2,282 research outputs found
Protostars and Outflows in the NGC7538 - IRS9 Cloud Core
New high resolution observations of HCO+ J=1-0, H13CN J=1-0, SO 2,2 - 1,1,
and continuum with BIMA at 3.4 mm show that the NGC7538 - IRS9 cloud core is a
site of active ongoing star formation. Our observations reveal at least three
young bipolar molecular outflows, all ~ 10,000 -- 20,000 years old. IRS9 drives
a bipolar, extreme high velocity outflow observed nearly pole on. South of IRS9
we find a cold, protostellar condensation with a size of ~ 14" x 6" with a mass
> 250 Msun. This is the center of one of the outflows and shows deep,
red-shifted self absorption in HCO+, suggesting that there is a protostar
embedded in the core, still in a phase of active accretion. This source is not
detected in the far infrared, suggesting that the luminosity < 10^4 Lsun; yet
the mass of the outflow is ~ 60 Msun. The red-shifted HCO+ self-absorption
profiles observed toward the southern protostar and IRS9 predict accretion
rates of a few times 10^-4 to 10^-3 Msun/yr. Deep VLA continuum observations at
3.6 cm show that IRS9 coincides with a faint thermal VLA source, but no other
young star in the IRS9 region has any detectable free-free emission at a level
of ~ 60 microJy at 3.6 cm. The HCO+ abundance is significantly enhanced in the
hot IRS9 outflow. A direct comparison of mass estimates from HCO+ and CO for
the well-characterized red-shifted IRS9 outflow predicts an HCO+ enhancement of
more than a factor of 30, or [HCO+/H2] >= 6 10^-8.Comment: 40 pages, 3 tables and 10 figures included; to appear in Ap
Azimuthal Correlations in the Target Fragmentation Region of High Energy Nuclear Collisions
Results on the target mass dependence of proton and pion pseudorapidity
distributions and of their azimuthal correlations in the target rapidity range
are presented. The data have been taken with the
Plastic-Ball detector set-up for 4.9 GeV p + Au collisions at the Berkeley
BEVALAC and for 200 GeV/ p-, O-, and S-induced reactions on
different nuclei at the CERN-SPS. The yield of protons at backward rapidities
is found to be proportional to the target mass. Although protons show a typical
``back-to-back'' correlations, a ``side-by-side'' correlation is observed for
positive pions, which increases both with target mass and with impact parameter
of a collision. The data can consistently be described by assuming strong
rescattering phenomena including pion absorption effects in the entire excited
target nucleus.Comment: 7 pages, figures included, complete postscript available at
ftp://qgp.uni-muenster.de/pub/paper/azi-correlations.ps submitted to Phys.
Lett.
Social Preferences and the Efficiency of Bilateral Exchange
Under what conditions do social preferences, such as altruism or a concern for fair outcomes, generate efficient trade? I analyze theoretically a simple bilateral exchange game: Each player sequentially takes an action that reduces his own material payoff but increases the other player’s. Each player’s preferences may depend on both his/her own material payoff and the other player’s. I identify necessary conditions and sufficient conditions on the players’ preferences for the outcome of their interaction to be Pareto efficient. The results have implications for interpreting the rotten kid theorem, gift exchange in the laboratory, and gift exchange in the field
Ice chemistry in embedded young stellar objects in the Large Magellanic Cloud
We present spectroscopic observations of a sample of 15 embedded young
stellar objects (YSOs) in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). These observations
were obtained with the Spitzer Infrared Spectrograph (IRS) as part of the
SAGE-Spec Legacy program. We analyze the two prominent ice bands in the IRS
spectral range: the bending mode of CO_2 ice at 15.2 micron and the ice band
between 5 and 7 micron that includes contributions from the bending mode of
water ice at 6 micron amongst other ice species. The 5-7 micron band is
difficult to identify in our LMC sample due to the conspicuous presence of PAH
emission superimposed onto the ice spectra. We identify water ice in the
spectra of two sources; the spectrum of one of those sources also exhibits the
6.8 micron ice feature attributed to ammonium and methanol. We model the CO_2
band in detail, using the combination of laboratory ice profiles available in
the literature. We find that a significant fraction (> 50%) of CO_2 ice is
locked in a water-rich component, consistent with what is observed for Galactic
sources. The majority of the sources in the LMC also require a pure-CO_2
contribution to the ice profile, evidence of thermal processing. There is a
suggestion that CO_2 production might be enhanced in the LMC, but the size of
the available sample precludes firmer conclusions. We place our results in the
context of the star formation environment in the LMC.Comment: Minor corrections to Table 2. Accepted for publication in ApJ, 66
pages, 9 figures (some in color), 4 table
The Dust-to-Gas Ratio in the Small Magellanic Cloud Tail
The Tail region of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) was imaged using the MIPS
instrument on the Spitzer Space Telescope as part of the SAGE-SMC Spitzer
Legacy. Diffuse infrared emission from dust was detected in all the MIPS bands.
