Neutron star masses from hydrodynamical effects in obscured sgHMXBs

A population of obscured supergiant High Mass X-ray Binaries (sgHMXBs) has been discovered by INTEGRAL. X-ray wind tomography of IGR J17252-3616 inferred a slow wind velocity to account for the enhanced obscuration. The main goal of this study is to understand under which conditions high obscuration could occur. We have used an hydrodynamical code to simulate the flow of the stellar wind around the neutron star. A grid of simulations was used to study the dependency of the absorbing column density and of the X-ray light-curves on the model parameters. A comparison between the simulation results and the observations of IGR J17252-3616 provides an estimate on these parameters. We have constrained the wind terminal velocity to 500-600 km/s and the neutron star mass to 1.75-2.15 solar masses. We have confirmed that the initial hypothesis of a slow wind velocity with a moderate mass loss rate is valid. The mass of the neutron star can be constrained by studying its impact on the accretion flow.Comment: A&A in pres

The stellar wind velocity field of HD 77581

The early acceleration of stellar winds in massive stars is poorly constrained. The scattering of hard X-ray photons emitted by the pulsar in the high-mass X-ray binary Vela X-1 can be used to probe the stellar wind velocity and density profile close to the surface of its supergiant companion HD 77581. We built a high signal-to-noise and high resolution hard X-ray lightcurve of Vela X-1 measured by Swift/BAT over 300 orbital periods of the system and compared it with the predictions of a grid of hydrodynamic simulations. We obtain a very good agreement between observations and simulations for a narrow set of parameters, implying that the wind velocity close to the stellar surface is twice larger than usually assumed with the standard beta law. Locally a velocity gradient of $\beta\sim0.5$ is favoured. Even if still incomplete, hydrodynamic simulations are successfully reproducing several observational properties of Vela X-1.Comment: submitted to A&A, comments are welcom

Quantum disorder due to singlet formation: The Plaquette lattice

I study the order/disorder transition due to singlet formation in a quantum spin system by means of exact diagonalization. The systems is build by spin 1/2 on a two-dimensional square lattice with two different kinds of antiferromagnetic Heisenberg interactions. The interaction J_p connects 4 nearest neighbor spins on a plaquette. The interaction J_n connects the plaquettes with each other. If J_p=J_n the systems reduces to the simple square lattice case. If one of the interactions becomes sufficiently larger then the other the purely quantum effect of singlet formation drives the system into a disordered phase with only short range correlations in the plaquettes and a spin gap. I study the transition point by evaluating the spin gap and spin-spin correlations. I compare the results with previously calculated data from a non-linear sigma model approach, spin wave theory and series expansion calculations. I confirm a critical value of J_n \approx 0.6 for the quantum phase transition point.Comment: 5 pages (Revtex), 7 figure

Universal Magnetic Properties of La2−δSrδCuO4La_{2-\delta} Sr_{\delta} Cu O_4 at Intermediate Temperatures

We present the theory of two-dimensional, clean quantum antiferromagnets with a small, positive, zero temperature ($T$) stiffness $\rho_s$, but with the ratio $k_B T / \rho_s$ arbitrary. Universal scaling forms for the uniform susceptibility ($\chi_u$), correlation length($\xi$), and NMR relaxation rate ($1/T_1$) are proposed and computed in a $1/N$ expansion and by Mont\'{e}-Carlo simulations. For large $k_B T/\rho_s$, $\chi_u (T)/T$ and $T\xi(T)$ asymptote to universal values, while $1/T_{1}(T)$ is nearly $T$-independent. We find good quantitative agreement with experiments and some numerical studies on $La_{2-\delta} Sr_{\delta} Cu O_4$.Comment: 14 pages, REVTEX, 1 postscript figure appende

Magnetic properties of cuprate perovskites in the normal state

Normal-state magnetic properties of cuprate high-T_c superconductors are interpreted based on the self-consistent solution of the t-J model of Cu-O planes. The solution method retains the rotation symmetry of spin components in the paramagnetic state and has no preset magnetic ordering. The obtained solution is homogeneous. The calculated temperature and concentration dependencies of the magnetic susceptibility are close to those observed in experiment. These results offer explanations for the observed scaling of the static uniform susceptibility and for the changes in the spin correlation length, spin-lattice and spin-echo decay rates in terms of the temperature and doping variations in the spin excitation spectrum.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figure

Quantum Critical Scaling in a Moderately Doped Antiferromagnet

Using high temperature expansions for the equal time correlator $S(q)$ and static susceptibility $\chi(q)$ for the t-J model, we present evidence for quantum critical (QC), $z\!=\!1$, behavior at intermediate temperatures in a broad range of $t/J$ ratio, doping, and temperatures. We find that the dynamical susceptibility is very close to the universal scaling function computable for the asymptotic QC regime, and that the dominant energy scale is temperature. Our results are in excellent agreement with measurements of the spin-echo decay rate, $1/T_{\rm 2G}$, in La$_2$CuO$_4$, and provide qualitative understanding of both $1/T_1$ and $1/T_{\rm 2G}$ nuclear relaxation rates in doped cuprates.Comment: 11 pages, REVTeX v3.0, PostScript file for 3 figures is attached, UIUC-P-93-07-068. In this revised version, we calculate the scaling functions and thus present new and more direct evidence in favor of our original conclusion

Possible role of 3He impurities in solid 4He

We use a quantum lattice gas model to describe essential aspects of the motion of 4He atoms and of 3He impurities in solid 4He. This study suggests that 3He impurities bind to defects and promote 4He atoms to interstitial sites which can turn the bosonic quantum disordered crystal into a metastable supersolid. It is suggested that defects and interstitial atoms are produced during the solid 4He nucleation process where the role of 3He impurities (in addition to the cooling rate) is known to be important even at very small (1 ppm) impurity concentration. It is also proposed that such defects can form a glass phase during the 4He solid growth by rapid cooling.Comment: 4 two-column Revtex pages, 4 figures. Europhysics Letters (in Press