236 research outputs found
Nonaxisymmetric Magnetorotational Instability in Proto-Neutron Stars
We investigate the stability of differentially rotating proto-neutron stars
(PNSs) with a toroidal magnetic field. Stability criteria for nonaxisymmetric
MHD instabilities are derived using a local linear analysis. PNSs are expected
to have much stronger radial shear in the rotation velocity compared to normal
stars. We find that nonaxisymmetric magnetorotational instability (NMRI) with a
large azimuthal wavenumber is dominant over the kink mode () in
differentially rotating PNSs. The growth rate of the NMRI is of the order of
the angular velocity which is faster than that of the kink-type
instability by several orders of magnitude. The stability criteria are
analogous to those of the axisymmetric magnetorotational instability with a
poloidal field, although the effects of leptonic gradients are considered in
our analysis. The NMRI can grow even in convectively stable layers if the
wavevectors of unstable modes are parallel to the restoring force by the
Brunt-V\"ais\"al\"a oscillation. The nonlinear evolution of NMRI could amplify
the magnetic fields and drive MHD turbulence in PNSs, which may lead to
enhancement of the neutrino luminosity.Comment: 24pages, 7figures, Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical
Journal (December 12, 2005
Transport Characteristics in Well-controlled Turbulence Driven by Electrohydrodynamic Convection
The Effect of Neutrino Radiation on Magnetorotational Instability in Proto-Neutron Stars
Neutrino radiation takes a major role in the momentum, heat, and lepton
transports in proto-neutron stars (PNSs). These diffusive processes affect the
growth of magnetorotational instability (MRI) in PNSs. We perform a local
linear analysis for the axisymmetric and nonaxisymmetric MRI including the
effects of neutrino transports and ohmic dissipation. We find that the MRI can
grow even in the multi-diffusive situations that are realized in neutrino
loaded PNSs. When the toroidal magnetic component dominates over the poloidal
one, nonaxisymmetric MRI modes grow much faster than axisymmetric modes. These
results suggest the importance of the nonaxisymmetric MRI in PNSs. Thus the
understandings of three-dimensional nonlinear evolutions of the MRI are
necessary to reveal the explosion mechanism of core-collapse supernovae.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ, 24 pages,6 figure
XMM-Newton and Swift observations prove GRB 090709A to be a distant, standard, long GRB
GRB 090709A is a long gamma-ray burst (GRB) discovered by Swift, featuring a
bright X-ray afterglow as well as a faint infrared transient with very red and
peculiar colors. The burst attracted a large interest because of a possible
quasi-periodicity at P=8.1 s in the prompt emission, suggesting that it could
have a different origin with respect to standard, long GRBs. In order to
understand the nature of this burst, we obtained a target of opportunity
observation with XMM-Newton. X-ray spectroscopy, based on XMM-Newton and Swift
data, allowed us to model the significant excess in photoelectric absorption
with respect to the Galactic value as due to a large column density (about
6.5E+22 cm^-2) in the GRB host, located at z=4.2. Such a picture is also
consistent with the infrared transient's properties. Re-analysis of the prompt
emission, based on INTEGRAL and on Swift data, excludes any significant
modulation at P=8.1 s. Thus, we conclude that GRB 090709A is a distant,
standard, long GRB.Comment: 7 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables; MNRAS, in press. (V3: minor changes to
match the final version.
Direct dark matter search by annual modulation in XMASS-I
A search for dark matter was conducted by looking for an annual modulation
signal due to the Earth's rotation around the Sun using XMASS, a single phase
liquid xenon detector. The data used for this analysis was 359.2 live days
times 832 kg of exposure accumulated between November 2013 and March 2015. When
we assume Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) dark matter elastically
scattering on the target nuclei, the exclusion upper limit of the WIMP-nucleon
cross section 4.310cm at 8 GeV/c was obtained and we
exclude almost all the DAMA/LIBRA allowed region in the 6 to 16 GeV/c range
at 10cm. The result of a simple modulation analysis, without
assuming any specific dark matter model but including electron/ events,
showed a slight negative amplitude. The -values obtained with two
independent analyses are 0.014 and 0.068 for null hypothesis, respectively. we
obtained 90\% C.L. upper bounds that can be used to test various models. This
is the first extensive annual modulation search probing this region with an
exposure comparable to DAMA/LIBRA.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure
A variable absorption feature in the X-ray spectrum of a magnetar
Soft gamma-ray repeaters (SGRs) and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) are slowly
rotating, isolated neutron stars that sporadically undergo episodes of
long-term flux enhancement (outbursts) generally accompanied by the emission of
short bursts of hard X-rays. This behaviour can be understood in the magnetar
model, according to which these sources are mainly powered by their own
magnetic energy. This is supported by the fact that the magnetic fields
inferred from several observed properties of AXPs and SGRs are greater than -
or at the high end of the range of - those of radio pulsars. In the peculiar
case of SGR 0418+5729, a weak dipole magnetic moment is derived from its timing
parameters, whereas a strong field has been proposed to reside in the stellar
interior and in multipole components on the surface. Here we show that the
X-ray spectrum of SGR 0418+5729 has an absorption line, the properties of which
depend strongly on the star's rotational phase. This line is interpreted as a
proton cyclotron feature and its energy implies a magnetic field ranging from
2E14 gauss to more than 1E15 gauss.Comment: Nature, 500, 312 (including Supplementary Information
