9,816 research outputs found
KPD1930+2752 - a candidate Type Ia supernova progenitor
We present spectra of the pulsating sdB star KPD1930+2752 which confirm that
this star is a binary. The radial velocities measured from the H-alpha and
HeI6678 spectral lines vary sinusoidally with the same period (2h 17m) as the
ellipsoidal variability seen by Billeres et al. (2000). The amplitude of the
orbital motion (349.3+-2.7 km/s) combined with the canonical mass for sdB stars
(0.5 solar masses) implies a total mass for the binary of 1.47+-0.01 solar
masses The unseen companion star is almost certainly a white dwarf star. The
binary will merge within about 200 million years due to gravitational wave
radiation. The accretion of helium and other elements heavier than hydrogen
onto the white dwarf which then exceeds the Chandrasekhar mass (1.4 solar
masses) is a viable model for the cause of Type Ia supernovae. KPD1930+2752 is
the first star to be discovered which is a good candidate for the progenitor of
a Type Ia supernova of this type which will merge on an astrophysically
interesting timescale.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 4 pages, 2 figures. Added
Institutio
CNONa and 12C/13C in giants of 10 open clusters
Evolved low-mass stars of a wide range of metallicity bear signatures of a
non-standard mixing event in their surface abundances of Li, C, and N, and in
their 12C/13C ratio. A Na overabundance has also been reported in some giants
of open clusters but remains controversial. The cause of the extra-mixing has
been attributed to thermohaline convection that should take place after the RGB
bump for low-mass stars and on the early-AGB for more massive objects. To track
the occurrence of this process over a wide mass range, we derive in a
homogeneous way the abundances of C, N, O, and Na, as well as the 12C/13C ratio
in a sample of 31 giants of 10 open clusters with turn-off masses from 1.7 to
3.1 Msun. A group of first ascent red giants with M/Msun \leq 2.5 exhibits
lower [N/C] ratios than those measured in clump giants of the same mass range,
suggesting an additional increase in the [N/C] ratio after the first dredge-up.
The sodium abundances corrected from NLTE are found to be about solar. [Na/Fe]
shows a slight increase of 0.10 dex as a function of stellar mass in the 1.8 to
3.2 Msun range covered by our sample, in agreement with standard first
dredge-up predictions. Our results do not support previous claims of sodium
overabundances as high as +0.60 dex. An anti-correlation between 12C/13C and
turn-off mass is identified and interpreted as being caused by a post-bump
thermohaline mixing. Moreover, we find low 12C/13C ratios in a few
intermediate-mass early-AGB stars, confirming that an extra-mixing process also
operates in stars that do not experienced the RGB bump. In this case, the
extra-mixing possibly acts on the early-AGB, in agreement with theoretical
expectations for thermohaline mixing. [abridged]Comment: A&A accepted, revised versio
Lithium in field Am and normal A-F-type stars
Preliminary abundances of lithium and a few other elements have been obtained
for 31 field Am stars with good Hipparcos parallaxes, as well as for 36 normal
A and F stars. Radial and projected rotational velocities were determined as
well. We examine the Li abundance as a function of the stellar parameters: for
normal stars, it is clearly bimodal for Teff < 7500 K, while Am-Fm stars are
all somewhat Li-deficient in this range. The most Li-deficient stars - either
Am or normal - tend to be at least slightly evolved, but the reverse is not
true.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, poster presented at the conference "Element
stratification in stars, 40 years of atomic diffusion", eds. G. Alecian, O.
Richard and S. Vauclair, EAS Publication Series, in pres
Pregnancy without ovarian function A case report
A 38-year-old nulliparous woman suffering from premature menopause was stimulated with oestradiol valerate in order to create an artificial endometrial cycle. Three oocytes were donated by a woman on an in vitro fertilisation cycle and were inseminated with the patient's husband's sperm. These were then transferred into the patient's uterus after the endometrium had been primed with progesterone to change it to the secretory phase. Pregnancy resulted and proceeded well. Gestation was terminated at the 34th week by caesarean section and 2 healthy boys and 1 girl were delivered
Does rotation of B stars depend on metallicity? preliminary results from GIRAFFE spectra
We show the vsini distribution of main sequence B stars in sites of various
metallicities, in the absolute magnitude range -3.34 < Mv < -2.17. These
include Galactic stars in the field measured by Abt et al. (2002), members of
the h & chi Per open clusters measured by North et al. (2004), and five fields
in the SMC and LMC measured at ESO Paranal with the FLAMES-GIRAFFE
spectrograph, within the Geneva-Lausanne guaranteed time. Following the
suggestion by Maeder et al. (1999), we do find a higher rate of rapid rotators
in the Magellanic Clouds than in the Galaxy, but the vsini distribution is the
same in the LMC and in the SMC in spite of their very different metallicities.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, poster presented at the ESO/Arcetri Workshop on
"Chemical abundances and mixing in stars in the Milky Way and its
satellites", 13-17 Sept. 200
The Effects of Musical Fit on Consumers' Ability to Freely Recall Related Products
Previous studies have claimed that music can prime the selection of
certain products and influence consumers’ propensity to spend because it activates
related knowledge of the world and subsequently raises the salience of certain products
and behaviours associated with that music. The possibility that music can raise the
salience of associated products has not been tested directly, however, and ought to
manifest itself through enhanced ability to recall the products in question when
associated music is played. Accordingly, this study investigated the impact of musical
‘fit’ on product recall. Participants were asked to list as many Malay and Indian food
items as they could while listening to either Malay or Indian music. Among ethnically
Chinese participants, more Malay food items were recalled when Malay music was
played and more Indian food items were recalled when Indian music was played.
Ethnically Malay and Indian participants were more likely to recall food from their
own cultures, irrespective of the music played
The Effects of Musical Fit on Consumers' Ability to Freely Recall Related Products
Previous studies have claimed that music can prime the selection of
certain products and influence consumers’ propensity to spend because it activates
related knowledge of the world and subsequently raises the salience of certain products
and behaviours associated with that music. The possibility that music can raise the
salience of associated products has not been tested directly, however, and ought to
manifest itself through enhanced ability to recall the products in question when
associated music is played. Accordingly, this study investigated the impact of musical
‘fit’ on product recall. Participants were asked to list as many Malay and Indian food
items as they could while listening to either Malay or Indian music. Among ethnically
Chinese participants, more Malay food items were recalled when Malay music was
played and more Indian food items were recalled when Indian music was played.
Ethnically Malay and Indian participants were more likely to recall food from their
own cultures, irrespective of the music played
A purely geometric distance to the binary star Atlas, a member of the Pleiades
We present radial velocity and new interferometric measurements of the double
star Atlas, which permit, with the addition of published interferometric data,
to precisely derive the orbital parameters of the binary system and the masses
of the components. The derived semi-major axis, compared with its measured
angular size, allows to determine a distance to Atlas of 132+-4 pc in a purely
geometrical way. Under the assumption that the location of Atlas is
representative of the average distance of the cluster, we confirm the distance
value generally obtained through main sequence fitting, in contradiction with
the early Hipparcos result (118.3+-3.5 pc).Comment: 5 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in A&A Letter
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