Relativistic Winds from Compact Gamma-Ray Sources: II. Pair Loading and Radiative Acceleration in Gamma-ray Bursts

We consider the effects of rapid pair creation by an intense pulse of gamma-rays propagating ahead of a relativistic shock. Side-scattered photons colliding with the main gamma-ray beam amplify the density of scattering charges. The acceleration rate of the pair-loaded medium is calculated, and its limiting bulk Lorentz factor related to the spectrum and compactness of the photon source. One obtains, as a result, a definite prediction for the relative inertia in baryons and pairs. The deceleration of a relativistic shock in the moving medium, and the resulting synchrotron emissivity, are compared with existing calculations for a static medium. The radiative efficiency is increased dramatically by pair loading. When the initial ambient density exceeds a critical value, the scattering depth traversed by the main gamma-ray pulse rises above unity, and the pulse is broadened. These considerations place significant constraints on burst progenitors: a pre-burst mass loss rate exceeding 10^{-5} M_\odot per year is difficult to reconcile with individual pulses narrower than 10 s, unless the radiative efficiency is low. An anisotropic gamma-ray flux (on an angular scale \Gamma^{-1} or larger) drives a large velocity shear that greatly increases the energy in the seed magnetic field forward of the propagating shock.Comment: 19 pp., LaTeX (aaspp4.sty), revised 12/23/99, Ap. J. in press; summary section added and several minor improvements in presentatio

Cnemidophorus hyperythrus

Number of Pages: 6Integrative BiologyGeological Science

Self-gravitating astrophysical mass with singular central density vibrating in fundamental mode

The fluid-dynamical model of a self-gravitating mass of viscous liquid with singular density at the center vibrating in fundamental mode is considered in juxtaposition with that for Kelvin fundamental mode in a homogeneous heavy mass of incompressible inviscid liquid. Particular attention is given to the difference between spectral formulae for the frequency and lifetime of $f$-mode in the singular and homogeneous models. The newly obtained results are discussed in the context of theoretical asteroseismology of pre-white dwarf stage of red giants and stellar cocoons -- spherical gas-dust clouds with dense star-forming core at the center.Comment: Mod. Phys. Lett. A, Vol. 24, No. 40 (2009) pp. 3257-327

Dynamical Electron Mass in a Strong Magnetic Field

Motivated by recent interest in understanding properties of strongly magnetized matter, we study the dynamical electron mass generated through approximate chiral symmetry breaking in QED in a strong magnetic field. We reliably calculate the dynamical electron mass by numerically solving the nonperturbative Schwinger-Dyson equations in a consistent truncation within the lowest Landau level approximation. It is shown that the generation of dynamical electron mass in a strong magnetic field is significantly enhanced by the perturbative electron mass that explicitly breaks chiral symmetry in the absence of a magnetic field.Comment: 5 pages, 1 figure, published versio

An Update on the 0Z Project

We give an update on our 0Z Survey to find more extremely metal poor (EMP) stars with [Fe/H] < -3 dex through mining the database of the Hamburg/ESO Survey. We present the most extreme such stars we have found from ~1550 moderate resolution follow up spectra. One of these, HE1424-0241, has highly anomalous abundance ratios not seen in any previously known halo giant, with very deficient Si, moderately deficient Ca and Ti, highly enhanced Mn and Co, and low C, all with respect to Fe. We suggest a SNII where the nucleosynthetic yield for explosive alpha-burning nuclei was very low compared to that for the hydrostatic alpha-burning element Mg, which is normal in this star relative to Fe. A second, less extreme, outlier star with high [Sc/Fe] has also been found. We examine the extremely metal-poor tail of the HES metallicity distribution function (MDF). We suggest on the basis of comparison of our high resolution detailed abundance analyses with [Fe/H](HES) for stars in our sample that the MDF inferred from follow up spectra of the HES sample of candidate EMP stars is heavily contaminated for [Fe/H](HES) < -3 dex; many of the supposed EMP stars below that metallicity are of substantially higher Fe-metallicity, including most of the very C-rich stars, or are spurious objects.Comment: to appear in conference proceedings "First Stars III", ed. B. O'Shea, A. Heger & T.Abel, 4 pages, 2 figure

The effect of hydrogen on the deformation behavior of a single crystal nickel-base superalloy