The Tail gas-to-dust ratio was measured to be 1200 +/- 350 using the MIPS
observations combined with existing IRAS and HI observations. This gas-to-dust
ratio is higher than the expected 500-800 from the known Tail metallicity
indicating possible destruction of dust grains. Two cluster regions in the Tail
were resolved into multiple sources in the MIPS observations and local
gas-to-dust ratios were measured to be ~440 and ~250 suggests dust formation
and/or significant amounts of ionized gas in these regions. These results
support the interpretation that the SMC Tail is a tidal tail recently stripped
from the SMC that includes gas, dust, and young stars.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, ApJ Letters, in press, (version with full
resolution figures at
http://www.stsci.edu/~kgordon/papers/PS_files/sage-smc_taildust_v1.62.pdf
Emergent complex neural dynamics
A large repertoire of spatiotemporal activity patterns in the brain is the
basis for adaptive behaviour. Understanding the mechanism by which the brain's
hundred billion neurons and hundred trillion synapses manage to produce such a
range of cortical configurations in a flexible manner remains a fundamental
problem in neuroscience. One plausible solution is the involvement of universal
mechanisms of emergent complex phenomena evident in dynamical systems poised
near a critical point of a second-order phase transition. We review recent
theoretical and empirical results supporting the notion that the brain is
naturally poised near criticality, as well as its implications for better
understanding of the brain
Gravitational Lensing by Black Holes
We review the theoretical aspects of gravitational lensing by black holes,
and discuss the perspectives for realistic observations. We will first treat
lensing by spherically symmetric black holes, in which the formation of
infinite sequences of higher order images emerges in the clearest way. We will
then consider the effects of the spin of the black hole, with the formation of
giant higher order caustics and multiple images. Finally, we will consider the
perspectives for observations of black hole lensing, from the detection of
secondary images of stellar sources and spots on the accretion disk to the
interpretation of iron K-lines and direct imaging of the shadow of the black
hole.Comment: Invited article for the GRG special issue on lensing (P. Jetzer, Y.
Mellier and V. Perlick Eds.). 31 pages, 12 figure
What are the hot R Coronae Borealis stars?
We investigate the evolutionary status of four stars: V348 Sgr, DY Cen, and MV Sgr in the Galaxy and HV 2671 in the LMC. These stars have in common random deep declines in visual brightness, which are characteristic of R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars. RCB stars are typically cool hydrogen-deficient supergiants. The four stars studied in this paper are hotter (Teff = 15–20 kK) than the majority of RCB stars (Teff = 5000–7000 K). Although these are commonly grouped together as the hot RCB stars they do not necessarily share a common evolutionary history. We present new observational data and an extensive collection of archival and previously published data that is reassessed to ensure internal consistency. We find temporal variations of various properties on different timescales that will eventually help us to uncover the evolutionary history of these objects. DY Cen and MV Sgr have typical RCB helium abundances, which exclude any currently known post–asymptotic giant branch (post-AGB) evolutionary models. Moreover, their carbon and nitrogen abundances present us with further problems for their interpretation. V348 Sgr and HV 2671 are in general agreement with a born-again post-AGB evolution, and their abundances are similar to Wolf-Rayet central stars of planetary nebulae (PNs). The three Galactic stars in the sample have circumstellar nebulae, which produce forbidden line radiation (for HV 2671 we have no information). V348 Sgr and DY Cen have low-density, low-expansion velocity nebulae (resolved in the case of V348 Sgr), while MV Sgr has a higher density, higher expansion velocity nebula. All three stars, on the other hand, have split emission lines, which indicate the presence of an equatorial bulge but not of a Keplerian disk. In addition, the historical light curves for the three Galactic hot RCB stars show evidence for a significant fading in their maximum-light brightnesses of ~1 mag over the last 70 yr. From this we deduce that their effective temperatures increased by a few thousand degrees. If V348 Sgr is a born-again star, as we presume, this means that the star is returning from the born-again AGB phase to the phase of a central star of PN. Spectroscopically, no dramatic change is observed over the last 50 years for V348 Sgr and MV Sgr. However, there is some evidence that the winds of V348 Sgr and DY Cen have increased in strength in the last decade. HV 2671, located in the LMC, has not been analyzed in detail but at 5 Å… resolution is almost identical to V348 Sgr. Through the bolometric correction derived for V348 Sgr and the known distance, we can estimate the absolute ν magnitude of HV 2671 (Mν = -3.0 mag) and its bolometric luminosity (~6000 L⊙)
Restoring the valence-shell stabilization in Nd-140
A projectile Coulomb-excitation experiment was performed at the radioactive-ion beam facility HIE-ISOLDE at CERN to obtain E2 and M1 transition matrix elements of Nd-140 using the multistep Coulomb-excitation code GOSIA. The absolute M1 strengths, B(M1; 2(2)(-) -> 2(1)(+)) = 0.033(8)mu(2)(N), B(M1 ; 2(3)(+) -> 2(1)(+)) = 0.26(-0.10)(+0.11)mu(2)(N), and B(M1; 2(4)+ -> 2(1)(+)) <0.04 mu(2)(N) identify the 2(3)(+) state as the main fragment of the one-quadrupole-phonon proton-neutron mixed-symmetry state of Nd-140. The degree of F-spin mixing in Nd-140 was quantified with the determination of the mixing matrix element VF-mix <7(-7)(-13) keV.Peer reviewe
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