312 research outputs found
A New Way to Detect Massive Black Holes in Galaxies: The Stellar Remnants of Tidal Disruption
We point out that the tidal disruption of a giant may leave a luminous
(10^35-10^39 ergs/s), hot (10-100 eV) stellar core. The ``supersoft'' source
detected by Chandra at the center of M31 may be such a core; whether or not it
is, the observations have shown that such a core is detectable, even in the
center of a galaxy. We therefore explore the range of expected observational
signatures and how they may be used to (1) test the hypothesis that the M31
source is a remnant of tidal stripping and (2) discover evidence of black holes
and disruption events in other galaxies.Comment: Four pages with 1 figure. Appeared in ApJL (2001, 551, L37
V605 Aql: The Older Twin of Sakurai's Object
New optical spectra have been obtained with VLT/FORS2 of the final helium
shell flash (FF) star, V605 Aql, which peaked in brightness in 1919. New models
suggest that this star is experiencing a very late thermal pulse. The evolution
to a cool luminous giant and then back to a compact hot star takes place in
only a few years. V605 Aql, the central star of the Planetary Nebula (PN), A58,
has evolved from T5000 K in 1921 to 95,000 K today. There are
indications that the new FF star, Sakurai's Object (V4334 Sgr), which appeared
in 1996, is evolving along a similar path. The abundances of Sakurai's Object
today and V605 Aql 80 years ago mimic the hydrogen deficient R Coronae Borealis
(RCB) stars with 98% He and 1% C. The new spectra show that V605 Aql has
stellar abundances similar to those seen in Wolf-Rayet [WC] central stars of
PNe with ~55% He, and ~40% C. The stellar spectrum of V605 Aql can be seen even
though the star is not directly detected. Therefore, we may be seeing the
spectrum in light scattered around the edge of a thick torus of dust seen
edge-on. In the present state of evolution of V605 Aql, we may be seeing the
not too distant future of Sakurai's Object.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, ApJ Letters in pres
High-Field Quasiparticle Tunneling in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_8+delta: Negative Magnetoresistance in the Superconducting State
We report on the c-axis resistivity rho_c(H) in Bi_2Sr_2CaCu_2O_{8+\delta}
that peaks in quasi-static magnetic fields up to 60 T. By suppressing the
Josephson part of the two-channel (Cooper pair/quasiparticle) conductivity
\sigma_c (H), we find that the negative slope of \rho_c(H) above the peak is
due to quasiparticle tunneling conductivity \sigma_q(H) across the CuO_2 layers
below H_{c2}. At high fields (a) \sigma_q(H) grows linearly with H, and (b)
\rho_c(T) tends to saturate (sigma_c \neq 0) as T->0, consistent with the
scattering at the nodes of the d-gap. A superlinear sigma_q(H) marks the normal
state above T_c.Comment: 4p., 5 fig. (.eps), will be published in Phys. Rev. Let
Evidence for coexistence of the superconducting gap and the pseudo - gap in Bi-2212 from intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy
We present intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy measurements on small
BiSrCaCuO mesas. The tunnel conductance curves show both
sharp peaks at the superconducting gap voltage and broad humps representing the
-axis pseudo-gap. The superconducting gap vanishes at , while the
pseudo-gap exists both above and below . Our observation implies that the
superconducting and pseudo-gaps represent different coexisting phenomena.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
Discrimination between the superconducting gap and the pseudo-gap in Bi2212 from intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy in magnetic field
Intrinsic tunneling spectroscopy in high magnetic field () is used for a
direct test of superconducting features in a quasiparticle density of states of
high- superconductors. We were able to distinguish with a great clarity
two co-existing gaps: (i) the superconducting gap, which closes as and , and (ii) the -axis pseudo-gap, which does not
change neither with , nor . Strikingly different magnetic field
dependencies, together with previously observed different temperature
dependencies of the two gaps ~\cite{Krasnov}, speak against the superconducting
origin of the pseudo-gap.Comment: 4 pages, 4 eps figure
Influence of spin fluctuations on the superconducting transition temperature and resistivity in the t-J model at large N
Spin fluctuations enter the calculation of the superconducting transition
temperature T only in the next-to-leading order (i.e., in O(1/N) of the
1/N expansion of the t-J model. We have calculated these terms and show that
they have only little influence on the value of T obtained in the leading
order O(1/N) in the optimal and overdoped region, i.e., for dopings larger than
the instability towards a flux phase. This result disagrees with recent
spin-fluctuation mediated pairing theories. The discrepancies can be traced
back to the fact that in our case the coupling between electrons and spins is
determined by the t-J model and not adjusted and that the spin susceptibility
is rather broad and structureless and not strongly peaked at low energies as in
spin-fluctuation models. Relating T and transport we show that the
effective interactions in the particle-particle and particle-hole channels are
not simply related within the 1/N expansion by different Fermi surface averages
of the same interactin as in the case of phonons or spin fluctuations. As a
result, we find that large values for T and rather small scattering rates
in the normal state as found in the experiments can easily be reconciled with
each other. We also show that correlation effects heavily suppress transport
relaxation rates relative to quasiparticle relaxation rates in the case of
phonons but not in the case of spin fluctuations.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, will appear in Phys. Rev.
