223 research outputs found
Geometry of giant star model atmospheres: A consistency test
We investigate the effect of a geometric inconsistency in the calculation of
synthetic spectra of giant stars. Spectra computed with model atmospheres
calculated in spherical geometry while using the plane-parallel approximation
for line formation calculations (s_p), as well as the fully plane-parallel case
(p_p), are compared to the consistently spherical case (s_s). We present
abundance differences for solar metallicity models with Teff ranging from 4000
to 6500 K and logg from 0.5 to 3.0 [cgs]. The effects are smaller for s_p
calculations (-0.1 dex in the worst case) than for the p_p case (up to +0.35
dex for minority species and at most -0.04 dex for majority species), both with
respect to the s_s case. In the s_p case the differences increase slightly with
temperature, while in the p_p case they show a more complex behaviour. In both
cases the effects decrease with increasing logg and increase with equivalent
width. Thus, within the parameter range of F, G and K giants, consistency seems
to be less important than using a spherical model atmosphere. The abundance
differences due to sphericity effects presented here can be used for error
estimation in abundance studies relying on plane-parallel modelling.Comment: 12 pages, including 10 figures and 1 table (A&A print format),
accepted by A&
Chemical Inhomogeneities in the Milky Way Stellar Halo
We have compiled a sample of 699 stars from the recent literature with
detailed chemical abundance information (spanning -4.2 < [Fe/H] < +0.3), and we
compute their space velocities and Galactic orbital parameters. We identify
members of the inner and outer stellar halo populations in our sample based
only on their kinematic properties and then compare the abundance ratios of
these populations as a function of [Fe/H]. In the metallicity range where the
two populations overlap (-2.5 < [Fe/H] < -1.5), the mean [Mg/Fe] of the outer
halo is lower than the inner halo by ~0.1 dex. For [Ni/Fe] and [Ba/Fe], the
star-to-star abundance scatter of the inner halo is consistently smaller than
in the outer halo. The [Na/Fe], [Y/Fe], [Ca/Fe], and [Ti/Fe] ratios of both
populations show similar means and levels of scatter. Our inner halo population
is chemically homogeneous, suggesting that a significant fraction of the Milky
Way stellar halo originated from a well-mixed ISM. In contrast, our outer halo
population is chemically diverse, suggesting that another significant fraction
of the Milky Way stellar halo formed in remote regions where chemical
enrichment was dominated by local supernova events. We find no abundance trends
with maximum radial distance from the Galactic center or maximum vertical
distance from the Galactic disk. We also find no common kinematic signature for
groups of metal-poor stars with peculiar abundance patters, such as the
alpha-poor stars or stars showing unique neutron-capture enrichment patterns.
Several stars and dSph systems with unique abundance patterns spend the
majority of their time in the distant regions of the Milky Way stellar halo,
suggesting that the true outer halo of the Galaxy may have little resemblance
to the local stellar halo.Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ. Full tables available upon reques
Detection of Elements at All Three r-process Peaks in the Metal-Poor Star HD 160617
We report the first detection of elements at all three r-process peaks in the
metal-poor halo star HD 160617. These elements include arsenic and selenium,
which have not been detected previously in halo stars, and the elements
tellurium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, which have been detected previously.
Absorption lines of these elements are found in archive observations made with
the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph onboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We
present up-to-date absolute atomic transition probabilities and complete line
component patterns for these elements. Additional archival spectra of this star
from several ground-based instruments allow us to derive abundances or upper
limits of 45 elements in HD 160617, including 27 elements produced by
neutron-capture reactions. The average abundances of the elements at the three
r-process peaks are similar to the predicted solar system r-process residuals
when scaled to the abundances in the rare earth element domain. This result for
arsenic and selenium may be surprising in light of predictions that the
production of the lightest r-process elements generally should be decoupled
from the heavier r-process elements.Comment: Published in the Astrophysical Journal (22 pages, 12 figures
Abundances of metal-weak thick-disc candidates
High resolution spectra of 5 candidate metal-weak thick-disc stars suggested
by Beers & Sommer-Larsen (1995) are analyzed to determine their chemical
abundances. The low abundance of all the objects has been confirmed with
metallicity reaching [Fe/H]=-2.9. However, for three objects, the astrometric
data from the Hipparcos catalogue suggests they are true halo members. The
remaining two, for which proper-motion data are not available, may have
disc-like kinematics. It is therefore clear that it is useful to address
properties of putative metal-weak thick-disc stars only if they possess full
kinematic data. For CS 22894-19 the abundance pattern similar to those of
typical halo stars is found, suggesting that chemical composition is not a
useful discriminant between thick-disc and halo stars. CS 29529-12 is found to
be C enhanced with [C/Fe]=+1.0; other chemical peculiarities involve the s
process elements: [Sr/Fe]=-0.65 and [Ba/Fe]=+0.62, leading to a high [Ba/Sr]
considerably larger than what is found in more metal-rich carbon-rich stars,
but similar to LP 706-7 and LP 625-44 discussed by Norris et al (1997a).
