2,141 research outputs found
Modeling Molecular-Line Emission from Circumstellar Disks
Molecular lines hold valuable information on the physical and chemical
composition of disks around young stars, the likely progenitors of planetary
systems. This invited contribution discusses techniques to calculate the
molecular emission (and absorption) line spectrum based on models for the
physical and chemical structure of protoplanetary disks. Four examples of
recent research illutrate these techniques in practice: matching resolved
molecular-line emission from the disk around LkCa15 with theoertical models for
the chemistry; evaluating the two-dimensional transfer of ultraviolet radiation
into the disk, and the effect on the HCN/CN ratio; far-infrared CO line
emission from a superheated disk surface layer; and inward motions in the disk
around L1489 IRS.Comment: 6 pages, no figures. To appear in "The Dense Interstellar Medium in
Galaxies", Procs. Fourth Cologne-Bonn-Zermatt-Symposiu
Direct evaporative cooling of 41K into a Bose-Einstein condensate
We have investigated the collisional properties of 41K atoms at ultracold
temperature. To show the possibility to use 41K as a coolant, a Bose-Einstein
condensate of 41K atoms in the stretched state (F=2, m_F=2) was created for the
first time by direct evaporation in a magnetic trap. An upper bound of three
body loss coefficient for atoms in the condensate was determined to be 4(2)
10^{-29} cm -6 s-1. A Feshbach resonance in the F=1, m_F=-1 state was observed
at 51.42(5) G, which is in good agreement with theoretical prediction.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Line Emission from Gas in Optically Thick Dust Disks around Young Stars
We present self-consistent models of gas in optically-thick dusty disks and
calculate its thermal, density and chemical structure. The models focus on an
accurate treatment of the upper layers where line emission originates, and at
radii AU. We present results of disks around stars where we have varied dust properties, X-ray luminosities and
UV luminosities. We separately treat gas and dust thermal balance, and
calculate line luminosities at infrared and sub-millimeter wavelengths from all
transitions originating in the predominantly neutral gas that lies below the
ionized surface of the disk. We find that the [ArII] 7m, [NeII]
12.8m, [FeI] 24m, [SI] 25m, [FeII] 26m, [SiII] 35 m,
[OI] 63m and pure rotational lines of H, HO and CO can be quite
strong and are good indicators of the presence and distribution of gas in
disks. We apply our models to the disk around the nearby young star, TW Hya,
and find good agreement between our model calculations and observations. We
also predict strong emission lines from the TW Hya disk that are likely to be
detected by future facilities. A comparison of CO observations with our models
suggests that the gas disk around TW Hya may be truncated to AU,
compared to its dust disk of 174 AU. We speculate that photoevaporation due to
the strong stellar FUV field from TW Hya is responsible for the gas disk
truncation.Comment: Accepted to Astrophysical Journa
Bose-Einstein Condensation of Erbium
We report on the achievement of Bose-Einstein condensation of erbium atoms
and on the observation of magnetic Feshbach resonances at low magnetic field.
By means of evaporative cooling in an optical dipole trap, we produce pure
condensates of Er, containing up to atoms. Feshbach
spectroscopy reveals an extraordinary rich loss spectrum with six loss
resonances already in a narrow magnetic-field range up to 3 G. Finally, we
demonstrate the application of a low-field Feshbach resonance to produce a
tunable dipolar Bose-Einstein condensate and we observe its characteristic
d-wave collapse.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Cold CO Gas in Protoplanetary Disks
In a disk around DM Tau, previous observation of 13CO (J=2-1 and 1-0
transitions) derived the 13CO gas temperature of \sim 13-20K, which is lower
than the sublimation temperature of CO (20 K). We argue that the existence of
such cold CO can be explained by a vertical mixing of disk material. As the gas
is transported from a warm layer to a cold layer, CO is depleted onto dust
grains with a timescale of \sim 10^3 yr. Because of the steep temperature
gradient in the vertical direction, an observable amount of CO is still in the
gas phase when the fluid parcel reaches the layer of \sim 13 K. Apparent
temperature of CO decreases as the maximum grain size increases from
micron-size to mm-size.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, accepted to ApJ
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