6,908 research outputs found
The evolution of surface magnetic fields in young solar-type stars
The surface rotation rates of young solar-type stars decrease rapidly with
age from the end of the pre-main sequence though the early main sequence. This
suggests that there is also an important change in the dynamos operating in
these stars, which should be observable in their surface magnetic fields. Here
we present early results in a study aimed at observing the evolution of these
magnetic fields through this critical time period. We are observing stars in
open clusters and stellar associations to provide precise ages, and using
Zeeman Doppler Imaging to characterize the complex magnetic fields. Presented
here are results for six stars, three in the in the beta Pic association (~10
Myr old) and three in the AB Dor association (~100 Myr old).Comment: To appear in the proceedings of IAU symposium 302: Magnetic fields
throughout stellar evolution. 2 pages, 3 figure
Designing Primary Prevention for People Living with HIV
Today, there are new reasons for a sharper focus on prevention for people living with HIV. Growing numbers of people with the disease are living more healthy, sexual lives. Recent evidence suggests that risk taking among both HIV-positive and negative people is increasing. After nearly two decades of life in the shadow of AIDS, communities are growing weary of traditional prevention messages and many people are openly grappling with difficult questions of intimacy and sex. Increasingly, people living with HIV also face multiple complex economic and substance abuse challenges that complicate prevention efforts.There is an urgent need -- and sufficient expertise -- to move forward with prevention campaigns focused on helping people living with HIV and AIDS avoid passing their infection along to others. Numerous innovative interventions for people with HIV show promise, including:a social marketing campaign for gay men and a five-session group intervention for women living with HIV in Massachusetts,a chat line for positives and a group session program for Latinas/Latinos in Los Angeles,Internet chat room interventions in Atlanta,a group session for gay Asian American-Pacific Islander Americans living with HIV in San Francisco, andPrevention Case Management programs newly funded by the Centers for Disease Control
Modeling the RV jitter of early M dwarfs using tomographic imaging
In this paper we show how tomographic imaging (Zeeman Doppler Imaging, ZDI)
can be used to characterize stellar activity and magnetic field topologies,
ultimately allowing to filter out the radial velocity (RV) activity jitter of
M-dwarf moderate rotators. This work is based on spectropolarimetric
observations of a sample of five weakly-active early M-dwarfs (GJ 205, GJ 358,
GJ 410, GJ479, GJ 846) with HARPS-Pol and NARVAL. These stars have v sin i and
RV jitters in the range 1-2 km/s and 2.7-10.0 m/s rms respectively. Using a
modified version of ZDI applied to sets of phase-resolved Least-Squares- Decon-
volved (LSD) profiles of unpolarized spectral lines, we are able to
characterize the distribution of active regions at the stellar surfaces. We
find that darks spots cover less than 2% of the total surface of the stars of
our sample. Our technique is e cient at modeling the rotationally mod- ulated
component of the activity jitter, and succeeds at decreasing the amplitude of
this com- ponent by typical factors of 2-3 and up to 6 in optimal cases. From
the rotationally modulated time-series of circularly polarized spectra and with
ZDI, we also reconstruct the large-scale magnetic field topology. These fields
suggest that bi-stability of dynamo processes observed in active M dwarfs may
also be at work for moderately active M dwarfs. Comparing spot distributions
with field topologies suggest that dark spots causing activity jitter
concentrate at the magnetic pole and/or equator, to be confirmed with future
data on a larger sample.Comment: 34 pages, accepted for publication in MNRA
M-dwarf stellar winds: the effects of realistic magnetic geometry on rotational evolution and planets
We perform three-dimensional numerical simulations of stellar winds of
early-M dwarf stars. Our simulations incorporate observationally reconstructed
large-scale surface magnetic maps, suggesting that the complexity of the
magnetic field can play an important role in the angular momentum evolution of
the star, possibly explaining the large distribution of periods in field dM
stars, as reported in recent works. In spite of the diversity of the magnetic
field topologies among the stars in our sample, we find that stellar wind
flowing near the (rotational) equatorial plane carries most of the stellar
angular momentum, but there is no preferred colatitude contributing to mass
loss, as the mass flux is maximum at different colatitudes for different stars.
