6,987 research outputs found
Fluxtube model atmospheres and Stokes V zero-crossing wavelengths
First results of the inversion of Stokes I and V profiles from plage regions
near disk center are presented. Both low and high spatial resolution spectra of
FeI 6301.5 and FeI 6302.5 A obtained with the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter (ASP)
have been considered for analysis. The thin flux tube approximation,
implemented in an LTE inversion code based on response functions, is used to
describe unresolved magnetic elements. The code allows the simultaneous and
consistent inference of all atmospheric quantities determining the radiative
transfer with the sole assumption of hydrostatic equilibrium. By considering
velocity gradients within the tubes we are able to match the full ASP Stokes
profiles. The magnetic atmospheres derived from the inversion are characterized
by the absence of significant motions in high layers and strong velocity
gradients in deeper layers. These are essential to reproduce the asymmetries of
the observed profiles. Our scenario predicts a shift of the Stokes V
zero-crossing wavelengths which is indeed present in observations made with the
Fourier Transform Spectrometer.Comment: To appear in ApJ Letters (1997) (in press
Properties of Umbral Dots from Stray Light Corrected Hinode Filtergrams
High resolution blue continuum filtergrams from Hinode are employed to study
the umbral fine structure of a regular unipolar sunspot. The removal of
scattered light from the images increases the rms contrast by a factor of 1.45
on average. Improvement in image contrast renders identification of short
filamentary structures resembling penumbrae that are well separated from the
umbra-penumbra boundary and comprise bright filaments/grains flanking dark
filaments. Such fine structures were recently detected from ground based
telescopes and have now been observed with Hinode. A multi-level tracking
algorithm was used to identify umbral dots in both the uncorrected and
corrected images and to track them in time. The distribution of the values
describing the photometric and geometric properties of umbral dots are more
easily affected by the presence of stray light while it is less severe in the
case of kinematic properties. Statistically, umbral dots exhibit a peak
intensity, effective diameter, lifetime, horizontal speed and a trajectory
length of 0.29 I_QS, 272 km, 8.4 min, 0.45 km/s and 221 km respectively. The 2
hr 20 min time sequence depicts several locations where umbral dots tend to
appear and disappear repeatedly with various time intervals. The correction for
scattered light in the Hinode filtergrams facilitates photometry of umbral fine
structure which can be related to results obtained from larger telescopes and
numerical simulations.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ : 10 pages, 10 figures, 3 table
AC-KBO Revisited
Equational theories that contain axioms expressing associativity and
commutativity (AC) of certain operators are ubiquitous. Theorem proving methods
in such theories rely on well-founded orders that are compatible with the AC
axioms. In this paper we consider various definitions of AC-compatible
Knuth-Bendix orders. The orders of Steinbach and of Korovin and Voronkov are
revisited. The former is enhanced to a more powerful version, and we modify the
latter to amend its lack of monotonicity on non-ground terms. We further
present new complexity results. An extension reflecting the recent proposal of
subterm coefficients in standard Knuth-Bendix orders is also given. The various
orders are compared on problems in termination and completion.Comment: 31 pages, To appear in Theory and Practice of Logic Programming
(TPLP) special issue for the 12th International Symposium on Functional and
Logic Programming (FLOPS 2014
Models and Observations of Sunspot Penumbrae
The mysteries of sunspot penumbrae have been under an intense scrutiny for
the past 10 years. During this time, some models have been proposed and
refuted, while the surviving ones had to be modified, adapted and evolved to
explain the ever-increasing array of observational constraints. In this
contribution I will review two of the present models, emphasizing their
contributions to this field, but also pinpointing some of their inadequacies to
explain a number of recent observations at very high spatial resolution. To
help explaining these new observations I propose some modifications to each of
them. These modifications bring those two seemingly opposite models closer
together into a general picture that agrees well with recent 3D
magneto-hydrodynamic simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 color figure. Review talk to appear in the proceedings of
the International Workshop of 2008 Solar Total Eclipse: Solar Magnetism,
Corona and Space Weather--Chinese Space Solar Telescope Scienc
Optical excitations in hexagonal nanonetwork materials
Optical excitations in hexagonal nanonetwork materials, for example,
Boron-Nitride (BN) sheets and nanotubes, are investigated theoretically. The
bonding of BN systems is positively polarized at the B site, and is negatively
polarized at the N site. There is a permanent electric dipole moment along the
BN bond, whose direction is from the B site to the N site. When the exciton
hopping integral is restricted to the nearest neighbors, the flat band of the
exciton appears at the lowest energy. The higher optical excitations have
excitation bands similar to the electronic bands of graphene planes and carbon
nanotubes. The symmetry of the flat exciton band is optically forbidden,
indicating that the excitons related to this band will show quite long lifetime
which will cause strong luminescence properties.Comment: 4 pages; 3 figures; proceedings of "XVIth International Winterschool
on Electronic Properties of Novel Materials (IWEPNM2002)
Onset of dissipation in ballistic atomic wires
Electronic transport at finite voltages in free-standing gold atomic chains
of up to 7 atoms in length is studied at low temperatures using a scanning
tunneling microscope (STM). The conductance vs voltage curves show that
transport in these single-mode ballistic atomic wires is non-dissipative up to
a finite voltage threshold of the order of several mV. The onset of dissipation
and resistance within the wire corresponds to the excitation of the atomic
vibrations by the electrons traversing the wire and is very sensitive to
strain.Comment: Revtex4, 4 pages, 3 fig
Kinematic modelling of a 3-axis NC machine tool in linear and circular interpolation
Machining time is a major performance criterion when it comes to high-speed
machining. CAM software can help in estimating that time for a given strategy.
