49,418 research outputs found
Quasinormal modes of asymptotically flat rotating black holes
We study the main properties of general linear perturbations of rotating
black holes in asymptotically flat higher-dimensional spacetimes. In
particular, we determine the quasinormal mode (QNM) spectrum of singly spinning
and equal angular momenta Myers-Perry black holes (MP BHs). Emphasis is also
given to the timescale of the ultraspinning and bar-mode instabilities in these
two families of MP BHs. For the bar-mode instabilities in the singly spinning
MP BH, we find excellent agreement with our linear analysis and the non-linear
time evolution of Shibata and Yoshino for d=6,7 spacetime dimensions. We find
that d=5 singly spinning BHs are linearly stable. In the context of studying
general relativity in the large dimension limit, we obtain the QNM spectrum of
Schwarzschild BHs and rotating MP BHs for large dimensions. We identify two
classes of modes. For large dimensions, we find that in the limit of zero
rotation, unstable modes of the MP BHs connect to a class of Schwarzschild QNMs
that saturate to finite values.Comment: 52 pages. 25 figure
Mass distribution and structural parameters of Small Magellanic Cloud star clusters
In this work we estimate, for the first time, the total masses and mass
function slopes of a sample of 29 young and intermediate-age SMC clusters from
CCD Washington photometry. We also derive age, interstellar reddening and
structural parameters for most of the studied clusters by employing a
statistical method to remove the unavoidable field star contamination. Only
these 29 clusters out of 68 originally analysed cluster candidates present
stellar overdensities and coherent distribution in their colour-magnitude
diagrams compatible with the existence of a genuine star cluster. We employed
simple stellar population models to derive general equations for estimating the
cluster mass based only on its age and integrated light in the B, V, I, C and
T1 filter. These equations were tested against mass values computed from
luminosity functions, showing an excellent agreement. The sample contains
clusters with ages between 60 Myr and 3 Gyr and masses between 300 and 3000 Mo
distributed between ~0.5 deg. and ~2 deg. from the SMC optical centre. We
determined mass function slopes for 24 clusters, of which 19 have slopes
compatible with that of Kroupa IMF (2.3 +/- 0.7), considering the
uncertainties. The remaining clusters - H86-188, H86-190, K47, K63 and NGC242 -
showed flatter MFs. Additionally, only clusters with masses lower than ~1000 Mo
and flatter MF were found within ~0.6 deg. from the SMC rotational centre.Comment: 12 pages, 19 figures. Includes another 29 full-page figures of
supplementary material. Accepted for publication in the MNRA
Light elements in stars with exoplanets
It is well known that stars orbited by giant planets have higher abundances
of heavy elements when compared with average field dwarfs. A number of studies
have also addressed the possibility that light element abundances are different
in these stars. In this paper we will review the present status of these
studies. The most significant trends will be discussed.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to the proceedings of IAU symposium
268: Light elements in the universe
Maximum Entanglement in Squeezed Boson and Fermion States
A class of squeezed boson and fermion states is studied with particular
emphasis on the nature of entanglement. We first investigate the case of
bosons, considering two-mode squeezed states. Then we construct the fermion
version to show that such states are maximum entangled, for both bosons and
fermions. To achieve these results, we demonstrate some relations involving
squeezed boson states. The generalization to the case of fermions is made by
using Grassmann variables.Comment: 4 page
ARES v2 - new features and improved performance
Aims: We present a new upgraded version of ARES. The new version includes a
series of interesting new features such as automatic radial velocity
correction, a fully automatic continuum determination, and an estimation of the
errors for the equivalent widths. Methods: The automatic correction of the
radial velocity is achieved with a simple cross-correlation function, and the
automatic continuum determination, as well as the estimation of the errors,
relies on a new approach to evaluating the spectral noise at the continuum
level. Results: ARES v2 is totally compatible with its predecessor. We show
that the fully automatic continuum determination is consistent with the
previous methods applied for this task. It also presents a significant
improvement on its performance thanks to the implementation of a parallel
computation using the OpenMP library.Comment: 4 pages, 2 Figures; accepted in A&A; ARES Webpage:
www.astro.up.pt/~sousasag/are
Inductive learning spatial attention
This paper investigates the automatic induction of spatial attention
from the visual observation of objects manipulated
on a table top. In this work, space is represented in terms of
a novel observer-object relative reference system, named Local
Cardinal System, defined upon the local neighbourhood
of objects on the table. We present results of applying the
proposed methodology on five distinct scenarios involving
the construction of spatial patterns of coloured blocks
- …