Hipparcos data have been used to calculate the space velocities of 25 candidate
metal-weak thick-disc stars, thus allowing us to identify 3 bona fide members,
which support the existence of a metal-poor tail of the thick-disc, at variance
with a claim to the contrary by Ryan & Lambert (1995).Comment: to be published in MNRA
Measuring children’s involvement as an indicator of curriculum effectiveness : a curriculum evaluation of a selected child study centre in Singapore
This paper presents one aspect of a research project evaluating a curriculum model of a selected child study centre in Singapore. An issue of worldwide interest and concern is the ‘quality of learning’ debate as it relates to early childhood centres. In Singapore, the government is focusing on expansion in child care settings and increases in the amount of funded training. One of the issues surrounding prior-to-school education raises the question of how one measures the quality of teaching and learning, to describe the value of using, funding and promoting early education. The research reported in this study used a quasi experimental research paradigm to assess one aspect of the quality of a curriculum programme in a child study centre in Singapore. Children aged between 18 months and 6 years (N = 81) participated in the research. Using the observation scale of Laevers’ Child Involvement Scale, the active involvement of children in learning experiences was measured. The findings are presented and discussed
‘Inspired and assisted’, or ‘berated and destroyed’? Research leadership, management and performativity in troubled times
Research leadership in Australian universities takes place against a backdrop of policy reforms concerned with measurement and comparison of institutional research performance. In particular, the Excellence in Research in Australian initiative undertaken by the Australian Research Council sets out to evaluate research quality in Australian universities, using a combination of expert review process, and assessment of performance against ‘quality indicators’. Benchmarking exercises of this sort continue to shape institutional policy and practice, with inevitable effects on the ways in which research leadership, mentoring and practice are played out within university faculties and departments. In an exploratory study that interviewed 32 Australian academics in universities in four Australian states, we asked participants, occupying formal or informal research leadership roles, to comment on their perceptions of research leadership as envisioned and enacted in their particular workplaces. We found a pervasive concern amongst participants that coalesced around binaries characterized in metaphoric terms of ‘carrots and whips’. Research leadership was seen by many as managerial in nature, and as such, largely tethered to instrumentalist notions of productivity and performativity, while research cultures were seen as languishing under the demoralizing weight of reward and punishment systems. Here, we consider what is at stake for the future of the academic workforce under such conditions, arguing that new models of visionary research leadership are urgently needed in the ‘troubled times’ of techno-bureaucratic university reforms.<br /
The impact of an updated reaction rate on advanced evolutionary stages of low-mass stellar models
We have investigated the impact of the reaction rate
recently redetermined by the LUNA experiment, on the shell H-burning and core
He-burning phases of low-mass, metal poor stellar models. The new reaction rate
has small but noticeable effects, the largest one being a 7-8\% reduction
of the red giant branch lifetimes. To different degrees, the lifetimes and
luminosities of horizontal branch models, the mass of the stellar models
evolving within the RR Lyrae instability strip, the luminosity of the red giant
branch luminosity function bump, the theoretical calibrations of the
R-parameter and tip of the red giant branch luminosity are also affected.
