206 research outputs found
Evidence for Distinct Components of the Galactic Stellar Halo from 838 RR Lyrae Stars Discovered in the LONEOS-I Survey
We present 838 ab-type RR Lyrae stars from the Lowell Observatory Near Earth
Objects Survey Phase I (LONEOS-I). These objects cover 1430 deg^2 and span
distances ranging from 3-30 kpc from the Galactic Center. Object selection is
based on phased, photometric data with 28-50 epochs. We use this large sample
to explore the bulk properties of the stellar halo, including the spatial
distribution. The period-amplitude distribution of this sample shows that the
majority of these RR Lyrae stars resemble Oosterhoff type I, but there is a
significant fraction (26 %) which have longer periods and appear to be
Oosterhoff type II. We find that the radial distributions of these two
populations have significantly different profiles (rho_{OoI} ~ R^(-2.26 +-
0.07) and rho_{OoII} ~ R^(-2.88 +- 0.11). This suggests that the stellar halo
was formed by at least two distinct accretion processes and supports dual-halo
models.Comment: 18 pages, 28 figures, apjemulated, minor corrections and
clarifications. Accepted to ApJ on Jan 21, 200
Determination of the Nature of the Tetragonal to Orthorhombic Phase Transition in SrFe_2As_2 by Measurement of the Local Order Parameter
SrFe2As2 is the end-member for a series of iron-pnictide superconductors and
has a tetragonal-to-orthorhombic phase transition near 200 K. Previous
macroscopic measurements to determine the nature of the transition gave
seemingly inconsistent results so we use electron microscopy to monitor the
local order parameter showing that the transformation is first order and that
the orthorhombic phase grows as needle domains. This suggests the transition
occurs via the passage of transformation dislocations, explaining the apparent
inconsistencies. This mechanism may be common to similar transitions.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures submitted to Physical Review Letters.
Supplementary information can be found at
http://cook.msm.cam.ac.uk/~supp_info/ An extra sentence in the second last
paragraph and reference 16 has been adde
Spin density wave induced disordering of the vortex lattice in superconducting LaSrCuO
We use small angle neutron scattering to study the superconducting vortex
lattice in LaSrCuO as a function of doping and magnetic field.
We show that near optimally doping the vortex lattice coordination and the
superconducting coherence length are controlled by a van-Hove singularity
crossing the Fermi level near the Brillouin zone boundary. The vortex lattice
properties change dramatically as a spin-density-wave instability is approached
upon underdoping. The Bragg glass paradigm provides a good description of this
regime and suggests that SDW order acts as a novel source of disorder on the
vortex lattice.Comment: Accepted in Phys. Rev.
Ultraviolet and visible photometry of asteroid (21) Lutetia using the Hubble Space Telescope
The asteroid (21) Lutetia is the target of a planned close encounter by the
Rosetta spacecraft in July 2010. To prepare for that flyby, Lutetia has been
extensively observed by a variety of astronomical facilities. We used the
Hubble Space Telescope (HST) to determine the albedo of Lutetia over a wide
wavelength range, extending from ~150 nm to ~700 nm. Using data from a variety
of HST filters and a ground-based visible light spectrum, we employed synthetic
photometry techniques to derive absolute fluxes for Lutetia. New results from
ground-based measurements of Lutetia's size and shape were used to convert the
absolute fluxes into albedos. We present our best model for the spectral energy
distribution of Lutetia over the wavelength range 120-800 nm. There appears to
be a steep drop in the albedo (by a factor of ~2) for wavelengths shorter than
~300 nm. Nevertheless, the far ultraviolet albedo of Lutetia (~10%) is
considerably larger than that of typical C-chondrite material (~4%). The
geometric albedo at 550 nm is 16.5 +/- 1%. Lutetia's reflectivity is not
consistent with a metal-dominated surface at infrared or radar wavelengths, and
its albedo at all wavelengths (UV-visibile-IR-radar) is larger than observed
for typical primitive, chondritic material. We derive a relatively high FUV
albedo of ~10%, a result that will be tested by observations with the Alice
spectrograph during the Rosetta flyby of Lutetia in July 2010.Comment: 14 pages, 2 tables, 8 figure
The triaxial ellipsoid dimensions, rotational pole, and bulk density of ESA Rosetta target asteroid (21) Lutetia
We seek the best size estimates of the asteroid (21) Lutetia, the direction
of its spin axis, and its bulk density, assuming its shape is well described by
a smooth featureless triaxial ellipsoid, and to evaluate the deviations from
this assumption. Methods. We derive these quantities from the outlines of the
asteroid in 307 images of its resolved apparent disk obtained with adaptive
optics (AO) at Keck II and VLT, and combine these with recent mass
determinations to estimate a bulk density. Our best triaxial ellipsoid
diameters for Lutetia, based on our AO images alone, are a x b x c = 132 x 101
x 93 km, with uncertainties of 4 x 3 x 13 km including estimated systematics,
with a rotational pole within 5 deg. of ECJ2000 [long,lat] = [45, -7], or
EQJ2000 [RA, DEC] = [44, +9]. The AO model fit itself has internal precisions
of 1 x 1 x 8 km, but it is evident, both from this model derived from limited
viewing aspects and the radius vector model given in a companion paper, that
Lutetia has significant departures from an idealized ellipsoid. In particular,
the long axis may be overestimated from the AO images alone by about 10 km.
Therefore, we combine the best aspects of the radius vector and ellipsoid model
into a hybrid ellipsoid model, as our final result, of 124 +/- 5 x 101 +/- 4 x
93 +/- 13 km that can be used to estimate volumes, sizes, and projected areas.
