Flavor versus mass eigenstates in neutrino asymmetries: implications for cosmology

We show that, if they exist, lepton number asymmetries ($L_\alpha$) of neutrino flavors should be distinguished from the ones ($L_i$) of mass eigenstates, since Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN) bounds on the flavor eigenstates cannot be directly applied to the mass eigenstates. Similarly, Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) constraints on mass eigenstates do not directly constrain flavor asymmetries. Due to the difference of mass and flavor eigenstates, the cosmological constraint on the asymmetries of neutrino flavors can be much stronger than conventional expectation, but not uniquely determined unless at least the asymmetry of the heaviest neutrino is well constrained. Cosmological constraint on $L_i$ for a specific case is presented as an illustration.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, matching to journal versio

On the Spectral Lags and Peak-Counts of the Gamma-Ray Bursts Detected by the RHESSI Satellite

A sample of 427 gamma-ray bursts from a database (February 2002 - April 2008) of the RHESSI satellite is analyzed statistically. The spectral lags and peak-count rates, which have been calculated for the first time in this paper, are studied completing an earlier analysis of durations and hardness ratios. The analysis of the RHESSI database has already inferred the existence of a third group with intermediate duration, apart from the so-called short and long groups. First aim of this article is to discuss the properties of these intermediate-duration bursts in terms of peak-count rates and spectral lags. Second aim is to discuss the number of GRB groups using another statistical method and by employing the peak-count rates and spectral lags as well. The standard parametric (model-based clustering) and non-parametric (K-means clustering) statistical tests together with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov and Anderson-Darling tests are used. Two new results are obtained: A. The intermediate-duration group has similar properties to the group of short bursts. Intermediate and long groups appear to be different. B. The intermediate-duration GRBs in the RHESSI and Swift databases seem to be represented by different phenomena.Comment: 41 pages, 10 figures, 9 tables, accepted to be published in The Astrophysical Journa

The Case for Hypercritical Accretion in M33 X-7

The spin parameter of the black hole in M33 X-7 has recently been measured to be a*=0.77+-0.05 (Liu et al. 2008). It has been proposed that the spin of the 15.65 M_sun black hole is natal. We show that this is not a viable evolutionary path given the observed binary orbital period of 3.45 days since the explosion that would produce a black hole with the cited spin parameter and orbital period would disrupt the binary. Furthermore, we show that the system has to be evolved through the hypercritical mass transfer of about 5 M_sun from the secondary star to the black hole.Comment: 4 page

Duplexer using microwave photonic band gap structure

We propose a frequency selective duplexer using microwave photonic band gap (PBG) structures. It uses two different PBGs to control the propagation of electromagnetic waves in the microwave region. In this structure, an additional narrow reflection band appears in the transmission spectrum when the PBG structure is not properly located relative to the T junction. By considering multiple reflections, it is proved that this additional reflection band in each PBG structure results from the interference between the input wave and the reflected wave from the other PBG structure. An effective way to prevent this interference effect is also discussed

Effective action of three-dimensional extended supersymmetric matter on gauge superfield background

We study the low-energy effective actions for gauge superfields induced by quantum N=2 and N=4 supersymmetric matter fields in three-dimensional Minkowski space. Analyzing the superconformal invariants in the N=2 superspace we propose a general form of the N=2 gauge invariant and superconformal effective action. The leading terms in this action are fixed by the symmetry up to the coefficients while the higher order terms with respect to the Maxwell field strength are found up to one arbitrary function of quasi-primary N=2 superfields constructed from the superfield strength and its covariant spinor derivatives. Then we find this function and the coefficients by direct quantum computations in the N=2 superspace. The effective action of N=4 gauge multiplet is obtained by generalizing the N=2 effective action.Comment: 1+27 pages; v2: minor corrections, references adde

Photometric Properties of the Near-contact Binary GW Geminorum

New multiband CCD photometry is presented for the eclipsing binary GW Gem; the $RI$ light curves are the first ever compiled. Four new minimum timings have been determined. Our analysis of eclipse timings observed during the past 79 years indicates a continuous period increase at a fractional rate of +(1.2$\pm$0.1)$\times10^{-10}$, in excellent agreement with the value $+1.1\times10^{-10}$ calculated from the Wilson-Devinney binary code. The new light curves display an inverse O'Connell effect increasing toward longer wavelengths. Hot and cool spot models are developed to describe these variations but we prefer a cool spot on the secondary star. Our light-curve synthesis reveals that GW Gem is in a semi-detached, but near-contact, configuration. It appears to consist of a near-main-sequence primary star with a spectral type of about A7 and an evolved early K-type secondary star that completely fills its inner Roche lobe. Mass transfer from the secondary to the primary component is responsible for the observed secular period change.Comment: 20 pages, including 5 figures and 6 tables, accepted for publication in PAS

The Globular Cluster System of M60 (NGC 4649). I. CFHT MOS Spectroscopy and Database

We present the measurement of radial velocities for globular clusters in M60, giant elliptical galaxy in the Virgo cluster. Target globular cluster candidates were selected using the Washington photometry based on the deep 16\arcmin \times 16\arcmin images taken at the KPNO 4m and using the $VI$ photometry derived from the HST/WFPC2 archive images. The spectra of the target objects were obtained using the Multi-Object Spectrograph (MOS) at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT). We have measured the radial velocity for 111 objects in the field of M60: 93 globular clusters (72 blue globular clusters with $1.0\le(C-T_1)<1.7$ and 21 red globular clusters with $1.7\le(C-T_1)<2.4$), 11 foreground stars, 6 small galaxies, and the nucleus of M60. The measured velocities of the 93 globular clusters range from $\sim 500$ km s$^{-1}$ to $\sim 1600$ km s$^{-1}$, with a mean value of $1070_{-25}^{+27}$ km s$^{-1}$, which is in good agreement with the velocity of the nucleus of M60 ($v_{\rm gal}=1056$ km s$^{-1}$). Combining our results with data in the literature, we present a master catalog of radial velocities for 121 globular clusters in M60. The velocity dispersion of the globular clusters in the master catalog is found to be $234_{-14}^{+13}$ km s$^{-1}$ for the entire sample, $223_{-16}^{+13}$ km s$^{-1}$ for 83 blue globular clusters, and $258_{-31}^{+21}$ km s$^{-1}$ for 38 red globular clusters.Comment: 29 pages, 8 figures. To appear in Ap