764 research outputs found

    Variable damping and coherence in a high-density magnon gas

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    We report on the fast relaxation behavior of a high-density magnon gas created by a parametric amplification process. The magnon gas is probed using the technique of spin-wave packet recovery by parallel parametric pumping. Experimental results show a damping behavior which is in disagreement with both the standard model of exponential decay and with earlier observations of non-linear damping. In particular, the inherent magnon damping is found to depend upon the presence of the parametric pumping field. A phenomenological model which accounts for the dephasing of the earlier injected magnons is in good agreement with the experimental data

    The Gunn-Peterson effect and the Lyman alpha forest

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    We show that spatial correlations in a stochastic large scale velocity field in an otherwise smooth intergalactic medium (homogeneous comoving density) superposed on the general Hubble flow, may cause a `line-like' structure in QSO spectra similar to the population of unsaturated Ly-alpha forest lines which usually are attributed to individual clouds with 10^{11} <= N(HI) <= 5*10^{13} cm^{-2}. Therefore there is no clear observational distinction between a diffuse intergalactic medium and discrete intergalactic clouds. It follows that the HI-density in the diffuse intergalactic medium might be substantially underestimated if it is determined from the observed intensity distribution near the apparent continuum in high resolution spectra of QSOs. Our tentative estimate implies a diffuse neutral hydrogen opacity tau_{GP} = 0.3 at z = 3 and a current baryon density Omega_{IGM} = 0.08$, assuming a Hubble constant H = 70 km s^{-1} Mpc^{-1}.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Postscript figures, a MNRAS Letters submissio

    Argon and Silicon abundances in the damped Ly-alpha system I Zw 18

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    We show that the difference between the Ar and Si relative abundance ratio derived from FUSE absorption spectra and from the HII regions of I Zw 18 is a consequence of the microturbulent analysis applied to the absorption spectra. FUSE observations were performed with a large entrance aperture which fully covered the galaxy. This means that the observed profiles are averaged over the full body of I Zw 18, implying that large-scale velocity fields influence the absorption - line profiles. Taking this into account, we show that the absorption spectra are consistent with the same metal abundances as those derived from the HII regions. It follows that no significant ionization correction as suggested by Izotov and collaborators to describe metal contents in damped Ly-alpha systems (DLA) is required to model abundances in the neutral gas of I Zw 18 (a local DLA system). Using a mesoturbulent approach and applying the generalized radiative transfer equation to the ArI1048 and SiII1020 lines observed by Vidal-Madjar et al., we found that the profiles may be reproduced with log (Ar/Si) ~= - 0.8 and N(SiII) ~= 4 10^{15} cm^{-2}.Comment: 4 pages, 2 eps figure, submitted to A

    A Compendium of Far-Infrared Line and Continuum Emission for 227 Galaxies Observed by the Infrared Space Observatory

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    Far-infrared line and continuum fluxes are presented for a sample of 227 galaxies observed with the Long Wavelength Spectrometer on the Infrared Space Observatory. The galaxy sample includes normal star-forming systems, starbursts, and active galactic nuclei covering a wide range of colors and morphologies. The dataset spans some 1300 line fluxes, 600 line upper limits, and 800 continuum fluxes. Several fine structure emission lines are detected that arise in either photodissociation or HII regions: [OIII]52um, [NIII]57um, [OI]63um, [OIII]88um, [NII]122um, [OI]145um, and [CII]158um. Molecular lines such as OH at 53um, 79um, 84um, 119um, and 163um, and H2O at 58um, 66um, 75um, 101um, and 108um are also detected in some galaxies. In addition to those lines emitted by the target galaxies, serendipitous detections of Milky Way [CII]158um and an unidentified line near 74um in NGC1068 are also reported. Finally, continuum fluxes at 52um, 57um, 63um, 88um, 122um, 145um, 158um, and 170um are derived for a subset of galaxies in which the far-infrared emission is contained within the ~75" ISO LWS beam. The statistics of this large database of continuum and line fluxes, including trends in line ratios with the far-infrared color and infrared-to-optical ratio, are explored.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement Serie

    The D/H ratio at z = 3.57 toward Q 1937-1009

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    Deuterium abundance re-measurements by Burles and Tytler (1998; hereafter BT) yielded D/H = (3.3 +/- 0.3) 10^{-5} and the robust upper limit D/H < 3.9 10^{-5} from the z_a = 3.572 system toward Q1937-1009. In this new analysis BT adopted multicomponent microturbulent models together with the possibility to vary freely the local continuum level around each HI line to improve the fit. The procedure failed, however, to fit adequately D Ly-beta without recourse to an additional H Ly-alpha contamination at the position of D Ly-beta. We show that this obstacle may be successfully overcome within the framework of the mesoturbulent model accounting (in contrast to the microturbulent approximation) for a correlated structure of the large scale velocity field. Using the same observational data and the original continuum as determined by Tytler et al. (1996), we obtained good fits. The one-component mesoturbulent models provide D/H in the range (3.2 - 4.8) 10^{-5} and the total hydrogen column density N(HI) = (5.6 - 7.0) 10^{17} cm^{-2}. This result is consistent with that found by us from the z_a = 2.504 and z_a = 0.701 systems toward Q1009+2956 and Q1718+4807, respectively. The range for D/H common to all three analyses is D/H = (4.1 - 4.6) 10^{-5}. This value is consistent with standard big bang nucleosynthesis [SBBN] if the baryon-to-photon ratio, \eta, is in the range 4.2 10^{-10} <= \eta <= 4.6 10^{-10}, implying 0.0155 <= \Omega_b h^2_{100} <= 0.0167.Comment: 8 pages, 2 Postscript figures, aaspp4.sty file, submit. ApJ Let
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