722 research outputs found
The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey XXI. Stellar spin rates of O-type spectroscopic binaries
The initial distribution of spin rates of massive stars is a fingerprint of
their elusive formation process. It also sets a key initial condition for
stellar evolution and is thus an important ingredient in stellar population
synthesis. So far, most studies have focused on single stars. Most O stars are
however found in multiple systems. By establishing the spin-rate distribution
of a sizeable sample of O-type spectroscopic binaries and by comparing the
distributions of binary sub-populations with one another as well as with that
of presumed single stars in the same region, we aim to constrain the initial
spin distribution of O stars in binaries, and to identify signatures of the
physical mechanisms that affect the evolution of the massive stars spin rates.
We use ground-based optical spectroscopy obtained in the framework of the
VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS) to establish the projected equatorial
rotational velocities (\vrot) for components of 114 spectroscopic binaries in
30 Doradus. The \vrot\ values are derived from the full-width at half-maximum
(FWHM) of a set of spectral lines, using a FWHM vs. \vrot\ calibration that we
derive based on previous line analysis methods applied to single O-type stars
in the VFTS sample. The overall \vrot\ distribution of the primary stars
resembles that of single O-type stars in the VFTS, featuring a low-velocity
peak (at \vrot < 200 kms) and a shoulder at intermediate velocities (200 <
\vrot < 300 kms). The distributions of binaries and single stars however
differ in two ways. First, the main peak at \vrot \sim100 kms is broader and
slightly shifted toward higher spin rates in the binary distribution compared
to that of the presumed-single stars. Second, the \vrot distribution of
primaries lacks a significant population of stars spinning faster than 300 kms
while such a population is clearly present in the single star sample.Comment: 16 pages, 16 figures, paper accepted in Astronomy & Astrophysic
The VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey X: Evidence for a bimodal distribution of rotational velocities for the single early B-type stars
Aims: Projected rotational velocities (\vsini) have been estimated for 334
targets in the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula survey that do not manifest significant
radial velocity variations and are not supergiants. They have spectral types
from approximately O9.5 to B3. The estimates have been analysed to infer the
underlying rotational velocity distribution, which is critical for
understanding the evolution of massive stars.
Methods: Projected rotational velocities were deduced from the Fourier
transforms of spectral lines, with upper limits also being obtained from
profile fitting. For the narrower lined stars, metal and non-diffuse helium
lines were adopted, and for the broader lined stars, both non-diffuse and
diffuse helium lines; the estimates obtained using the different sets of lines
are in good agreement. The uncertainty in the mean estimates is typically 4%
for most targets. The iterative deconvolution procedure of Lucy has been used
to deduce the probability density distribution of the rotational velocities.
Results: Projected rotational velocities range up to approximately 450 \kms
and show a bi-modal structure. This is also present in the inferred rotational
velocity distribution with 25% of the sample having \ve100\,\kms
and the high velocity component having \ve\,\kms. There is no
evidence from the spatial and radial velocity distributions of the two
components that they represent either field and cluster populations or
different episodes of star formation. Be-type stars have also been identified.
Conclusions: The bi-modal rotational velocity distribution in our sample
resembles that found for late-B and early-A type stars. While magnetic braking
appears to be a possible mechanism for producing the low-velocity component, we
can not rule out alternative explanations.Comment: to be publisged in A&
Clinical effectiveness of unilateral deep brain stimulation in Tourette syndrome
Dysfunctional basal ganglia loops are thought to underlie the clinical picture of Tourette syndrome (TS). By altering dopaminergic activity in the affected neural structures, bilateral deep brain stimulation is assumed to have a modulatory effect on dopamine transmission resulting in an amelioration of tics. While the majority of published case reports deals with the application of bilateral stimulation, the present study aims at informing about the high effectiveness of unilateral stimulation of pallidal and nigral thalamic territories in TS. Potential implications and gains of the unilateral approach are discussed
Rotational properties of the O-type star population in the Tarantula region
The 30 Doradus (30\,Dor) region in the Large Magellanic Cloud (also known as
the Tarantula Nebula) is the nearest massive starburst region, containing the
richest sample of massive stars in the Local Group. It is the best possible
laboratory to investigate aspects of the formation and evolution of massive
stars. Here, we focus on rotation which is a key parameter in the evolution of
these objects. We establish the projected rotational velocity, ,
distribution of an unprecedented sample of 216 radial velocity constant
() O-type stars in 30\,Dor observed in
the framework of the VLT-FLAMES Tarantula Survey (VFTS). The distribution of
shows a two-component structure: a peak around 80 and a high-velocity tail extending up to 600 .