Vaughan-Jackson-like syndrome as an unusual presentation of Kienböck's disease: a case report
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Kienböck's disease is a condition of osteonecrosis of the lunate bone in the hand, and most patients present with a painful and sometimes swollen wrist with a limited range of motion in the affected wrist. Vaughan-Jackson syndrome is characterized by the disruption of the digital extensor tendons, beginning on the ulnar side with the extensor digiti minimi and extensor digitorum communis tendon of the small finger. It is most commonly associated with rheumatoid arthritis. We describe a case of a patient with an unusual presentation of Kienböck's disease with symptoms similar to those of Vaughan-Jackson syndrome.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 40-year-old man of Indian ethnic origin with no known history of trauma presented to our clinic with a ten-day history of an inability to extend his right little and ring fingers with associated pain in his right wrist. He was being treated with long-term steroids but had no other significant medical history. His examination revealed an inability to extend the metacarpal and phalangeal joints of the right ring and little fingers with localized tenderness over the lunate bone. Spontaneous disruption of the extensor tendons was diagnosed clinically and, after radiological investigation, was confirmed to be secondary to dorsal extrusion of the fragmented lunate bone. The patient underwent surgical repair of the tendons and had a full recovery afterward.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Kienböck's disease, though rare, is an important cause of spontaneous extensor tendon rupture. The original description of Vaughan-Jackson syndrome was of rupture of the extensor tendons of the little and ring fingers caused by attrition at an arthritic inferior radioulnar joint. We describe a case of a patient with Kienböck's disease that first appeared to be a Vaughan-Jackson-like syndrome.</p
Magnetic Reconnection in Extreme Astrophysical Environments
Magnetic reconnection is a basic plasma process of dramatic rearrangement of
magnetic topology, often leading to a violent release of magnetic energy. It is
important in magnetic fusion and in space and solar physics --- areas that have
so far provided the context for most of reconnection research. Importantly,
these environments consist just of electrons and ions and the dissipated energy
always stays with the plasma. In contrast, in this paper I introduce a new
direction of research, motivated by several important problems in high-energy
astrophysics --- reconnection in high energy density (HED) radiative plasmas,
where radiation pressure and radiative cooling become dominant factors in the
pressure and energy balance. I identify the key processes distinguishing HED
reconnection: special-relativistic effects; radiative effects (radiative
cooling, radiation pressure, and Compton resistivity); and, at the most extreme
end, QED effects, including pair creation. I then discuss the main
astrophysical applications --- situations with magnetar-strength fields
(exceeding the quantum critical field of about 4 x 10^13 G): giant SGR flares
and magnetically-powered central engines and jets of GRBs. Here, magnetic
energy density is so high that its dissipation heats the plasma to MeV
temperatures. Electron-positron pairs are then copiously produced, making the
reconnection layer highly collisional and dressing it in a thick pair coat that
traps radiation. The pressure is dominated by radiation and pairs. Yet,
radiation diffusion across the layer may be faster than the global Alfv\'en
transit time; then, radiative cooling governs the thermodynamics and
reconnection becomes a radiative transfer problem, greatly affected by the
ultra-strong magnetic field. This overall picture is very different from our
traditional picture of reconnection and thus represents a new frontier in
reconnection research.Comment: Accepted to Space Science Reviews (special issue on magnetic
reconnection). Article is based on an invited review talk at the
Yosemite-2010 Workshop on Magnetic Reconnection (Yosemite NP, CA, USA;
February 8-12, 2010). 30 pages, no figure
Self-Similar Solutions for Viscous and Resistive ADAF
In this paper, the self-similar solution of resistive advection dominated
accretion flows (ADAF) in the presence of a pure azimuthal magnetic field is
investigated. The mechanism of energy dissipation is assumed to be the
viscosity and the magnetic diffusivity due to turbulence in the accretion flow.
It is assumed that the magnetic diffusivity and the kinematic viscosity are not
constant and vary by position and -prescription is used for them. In
order to solve the integrated equations that govern the behavior of the
accretion flow, a self-similar method is used. The solutions show that the
structure of accretion flow depends on the magnetic field and the magnetic
diffusivity. As, the radial infall velocity and the temperature of the flow
increase, and the rotational velocity decreases. Also, the rotational velocity
for all selected values of magnetic diffusivity and magnetic field is
sub-Keplerian. The solutions show that there is a certain amount of magnetic
field that the rotational velocity of the flow becomes zero. This amount of the
magnetic field depends on the gas properties of the disc, such as adiabatic
index and viscosity, magnetic diffusivity, and advection parameters. The
solutions show the mass accretion rate increases by adding the magnetic
diffusivity and in high magnetic pressure case, the ratio of the mass accretion
rate to the Bondi accretion rate decreases as magnetic field increases. Also,
the study of Lundquist and magnetic Reynolds numbers based on resistivity
indicates that the linear growth of magnetorotational instability (MRI) of the
flow decreases by resistivity. This property is qualitatively consistent with
resistive magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) simulations.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figures, accepted by JA&
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