946 research outputs found
A study of the B and Be star population in the field of the LMC open cluster NGC2004 with VLT-FLAMES
Observations of hot stars belonging to the young cluster LMC-NGC2004 and its
surrounding region have been obtained with the VLT-GIRAFFE facilities in MEDUSA
mode. 25 Be stars were discovered; the proportion of Be stars compared to
B-type stars is found to be of the same order in the LMC and in the Galaxy
fields. 23 hot stars were discovered as spectroscopic binaries (SB1 and SB2), 5
of these are found to be eclipsing systems from the MACHO database, with
periods of a few days. About 75% of the spectra in our sample are polluted by
hydrogen (Halpha and Hgamma), [SII] and [NII] nebular lines. These lines are
typical of HII regions. They could be associated with patchy nebulosities with
a bi-modal distribution in radial velocity, with higher values (+335 kms^{-1})
preferentially seen inside the southern part of the known bubble LMC4 observed
in HI at 21 cm.Comment: 12 pages, 17 figures, accepted to A&
The CIDA Variability Survey of Orion OB1. I: the low-mass population of Ori OB 1a and 1b
We present results of a large scale, multi-epoch optical survey of the Ori
OB1 association, carried out with the QuEST camera at the Venezuela National
Astronomical Observatory. We identify for the first time the widely spread
low-mass, young population in the Orion OB1a and OB1b sub-associations.
Candidate members were picked up by their variability in the V-band and
position in color-magnitude diagrams. We obtained spectra to confirm
membership. In a region spanning ~ 68 deg^2 we found 197 new young stars; of
these, 56 are located in the Ori OB1a subassociation and 142 in Ori OB1b.
Comparison with the spatial extent of molecular gas and extinction maps
indicates that the subassociation Ori 1b is concentrated within a ring-like
structure of radius ~2 deg (~15 pc at 440 pc), centered roughly on the star
epsilon Ori in the Orion belt. The ring is apparent in 13CO and corresponds to
a region with an extinction Av>=1. The stars exhibiting strong Ha emission, an
indicator of active accretion, are found along this ring, while the center is
populated with weak Ha emitting stars. In contrast, Ori OB1a is located in a
region devoid of gas and dust. We identify a grouping of stars within a ~3
deg^2 area located in 1a, roughly clustered around the B2 star 25 Ori. The
Herbig Ae/Be star V346 Ori is also associated with this grouping, which could
be an older analog of sigma Ori. Using using several sets of evolutionary
tracks we find an age of 7 - 10 Myr for Ori 1a and of ~4 - 6 Myr for Ori OB1b,
consistent with previous estimates from OB stars. Indicators such as the
equivalent width of Ha and near-IR excesses show that while a substantial
fraction of accreting disks remain at ages ~5 Myr, inner disks are essentially
dissipated by 10 Myr.Comment: 44 pages, 12 figures, to appear in the Astronomical Journal.
(Abridged abstract - to fit length limit in astroph) Full resolution figures
in http://www.cida.ve/~briceno/publications
A Search for Very Low-mass Stars and Brown Dwarfs in the Young sigma Orionis Cluster
We present a CCD-based photometric survey covering 870 sq. arcmin in a young
stellar cluster around the young multiple star sigma Orionis. Our survey
limiting R, I, and Z magnitudes are 23.2, 21.8, and 21.0, respectively. From
our colour-magnitude diagrams, we have selected 49 faint objects, which
smoothly extrapolate the photometric sequence defined by more massive known
members. Adopting the currently accepted age interval of 2-10 Myr for the Orion
1b association and considering recent evolutionary models, our objects may span
a mass range from 0.1 down to 0.02 Msun, well within the substellar regime.
Follow-up low-resolution optical spectroscopy (635-920 nm) for eight of our
candidates (I=16-19.5) shows that they have spectral types M6-M8.5 which are
consistent with the expectations for true members. Compared with their Pleiades
counterparts of similar types, Halpha emission is generally stronger, while NaI
and KI absorption lines appear weaker, as expected for lower surface gravities
and younger ages. Additionally, TiO bands and in particular VO bands appear
clearly enhanced in our candidate with the latest spectral type, SOri 45 (M8.5,
I=19.5), compared to objects of similar types in older clusters and the field.
