exposing the usually-hidden intershell region. Thus, the photospheric element abundances of these stars allow us to draw conclusions about details of nuclear burning and mixing processes in the precursor AGB stars. We compare predicted element abundances to those determined by quantitative spectral analyses performed with advanced non-LTE model atmospheres. A good qualitative and quantitative agreement is found for many species (He, C, N, O, Ne, F, Si, Ar) but discrepancies for others (P, S, Fe) point at shortcomings in stellar evolution models for AGB stars. Almost all of the chemical trace elements in these hot stars can only be identified in the UV spectral range. The Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer and the Hubble Space Telescope played a crucial role for this research.Comment: To appear in: Recent Advances in Spectroscopy: Theoretical, Astrophysical, and Experimental Perspectives, Proceedings, Jan 28 - 31, 2009, Kodaikanal, India (Springer

Physics of Event Generators

An event generator for nuclear collisions is a microscopic model, obtained from extrapolating elementary interactions -- as electron-positron annihilation, deep inelastic scattering, and proton-proton interactions -- towards proton-nucleus and nucleus-nucleus scattering, by using Monte Carlo techniques. In this paper, we will discuss the physical concepts behind such event generators. We first present some qualitative discussion of nuclear scattering, before discussing particle production and strings. We then discuss the parton model, and finally multiple scattering theory.Comment: Invited lecture, given at the Pan-American Advanced Study Institute "New States of Matter in Hadronic Interactions" Campos de Jordao, Brazil, January 7-18, 200

Drawer drive for space shuttle vacuum canister

A sliding drawer type canister was designed to contain long duration exposure facility experiments which require vacuum storage before and after space exposure. The elastomeric seals require high closing loads which are generated through camming levers and transmitted through a spring loaded pressure plate. Lubrication was provided by various dry surface coatings. Higher than expected friction required some redesign after which the assembly functioned well and provided good sealing

The Classical Stellar Atmosphere Problem

We introduce the classical stellar atmosphere problem and describe in detail its numerical solution. The problem consists of the solution of the radiation transfer equations under the constraints of hydrostatic, radiative and statistical equilibrium (non-LTE). We outline the basic idea of the Accelerated Lambda Iteration (ALI) technique and statistical methods which finally allow the construction of non-LTE model atmospheres considering the influence of millions of metal absorption lines. Some applications of the new models are presented.Comment: accepted for publication in The Journal of Computational and Applied Mathematics, Computational Astrophysics, eds. H. Riffert, K. Werne

Detection of non-radial g-mode pulsations in the newly discovered PG1159 star HE 1429-1209

We performed time-series photometry of the PG1159-type star HE 1429-1209, which was recently discovered in the ESO SPY survey. We show that the star is a low-amplitude (about 0.05 mag) non-radial g-mode pulsator with a period of 919s. HE 1429-1209 is among the hottest known post-AGB stars (Teff=160000 K) and, together with the known pulsator RX J2117.1+3412, it defines empirically the blue edge of the GW Vir instability strip in the HRD at high luminosities.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, to be published in A&

Is the centrality dependence of the elliptic flow v2v_2 and of the average <pT><p_T> in RHIC experiments more than a Core-Corona Effect?

Recently we have shown that the centrality dependence of the multiplicity of different hadron species observed in RHIC and SPS experiments can be well understood in a simple model, dubbed core-corona model. There it is assumed that those incoming nucleons which scatter only once produce hadrons as in pp collisions whereas those which scatter more often form an equilibrated source which decays according to phase space. In this article we show that also kinematical variables like $v_2/\epsilon_{part} (N_{part})$ as well as $v_2^i/\epsilon_{part} (N_{part})$ and $$of identified particles are well described in this model. The correlation of$$ between peripheral heavy ion collisions and pp collisions for different hadrons, reproduced in this model, questions whether hydrodynamical calculations are the proper tool to describe non-central heavy ion collision. The model explains as well the centrality dependence of $v_2/\epsilon_{part}$ of charged particles, considered up to now as an observable which allows to determine the viscosity of the quark gluon plasma. The observed dependence of $v_2^i/\epsilon_{part}(N_{part})$ on the particle species is a simple consequence of the different ratios of core to corona particles.Comment: Figure added, text partially rewritten, interpretation of v2 of identified particle