But in practice, CAM-programmed feed rates are rarely achieved, especially
where complex surface finishing is concerned. This means that machining time
forecasts are often more than one step removed from reality. The reason behind
this is that CAM routines do not take either the dynamic performances of the
machines or their specific machining tolerances into account. The present
article seeks to improve simulation of high-speed NC machine dynamic behaviour
and machining time prediction, offering two models. The first contributes
through enhanced simulation of three-axis paths in linear and circular
interpolation, taking high-speed machine accelerations and jerks into account.
The second model allows transition passages between blocks to be integrated in
the simulation by adding in a polynomial transition path that caters for the
true machining environment tolerances. Models are based on respect for path
monitoring. Experimental validation shows the contribution of polynomial
modelling of the transition passage due to the absence of a leap in
acceleration. Simulation error on the machining time prediction remains below
1%
NGC 346 in the Small Magellanic Cloud. III. Recent Star Formation and Stellar Clustering Properties in the Bright HII Region N 66
In the third part of our photometric study of the star-forming region NGC
346/N~66 and its surrounding field in the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), we
focus on the large number of low-mass pre-main sequence (PMS) stars revealed by
the Hubble Space Telescope Observations with the Advanced Camera for Surveys.
We investigate the origin of the observed broadening of the pre-main sequence
population in the , CMD. The most likely explanations are either the
presence of differential reddening or an age spread among the young stars.
Assuming the latter, simulations indicate that we cannot exclude the
possibility that stars in NGC 346 might have formed in two distinct events
occurring about 10 and 5 Myr ago, respectively. We find that the PMS stars are
not homogeneously distributed across NGC 346, but instead are grouped in at
least five different clusters. On spatial scales from 0.8 to 8 (0.24 to
2.4 pc at the distance of the SMC) the clustering of the PMS stars as computed
by a two-point angular correlation function is self-similar with a power law
slope . The clustering properties are quite similar to
Milky Way star forming regions like Orion OB or Oph. Thus molecular
cloud fragmentation in the SMC seems to proceed on the same spatial scales as
in the Milky Way. This is remarkable given the differences in metallicity and
hence dust content between SMC and Milky Way star forming regions.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 16 pages, 13 (low-resolution)
figures, emulateapj.cls LaTeX styl
Vector spectropolarimetry of dark-cored penumbral filaments with Hinode
We present spectropolarimetric measurements of dark-cored penumbral filaments
taken with Hinode at a resolution of 0.3". Our observations demonstrate that
dark-cored filaments are more prominent in polarized light than in continuum
intensity. Far from disk center, the Stokes profiles emerging from these
structures are very asymmetric and show evidence for magnetic fields of
different inclinations along the line of sight, together with strong Evershed
flows of at least 6-7 km/s. In sunspots closer to disk center, dark-cored
penumbral filaments exhibit regular Stokes profiles with little asymmetries due
to the vanishing line-of-sight component of the horizontal Evershed flow. An
inversion of the observed spectra indicates that the magnetic field is weaker
and more inclined in the dark cores as compared with the surrounding bright
structures. This is compatible with the idea that dark-cored filaments are the
manifestation of flux tubes carrying hot Evershed flows.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ Letters. Use the Postscript version
for high quality figure
The Molecule-Rich Tail of the Peculiar Galaxy NGC 2782 (Arp 215)
We present the first detection of a large quantity of molecular gas in the
extended tail of an interacting galaxy. Using the NRAO 12m telescope, we have
detected CO (1 - 0) at five locations in the eastern tail of the peculiar
starburst galaxy NGC 2782. The CO velocities and narrow (FWHM = 50 km/s) line
widths in these positions agree with those seen in HI, confirming that the
molecular gas is indeed associated with the tail rather than the main disk. As
noted previously, the gas in this tail has an apparent `counter-rotation'
compared to gas in the core of the galaxy, probably because the tails do not
lie in the same plane as the disk. Assuming the standard Galactic conversion
N(H2)/I(CO) factor, these observations indicate a total molecular gas mass of 6
X 10**8 M(sun) in this tail. This may be an underestimate of the total H2 mass
if the gas is metal-poor. This molecular gas mass, and the implied H2/HI mass
ratio of 0.6, are higher than that found in many dwarf irregular galaxies.
Comparison with an available H-alpha map of this galaxy, however, shows that
the rate of star formation in this feature is extremely low relative to the
available molecular gas, compared to L(H-alpha)/M(H2) values for both spiral
and irregular galaxies. Thus the timescale for depletion of the gas in this
feature is very long.Comment: 19 pages, 6 figures, Latex. To appear in the Astronomical Journa
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