6,485 research outputs found
A Long-Lived Accretion Disk Around a Lithium-Depleted Binary T Tauri Star
We present a high dispersion optical spectrum of St 34 and identify the
system as a spectroscopic binary with components of similar luminosity and
temperature (both M3+/-0.5). Based on kinematics, signatures of accretion, and
location on an H-R diagram, we conclude that St 34 is a classical T Tauri star
belonging to the Taurus-Auriga T Association. Surprisingly, however, neither
component of the binary shows LiI 6708 A, absorption, the most universally
accepted criterion for establishing stellar youth. In this uniquely known
instance, the accretion disk appears to have survived longer than the lithium
depletion timescale. We speculate that the long-lived accretion disk is a
consequence of the sub-AU separation companion tidally inhibiting, though not
preventing, circumstellar accretion. Comparisons with pre-main sequence
evolutionary models imply, for each component of St 34, a mass of 0.37+/-0.08
Msun and an isochronal age of 8+/-3 Myr, which is much younger than the
predicted lithium depletion timescale of ~ 25 Myr. Although a distance 38%
closer than that of Taurus-Auriga or a hotter temperature scale could reconcile
this discrepancy at 21-25 Myr, similar discrepancies in other systems and the
implications of an extremely old accreting Taurus-Auriga member suggest instead
a possible problem with evolutionary models. Regardless, the older age implied
by St 34's depleted lithium abundance is the first compelling evidence for a
substantial age spread in this region. Additionally, since St 34's coeval
co-members with early M spectral types would likewise fail the lithium test for
youth, current membership lists may be incomplete.Comment: 4 pages, including 2 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ Let
Kepler super-flare stars: what are they?
The Kepler mission has led to the serendipitous discovery of a significant
number of `super flares' - white light flares with energies between 10^33 erg
and 10^36 erg - on solar-type stars. It has been speculated that these could be
`freak' events that might happen on the Sun, too. We have started a programme
to study the nature of the stars on which these super flares have been
observed. Here we present high-resolution spectroscopy of 11 of these stars and
discuss our results. We find that several of these stars are very young,
fast-rotating stars where high levels of stellar activity can be expected, but
for some other stars we do not find a straightforward explanation for the
occurrence of super flares.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A, 9 pages, 4 figure
Space shuttle OMS helium regulator design and development
Analysis, design, fabrication and design verification testing was conducted on the technological feasiblity of the helium pressurization regulator for the space shuttle orbital maneuvering system application. A prototype regulator was fabricated which was a single-stage design featuring the most reliable and lowest cost concept. A tradeoff study on regulator concepts indicated that a single-stage regulator with a lever arm between the valve and the actuator section would offer significant weight savings. Damping concepts were tested to determine the amount of damping required to restrict actuator travel during vibration. Component design parameters such as spring rates, effective area, contamination cutting, and damping were determined by test prior to regulator final assembly. The unit was subjected to performance testing at widely ranging flow rates, temperatures, inlet pressures, and random vibration levels. A test plan for propellant compatibility and extended life tests is included
2008 Progress Report on Brain Research
Highlights new research on various disorders, nervous system injuries, neuroethics, neuroimmunology, pain, sense and body function, stem cells and neurogenesis, and thought and memory. Includes essays on arts and cognition and on deep brain stimulation
Congener specific analysis of polychlorinated terphenyls
In order to identify and to quantify polychlorinated terphenyls (PCT) in environmental matrices, the chro-
matographic behavior of coplanar and non-coplanar congeners was evaluated. A mixture of 16 single PCT
congeners was used for method development. Four of these compounds were synthesized for the first
time by SUZUKI-coupling reaction. These were p-PCT (2,200
,6,600
-tetrachloro-, 20
,3,300
,4,400
,50
,-hexachloro-,
20
,3,300
,5,50
,500
-hexachloro-) and m-PCT (2,200
,3,300
,5,500
-hexachloro-). They were characterized by NMR
(
1
H,
13
C) spectroscopy. By means of the new column chromatographic clean-up reported here, a good
matrix removal and the separation of the coplanar PCT congeners from the non-coplanar ones was
obtained. The recovery rates for all congeners were good for the PCT in different test matrices like fat,
charcoal, and soil. The quality of the clean-up, the separation and the recovery rates were determined
by GC/MS analysis. The method was applied for the first time to a real sample from a fire accident, where
different PCT, obviously formed during the combustion process, were found. The conclusion is drawn that
this method is suitable for the analysis of PCT in different environmental samples
Flows, Fragmentation, and Star Formation. I. Low-mass Stars in Taurus
The remarkably filamentary spatial distribution of young stars in the Taurus
molecular cloud has significant implications for understanding low-mass star
formation in relatively quiescent conditions. The large scale and regular
spacing of the filaments suggests that small-scale turbulence is of limited
importance, which could be consistent with driving on large scales by flows
which produced the cloud. The small spatial dispersion of stars from gaseous
filaments indicates that the low-mass stars are generally born with small
velocity dispersions relative to their natal gas, of order the sound speed or
less. The spatial distribution of the stars exhibits a mean separation of about
0.25 pc, comparable to the estimated Jeans length in the densest gaseous
filaments, and is consistent with roughly uniform density along the filaments.