We find that more non-axisymmetric magnetic fields result in more asymmetric
mass fluxes and wind total pressures (defined as the sum of
thermal, magnetic and ram pressures). Because planetary magnetospheric sizes
are set by pressure equilibrium between the planet's magnetic field and , variations of up to a factor of in (as found in the
case of a planet orbiting at several stellar radii away from the star) lead to
variations in magnetospheric radii of about 20 percent along the planetary
orbital path. In analogy to the flux of cosmic rays that impact the Earth,
which is inversely modulated with the non-axisymmetric component of the total
open solar magnetic flux, we conclude that planets orbiting M dwarf stars like
DT~Vir, DS~Leo and GJ~182, which have significant non-axisymmetric field
components, should be the more efficiently shielded from galactic cosmic rays,
even if the planets lack a protective thick atmosphere/large magnetosphere of
their own.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, to appear in MNRA
Quadrupolar Order in Isotropic Heisenberg Models with Biquadratic Interaction
Through Quantum Monte Carlo simulation, we study the biquadratic-interaction
model with the SU(2) symmetry in two and three dimensions. The zero-temperature
phase diagrams for the two cases are identical and exhibit an intermediate
phase characterized by finite quadrupole moment, in agreement with mean-field
type arguments and the semi-classical theory. In three dimensions, we
demonstrate that the model in the quadrupolar regime has a phase transition at
a finite temperature. In contrast to predictions by mean-field theories, the
phase transition to the quadrupolar phase turns out to be of the second order.
We also examine the critical behavior in the two marginal cases with the SU(3)
symmetry.Comment: 4 pages 5 figure
Donor Electron Wave Functions for Phosphorus in Silicon: Beyond Effective Mass Theory
We calculate the electronic wave-function for a phosphorus donor in silicon
by numerical diagonalisation of the donor Hamiltonian in the basis of the pure
crystal Bloch functions. The Hamiltonian is calculated at discrete points
localised around the conduction band minima in the reciprocal lattice space.
Such a technique goes beyond the approximations inherent in the effective-mass
theory, and can be modified to include the effects of altered donor impurity
potentials, externally applied electro-static potentials, as well as the
effects of lattice strain. Modification of the donor impurity potential allows
the experimentally known low-lying energy spectrum to be reproduced with good
agreement, as well as the calculation of the donor wavefunction, which can then
be used to calculate parameters important to quantum computing applications.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figure
Complex magnetic topology and strong differential rotation on the low-mass T Tauri star V2247 Oph
From observations collected with the ESPaDOnS spectropolarimeter at the
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, we report the detection of Zeeman signatures on
the low-mass classical TTauri star (cTTS) V2247Oph. Profile distortions and
circular polarisation signatures detected in photospheric lines can be
interpreted as caused by cool spots and magnetic regions at the surface of the
star. The large-scale field is of moderate strength and highly complex;
moreover, both the spot distribution and the magnetic field show significant
variability on a timescale of only one week, as a likely result of strong
differential rotation. Both properties make V2247Oph very different from the
(more massive) prototypical cTTS BPTau; we speculate that this difference
reflects the lower mass of V2247Oph.
During our observations, V2247Oph was in a low-accretion state, with emission
lines showing only weak levels of circular polarisation; we nevertheless find
that excess emission apparently concentrates in a mid-latitude region of strong
radial field, suggesting that it is the footpoint of an accretion funnel.
The weaker and more complex field that we report on V2247Oph may share
similarities with those of very-low-mass late-M dwarfs and potentially explain
why low-mass cTTSs rotate on average faster than intermediate mass ones. These
surprising results need confirmation from new independent data sets on V2247Oph
and other similar low-mass cTTSs.Comment: MNRAS (in press) - 12 pages, 9 figure
Biocorrosion of mild steel in drinking water conditions and disinfection
[Excerpt] Introduction: Corrosion in drinking water distribution system is a costly phenomenon, mainly due to the
replacement of altered pipes. Bio..corrosion is also a problem in term of public health because of the
suspected protection brought by the corroded surface to potentially harmful microorganisms,
especially bacteria. The protection effect of corrosion is particularly relevant in the presence of
disinfectant. In drinking water are present the conditions leading to microbialy induced corrosion: bacteria and metal-containing substrata joined closely together as biofilm attached to distribution system pipe walls. [...]info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio
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