2,626 research outputs found
A Planetary Companion to gamma Cephei A
We report on the detection of a planetary companion in orbit around the
primary star of the binary system Cephei. High precision radial
velocity measurements using 4 independent data sets spanning the time interval
1981--2002 reveal long-lived residual radial velocity variations superimposed
on the binary orbit that are coherent in phase and amplitude with a period or
2.48 years (906 days) and a semi-amplitude of 27.5 m s. We performed a
careful analysis of our Ca II H & K S-index measurements, spectral line
bisectors, and {\it Hipparcos} photometry. We found no significant variations
in these quantities with the 906-d period. We also re-analyzed the Ca II
8662 {\AA} measurements of Walker et al. (1992) which showed possible
periodic variations with the ``planet'' period when first published. This
analysis shows that periodic Ca II equivalent width variations were only
present during 1986.5 -- 1992 and absent during 1981--1986.5. Furthermore, a
refined period for the Ca II 8662 {\AA} variations is 2.14 yrs,
significantly less than residual radial velocity period. The most likely
explanation of the residual radial velocity variations is a planetary mass
companion with sin = 1.7 and an orbital semi-major axis
of 2.13 AU. This supports the planet hypothesis for the residual
radial velocity variations for Cep first suggested by Walker et al.
(1992). With an estimated binary orbital period of 57 years Cep is the
shortest period binary system in which an extrasolar planet has been found.
This system may provide insights into the relationship between planetary and
binary star formation.Comment: 19 pages, 15 figures, accepted in Ap. J. Includes additional data and
improved orbital solutio
Modeling Multi-Wavelength Stellar Astrometry. I. SIM Lite Observations of Interacting Binaries
Interacting binaries consist of a secondary star which fills or is very close
to filling its Roche lobe, resulting in accretion onto the primary star, which
is often, but not always, a compact object. In many cases, the primary star,
secondary star, and the accretion disk can all be significant sources of
luminosity. SIM Lite will only measure the photocenter of an astrometric
target, and thus determining the true astrometric orbits of such systems will
be difficult. We have modified the Eclipsing Light Curve code (Orosz &
Hauschildt 2000) to allow us to model the flux-weighted reflex motions of
interacting binaries, in a code we call REFLUX. This code gives us sufficient
flexibility to investigate nearly every configuration of interacting binary. We
find that SIM Lite will be able to determine astrometric orbits for all
sufficiently bright interacting binaries where the primary or secondary star
dominates the luminosity. For systems where there are multiple components that
comprise the spectrum in the optical bandpass accessible to SIM Lite, we find
it is possible to obtain absolute masses for both components, although
multi-wavelength photometry will be required to disentangle the multiple
components. In all cases, SIM Lite will at least yield accurate inclinations,
and provide valuable information that will allow us to begin to understand the
complex evolution of mass-transferring binaries. It is critical that SIM Lite
maintains a multi-wavelength capability to allow for the proper deconvolution
of the astrometric orbits in multi-component systems.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, 6 tables. Accepted for publication in the
Astrophysical Journa
Evidence for a Long-period Planet Orbiting Epsilon Eridani
High precision radial velocity (RV) measurements spanning the years
1980.8--2000.0 are presented for the nearby (3.22 pc) K2 V star Eri.
These data, which represent a combination of six independent data sets taken
with four different telescopes, show convincing variations with a period of
7 yrs. A least squares orbital solution using robust estimation
yields orbital parameters of period, = 6.9 yrs, velocity -amplitude
19 {\ms}, eccentricity 0.6, projected companion mass sin = 0.86
, and semi-major axis 3.3 AU. Ca II H&K S-index
measurements spanning the same time interval show significant variations with
periods of 3 and 20 yrs, yet none at the RV period. If magnetic activity were
responsible for the RV variations then it produces a significantly different
period than is seen in the Ca II data. Given the lack of Ca II variation with
the same period as that found in the RV measurements, the long-lived and
coherent nature of these variations, and the high eccentricity of the implied
orbit, Keplerian motion due to a planetary companion seems to be the most
likely explanation for the observed RV variations. The wide angular separation
of the planet from the star (approximately 1 arc-second) and the long orbital
period make this planet a prime candidate for both direct imaging and
space-based astrometric measurements.Comment: To appear in Astrophysical Journal Letters. 9 pages, 2 figure
HST Fine Guidance Sensor Astrometric Parallaxes for Three Dwarf Novae: SS Aurigae, SS Cygni, and U Geminorum
We report astrometric parallaxes for three well known dwarf novae obtained
using the Fine Guidance Sensors on the Hubble Space Telescope. We found a
parallax for SS Aurigae of Pi = 5.00 +/- 0.64 mas, for SS Cygni we found Pi =
6.02 +/- 0.46 mas, and for U Geminorum we obtained Pi = 10.37 +/- 0.50 mas.
