High Performance Laminated Glass

In this contribution we examine the mechanical behavior of laminated glass andshow that improvements in performance may be achieved through the use of a stiff,structural, non-PVB, interlayer. Enhancements in mechanical properties, such asstrength, creep, post-glass breakage coupled with enhancements in durability andmaterials compatibility, are provided with a stiff Ionomere interlayer that extendsthe performance of laminated glass well beyond the established PVB limits. Theuse of analysis tools based on finite elements and effective thickness methods isalso presented. Such tools allow the designer to optimize the performance oflaminated glass and take full advantage of the performance attributes of anIonomere interlayer. Examples are given of projects where such a structuralinterlayer provides enabling technology and the most cost-effective, valueengineered design solution

A statistical analysis of X-ray variability in pre-main sequence objects of the Taurus Molecular Cloud

This work is part of a systematic X-ray survey of the Taurus star forming complex with XMM-Newton. We study the time series of all X-ray sources associated with Taurus members, to statistically characterize their X-ray variability, and compare the results to those for pre-main sequence stars in the Orion Nebula Cluster and to expectations arising from a model where all the X-ray emission is the result of a large number of stochastically occurring flares. We find that roughly half of the detected X-ray sources show variability above our sensitivity limit, and in ~ 26 % of the cases this variability is recognized as flares. Variability is more frequently detected at hard than at soft energies. The variability statistics of cTTS and wTTS are undistinguishable, suggesting a common (coronal) origin for their X-ray emission. We have for the first time applied a rigorous maximum likelihood method in the analysis of the number distribution of flare energies on pre-main sequence stars. In its differential form this distribution follows a power-law with index alpha = 2.4 +- 0.5, in the range typically observed on late-type stars and the Sun. The flare energy distribution is probably steep enough to explain the heating of stellar coronae by nano-flares (alpha > 2), albeit associated with a rather large uncertainty that leaves some doubt on this conclusion.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysics; to appear in a Special Section dedicated to the XMM-Newton Extended Survey of the Taurus Molecular Cloud (XEST

The GALATEA Test-Facility for High Purity Germanium Detectors

GALATEA is a test facility designed to investigate bulk and surface effects in high purity germanium detectors. A vacuum tank houses an infrared screened volume with a cooled detector inside. A system of three stages allows an almost complete scan of the detector. The main feature of GALATEA is that there is no material between source and detector. This allows the usage of alpha and beta sources as well as of a laser beam to study surface effects. A 19-fold segmented true-coaxial germanium detector was used for commissioning

Tracking the Orbital and Super-orbital Periods of SMC X-1

The High Mass X-ray Binary (HMXB) SMC X-1 demonstrates an orbital variation of 3.89 days and a super-orbital variation with an average length of 55 days. As we show here, however, the length of the super-orbital cycle varies by almost a factor of two, even across adjacent cycles. To study both the orbital and super-orbital variation we utilize lightcurves from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer All Sky Monitor (RXTE-ASM). We employ the orbital ephemeris from Wojdowski et al. (1998) to obtain the average orbital profile, and we show that this profile exhibits complex modulation during non-eclipse phases. Additionally, a very interesting ``bounceback'' in X-ray count rate is seen during mid-orbital eclipse phases, with a softening of the emission during these periods. This bounceback has not been previously identified in pointed observations. We then define a super-orbital ephemeris (the phase of the super-orbital cycle as a function of date) based on the ASM lightcurve and analyze the trend and distribution of super-orbital cycle lengths. SMC X-1 exhibits a bimodal distribution of these lengths, similar to what has been observed in other systems (e.g., Her X-1), but with more dramatic changes in cycle length. There is some hint, but not conclusive evidence, for a dependence of the super-orbital cycle length upon the underlying orbital period, as has been observed previously for Her X-1 and Cyg X-2. Using our super-orbital ephemeris we are also able to create an average super-orbital profile over the 71 observed cycles, for which we witness overall hardening of the spectrum during low count rate times. We combine the orbital and super-orbital ephemerides to study the correlation between the orbital and super-orbital variations in the system.Comment: 10 pages, using emulateapj style. To be published in the Astrophysical Journa