Around 75% of the sample has 0 200
with the other 25% distributed in the high-velocity tail. The presence of the
low-velocity peak is consistent with that found in other studies of late-O and
early-B stars. The high-velocity tail is compatible with expectations from
binary interaction synthesis models and may be predominantly populated by
post-binary interaction, spun-up, objects and mergers. This may have important
implications for the nature of progenitors of long-duration gamma ray bursts.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Conference proceedings article: Massive stars:
from alpha to Omega, 10-14 June 2013, Rhodes, Greec
Rotational velocities of single and binary O-type stars in the Tarantula Nebula
Rotation is a key parameter in the evolution of massive stars, affecting
their evolution, chemical yields, ionizing photon budget, and final fate. We
determined the projected rotational velocity, , of 330 O-type
objects, i.e. 210 spectroscopic single stars and 110 primaries in
binary systems, in the Tarantula nebula or 30 Doradus (30\,Dor) region. The
observations were taken using VLT/FLAMES and constitute the largest homogeneous
dataset of multi-epoch spectroscopy of O-type stars currently available. The
most distinctive feature of the distributions of the
presumed-single stars and primaries in 30 Dor is a low-velocity peak at around
100\,. Stellar winds are not expected to have spun-down the
bulk of the stars significantly since their arrival on the main sequence and
therefore the peak in the single star sample is likely to represent the outcome
of the formation process. Whereas the spin distribution of presumed-single
stars shows a well developed tail of stars rotating more rapidly than
300\,, the sample of primaries does not feature such a
high-velocity tail. The tail of the presumed-single star distribution is
attributed for the most part -- and could potentially be completely due -- to
spun-up binary products that appear as single stars or that have merged. This
would be consistent with the lack of such post-interaction products in the
binary sample, that is expected to be dominated by pre-interaction systems. The
peak in this distribution is broader and is shifted toward somewhat higher spin
rates compared to the distribution of presumed-single stars. Systems displaying
large radial velocity variations, typical for short period systems, appear
mostly responsible for these differences.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings IAU Symposium No. 307, 2014, 'New
windows on massive stars: asteroseismology, interferometry, and
spectropolarimetry
Cerebral activations related to ballistic, stepwise interrupted and gradually modulated movements in parkinson patients
Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience impaired initiation and inhibition of movements such as difficulty to start/stop walking. At single-joint level this is accompanied by reduced inhibition of antagonist muscle activity. While normal basal ganglia (BG) contributions to motor control include selecting appropriate muscles by inhibiting others, it is unclear how PD-related changes in BG function cause impaired movement initiation and inhibition at single-joint level. To further elucidate these changes we studied 4 right-hand movement tasks with fMRI, by dissociating activations related to abrupt movement initiation, inhibition and gradual movement modulation. Initiation and inhibition were inferred from ballistic and stepwise interrupted movement, respectively, while smooth wrist circumduction enabled the assessment of gradually modulated movement. Task-related activations were compared between PD patients (N = 12) and healthy subjects (N = 18). In healthy subjects, movement initiation was characterized by antero-ventral striatum, substantia nigra (SN) and premotor activations while inhibition was dominated by subthalamic nucleus (STN) and pallidal activations, in line with the known role of these areas in simple movement. Gradual movement mainly involved antero-dorsal putamen and pallidum. Compared to healthy subjects, patients showed reduced striatal/SN and increased pallidal activation for initiation, whereas for inhibition STN activation was reduced and striatal-thalamo-cortical activation increased. For gradual movement patients showed reduced pallidal and increased thalamo-cortical activation. We conclude that PD-related changes during movement initiation fit the (rather static) model of alterations in direct and indirect BG pathways. Reduced STN activation and regional cortical increased activation in PD during inhibition and gradual movement modulation are better explained by a dynamic model that also takes into account enhanced responsiveness to external stimuli in this disease and the effects of hyper-fluctuating cortical inputs to the striatum and STN in particular
Quantum key distribution and 1 Gbit/s data encryption over a single fibre
We perform quantum key distribution (QKD) in the presence of 4 classical
channels in a C-band dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)
configuration using a commercial QKD system. The classical channels are used
for key distillation and 1 Gbps encrypted communication, rendering the entire
system independent from any other communication channel than a single dedicated
fibre. We successfully distil secret keys over fibre spans of up to 50 km. The
separation between quantum channel and nearest classical channel is only 200
GHz, while the classical channels are all separated by 100 GHz. In addition to
