A multi-transition submillimeter water maser study of evolved stars - detection of a new line near 475 GHz

Context: Maser emission from the H2O molecule probes the warm, inner circumstellar envelopes of oxygen-rich red giant and supergiant stars. Multi-maser transition studies can be used to put constraints on the density and temperature of the emission regions. Aims: A number of known H2O maser lines were observed toward the long period variables R Leo and W Hya and the red supergiant VY CMa. A search for a new, not yet detected line near 475 GHz was conducted toward these stars. Methods: The Atacama Pathfinder Experiment telescope was used for a multi-transition observational study of submillimeter H2O lines. Results: The 5_33-4_40 transition near 475 GHz was clearly detected toward VY CMa and W Hya. Many other H2O lines were detected toward all three target stars. Relative line intensity ratios and velocity widths were found to vary significantly from star to star. Conclusions: Maser action is observed in all but one line for which it was theoretically predicted. In contrast, one of the strongest maser lines, in R Leo by far the strongest, the 437 GHz 7_53-6_60 transition, is not predicted to be inverted. Some other qualitative predictions of the model calculations are at variance with our observations. Plausible reasons for this are discussed. Based on our findings for W Hya and VY CMa, we find evidence that the H2O masers in the AGB star W Hya arise from the regular circumstellar outflow, while shock excitation in a high velocity flow seems to be required to excite masers far from the red supergiant VY CMa.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, Astronomy and Astrophyics (in press

Geometric origin of mechanical properties of granular materials

Some remarkable generic properties, related to isostaticity and potential energy minimization, of equilibrium configurations of assemblies of rigid, frictionless grains are studied. Isostaticity -the uniqueness of the forces, once the list of contacts is known- is established in a quite general context, and the important distinction between isostatic problems under given external loads and isostatic (rigid) structures is presented. Complete rigidity is only guaranteed, on stability grounds, in the case of spherical cohesionless grains. Otherwise, the network of contacts might deform elastically in response to load increments, even though grains are rigid. This sets an uuper bound on the contact coordination number. The approximation of small displacements (ASD) allows to draw analogies with other model systems studied in statistical mechanics, such as minimum paths on a lattice. It also entails the uniqueness of the equilibrium state (the list of contacts itself is geometrically determined) for cohesionless grains, and thus the absence of plastic dissipation. Plasticity and hysteresis are due to the lack of such uniqueness and may stem, apart from intergranular friction, from small, but finite, rearrangements, in which the system jumps between two distinct potential energy minima, or from bounded tensile contact forces. The response to load increments is discussed. On the basis of past numerical studies, we argue that, if the ASD is valid, the macroscopic displacement field is the solution to an elliptic boundary value problem (akin to the Stokes problem).Comment: RevTex, 40 pages, 26 figures. Close to published paper. Misprints and minor errors correcte