1,101 research outputs found
Evidence of grain growth in the disk of the bipolar proto-planetary nebula M 1--92
We investigate the dust size and dust shell structure of the bipolar
proto-planetary nebula M 1--92 by means of radiative transfer modeling. Our
models consists of a disk and bipolar lobes that are surrounded by an AGB
shell, each component having different dust characteristics. The upper limit of
the grain size in the lobes is estimated to be m from
the polarization value in the bipolar lobe. The value of the
disk is constrained with the disk mass (0.2 M_{\sun}), which was estimated
from a previous CO emission line observation. We find a good model with
m, which provides an approximated disk mass of 0.15
M_{\sun}. Even taking into account uncertainties such as the gas-to-dust mass
ratio, a significantly larger dust of m, comparing to
the dust in the lobe, is expected.
We also estimated the disk inner radius, the disk outer radius, and the
envelope mass to be 30 (=9 AU), 4500 AU, and 4 M_{\sun},
respectively, where is the expansion velocity. If the dust
existing in the lobes in large separations from the central star undergoes
little dust processing, the dust sizes preserves the ones in the dust
formation. Submicron-sized grains are found in many objects besides M 1--92,
suggesting that the size does not depend much on the object properties, such as
initial mass of the central star and chemical composition of the stellar
system. On the other hand, the grain sizes in the disk do. Evidence of large
grains has been reported in many bipolar PPNs, including M 1--92. This result
suggests that disks play an important role in grain growth.Comment: 8 pages with 3 figures. Accepted for publication in A&
Gravitational instabilities in Kerr space-times
In this paper we consider the possible existence of unstable axisymmetric
modes in Kerr space times, resulting from exponentially growing solutions of
the Teukolsky equation. We describe a transformation that casts the radial
equation that results upon separation of variables in the Teukolsky equation,
in the form of a Schr\"odinger equation, and combine the properties of the
solutions of this equations with some recent results on the asymptotic
behaviour of spin weighted spheroidal harmonics to prove the existence of an
infinite family of unstable modes. Thus we prove that the stationary region
beyond a Kerr black hole inner horizon is unstable under gravitational linear
perturbations. We also prove that Kerr space-time with angular momentum larger
than its square mass, which has a naked singularity, is unstable.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, comments, references and calculation details
added, asymptotic expansion typos fixe
Near-Infrared Stellar Populations in the metal-poor, Dwarf irregular Galaxies Sextans A and Leo A
We present JHK observations of the metal-poor ([Fe/H] -1.40)
Dwarf-irregular galaxies, Leo A and Sextans A obtained with the WIYN
High-Resolution Infrared Camera at Kitt Peak. Their near-IR stellar populations
are characterized by using a combination of colour-magnitude diagrams and by
identifying long-period variable stars. We detected red giant and asymptotic
giant branch stars, consistent with membership of the galaxy's intermediate-age
populations (2-8 Gyr old). Matching our data to broadband optical and mid-IR
photometry we determine luminosities, temperatures and dust-production rates
(DPR) for each star. We identify 32 stars in Leo A and 101 stars in Sextans A
with a DPR , confirming that metal-poor
stars can form substantial amounts of dust. We also find tentative evidence for
oxygen-rich dust formation at low metallicity, contradicting previous models
that suggest oxygen-rich dust production is inhibited in metal-poor
environments. The total rates of dust injection into the interstellar medium of
Leo A and Sextans A are (8.2 1.8) and (6.2 0.2) ,
respectively. The majority of this dust is produced by a few very dusty evolved
stars, and does not vary strongly with metallicity.Comment: 21 pages, 11 figures, 10 tables; accepted for publication in Ap
Dust Emission from Evolved and Unevolved HII Regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud
We present a study of the dust properties of 12 classical and superbubble HII
regions in the Large Magellanic Cloud. We use infrared photometry from Spitzer
(8, 24, 70, and 160 \mum bands), obtained as part of the Surveying the Agents
of a Galaxy's Evolution (SAGE) program, along with archival spectroscopic
classifications of the ionizing stars to examine the role of stellar sources on
dust heating and processing. Our infrared observations show surprisingly little
correlation between the emission properties of the dust and the effective
temperatures or bolometric magnitudes of stars in the HII regions, suggesting
that the HII region evolutionary timescale is not on the order of the dust
processing timescale. We find that the infrared emission of superbubbles and
classical HII regions shows little differentiation between the two classes,
despite the significant differences in age and morphology. We do detect a
correlation of the 24 \mum emission from hot dust with the ratio of 70 to 160
\mum flux. This correlation can be modeled as a trend in the temperature of a
minority hot dust component, while a majority of the dust remains significantly
cooler.Comment: 15 pages, 5 figures. Accepted to Ap
The impact of free convection on late morning ozone decreases on an Alpine foreland mountain summit
Exceptional patterns in the diurnal course of ozone mixing ratio at a mountain top site (998 m a.s.l.) were observed during a field experiment (September 2005). They manifested themselves as strong and sudden decreases of ozone mixing ratio with a subsequent return to previous levels. The evaluation of corresponding long-term time series (2000–2005) revealed that such events occur mainly during summer, and affect the mountain top site on about 18% of the summer days. Combining (a) surface layer measurements at mountain summit and at the foot of the mountain, (b) in-situ (tethered balloon) and remote sensing (SODAR-RASS) measurements within the atmospheric boundary layer, the origin of these events of sudden ozone decrease could be attributed to free convection. The free convection was triggered by a rather frequently occurring wind speed minimum around the location of the mountain
Lowering and raising operators for the free Meixner class of orthogonal polynomials
We compare some properties of the lowering and raising operators for the
classical and free classes of Meixner polynomials on the real line
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