2,992 research outputs found
The detached dust and gas shells around the carbon star U Ant
Context: Geometrically thin, detached shells of gas have been found around a
handful of carbon stars. --Aims: Previous observations of scattered stellar
light in the circumstellar medium around the carbon star U Ant were taken
through filters centred on the resonance lines of K and Na. These observations
could not separate the scattering by dust and atoms. The aim of this paper is
to remedy this situation. --Methods: We have obtained polarization data on
stellar light scattered in the circumstellar medium around U Ant through
filters which contain no strong lines, making it possible to differentiate
between the two scattering agents. Kinematic, as well as spatial, information
on the gas shells were obtained through high-resolution echelle spectrograph
observations of the KI and NaD lines. --Results: We confirm the existence of
two detached shells around U Ant. The inner shell (at a radius of approx 43"
and a width of approx 2") consists mainly of gas, while the outer shell (at a
radius of approx 50" and a width of approx 7") appears to consist exclusively
of dust. Both shells appear to have an over-all spherical geometry. The gas
shell mass is estimated to be 2x10^-3 M(Sun), while the mass of the dust shell
is estimated to be 5x10^-5 M(Sun). The derived expansion velocity, from the KI
and NaD lines, of the gas shell, 19.5 km/s, agrees with that obtained from CO
radio line data. The inferred shell age is 2700 years. There is structure, e.g.
in the form of arcs, inside the gas shell, but it is not clear whether these
are due to additional shells. --Conclusions: Our results support the hypothesis
that the observed geometrically thin, detached shells around carbon stars are
the results of brief periods of intense mass loss, probably associated with
thermal pulses, and subsequent wind-wind interactions
The abundance of HCN in circumstellar envelopes of AGB stars of different chemical types
A multi-transition survey of HCN (sub-) millimeter line emission from a large
sample of AGB stars of different chemical type is presented. The data are
analysed and circumstellar HCN abundances are estimated. The sample stars span
a large range of properties such as mass-loss rate and photospheric C/O-ratio.
The analysis of the new data allows for more accurate estimates of the
circumstellar HCN abundances and puts new constraints on chemical models. In
order to constrain the circumstellar HCN abundance distribution a detailed
non-LTE excitation analysis, based on the Monte Carlo method, is performed.
Effects of line overlaps and radiative excitation from dust grains are
included. The median values for the derived abundances of HCN (with respect to
H2) are 3x10-5, 7x10-7 and 10-7 for carbon stars (25 stars), S-type AGB stars
(19 stars) and M-type AGB stars (25 stars), respectively. The estimated sizes
of the HCN envelopes are similar to those obtained in the case of SiO for the
same sample of sources and agree well with previous results from
interferometric observations, when these are available. We find that there is a
clear dependence of the derived circumstellar HCN abundance on the C/O-ratio of
the star, in that carbon stars have about two orders of magnitude higher
abundances than M-type AGB stars, on average. The derived HCN abundances of the
S-type AGB stars have a larger spread and typically fall in between those of
the two other types, however, slightly closer to the values for the M-type AGB
stars. For the M-type stars, the estimated abundances are much higher than what
would be expected if HCN is formed in thermal equilibrium. However, the results
are also in contrast to predictions from recent non-LTE chemical models, where
very little difference is expected in the HCN abundances between the various
types of AGB stars.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
EMBRACE@Nancay: An Ultra Wide Field of View Prototype for the SKA
A revolution in radio receiving technology is underway with the development
of densely packed phased arrays for radio astronomy. This technology can
provide an exceptionally large field of view, while at the same time sampling
the sky with high angular resolution. Such an instrument, with a field of view
of over 100 square degrees, is ideal for performing fast, all-sky, surveys,
such as the "intensity mapping" experiment to measure the signature of Baryonic
Acoustic Oscillations in the HI mass distribution at cosmological redshifts.
The SKA, built with this technology, will be able to do a billion galaxy
survey. I will present a very brief introduction to radio interferometry, as
well as an overview of the Square Kilometre Array project. This will be
followed by a description of the EMBRACE prototype and a discussion of results
and future plans.Comment: to appear in proceedings of the INFIERI Summer School INtelligent
Signal Processing for FrontIEr Research and Industry, Paris 201
On the ubiquity of molecular anions in the dense interstellar medium
Results are presented from a survey for molecular anions in seven nearby
Galactic star-forming cores and molecular clouds. The hydrocarbon anion C6H- is
detected in all seven target sources, including four sources where no anions
have been previously detected: L1172, L1389, L1495B and TMC-1C. The C6H-/C6H
column density ratio is greater than about 1.0% in every source, with a mean
value of 3.0% (and standard deviation 0.92%). Combined with previous
detections, our results show that anions are ubiquitous in dense clouds
wherever C6H is present. The C6H-/C6H ratio is found to show a positive
correlation with molecular hydrogen number density, and with the apparent age
of the cloud. We also report the first detection of C4H- in TMC-1 (at 4.8-sigma
confidence), and derive an anion-to-neutral ratio C4H-/C4H = (1.2 +- 0.4) x
10^-5 (= 0.0012 +- 0.0004%). Such a low value compared with C6H- highlights the
need for a revised radiative electron attachment rate for C4H. Chemical model
calculations show that the observed C4H- could be produced as a result of
reactions of oxygen atoms with C5H- and C6H-
Characterization of a dense aperture array for radio astronomy
EMBRACE@Nancay is a prototype instrument consisting of an array of 4608
densely packed antenna elements creating a fully sampled, unblocked aperture.