Discovery of Extremely Embedded X-ray Sources in the R Coronae Australis Star Forming Core

With the XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories, we detected two extremely embedded X-ray sources in the R Corona Australis (R CrA) star forming core, near IRS 7. These sources, designated as XB and XA, have X-ray absorption columns of ~3e23 cm-2 equivalent to AV ~180 mag. They are associated with the VLA centimeter radio sources 10E and 10W, respectively. XA is the counterpart of the near-infrared source IRS 7, whereas XB has no K-band counterpart above 19.4 mag. This indicates that XB is younger than typical Class I protostars, probably a Class 0 protostar or in an intermediate phase between Class 0 and Class I. The X-ray luminosity of XB varied between 29<log LX <31.2 ergs s-1 on timescales of 3-30 months. XB also showed a monotonic increase in X-ray brightness by a factor of two in 30 ksec during an XMM-Newton observation. The XMM-Newton spectra indicate emission from a hot plasma with kT ~3-4 keV and also show fluorescent emission from cold iron. Though the X-ray spectrum from XB is similar to flare spectra from Class I protostars in luminosity and temperature, the light curve does not resemble the lightcurves of magnetically generated X-ray flares because the variability timescale of XB is too long and because variations in X-ray count rate were not accompanied by variations in spectral hardness. The short-term variation of XB may be caused by the partial blocking of the X-ray plasma, while the month-long flux enhancement may be driven by mass accretion.Comment: 26 pages, 8 figures, To be published in ApJ in April 200

Top Quark Spin Polarization in ep Collision

We discuss the degree of spin polarization of single top quarks produced via $Wg$ fusion process in $ep$ collision at TESLA+HERAp and CLIC+LHC energies $\sqrt{s}=1.6$ and 5.3 TeV. For $eb \to t \bar{\nu}$ subprocess we show that the top quark spin is completely polarized when the spin basis is chosen in the direction of the incoming positron beam in the rest frame of top quark. A description on how to combine the cross sections of $e^{+}b\to t\bar{\nu}$ and $e^{+}g\to t\bar{b}\bar{\nu}$ processes is given. $e^{+}$-beam direction is taken to be the favorite top quark spin decomposition axis in its rest frame and it is found to be comparable with the ones in $pp$ collision. It is argued that theoretical simplicity and experimental clearness are the advantage of $ep$ collision.Comment: Revised version of Phys. Rev. D69 (2004)03401

Evolution of brown dwarf disks: A Spitzer survey in Upper Scorpius

We have carried out a Spitzer survey for brown dwarf (BD) disks in the ~5 Myr old Upper Scorpius (UpSco) star forming region, using IRS spectroscopy from 8 to 12\mu m and MIPS photometry at 24\mu m. Our sample consists of 35 confirmed very low mass members of UpSco. Thirteen objects in this sample show clear excess flux at 24\mu m, explained by dust emission from a circum-sub-stellar disk. Objects without excess emission either have no disks at all or disks with inner opacity holes of at least ~5 AU radii. Our disk frequency of 37\pm 9% is higher than what has been derived previously for K0-M5 stars in the same region (on a 1.8 sigma confidence level), suggesting a mass-dependent disk lifetime in UpSco. The clear distinction between objects with and without disks as well as the lack of transition objects shows that disk dissipation inside 5 AU occurs rapidly, probably on timescales of <~10^5 years. For the objects with disks, most SEDs are uniformly flat with flux levels of a few mJy, well modeled as emission from dusty disks affected by dust settling to the midplane, which also provides indirect evidence for grain growth. The silicate feature around 10\mu m is either absent or weak in our SEDs, arguing for a lack of hot, small dust grains. Compared with younger objects in Taurus, BD disks in UpSco show less flaring. Taken together, these results clearly demonstrate that we see disks in an advanced evolutionary state: Dust settling and grain growth are ubiquituous in circum-sub-stellar disks at ages of 5 Myr, arguing for planet forming processes in BD disks. For almost all our targets, results from high-resolution spectroscopy and high-spatial resolution imaging have been published before, thus providing a large sample of BDs for which information about disks, accretion, and binarity is available. (abridged)Comment: 39 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Spectroscopic signatures of magnetospheric accretion in Herbig Ae/Be stars. I. The case of HD101412

