10,989 research outputs found
Direct Detection of Giant Close-In Planets Around the Source Stars of Caustic-Crossing Microlensing Events
We propose a direct method to detect close-in giant planets orbiting stars in
the Galactic bulge. This method uses caustic-crossing binary microlensing
events discovered by survey teams monitoring the bulge to measure light from a
planet orbiting the source star. When the planet crosses the caustic, it is
more magnified than the source star; its light is magnified by two orders of
magnitude for Jupiter size planets. If the planet is a giant close to the star,
it may be bright enough to make a significant deviation in the light curve of
the star. Detection of this deviation requires intensive monitoring of the
microlensing light curve using a 10-meter class telescope for a few hours after
the caustic. This is the only method yet proposed to directly detect close-in
planets around stars outside the solar neighborhood.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures. Submitted to ApJ Letter
Response of capelin to wind-induced thermal events in the southern Labrador Current
The response of schooling fish (Capelin Mallotus villosus MĂŒller) to coastal upwelling events in the southern Labrador Current was investigated during the summer of 1984 and 1987. Theoretical calculations showed that summer wind events, which prevail from the southwest, were capable of inducing upwelling along the western boundary of the Avalon Channel. Significant drops in the temperature of subsurface water near the coast occurred in response to longshore wind stress. Coherence of longshore winds and thermal fluctuations was significantly greater than zero at periods between 3.8 to 6.1 days at two exposed locations along the coast. Regression of temperature on longshore winds was significant when effects of cross-shore winds were removed by regression. Regression of temperature on cross-shore winds was not significant when effects of longshore winds were removed by regression. During 1984 the relative catch rate of male capelin at a trap increased when water temperature rose rapidly after upwelling events. During 1987 increases in the catch rate of males at the trap were correctly predicted from cessation of upwelling favorable winds (i.e., from the south). Shoreward movement of capelin after wind driven upwelling may synchronize spawning with periods of light wave action on beaches in eastern Newfoundland
Angular Radii of Stars via Microlensing
We outline a method by which the angular radii of giant and main sequence
stars in the Galactic bulge can be measured to a few percent accuracy. The
method combines ground-based photometry of caustic-crossing bulge microlensing
events, with a handful of precise astrometric measurements of the lensed star
during the event, to measure the angular radius of the source, theta_*. Dense
photometric coverage of one caustic crossing yields the crossing timescale dt.
Less frequent coverage of the entire event yields the Einstein timescale t_E
and the angle phi of source trajectory with respect to the caustic. The
photometric light curve solution predicts the motion of the source centroid up
to an orientation on the sky and overall scale. A few precise astrometric
measurements therefore yield theta_E, the angular Einstein ring radius. Then
the angular radius of the source is obtained by theta_*=theta_E(dt/t_E)
sin(phi). We argue that theta_* should be measurable to a few percent accuracy
for Galactic bulge giant stars using ground-based photometry from a network of
small (1m-class) telescopes, combined with astrometric observations with a
precision of ~10 microarcsec to measure theta_E. We find that a factor of ~50
times fewer photons are required to measure theta_E to a given precision for
binary-lens events than single-lens events. Adopting parameters appropriate to
the Space Interferometry Mission (SIM), ~7 min of SIM time is required to
measure theta_E to ~5% accuracy for giant sources in the bulge. For
main-sequence sources, theta_E can be measured to ~15% accuracy in ~1.4 hours.