We have estimated the mass of this candidate at only 0.020-0.040 Msun, hence it
is one of the least massive brown dwarfs yet discovered. We also discuss in
this paper the potential role of deuterium as a tracer of both substellar
nature and age in very young clusters.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Main Journal. 32 pages of text and
tables + 9 pages of figures. Figures 3a and 3b (gif format) provided
separatel
Discovery of a new photometric sub-class of faint and fast classical novae
We present photometric and spectroscopic follow-up of a sample of
extragalactic novae discovered by the Palomar 60-inch telescope during a search
for "Fast Transients In Nearest Galaxies" (P60-FasTING). Designed as a fast
cadence (1-day) and deep (g < 21 mag) survey, P60-FasTING was particularly
sensitive to short-lived and faint optical transients. The P60-FasTING nova
sample includes 10 novae in M31, 6 in M81, 3 in M82, 1 in NGC2403 and 1 in
NGC891. This significantly expands the known sample of extragalactic novae
beyond the Local Group, including the first discoveries in a starburst
environment. Surprisingly, our photometry shows that this sample is quite
inconsistent with the canonical Maximum Magnitude Rate of Decline (MMRD)
relation for classical novae. Furthermore, the spectra of the P60-FasTING
sample are indistinguishable from classical novae. We suggest that we have
uncovered a sub-class of faint and fast classical novae in a new phase space in
luminosity-timescale of optical transients. Thus, novae span two orders of
magnitude in both luminosity and time. Perhaps, the MMRD, which is
characterized only by the white dwarf mass, was an over-simplification. Nova
physics appears to be characterized by quite a rich four-dimensional parameter
space in white dwarf mass, temperature, composition and accretion rate.Comment: Submitted to ApJ, 12 pages. High resolution version at
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~mansi/msFasting.pd
Rotational velocities of A-type stars. III. Velocity distributions
Aim - In this work, a sample of vsini of B9 to F2-type main sequence single
stars has been built from highly homogeneous vsini parameters determined for a
large sample cleansed from objects presenting the Am and Ap phenomenon as well
as from all known binaries. The aim is to study the distributions of rotational
velocities in the mass range of A-type stars for normal single objects.
Methods - Robust statistical methods are used to rectify the vsini
distributions from the projection effect and the error distribution. The
equatorial velocity distributions are obtained for an amount of about 1100
stars divided in six groups defined by the spectral type, under the assumption
of randomly orientated rotational axes.
Results - We show that late B and early A-type main-sequence stars have
genuine bimodal distributions of true equatorial rotational velocities due
probably to phenomena of angular momentum loss and redistribution the star
underwent before reaching the main sequence. A striking lack of slow rotators
is noticed among intermediate and late A-type stars. The bimodal-like shape of
their true equatorial rotational velocity distributions could be due to
evolutionary effects.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, accepted in A&
A representative sample of Be stars V. H alpha variability
Aims. We attempt to determine if a dependency on spectral subtype or vsinâi exists for stars undergoing phase-changes between B and Be states, as well as for those stars exhibiting variability in Hα emission.
Methods. We analysed the changes in Hα line strength for a sample of 55 Be stars of varying spectral types and luminosity classes using five epochs of observations taken over a ten year period between 1998 and 2010.
Results. We find i) that the typical timescale between which full phase transitions occur is most likely of the order of centuries, although no dependency on spectral subtype or vsinâi could be determined due to the low frequency of phase-changing events observed in our sample; ii) that stars with earlier spectral types and larger values of vsinâi show a greater degree of variability in Hα emission over the timescales probed in this study; and iii) a trend of increasing variability between the shortest and longest baselines for stars of later spectral types and with smaller values of vsinâi
Microguards and micromessengers of the genome
The regulation of gene expression is of fundamental importance to maintain organismal function and integrity and requires a multifaceted and highly ordered sequence of events. The cyclic nature of gene expression is known as âtranscription dynamicsâ. Disruption or perturbation of these dynamics can result in significant fitness costs arising from genome instability, accelerated ageing and disease. We review recent research that supports the idea that an important new role for small RNAs, particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), is in protecting the genome against short-term transcriptional fluctuations, in a process we term âmicroguardingâ. An additional emerging role for miRNAs is as âmicromessengersââthrough alteration of gene expression in target cells to which they are trafficked within microvesicles. We describe the scant but emerging evidence that miRNAs can be moved between different cells, individuals and even species, to exert biologically significant responses. With these two new roles, miRNAs have the potential to protect against deleterious gene expression variation from perturbation and to themselves perturb the expression of genes in target cells. These interactions between cells will frequently be subject to conflicts of interest when they occur between unrelated cells that lack a coincidence of fitness interests. Hence, there is the potential for miRNAs to represent both a means to resolve conflicts of interest, as well as instigate them. We conclude by exploring this conflict hypothesis, by describing some of the initial evidence consistent with it and proposing new ideas for future research into this exciting topic
Photometric Identification of the low-Mass Population of Orion OB1b I: The sigma Ori Cluster
We report an optical photometric survey of 0.89 sq. degrees of the Orion OB1b
association centered on sigma Ori. This region includes most of the sigma Ori
cluster, the highest density region within Orion OB1b. We have developed a
statistical procedure to identify the young, low-mass pre-main sequence
population of the association. We estimate that the cluster has ~160 members in
the mass range (0.2<M<1Msun). The cluster has a radius of ~3.5 pc and an
estimated age of 2.5+/-0.3 Myr. We estimate that the total mass of the cluster
is 225+/-30 Msun. This mass is similar to the estimated mass of the ~0.5 Myr
old cluster NGC 2024. NGC 2024 and sigma Ori appear to be a well matched pair
of clusters, except for the ~2 Myr difference in their ages.Comment: To be published in A
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