K2 observations of the pulsating subdwarf B star EQ Piscium: an sdB+dM binary

K2, the two-wheel mission of the Kepler space telescope, observed the pulsating subdwarf B star EQ Psc during engineering tests in 2014 February. In addition to a rich spectrum of g-mode pulsation frequencies, the observations demonstrate a light variation with a period of 19.2 h and a full amplitude of 2%. We suggest that this is due to reflection from a cool companion, making EQ\,Psc the longest-period member of some 30 binaries comprising a hot subdwarf and a cool dwarf companion (sdB+dM), and hence useful for exploring the common-envelope ejection mechanism in low-mass binaries.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRA

Molecular Hydrogen emission from disks in the eta Chamaeleontis cluster

Disks in the 6 Myr old cluster eta Chamaeleontis were searched for emission from hot H2. Around the M3 star ECHAJ0843.3-7905 we detect circumstellar gas orbiting at ~2 AU. If the gas is UV-excited, the ro-vibrational line traces a hot gas layer supported by a disk of mass ~0.03Msolar, similar to the minimum mass solar nebula. Such a gas reservoir at 6 Myr would promote the formation and inwards migration of gas giant planets.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 9 page

Reporting and dealing with missing quality of life data in RCTs : has the picture changed in the last decade?

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Ideological Foundations of British Non-Intervention in the Spanish Civil War: Foreign Office Perceptions of Political Polarisation in Spain, 1931-1936

In response to the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, the British government adopted and maintained a policy of strict non-intervention throughout the conflict. Previous commentators, to varying degrees, have suggested this policy was largely a product of British hostility towards the Spanish Republic and designed to facilitate a victory for the military rebels who would subdue threats of a communist revolution. This analysis argues that historians have exaggerated British concerns about communism and that Britain saw the Republic as a viable political project that it wanted to succeed. Rather than focusing on British perceptions of only left-wing groups in Spain, this analysis also incorporates perceptions of the extreme right and fascist groups. British concerns about Spain’s political polarisation laid the foundations of the policy of non-intervention, which sought to avert risks of the conflict escalating and solidifying the broader ideological polarisation occurring in Europe during the 1930s

X-ray spectroscopy and photometry of the long-period polar AI Tri with XMM-Newton

Context. The energy balance of cataclysmic variables with strong magnetic fields is a central subject in understanding accretion processes on magnetic white dwarfs. With XMM-Newton, we perform a spectroscopic and photometric study of soft X-ray selected polars during their high states of accretion. Aims. On the basis of X-ray and optical observations of the magnetic cataclysmic variable AI Tri, we derive the properties of the spectral components, their flux contributions, and the physical structure of the accretion region in soft polars. Methods. We use multi-temperature approaches in our xspec modeling of the spectra to describe the physical conditions and the structures of the post-shock accretion flow and the accretion spot on the white-dwarf surface. In addition, we investigate the accretion geometry of the system by a timing analysis of the photometric data. Results. Flaring soft X-ray emission from the heated surface of the white dwarf dominates the X-ray flux during roughly 70% of the binary cycle. This component deviates from a single black body and can be described by a superimposition of mildly absorbed black bodies with a Gaussian temperature distribution. In addition, weaker hard X-ray emission is visible nearly all the time. The spectrum from the cooling post-shock accretion flow is most closely fitted by a combination of thermal plasma mekal models with temperature profiles adapted from prior stationary two-fluid hydrodynamic calculations. The soft X-ray light curves show a dip during the bright phase, which can be interpreted as self-absorption in the accretion stream. Phase-resolved spectral modeling supports the picture of one-pole accretion and self-eclipse. One of the optical light curves corresponds to an irregular mode of accretion. During a short XMM-Newton observation at the same epoch, the X-ray emission of the system is clearly dominated by the soft component.Comment: A&A, in press; 11 pages, 9 figures, 3 table