With 10 hrs of SIM time, it should be possible to measure theta_* to ~5% for
\~80 giant stars, or to 15% for ~7 main sequence stars. A byproduct of such a
campaign is a significant sample of precise binary-lens mass measurements.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Revised version, minor changes, required SIM
integration times revised upward by ~60%. Accepted to ApJ, to appear in the
March 20, 2003 issue (v586
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Influence of non-dipole field on determination of Plio-Pleistocene true polar wander
Some studies of global paleomagnetic data have found an offset of the magnetic pole during the Plio-Pleistocene which has been interpreted as indicating a period of rapid True Polar Wander, with a rate of movement comparable to the present-day rate of polar motion deduced from astronomical observations. We show that much of the polar offset determined from the paleomagnetic data may be due to deviations in pole position caused by persistent non-dipole zonal components of the geomagnetic field. A correction of paleomagnetic poles for the long-term non-dipole field reduces the polar offset and thus suggests a slower or shorter episode of True Polar Wander over the past 5 million years
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Inclination anomalies from Indian Ocean sediments and the possibility of a standing non-dipole field
We report magnetic inclinations measured in deep-sea sediments of the equatorial Indian Ocean which record the behavior of a nondipole component of the timeaveraged geomagnetic field during the Plio-Pleistocene (0-5 Ma). The magnitude of the nondipole effect recorded in these sediments appears to depend on polarity state, with inclinations showing departures from geocentric axial dipole directions which are small (2°) during normal polarity and larger (5°) during reverse polarity times. The overall nondipole effect observed here is consistent with prior spherical harmonic estimates of the paleomagnetic field; the polarity bias found agrees, in both sense and magnitude, with earlier reports of polarity asymmetry in the low-degree zonal harmonic fields. The presence of this asymmetry supports previous suggestions of the existence of a standing component of the nondipole field which does not invert during reversals of the main field. We explore whether the standing field so indicated may have influenced paleomagnetic directions recorded during polarity transitions at other equatorial sites
Gravitational Lensing by Power-Law Mass Distributions: A Fast and Exact Series Approach
We present an analytical formulation of gravitational lensing using familiar
triaxial power-law mass distributions, where the 3-dimensional mass density is
given by . The deflection angle and magnification factor are
obtained analytically as Fourier series. We give the exact expressions for the
deflection angle and magnification factor. The formulae for the deflection
angle and magnification factor given in this paper will be useful for numerical
studies of observed lens systems. An application of our results to the Einstein
Cross can be found in Chae, Turnshek, & Khersonsky (1998). Our series approach
can be viewed as a user-friendly and efficient method to calculate lensing
properties that is better than the more conventional approaches, e.g.,
numerical integrations, multipole expansions.Comment: 24 pages, 3 Postscript figures, ApJ in press (October 10th
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A detailed chronology of the Australasian impact event, the Brunhes-Matuyama geomagnetic polarity reversal, and global climate change
A mechanism had been recently proposed to show how an impact event can trigger a geomagnetic polarity reversal by means of rapid climate cooling. We test the proposed mechanism by examining the record from two high sedimentation rate (8â11 cm/kyr) deep-sea sediment cores (ODP Sites 767 and 769) from marginal seas of the Indonesian archipelago, which record the Australasian impact with well-defined microtektite layers, the Brunhes-Matuyama polarity reversal with strong and stable remanent magnetizations, and global climate with oxygen isotope variations in planktonic foraminifera. Both ODP cores show the impact to have preceded the reversal of magnetic field directions by about 12 kyr. Both records indicate that the field intensity was increasing near the time of impact and that it continued to increase for about 4 kyr afterwards. Furthermore, the oxygen isotope record available from sediments at ODP Site 769 shows no indication of discernible climate cooling following the impact: the microtektite event occurred in the later part of glacial Stage 20 and was followed by a smooth warming trend to interglacial Stage 19. Thus the detailed chronology does not support the previously proposed model which would predict that a decrease in geomagnetic field intensity resulted from a minor glaciation following the impact event. We conclude that the evidence for a causal link between impacts and geomagnetic reversals remains insufficient to demonstrate a physical connection
Mass growth and mergers: direct observations of the luminosity function of LRG satellite galaxies out to z=0.7 from SDSS and BOSS images
We present a statistical study of the luminosity functions of galaxies
surrounding luminous red galaxies (LRGs) at average redshifts =0.34 and
=0.65. The luminosity functions are derived by extracting source photometry
around more than 40,000 LRGs and subtracting foreground and background
contamination using randomly selected control fields. We show that at both
studied redshifts the average luminosity functions of the LRGs and their
satellite galaxies are poorly fitted by a Schechter function due to a
luminosity gap between the centrals and their most luminous satellites. We
utilize a two-component fit of a Schechter function plus a log-normal
distribution to demonstrate that LRGs are typically brighter than their most
luminous satellite by roughly 1.3 magnitudes. This luminosity gap implies that
interactions within LRG environments are typically restricted to minor mergers
with mass ratios of 1:4 or lower. The luminosity functions further imply that
roughly 35% of the mass in the environment is locked in the LRG itself,
supporting the idea that mass growth through major mergers within the
environment is unlikely. Lastly, we show that the luminosity gap may be at
least partially explained by the selection of LRGs as the gap can be reproduced
by sparsely sampling a Schechter function. In that case LRGs may represent only
a small fraction of central galaxies in similar mass halos.Comment: ApJ accepted versio
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