10,656 research outputs found
Prediction of biopore- and matrix-dominated flow from X-ray CT-derived macropore network characteristics
Peer reviewedPublisher PD
Variability Profiles of Millisecond X-Ray Pulsars: Results of Pseudo-Newtonian 3D MHD Simulations
We model the variability profiles of millisecond period X-ray pulsars. We
performed three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic simulations of disk accretion
to millisecond period neutron stars with a misaligned magnetic dipole moment,
using the pseudo-Newtonian Paczynski-Wiita potential to model general
relativistic effects. We found that the shapes of the resulting funnel streams
of accreting matter and the hot spots on the surface of the star are quite
similar to those for more slowly rotating stars obtained from earlier
simulations using the Newtonian potential. The funnel streams and hot spots
rotate approximately with the same angular velocity as the star. The spots are
bow-shaped (bar-shaped) for small (large) misalignment angles. We found that
the matter falling on the star has a higher Mach number when we use the
Paczynski-Wiita potential than in the Newtonian case.
Having obtained the surface distribution of the emitted flux, we calculated
the variability curves of the star, taking into account general relativistic,
Doppler and light-travel-time effects. We found that general relativistic
effects decrease the pulse fraction (flatten the light curve), while Doppler
and light-travel-time effects increase it and distort the light curve. We also
found that the light curves from our hot spots are reproduced reasonably well
by spots with a gaussian flux distribution centered at the magnetic poles. We
also calculated the observed image of the star in a few cases, and saw that for
certain orientations, both the antipodal hot spots are simultaneously visible,
as noted by earlier authors.Comment: 9 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ; corrected some
typo
Optical Observations of the Binary Millisecond Pulsars J2145-0750 and J0034-0534
We report on optical observations of the low-mass binary millisecond pulsar
systems J0034-0534 and J2145-0750. A faint (I=23.5) object was found to be
coincident with the timing position of PSR J2145-0750. While a galaxy or
distant main-sequence star cannot be ruled out, its magnitude is consistent
with an ancient white dwarf, as expected from evolutionary models. For PSR
J0034-0534 no objects were detected to a limiting magnitude of R=25.0,
suggesting that the white dwarf in this system is cold. Using white dwarf
cooling models, the limit on the magnitude of the PSR J0034-0534 companion
suggests that at birth the pulsar in this system may have rotated with a period
as short as 0.6 ms. These observations provide further evidence that the
magnetic fields of millisecond pulsars do not decay on time scales shorter than
1 Gyr.Comment: 6 pages, uuencoded, gz -9 compressed postscript, accepted by ApJ
Probing the Intergalactic Medium with Fast Radio Bursts
The recently discovered fast radio bursts (FRBs), presumably of
extra-galactic origin, have the potential to become a powerful probe of the
intergalactic medium (IGM). We point out a few such potential applications. We
provide expressions for the dispersion measure and rotation measure as a
function of redshift, and we discuss the sensitivity of these measures to the
HeII reionization and the IGM magnetic field. Finally we calculate the
microlensing effect from an isolate, extragalctic stellar-mass compact object
on the FRB spectrum. The time delays between the two lensing images will induce
constructive and destructive interference, leaving a specific imprint on the
spectra of FRBs. With a high all-sky rate, a large statistical sample of FRBs
is expected to make these applications feasible.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure; Typos for the variable x in Eq.6 corrected;
Published in ApJ; Originally the Appendix E of arXiv:1402.4766; Separated
from the main paper upon the referee's reques
Laboratory measurements and model sensitivity studies of dust deposition ice nucleation
We investigated the ice nucleating properties of mineral dust particles to understand the sensitivity of simulated cloud properties to two different representations of contact angle in the Classical Nucleation Theory (CNT). These contact angle representations are based on two sets of laboratory deposition ice nucleation measurements: Arizona Test Dust (ATD) particles of 100, 300 and 500 nm sizes were tested at three different temperatures (â25, â30 and â35 °C), and 400 nm ATD and kaolinite dust species were tested at two different temperatures (â30 and â35 °C). These measurements were used to derive the onset relative humidity with respect to ice (RH<sub>ice</sub>) required to activate 1% of dust particles as ice nuclei, from which the onset single contact angles were then calculated based on CNT. For the probability density function (PDF) representation, parameters of the log-normal contact angle distribution were determined by fitting CNT-predicted activated fraction to the measurements at different RH<sub>ice</sub>. Results show that onset single contact angles vary from ~18 to 24 degrees, while the PDF parameters are sensitive to the measurement conditions (i.e. temperature and dust size). Cloud modeling simulations were performed to understand the sensitivity of cloud properties (i.e. ice number concentration, ice water content, and cloud initiation times) to the representation of contact angle and PDF distribution parameters. The model simulations show that cloud properties are sensitive to onset single contact angles and PDF distribution parameters. The comparison of our experimental results with other studies shows that under similar measurement conditions the onset single contact angles are consistent within ±2.0 degrees, while our derived PDF parameters have larger discrepancies
Non-monotonic size dependence of the elastic modulus of nanocrystalline ZnO embedded in a nanocrystalline silver matrix
We present the first high pressure Raman study on nanocrystalline ZnO films
with different average crystallite sizes. The problem of low Raman signals from
nano sized particles was overcome by forming a nanocomposite of Ag and ZnO
nanoparticles. The presence of the nanodispersed Ag particles leads to a
substantial surface enhancement of the Raman signal from ZnO. We find that the
elastic modulus of nanocrystalline ZnO shows a non-monotonic dependence on the
crystallite size. We suggest that the non-monotonicity arises from an interplay
between the elastic properties of the individual grains and the intergranular
region.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figure
Effect of Magnetic Field-aligned Currents on VLF Emissions in the Magnetosphere
117-120The dispersion relation for the electromagnetic electron cyclotron waves in the presence of magnetic field-aligned currents has been obtained. The kinetic distribution of electrons for the main body of plasma with a temperature anisotropy and a loss cone distribution have been considered. In general, it has been seen that the current moving along the direction of resonant electrons reduce the growth rate. This effect has been analysed in the case of magnetospheric plasma to suggest possible correlations between the Birkeland currents and the emissions of very low frequency (VLF) electromagnetic waves
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