1,808 research outputs found
Determination of the Physical Conditions of the Knots in the Helix Nebula from Optical and Infrared Observations
[Abridged] We use new HST and archived images to clarify the nature of the
knots in the Helix Nebula. We employ published far infrared spectrophotometry
and existing 2.12 micron images to establish that the population distribution
of the lowest ro-vibrational states of H2 is close to the distribution of a gas
in LTE at 988 +- 119 K. We derive a total flux from the nebula in H2 lines and
compare this with the power available from the central star for producing this
radiation. We establish that neither soft X-rays nor FUV radiation has enough
energy to power the H2 radiation, only the stellar EUV radiation shortward of
912 Angstrom does. Advection of material from the cold regions of the knots
produces an extensive zone where both atomic and molecular hydrogen are found,
allowing the H2 to directly be heated by Lyman continuum radiation, thus
providing a mechanism that can explain the excitation temperature and surface
brightness of the cusps and tails. New images of the knot 378-801 reveal that
the 2.12 micron cusp and tail lie immediately inside the ionized atomic gas
zone. This firmly establishes that the "tail" structure is an ionization
bounded radiation shadow behind the optically thick core of the knot. A unique
new image in the HeII 4686 Angstrom line fails to show any emission from knots
that might have been found in the He++ core of the nebula. We also re-examined
high signal-to-noise ratio ground-based telescope images of this same inner
region and found no evidence of structures that could be related to knots.Comment: Astronomical Journal, in press. Some figures are shown at reduced
resolution. A full resolution version is available at
http://www.ifront.org/wiki/Helix_Nebula_2007_Pape
Dynamical Instability of a Rotating Dipolar Bose-Einstein Condensate
We calculate the hydrodynamic solutions for a dilute Bose-Einstein condensate
with long-range dipolar interactions in a rotating, elliptical harmonic trap,
and analyse their dynamical stability. The static solutions and their regimes
of instability vary non-trivially on the strength of the dipolar interactions.
We comprehensively map out this behaviour, and in particular examine the
experimental routes towards unstable dynamics, which, in analogy to
conventional condensates, may lead to vortex lattice formation. Furthermore, we
analyse the centre of mass and breathing modes of a rotating dipolar
condensate.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figure
Spitzer reveals what's behind Orion's Bar
We present Spitzer Space Telescope observations of 11 regions SE of the
Bright Bar in the Orion Nebula, along a radial from the exciting star
theta1OriC, extending from 2.6 to 12.1'. Our Cycle 5 programme obtained deep
spectra with matching IRS short-high (SH) and long-high (LH) aperture grid
patterns. Most previous IR missions observed only the inner few arcmin. Orion
is the benchmark for studies of the ISM particularly for elemental abundances.
Spitzer observations provide a unique perspective on the Ne and S abundances by
virtue of observing the dominant ionization states of Ne (Ne+, Ne++) and S
(S++, S3+) in Orion and H II regions in general. The Ne/H abundance ratio is
especially well determined, with a value of (1.01+/-0.08)E-4. We obtained
corresponding new ground-based spectra at CTIO. These optical data are used to
estimate the electron temperature, electron density, optical extinction, and
the S+/S++ ratio at each of our Spitzer positions. That permits an adjustment
for the total gas-phase S abundance because no S+ line is observed by Spitzer.
The gas-phase S/H abundance ratio is (7.68+/-0.30)E-6. The Ne/S abundance ratio
may be determined even when the weaker hydrogen line, H(7-6) here, is not
measured. The mean value, adjusted for the optical S+/S++ ratio, is Ne/S =
13.0+/-0.6. We derive the electron density versus distance from theta1OriC for
[S III] and [S II]. Both distributions are for the most part decreasing with
increasing distance. A dramatic find is the presence of high-ionization Ne++
all the way to the outer optical boundary ~12' from theta1OriC. This IR result
is robust, whereas the optical evidence from observations of high-ionization
species (e.g. O++) at the outer optical boundary suffers uncertainty because of
scattering of emission from the much brighter inner Huygens Region.Comment: 60 pages, 16 figures, 10 tables. MNRAS accepte
On an exact solution of the Thomas-Fermi equation for a trapped Bose-Einstein condensate with dipole-dipole interactions
We derive an exact solution to the Thomas-Fermi equation for a Bose-Einstein
condensate which has dipole-dipole interactions as well as the usual s-wave
contact interaction, in a harmonic trap. Remarkably, despite the non-local
anisotropic nature of the dipolar interaction the solution is an inverted
parabola, as in the pure s-wave case, but with a different aspect ratio.
Various properties such as electrostriction and stability are discussed.Comment: 11 pages, 5 figure
MERLIN radio detection of an interaction zone within a binary Orion proplyd system
Presented here are high angular resolution MERLIN 5 GHz (6 cm) continuum
observations of the binary proplyd system, LV 1 in the Orion nebula, which
consists of proplyd 168--326SE and its binary proplyd companion 168--326NW
(separation 0.4 arcsec). Accurate astrometric alignment allows a detailed
comparison between these data and published HST PC Halpha and [Oiii] images.
Thermal radio sources coincide with the two proplyds and originate in the
ionized photoevaporating flows seen in the optical emission lines. Flow
velocities of approx 50 km/s from the ionized proplyd surfaces and \geq 100
km/s from a possible micro-jet have been detected using the Manchester Echelle
spectrometer.
