25,108 research outputs found
The initial temporal evolution of a feedback dynamo for Mercury
Various possibilities are currently under discussion to explain the observed
weakness of the intrinsic magnetic field of planet Mercury. One of the possible
dynamo scenarios is a dynamo with feedback from the magnetosphere. Due to its
weak magnetic field Mercury exhibits a small magnetosphere whose subsolar
magnetopause distance is only about 1.7 Hermean radii. We consider the magnetic
field due to magnetopause currents in the dynamo region. Since the external
field of magnetospheric origin is antiparallel to the dipole component of the
dynamo field, a negative feedback results. For an alpha-omega-dynamo two
stationary solutions of such a feedback dynamo emerge, one with a weak and the
other with a strong magnetic field. The question, however, is how these
solutions can be realized. To address this problem, we discuss various
scenarios for a simple dynamo model and the conditions under which a steady
weak magnetic field can be reached. We find that the feedback mechanism
quenches the overall field to a low value of about 100 to 150 nT if the dynamo
is not driven too strongly
Workshop on Geology of the Apollo 17 Landing Site
The topics covered include the following: petrology, lithology, lunar rocks, lunar soil, geochemistry, lunar geology, lunar resources, oxygen production, ilmenite, volcanism, highlands, lunar maria, massifs, impact melts, breccias, lunar crust, Taurus-Littrow, minerals, site selection, regolith, glasses, geomorphology, basalts, tectonics, planetary evolution, anorthosite, titanium oxides, chemical composition, and the Sudbury-Serenitatis analogy
Surface flux transport modeling for solar cycles 15--21: effects of cycle-dependent tilt angles of sunspot groups
We model the surface magnetic field and open flux of the Sun from 1913 to
1986 using a surface flux transport model, which includes the observed
cycle-to-cycle variation of sunspot group tilts. The model reproduces the
empirically derived time evolution of the solar open magnetic flux, and the
reversal times of the polar fields. We find that both the polar field and the
axial dipole moment resulting from this model around cycle minimum correlate
with the strength of the following cycle.Comment: Accepted for publication by Ap
Anomalous dephasing of bosonic excitons interacting with phonons in the vicinity of the Bose-Einstein condensation
The dephasing and relaxation kinetics of bosonic excitons interacting with a
thermal bath of acoustic phonons is studied after coherent pulse excitation.
The kinetics of the induced excitonic polarization is calculated within
Markovian equations both for subcritical and supercritical excitation with
respect to a Bose-Einstein condensation (BEC). For excited densities n below
the critical density n_c, an exponential polarization decay is obtained, which
is characterized by a dephasing rate G=1/T_2. This dephasing rate due to phonon
scattering shows a pronounced exciton-density dependence in the vicinity of the
phase transition. It is well described by the power law G (n-n_c)^2 that can be
understood by linearization of the equations around the equilibrium solution.
Above the critical density we get a non-exponential relaxation to the final
condensate value p^0 with |p(t)|-|p^0| ~1/t that holds for all densities.
Furthermore we include the full self-consistent Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov (HFB)
terms due to the exciton-exciton interaction and the kinetics of the anomalous
functions F_k= . The collision terms are analyzed and an
approximation is used which is consistent with the existence of BEC. The
inclusion of the coherent x-x interaction does not change the dephasing laws.
The anomalous function F_k exhibits a clear threshold behaviour at the critical
density.Comment: European Physical Journal B (in print
The Spectral Energy Distribution of Normal, Starburst and Active Galaxies
We present the results of an extensive literature search of multiwavelength
data for a sample of 59 galaxies, consisting of 26 Starbursts, 15 Seyfert 2's,
5 LINER's, 6 normal spirals and 7 normal elliptical galaxies. The data include
soft X-ray fluxes, ultraviolet and optical spectra, near, mid/far infrared
photometry and radio measurements, selected to match as closely as possible the
IUE aperture (10" X 20"). The galaxies are separated into 6 groups with similar
characteristics, namely, Ellipticals, Spirals, LINER's, Seyfert 2's, Starbursts
of Low and High reddening, for which we create average spectral energy
distributions (SED). The individual groups SED's are normalized to the
7000\AA flux and compared, looking for similarities and differences
among them.The bolometric fluxes of different types of galaxies were calculated
integrating their SED's. These values are compared with individual waveband
flux densities, in order to determine the wavebands which contribute most to
the bolometric flux. Linear regressions were performed between the bolometric
and individual band fluxes for each kind of galaxy. These fits can be used in
the calculation of the bolometric flux for other objects of similar activity
type, but with reduced waveband information. We have also collected
multiwavelength data for 4 HII regions, a thermal supernova remnant, and a
non-thermal supernova remnant (SNR), which are compared with the Starburst
SED's.Comment: 29 pages, 13 postscript figures and 10 tables. To appear in The
Astronomical Journa
Rare Earth Abundances in Meteoritic Chondrules
Rare earth elements abundance in meteoritic chondrites determined by radiochemical neutron activation analysi
Population synthesis of HII galaxies
We study the stellar population of galaxies with active star formation,
determining ages of the stellar components by means of spectral population
synthesis of their absorption spectra. The data consist of optical spectra of
185 nearby () emission line galaxies. They are mostly HII
galaxies, but we also include some Starbursts and Seyfert 2s, for comparison
purposes. They were grouped into 19 high signal-to-noise ratio template
spectra, according to their continuum distribution, absorption and emission
line characteristics. The templates were then synthesized with a star cluster
spectral base. The synthesis results indicate that HII galaxies are typically
age-composite stellar systems, presenting important contribution from
generations up to as old as 500 Myr. We detect a significant contribution of
populations with ages older than 1 Gyr in two groups of HII galaxies. The age
distributions of stellar populations among Starbursts can vary considerably
despite similarities in the emission line spectra. In the case of Seyfert 2
groups we obtain important contributions of old population, consistent with a
bulge. From the diversity of star formation histories, we conclude that typical
HII galaxies in the local universe are not systems presently forming their
first stellar generation.Comment: 12 pages, 4 figures, MNRAS in pres
Electronic structure and magnetic properties of Li_2ZrCuO_4 - a spin 1/2 Heisenberg system in vicinity to a quantum critical point
Based on density functional calculations, we present a detailed theoretical
study of the electronic structure and the magnetic properties of the quasi-one
dimensional chain cuprate Li_2ZrCuO_4 (Li_2CuZrO_4). For the relevant ratio of
the next-nearest neighbor exchange J_2 to the nearest neighbor exchange J_1 we
find alpha = -J_2/J_1 = 0.22\pm0.02 which is very close to the critical point
at 1/4. Owing this vicinity to a ferromagnetic-helical critical point, we study
in detail the influence of structural peculiarities such as the reported Li
disorder and the non-planar chain geometry on the magnetic interactions
combining the results of LDA based tight-binding models with LDA+U derived
exchange parameters. Our investigation is complemented by an exact
diagonalization study of a multi-band Hubbard model for finite clusters
predicting a strong temperature dependence of the optical conductivity for
Li_2ZrCuO_4
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