3,365 research outputs found
Charge Transfer Between O Ions And O2 Molecules In The Ground State And Singlet Delta Excited State
A crossed-beam apparatus has been used to study charge transfer between O- ions and O2 molecules in the ground state and in the metastable, singlet delta, excited state. The energy of the incident ions ranged from 10 to 10000 eV. The cross section for charge transfer between O - and ground state O2 was found to have a maximum of 7.8X10-16 cm2 at about 5 keV. At the lower energies there is good agreement with the previous measurements of Snow et al. and Rutherford and Turner who also used crossed beam techniques. The cross section for charge transfer between O- and metastable excited O2 ( 1Îg) was found to be less than 1xl0-16 cm2 over the energy range of 100 to 5000 eV. There are no other experimental measurements for comparison
Calculating Cross Sections of Composite Interstellar Grains
Interstellar grains may be composite collections of particles of distinct
materials, including voids, agglomerated together. We determine the various
optical cross sections of such composite grains, given the optical properties
of each constituent, using an approximate model of the composite grain. We
assume it consists of many concentric spherical layers of the various
materials, each with a specified volume fraction. In such a case the usual Mie
theory can be generalized and the extinction, scattering, and other cross
sections determined exactly.
We find that the ordering of the materials in the layering makes some
difference to the derived cross sections, but averaging over the various
permutations of the order of the materials provides rapid convergence as the
number of shells (each of which is filled by all of the materials
proportionately to their volume fractions) is increased. Three shells, each
with one layer of a particular constituent material, give a very satisfactory
estimate of the average cross section produced by larger numbers of shells.
We give the formulae for the Rayleigh limit (small size parameter) for
multi-layered spheres and use it to propose an ``Effective Medium Theory''
(EMT), in which an average optical constant is taken to represent the ensemble
of materials.
Multi-layered models are used to compare the accuracies of several EMTs
already in the literature.Comment: 29 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal (part 1, scheduled in Vol. 526, #1, Nov. 20
CP and related phenomena in the context of Stellar Evolution
We review the interaction in intermediate and high mass stars between their
evolution and magnetic and chemical properties. We describe the theory of
Ap-star `fossil' fields, before touching on the expected secular diffusive
processes which give rise to evolution of the field. We then present recent
results from a spectropolarimetric survey of Herbig Ae/Be stars, showing that
magnetic fields of the kind seen on the main-sequence already exist during the
pre-main sequence phase, in agreement with fossil field theory, and that the
origin of the slow rotation of Ap/Bp stars also lies early in the pre-main
sequence evolution; we also present results confirming a lack of stars with
fields below a few hundred gauss. We then seek which macroscopic motions
compete with atomic diffusion in determining the surface abundances of AmFm
stars. While turbulent transport and mass loss, in competition with atomic
diffusion, are both able to explain observed surface abundances, the interior
abundance distribution is different enough to potentially lead to a test using
asterosismology. Finally we review progress on the turbulence-driving and
mixing processes in stellar radiative zones.Comment: Proceedings of IAU GA in Rio, JD4 on Ap stars; 10 pages, 7 figure
The Thermal Structure of Gas in Pre-Stellar Cores: A Case Study of Barnard 68
We present a direct comparison of a chemical/physical model to
multitransitional observations of C18O and 13CO towards the Barnard 68
pre-stellar core. These observations provide a sensitive test for models of low
UV field photodissociation regions and offer the best constraint on the gas
temperature of a pre-stellar core. We find that the gas temperature of this
object is surprisingly low (~7-8 K), and significantly below the dust
temperature, in the outer layers (Av < 5 mag) that are traced by C18O and 13CO
emission. As shown previously, the inner layers (Av > 5 mag) exhibit
significant freeze-out of CO onto grain surfaces. Because the dust and gas are
not fully coupled, depletion of key coolants in the densest layers raises the
core (gas) temperature, but only by ~1 K. The gas temperature in layers not
traced by C18O and 13CO emission can be probed by NH3 emission, with a
previously estimated temperature of ~10-11 K. To reach these temperatures in
the inner core requires an order of magnitude reduction in the gas to dust
coupling rate. This potentially argues for a lack of small grains in the
densest gas, presumably due to grain coagulation.Comment: 33 pages, 11 figures, accepted by Astrophysical Journa
ISO spectroscopy of compact HII regions in the Galaxy. II Ionization and elemental abundances
Based on the ISO spectral catalogue of compact HII regions by Peeters et al.
(2001), we present a first analysis of the hydrogen recombination and atomic
fine-structure lines originated in the ionized gas. The sample consists of 34
HII regions located at galactocentric distances between Rgal = 0 and 15 kpc.
