9,238 research outputs found
Ammonia observations in the LBV nebula G79.29+0.46. Discovery of a cold ring and some warm spots
The surroundings of Luminous Blue Variable (LBV) stars are excellent
laboratories to study the effects of their high UV radiation, powerful winds,
and strong ejection events onto the surrounding gas and dust. The LBV
G79.29+0.46 powered two concentric infrared rings which may interact with the
infrared dark cloud (IRDC) G79.3+0.3. The Effelsberg 100m telescope was used to
observe the NH_3 (1,1), (2,2) emission surrounding G79.29+0.46 and the IRDC. In
addition, we observed particular positions in the (3,3) transition toward the
strongest region of the IRDC. We report here the first coherent shell-like
structure of dense NH_3 gas associated with an evolved massive star. The shell,
two or three orders of magnitude more tenuous than the IRDC, is well traced in
both ammonia lines, and surrounds the ionized nebula. The NH_3 emission in the
IRDC is characterized by a low and uniform rotational temperature (T_rot ~ 10
K) and moderately high opacities in the (1,1) line. The rest of the observed
field is spotted by warm or hot zones (T_rot > 30 K) and characterized by
optically thin emission of the (1,1) line. The NH_3 abundances are about
10^{-8} in the IRDC, and 10^{-10}-10^{-9} elsewhere. The warm temperatures and
low abundances of NH_3 in the shell suggest that the gas is being heated and
photo-dissociated by the intense UV field of the LBV star. An outstanding
region is found to the south-west (SW) of the LBV star within the IRDC. The
NH_3 (3,3) emission at the centre of the SW region reveals two velocity
components tracing gas at temperatures > 30K. The northern edge of the SW
region agrees with the border of the ring nebula and a region of continuum
enhancement; here, the opacity of the (1,1) line and the NH_3 abundance do not
decrease as expected in a typical clump of an isolated cold dark cloud. This
strongly suggests some kind of interaction between the ring nebula and the
IRDC.Comment: 15 pages, 13 figures, accepted by A&A. Note the change of title with
respect to previous versio
Cosmological Magnetic Fields from Gauge-Mediated Supersymmetry-Breaking Models
We study the generation of primordial magnetic fields, coherent over
cosmologically interesting scales, by gravitational creation of charged scalar
particles during the reheating period. We show that magnetic fields consistent
with those detected by observation may obtained if the particle mean life
\tau_s is in the range 10^{-14} sec \leq \tau_s \leq 10{-7} sec. We apply this
mechanism to minimal gauge mediated supersymmetry-breaking models, in the case
in which the lightest stau \tilde\tau_1 is the next-to-lightest supersymmetric
particle. We show that, for a large range of phenomenologically acceptable
values of the supersymmetry-breaking scale \sqrt{F}, the generated primordial
magnetic field can be strong enough to seed the galactic dynamo.Comment: 12 pages, Latex. Final version accepted for publication in Phys.
Lett.
Faint emission lines in the Galactic H II regions M16, M20 and NGC 3603
We present deep echelle spectrophotometry of the Galactic {\hii} regions M16,
M20 and NGC 3603. The data have been taken with the Very Large Telescope
Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph in the 3100 to 10400 \AA range. We have
detected more than 200 emission lines in each region. Physical conditions have
been derived using different continuum and line intensity ratios. We have
derived He, C and O abundances from pure recombination
lines as well as abundances from collisionally excited lines for a large number
of ions of different elements. We have obtained consistent estimations of the
temperature fluctuation parameter, {\ts}, using different methods. We also
report the detection of deuterium Balmer lines up to D (M16) and to
D (M20) in the blue wings of the hydrogen lines, which excitation
mechanism seems to be continuum fluorescence. The temperature fluctuations
paradigm agree with the results obtained from optical CELs and the more
uncertain ones from far IR fine structure CELs in NGC 3603, although, more
observations covering the same volume of the nebula are necessary to obtain
solid conclusions.Comment: 22 pages, 13 Tables, 7 Figures. Accepted for publication by MNRA
Photon capture cones and embedding diagrams of the Ernst spacetime
The differences between the character of the Schwarzschild and Ernst
spacetimes are illustrated by comparing the photon capture cones, and the
embedding diagrams of the sections of the equatorial planes
of both the ordinary and optical reference geometry of these spacetimes. The
non-flat asymptotic character of the Ernst spacetime reflects itself in two
manifest facts: the escape photon cones correspond to purely outward radial
