4,536 research outputs found
Ultraviolet spectroscopy of the brightest supergiants in M31 and M33
Ultraviolet spectroscopy from the IUE, in combination with groundbased visual and infrared photometry, are to determine the energy distributions of the luminous blue variables, the Hubble-Sandage variables, in M31 and M33. The observed energy distributions, especially in the ultraviolet, show that these stars are suffering interstellar reddening. When corrected for interstellar extinction, the integrated energy distributions yield the total luminosities and black body temperatures of the stars. The resulting bolometric magnitudes and temperatures confirm that these peculiar stars are indeed very luminous, hot stars. They occupy the same regions of the sub B01 vs. log T sub e diagram as do eta Car, P Cyg and S Dor in our galaxy and the LMC. Many of the Hubble-Sandage variables have excess infrared radiation which is attributed to free-free emission from their extended atmospheres. Rough mass loss estimates from the infrared excess yield rates of 0.00001 M sub annual/yr. The ultraviolet spectra of the H-S variables are also compared with similar spectra of eta Car, P Cyg and S For
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Results of an aqueous source term model for a radiological risk assessment of the Drigg LLW Site, U.K.
A radionuclide source term model has been developed which simulates the biogeochemical evolution of the Drigg low level waste (LLW) disposal site. The DRINK (DRIgg Near field Kinetic) model provides data regarding radionuclide concentrations in groundwater over a period of 100,000 years, which are used as input to assessment calculations for a groundwater pathway. The DRINK model also provides input to human intrusion and gaseous assessment calculations through simulation of the solid radionuclide inventory. These calculations are being used to support the Drigg post closure safety case. The DRINK model considers the coupled interaction of the effects of fluid flow, microbiology, corrosion, chemical reaction, sorption and radioactive decay. It represents the first direct use of a mechanistic reaction-transport model in risk assessment calculations
Can continental bogs with stand the pressure due to climate change?
Not all peatlands are alike. Theoretical and process based models suggest that ombrogenic, oligotrophic peatlands can withstand the pressures due to climate change because of the feedbacks among ecosystem production, decomposition and water storage. Although there have been many inductive explanations inferring from paleo-records, there is a lack of deductive empirical tests of the models predictions of these systems’ stability and there are few records of the changes in the net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) of peatlands that are long enough to examine the dynamics of the NECB in relation to climate variability. Continuous measurements of all the components of the NECB and the associated general climatic and environmental conditions have been made at the Mer Bleue (MB) peatland, a large, 28 km2, 5 m deep, raised ombro-oligotrophic, shrub and Sphagnum covered bog, near Ottawa, Canada from May 1, 1998 until the present. The sixteen-year daily CO2, CH4, and DOC flux and NECB covers a wide range of variability in peatland water storage from very dry to very wet growing seasons. We used the MB data to test the extent of MB peatland’s stability and the strength of the underlying key feedback between the NECB and changes in water storage projected by the models. In 2007 we published a six-year (1999-2004) net ecosystem carbon balance (NECB) for MB of ∼22 ± 40 g C m-2 yr-1, but we have since recalculated the 1998-2004 NECB to be 32 ± 40 g C m-2 yr-1 based on a reanalyzed average NEP of 51 ± 41 g C m-2 yr-1. Over the same period the net loss of C via the CH4 and DOC fluxes were -4 ± 1 and -15 ± 3 g C m-2 yr-1. The 1998-2004 six-year MB average NECB is similar to the long-term C accumulation rate, estimated from MB peat cores, for the last 3,000 years. The post 2004 MB NEP has increased to an average of ∼96 ± 32 g C m-2 yr-1 largely to there being generally wetter growing seasons. The losses of C via DOC (18 ± 1 g C m-2 yr-1) and CH4 (7 ± 4 g C m-2 yr-1) while showing considerable year-to-year variability are not significantly different post 2004. Hence, the proportional loss of C as DOC and CH4 in the MB NECB is slightly less post-2004 than it was before 2004 though the cumulative errors preclude statistically differences. As a result the MB NECB has increased to 79 ± 29 g C m-2 yr-1 post 2004 yielding a 14 year contemporary NECB of 56 ± 36 g C m-2 yr-1, which is double the long-term accumulation rate of C. The variability in the annual NECB and growing season mean NEP for the MB bog can be explained (r2 = 0.35, p \u3c 0.01) by the variability in growing season water table depth. These results suggest the carbon balance – water table feedback is sufficient enough to create stability in continental bogs so they will withstand a considerable amount of climate change
HD101584: Circumstellar characteristics and evolutionary status
We have performed a study of the characteristics of the circumstellar
environment of the binary object HD101584, that provides information on a
likely evolutionary scenario. We have obtained and analysed ALMA observations,
complemented with observations using APEX, of a large number of molecular
lines. An analysis of the spectral energy distribution has also been performed.
Emissions from 12 molecular species (not counting isotopologues) have been
observed, and most of them mapped with angular resolutions in the range 0.1" to
0.6". Four circumstellar components are identified: i) a central compact source
of size 0.15", ii) an expanding equatorial density enhancement (a flattened
density distribution in the plane of the orbit) of size 3", iii) a bipolar
high-velocity outflow (150 km/s), and iv) an hourglass structure. The outflow
is directed almost along the line of sight. There is evidence of a second
bipolar outflow. The mass of the circumstellar gas is 0.5[D/1 kpc]^2 Msun,
about half of it lies in the equatorial density enhancement. The dust mass is
0.01[D/1 kpc]^2 Msun, and a substantial fraction of this is in the form of
large-sized, up to 1 mm, grains. The estimated kinetic age of the outflow is
770[D/1 kpc] yr. The kinetic energy and the scalar momentum of the accelerated
gas are estimated to be 7x10^(45)[D/1 kpc]^2 erg and 10^(39)[D/1 kpc]^2 g cm/s,
respectively. We provide good evidence that the binary system HD101584 is in a
post-common-envelope-evolution phase, that ended before a stellar merger.
