52,869 research outputs found
The z>4 Quasar Population Observed by Chandra and XMM-Newton
The current status of our Chandra and XMM-Newton project on high-redshift
(z>4) quasars is briefly reviewed. We report the main results obtained in the
last few years for the detected quasars, along with a few (~10%) intriguing
cases where no detection has been obtained with Chandra snapshot observations.Comment: 4 pages, to appear in the proceedings of 'Multiwavelength AGN
surveys' (Cozumel, December 8-12 2003), ed. R. Maiolino and R. Mujic
Evaluation of atomic constants for optical radiation, volume 1
Atomic constants for optical radiation are discussed which include transition probabilities, line strengths, and oscillator strengths for both dipole and quadrupole transitions, as well as the associated matrix elements needed for line broadening calculations. Atomic constants were computed for a wide selection of elements and lines. An existing computer program was used, with modifications to include, in an approximate manner, the effect of equivalent electrons, and to enable reordering and restructuring of the output for publication. This program is suitable for fast, low cost computation of the optical constants, using the Coulomb approximation formalism for LS coupling
Surface waves in protoplanetary disks induced by outbursts: Concentric rings in scattered light
Context: Vertically hydrostatic protoplanetary disk models are based on the
assumption that the main heating source, stellar irradiation, does not vary
much with time. However, it is known that accreting young stars are variable
sources of radiation. This is particularly evident for outbursting sources such
as EX Lupi and FU Orionis stars. Aim: We investigate how such outbursts affect
the vertical structure of the outer regions of the protoplanetary disk, in
particular their appearance in scattered light at optical and near-infrared
wavelengths. Methods: We employ the 3D FARGOCA radiation-hydrodynamics code, in
polar coordinates, to compute the time-dependent behavior of the axisymmetric
disk structure. The outbursting inner disk region is not included explicitly.
Instead, its luminosity is added to the stellar luminosity and is thus included
in the irradiation of the outer disk regions. For time snapshots of interest we
insert the density structure into the RADMC-3D radiative transfer code and
compute the appearance of the disk at optical/near-infrared wavelengths.
Results: We find that, depending on the amplitude of the outbursts, the
vertical structure of the disk can become highly dynamic, featuring circular
surface waves of considerable amplitude. These "hills" and "valleys" on the
disk's surface show up in the scattered light images as bright and dark
concentric rings. Initially these rings are small and act as standing waves,
but they subsequently lead to outward propagating waves, like the waves
produced by a stone thrown into a pond. These waves continue long after the
actual outburst has died out. Conclusions: We propose that some of the
multi-ringed structures seen in optical/infrared images of several
protoplanetary disks may have their origin in outbursts that occurred decades
or centuries ago.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A Letter
Large inverse tunneling magnetoresistance in CoCrFeAl/MgO/CoFe magnetic tunnel junctions
Magnetic tunnel junctions with the layer sequence
CoCrFeAl/MgO/CoFe were fabricated by magnetron sputtering
at room temperature (RT). The samples exhibit a large inverse tunneling
magnetoresistance (TMR) effect of up to -66% at RT. The largest value of -84%
at 20 K reflects a rather weak influence of temperature. The dependence on the
voltage drop shows an unusual behavior with two almost symmetric peaks at
mV with large inverse TMR ratios and small positive values around zero
bias
Experimental investigations of a uranium plasma pertinent to a self sustaining plasma source Annual technical report, 1 Jan. - 31 Dec. 1969
Uranium plasmas with temperature and radiation measurement
Specific protein-protein binding in many-component mixtures of proteins
Proteins must bind to specific other proteins in vivo in order to function.
The proteins must bind only to one or a few other proteins of the of order a
thousand proteins typically present in vivo. Using a simple model of a protein,
specific binding in many component mixtures is studied. It is found to be a
demanding function in the sense that it demands that the binding sites of the
proteins be encoded by long sequences of bits, and the requirement for specific
binding then strongly constrains these sequences. This is quantified by the
capacity of proteins of a given size (sequence length), which is the maximum
number of specific-binding interactions possible in a mixture. This calculation
of the maximum number possible is in the same spirit as the work of Shannon and
others on the maximum rate of communication through noisy channels.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures (changes for v2 mainly notational - to be more in
line with notation in information theory literature
High Accuracy Near-infrared Imaging Polarimetry with NICMOS
The findings of a nine orbit calibration plan carried out during HST Cycle
15, to fully determine the NICMOS camera 2 (2.0 micron) polarization
calibration to high accuracy, are reported. Recently Ueta et al. and Batcheldor
et al. have suggested that NICMOS possesses a residual instrumental
polarization at a level of 1.2-1.5%. This would completely inhibit the data
reduction in a number of GO programs, and hamper the ability of the instrument
to perform high accuracy polarimetry. We obtained polarimetric calibration
observations of three polarimetric standards at three spacecraft roll angles
separated by ~60deg. Combined with archival data, these observations were used
to characterize the residual instrumental polarization in order for NICMOS to
reach its full potential of accurate imaging polarimetry at p~1%. Using these
data, we place an 0.6% upper limit on the instrumental polarization and
calculate values of the parallel transmission coefficients that reproduce the
ground-based results for the polarimetric standards. The uncertainties
associated with the parallel transmission coefficients, a result of the
photometric repeatability of the observations, are seen to dominate the
accuracy of p and theta. However, the updated coefficients do allow imaging
polarimetry of targets with p~1.0% at an accuracy of +/-0.6% and +/-15deg. This
work enables a new caliber of science with HST.Comment: 13 pages, 9 figures, PASP accepte
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