Selecting asteroids for a targeted spectroscopic survey

Asteroid spectroscopy reflects surface mineralogy. There are few thousand asteroids whose surfaces have been observed spectrally. Determining the surface properties of those objects is important for many practical and scientific applications, such as for example developing impact deflection strategies or studying history and evolution of the Solar System and planet formation. The aim of this study is to develop a pre-selection method that can be utilized in searching for asteroids of any taxonomic complex. The method could then be utilized im multiple applications such as searching for the missing V-types or looking for primitive asteroids. We used the Bayes Naive Classifier combined with observations obtained in the course of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer surveys as well as a database of asteroid phase curves for asteroids with known taxonomic type. Using the new classification method we have selected a number of possible V-type candidates. Some of the candidates were than spectrally observed at the Nordic Optical Telescope and South African Large Telescope. We have developed and tested the new pre-selection method. We found three asteroids in the mid/outer Main Belt that are likely of differentiated type. Near-Infrared are still required to confirm this discovery. Similarly to other studies we found that V-type candidates cluster around the Vesta family and are rare in the mid/oter Main Belt. The new method shows that even largely explored large databases combined together could still be further exploited in for example solving the missing dunite problem.Comment: accepted to A

Note: Scale-free center-of-mass displacement correlations in polymer films without topological constraints and momentum conservation

We present here computational work on the center-of-mass displacements in thin polymer films of finite width without topological constraints and without momentum conservation obtained using a well-known lattice Monte Carlo algorithm with chain lengths ranging up to N=8192. Computing directly the center-of-mass displacement correlation function C_N(t) allows to make manifest the existence of scale-free colored forces acting on a reference chain. As suggested by the scaling arguments put forward in a recent work on three-dimensional melts, we obtain a negative algebraic decay C_N(t) \sim -1/(Nt) for times t << T_N with T_N being the chain relaxation time. This implies a logarithmic correction to the related center-of-mass mean square-displacement h_N(t) as has been checked directly

Impulsive correction to the elastic moduli obtained using the stress-fluctuation formalism in systems with truncated pair potential

The truncation of a pair potential at a distance r_cut is well-known to imply in general an impulsive correction to the pressure and other moments of the first derivatives of the potential. That depending on r_cut the truncation may also be of relevance to higher derivatives is shown theoretically for the Born contributions to the elastic moduli obtained using the stress-fluctuation formalism in d dimensions. Focusing on isotropic liquids for which the shear modulus G must vanish by construction, the predicted corrections are tested numerically for binary mixtures and polydisperse Lennard-Jones beads in, respectively, d=3 and d=2 dimensions

Scale-free center-of-mass displacement correlations in dense polymer solutions and melts without topological constraints and momentum conservation: A bond-fluctuation model study

By Monte Carlo simulations of a variant of the bond-fluctuation model without topological constraints we examine the center-of-mass (COM) dynamics of polymer melts in $d=3$ dimensions. Our analysis focuses on the COM displacement correlation function \CN(t) \approx \partial_t^2 \MSDcmN(t)/2, measuring the curvature of the COM mean-square displacement \MSDcmN(t). We demonstrate that \CN(t) \approx -(\RN/\TN)^2 (\rhostar/\rho) \ f(x=t/\TN) with $N$ being the chain length ($16 \le N \le 8192$), \RN\sim N^{1/2} the typical chain size, \TN\sim N^2 the longest chain relaxation time, $\rho$ the monomer density, \rhostar \approx N/\RN^d the self-density and $f(x)$ a universal function decaying asymptotically as $f(x) \sim x^{-\omega}$ with $\omega = (d+2) \times \alpha$ where $\alpha = 1/4$ for $x \ll 1$ and $\alpha = 1/2$ for $x \gg 1$. We argue that the algebraic decay N \CN(t) \sim - t^{-5/4} for t \ll \TN results from an interplay of chain connectivity and melt incompressibility giving rise to the correlated motion of chains and subchains.Comment: 27 pages, 12 figure

Interplay between pulsations and mass loss in the blue supergiant 55 Cygnus = HD 198 478

