3,909 research outputs found
Impact of rod projectiles against multiple- sheet targets
Blunt hypervelocity projectile lift-drag ratio and impact velocity effects on target penetration and impact damag
Imaging the asymmetric dust shell around CI Cam with long baseline optical interferometry
We present the first high angular resolution observation of the B[e]
star/X-ray transient object CI Cam, performed with the two-telescope Infrared
Optical Telescope Array (IOTA), its upgraded three-telescope version (IOTA3T)
and the Palomar Testbed Interferometer (PTI). Visibilities and closure phases
were obtained using the IONIC-3 integrated optics beam combiner. CI Cam was
observed in the near-infrared H and K spectral bands, wavelengths well suited
to measure the size and study the geometry of the hot dust surrounding CI Cam.
The analysis of the visibility data over an 8 year period from soon after the
1998 outburst to 2006 shows that the dust visibility has not changed over the
years. The visibility data shows that CI Cam is elongated which confirms the
disc-shape of the circumstellar environment and totally rules out the
hypothesis of a spherical dust shell. Closure phase measurements show direct
evidence of asymmetries in the circumstellar environment of CI Cam and we
conclude that the dust surrounding CI Cam lies in an inhomogeneous disc seen at
an angle. The near-infrared dust emission appears as an elliptical skewed
Gaussian ring with a major axis a = 7.58 +/- 0.24 mas, an axis ratio r = 0.39
+/- 0.03 and a position angle theta = 35 +/- 2 deg.Comment: 9 pages, 5 figures, accepted MNRA
Magnetically-induced ferroelectricity in the (ND4)2[FeCl5(D2O)] molecular compound
The number of magnetoelectric multiferroic materials reported to date is
scarce, as magnetic structures that break inversion symmetry and induce an
improper ferroelectric polarization typically arise through subtle competition
between different magnetic interactions. The (NH4)2[FeCl5(H2O)] compound is a
rare case where such improper ferroelectricity has been observed in a molecular
material. We have used single crystal and powder neutron diffraction to obtain
detailed solutions for the crystal and magnetic structures of
(NH4)2[FeCl5(H2O)], from which we determined the mechanism of multiferroicity.
From the crystal structure analysis, we observed an order-disorder phase
transition related to the ordering of the ammonium counterion. We have
determined the magnetic structure below TN, at 2K and zero magnetic field,
which corresponds to a cycloidal spin arrangement with magnetic moments
contained in the ac-plane, propagating parallel to the c-axis. The observed
ferroelectricity can be explained, from the obtained magnetic structure, via
the inverse Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya mechanism
Phase Closure Nulling: results from the 2009 campaign
We present here a new observational technique, Phase Closure Nulling (PCN),
which has the potential to obtain very high contrast detection and spectroscopy
of faint companions to bright stars. PCN consists in measuring closure phases
of fully resolved objects with a baseline triplet where one of the baselines
crosses a null of the object visibility function. For scenes dominated by the
presence of a stellar disk, the correlated flux of the star around nulls is
essentially canceled out, and in these regions the signature of fainter,
unresolved, scene object(s) dominates the imaginary part of the visibility in
particular the closure phase. We present here the basics of the PCN method, the
initial proof-of-concept observation, the envisioned science cases and report
about the first observing campaign made on VLTI/AMBER and CHARA/MIRC using this
technique.Comment: To be published in the proceedings of the SPIE'2010 conference on
"Optical and Infrared Interferometry II
Non-linear response of single-molecule magnets: field-tuned quantum-to-classical crossovers
Quantum nanomagnets can show a field dependence of the relaxation time very
different from their classical counterparts, due to resonant tunneling via
excited states (near the anisotropy barrier top). The relaxation time then
shows minima at the resonant fields H_{n}=n D at which the levels at both sides
of the barrier become degenerate (D is the anisotropy constant). We showed that
in Mn12, near zero field, this yields a contribution to the nonlinear
susceptibility that makes it qualitatively different from the classical curves
[Phys. Rev. B 72, 224433 (2005)]. Here we extend the experimental study to
finite dc fields showing how the bias can trigger the system to display those
quantum nonlinear responses, near the resonant fields, while recovering an
classical-like behaviour for fields between them. The analysis of the
experiments is done with heuristic expressions derived from simple balance
equations and calculations with a Pauli-type quantum master equation.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures. Submitted to Phys. Rev. B, brief report
Nulling Data Reduction and On-sky Performance of the Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer
The Large Binocular Telescope Interferometer (LBTI) is a versatile instrument designed for high angular resolution and high-contrast infrared imaging (1.5–13 μm). In this paper, we focus on the mid-infrared (8–13 μm) nulling mode and present its theory of operation, data reduction, and on-sky performance as of the end of the commissioning phase in 2015 March. With an interferometric baseline of 14.4 m, the LBTI nuller is specifically tuned to resolve the habitable zone of nearby main-sequence stars, where warm exozodiacal dust emission peaks. Measuring the exozodi luminosity function of nearby main-sequence stars is a key milestone to prepare for future exo-Earth direct imaging instruments. Thanks to recent progress in wavefront control and phase stabilization, as well as in data reduction techniques, the LBTI demonstrated in 2015 February a calibrated null accuracy of 0.05% over a 3 hr long observing sequence on the bright nearby A3V star β Leo. This is equivalent to an exozodiacal disk density of 15–30 zodi for a Sun-like star located at 10 pc, depending on the adopted disk model. This result sets a new record for high-contrast mid-infrared interferometric imaging and opens a new window on the study of planetary systems
Mid-infrared size survey of Young Stellar Objects: Description of Keck segment-tilting experiment and basic results
The mid-infrared properties of pre-planetary disks are sensitive to the
temperature and flaring profiles of disks for the regions where planet
formation is expected to occur. In order to constrain theories of planet
formation, we have carried out a mid-infrared (wavelength 10.7 microns) size
survey of young stellar objects using the segmented Keck telescope in a novel
configuration. We introduced a customized pattern of tilts to individual mirror
segments to allow efficient sparse-aperture interferometry, allowing full
aperture synthesis imaging with higher calibration precision than traditional
imaging. In contrast to previous surveys on smaller telescopes and with poorer
calibration precision, we find most objects in our sample are partially
resolved. Here we present the main observational results of our survey of 5
embedded massive protostars, 25 Herbig Ae/Be stars, 3 T Tauri stars, 1 FU Ori
system, and 5 emission-line objects of uncertain classification. The observed
mid-infrared sizes do not obey the size-luminosity relation found at
near-infrared wavelengths and a companion paper will provide further modelling
analysis of this sample. In addition, we report imaging results for a few of
the most resolved objects, including complex emission around embedded massive
protostars, the photoevaporating circumbinary disk around MWC 361A, and the
subarcsecond binaries T Tau, FU Ori and MWC 1080.Comment: Accepted by Astrophysical Journal. 38 pages. 9 figure
Strong Near-Infrared Emission Interior to the Dust-Sublimation Radius of Young Stellar Objects MWC275 and AB Aur
Using the longest optical-interferometeric baselines currently available, we
have detected strong near-infrared (NIR) emission from inside the
dust-destruction radius of Herbig Ae stars MWC275 and AB Aur. Our
sub-milli-arcsecond resolution observations unambiguously place the emission
between the dust-destruction radius and the magnetospheric co-rotation radius.
We argue that this new component corresponds to hot gas inside the
dust-sublimation radius, confirming recent claims based on spectrally-resolved
interferometry and dust evaporation front modeling.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, Accepted for publication in ApJ
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