The adopted pole position is within 5 deg. of [long, lat] = [52, -6] or[RA DEC]
= [52, +12]. Using two separately determined masses and the volume of our
hybrid model, we estimate a density of 3.5 +/- 1.1 or 4.3 +/- 0.8 g cm-3 . From
the density evidence alone, we argue that this favors an enstatite-chondrite
composition, although other compositions are formally allowed at the extremes
(low-porosity CV/CO carbonaceous chondrite or high-porosity metallic). We
discuss this in the context of other evidence.Comment: 9 pages, 8 figures, 5 tables, submitted to Astronomy and Astrophysic
WISE/NEOWISE Observations of the Jovian Trojans: Preliminary Results
We present the preliminary analysis of over 1739 known and 349 candidate
Jovian Trojans observed by the NEOWISE component of the Wide-field Infrared
Survey Explorer (WISE). With this survey the available diameters, albedos and
beaming parameters for the Jovian Trojans have been increased by more than an
order of magnitude compared to previous surveys. We find that the Jovian Trojan
population is very homogenous for sizes larger than km (close to the
detection limit of WISE for these objects). The observed sample consists almost
exclusively of low albedo objects, having a mean albedo value of .
The beaming parameter was also derived for a large fraction of the observed
sample, and it is also very homogenous with an observed mean value of
. Preliminary debiasing of the survey shows our observed sample is
consistent with the leading cloud containing more objects than the trailing
cloud. We estimate the fraction to be N(leading)/N(trailing) , lower than the value derived by others.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astrophysical Journal. Electronic table
will be available at the publishers websit
Main Belt Asteroids with WISE/NEOWISE I: Preliminary Albedos and Diameters
We present initial results from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer
(WISE), a four-band all-sky thermal infrared survey that produces data well
suited to measuring the physical properties of asteroids, and the NEOWISE
enhancement to the WISE mission allowing for detailed study of Solar system
objects. Using a NEATM thermal model fitting routine we compute diameters for
over 100,000 Main Belt asteroids from their IR thermal flux, with errors better
than 10%. We then incorporate literature values of visible measurements (in the
form of the H absolute magnitude) to determine albedos. Using these data we
investigate the albedo and diameter distributions of the Main Belt. As observed
previously, we find a change in the average albedo when comparing the inner,
middle, and outer portions of the Main Belt. We also confirm that the albedo
distribution of each region is strongly bimodal. We observe groupings of
objects with similar albedos in regions of the Main Belt associated with
dynamical breakup families. Asteroid families typically show a characteristic
albedo for all members, but there are notable exceptions to this. This paper is
the first look at the Main Belt asteroids in the WISE data, and only represents
the preliminary, observed raw size and albedo distributions for the populations
considered. These distributions are subject to survey biases inherent to the
NEOWISE dataset and cannot yet be interpreted as describing the true
populations; the debiased size and albedo distributions will be the subject of
the next paper in this series.Comment: Accepted to ApJ. Online table to also appear on the publisher's
websit
Practical reasoning in political discourse: The UK government's response to the economic crisis in the 2008 Pre-Budget Report
This article focuses on practical reasoning in political discourse and argues for a better integration of argumentation theory with critical discourse analysis (CDA). Political discourse and its specific genres (for example, deliberation) primarily involve forms of practical reasoning, typically oriented towards finding solutions to problems and deciding on future courses of action. Practical reasoning is a form of inference from cognitive and motivational premises: from what we believe (about the situation or about means—end relations) and what we want or desire (our goals and values), leading to a normative judgement (and often a decision) concerning action. We offer an analysis of the main argument in the UK government’s 2008 Pre-Budget Report (HM Treasury, 2008) and suggest how a critical evaluation of the argument from the perspective of a normative theory of argumentation (particularly the informal logic developed by Douglas Walton) can provide the basis for an evaluation in terms of characteristic CDA concerns. We are advancing this analysis as a contribution to CDA, aimed at increasing the rigour and systematicity of its analyses of political discourse, and as a contribution to the normative concerns of critical social science
(1173) Anchises - Thermophysical and Dynamical Studies of a Dynamically Unstable Jovian Trojan
We have performed detailed thermophysical and dynamical modelling of Jovian
Trojan (1173) Anchises. Our results reveal a most unusual object. By examining
observational data taken by IRAS, Akari and WISE between 11.5 and 60 microns,
along with variations in its optical lightcurve, we find Anchises is most
likely an elongated body, with an axes-ratio of ~1.4. This yields calculated
best-fit dimensions of 170x121x121km (an equivalent diameter of 136+18/-11km).
We find the observations are best fit by Anchises having a retrograde sense of
rotation, and an unusually high thermal inertia (25 to 100 Jm-2s-0.5K-1). The
geometric albedo is found to be 0.027 (+0.006/-0.007). Anchises therefore has
one of the highest published thermal inertias of any object larger than 100km
in diameter, at such large heliocentric distances, and is one of the lowest
albedo objects ever observed. More observations are needed to see if there is a
link between the very shallow phase curve, with almost no opposition effect,
and the derived thermal properties for this large Trojan asteroid. Our
dynamical investigation of Anchises' orbit has revealed it to be dynamically
unstable on timescales of hundreds of Myr, similar to the unstable Neptunian
Trojans 2001 QR322 and 2008 LC18. Unlike those objects, we find that Anchises'
dynamical stability is not a function of its initial orbital elements, the
result of the exceptional precision with which its orbit is known. This is the
first time that a Jovian Trojan has been shown to be dynamically unstable, and
adds weight to the idea that planetary Trojans represent a significant ongoing
contribution to the Centaur population, the parents of the short-period comets.
The observed instability does not rule out a primordial origin for Anchises,
but when taken in concert with the result of our thermophysical analysis,
suggest that it would be a fascinating target for future study.Comment: 5 figures, 3 tables, accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of
the Royal Astronomical Societ
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