557 research outputs found
Detection of arcs in Saturn's F ring during the 1995 Sun ring-plane crossing
Observations of the November 1995 Sun crossing of the Saturn's ring-plane
made with the 3.6m CFH telescope, using the UHAO adaptive optics system, are
presented here. We report the detection of four arcs located in the vicinity of
the F ring. They can be seen one day later in HST images. The combination of
both data sets gives accurate determinations of their orbits. Semi-major axes
range from 140020 km to 140080 km, with a mean of 140060 +- 60 km. This is
about 150 km smaller than previous estimates of the F ring radius from Voyager
1 and 2 data, but close to the orbit of another arc observed at the same epoch
in HST images.Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 1 table, To appear in A&A, for comments :
[email protected]
A forward-backward splitting algorithm for the minimization of non-smooth convex functionals in Banach space
We consider the task of computing an approximate minimizer of the sum of a
smooth and non-smooth convex functional, respectively, in Banach space.
Motivated by the classical forward-backward splitting method for the
subgradients in Hilbert space, we propose a generalization which involves the
iterative solution of simpler subproblems. Descent and convergence properties
of this new algorithm are studied. Furthermore, the results are applied to the
minimization of Tikhonov-functionals associated with linear inverse problems
and semi-norm penalization in Banach spaces. With the help of
Bregman-Taylor-distance estimates, rates of convergence for the
forward-backward splitting procedure are obtained. Examples which demonstrate
the applicability are given, in particular, a generalization of the iterative
soft-thresholding method by Daubechies, Defrise and De Mol to Banach spaces as
well as total-variation based image restoration in higher dimensions are
presented
Tidal disruption of satellites and formation of narrow rings
In this paper we investigate the formation of narrow planetary rings such as
those found around Uranus and Saturn through the tidal disruption of a weak,
gravitationally bound satellite that migrates within its Roche limit. Using
-body simulations, we study the behaviour of rubble piles placed on circular
orbits at different distances from a central planet. We consider both
homogeneous satellites and differentiated bodies containing a denser core. We
show that the Roche limit for a rubble pile is closer to the planet than for a
fluid body of the same mean density. The Roche limit for a differentiated body
is also closer to the planet than for a homogeneous satellite of the same mean
density. Within its Roche limit, a homogeneous satellite totally disrupts and
forms a narrow ring. The initial stages of the disruption are similar to the
evolution of a viscous fluid ellipsoid, which can be computed
semi-analytically. On the other hand, when a differentiated satellite is just
within the Roche limit only the mantle is disrupted. This process is similar to
Roche-lobe overflow in interacting binary stars and produces two narrow rings
on either side of a remnant satellite. We argue that the Uranian rings, and
possibly their shepherd satellites, could have been formed through the tidal
disruption of a number of protomoons that were formed inside the corotation
radius of Uranus and migrated slowly inwards as a result of tidal interaction
with the planet.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Some figures have been compressed
to fit into astro-ph size guidelines. Please contact authors if full
resolution images are require
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Keck Observations of the 2002-2003 Jovian Ring Plane Crossing
We present new observations of Jupiter's ring system at a wavelength of 2.2 {micro}m obtained with the 10-m W. M. Keck telescopes on three nights during a ring plane crossing: UT 19 December 2002, and 22 and 26 January 2003. We used conventional imaging, plus adaptive optics on the last night. Here we present detailed radial profiles of the main ring, halo and gossamer rings, and interpret the data together with information extracted from radio observations of Jupiter's synchrotron radiation. The main ring is confined to a 800-km-wide annulus between 128,200 and 129,000 km, with a {approx} 5000 km extension on the inside. The normal optical depth is 8 x 10{sup -6}, 15% of which is provided by bodies with radii a {approx}> 5 cm. These bodies are as red as Metis. Half the optical depth, {tau} {approx} 4 x 10{sup -6}, is attributed to micron-sized dust, and the remaining {tau} {approx} 3 x 10{sup -6} to grains tens to hundreds of {micro}m in size. The inward extension consists of micron-sized (a {approx}< 10 {micro}m) dust, which probably migrates inward under Poynting-Robertson drag. The inner limit of this extension falls near the 3:2 Lorentz resonance (at orbital radius r = 122,400 km), and coincides with the outer limit of the halo. The gossamer rings appear to be radially confined, rather than broad sheets of material. The Amalthea ring is triangularly shaped, with a steep outer dropoff over {approx} 5000 km, extending a few 1000 km beyond the orbit of Amalthea, and a more gradual inner dropoff over 15,000-20,000 km. The inner edge is near the location of the synchronous orbit. The optical depth in the Amalthea ring is {approx} 5 x 10{sup -7}, up to 20% of which is comprised of macroscopic material. The optical depth in the Thebe ring is a factor of 3 smaller
