Keisarin joulutähti

Matteuksen evankeliumissa vastasyntynyttä Jeesuslasta kumartamaan saapuneet itäisten maiden tietäjät olivat nähneet juutalaisten kuninkaan syntymästä ilmoittavan tähden nousevan taivaalle, ja tuo tähti kulki heidän edellään ja osoitti Jeesuksen syntymäpaikan. Matteuksen mainitsemaa, Betlehemin yllä loistanutta valoa on yritetty selittää Jeesuksen tosiasiallisen syntymäajan - vuosien 8 ja 2 välillä ennen ajanlaskumme alkua - tähtitaivaan ilmiöillä, kiertotähtien kohtaamisella tai supernovan räjähdyksellä, mutta vakuuttavaa näyttöä ei ole saatu. Entäpä jos ratkaisu löytyykin aivan eri suunnasta

Nobelisteja Suomeen!

Nobel-palkintoa ei tullut Suomeen tänäkään vuonna. Mitä palkinto merkitsee yliopistolle, kaupalliselle yritykselle tai tutkijalle itselleen? Miksi tutkimuslaitokset liioittelevat saamiensa palkintojen määrää? Mitä voimme tehdä yltääksemme Nobel-laatuun? Artikkeli perustuu Tampereen yliopistossa 24.11.2007 pidettyyn lektioon

On the solar nickel and oxygen abundances

Determinations of the solar oxygen content relying on the neutral forbidden transition at 630 nm depend upon the nickel abundance, due to a Ni I blend. Here we rederive the solar nickel abundance, using the same ab initio 3D hydrodynamic model of the solar photosphere employed in the recent revision of the abundances of C, N, O and other elements. Using 17 weak, unblended lines of Ni I together with the most accurate atomic and observational data available we find log epsilon_Ni = 6.17 +/- 0.02 (statistical) +/- 0.05 (systematic), a downwards shift of 0.06 to 0.08 dex relative to previous 1D-based abundances. We investigate the implications of the new nickel abundance for studies of the solar oxygen abundance based on the [O I] 630 nm line in the quiet Sun. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the oxygen abundance implied by the recent sunspot spectropolarimetric study of Centeno & Socas-Navarro needs to be revised downwards from log epsilon_O = 8.86 +/- 0.07 to 8.71 +/- 0.10. This revision is based on the new nickel abundance, application of the best available gf-value for the 630 nm forbidden oxygen line, and a more transparent treatment of CO formation. Determinations of the solar oxygen content relying on forbidden lines now appear to converge around log epsilon_O = 8.7.Comment: v2 matches published versio

Experimental Pd II oscillator strengths and the palladium abundance in the HgMn-type star chi Lupi

Experimental oscillator strengths for 19 ultraviolet lines of Pd II have been derived from measurements of line intensities in calibrated Fourier transform spectra, combined with picosecond-pulse laser measurements of radiative lifetimes. Five of these 19 lines, in addition to other Pd nr lines, are present in Hubble Space Telescope/Goddard High-Resolution Spectrograph echelle spectra of the chemically peculiar HgMn star chi Lupi, yielding a palladium abundance of log (N-Pd) = +5.0, which is 3.3 dex above the solar abundance. Theoretical oscillator strengths have been calculated for all strong ultraviolet transitions associated with the lowest odd-parity configuration of Pd II

Bioorthogonal Swarming: In Situ Generation of Dendrimers

With the aid of bioorthogonal chemistry, we demonstrate the fabrication of synthetic dendrimers in situ around living cells. Using tetrazine dienophile and aminooxyl/hydrazide aldehyde chemistries, the density of functional groups on the dendrimers exponentially amplified intensities of fluorescent markers in antibody-targeted live cell imaging. This novel “swarming” approach highlights the power of bioorthogonal chemistry and provides a route to non-natural chemical structures on cells, paving the way for the generation of various artificial cellular nanostructures and scaffolds

Near-Infrared Classification Spectroscopy: H-band Spectra of Fundamental MK Standards

We present a catalogue of H-band spectra for 85 stars of approximately solar abundance observed at a resolving power of 3000 with the KPNO Mayall 4m FTS. The atlas covers spectral types O7-M5 and luminosity classes I-V as defined on the MK system. We identify both atomic and molecular indices and line-ratios which are temperature and luminosity sensitive allowing spectral classification to be carried out in the H-band. The line ratios permit spectral classification in the presence of continuum excess emission, which is commonly found in pre-main sequence and evolved stars. We demonstrate that with spectra of R = 1000 obtained at SNR > 50 it is possible to derive spectral types within +- 2 subclasses for late-type stars. These data are available electronically through the Astronomical Data Center in addition to being served on the World-Wide-Web.Comment: To appear in the November 20, 1998 issue of ApJ (Volume 508, #1

A few things we do not know about stars and model atmospheres

We list a few things that we do not understand about stars and that most people ignore. These are all hard problems. We can learn more cosmology by working on them to reduce the systematic errors they introduce than by trying to derive cosmological results that are highly uncertain.Comment: 12 pages. Presented at the conference, The Link between Stars and Cosmology, 26-30 March, 2001, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. To be published by Kluwer, eds. M. Chavez, A. Bressan, A. Buzzoni, and D. Mayy

Oscillator Strengths and Damping Constants for Atomic Lines in the J and H Bands

We have built a line list in the near-infrared J and H bands (1.00-1.34, 1.49-1.80 um) by gathering a series of laboratory and computed line lists. Oscillator strengths and damping constants were computed or obtained by fitting the solar spectrum. The line list presented in this paper is, to our knowledge, the most complete one now available, and supersedes previous lists.Comment: Accepted, Astrophysical Journal Supplement, tentatively scheduled for the Sep. 1999 Vol. 124 #1 issue. Text and tables also available at http://www.iagusp.usp.br/~jorge

Isotope shift in the electron affinity of chlorine

The specific mass shift in the electron affinity between ^{35}Cl and ^{37}Cl has been determined by tunable laser photodetachment spectroscopy to be -0.51(14) GHz. The isotope shift was observed as a difference in the onset of the photodetachment process for the two isotopes. In addition, the electron affinity of Cl was found to be 29138.59(22) cm^{-1}, giving a factor of 2 improvement in the accuracy over earlier measurements. Many-body calculations including lowest-order correlation effects demonstrates the sensitivity of the specific mass shift and show that the inclusion of higher-order correlation effects would be necessary for a quantitative description.Comment: 16 pages, 6 figures, LaTeX2e, amsmat