2,140 research outputs found
Bipolarity in the querying of temporal databases
A database represents part of reality by containing data representing properties of real objects or concepts. To many real-world concepts or objects, time is an essential aspect and thus it should often be (implicitly) represented by databases, making these temporal databases. However, like other data, the time-related data in such databases may also contain imperfections such as uncertainties. One of the main purposes of a database is to allow the retrieval of information or knowledge deduced from its data, which is often done by querying the database. Because users may have both positive and negative preferences, they may want to query a database in a bipolar way. Moreover, their demands may have some temporal aspects. In this paper, a novel technique is presented, to query a valid-time relation containing uncertain valid-time data in a heterogeneously bipolar way, allowing every elementary query constraint a specific temporal constraint
Quiescent thermal emission from neutron stars in LMXBs
We monitored the quiescent thermal emission from neutron stars in low-mass
X-ray binaries after active periods of intense activity in x-rays (outbursts).
The theoretical modeling of the thermal relaxation of the neutron star crust
may be used to establish constraints on the crust composition and transport
properties, depending on the astrophysical scenarios assumed. We numerically
simulated the thermal evolution of the neutron star crust and compared them
with inferred surface temperatures for five sources: MXB 1659-29, KS 1731-260,
EXO 0748-676, XTE J1701-462 and IGR J17480-2446. We find that the evolution of
MXB 1659-29, KS 1731-260 and EXO 0748-676 can be well described within a deep
crustal cooling scenario. Conversely, we find that the other two sources can
only be explained with models beyond crustal cooling. For the peculiar emission
of XTE J1701-462 we propose alternative scenarios such as residual accretion
during quiescence, additional heat sources in the outer crust, and/or thermal
isolation of the inner crust due to a buried magnetic field. We also explain
the very recent reported temperature of IGR J17480-2446 with an additional heat
deposition in the outer crust from shallow sources.Comment: 19 pages, 32 figures, 2 Append., revised version accepted for
publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic
Spectral features in isolated neutron stars induced by inhomogeneous surface temperatures
The thermal X-ray spectra of several isolated neutron stars display
deviations from a pure blackbody. The accurate physical interpretation of these
spectral features bears profound implications for our understanding of the
atmospheric composition, magnetic field strength and topology, and equation of
state of dense matter. With specific details varying from source to source,
common explanations for the features have ranged from atomic transitions in the
magnetized atmospheres or condensed surface, to cyclotron lines generated in a
hot ionized layer near the surface. Here we quantitatively evaluate the X-ray
spectral distortions induced by inhomogeneous temperature distributions of the
neutron star surface. To this aim, we explore several surface temperature
distributions, we simulate their corresponding general relativistic X-ray
spectra (assuming an isotropic, blackbody emission), and fit the latter with a
single blackbody model. We find that, in some cases, the presence of a spurious
'spectral line' is required at a high significance level in order to obtain
statistically acceptable fits, with central energy and equivalent width similar
to the values typically observed. We also perform a fit to a specific object,
RX J0806.4-4123, finding several surface temperature distributions able to
model the observed spectrum. The explored effect is unlikely to work in all
sources with detected lines, but in some cases it can indeed be responsible for
the appearance of such lines. Our results enforce the idea that surface
temperature anisotropy can be an important factor that should be considered and
explored also in combination with more sophisticated emission models like
atmospheres.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures; accepted for publication in MNRA
On the magnetic field evolution timescale in superconducting neutron star cores
We revisit the various approximations employed to study the long-term
evolution of the magnetic field in neutron star cores and discuss their
limitations and possible improvements. A recent controversy on the correct form
of the induction equation and the relevant evolution timescale in
superconducting neutron star cores is addressed and clarified. We show that
this ambiguity in the estimation of timescales arises as a consequence of
nominally large terms that appear in the induction equation, but which are, in
fact, mostly irrotational. This subtlety leads to a discrepancy by many orders
of magnitude when velocity fields are absent or ignored. Even when internal
velocity fields are accounted for, only the solenoidal part of the electric
field contributes to the induction equation, which can be substantially smaller
than the irrotational part. We also argue that stationary velocity fields must
be incorporated in the slow evolution of the magnetic field as the next level
of approximation.Comment: 6 pages, version accepted by MNRA
Determinación del coeficiente de difusión de colorantes directos y su relación con la concentración del electrolito.
Este trabajo consta de dos partes. La primera de ellas consiste en establecer una técnica adecuada para las determinaciones de los coeficientes de difusión, y la segunda parte es el estudio de la influencia del electrolito en el valor del coeficiente de difusión y su relación con las propiedades tintóreas.Peer Reviewe
Population synthesis of isolated Neutron Stars with magneto--rotational evolution
We revisit the population synthesis of isolated radio-pulsars incorporating
recent advances on the evolution of the magnetic field and the angle between
the magnetic and rotational axes from new simulations of the magneto-thermal
evolution and magnetosphere models, respectively. An interesting novelty in our
approach is that we do not assume the existence of a death line. We discuss
regions in parameter space that are more consistent with the observational
data. In particular, we find that any broad distribution of birth spin periods
with s can fit the data, and that if the alignment angle is
allowed to vary consistently with the torque model, realistic magnetospheric
models are favoured compared to models with classical magneto-dipolar radiation
losses. Assuming that the initial magnetic field is given by a lognormal
distribution, our optimal model has mean strength with width .
However, there are strong correlations between parameters. This degeneracy in
the parameter space can be broken by an independent estimate of the pulsar
birth rate or by future studies correlating this information with the
population in other observational bands (X-rays and -rays).Comment: 10 pages, 9 figures, submitted and accepted to MNRAS, comments
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The relevance of ambipolar diffusion for neutron star evolution
We study ambipolar diffusion in strongly magnetised neutron stars, with
special focus on the effects of neutrino reaction rates and the impact of a
superfluid/superconducting transition in the neutron star core. For
axisymmetric magnetic field configurations, we determine the deviation from
equilibrium induced by the magnetic force and calculate the velocity of
the slow, quasi-stationary, ambipolar drift. We study the temperature
dependence of the velocity pattern and clearly identify the transition to a
predominantly solenoidal flow. For stars without superconducting/superfluid
constituents and with a mixed poloidal-toroidal magnetic field of typical
magnetar strength, we find that ambipolar diffusion proceeds fast enough to
have a significant impact on the magnetic field evolution only at low core
temperatures, K. The ambipolar diffusion timescale
becomes appreciably shorter when fast neutrino reactions are present, because
the possibility to balance part of the magnetic force with pressure gradients
is reduced. We also find short ambipolar diffusion timescales in the case of
superconducting cores for K, due to the reduced interaction
between protons and neutrons. In the most favourable scenario, with fast
neutrino reactions and superconducting cores, ambipolar diffusion results in
advection velocities of several km/kyr. This velocity can substantially
reorganize magnetic fields in magnetar cores, in a way that can only be
confirmed by dynamical simulations.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figures, version accepted for publication in MNRA
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