1,240 research outputs found
Limits on radio emission from pulsar wind nebulae
We report on a sensitive survey for radio pulsar wind nebulae (PWN) towards
27 energetic and/or high velocity pulsars. Observations were carried out at 1.4
GHz using the Very Large Array and the Australia Telescope Compact Array, and
utilised pulsar-gating to search for off-pulse emission. These observing
parameters resulted in a considerably more sensitive search than previous
surveys, and could detect PWN over a much wider range of spatial scales (and
hence ambient densities and pulsar velocities). However, no emission clearly
corresponding to a PWN was discovered. Based on these non-detections we argue
that the young and energetic pulsars in our sample have winds typical of young
pulsars, but produce unobservable PWN because they reside in low density (n
approx 0.003 cm^-3) regions of the ISM. However, non-detections of PWN around
older and less energetic pulsars can only be explained if the radio luminosity
of their winds is less than 1e-5 of their spin-down luminosity, implying an
efficiency at least an order of magnitude smaller than that seen for young
pulsars.Comment: 9 pages, 3 embedded EPS files. Accepted to MNRA
Convergent evolution of levee building behavior among distantly related ant species in a floodplain ant assemblage
Flooding impacts ground nesting ant colonies by destroying the infrastructure housing and organizing societal function. Here, we report the convergent evolution in distantly related ant species of a behavioral trait that minimizes costs of flooding: the construction of earthen levees around nest entrances. In a South American floodplain ecosystem, we observed five ant species constructing prominent earthen berms encircling nest entrances shortly after large rainfall events. In four of these species, experimental flooding of nests demonstrated that earthen berms sufficed to prevent floodwaters from entering the below ground portions of the nest. Additional manipulations revealed that levee breaching caused, pronounced, and extended reductions in food collection for two distantly related species. Foraging was preempted by the allocation of workers to repair the internal structure of the nest. These findings represent convergent evolution of a functionally important nest construction behavior in response to comparable selective forces
A VLA Search for the Geminga Pulsar: A Bayesian Limit on a Scintillating Source
We derive an upper limit of 3 mJy (95% confidence) for the flux density at
317 MHz of the Geminga pulsar (J0633+1746). Our results are based on 7 hours of
fast-sampled VLA data, which we averaged synchronously with the pulse period
using a period model based on CGRO/EGRET gamma-ray data. Our limit accounts for
the fact that this pulsar is most likely subject to interstellar scintillations
on a timescale much shorter than our observing span. Our Bayesian method is
quite general and can be applied to calculate the fluxes of other scintillated
sources. We also present a Bayesian technique for calculating the flux in a
pulsed signal of unknown width and phase.
Comparing our upper limit of 3 mJy with the quoted flux density of Geminga at
102 MHz, we calculate a lower limit to its spectral index of 2.7. We discuss
some possible reasons for Geminga's weakness at radio wavelengths, and the
likelihood that many of the unidentified EGRET sources are also radio-quiet or
radio-weak Geminga-like pulsars.Comment: 27 pages, including figures. Published in Ap
The Shape and Scale of Galactic Rotation from Cepheid Kinematics
A catalog of Cepheid variables is used to probe the kinematics of the
Galactic disk. Radial velocities are measured for eight distant Cepheids toward
l = 300; these new Cepheids provide a particularly good constraint on the
distance to the Galactic center, R_0. We model the disk with both an
axisymmetric rotation curve and one with a weak elliptical component, and find
evidence for an ellipticity of 0.043 +/- 0.016 near the Sun. Using these
models, we derive R_0 = 7.66 +/- 0.32 kpc and v_circ = 237 +/- 12 km/s. The
distance to the Galactic center agrees well with recent determinations from the
distribution of RR Lyrae variables, and disfavors most models with large
ellipticities at the solar orbit.Comment: 36 pages, LaTeX, 10 figure
Polarimetric Properties of the Crab Pulsar between 1.4 and 8.4 GHz
New polarimetric observations of the Crab pulsar at frequencies between 1.4
and 8.4 GHz are presented. Additional pulse components discovered in earlier
