Kinematics in Kapteyn's Selected Area 76: Orbital Motions Within the Highly Substructured Anticenter Stream

We have measured the mean three-dimensional kinematics of stars in Kapteyn's Selected Area (SA) 76 (l=209.3, b=26.4 degrees) that were selected to be Anticenter Stream (ACS) members on the basis of their radial velocities, proper motions, and location in the color-magnitude diagram. From a total of 31 stars ascertained to be ACS members primarily from its main sequence turnoff, a mean ACS radial velocity (derived from spectra obtained with the Hydra multi-object spectrograph on the WIYN 3.5m telescope) of V_helio = 97.0 +/- 2.8 km/s was determined, with an intrinsic velocity dispersion sigma_0 = 12.8 \pm 2.1 km/s. The mean absolute proper motions of these 31 ACS members are mu_alpha cos (delta) = -1.20 +/- 0.34 mas/yr and mu_delta = -0.78 \pm 0.36 mas/yr. At a distance to the ACS of 10 \pm 3 kpc, these measured kinematical quantities produce an orbit that deviates by ~30 degrees from the well-defined swath of stellar overdensity constituting the Anticenter Stream in the western portion of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey footprint. We explore possible explanations for this, and suggest that our data in SA 76 are measuring the motion of a kinematically cold sub-stream among the ACS debris that was likely a fragment of the same infalling structure that created the larger ACS system. The ACS is clearly separated spatially from the majority of claimed Monoceros ring detections in this region of the sky; however, with the data in hand, we are unable to either confirm or rule out an association between the ACS and the poorly-understood Monoceros structure.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. 48 pages, 20 figures, preprint forma

Exploring Halo Substructure with Giant Stars: The Dynamics and Metallicity of the Dwarf Spheroidal in Bootes

We report the results of a spectroscopic study of the Bootes (Boo) dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxy carried out with the WIYN telescope and the Hydra multifiber spectrograph. Radial velocities have been measured for 58 Boo candidate stars selected to have magnitudes and colors consistent with its red and asymptotic giant branches. Within the 13' half-light radius, seven members of Boo yield a systemic velocity of V_r=95.6+-3.4 km/s and a velocity dispersion of 6.6+-2.3 km/s. This implies a mass on the order of 1 x 10^7 M_sun, similar to the inferred masses of other Galactic dSphs. Adopting a total Boo luminosity of L=1.8 x 10^4 L_sun to 8.6 x 10^4 L_sun implies M/L ~ 610 to 130, making Boo, the most distorted known Milky Way dwarf galaxy, potentially also the darkest. From the spectra of Boo member stars we estimate its metallicity to be [Fe/H] ~ -2.5, which would make it the most metal poor dSph known to date.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letter

Migrações na fase pelágica do Cherne, Polyprion americanus (Schneider, 1801), evidenciadas por marcação e recaptura

Vários chernes juvenis, Polyprion americanus (Schneider. 1801) foram capturados à superfície da água e marcados em vários locais próximos das ilhas do Grupo Central dos Açores. Um dos exemplares foi recapturado 3 meses depois ter sido marcado, a 217 km do local onde tinha sido libertado e a uma profundidade de 254 m. A recaptura deste espécime indica que o cherne passa para uma vida demersal quando atinge um comprimento total de cerca de 50 cm.ABSTRACT: Pelagic juvenile wreckfish, Polyprion americanus (Schneider, 1801) were tagged in the surface waters around the Central Group of the Azores. One wreckfish was recaptured three months after tagging, and 217 km from its release point. It had settled to the bottom in 254 m of water. The recapture of this specimen suggests that wreckfish take up a demersal life at a total length of about 50 cm

Large K-exciton dynamics in GaN epilayers: the non-thermal and thermal regime

We present a detailed investigation concerning the exciton dynamics in GaN epilayers grown on c-plane sapphire substrates, focussing on the exciton formation and the transition from the nonthermal to the thermal regime. The time-resolved kinetics of LO-phonon replicas is used to address the energy relaxation in the excitonic band. From ps time-resolved spectra we bring evidence for a long lasting non-thermal excitonic distribution which accounts for the rst 50 ps. Such a behavior is con rmed in di erent experimental conditions, both when non-resonant and resonant excitation are used. At low excitation power density the exciton formation and their subsequent thermalization is dominated by impurity scattering rather than by acoustic phonon scattering. The estimate of the average energy of the excitons as a function of delay after the excitation pulse provides information on the relaxation time, which describes the evolution of the exciton population to the thermal regime.Comment: 9 pages,8 figure

Thermal and magnetic properties of spin-1 magnetic chain compounds with large single-ion and in-plane anisotropies

The thermal and magnetic properties of spin-1 magnetic chain compounds with large single-ion and in-plane anisotropies are investigated via the integrable su(3) model in terms of the quantum transfer matrix method and the recently developed high temperature expansion method for exactly solved models. It is shown that large single-ion anisotropy may result in a singlet gapped phase in the spin-1 chain which is significantly different from the standard Haldane phase. A large in-plane anisotropy may destroy the gapped phase. On the other hand, in the vicinity of the critical point a weak in-plane anisotropy leads to a different phase transition than the Pokrovsky-Talapov transition. The magnetic susceptibility, specific heat and magnetization evaluated from the free energy are in excellent agreement with the experimental data for the compounds NiC_2H_8N_2)_2Ni(CN)_4 and Ni(C_{10}H_8N_2)_2Ni(CN)_4.H_2O.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, to appear in PR

Tracking the Longitudinal Stability of Medical Students’ Perceptions Using the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire and Serial Evaluation Surveys

Reports on a study that examined the longitudinal stability of student perceptions of their medical education over time, as measured by the AAMC Graduation Questionnaire survey and other satisfaction surveys. Presented at the AAMC (Association of American Colleges) Annual Meeting, RIME (Research in Medical Education) Program, November 2004

Interplay of static and dynamic effects in 6He+ 238U Fusion

We investigate the influence of the neutron halo and the breakup channel in 6He + 238U fusion at near-barrier energies. To include static effects of the 2n-halo in 6He nuclei, we use a single-folding potential obtained from an appropriate nucleon-238U interaction and a realistic 6He density. Dynamical effects arising from the breakup process are then included through coupled-channel calculations. These calculations suggest that static effects dominate the cross section at energies above the Coulomb barrier, while the sub-barrier fusion cross section appears to be determined by coupling to the breakup channel. This last conclusion is uncertain due to the procedure employed to measure the fusion cross-section.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figure

Nonlinear response of single-molecule nanomagnets: equilibrium and dynamical

We present an experimental study of the {\em nonlinear} susceptibility of Mn$_{12}$ single-molecule magnets. We investigate both their thermal-equilibrium and dynamical nonlinear responses. The equilibrium results show the sensitivity of the nonlinear susceptibility to the magnetic anisotropy, which is nearly absent in the linear response for axes distributed at random. The nonlinear dynamic response of Mn$_{12}$ was recently found to be very large and displaying peaks reversed with respect to classical superparamagnets [F. Luis {\em et al.}, Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 92}, 107201 (2004)]. Here we corroborate the proposed explanation -- strong field dependence of the relaxation rate due to the detuning of tunnel energy levels. This is done by studying the orientational dependence of the nonlinear susceptibility, which permits to isolate the quantum detuning contribution. Besides, from the analysis of the longitudinal and transverse contributions we estimate a bound for the decoherence time due to the coupling to the phonon bath.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figures, resubmitted to Phys. Rev. B with minor change