Models of magnetically-driven accretion and outflows reproduce many observational properties of T Tauri stars. This concept is not well established for the more massive Herbig Ae/Be stars. We intend to examine the magnetospheric accretion in Herbig Ae/Be stars and search for rotational modulation using spectroscopic signatures, in this first paper concentrating on the well-studied Herbig Ae star HD101412. We used near-infrared spectroscopic observations of the magnetic Herbig Ae star HD101412 to test the magnetospheric character of its accretion disk/star interaction. We reduced and analyzed 30 spectra of HD101412, acquired with the CRIRES and X-shooter spectrographs installed at the VLT (ESO, Chile). The spectroscopic analysis was based on the He I lambda 10,830 and Pa gamma lines, formed in the accretion region. We found that the temporal behavior of these diagnostic lines in the near-infrared spectra of HD101412 can be explained by rotational modulation of line profiles generated by accreting gas with a period P = 20.53+-1.68 d. The discovery of this period, about half of the magnetic rotation period P_m = 42.076 d previously determined from measurements of the mean longitudinal magnetic field, indicates that the accreted matter falls onto the star in regions close to the magnetic poles intersecting the line-of-sight two times during the rotation cycle. We intend to apply this method to a larger sample of Herbig Ae/Be stars.Comment: 8 pages, 1 table, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A&

The ultracool dwarf DENIS-P J104814.7-395606. Chromospheres and coronae at the low-mass end of the main-sequence

We have obtained an XMM-Newton observation and a broad-band spectrum from the ultraviolet to the near infrared with X-Shooter for one of the nearest M9 dwarfs, DENIS-P J1048-3956 (4pc). We integrate these data by a compilation of activity parameters for ultracool dwarfs from the literature with the aim to advance our understanding of these objects by comparing them to early-M type dwarf stars and the Sun. Our deep XMM-Newton observation has led to the first X-ray detection of DENIS-P J1048-3956 (log Lx = 25.1) as well as the first measurement of its V band brightness (V = 17.35mag). Flux-flux relations between X-ray and chromospheric activity indicators are here for the first time extended into the regime of the ultracool dwarfs. The approximate agreement of DENIS-P J1048-3956 and other ultracool dwarfs with flux-flux relations for early-M dwarfs suggests that the same heating mechanisms work in the atmospheres of ultracool dwarfs, albeit weaker as judged from their lower fluxes. The observed Balmer decrements of DENIS-P J1048-3956 are compatible with optically thick plasma in LTE at low, nearly photospheric temperature or optically thin LTE plasma at 20000K. Describing the decrements with CaseB recombination requires different emitting regions for Halpha and the higher Balmer lines. The high observed Halpha/Hbeta flux ratio is also poorly fitted by the optically thin models. We derive a similarly high value for the Halpha/Hbeta ratio of vB10 and LHS2065 and conclude that this may be a characteristic of ultracool dwarfs. We add DENIS-P J1048-3956 to the list of ultracool dwarfs detected in both the radio and the X-ray band. The Benz-Guedel relation between radio and X-ray luminosity of late-type stars is well-known to be violated by ultracool dwarfs. We speculate on the presence of two types of ultracool dwarfs with distinct radio and X-ray behavior.Comment: accepted for publication in Astronomy & Astrophysic