A third radio source is found to coincide with a region of extended, high
excitation, optical line emission that lies between the binary proplyds
168--326SE/326NW . This is modelled as a bowshock due to the collision of the
photoevaporating flows from the two proplyds. Both a thermal and a non-thermal
origin for the radio emission in this collision zone are considered.Comment: 23 pages, 9 figures, accepted by Ap
Fine Scale Temperature Fluctuations in the the Orion Nebula and the t^2 Problem
We present a high spatial resolution map of the columnar electron temperature
(Tc) of a region to the south west of the Trapezium in the Orion Nebula. This
map was derived from Hubble Space Telescope images that isolated the primary
lines of HI for determination of the local extinction and of the OIII lines for
determination of Tc. Although there is no statistically significant variation
of Tc with distance from the dominant ionizing star theta1-Ori-C, we find small
scale variations in the plane of the sky down to a few arcseconds that are
compatible with the variations inferred from comparing the value of Te derived
from forbidden and recombination lines, commonly known as the t^2 problem. We
present other evidence for fine scale variations in conditions in the nebula,
these being variations in the surface brightness of the the nebula,
fluctuations in radial velocities, and ionization changes. From our Tc map and
other considerations we estimate that t^2=0.028 +-0.006 for the Orion nebula.
Shadowed regions behind clumps close to the ionization front can make a
significant contribution to the observed temperature fluctuations, but they
cannot account for the t^2 values inferred from several methods of temperature
determination. It is shown that an anomalous broadening of nebular emission
lines appears to have the same sense of correlation as the temperature
anomalies, although a causal link is not obvious.Comment: 53 pages, 13 images, many of the images have been downgraded to be
able to fit within the astro-ph file size limit
Abstract
AimsPatients with spinal cord injury (SCI) are at risk of developing renal calculi. This study describes the management of renal calculi among patients with SCI with attention to factors influencing surgical management vs observation.MethodsThis retrospective, cohort study identified patients with SCI and renal calculi between 2009 to 2016 from an institutional neurogenic bladder database and detailed the management of their stones. A stone episode was defined as radiographic evidence of new calculi.ResultsOf 205 patients with SCI, 34 had renal stones, for a prevalence of 17%. The mean age was 50 years (range 22,77) and most had cervical SCI (nâ=â22, 65%). There were 41 stone episodes with 98 individual stones identified with a mean stone size of 4.9âmm (range 1â19).Of the 41 episodes, 10 (24%) underwent surgery after initial diagnosis. Pain was the most common primary indication for surgery (nâ=â9, 60%). The median time from diagnosis to intervention for all patients was 4 months (interquartile range 1,23). Of the 41 episodes, 31 (76%) were initially observed and among these, 5 ultimately required surgery (16%) while 26 (84%) did not. Of these 26, 12 (46%) stones passed spontaneously and 14 (53%) remained unchanged. The need for surgery correlated with more stone episodes (Pâ=â.049).ConclusionIn this cohort of patients with SCI and small, nonobstructing renal stones, 76% (nâ=â31) were offered observation. Of these observed patients, 84% (nâ=â26) did not require further intervention at a median of 4 years of followâup.Peer Reviewedhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151315/1/nau24091.pdfhttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/151315/2/nau24091_am.pd
Extended axion electrodynamics: Optical activity induced by nonstationary dark matter
We establish a new self-consistent Einstein-Maxwell-axion model based on the
Lagrangian, which is linear in the pseudoscalar (axion) field and its
four-gradient and includes the four-vector of macroscopic velocity of the axion
system as a whole. We consider extended equations of the axion electrodynamics,
modified gravity field equations, and discuss nonstationary effects in the
phenomenon of optical activity induced by axions.Comment: 6 pages, 0 figures, accepted for publication in the Journal
Gravitation and Cosmology, reported at the 14th Russian Gravitational
Conference (Ulyanovsk, 2011
The influence of transition metal solutes on dislocation core structure and values of Peierls stress and barrier in tungsten
Several transition metals were examined to evaluate their potential for
improving the ductility of tungsten. The dislocation core structure and Peierls
stress and barrier of screw dislocations in binary
tungsten-transition metal alloys (WTM) were investigated using
first principles electronic structure calculations. The periodic quadrupole
approach was applied to model the structure of dislocation. Alloying
with transition metals was modeled using the virtual crystal approximation and
the applicability of this approach was assessed by calculating the equilibrium
lattice parameter and elastic constants of the tungsten alloys. Reasonable
agreement was obtained with experimental data and with results obtained from
the conventional supercell approach. Increasing the concentration of a
transition metal from the VIIIA group, i.e. the elements in columns headed by
Fe, Co and Ni, leads to reduction of the elastic constant and
increase of elastic anisotropy A=. Alloying W with a group
VIIIA transition metal changes the structure of the dislocation core from
symmetric to asymmetric, similar to results obtained for WRe
alloys in the earlier work of Romaner {\it et al} (Phys. Rev. Lett. 104, 195503
(2010))\comments{\cite{WRECORE}}. In addition to a change in the core symmetry,
the values of the Peierls stress and barrier are reduced. The latter effect
could lead to increased ductility in a tungsten-based
alloy\comments{\cite{WRECORE}}. Our results demonstrate that alloying with any
of the transition metals from the VIIIA group should have similar effect as
alloying with Re.Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, 3 table
Interference scheme to measure light-induced nonlinearities in Bose-Einstein condensates
Light-induced nonlinear terms in the Gross-Pitaevskii equation arise from the
stimulated coherent exchange of photons between two atoms. For atoms in an
optical dipole trap this effect depends on the spatial profile of the trapping
laser beam. Two different laser beams can induce the same trapping potential
but very different nonlinearities. We propose a scheme to measure light-induced
nonlinearities which is based on this observation.Comment: 2 figure
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