31,281 research outputs found
SACY - a Search for Associations Containing Young stars
The scientific goal of the SACY (Search for Associations Containing
Young-stars) was to identify possible associations of stars younger than the
Pleiades Association among optical counterparts of the ROSAT X-ray bright
sources. High-resolution spectra for possible optical counterparts later than
G0 belonging to HIPPARCOS and/or TYCHO-2 catalogs were obtained in order to
assess both the youth and the spatial motion of each target. More than 1000
ROSAT sources were observed, covering a large area in the Southern Hemisphere.
The newly identified young stars present a patchy distribution in UVW and XYZ,
revealing the existence of huge nearby young associations. Here we present the
associations identified in this survey.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of Open Issues in
Local Formation and Early Stellar Evolution, Ouro Preto, Brazi
Spin-torque driven magnetic vortex self-oscillations in perpendicular magnetic fields
We have employed complete micromagnetic simulations to analyze dc current
driven self-oscillations of a vortex core in a spin-valve nanopillar in a
perpendicular field by including the coupled effect of the spin-torque and the
magnetostatic field computed self-consistently for the entire spin-valve. The
vortex in the thicker nanomagnet moves along a quasi-elliptical trajectory that
expands with applied current, resulting in blue-shifting of the frequency,
while the magnetization of the thinner nanomagnet is non-uniform due to the
bias current. The simulations explain the experimental magnetoresistance-field
hysteresis loop and yield good agreement with the measured frequency vs.
current behavior of this spin-torque vortex oscillator.Comment: 10 pages, 3 figures, to be appear on AP
High Spectral and Spatial Resolution Observations of the PDR Emission in the NGC2023 Reflection Nebula with SOFIA and APEX
We have mapped the NGC 2023 reflection nebula in [CII] and CO(11--10) with
the heterodyne receiver GREAT on SOFIA and obtained slightly smaller maps in
13CO(3--2), CO(3--2), CO(4--3), CO(6--5), and CO(7--6) with APEX in Chile. We
use these data to probe the morphology, kinematics, and physical conditions of
the C II region, which is ionized by FUV radiation from the B2 star HD37903.
The [CII] emission traces an ellipsoidal shell-like region at a position angle
of ~ -50 deg, and is surrounded by a hot molecular shell. In the southeast,
where the C II region expands into a dense, clumpy molecular cloud ridge, we
see narrow and strong line emission from high-J CO lines, which comes from a
thin, hot molecular shell surrounding the [CII] emission. The [CII] lines are
broader and show photo evaporating gas flowing into the C II region. Based on
the strength of the [13CII] F=2--1 line, the [CII] line appears to be somewhat
optically thick over most of the nebula with an optical depth of a few. We
model the physical conditions of the surrounding molecular cloud and the PDR
emission using both RADEX and simple PDR models. The temperature of the CO
emitting PDR shell is ~ 90 -- 120 K, with densities of 10^5 -- 10^6 cm^-3, as
deduced from RADEX modeling. Our PDR modeling indicates that the PDR layer
where [CII] emission dominates has somewhat lower densities, 10^4 to a few
times 10^5 cm^-3Comment: Accepted by A&
Radio detection of the young binary HD 160934
Precise determination of dynamical masses of pre-main-sequence (PMS) stars is
essential to calibrate stellar evolution models that are widely used to derive
theoretical masses of young low-mass objects. Binary stars in young, nearby
loose associations are particularly good candidates for this calibration since
all members share a common age. Interestingly, some of these young binaries
present a persistent and compact radio emission, which makes them excellent
targets for astrometric VLBI studies. We aim to monitor the orbital motion of
the binary system HD 160934, a member of the AB Doradus moving group. We
observed HD 160934 with the Very Large Array and the European VLBI Network at
8.4 and 5 GHz, respectively. The orbital information derived from these
observations was analyzed along with previously reported orbital measurements.
We show that the two components of the binary, HD 160934 A and HD 160934 c,
display compact radio emission at VLBI scales, providing precise information on
the relative orbit. Revised orbital elements were estimated. Future VLBI
monitoring of this pair should determine precise model-independent mass
estimates for the A and c components, which will serve as calibration tests for
PMS evolutionary models.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, accepted for publication in A&
Macroclumping as solution of the discrepancy between H{\alpha} and P v mass loss diagnostics for O-type stars
Recent studies of O-type stars demonstrated that discrepant mass-loss rates
are obtained when different diagnostic methods are employed - fitting the
unsaturated UV resonance lines (e.g. P v) gives drastically lower values than
obtained from the H{\alpha} emission. Wind clumping may be the main cause for
this discrepancy. In a previous paper, we have presented 3-D Monte-Carlo
calculations for the formation of scattering lines in a clumped stellar wind.
In the present paper we select five O-type supergiants (from O4 to O7) and test
whether the reported discrepancies can be resolved this way. In the first step,
the analyses start with simulating the observed spectra with Potsdam Wolf-Rayet
(PoWR) non-LTE model atmospheres. The mass-loss rates are adjusted to fit best
to the observed H{\alpha} emission lines. For the unsaturated UV resonance
lines (i.e. P v) we then apply our 3-D Monte-Carlo code, which can account for
wind clumps of any optical depths, a non-void inter-clump medium, and a
velocity dispersion inside the clumps. The ionization stratifications and
underlying photospheric spectra are adopted from the PoWR models. From fitting
the observed resonance line profiles, the properties of the wind clumps are
constrained. Our results show that with the mass-loss rates that fit H{\alpha}
(and other Balmer and He II lines), the UV resonance lines (especially the
unsaturated doublet of P v) can also be reproduced without problem when
macroclumping is taken into account. There is no need to artificially reduce
the mass-loss rates, nor to assume a sub-solar phosphorus abundance or an
extremely high clumping factor, contrary to what was claimed by other authors.
These consistent mass-loss rates are lower by a factor of 1.3 to 2.6, compared
to the mass-loss rate recipe from Vink et al. Macroclumping resolves the
previously reported discrepancy between H{\alpha} and P v mass-loss
diagnostics.Comment: 18 pages, 14 figures, 5 tables, accepted for publication in
Astrononomy & Astrophysic
Particle Dark Energy
We explore the physics of a gas of particles interacting with a condensate
that spontaneously breaks Lorentz invariance. The equation of state of this gas
varies from 1/3 to less than -1 and can lead to the observed cosmic
acceleration. The particles are always stable. In our particular class of
models these particles are fermions with a chiral coupling to the condensate.
They may behave as relativistic matter at early times, produce a brief period
where they dominate the expansion with w<0 today, and behave as matter at late
time. There are no small parameters in our models, which generically lead to
dark energy clustering and, depending on the choice of parameters, smoothing of
small scale power.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures; minor update with added refs; version appearing
in Phys. Rev.
- …