15,451 research outputs found
Swift monitoring of IGR J16418-4532
We report on the Swift observations of the candidate supergiant fast X-ray
transient (SFXT) IGR J16418-4532, which has an orbital period of ~3.7 d. Our
monitoring, for a total of ~43 ks, spans over three orbits and represents the
most intense and complete sampling along the orbital period of the light curve
of this source. If one assumes a circular orbit, the X-ray emission from this
source can be explained by accretion from a spherically symmetric clumpy wind
from a blue supergiant, composed of clumps with different masses, ranging from
~5x10^16 g to 10^21g.Comment: 4 pages; Proceedings, 5th International Symposium on High-Energy
Gamma-Ray Astronomy, (Gamma2012) Heidelberg, Germany, July 9-13th, 201
Panel performance: Modelling variation in sensory profiling data by multiway analysis
Sensory profiling data is essentially three-way data where samples, attributes and assessors are the three dimensions of information. It is common practice to average over the assessors and focus the analysis on the relations between samples and sensory descriptors. However, since assessor reliability can not be controlled in advance, posthoc analysis on assessors is needed to assess performance of the individual and at the panel level. For this purpose, multiway analysis is a very efficient data method as it provides information on samples, attributes and assessors, simultaneously [1]. PARAllel FACtor (PARAFAC) analysis is one of the most used multiway methods in sensory analysis [2][3]. It is based on two basic assumptions: 1) there exist latent variables behind the identified sensory descriptors describing the variation among the products; 2) assessors have different sensitivities to these common latent variables. However, assessors may perceive the factors differently, so the assumption of “common latent variables” becomes questionable. This may happen when the panel is not well trained and/or the samples present subtle differences difficult to detect.
In this work a more flexible approach to the analysis of sensory data is presented. Specifically, the work proposes to use PARAFAC2 modelling [4] as it allows each assessor to have an individual idiosyncratic perceptive model. The data was obtained from a descriptive sensory analysis of organic milk samples. Results show that PARAFAC2 is very useful to highlight disagreement in the panel on specific attributes and to detect outlying assessors. In addition, by using PARAFAC2 an improvement in the description of samples is also achieved. On the other hand, PARAFAC has to be preferred to PARAFAC2 when a good panel agreement is observed, since it provides more stable solutions and no further gain in information is obtained from PARAFAC2. Finally, the work proposes an index to measure the performance of each assessor based on individual sensitivity and reproducibility
Soft X-ray characterisation of the long term properties of Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients
We perform the first high-sensitivity soft X-ray long-term monitoring with
Swift/XRT of three relatively unexplored Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients
(SFXTs), IGR J08408-4503, IGR J16328-4726, and IGR J16465-4507, whose hard
X-ray duty cycles are the lowest measured among the SFXT sample, and compare
their properties with those of the prototypical SFXTs. The behaviour of J08408
and J16328 resembles that of other SFXTs, and it is characterized by a
relatively high inactivity duty cycle (IDC) and pronounced dynamic range (DR)
in the X-ray luminosity. Like the SFXT prototypes, J08408 shows two distinct
populations of flares, the first one associated with the brightest outbursts
( erg s), the second one comprising less
bright events with 10 erg s. This
double-peaked distribution seems to be a ubiquitous feature of the extreme
SFXTs. The lower DR of J16328 suggests it is an intermediate SFXT. We find
J16465 is characterized by IDC5% and DR40, reminiscent of classical
supergiant HMXBs. The duty cycles measured with XRT are found to be comparable
with those reported previously by BAT and INTEGRAL, when the higher limiting
sensitivities of these instruments are taken into account and sufficiently long
observational campaigns are available. We prove that no clear correlation
exists between the duty cycles of the SFXTs and their orbital periods, which
makes it difficult to interpret the SFXT peculiar variability by only using
arguments related to the properties of supergiant star winds. Our findings
favour the idea that a correct interpretation of the SFXT phenomenology
requires a mechanism to strongly reduce the mass accretion rate onto the
compact object during most of its orbit around the companion, as proposed in a
number of theoretical works. [Abridged]Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. 18 pages, 8
figures, 8 table
Satellite observations of reconnection between emerging and pre-existing small-scale magnetic fields
We report multi-wavelength ultraviolet observations taken with the IRIS
satellite, concerning the emergence phase in the upper chromosphere and
transition region of an emerging flux region (EFR) embedded in the unipolar
plage of active region NOAA 12529. The photospheric configuration of the EFR is
analyzed in detail benefitting from measurements taken with the
spectropolarimeter aboard the Hinode satellite, when the EFR was fully
developed. In addition, these data are complemented by full-disk, simultaneous
observations of the SDO satellite, relevant to the photosphere and the corona.