This technology is proposed for the Square Kilometre Array and has the
potential of providing an extremely large field of view making it the ideal
survey instrument. We describe the system,calibration procedures, and results
from the prototype.Comment: 17 pages, accepted for publication in A&
The detached dust shells of AQ And, U Ant, and TT Cyg
Detached circumstellar dust shells are detected around three carbon variables
using Herschel-PACS. Two of them are already known on the basis of their
thermal CO emission and two are visible as extensions in IRAS imaging data. By
model fits to the new data sets, physical sizes, expansion timescales, dust
temperatures, and more are deduced. A comparison with existing molecular CO
material shows a high degree of correlation for TT Cyg and U Ant but a few
distinct differences with other observables are also found.Comment: Letter accepted for publication on the A&A Herschel Special Issu
Inner disk clearing around the Herbig Ae star HD\,139614: Evidence for a planet-induced gap ?
Spatially resolving the inner dust cavity of the transitional disks is a key
to understanding the connection between planetary formation and disk dispersal.
The disk around the Herbig star HD 139614 is of particular interest since it
presents a pretransitional nature with an au-sized gap, in the dust, that was
spatially resolved by mid-IR interferometry. Using new NIR interferometric
observations, we aim to characterize the 0.1-10~au region of the HD~139614 disk
further and identify viable mechanisms for the inner disk clearing. We report
the first multiwavelength radiative transfer modeling of the interferometric
data acquired on HD~139614 with PIONIER, AMBER, and MIDI, complemented by
Herschel/PACS photometries. We confirm a gap structure in the um-sized dust,
extending from about 2.5 au to 6 au, and constrained the properties of the
inner dust component: e.g., a radially increasing surface density profile, and
a depletion of 10^3 relative to the outer disk. Since self-shadowing and
photoevaporation appears unlikely to be responsible for the au-sized gap of
HD~139614, we thus tested if dynamical clearing could be a viable mechanism
using hydrodynamical simulations to predict the gaseous disk structure. Indeed,
a narrow au-sized gap is expected when a single giant planet interacts with the
disk. Assuming that small dust grains are well coupled to the gas, we found
that a ~ 3~Mjup planet located at 4.5 au from the star could, in less than 1
Myr, reproduce most of the aspects of the dust surface density profile, while
no significant depletion in gas occurred in the inner disk, in contrast to the
dust. However, the dust-depleted inner disk could be explained by the expected
dust filtration by the gap and the efficient dust growth/fragmentation in the
inner disk regions. Our results support the hypothesis of a giant planet
opening a gap and shaping the inner region of the HD~139614 disk.Comment: Version accepted in A&A, with typos corrections in the tex
MLL/GAS7 fusion in a pediatric case of t(11;17)(q23;p13)-positive precursor B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia
AML/GAS7, resulting from t(11;17)(q23;p13), has been reported in one case of treatment-related acute myeloid leukemia (AML). We present a de novo case of t(11;17)-positive pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Fluorescent in situ hybridization and reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction analyses revealed an MLL/GAS7 chimera identical to the one previously described in AML. The molecular genetic features of MLL/GAS7 and the clinical impact of t(11;17) are discussed
Imaging of detached shells around the carbon stars R Scl and U Ant through scattered stellar light
We present the first optical images of scattered light from large, detached
gas/dust shells around two carbon stars, R Scl and U Ant, obtained in narrow
band filters centred on the resonance lines of neutral K and Na, and in a Str.
b filter (only U Ant). They confirm results obtained in CO radio line
observations, but also reveal new and interesting structures. Towards R Scl the
scattering appears optically thick in both the K and Na filters, and both
images outline almost perfectly circular disks with essentially uniform
intensity out to a sharp outer radius of 21". These disks are larger -- by
about a factor of two -- than the radius of the detached shell which has been
marginally resolved in CO radio line data. In U Ant the scattering in the K
filter appears to be, at least partially, optically thin, and the image is
consistent with scattering in a geometrically thin (3") shell (radius 43") with
an overall spherical symmetry. The size of this shell agrees very well with
that of the detached shell seen in CO radio line emission. The scattering in
the Na filter appears more optically thick, and the image suggests the presence
of at least one, possibly two, shells inside the 43" shell. There is no
evidence for such a multiple-shell structure in the CO data, but this can be
due to considerably lower masses for these inner shells. Weak scattering
appears also in a shell which is located outside the 43" shell. The present
data do not allow us to conclusively identify the scattering agent, but we
argue that most of the emission in the K and Na filter images is to due to
resonance line scattering, and that there is also a weaker contribution from
dust scattering in the U Ant data. Awaiting new observational data, our
interpretation must be regarded as tentative.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, to be published in A&
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