3,654 research outputs found
An XMM-Newton and INTEGRAL view on the hard state of EXO 1745-248 during its 2015 outburst
CONTEXT - Transient low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) often show outbursts
lasting typically a few-weeks and characterized by a high X-ray luminosity
( erg/sec), while for most of the time they are
found in X-ray quiescence ( erg/sec). EXO 1745-248
is one of them. AIMS - The broad-band coverage, and the sensitivity of
instrument on board of {\xmm} and {\igr}, offers the opportunity to
characterize the hard X-ray spectrum during {\exo} outburst. METHODS - In this
paper we report on quasi-simultaneous {\xmm} and {\igr} observations of the
X-ray transient {\exo} located in the globular cluster Terzan 5, performed ten
days after the beginning of the outburst (on 2015 March 16th) shown by the
source between March and June 2015. The source was caught in a hard state,
emitting a 0.8-100 keV luminosity of ~{\lumcgs}. RESULTS - The
spectral continuum was dominated by thermal Comptonization of seed photons with
temperature keV, by a cloud with moderate optical depth
and electron temperature keV. A weaker soft
thermal component at temperature --0.7 keV and compatible
with a fraction of the neutron star radius was also detected. A rich emission
line spectrum was observed by the EPIC-pn on-board {\xmm}; features at energies
compatible with K- transitions of ionized sulfur, argon, calcium and
iron were detected, with a broadness compatible with either thermal Compton
broadening or Doppler broadening in the inner parts of an accretion disk
truncated at gravitational radii from the neutron star. Strikingly, at
least one narrow emission line ascribed to neutral or mildly ionized iron is
needed to model the prominent emission complex detected between 5.5 and 7.5
keV. (Abridged)Comment: 14 pages, 6 figure, 2 tables. Accepted for publication on A&A
(21/03/2017
Roles of stiffness and excluded volume in DNA denaturation
The nature and the universal properties of DNA thermal denaturation are
investigated by Monte Carlo simulations. For suitable lattice models we
determine the exponent c describing the decay of the probability distribution
of denaturated loops of length l, . If excluded volume effects
are fully taken into account, c= 2.10(4) is consistent with a first order
transition. The stiffness of the double stranded chain has the effect of
sharpening the transition, if it is continuous, but not of changing its order
and the value of the exponent c, which is also robust with respect to inclusion
of specific base-pair sequence heterogeneities.Comment: RevTeX 4 Pages and 4 PostScript figures included. Final version as
publishe
Adsorption-like Collapse of Diblock Copolymers
A linear copolymer made of two reciprocally attracting N-monomer blocks
collapses to a compact phase through a novel transition, whose exponents are
determined with extensive MC simulations in two and three dimensions. In the
former case, an identification with the statistical geometry of suitable
percolation paths allows to predict that the number of contacts between the
blocks grows like . In the compact phase the blocks are mixed and, in
two dimensions, also zipped, in such a way to form a spiral, double chain
structure.Comment: 4 pages, 5 Postscript figure
A new instability of accretion disks around compact magnetic stars
Aperiodic variability and Quasi Periodic Oscillations (QPOs) are observed
from accretion disks orbiting white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes,
suggesting that the flow is universally broken up into discrete blobs. We
consider the interaction of these blobs with the magnetic field of a compact,
accreting star, where diamagnetic blobs suffer a drag. We show that when the
magnetic moment is not aligned with the spin axis, the resulting force is
pulsed, and this can lead to resonance with the oscillation of the blobs around
the equatorial plane; a resonance condition where energy is effectively pumped
into non--equatorial motions is then derived. We show that the same resonance
condition applies for the quadrupolar component of the magnetic field. We
discuss the conditions of applicability of this result, showing that they are
quite wide. We also show that realistic complications, such as chaotic magnetic
fields, buoyancy, radiation pressure, evaporation, Kelvin--Helmholtz
instability, and shear stresses due to differential rotation do not affect our
results. In accreting neutron stars with millisecond periods, we show that this
instability leads to Lense-Thirring precession of the blobs, and that damping
by viscosity can be neglected.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. AASTeX LateX
needed. Two figure
Heavy Baryon Specroscopy from the Lattice
The results of an exploratory lattice study of heavy baryon spectroscopy are
presented. We have computed the full spectrum of the eight baryons containing a
single heavy quark, on a lattice at , using an
-improved fermion action. We discuss the lattice baryon operators and
give a method for isolating the contributions of the spin doublets
, and to the correlation