observations (Moffett & Hankins 1996, astro-ph/9604163) are found to have high
levels of linear polarization, even at 8.4 GHz. No abrupt sweeps in position
angle are found within pulse components; however, the position angle and
rotational phase of the interpulse do change dramatically between 1.4 and 4.9
GHz. The multi-frequency profile morphology and polarization properties
indicate a non-standard origin of the emission. Several emission geometries are
discussed, but the one favored locates sites of emission both near the pulsar
surface and in the outer magnetosphere.Comment: 20 pages, 7 postscript figures, uses aaspp4 Latex style. To appear in
Volume 522 of The Astrophysical Journa
Correlation between X-ray Lightcurve Shape and Radio Arrival Time in the Vela Pulsar
We report the results of simultaneous observations of the Vela pulsar in
X-rays and radio from the RXTE satellite and the Mount Pleasant Radio
Observatory in Tasmania. We sought correlations between the Vela's X-ray
emission and radio arrival times on a pulse by pulse basis. At a confidence
level of 99.8% we have found significantly higher flux density in Vela's main
X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrived early. This excess flux shifts to
the 'trough' following the 2nd X-ray peak during radio pulses that arrive
later. Our results suggest that the mechanism producing the radio pulses is
intimately connected to the mechanism producing X-rays. Current models using
resonant absorption of radio emission in the outer magnetosphere as a cause of
the X-ray emission are explored as a possible explanation for the correlation.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by Ap
A Broadband Study of the Emission from the Composite Supernova Remnant MSH 11-62
MSH 11-62 (G291.1-0.9) is a composite supernova remnant for which radio and
X-ray observations have identified the remnant shell as well as its central
pulsar wind nebula. The observations suggest a relatively young system
expanding into a low density region. Here we present a study of MSH 11-62 using
observations with the Chandra, XMM-Newton, and Fermi observatories, along with
radio observations from the Australia Telescope Compact Array (ATCA). We
identify a compact X-ray source that appears to be the putative pulsar that
powers the nebula, and show that the X-ray spectrum of the nebula bears the
signature of synchrotron losses as particles diffuse into the outer nebula.
Using data from the Fermi LAT, we identify gamma-ray emission originating from
MSH 11-62. With density constraints from the new X-ray measurements of the
remnant, we model the evolution of the composite system in order to constrain
the properties of the underlying pulsar and the origin of the gamma-ray
emission.Comment: 12 Pages, 12 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
The AIMSS Project - I. Bridging the star cluster-galaxy divide
We describe the structural and kinematic properties of the first compact stellar systems discovered by the Archive of Intermediate Mass Stellar Systems project. These spectroscopically confirmed objects have sizes (∼6 < Re [pc] < 500) and masses (∼2 × 106 < M∗/M� < 6 × 109) spanning the range of massive globular clusters, ultracompact dwarfs (UCDs) and compact elliptical galaxies (cEs), completely filling the gap between star clusters and galaxies. Several objects are close analogues to the prototypical cE, M32. These objects, which are more massive than previously discovered UCDs of the same size, further call into question the existence of a tight mass–size trend for compact stellar systems, while simultaneously strengthening the case for a universal ‘zone of avoidance’ for dynamically hot stellar systems in the mass–size plane. Overall, we argue that there are two classes of compact stellar systems (1) massive star clusters and (2) a population closely related to galaxies. Our data provide indications for a further division of the galaxy-type UCD/cE population into two groups, one population that we associate with objects formed by the stripping of nucleated dwarf galaxies, and a second population that formed through the stripping of bulged galaxies or are lower mass analogues of classical ellipticals. We find compact stellar systems around galaxies in low- to high-density environments, demonstrating that the physical processes responsible for forming them do not only operate in the densest clusters
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