9,004 research outputs found
INTEGRAL observation of 3EG J1736-2908
The possible identification by INTEGRAL of the EGRET source 3EG J1736-2908
with the active galactic nucleus GRS 1734-292 is discussed. The latter was
discovered in 1990 and later identified with a Seyfert 1 galaxy. At the time of
the compilation of the 3rd EGRET Catalog, it was not considered as a possible
counterpart of the source 3EG J1736-2908, which remained unidentified. A
detailed multiwavelength study of the EGRET error circle is presented, by
including archival radio, soft- and hard-X observations, suggesting that GRS
1734-292 could be a likely counterpart of 3EG J1736-2908, even though this
poses very interesting questions about the production mechanisms of gamma-rays
with energies greater than 100 MeV.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures. Accepted for publication on A&A Main Journa
Understanding visual map formation through vortex dynamics of spin Hamiltonian models
The pattern formation in orientation and ocular dominance columns is one of
the most investigated problems in the brain. From a known cortical structure,
we build spin-like Hamiltonian models with long-range interactions of the
Mexican hat type. These Hamiltonian models allow a coherent interpretation of
the diverse phenomena in the visual map formation with the help of relaxation
dynamics of spin systems. In particular, we explain various phenomena of
self-organization in orientation and ocular dominance map formation including
the pinwheel annihilation and its dependency on the columnar wave vector and
boundary conditions.Comment: 4 pages, 15 figure
Sinh-Gordon, Cosh-Gordon and Liouville Equations for Strings and Multi-Strings in Constant Curvature Spacetimes
We find that the fundamental quadratic form of classical string propagation
in dimensional constant curvature spacetimes solves the Sinh-Gordon
equation, the Cosh-Gordon equation or the Liouville equation. We show that in
both de Sitter and anti de Sitter spacetimes (as well as in the black
hole anti de Sitter spacetime), {\it all} three equations must be included to
cover the generic string dynamics. The generic properties of the string
dynamics are directly extracted from the properties of these three equations
and their associated potentials (irrespective of any solution). These results
complete and generalize earlier discussions on this topic (until now, only the
Sinh-Gordon sector in de Sitter spacetime was known). We also construct new
classes of multi-string solutions, in terms of elliptic functions, to all three
equations in both de Sitter and anti de Sitter spacetimes. Our results can be
straightforwardly generalized to constant curvature spacetimes of arbitrary
dimension, by replacing the Sinh-Gordon equation, the Cosh-Gordon equation and
the Liouville equation by higher dimensional generalizations.Comment: Latex, 19 pages + 1 figure (not included
Atmospheric extinction coefficients in the band for several major international observatories: Results from the BiSON telescopes, 1984 to 2016
Over 30 years of solar data have been acquired by the Birmingham Solar
Oscillations Network (BiSON), an international network of telescopes used to
study oscillations of the Sun. Five of the six BiSON telescopes are located at
major observatories. The observational sites are, in order of increasing
longitude: Mount Wilson (Hale) Observatory (MWO), California, USA; Las Campanas
Observatory (LCO), Chile; Observatorio del Teide, Iza\~{n}a, Tenerife, Canary
Islands; the South African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO), Sutherland, South
Africa; Carnarvon, Western Australia; and the Paul Wild Observatory, Narrabri,
New South Wales, Australia. The BiSON data may be used to measure atmospheric
extinction coefficients in the band (approximately 700-900 nm),
and presented here are the derived atmospheric extinction coefficients from
each site over the years 1984 to 2016.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, 4 tables. Accepted by Astronomical Journal:
2017 July 2
Signatures of magnetic activity in the seismic data of solar-type stars observed by Kepler
In the Sun, the frequencies of the acoustic modes are observed to vary in
phase with the magnetic activity level. These frequency variations are expected
to be common in solar-type stars and contain information about the
activity-related changes that take place in their interiors. The unprecedented
duration of Kepler photometric time-series provides a unique opportunity to
detect and characterize stellar magnetic cycles through asteroseismology. In
this work, we analyze a sample of 87 solar-type stars, measuring their temporal
frequency shifts over segments of length 90 days. For each segment, the
individual frequencies are obtained through a Bayesian peak-bagging tool. The
mean frequency shifts are then computed and compared with: 1) those obtained
from a cross-correlation method; 2) the variation in the mode heights; 3) a
photometric activity proxy; and 4) the characteristic timescale of the
granulation. For each star and 90-d sub-series, we provide mean frequency
shifts, mode heights, and characteristic timescales of the granulation.
Interestingly, more than 60% of the stars show evidence for (quasi-)periodic
variations in the frequency shifts. In the majority of the cases, these
variations are accompanied by variations in other activity proxies. About 20%
of the stars show mode frequencies and heights varying approximately in phase,
in opposition to what is observed for the Sun.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJS, 19(+86) pages, 11(+89) figures,
2(+87) table
Seismic signatures of magnetic activity in solar-type stars observed by Kepler
The properties of the acoustic modes are sensitive to magnetic activity. The
unprecedented long-term Kepler photometry, thus, allows stellar magnetic cycles
to be studied through asteroseismology. We search for signatures of magnetic
cycles in the seismic data of Kepler solar-type stars. We find evidence for
periodic variations in the acoustic properties of about half of the 87 analysed
stars. In these proceedings, we highlight the results obtained for two such
stars, namely KIC 8006161 and KIC 5184732.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, to appear in the Proceedings of the IAUS34
KOI-3890: A high mass-ratio asteroseismic red-giantM-dwarf eclipsing binary undergoing heartbeat tidal interactions
KOI-3890 is a highly eccentric, 153-day period eclipsing, single-lined
spectroscopic binary system containing a red-giant star showing solar-like
oscillations alongside tidal interactions. The combination of transit
photometry, radial velocity observations, and asteroseismology have enabled the
detailed characterisation of both the red-giant primary and the M-dwarf
companion, along with the tidal interaction and the geometry of the system. The
stellar parameters of the red-giant primary are determined through the use of
asteroseismology and grid-based modelling to give a mass and radius of
and
respectively. When combined with
transit photometry the M-dwarf companion is found to have a mass and radius of
and
. Moreover, through
asteroseismology we constrain the age of the system through the red-giant
primary to be . This provides a constraint on
the age of the M-dwarf secondary, which is difficult to do for other M-dwarf
binary systems. In addition, the asteroseismic analysis yields an estimate of
the inclination angle of the rotation axis of the red-giant star of
degrees. The obliquity of the system\textemdash the
angle between the stellar rotation axis and the angle normal to the orbital
plane\textemdash is also derived to give degrees
showing that the system is consistent with alignment. We observe no radius
inflation in the M-dwarf companion when compared to current low-mass stellar
models.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Measurement of the branching ratio for beta-delayed alpha decay of 16N
While the 12C(a,g)16O reaction plays a central role in nuclear astrophysics,
the cross section at energies relevant to hydrostatic helium burning is too
small to be directly measured in the laboratory. The beta-delayed alpha
spectrum of 16N can be used to constrain the extrapolation of the E1 component
of the S-factor; however, with this approach the resulting S-factor becomes
strongly correlated with the assumed beta-alpha branching ratio. We have
remeasured the beta-alpha branching ratio by implanting 16N ions in a segmented
Si detector and counting the number of beta-alpha decays relative to the number
of implantations. Our result, 1.49(5)e-5, represents a 24% increase compared to
the accepted value and implies an increase of 14% in the extrapolated S-factor
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