7,858 research outputs found
Do Water Fountain Jets Really Indicate the Onset of the Morphological Metamorphosis of Circumstellar Envelopes?
The small-scale bipolar jets having short dynamical ages from "water fountain
(WF)" sources are regarded as an indication of the onset of circumstellar
envelope morphological metamorphosis of intermediate-mass stars. Such process
usually happens at the end of the asymptotic giant branch (AGB) phase. However,
recent studies found that WFs could be AGB stars or even early planetary
nebulae. This fact prompted the idea that WFs may not necessarily be objects at
the beginning of the morphological transition process. In the present work, we
show that WFs could have different envelope morphologies by studying their
spectral energy distribution profiles. Some WFs have spherical envelopes that
resembles usual AGB stars, while others have aspherical envelopes which are
more common to post-AGB stars. The results imply that WFs may not represent the
earliest stage of the morphological metamorphosis. We further argue that the
dynamical age of a WF jet, which can be calculated from maser proper motions,
may not be the real age of the jet. The dynamical age cannot be used to justify
the moment when the envelope begins to become aspherical, nor to tell the
concrete evolutionary status of the object. A WF jet could be the innermost
part of a larger well-developed jet, which is not necessarily a young jet.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in MNRA
Anisotropic magnetic properties of CeAgGe single crystal
In order to investigate the anisotropic magnetic properties of
CeAgGe, we have successfully grown the single crystals, for the first
time, by high temperature solution growth (flux) method. We have performed a
detailed study of the grown single crystals by measuring their electrical
resistivity, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, specific heat and
magnetoresistance. A clear anisotropy and an antiferromagnetic transition at
= 4.6 K have been observed in the magnetic properties. The magnetic
entropy reaches ln 4 at 20 K indicating that the ground state and the first
excited state are very closely spaced (a quasi-quartet state). From the
specific heat measurements and crystalline electric field (CEF) analysis of the
magnetic susceptibility, we have found the level splitting energies as 5 K and
130 K. The magnetization measurements reveal that the a-axis is the easy axis
of magnetization and the saturation moment is = 1.6 /Ce, corroborating the previous neutron diffraction measurements on a
polycrystalline sample.Comment: Submitted to Phys. Rev.
Bioremediation of lead-contaminated mine waste by Pararhodobacter sp. based on the microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation technique and its effects on strength of coarse and fine grained sand
Lead (Pb2+) is a toxic heavy metal that has a severe negative effect on human health and the environment. Physical, chemical and biological remediation techniques have long been used to remediate lead contamination. However, because of the great danger posed by lead contamination, there is increasing interest to apply eco-friendly and sustainable methods to remediate lead. Therefore, this study was conducted to use the microbially induced calcium carbonate precipitation (MICP) technique in conjunction with the bacterium Pararhodobacter sp. to bioremediate lead. Laboratory scale experiments were conducted and complete removal of 1036 mg/L of Pb2+ was achieved. These results were further confirmed by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis, which indicated coprecipitation of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and lead. The unconfined compressive strength increased with an increase in injection interval with maximum unconfined compressive strength of 1.33 MPa for fine sand, 2.87 MPa for coarse sand and 2.80 MPa for mixed sand. For Pararhodobacter sp. to efficiently induce lead immobilisation the bacterial interval required is four times with a calcium and urea concentration of 0.5 M and bacterial concentration of 109 cfu/mL. Very few low-cost in situ heavy metal treatment processes for lead bioremediation are available; therefore, bioimmobilization of lead by MICP has the potential for application as a low-cost and eco-friendly method for heavy metal remediation
Near-infrared polarimetric study of the bipolar nebula IRAS 19312+1950
We obtained H-band polarimetric data of IRAS 19312+1950 using the
near-infrared camera (CIAO) on the 8 m Subaru telescope. In order to
investigate the physical properties of the central star and the nebula, we
performed dust radiative transfer modeling and compared the model results with
the observed spectral energy distributions (SEDs), the radial profiles of the
total intensity image, and the fraction of linear polarization map. The total
intensity image shows a nearly spherical core with ~3" radius, an S-shaped arm
extending ~10" in the northwest to southeast direction, and an extended lobe
towards the southwest. The polarization map shows a centro-symmetric vector
alignment in almost the entire nebula and low polarizations along the S-shaped
arm. These results suggest that the nebula is accompanied by a central star,
and the S-shaped arm has a physically ring-like structure. From our radiative
transfer modeling, we estimated the stellar temperature, the bolometric
luminosity, and the current mass-loss rate to be 2800 K, 7000 L_sun, and
5.3x10^{-6} M_sun yr^{-1}, respectively. Taking into account previous
observational results, such as the detection of SiO maser emissions and
silicate absorption feature in the 10 m spectrum, our dust radiative
transfer analysis based on our NIR imaging polarimetry suggests that (1) the
central star of IRAS 19312+1950 is likely to be an oxygen-rich, dust-enshrouded
AGB star and (2) most of the circumstellar material originates from other
sources (e.g. ambient dark clouds) rather than as a result of mass loss from
the central star.Comment: 8 pages with 4 figure
SiO and H2O Maser Observations of Red Supergiants in Star Clusters Embedded in the Galactic Disk
We present the result of radio observations of red supergiants in the star
cluster, Stephenson's #2, and candidates for red supergiants in the star
clusters, Mercer et al. (2005)'s #4, #8, and #13, in the SiO and HO maser
lines.The Stephenson's #2 cluster and nearby aggregation at the South-West
contain more than 15 red supergiants. We detected one at the center of
Stephenson's #2 and three in the south-west aggregation in the SiO maser line,
and three of these 4 were also detected in the H2O maser line. The average
radial velocity of the 4 detected objects is 96 km s^{-1}, giving a kinematic
distance of 5.5 kpc, which locates this cluster near the base of the
Scutum-Crux spiral arm. We also detected 6 SiO emitting objects associated with
the other star clusters. In addition, mapping observations in the CO J=1--0
line toward these clusters revealed that an appreciable amount of molecular gas
still remains around Stephenson's #2 cluster in contrast to the prototypical
red-supergiant cluster, Bica et al.'s #122. It indicates that a time scale of
gas expulsion differs considerably in individual clusters.Comment: high res. figures available at
http://www.nro.nao.ac.jp/~lib_pub/report/data/no674.pdf. PASJ 62, No.2 (2010,
April 25 issue) in pres
Prolific pair production with high-power lasers
Prolific electron-positron pair production is possible at laser intensities
approaching 10^{24} W/cm^2 at a wavelength of 1 micron. An analysis of electron
trajectories and interactions at the nodes (B=0) of two counter-propagating,
circularly polarised laser beams shows that a cascade of gamma-rays and pairs
develops. The geometry is generalised qualitatively to linear polarisation and
laser beams incident on a solid target.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figure, minor revisions, accepted for publication in
Physical Review Letter
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