direction, and the embedding diagrams of both the ordinary and optical geometry
shrink to zero radius asymptotically. Using the properties of the embedding
diagrams, regions of these spacetimes which could have similar character are
estimated, and it is argued that they can exist for the Ernst spacetimes with a
sufficiently low strength of the magnetic field.Comment: 12 pages, 7 figure
Carbon and oxygen abundances from recombination lines in low-metallicity star-forming galaxies. Implications for chemical evolution
We present deep echelle spectrophotometry of the brightest emission-line
knots of the star-forming galaxies He 2-10, Mkn 1271, NGC 3125, NGC 5408, POX
4, SDSS J1253-0312, Tol 1457-262, Tol 1924-416 and the HII region Hubble V in
the Local Group dwarf irregular galaxy NGC 6822. The data have been taken with
the Very Large Telescope Ultraviolet-Visual Echelle Spectrograph in the
3100-10420 {\AA} range. We determine electron densities and temperatures of the
ionized gas from several emission-line intensity ratios for all the objects. We
derive the ionic abundances of C and/or O from faint pure
recombination lines (RLs) in several of the objects, permitting to derive their
C/H and C/O ratios. We have explored the chemical evolution at low
metallicities analysing the C/O vs. O/H, C/O vs. N/O and C/N vs. O/H relations
for Galactic and extragalactic HII regions and comparing with results for halo
stars and DLAs. We find that HII regions in star-forming dwarf galaxies occupy
a different locus in the C/O vs. O/H diagram than those belonging to the inner
discs of spiral galaxies, indicating their different chemical evolution
histories, and that the bulk of C in the most metal-poor extragalactic HII
regions should have the same origin than in halo stars. The comparison between
the C/O ratios in HII regions and in stars of the Galactic thick and thin discs
seems to give arguments to support the merging scenario for the origin of the
Galactic thick disc. Finally, we find an apparent coupling between C and N
enrichment at the usual metallicities determined for HII regions and that this
coupling breaks in very low-metallicity objects.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figures, Accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
HII Shells Surrounding Wolf-Rayet stars in M31
We present the results of an ongoing investigation to provide a detailed view
of the processes by which massive stars shape the surrounding interstellar
medium (ISM), from pc to kpc scales. In this paper we have focused on studying
the environments of Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in M31 to find evidence for WR
wind-ISM interactions, through imaging ionized hydrogen nebulae surrounding
these stars.
We have conducted a systematic survey for HII shells surrounding 48 of the 49
known WR stars in M31. There are 17 WR stars surrounded by single shells, or
shell fragments, 7 stars surrounded by concentric limb brightened shells, 20
stars where there is no clear physical association of the star with nearby
H-alpha emission, and 4 stars which lack nearby H-alpha emission. For the 17+7
shells above, there are 12 which contain one or two massive stars (including a
WR star) and that are <=40 pc in radius. These 12 shells may be classical WR
ejecta or wind-blown shells. Further, there may be excess H-alpha point source
emission associated with one of the 12 WR stars surrounded by putative ejecta
or wind-blown shells. There is also evidence for excess point source emission
associated with 11 other WR stars. The excess emission may arise from
unresolved circumstellar shells, or within the extended outer envelopes of the
stars themselves.
In a few cases we find clear morphological evidence for WR shells interacting
with each other. In several H-alpha images we see WR winds disrupting, or
punching through, the walls of limb-brightened HII shells.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figures (in several parts: some .jpg and others .ps),
accepted to AJ (appearing Oct, 1999
Spreading of thin films assisted by thermal fluctuations
We study the spreading of viscous drops on a solid substrate, taking into
account the effects of thermal fluctuations in the fluid momentum. A nonlinear
stochastic lubrication equation is derived, and studied using numerical
simulations and scaling analysis. We show that asymptotically spreading drops
admit self-similar shapes, whose average radii can increase at rates much
faster than these predicted by Tanner's law. We discuss the physical
realizability of our results for thin molecular and complex fluid films, and
predict that such phenomenon can in principal be observed in various flow
geometries.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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