NGC 2264 IRS1: The central engine and its cavity

We present a high-resolution study of NGC 2264 IRS1 in CS(2-1) and in the 3-mm continuum using the IRAM Plateau de Bure Interferometer. We complement these radio data with images taken at 2.2, 4.6, and 11.9 micron. The combined information allow a new interpretation of the closest environment of NGC 2264 IRS1. No disk around the B-type star IRS1 was found. IRS1 and its low-mass companions are located in a low-density cavity which is surrounded by the remaining dense cloud core which has a clumpy shell-like structure. Strong evidence for induced on-going star formation was found in the surroundings of IRS1. A deeply embedded very young stellar object 20 arcsec to the north of IRS1 is powering a highly collimated bipolar outflow. The object 8 in the closer environment of IRS1 is a binary surrounded by dusty circumbinary material and powering two bipolar outflows.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, The paper is accepted and will appear in the Astrophysical Journal, Vol 599, No 1 (issue December 10). A high-resolution postscript version of this paper is available here ( http://www.astro.uni-jena.de/Users/martin/publi.html). Furthermore, you can find a high resolution PDF file here ( http://www.tls-tautenburg.de/research/tls-research/pub2003.html

Wireless internet architecture and testbed for wineglass

One of the most challenging issues in the area of mobile communication is the deployment of IPbased wireless multimedia networks in public and business environments. The public branch may involve public mobile networks, like UMTS as 3G system, while the business branch introduces local radio access networks by means of W-LANs. Conventional mobile networks realise mobile specific functionality, e.g. mobility management or authentication and accounting, by implementing appropriate mechanisms in specific switching nodes (e.g. SGSN in GPRS). In order to exploit the full potential of IP networking solutions a replacement of these mechanisms by IP-based solutions might be appropriate. In addition current and innovative future services in mobile environments require at least soft-guaranteed, differentiated QoS. Therefore the WINE GLASS project investigates and implements enhanced IP-based techniques supporting mobility and QoS in a wireless Internet architecture. As a means to verify the applicability of the implemented solutions, location-aware services deploying both IP-mobility and QoS mechanisms will be implemented and demonstratedPeer ReviewedPostprint (published version

CID: Chemistry In Disks VII. First detection of HC3N in protoplanetary disks

Molecular line emission from protoplanetary disks is a powerful tool to constrain their physical and chemical structure. Nevertheless, only a few molecules have been detected in disks so far. We take advantage of the enhanced capabilities of the IRAM 30m telescope by using the new broad band correlator (FTS) to search for so far undetected molecules in the protoplanetary disks surrounding the TTauri stars DM Tau, GO Tau, LkCa 15 and the Herbig Ae star MWC 480. We report the first detection of HC3N at 5 sigma in the GO Tau and MWC 480 disks with the IRAM 30-m, and in the LkCa 15 disk (5 sigma), using the IRAM array, with derived column densities of the order of 10^{12}cm^{-2}. We also obtain stringent upper limits on CCS (N < 1.5 x 10^{12} cm^{-3}). We discuss the observational results by comparing them to column densities derived from existing chemical disk models (computed using the chemical code Nautilus) and based on previous nitrogen and sulfur-bearing molecule observations. The observed column densities of HC3N are typically two orders of magnitude lower than the existing predictions and appear to be lower in the presence of strong UV flux, suggesting that the molecular chemistry is sensitive to the UV penetration through the disk. The CCS upper limits reinforce our model with low elemental abundance of sulfur derived from other sulfur-bearing molecules (CS, H2S and SO).Comment: 8 pages, 4 figures, 3 tables, Accepted for publication in Ap

Reorientation of Spin Density Waves in Cr(001) Films induced by Fe(001) Cap Layers

Proximity effects of 20 \AA thin Fe layers on the spin density waves (SDWs) in epitaxial Cr(001) films are revealed by neutron scattering. Unlike in bulk Cr we observe a SDW with its wave vector Q pointing along only one {100} direction which depends dramatically on the film thickness t_{Cr}. For t_{Cr} < 250 \AA the SDW propagates out-of-plane with the spins in the film plane. For t_{Cr} > 1000 \AA the SDW propagates in the film plane with the spins out-of-plane perpendicular to the in-plane Fe moments. This reorientation transition is explained by frustration effects in the antiferromagnetic interaction between Fe and Cr across the Fe/Cr interface due to steps at the interface.Comment: 4 pages (RevTeX), 3 figures (EPS