Predictions for the tip of the red giant branch luminosity, in particular, are
in very good agreement with the currently available empirical constraints.Comment: 8 pages, accepted for publication in A&
RR-Lyrae-type pulsations from a 0.26-solar-mass star in a binary system
RR Lyrae pulsating stars have been extensively used as tracers of old stellar
populations for the purpose of determining the ages of galaxies, and as tools
to measure distances to nearby galaxies. There was accordingly considerable
interest when the RR Lyr star OGLE-BLG-RRLYR-02792 was found to be a member in
an eclipsing binary system4, as the mass of the pulsator (hitherto constrained
only by models) could be unambiguously determined. Here we report that
RRLYR-02792 has a mass of 0.26 M_sun and therefore cannot be a classical RR
Lyrae star. Through models we find that its properties are best explained by
the evolution of a close binary system that started with 1.4 M_sun and 0.8
M_sun stars orbiting each other with an initial period of 2.9 days. Mass
exchange over 5.4 Gyr produced the observed system, which is now in a very
short-lived phase where the physical properties of the pulsator happen to place
it in the same instability strip of the H-R diagram occupied by RR Lyrae stars.
We estimate that samples of RR Lyr stars may contain a 0.2 percent
contamination with systems similar to this one, implying that distances
measured with RR Lyrae stars should not be significantly affected by these
binary interlopers
Chemically consistent evolution of galaxies: II. Spectrophotometric evolution from zero to high redshift
We present a new generation of chemically consistent evolutionary synthesis
models for galaxies of various spectral types from E through Sd. The models
follow the chemical enrichment of the ISM and take into account the increasing
initial metallicity of successive stellar generations using recently published
metallicity dependent stellar evolutionary isochrones, spectra and yields. Our
first set of closed-box 1-zone models does not include any spatial resolution
or dynamics. For a Salpeter initial mass function (IMF) the star formation
rate(SFR) and its time evolution are shown to successfully parameterise
spectral galaxy types E, ..., Sd. We show how the stellar metallicity
distribution in various galaxy types build up with time to yield after Gyr agreement with stellar metallicity distributions observed in our and
other local galaxies. The models give integrated galaxy spectra over a wide
wavelength range (90.9\AA - 160m), which for ages of Gyr are in
good agreement not only with observed broad band colours but also with template
spectra for the respective galaxy types. Using filter functions for
Johnson-Cousins, as well as for HST broad band filters in the optical and
Bessel & Brett's NIR filter system, we calculate the luminosity and colour
evolution of model galaxies over a Hubble time. Including a standard
cosmological model and the attenuation by intergalactic hydrogen we present
evolutionary and cosmological corrections as well as apparent luminosities in
various filters over the redshift range from z to the present for our
galaxy types and compare to earlier models using single (=solar) metallicity
input physics only. We also present a first comparison of our cc models to HDF
data.(Abridged abstract)Comment: 13 pages, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic
Mobilising knowledge between practitioners and researchers to iteratively refine a complex intervention (DAFNEplus) pre-trial: protocol for a structured, collaborative working group process.
Background: Randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of complex interventions often begin with a pilot phase to test the proposed methods and refine the intervention before it is trialled. Although the Medical Research Council (MRC) recommends regular communication between the practitioners delivering the intervention and the researchers evaluating it during the pilot phase, there is a lack of practical guidance about how to undertake this aspect of pre-trial work. This paper describes a novel structured process for collaborative working, which we developed to iteratively refine a complex intervention prior to an RCT. We also describe an in-built qualitative study to learn lessons about how this approach could be used by future study teams. Methods: This work forms part of a broader research programme to develop and trial a complex intervention for people with type 1 diabetes, called DAFNEplus. The intervention is being piloted in three National Health Service (NHS) diabetes centres in two waves, with refinements being incrementally implemented between each wave in response to real-time, collective learning (combining practitioner experience, process evaluation data and patient and public involvement via an advisory group). A structured 'Collaborative Working Group' (CWG) process, comprising monthly teleconferences and four strategically timed face-to-face meetings, is being used to identify and respond systematically to emerging implementation challenges and research findings. The group involves 25 members of the study team, including the multi-disciplinary practitioners delivering the intervention, the research teams conducting the process evaluation, the study manager and Chief Investigator. An in-built qualitative study comprising documentary analysis of meeting materials, discourse analysis of meeting transcripts, reflexive note taking, and thematic analysis of focus groups and interviews with CWG members is being undertaken to explore how the CWG works and how its processes and procedures might be improved. Discussion: The CWG process offers a potential model for collaborative working in future pre-trial pilot phases and intervention development studies that operationalises MRC guidance to progressively develop a complex intervention and foster shared ownership through genuine collaboration. The findings from the qualitative study will provide insight into how to best support collaborative working to achieve optimal intervention design
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