Context. Blue supergiant stars are known to display photometric and spectroscopic variability that is suggested to be linked to stellar pulsations. Pulsational activity in massive stars strongly depends on the star's evolutionary stage and is assumed to be connected with mass-loss episodes, the appearance of macroturbulent line broadening, and the formation of clumps in the wind. Aims. To investigate a possible interplay between pulsations and mass-loss, we carried out an observational campaign of the supergiant 55 Cyg over a period of five years to search for photospheric activity and cyclic mass-loss variability in the stellar wind. Methods. We modeled the H, He i, Si ii, and Si iii lines using the nonlocal thermal equilibrium atmosphere code FASTWIND and derived the photospheric and wind parameters. In addition, we searched for variability in the intensity and radial velocity of photospheric lines and performed a moment analysis of the line profiles to derive frequencies and amplitudes of the variations. Results. The Hα line varies with time in both intensity and shape, displaying various types of profiles: P Cygni, pure emission, almost complete absence, and double or multiple peaked. The star undergoes episodes of variable mass-loss rates that change by a factor of 1.7-2 on different timescales. We also observe changes in the ionization rate of Si ii and determine a multiperiodic oscillation in the He i absorption lines, with periods ranging from a few hours to 22.5 days. Conclusions. We interpret the photospheric line variations in terms of oscillations in p-, g-, and strange modes. We suggest that these pulsations can lead to phases of enhanced mass loss. Furthermore, they can mislead the determination of the stellar rotation. We classify the star as a post-red supergiant, belonging to the group of α Cyg variables.Facultad de Ciencias Astronómicas y GeofísicasInstituto de Astrofísica de La Plat

Asteroids' physical models from combined dense and sparse photometry and scaling of the YORP effect by the observed obliquity distribution

The larger number of models of asteroid shapes and their rotational states derived by the lightcurve inversion give us better insight into both the nature of individual objects and the whole asteroid population. With a larger statistical sample we can study the physical properties of asteroid populations, such as main-belt asteroids or individual asteroid families, in more detail. Shape models can also be used in combination with other types of observational data (IR, adaptive optics images, stellar occultations), e.g., to determine sizes and thermal properties. We use all available photometric data of asteroids to derive their physical models by the lightcurve inversion method and compare the observed pole latitude distributions of all asteroids with known convex shape models with the simulated pole latitude distributions. We used classical dense photometric lightcurves from several sources and sparse-in-time photometry from the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Catalina Sky Survey, and La Palma surveys (IAU codes 689, 703, 950) in the lightcurve inversion method to determine asteroid convex models and their rotational states. We also extended a simple dynamical model for the spin evolution of asteroids used in our previous paper. We present 119 new asteroid models derived from combined dense and sparse-in-time photometry. We discuss the reliability of asteroid shape models derived only from Catalina Sky Survey data (IAU code 703) and present 20 such models. By using different values for a scaling parameter cYORP (corresponds to the magnitude of the YORP momentum) in the dynamical model for the spin evolution and by comparing synthetics and observed pole-latitude distributions, we were able to constrain the typical values of the cYORP parameter as between 0.05 and 0.6.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, January 15, 201

Scale-free static and dynamical correlations in melts of monodisperse and Flory-distributed homopolymers: A review of recent bond-fluctuation model studies

It has been assumed until very recently that all long-range correlations are screened in three-dimensional melts of linear homopolymers on distances beyond the correlation length $\xi$ characterizing the decay of the density fluctuations. Summarizing simulation results obtained by means of a variant of the bond-fluctuation model with finite monomer excluded volume interactions and topology violating local and global Monte Carlo moves, we show that due to an interplay of the chain connectivity and the incompressibility constraint, both static and dynamical correlations arise on distances $r \gg \xi$. These correlations are scale-free and, surprisingly, do not depend explicitly on the compressibility of the solution. Both monodisperse and (essentially) Flory-distributed equilibrium polymers are considered.Comment: 60 pages, 49 figure

The non-convex shape of (234) Barbara, the first Barbarian

Asteroid (234) Barbara is the prototype of a category of asteroids that has been shown to be extremely rich in refractory inclusions, the oldest material ever found in the Solar system. It exhibits several peculiar features, most notably its polarimetric behaviour. In recent years other objects sharing the same property (collectively known as ‘Barbarians') have been discovered. Interferometric observations in the mid-infrared with the ESO VLTI (Very Large Telescope Interferometer) suggested that (234) Barbara might have a bi-lobated shape or even a large companion satellite. We use a large set of 57 optical light curves acquired between 1979 and 2014, together with the timings of two stellar occultations in 2009, to determine the rotation period, spin-vector coordinates, and 3-D shape of (234) Barbara, using two different shape reconstruction algorithms. By using the light curves combined to the results obtained from stellar occultations, we are able to show that the shape of (234) Barbara exhibits large concave areas. Possible links of the shape to the polarimetric properties and the object evolution are discussed. We also show that VLTI data can be modelled without the presence of a satellit