These represent the first true trigonometric parallaxes of any dwarf novae. We
briefly compare these results with previous distance estimates. This program
demonstrates that with a very modest amount of HST observing time, the Fine
Guidance Sensors can deliver parallaxes of unrivaled precision.Comment: 15 pages, 2 Table
Fermions, T-duality and effective actions for D-branes in bosonic backgrounds
We find the effective action for any D-brane in a general bosonic background
of supergravity. The results are explicit in component fields up to second
order in the fermions and are obtained in a covariant manner. No interaction
terms between fermions and the field , characteristic of the bosonic
actions, are considered. These are reserved for future work. In order to obtain
the actions, we reduce directly from the M2-brane world-volume action to the
D2-brane world-volume action. Then, by means of T-duality, we obtain the other
Dp-brane actions. The resulting Dp-brane actions can be written in a single
compact and elegant expression.Comment: 22 pages, latex, version published by JHEP plus typos corrected in
eq.(44) and eq.(47
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The Distance To The Hyades Cluster Based On Hubble Space Telescope Fine Guidance Sensor Parallaxes
Trigonometric parallax observations made with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) 3 of seven Hyades members in six fields of view have been analyzed along with their proper motions to determine the distance to the cluster. Knowledge of the convergent point and mean proper motion of the Hyades is critical to the derivation of the distance to the center of the cluster. Depending on the choice of the proper-motion system, the derived cluster center distance varies by 9%. Adopting a reference distance of 46.1 pc or m - M = 3.32, which is derived from the ground-based parallaxes in the General Catalogue of Trigonometric Stellar Parallaxes (1995 edition), the FK5/PPM proper-motion system yields a distance 4% larger, while the Hanson system yields a distance 2% smaller. The HST FGS parallaxes reported here yield either a 14% or 5% larger distance, depending on the choice of the proper-motion system. Orbital parallaxes (Torres et al.) yield an average distance 4% larger than the reference distance. The variation in the distance derived from the HST data illustrates the importance of the proper-motion system and the individual proper motions to the derivation of the distance to the Hyades center; therefore, a full utilization of the HST FGS parallaxes awaits the establishment of an accurate and consistent proper-motion system.NASA HST GTO, HF-1042.01-93A, HF-1046.01-93A, NAS526555Astronom
Photometry and Spectroscopy of the Optical Companion to the Pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the Globular Cluster NGC 6397
We present photometric and spectroscopic observations of the optical
companion to the millisecond radio pulsar PSR J1740-5340 in the globular
cluster NGC 6397. An analysis of the photometric variability in the B, V, and
I-bands indicates an inclination of the system of 43.9+-2.1 degrees if the
optical companion fills its Roche lobe (a semi-detached configuration). The
spectroscopic data show a radial velocity variation with a semi-amplitude of
K=137.2 +- 2.4 km/sec, and a system velocity gamma=17.6 +- 1.5 km/sec,
consistent with cluster membership. We use these results to derive a mass of
the optical companion of M1=0.296 +- 0.034 Msol and M2=1.53 +- 0.19 Msol for
the pulsar. There is evidence for secular change of the amplitude of the
optical light curve of the variable measured over seven years. The change does
not have interpretation and its presence complicates reliable determination of
the absolute parameters of the binary.Comment: 24 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A
Performance characteristics of next-generation sequencing for the detection of antimicrobial resistance determinants in Escherichia coli genomes and metagenomes
Short-read sequencing can provide detection of multiple genomic determinants of antimicrobial resistance from single bacterial genomes and metagenomic samples. Despite its increasing application in human, animal, and environmental microbiology, including human clinical trials, the performance of short-read Illumina sequencing for antimicrobial resistance gene (ARG) detection, including resistance-conferring single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), has not been systematically characterized. Using paired-end 2 x 150 bp (base pair) Illumina sequencing and an assembly-based method for ARG prediction, we determined sensitivity, positive predictive value (PPV), and sequencing depths required for ARG detection in an Escherichia coli isolate of sequence type (ST) 38 spiked into a synthetic microbial community at varying abundances. Approximately 300,000 reads or 15x genome coverage was sufficient to detect ARGs in E. coli ST38, with comparable sensitivity and PPV to ~100x genome coverage. Using metagenome assembly of mixed microbial communities, ARG detection at E. coli relative abundances of 1% would require assembly of approximately 30 million reads to achieve 15x target coverage. The minimum sequencing depths were validated using public data sets of 948 E. coli genomes and 10 metagenomic rectal swab samples. A read-based approach using k-mer alignment (KMA) for ARG prediction did not substantially improve minimum sequencing depths for ARG detection compared to assembly of the E. coli ST38 genome or the combined metagenomic samples. Analysis of sequencing depths from recent studies assessing ARG content in metagenomic samples demonstrated that sequencing depths had a median estimated detection frequency of 84% (interquartile range: 30%-92%) for a relative abundance of 1%. IMPORTANCE Systematically determining Illumina sequencing performance characteristics for detection of ARGs in metagenomic samples is essential to inform study design and appraisal of human, animal, and environmental metagenomic antimicrobial resistance studies. In this study, we quantified the performance characteristics of ARG detection in E. coli genomes and metagenomes and established a benchmark of ~15x coverage for ARG detection for E. coli in metagenomes. We demonstrate that for low relative abundances, sequencing depths of ~30 million reads or more may be required for adequate sensitivity for many applications
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