The gravitational instability of a stream of co-orbital particles
We describe the dynamics of a stream of equally spaced macroscopic particles
in orbit around a central body (e.g. a planet or star). A co-orbital
configuration of small bodies may be subject to gravitational instability,
which takes the system to a spreading, disordered and collisional state. We
detail the linear instability's mathematical and physical features using the
shearing sheet model and subsequently track its nonlinear evolution with local
N-body simulations. This model provides a convenient tool with which to
understand the gravitational and collisional dynamics of narrow belts, such as
Saturn's F-ring and the streams of material wrenched from tidally disrupted
bodies. In particular, we study the tendency of these systems to form
long-lived particle aggregates. Finally, we uncover an unexpected connection
between the linear dynamics of the gravitational instability and the
magnetorotational instability.Comment: 11 pages, 7 figures, 1 table. MNRAS, accepte
Electron impact excitation cross sections for allowed transitions in atoms
We present a semiempirical Gaunt factor for widely used Van Regemorter
formula [Astrophys. J. 136, 906 (1962)] for the case of allowed transitions in
atoms with the LS coupling scheme. Cross sections calculated using this Gaunt
factor agree with measured cross sections to within the experimental error.Comment: RevTeX, 3 pages, 10 PS figures, 2 PS tables, submitted to Phys. Rev.
Identifying metabolites by integrating metabolome databases with mass spectrometry cheminformatics.
Novel metabolites distinct from canonical pathways can be identified through the integration of three cheminformatics tools: BinVestigate, which queries the BinBase gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) metabolome database to match unknowns with biological metadata across over 110,000 samples; MS-DIAL 2.0, a software tool for chromatographic deconvolution of high-resolution GC-MS or liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS); and MS-FINDER 2.0, a structure-elucidation program that uses a combination of 14 metabolome databases in addition to an enzyme promiscuity library. We showcase our workflow by annotating N-methyl-uridine monophosphate (UMP), lysomonogalactosyl-monopalmitin, N-methylalanine, and two propofol derivatives
Probabilistic representation for solutions of an irregular porous media type equation: the degenerate case
We consider a possibly degenerate porous media type equation over all of
with , with monotone discontinuous coefficients with linear
growth and prove a probabilistic representation of its solution in terms of an
associated microscopic diffusion. This equation is motivated by some singular
behaviour arising in complex self-organized critical systems. The main idea
consists in approximating the equation by equations with monotone
non-degenerate coefficients and deriving some new analytical properties of the
solution
The observation of long-range three-body Coloumb effects in the decay of 16Ne
The interaction of an =57.6-MeV Ne beam with a Be target was used
to populate levels in Ne following neutron knockout reactions. The decay
of Ne states into the three-body O++ continuum was observed
in the High Resolution Array (HiRA). For the first time for a 2p emitter,
correlations between the momenta of the three decay products were measured with
sufficient resolution and statistics to allow for an unambiguous demonstration
of their dependence on the long-range nature of the Coulomb interaction.
Contrary to previous experiments, the intrinsic decay width of the Ne
ground state was found to be narrow (~keV), consistent with
theoretical estimates.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figure
The Speed of Fronts of the Reaction Diffusion Equation
We study the speed of propagation of fronts for the scalar reaction-diffusion
equation \, with . We give a new integral
variational principle for the speed of the fronts joining the state to
. No assumptions are made on the reaction term other than those
needed to guarantee the existence of the front. Therefore our results apply to
the classical case in , to the bistable case and to cases in
which has more than one internal zero in .Comment: 7 pages Revtex, 1 figure not include
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