4,198 research outputs found
Century scale persistence in longitude distribution: in the Sun and in silico
Using Greenwich sunspot data for 120 years it was recently observed that
activity regions on the Sun's surface tend to lie along smoothly changing
longitude strips 180 degrees apart from each other. However, numerical
experiments with random input data show that most, if not all, of the observed
longitude discrimination can be looked upon as an artifact of the analysis
method.Comment: 4 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Effective models of two-flavor QCD: from small towards large
We study effective models of chiral fields and Polyakov loop expected to
describe the dynamics responsible for the phase structure of two-flavor QCD. We
consider chiral sector described either using linear sigma model or
Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and study how these models, on the mean-field level
when coupled with the Polyakov loop, behave as a function of increasing bare
quark (or pion) mass. We find qualitatively similar behaviors for the cases of
linear sigma model and Nambu-Jona-Lasinio model and, relating to existing
lattice data, show that one cannot conclusively decide which or the two
approximate symmetries drives the phase transitions near the physical point
Periodic variations in the colours of the classical T Tauri star RW Aur A
The classical T Tauri star RW Aur A is an irregular variable with a large
amplitude in all photometric bands. In an extended series of photometric data
we found small-amplitude periodic variations in the blue colours of the star,
with a period of 2.64 days. The period was relatively stable over several
years. The amplitude of the periodic signal is 0.21 mag in U-V, 0.07 mag in
B-V, and about 0.02 mag in V-R and V-I. No periodicity was found in the V
magnitude. The relevance of this photometric period to the recently discovered
periodicity in spectral features of the star is discussed, and the hypothesis
of a hot spot is critically considered.Comment: 5 pages, 8 figures, uses new aa.cls, accepted for publication in
Astronomy and Astrophysic
Kinematic frames and "active longitudes": does the Sun have a face?
It has recently been claimed that analysis of Greenwich sunspot data over 120
years reveals that sunspot activity clusters around two longitudes separated by
180 degrees (``active longitudes'') with clearly defined differential rotation
during activity cycles.In the present work we extend this critical examination
of methodology to the actual Greenwich sunspot data and also consider newly
proposed methods of analysis claiming to confirm the original identification of
active longitudes. Our analysis revealed that values obtained for the
parameters of differential rotation are not stable across different methods of
analysis proposed to track persistent active longitudes. Also, despite a very
thorough search in parameter space, we were unable to reproduce results
claiming to reveal the century-persistent active longitudes. We can therefore
say that strong and well substantiated evidence for an essential and
century-scale persistent nonaxisymmetry in the sunspot distribution does not
exist.Comment: 14 pages, 1 table, 21 figures, accepted in A&
Doppler images of II Pegasi for 2004-2010
Aims. We study the spot activity of II Peg during the years 2004-2010 to
determine long- and short-term changes in the magnetic activity. In a previous
study, we detected a persistent active longitude, as well as major changes in
the spot configuration occurring on a timescale of shorter than a year. The
main objective of this study is to determine whether the same phenomena persist
in the star during these six years of spectroscopic monitoring.
Methods. The observations were collected with the high-resolution SOFIN
spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope. The temperature maps were
calculated using a Doppler imaging code based on Tikhonov regularization.
Results. We present 12 new temperature maps that show spots distributed
mainly over high and intermediate latitudes. In each image, 1-3 main active
regions can be identified. The activity level of the star is clearly lower than
during our previous study for the years 1994-2002. In contrast to the previous
observations, we detect no clear drift of the active regions with respect to
the rotation of the star.
Conclusions. Having shown a systematic longitudinal drift of the
spot-generating mechanism during 1994-2002, the star has clearly switched to a
low-activity state for 2004-2010, during which the spot locations appear more
random over phase space. It could be that the star is near to a minimum of its
activity cycle.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astron. and Astrophys., 8 pages, 5
figure
- …