function of the relevant operator. We compare our results with the available
experimental data and find good agreement in both the charm and the beauty
sectors, despite the long extrapolation in the heavy quark mass needed in the
latter case. We also predict the masses of several undiscovered baryons. We
compute the \Lambda-\mbox{pseudoscalar meson} and mass
splittings. Our results, which have errors in the range , are in good
agreement with the experimental numbers. For the mass
splitting, we find results considerably smaller than the experimental values
for both the charm and the beauty baryons, although in the latter case the
experimental results are still preliminary. This is also the case for the
lattice results for the hyperfine splitting for the heavy mesons.Comment: 31 pages LaTex, with postscript figures include
Heavy Quark Spectroscopy and Matrix Elements: A Lattice Study using the Static Approximation
We present results of a lattice analysis of the parameter, , the
decay constant , and several mass splittings using the static
approximation. Results were obtained for 60 quenched gauge configurations
computed at on a lattice size of . Light quark
propagators were calculated using the -improved Sheikholeslami-Wohlert
action. We find \Bbstat(m_b) = 0.69\er{3}{4} {\rm(stat)}\er{2}{1}
{\rm(syst)}, corresponding to \Bbstat = 1.02\er{5}{6}\er{3}{2}, and \fbstat
= 266\err{18}{20}\err{28}{27} \mev, f_{B_s}^2 B_{B_s}/f_B^2 B_B =
1.34\er{9}{8}\er{5}{3}, where a variational fitting technique was used to
extract \fbstat. For the mass splittings we obtain M_{B_s}-M_{B_d} =
87\err{15}{12}\err{6}{12} \mev, M_{\Lambda_b}-M_{B_d} =
420\errr{100}{90}\err{30}{30} \mev and M_{B^*}^2-M_B^2 =
0.281\err{15}{16}\err{40}{37} \gev^2. We compare different smearing techniques
intended to improve the signal/noise ratio. From a detailed assessment of
systematic effects we conclude that the main systematic uncertainties are
associated with the renormalisation constants relating a lattice matrix element
to its continuum counterpart. The dependence of our findings on lattice
artefacts is to be investigated in the future.Comment: 40 pages, uuencoded compressed tar file, containing one LaTeX file
and 14 postscript files (to be included with epsf). Minor change in the value
of the B parameter. Contains corrected value for the B*-B mass splitting.
Version accepted for publication in Phys. Rev.
Bondi Accretion and the Problem of the Missing Isolated Neutron Stars
A large number of neutron stars (NSs), ~10^9, populate the Galaxy, but only a
tiny fraction of them is observable during the short radio pulsar lifetime. The
majority of these isolated NSs, too cold to be detectable by their own thermal
emission, should be visible in X-rays as a result of accretion from the
interstellar medium. The ROSAT all sky survey has however shown that such
accreting isolated NSs are very elusive: only a few tentative candidates have
been identified, contrary to theoretical predictions that up to several
thousands should be seen. We suggest that the fundamental reason for this
discrepancy lies in the use of the standard Bondi formula to estimate the
accretion rates. We compute the expected source counts using updated estimates
of the pulsar velocity distribution, realistic hydrogen atmosphere spectra, and
a modified expression for the Bondi accretion rate as suggested by recent MHD
simulations, and supported by direct observations in the case of accretion
around supermassive black holes in nearby galaxies and in our own. We find
that, whereas the inclusion of atmospheric spectra partly compensates for the
reduction in the counts due to the higher mean velocities of the new
distribution, the modified Bondi formula dramatically suppresses the source
counts. The new predictions are consistent with a null detection at the ROSAT
sensitivity.Comment: accepted to ApJ; 19 pages, 4 figure
Measurements and tests on FBK silicon sensors with an optimized electronic design for a CTA camera
In October 2013, the Italian Ministry approved the funding of a Research &
Development (R&D) study, within the "Progetto Premiale TElescopi CHErenkov made
in Italy (TECHE)", devoted to the development of a demonstrator for a camera
for the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) consortium. The demonstrator consists
of a sensor plane based on the Silicon Photomultiplier (SiPM) technology and on
an electronics designed for signal sampling. Preliminary tests on a matrix of
sensors produced by the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK-Trento, Italy) and on
electronic prototypes produced by SITAEL S.p.A. will be presented. In
particular, we used different designs of the electronics in order to optimize
the output signals in terms of tail cancellation. This is crucial for
applications where a high background is expected, as for the CTA experiment.Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures; Proceedings of the 10th Workshop on Science with
the New Generation of High-Energy Gamma-ray experiments (SciNeGHE) -
PoS(Scineghe2014)00
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