3,837 research outputs found
Soft X-ray Emission from the Spiral Galaxy NGC 1313
The nearby barred spiral galaxy NGC 1313 has been observed with the PSPC
instr- ument on board the ROSAT X-ray satellite. Ten individual sources are
found. Three sources (X-1, X-2 and X-3 [SN~1978K]) are very bright (~10^40
erg/s) and are unusual in that analogous objects do not exist in our Galaxy. We
present an X-ray image of NGC~1313 and \xray spectra for the three bright
sources. The emission from the nuclear region (R ~< 2 kpc) is dominated by
source X-1, which is located ~1 kpc north of the photometric (and dynamical)
center of NGC~1313. Optical, far-infrared and radio images do not indicate the
presence of an active galactic nucleus at that position; however, the compact
nature of the \xray source (X-1) suggests that it is an accretion-powered
object with central mass M >~ 10^3 Msun. Additional emission (L_X ~ 10^39
erg/s) in the nuclear region extends out to ~2.6 kpc and roughly follows the
spiral arms. This emission is from 4 sources with luminosity of several x 10^38
erg/s, two of which are consistent with emission from population I sources
(e.g., supernova remnants, and hot interstellar gas which has been heated by
supernova remnants). The other two sources could be emission from population II
sources (e.g., low-mass \xray binaries). The bright sources X-2 and SN~1978K
are positioned in the southern disk of NGC~1313. X-2 is variable and has no
optical counterpart brighter than 20.8 mag (V-band). It is likely that it is an
accretion-powered object in NGC~1313. The type-II supernova SN~1978K (Ryder
\etal 1993) has become extra- ordinarily luminous in X-rays 13 years
after optical maximum.Comment: to appear in 10 Jun 1995 ApJ, 30 pgs uuencoded compressed postscript,
25 pgs of figures available upon request from colbert, whole preprint
available upon request from Sandy Shrader ([email protected]),
hopefully fixed unknown problem with postscript fil
A SINFONI view of Galaxy Centers: Morphology and Kinematics of five Nuclear Star Formation Rings
We present near-infrared (H- and K-band) integral-field observations of the
circumnuclear star formation rings in five nearby spiral galaxies. The data,
obtained at the Very Large Telescope with the SINFONI spectrograph, are used to
construct maps of various emission lines that reveal the individual star
forming regions ("hot spots") delineating the rings. We derive the
morphological parameters of the rings, and construct velocity fields of the
stars and the emission line gas. We propose a qualitative, but robust,
diagnostic for relative hot spot ages based on the intensity ratios of the
emission lines Brackett gamma, HeI, and [FeII]. Application of this diagnostic
to the data presented here provides tentative support for a scenario in which
star formation in the rings is triggered predominantly at two well-defined
regions close to, and downstream from, the intersection of dust lanes along the
bar with the inner Lindblad resonance.Comment: 45 pages incl. 4 tables and 12 (mostly color) figures. Accepted for
publication in AJ. A version with full resolution figures can be obtained at
ftp://ftp.rssd.esa.int/pub/tboeker/SINFONI/ms.pd
Optic nerve head segmentation
Reliable and efficient optic disk localization and segmentation are important tasks in automated retinal screening. General-purpose edge detection algorithms often fail to segment the optic disk due to fuzzy boundaries, inconsistent image contrast or missing edge features. This paper presents an algorithm for the localization and segmentation of the optic nerve head boundary in low-resolution images (about 20 /spl mu//pixel). Optic disk localization is achieved using specialized template matching, and segmentation by a deformable contour model. The latter uses a global elliptical model and a local deformable model with variable edge-strength dependent stiffness. The algorithm is evaluated against a randomly selected database of 100 images from a diabetic screening programme. Ten images were classified as unusable; the others were of variable quality. The localization algorithm succeeded on all bar one usable image; the contour estimation algorithm was qualitatively assessed by an ophthalmologist as having Excellent-Fair performance in 83% of cases, and performs well even on blurred image
Ballistic transport, chiral anomaly and emergence of the neutral electron - hole plasma in graphene
The process of coherent creation of particle - hole excitations by an
electric field in graphene is quantitatively described using a dynamic "first
quantized" approach. We calculate the evolution of current density, number of
pairs and energy in ballistic regime using the tight binding model. The series
in electric field strength up to third order in both DC and AC are
calculated. We show how the physics far from the two Dirac points enters
various physical quantities in linear response and how it is related to the
chiral anomaly. The third harmonic generation and the imaginary part of
conductivity are obtained. It is shown that at certain time scale
the physical behaviour dramatically changes and the
perturbation theory breaks down. Beyond the linear response physics is explored
using an exact solution of the first quantized equations. While for small
electric fields the I-V curve is linear characterized by the universal minimal
resistivity %, at the conductivity grows
fast. The copious pair creation (with rate ), analogous to Schwinger's
electron - positron pair creation from vacuum in QED, leads to creation of the
electron - hole plasma at ballistic times of order . This process is
terminated by a relaxational recombination.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures
Temporal Changes in Astronauts Muscle and Cardiorespiratory Physiology Pre-, In-, and Post-Spaceflight