The effect of hydrogen on the tensile deformation behavior of PWA 1480 is presented. Tensile tests were interrupted at different plastic strain levels to observe the development of the dislocation structure. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) foils were cut perpendicular to the tensile axis to allow the deformation of both phases to be simultaneously observed as well as parallel to zone axes (III) to show the superdislocations on their slip planes. Similar to other nickel-base superalloys, hydrogen was detrimental to the room temperature tensile properties of PWA 1480. There was little effect on strength, however the material was severely embrittled. Even without hydrogen, the elongation-to-failure was only approximately 3 percent. The tensile fracture surface was made up primarily of ductile voids with regions of cleavage fracture. These cleavage facets are the eutectic (gamma') in the microstructure. It was shown by quantitative fractography that hydrogen embrittles the eutectic (gamma') and causes the crack path to seek out and fracture through the eutectic (gamma'). There was two to three times the amount of cleavage on the fracture surface of the hydrogen-charged samples than on the surface of the uncharged samples. The effect of hydrogen can also be seen in the dislocation structure. There is a marked tendency for dislocation trapping in the gamma matrix with and without hydrogen at all plastic strain levels. Without hydrogen there is a high dislocation density in the gamma matrix leading to strain exhaustion in this region and failure through the matrix. The dislocation structure at failure with hydrogen is slightly different. The TEM foils cut parallel to zone axes (III) showed dislocations wrapping around gamma precipitates. Zone axes (001) foils show that there is a lower dislocation density in the gamma matrix which can be linked to the effects of hydrogen on the fracture behavior. The primary activity in the gamma precipitates is in the form of superlattice intrinsic stacking faults (SISFs). These faults have also been reported in other ordered alloys and superalloys

Electromagnetically Induced Transparency and Light Storage in an Atomic Mott Insulator

We experimentally demonstrate electromagnetically induced transparency and light storage with ultracold 87Rb atoms in a Mott insulating state in a three dimensional optical lattice. We have observed light storage times of about 240 ms, to our knowledge the longest ever achieved in ultracold atomic samples. Using the differential light shift caused by a spatially inhomogeneous far detuned light field we imprint a "phase gradient" across the atomic sample, resulting in controlled angular redirection of the retrieved light pulse.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

A Detailed Study of Giants and Horizontal Branch Stars in M68: Atmospheric Parameters and Chemical Abundances

In this paper, we present a detailed high-resolution spectroscopic study of post main sequence stars in the Globular Cluster M68. Our sample, which covers a range of 4000 K in $T_{eff}$, and 3.5 dex in $log(g)$, is comprised of members from the red giant, red horizontal, and blue horizontal branch, making this the first high-resolution globular cluster study covering such a large evolutionary and parameter space. Initially, atmospheric parameters were determined using photometric as well as spectroscopic methods, both of which resulted in unphysical and unexpected $T_{eff}$, $log(g)$, $\xi_{t}$, and [Fe/H] combinations. We therefore developed a hybrid approach that addresses most of these problems, and yields atmospheric parameters that agree well with other measurements in the literature. Furthermore, our derived stellar metallicities are consistent across all evolutionary stages, with $\langle$[Fe/H]$\rangle$ = $-$2.42 ($\sigma$ = 0.14) from 25 stars. Chemical abundances obtained using our methodology also agree with previous studies and bear all the hallmarks of globular clusters, such as a Na-O anti-correlation, constant Ca abundances, and mild $r$-process enrichment.Comment: Accepted to the Astronomical Journa

Reaction cross-section predictions for nucleon induced reactions

A microscopic calculation of the optical potential for nucleon-nucleus scattering has been performed by explicitly coupling the elastic channel to all the particle-hole (p-h) excitation states in the target and to all relevant pickup channels. These p-h states may be regarded as doorway states through which the flux flows to more complicated configurations, and to long-lived compound nucleus resonances. We calculated the reaction cross sections for the nucleon induced reactions on the targets $^{40,48}$Ca, $^{58}$Ni, $^{90}$Zr and $^{144}$Sm using the QRPA description of target excitations, coupling to all inelastic open channels, and coupling to all transfer channels corresponding to the formation of a deuteron. The results of such calculations were compared to predictions of a well-established optical potential and with experimental data, reaching very good agreement. The inclusion of couplings to pickup channels were an important contribution to the absorption. For the first time, calculations of excitations account for all of the observed reaction cross-sections, at least for incident energies above 10 MeV.Comment: 6 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to INPC 2010 Conference Proceeding