Isotope ratios combined with stellar mass estimates suggest that the primary
star's evolution was terminated already on the first red giant branch (RGB).
Most of the energy required to drive the outflowing gas was probably released
when material fell towards the companion.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
On all possible static spherically symmetric EYM solitons and black holes
We prove local existence and uniqueness of static spherically symmetric
solutions of the Einstein-Yang-Mills equations for any action of the rotation
group (or SU(2)) by automorphisms of a principal bundle over space-time whose
structure group is a compact semisimple Lie group G. These actions are
characterized by a vector in the Cartan subalgebra of g and are called regular
if the vector lies in the interior of a Weyl chamber. In the irregular cases
(the majority for larger gauge groups) the boundary value problem that results
for possible asymptotically flat soliton or black hole solutions is more
complicated than in the previously discussed regular cases. In particular,
there is no longer a gauge choice possible in general so that the Yang-Mills
potential can be given by just real-valued functions. We prove the local
existence of regular solutions near the singularities of the system at the
center, the black hole horizon, and at infinity, establish the parameters that
characterize these local solutions, and discuss the set of possible actions and
the numerical methods necessary to search for global solutions. That some
special global solutions exist is easily derived from the fact that su(2) is a
subalgebra of any compact semisimple Lie algebra. But the set of less trivial
global solutions remains to be explored.Comment: 26 pages, 2 figures, LaTeX, misprints corrected, 1 reference adde
Biofilm and the role of the ica operon and aap in Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates causing neurosurgical meningitis.
Fifty-five Staphylococcus epidermidis isolates, classified as contaminants or causing device-related meningitis, from external ventricular drain (EVD) and non-EVD cerebrospinal fluid specimens were characterized. Thirty-three of 42 (78.6%) meningitis isolates were PCR-positive for ica and aap, known determinants of polysaccharide- and protein-mediated biofilm production, whereas five of 13 (38.5%) contaminants were ica- and aap-negative; 71.4% of meningitis isolates and 84.6% of contaminants produced biofilm. ica+aap+ meningitis isolates produced more biofilm than ica+aap- isolates (p 0.0020). ica+aap- isolates did not produce more biofilm than ica-aap+ isolates (p 0.4368). Apparently, ica and aap are associated with biofilm production in S. epidermidis device-related meningitis isolates
Thirteen new BL Lacertae objects discovered by an efficient x ray/radio/optical technique
The discovery of 13 serendipitous BL Lac objects in the Einstein IPC Slew Survey by means of x ray/radio vs. x ray/optical color-color diagrams and confirmation by optical spectroscopy are reported. These 13 BL Lacs were discovered using a technique which exploits the characteristic broad band spectra of BL Lacs. New VLA detections provide accurate fluxes (f(6 cm) is approximately 0.5 mJy) and 2 in. positions, facilitating the determination of an optical counterpart. All 13 new BL Lacs show essentially featureless optical spectra. Nine of these lie within the range of colors of known x ray selected BL Lacs. Of the remaining four, one is apparently x ray louder (by a factor of 1.5) or optically quieter (by 0.8 mags); and three are optically louder (by 1-1.3 mags) than x ray selected BL Lacs. Approximately 50 new BL Lacs in total are expected from VLA work and upcoming Australia Telescope observations, yielding a complete Slew Survey sample of approximately 90 BL Lacs
Strong Lefschetz elements of the coinvariant rings of finite Coxeter groups
For the coinvariant rings of finite Coxeter groups of types other than H,
we show that a homogeneous element of degree one is a strong Lefschetz element
if and only if it is not fixed by any reflections. We also give the necessary
and sufficient condition for strong Lefschetz elements in the invariant
subrings of the coinvariant rings of Weyl groups.Comment: 18 page
Volume Fractions of the Kinematic "Near-Critical" Sets of the Quantum Ensemble Control Landscape
An estimate is derived for the volume fraction of a subset in the neighborhood
of the critical set
of the kinematic quantum ensemble control landscape J(U) = Tr(U\rho U' O),
where represents the unitary time evolution operator, {\rho} is the initial
density matrix of the ensemble, and O is an observable operator. This estimate
is based on the Hilbert-Schmidt geometry for the unitary group and a
first-order approximation of . An upper bound on these
near-critical volumes is conjectured and supported by numerical simulation,
leading to an asymptotic analysis as the dimension of the quantum system
rises in which the volume fractions of these "near-critical" sets decrease to
zero as increases. This result helps explain the apparent lack of influence
exerted by the many saddles of over the gradient flow.Comment: 27 pages, 1 figur
Near-Infrared Photometric Survey of Proto-Planetary Nebula Candidates
We present JHK' photometric measurements of 78 objects mostly consisting of
proto-planetary nebula candidates. Photometric magnitudes are determined by
means of imaging and aperture photometry. Unlike the observations with a
photometer with a fixed-sized beam, the method of imaging photometry permits
accurate derivation of photometric values because the target sources can be
correctly identified and confusion with neighboring sources can be easily
avoided. Of the 78 sources observed, we report 10 cases in which the source
seems to have been misidentified or confused by nearby bright sources. We also
present nearly two dozen cases in which the source seems to have indicated a
variability which prompts a follow-up monitoring. There are also a few sources
that show previously unreported extendedness. In addition, we present H band
finding charts of the target sources.Comment: 3 tables, 1 figur
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