NASAs vision for future exploration missions depends on the ability to protect astronauts health and safety for performance of Extravehicular Activity (EVA), and to allow astronauts to safely egress from vehicles in a variety of landing scenarios (e.g. water landing upon return to Earth and undefined planetary/lunar landings). Prolonged exposure to spaceflight results in diminished tolerance to prolonged physical activity, decreased cardiac and sensorimotor function, and loss of bone mineral density, muscle mass, and muscle strength. For over 50 years exercise has been the primary countermeasure against these physiologic decrements during spaceflight, and while the resulting protection is adequate for ISS missions (i.e., Soyuz landing, microgravity EVAs), there is little information regarding time-course changes in muscle and aerobic performance. As spaceflight progresses towards longer exploration missions and vehicles with less robust exercise capabilities compared to ISS, countermeasures will need to be combined and optimized to protect crew health and performance across all organ systems over the course of exploration missions up to 3 years in duration. This will require a more detailed understanding of the dynamic effects of spaceflight on human performance. Thus, the focus of this study is quantifying decrements in physical performance over different mission durations, and to provide detailed information on the physiological rational for why and when observed changes in performance occur. The research proposed will temporally profile changes in astronauts cardiorespiratory fitness, muscle mass, strength, and endurance over spaceflight missions of 2 months, 6 months, and up to 1 year in duration. Additionally, an extrapolation model will provide predictions for changes associated with exploration missions 2-3 years in duration. To accomplish these objectives astronauts will be asked to participate in pre, in, post-flight measurement of muscle performance, muscle size, cardiorespiratory fitness and submaximal performance capabilities, as well as non-invasive assessment of cerebral and muscle oxygenation and perfusion (Table 1). Additionally, ambulatory and in-flight exercise, nutrition, and sleep will be monitored using a variety of commercial technologies and in-flight assessment tools. Significance: Our detailed testing protocol will provide valuable information for describing how and when spaceflight-induced muscle and aerobic based adaptations occur over the course of spaceflight missions up to and beyond 1 year. This information will be vital in the assessment as to whether humans can be physically ready for deep space exploration such as Mars missions with current technology, or if additional mitigation strategies are necessary
The origin of the ionization of the diffuse interstellar medium in spiral galaxies. II. Modelling the distribution of ionizing radiation in NGC 157
In this paper we make a quantitative study of the hypothesis that the diffuse
H-alpha emitted from the discs of spiral galaxies owes its origin to the
ionizing photons escaping from HII regions. We use the H-alpha measurements of
the complete set of HII regions in the spiral NGC 157, for which an HI density
map was available, to derive a family of models which predict the ionizing
photon distribution in the disc of this galaxy. The predicted diffuse H-alpha
surface brightness distributions from our models were compared with the
observed distributions showing that, in general terms, the hypothesis of
density bounding for the HII regions allows us to predict well the spatial
distribution of the diffuse ionized gas. In the model yielding the best fit to
the data, the regions of lower luminosity lose a constant fraction of their
ionizing flux to their surroundings, while for HII region luminosities above a
specific transition value the ionizing escape fraction is a rising function of
the Ha luminosity.Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures (Postscript level 2), accepted for publication
in A&
Transport coefficients of multi-particle collision algorithms with velocity-dependent collision rules
Detailed calculations of the transport coefficients of a recently introduced
particle-based model for fluid dynamics with a non-ideal equation of state are
presented. Excluded volume interactions are modeled by means of biased
stochastic multiparticle collisions which depend on the local velocities and
densities. Momentum and energy are exactly conserved locally. A general scheme
to derive transport coefficients for such biased, velocity dependent collision
rules is developed. Analytic expressions for the self-diffusion coefficient and
the shear viscosity are obtained, and very good agreement is found with
numerical results at small and large mean free paths. The viscosity turns out
to be proportional to the square root of temperature, as in a real gas. In
addition, the theoretical framework is applied to a two-component version of
the model, and expressions for the viscosity and the difference in diffusion of
the two species are given.Comment: 31 pages, 8 figures, accepted by J. Phys. Cond. Matte
The nature of supernovae 2010O and 2010P in Arp 299 - II. Radio emission
We report radio observations of two stripped-envelope supernovae (SNe), 2010O
and 2010P, which exploded within a few days of each other in the luminous
infrared galaxy Arp 299. Whilst SN 2010O remains undetected at radio
frequencies, SN 2010P was detected (with an astrometric accuracy better than 1
milli arcsec in position) in its optically thin phase in epochs ranging from ~1
to ~3yr after its explosion date, indicating a very slow radio evolution and a
strong interaction of the SN ejecta with the circumstellar medium. Our
late-time radio observations toward SN 2010P probe the dense circumstellar
envelope of this SN, and imply a mass-loss rate (Msun/yr) to wind velocity (in
units of 10 km/s) ratio of (3.0-5.1)E-05, with a 5 GHz peak luminosity of
~1.2E+27 erg/s/Hz on day ~464 after explosion. This is consistent with a Type
IIb classification for SN 2010P, making it the most distant and most slowly
evolving Type IIb radio SN detected to date.Comment: 14 pages, 8 tables and 7 figures. Accepted for publication in MNRA
A Chiral Schwinger model, its Constraint Structure and Applications to its Quantization
The Jackiw-Rajaraman version of the chiral Schwinger model is studied as a
function of the renormalization parameter. The constraints are obtained and
they are used to carry out canonical quantization of the model by means of
Dirac brackets. By introducing an additional scalar field, it is shown that the
model can be made gauge invariant. The gauge invariant model is quantized by
establishing a pair of gauge fixing constraints in order that the method of
Dirac can be used.Comment: 18 page
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