that we discuss possible improvements and alternative configurations, for
instance whether it is advantageous to choose the quantum channel at 1310 nm or
to opt for a pure C-band configuration.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figure
Managing the Socially Marginalized: Attitudes Towards Welfare, Punishment and Race
Welfare and incarceration policies have converged to form a system of governance over socially marginalized groups, particularly racial minorities. In both of these policy areas, rehabilitative and social support objectives have been replaced with a more punitive and restrictive system. The authors examine the convergence in individual-level attitudes concerning welfare and criminal punishment, using national survey data. The authors\u27 analysis indicates a statistically significant relationship between punitive attitudes toward welfare and punishment. Furthermore, accounting for the respondents\u27 racial attitudes explains the bivariate relationship between welfare and punishment. Thus, racial attitudes seemingly link support for punitive approaches to opposition to welfare expenditures. The authors discuss the implications of this study for welfare and crime control policies by way of the conclusion
The Tarantula Massive Binary Monitoring: I. Observational campaign and OB-type spectroscopic binaries
© ESO, 2017.Context. Massive binaries play a crucial role in the Universe. Knowing the distributions of their orbital parameters is important for a wide range of topics from stellar feedback to binary evolution channels and from the distribution of supernova types to gravitational wave progenitors, yet no direct measurements exist outside the Milky Way. Aims. The Tarantula Massive Binary Monitoring project was designed to help fill this gap by obtaining multi-epoch radial velocity (RV) monitoring of 102 massive binaries in the 30 Doradus region. Methods. In this paper we analyze 32 FLAMES/GIRAFFE observations of 93 O- and 7 B-type binaries. We performed a Fourier analysis and obtained orbital solutions for 82 systems: 51 single-lined (SB1) and 31 double-lined (SB2) spectroscopic binaries. Results. Overall, the binary fraction and orbital properties across the 30 Doradus region are found to be similar to existing Galactic samples. This indicates that within these domains environmental effects are of second order in shaping the properties of massive binary systems. A small difference is found in the distribution of orbital periods, which is slightly flatter (in log space) in 30 Doradus than in the Galaxy, although this may be compatible within error estimates and differences in the fitting methodology. Also, orbital periods in 30 Doradus can be as short as 1.1 d, somewhat shorter than seen in Galactic samples. Equal mass binaries (q> 0.95) in 30 Doradus are all found outside NGC 2070, the central association that surrounds R136a, the very young and massive cluster at 30 Doradus's core. Most of the differences, albeit small, are compatible with expectations from binary evolution. One outstanding exception, however, is the fact that earlier spectral types (O2-O7) tend to have shorter orbital periods than later spectral types (O9.2-O9.7). Conclusions. Our results point to a relative universality of the incidence rate of massive binaries and their orbital properties in the metallicity range from solar (Z) to about half solar. This provides the first direct constraints on massive binary properties in massive star-forming galaxies at the Universe's peak of star formation at redshifts z ~ 1 to 2 which are estimated to have Z 0.5 Z
The Updated Zwicky Catalog (UZC)
The Zwicky Catalog of galaxies (ZC), with m_Zw<=15.5mag, has been the basis
for the Center for Astrophysics (CfA) redshift surveys. To date, analyses of
the ZC and redshift surveys based on it have relied on heterogeneous sets of
galaxy coordinates and redshifts. Here we correct some of the inadequacies of
previous catalogs by providing: (1) coordinates with <~2 arcsec errors for all
of the Nuzc catalog galaxies, (2) homogeneously estimated redshifts for the
majority (98%) of the data taken at the CfA (14,632 spectra), and (3) an
estimate of the remaining "blunder" rate for both the CfA redshifts and for
those compiled from the literature. For the reanalyzed CfA data we include a
calibrated, uniformly determined error and an indication of the presence of
emission lines in each spectrum. We provide redshifts for 7,257 galaxies in the
CfA2 redshift survey not previously published; for another 5,625 CfA redshifts
we list the remeasured or uniformly re-reduced value. Among our new
measurements, Nmul are members of UZC "multiplets" associated with the original
Zwicky catalog position in the coordinate range where the catalog is 98%
complete. These multiplets provide new candidates for examination of tidal
interactions among galaxies. All of the new redshifts correspond to UZC
galaxies with properties recorded in the CfA redshift compilation known as
ZCAT. About 1,000 of our new measurements were motivated either by inadequate
signal-to-noise in the original spectrum or by an ambiguous identification of
the galaxy associated with a ZCAT redshift. The redshift catalog we include
here is ~96% complete to m_Zw<=15.5, and ~98% complete (12,925 galaxies out of
a total of 13,150) for the RA(1950) ranges [20h--4h] and [8h--17h] and
DEC(1950) range [-2.5d--50d]. (abridged)Comment: 34 pp, 7 figs, PASP 1999, 111, 43
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