The SWS HI recombination lines between 2 and 8 mum are used to estimate the
extinction law at these wavelengths for 14 HII regions. An extinction in the K
band between 0 and 3 mag. has been derived. The fine-structure lines of
N, O, Ne, S and Ar are detected in most of the sources. Most of these elements
are observed in two different ionization stages probing a range in ionization
potential up to 41 eV. The ISO data, by itself or combined with radio data
taken from the literature, is used to derive the elemental abundances relative
to hydrogen. The present data thus allow us to describe for each source its
elemental abundance, its state of ionization and to constrain the properties of
the ionizing star(s).Comment: Accepted in Astronomy and Astrophysics, 22 pages, 20 figures, 9
table
Infrared Excess and Molecular Gas in the Galactic Worm GW46.4+5.5
We have carried out high-resolution (~3') HI and CO line observations along
one-dimensional cuts through the Galactic worm GW46.4+5.5. By comparing the HI
data with IRAS data, we have derived the distributions of I_100 excess and
tau_100 excess, which are respectively the 100 mum intensity and 100 mum
optical depth in excess of what would be expected from HI emission. In two
observed regions, we were able to make a detailed comparison of the infrared
excess and the CO emission. We have found that tau_100 excess has a very good
correlation with the integrated intensity of CO emission, W_CO, but I_100
excess does not. There are two reasons for the poor correlation between I_100
excess and W_CO: firstly, there are regions with enhanced infrared emissivity
without CO, and secondly, dust grains associated with molecular gas have a low
infrared emissivity. In one region, these two factors completely hide the
presence of molecular gas in the infrared. In the second region, we could
identify the area with molecular gas, but I_100 excess significantly
underestimates the column density of molecular hydrogen because of the second
factor mentioned above. We therefore conclude that tau_100 excess, rather than
I_100 excess, is an accurate indicator of molecular content along the line of
sight. We derive tau_100/N(H)=(1.00+-0.02)*10^-5~(10^20 cm^-2)^-1, and
X=N(H_2)/W_CO=~0.7*10^20 cm^-2 (K km s^-1)^-1. Our results suggest that I_100
excess could still be used to estimate the molecular content if the result is
multiplied by a correction factor xi_c=_HI/_H_2 (~2 in
the second region), which accounts for the different infrared emissivities of
atomic and molecular gas. We also discuss some limitations of this work.Comment: 10 pages, 9 postscript figures, uses aas2pp4.sty to be published in
Astrophyslcal Journa
Sending femtosecond pulses in circles: highly non-paraxial accelerating beams
We use caustic beam shaping on 100 fs pulses to experimentally generate
non-paraxial accelerating beams along a 60 degree circular arc, moving
laterally by 14 \mum over a 28 \mum propagation length. This is the highest
degree of transverse acceleration reported to our knowledge. Using diffraction
integral theory and numerical beam propagation simulations, we show that
circular acceleration trajectories represent a unique class of non-paraxial
diffraction-free beam profile which also preserves the femtosecond temporal
structure in the vicinity of the caustic
On Ultrasmall Silicate Grains in the Diffuse Interstellar Medium
The abundance of both amorphous and crystalline silicates in very small
grains is limited by the fact that the 10 micron silicate emission feature is
not detected in the diffuse ISM. On the basis of the observed IR emission
spectrum for the diffuse ISM, the observed ultraviolet extinction curve, and
the 10 micron silicate absorption profile, we obtain upper limits on the
abundances of ultrasmall (a < 15 Angstrom) amorphous and crystalline silicate
grains.
Contrary to previous work, as much as ~20% of interstellar Si could be in a <
15 Angstrom silicate grains without violating observational constraints. Not
more than ~5% of the Si can be in crystalline silicates (of any size).Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letters, 11 pages, 4 figures, Late
Radiative Transfer in Prestellar Cores: A Monte Carlo Approach
We use our Monte Carlo radiative transfer code to study non-embedded
prestellar cores and cores that are embedded at the centre of a molecular
cloud. Our study indicates that the temperature inside embedded cores is lower
than in isolated non-embedded cores, and generally less than 12 K, even when
the cores are surrounded by an ambient cloud of small visual extinction (Av~5).
Our study shows that the best wavelength region to observe embedded cores is
between 400 and 500 microns, where the core is quite distinct from the
background. We also predict that very sensitive observations (~1-3 MJy/sr) at
170-200 microns can be used to estimate how deeply a core is embedded in its
parent molecular cloud. Finally, we present preliminary results of asymmetric
models of non-embedded cores.Comment: 8 pages, 15 figures, to appear in the conference proceedings of "Open
Issues in Local Star Formation and Early Stellar Evolution", held in Ouro
Preto (Brazil), April 5-10, 200
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