The efficiency of star formation in filaments is much higher than elsewhere,
with an associated higher frequency of protostars and accreting T Tauri stars.
The protostellar cores generally are aligned with the filaments, suggesting
that they are produced by gravitational fragmentation, resulting in initially
quasi-prolate cores. Given the absence of massive stars which could strongly
dominate cloud dynamics, Taurus provides important tests of theories of
dispersed low-mass star formation and numerical simulations of molecular cloud
structure and evolution.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures: to appear in Ap
Spot evolution in the eclipsing binary CoRoT 105895502
Stellar activity is ubiquitous in late-type stars. The special geometry of
eclipsing binary systems is particularly advantageous to study the stellar
surfaces and activity. We present a detailed study of the 145 d CoRoT light
curve of the short-period eclipsing binary CoRoT 105895502. By means of
light-curve modeling with Nightfall, we determine the orbital period, effective
temperature, Roche-lobe filling factors, mass ratio, and orbital inclination of
CoRoT 105895502 and analyze the temporal behavior of starspots in the system.
Our analysis shows one comparably short-lived (about 40 d) starspot, remaining
quasi-stationary in the binary frame, and one starspot showing prograde motion
at a rate of 2.3 deg per day, whose lifetime exceeds the duration of the
observation. In the CoRoT band, starspots account for as much as 0.6 % of the
quadrature flux of CoRoT 105895502, however we cannot attribute the spots to
individual binary components with certainty. Our findings can be explained by
differential rotation, asynchronous stellar rotation, or systematic spot
evolution.Comment: Accepted in A&
Construction and application of a questionnaire for the social scientific investigation of environmental noise effects
A social psychological questionnair has been developed to study the effects of environmental noise and was applied to 636 people living in 19 different areas of Hamburg. The theoretical foundations and the statistical means employed in its development are described. Four main reactions to noise are isolated statistically, and it is determined that these are moderated by several intervening variables, chief of which are coping capacity for noise, the perceived dangerousness of the noise souce, other daily loads and the individual's liability
Deep Brain Stimulation for Neurologic and Neuropsychiatric Disorders
In the 1960s, ablative stereotactic surgery was employed for a variety of movement disorders and psychiatric conditions. Although largely abandoned in the 1970s because of highly effective drugs, such as levodopa for Parkinson's disease (PD), and a reaction against psychosurgery, the field has undergone a virtual renaissance, guided by a better understanding of brain circuitry and the circuit abnormalities underlying movement disorders such as PD and neuropsychiatric conditions, such as obsessive compulsive disorder. High-frequency electrical deep brain stimulation (DBS) of specific targets, introduced in the early 1990s for tremor, has gained widespread acceptance because of its less invasive, reversible, and adjustable features and is now utilized for an increasing number of brain disorders. This review summarizes the rationale behind DBS and the use of this technique for a variety of movement disorders and neuropsychiatric diseases
Surface differential rotation and prominences of the Lupus post T Tauri star RX J1508.6-4423
We present in this paper a spectroscopic monitoring of the Lupus post T Tauri star RX J1508.6-4423 carried out at two closely separated epochs (1998 May 06 and 10) with the UCL Echelle Spectrograph on the 3.9-m Anglo-Australian Telescope. Applying least-squares convolution and maximum entropy image reconstruction techniques to our sets of spectra, we demonstrate that this star features on its surface a large cool polar cap with several appendages extending to lower latitudes, as well as one spot close to the equator. The images reconstructed at both epochs are in good overall agreement, except for a photospheric shear that we interpret in terms of latitudinal differential rotation. Given the spot distribution at the epoch of our observations, differential rotation could only be investigated between latitudes 15° and 60°. We find in particular that the observed differential rotation is compatible with a solar-like law (i.e., with rotation rate decreasing towards high latitudes proportionally to sin 2l, where l denotes the latitude) in this particular latitude range. Assuming that such a law can be extrapolated to all latitudes, we find that the equator of RX J1508.6-4423 does one more rotational cycle than the pole every 50 ±10 d, implying a photospheric shear 2 to 3 times stronger than that of the Sun. We also discover that the Hα emission profile of RX J1508.6-4423 is most of the time double-peaked and strongly modulated with the rotation period of the star. We interpret this rotationally modulated emission as being caused by a dense and complex prominence system, the circumstellar distribution of which is obtained through maximum entropy Doppler tomography. These maps show in particular that prominences form a complete and inhomogeneous ring around the star, precisely at the corotation radius. We use the total Hα and Hβ emission flux to estimate that the mass of the whole prominence system is about 10 20g. From our observation that the whole cloud system surrounding the star is regenerated in less than 4 d, we conclude that the braking time-scale of RX J1508.6-4423 is shorter than 1 Gyr, and that prominence expulsion is thus likely to contribute significantly to the rotational spindown of young low-mass stars
- …