In the photosphere, magnetic flux emergence signatures are recognized in the
fuzzy granulation, with dark alignments between the emerging polarities,
cospatial with highly inclined fields. In the upper atmospheric layers, we
identify recurrent brightenings that resemble UV bursts, with counterparts in
all coronal passbands. These occur at the edges of the EFR and in the region of
the arch filament system (AFS) cospatial to the EFR. Jet activity is also found
at chromospheric and coronal levels, near the AFS and the observed brightness
enhancement sites. The analysis of the IRIS line profiles reveals the heating
of dense plasma in the low solar atmosphere and the driving of bi-directional
high-velocity flows with speeds up to 100 km/s at the same locations.
Furthermore, we detect a correlation between the Doppler velocity and line
width of the Si IV 1394 and 1402 \AA{} line profiles in the UV burst pixels and
their skewness. Comparing these findings with previous observations and
numerical models, we suggest evidence of several long-lasting, small-scale
magnetic reconnection episodes between the emerging bipole and the ambient
field. This process leads to the cancellation of a pre-existing photospheric
flux concentration of the plage with the opposite polarity flux patch of the
EFR. [...]Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to be published in "Nuovo Cimento C" as
proceeding of the Third Meeting of the Italian Solar and Heliospheric
Communit
Exploring the role of X-ray reprocessing and irradiation in the anomalous bright optical outbursts of A0538-66
In 1981, the Be/X-ray binary (Be/XRB) A0538-66 showed outbursts characterized
by high peak luminosities in the X-ray and optical bands. The optical outbursts
were qualitatively explained as X-ray reprocessing in a gas cloud surrounding
the binary system. Since then, further important information about A0538-66
have been obtained, and sophisticated photoionization codes have been developed
to calculate the radiation emerging from a gas nebula illuminated by a central
X-ray source. In the light of the new information and tools available, we
studied again the enhanced optical emission displayed by A0538-66 to understand
the mechanisms responsible for these unique events among the class of Be/XRBs.
We performed about 10^5 simulations of a gas envelope photoionized by an X-ray
source. We assumed for the shape of the gas cloud either a sphere or a
circumstellar disc observed edge-on. We studied the effects of varying the main
properties of the envelope and the influence of different input X-ray spectra
on the optical/UV emission emerging from the photoionized cloud. We compared
the computed spectra with the IUE spectrum and photometric UBV measurements
obtained during the outburst of 29 April 1981. We also explored the role played
by the X-ray heating of the surface of the donor star irradiated by the X-ray
emission of the neutron star (NS). We found that reprocessing in a spherical
cloud with a shallow radial density distribution can reproduce the optical/UV
emission. To our knowledge, this configuration has never been observed either
in A0538-66 during other epochs or in other Be/XRBs. We found, contrary to the
case of most other Be/XRBs, that the optical/UV radiation produced by the X-ray
heating of the surface of the donor star irradiated by the NS is
non-negligible, due to the particular orbital parameters of this system that
bring the NS very close to its companion.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics. Abstract
abridged to meet arXiv requirement
Self-assembly of two-dimensional binary quasicrystals: A possible route to a DNA quasicrystal
We use Monte Carlo simulations and free-energy techniques to show that binary
solutions of penta- and hexavalent two-dimensional patchy particles can form
thermodynamically stable quasicrystals even at very narrow patch widths,
provided their patch interactions are chosen in an appropriate way. Such patchy
particles can be thought of as a coarse-grained representation of DNA multi-arm
`star' motifs, which can be chosen to bond with one another very specifically
by tuning the DNA sequences of the protruding arms. We explore several possible
design strategies and conclude that DNA star tiles that are designed to
interact with one another in a specific but not overly constrained way could
potentially be used to construct soft quasicrystals in experiment. We verify
that such star tiles can form stable dodecagonal motifs using oxDNA, a
realistic coarse-grained model of DNA
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