Does Pulsar B1757--24 Have a Fallback Disk?

Radio pulsars are thought to spin-down primarily due to torque from magnetic dipole radiation (MDR) emitted by the time-varying stellar magnetic field as the star rotates. This assumption yields a `characteristic age' for a pulsar which has generally been assumed to be comparable to the actual age. Recent observational limits on the proper motion of pulsar B1757-24, however, revealed that the actual age (>39 kyr) of this pulsar is much greater than its MDR characteristic age (16 kyr) - calling into question the assumption of pure MDR spin-down for this and other pulsars. To explore the possible cause of this discrepancy, we consider a scenario in which the pulsar acquired an accretion disk from supernova ejecta, and the subsequent spin-down occurred under the combined action of MDR and accretion torques. A simplified model of the accretion torque involving a constant mass inflow rate at the pulsar magnetosphere can explain the age and period derivative of the pulsar for reasonable values of the pulsar magnetic field and inflow rate. We discuss testable predictions of this model.Comment: Accepted by ApJ Letters. 15 pages with 1 figur

Light Element Evolution and Cosmic Ray Energetics

Using cosmic-ray energetics as a discriminator, we investigate evolutionary models of LiBeB. We employ a Monte Carlo code which incorporates the delayed mixing into the ISM both of the synthesized Fe, due to its incorporation into high velocity dust grains, and of the cosmic-ray produced LiBeB, due to the transport of the cosmic rays. We normalize the LiBeB production to the integral energy imparted to cosmic rays per supernova. Models in which the cosmic rays are accelerated mainly out of the average ISM significantly under predict the measured Be abundance of the early Galaxy, the increase in [O/Fe] with decreasing [Fe/H] notwithstanding. We suggest that this increase could be due to the delayed mixing of the Fe. But, if the cosmic-ray metals are accelerated out of supernova ejecta enriched superbubbles, the measured Be abundances are consistent with a cosmic-ray acceleration efficiency that is in very good agreement with the current epoch data. We also find that neither the above cosmic-ray origin models nor a model employing low energy cosmic rays originating from the supernovae of only very massive progenitors can account for the $^6$Li data at values of [Fe/H] below $-$2.Comment: latex 19 pages, 2 tables, 10 eps figures, uses aastex.cls natbib.sty Submitted to the Astrophysical Journa

Possible Evidence For Axino Dark Matter In The Galactic Bulge

Recently, the SPI spectrometer on the INTEGRAL satellite observed strong 511 keV line emission from the galactic bulge. Although the angular distribution (spherically symmetric with width of \sim 9 degree) of this emission is difficult to account for with traditional astrophysical scenarios, light dark matter particles could account for the observation. In this letter, we consider the possibility that decaying axinos in an R-parity violating model of supersymmetry may be the source of this emission. We find that \sim 1-300 MeV axinos with R-parity violating couplings can naturally produce the observed emission.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure. Version accepted by Physical Review

HST Observations of SGR 0526-66: New Constraints on Accretion and Magnetar Models

Soft Gamma-ray Repeaters (SGRs) are among the most enigmatic sources known today. Exhibiting huge X- and Gamma-ray bursts and flares, as well as soft quiescent X-ray emission, their energy source remains a mystery. Just as mysterious are the Anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs), which share many of the same characteristics. Thanks to recent Chandra observations, SGR 0526-66, the first SGR, now appears to be a transition object bridging the two classes, and therefore observations of it have implications for both SGRs and AXPs. The two most popular current models for their persistent emission are accretion of a fossil disk or decay of an enormous (~10^15 G) magnetic field in a magnetar. We show how deep optical observations of SGR 0526-66, the only SGR with small enough optical extinction for meaningful observations, show no evidence of an optical counterpart. These observation place strong new constraints on both accretion disk and magnetar models, and suggest that the spectral energy distribution may peak in the hard-UV. Almost all accretion disks are excluded by the optical data, and a magnetar would require a ~10^15-10^16 G field.Comment: 23 pages, 5 figures. Accepted by Ap

On the Origin of Cosmic Magnetic Fields

We review the literature concerning how the cosmic magnetic fields pervading nearly all galaxies actually got started. some observational evidence involves the chemical abundance of the light elements Be and B, while another one is based on strong magnetic fields seen in high red shift galaxies. Seed fields, whose strength is of order 10^{-20} gauss, easily sprung up in the era preceding galaxy formation. Several mechanisms are proposed to amplify these seed fields to microgauss strengths. The standard mechanism is the Alpha-Omega dynamo theory. It has a major difficulty that makes unlikely to provide the sole origin. The difficulty is rooted in the fact that the total flux is constant. This implies that flux must be removed from the galactic discs. This requires that the field and flux be separated, for otherwise interstellar mass must be removed from the deep galactic gravitational and then their strength increased by the alpha omega theory.Comment: 90 pages and 6 figures; accepted for publication in Reports of Progress in Physics as an invited revie

Chiral separation of substituted phenylalanine analogues using chiral palladium phosphine complexes with enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction

Chiral palladium phosphine complexes have been employed in the chiral separation of amino acids and phenylalanine analogues in particular. The use of (S)-xylyl-BINAP as a ligand for the palladium complex in enantioselective liquid–liquid extraction allowed the separation of the phenylalanine analogues with the highest operational selectivity reported to date. 31P NMR, FTIR, FIR, UV-Vis, CD and Raman spectroscopy methods have been applied to gain insight into the binding mechanism of the amino acid substrates with the chiral palladium phosphine complexes. A complexation in a bidentate fashion is proposed.

In Quest of Educational Quality in the UAE

Quality assurance started as a corporate-related process in the 1960s but later became a highly sought-after objective in educational and academic contexts. The growing interest in quality assurance has been the result of government and business expectations, as well as competition in the higher education marketplace. One such growing market for quality assurance is the United Arab Emirates, where public formal education has only existed since the 1970s. This chapter focuses on the quest for what can be considered as the Holy Grail within the context of each of the previous chapters in this edited book, namely, quality education. The chapter offers a synopsis of the fast-paced developments and ongoing activities in quality assurance in education in the United Arab Emirates. Federal and emirate-based initiatives will be presented and discussed while reflecting on lessons learned and offering recommendations whenever possible

Heliospheric Transport of Neutron-Decay Protons

We report on new simulations of the transport of energetic protons originating from the decay of energetic neutrons produced in solar flares. Because the neutrons are fast-moving but insensitive to the solar wind magnetic field, the decay protons are produced over a wide region of space, and they should be detectable by current instruments over a broad range of longitudes for many hours after a sufficiently large gamma-ray flare. Spacecraft closer to the Sun are expected to see orders-of magnitude higher intensities than those at the Earth-Sun distance. The current solar cycle should present an excellent opportunity to observe neutron-decay protons with multiple spacecraft over different heliographic longitudes and distances from the Sun.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, to be published in special issue of Solar Physic

Decaying into the Hidden Sector

The existence of light hidden sectors is an exciting possibility that may be tested in the near future. If DM is allowed to decay into such a hidden sector through GUT suppressed operators, it can accommodate the recent cosmic ray observations without over-producing antiprotons or interfering with the attractive features of the thermal WIMP. Models of this kind are simple to construct, generic and evade all astrophysical bounds. We provide tools for constructing such models and present several distinct examples. The light hidden spectrum and DM couplings can be probed in the near future, by measuring astrophysical photon and neutrino fluxes. These indirect signatures are complimentary to the direct production signals, such as lepton jets, predicted by these models.Comment: 40 pages, 5 figure