Detection of interstellar H_2D^+ emission

We report the detection of the 1_{10}-1_{11} ground state transition of ortho-H_2D^+ at 372.421 GHz in emission from the young stellar object NGC 1333 IRAS 4A. Detailed excitation models with a power-law temperature and density structure yield a beam-averaged H_2D^+ abundance of 3 x 10^{-12} with an uncertainty of a factor of two. The line was not detected toward W 33A, GL 2591, and NGC 2264 IRS, in the latter source at a level which is 3-8 times lower than previous observations. The H_2D^+ data provide direct evidence in support of low-temperature chemical models in which H_2D^+ is enhanced by the reaction of H_3^+ and HD. The H_2D^+ enhancement toward NGC 1333 IRAS 4A is also reflected in the high DCO^+/HCO^+ abundance ratio. Simultaneous observations of the N_2H^+ 4-3 line show that its abundance is about 50-100 times lower in NGC 1333 IRAS 4A than in the other sources, suggesting significant depletion of N_2. The N_2H^+ data provide independent lower limits on the H_3^+ abundance which are consistent with the abundances derived from H_2D^+. The corresponding limits on the H_3^+$ column density agree with recent near-infrared absorption measurements of H_3^+ toward W 33A and GL 2591.Comment: Standard AAS LaTeX format (15 pages + 2 figures

Using Lyman-α\alpha transits to constrain models of atmospheric escape

Lyman-$\alpha$ transits provide an opportunity to test models of atmospheric escape directly. However, translating observations into constraints on the properties of the escaping atmosphere is challenging. The major reason for this is that the observable parts of the outflow often comes from material outside the planet's Hill sphere, where the interaction between the planetary outflow and circumstellar environment is important. As a result, 3D models are required to match observations. Whilst 3D hydrodynamic simulations are able to match observational features qualitatively, they are too computationally expensive to perform a statistical retrieval of properties of the outflow. Here, we develop a model that determines the trajectory, ionization state and 3D geometry of the outflow as a function of its properties and system parameters. We then couple this model to a ray tracing routine in order to produce synthetic transits. We demonstrate the validity of this approach, reproducing the trajectory of the outflows seen in 3D simulations. We illustrate the use of this model by performing a retrieval on the transit spectrum of GJ 436 b. Our model constrains the sound speed of the outflow $\gtrsim 10 \text{ km s}^{-1}$, indicating that we can rule out core-powered mass loss as the mechanism driving the outflow for this planet. The bound on planetary outflow velocity and mass loss rates are consistent with a photoevaporative wind

Using helium 10830 {\AA} transits to constrain planetary magnetic fields

Planetary magnetic fields can affect the predicted mass loss rate for close-in planets that experience large amounts of UV irradiation. In this work, we present a method to detect the magnetic fields of close-in exoplanets undergoing atmospheric escape using transit spectroscopy at the 10830 Angstrom line of helium. Motivated by previous work on hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic photoevaporation, we suggest that planets with magnetic fields that are too weak to control the outflow's topology lead to blue-shifted transits due to day-to-night-side flows. In contrast, strong magnetic fields prevent this day-to-night flow, as the gas is forced to follow the magnetic field's roughly dipolar topology. We post-process existing 2D photoevaporation simulations to test this concept, computing synthetic transit profiles in helium. As expected, we find that hydrodynamically dominated outflows lead to blue-shifted transits on the order of the sound speed of the gas. Strong surface magnetic fields lead to unshifted or slightly red-shifted transit profiles. High-resolution observations can distinguish between these profiles; however, eccentricity uncertainties generally mean that we cannot conclusively say velocity shifts are due to the outflow for individual planets. The majority of helium observations are blue-shifted, which could be a tentative indication that close-in planets generally have surface dipole magnetic field strengths $\lesssim 0.1$ gauss. More 3D hydrodynamic and magneto-hydrodynamic are needed to confirm this conclusion robustly.Comment: Published in MNRA

Determinantal Characterization of Canonical Curves and Combinatorial Theta Identities

We characterize genus g canonical curves by the vanishing of combinatorial products of g+1 determinants of Brill-Noether matrices. This also implies the characterization of canonical curves in terms of (g-2)(g-3)/2 theta identities. A remarkable mechanism, based on a basis of H^0(K_C) expressed in terms of Szego kernels, reduces such identities to a simple rank condition for matrices whose entries are logarithmic derivatives of theta functions. Such a basis, together with the Fay trisecant identity, also leads to the solution of the question of expressing the determinant of Brill-Noether matrices in terms of theta functions, without using the problematic Klein-Fay section sigma.Comment: 35 pages. New results, presentation improved, clarifications added. Accepted for publication in Math. An