A New Look At Carbon Abundances In Planetary Nebulae. IV. Implications For Stellar Nucleosynthesis
This paper is the fourth and final report on a project designed to study
carbon abundances in a sample of planetary nebulae representing a broad range
in progenitor mass and metallicity. We present newly acquired optical
spectrophotometric data for three Galactic planetary nebulae IC 418, NGC 2392,
and NGC 3242 and combine them with UV data from the IUE Final Archive for
identical positions in each nebula to determine accurate abundances of He, C,
N, O, and Ne at one or more locations in each object. We then collect
abundances of these elements for the entire sample and compare them with
theoretical predictions of planetary nebula abundances from a grid of
intermediate mass star models. We find some consistency between observations
and theory, lending modest support to our current understanding of
nucleosynthesis in stars below 8 M_o in birth mass. Overall, we believe that
observed abundances agree with theoretical predictions to well within an order
of magnitude but probably not better than within a factor of 2 or 3. But even
this level of consistency between observation and theory enhances the validity
of published intermediate-mass stellar yields of carbon and nitrogen in the
study of the abundance evolution of these elements.Comment: 41 pages, 11 figures. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journa
The physical parameters, excitation and chemistry of the rim, jets and knots of the planetary nebula NGC 7009
We present long-slit optical spectra along the major axis of the planetary
nebula NGC 7009. These data allow us to discuss the physical, excitation and
chemical properties of all the morphological components of the nebula,
including its remarkable systems of knots and jets. The main results of this
analysis are the following: i) the electron temperature throughout the nebula
is remarkably constant, T_e[OIII] = 10200K; ii) the bright inner rim and inner
pair of knots have similar densities of N_e = 6000cm^{-3}, whereas a much lower
density of N_e = 1500cm^{-3} is derived for the outer knots as well as for the
jets; iii) all the regions (rim, inner knots, jets and outer knots) are mainly
radiatively excited; and iv) there are no clear abundance changes across the
nebula for He, O, Ne, or S. There is a marginal evidence for an overabundance
of nitrogen in the outer knots (ansae), but the inner ones (caps) and the rim
have similar N/H values that are at variance with previous results. Our data
are compared to the predictions of theoretical models, from which we conclude
that the knots at the head of the jets are not matter accumulated during the
jet expansion through the circumstellar medium, neither can their origin be
explained by the proposed HD or MHD interacting-wind models for the formation
of jets/ansae, since the densities as well as the main excitation mechanisms of
the knots, disagree with model predictions.Comment: Figure 1 was changed because features were misidentified in the
previous version. 17 pages including 5 figures and 3 tables. ApJ in press.
Also available at http://www.iac.es/galeria/denise
Theory of vortex excitation imaging via an NMR relaxation measurement
The temperature dependence of the site-dependent nuclear spin relaxation time
T_1 around vortices is studied in s-wave and d-wave superconductors.Reflecting
low energy electronic excitations associated with the vortex core, temperature
dependences deviate from those of the zero-field case, and T_1 becomes faster
with approaching the vortex core. In the core region, T_1^{-1} has a new peak
below T_c. The NMR study by the resonance field dependence may be a new method
to prove the spatial resolved vortex core structure in various superconductors.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
Superconducting Fluctuations and the Pseudogap in the Slightly-overdoped High-Tc Superconductor TlSr2CaCu2O6.8: High Magnetic Field NMR Studies
From measurements of the ^{63}Cu Knight shift (K) and the nuclear
spin-lattice relaxation rate (1/T_{1}) under magnetic fields from zero up to 28
T in the slightly overdoped superconductor TlSr_{2}CaCu_{2}O_{6.8} (T_{c}=68
K), we find that the pseudogap behavior, {\em i.e.}, the reductions of 1/T_{1}T
and K above T_{c} from the values expected from the normal state at high T, is
strongly field dependent and follows a scaling relation. We show that this
scaling is consistent with the effects of the Cooper pair density fluctuations.
The present finding contrasts sharply with the pseudogap property reported
previously in the underdoped regime where no field effect was seen up to 23.2
T. The implications are discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 4 GIF figures, to be published in Phys. Rev. Let
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