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 $a_\mathrm{max}$ in the lobes is estimated to be $0.5 \mu$m from the polarization value in the bipolar lobe. The $a_\mathrm{max}$ 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 $a_\mathrm{max}=1000.0 \mu$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 $a_\mathrm{max}>100.0 \mu$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 $R_\star$(=9 AU), 4500 AU, and 4 M_{\sun}, respectively, where $v_\mathrm{exp}$ 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&

Near-Infrared Stellar Populations in the metal-poor, Dwarf irregular Galaxies Sextans A and Leo A

We present JHK$_{s}$ 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 $>10^{-11}$ $M_\odot \,{\rm yr}^{-1}$, 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 $\pm$ 1.8) $\times 10^{-9}$ $M_\odot \,{\rm yr}^{-1}$ and (6.2 $\pm$ 0.2) $\times 10^{-7}$ $M_\odot \,{\rm yr}^{-1}$, 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

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

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