WISE morphological study of Wolf-Rayet nebulae

We present a morphological study of nebulae around Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars using archival narrow-band optical and Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) infrared images. The comparison among WISE images in different bands and optical images proves to be a very efficient procedure to identify the nebular emission from WR nebulae, and to disentangle it from that of the ISM material along the line of sight. In particular, WR nebulae are clearly detected in the WISE W4 band at 22 $\mu$m. Analysis of available mid-IR Spitzer spectra shows that the emission in this band is dominated by thermal emission from dust spatially coincident with the thin nebular shell or most likely with the leading edge of the nebula. The WR nebulae in our sample present different morphologies that we classified into well defined WR bubbles (bubble ${\cal B}$-type nebulae), clumpy and/or disrupted shells (clumpy/disrupted ${\cal C}$-type nebulae), and material mixed with the diffuse medium (mixed ${\cal M}$-type nebulae). The variety of morphologies presented by WR nebulae shows a loose correlation with the central star spectral type, implying that the nebular and stellar evolutions are not simple and may proceed according to different sequences and time-lapses. We report the discovery of an obscured shell around WR35 only detected in the infrared.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures, plus 23 appendix figures; to appear in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Group Approach to the Quantization of the P\"oschl-Teller dynamics

The quantum dynamics of a particle in the Modified P\"oschl-Teller potential is derived from the group $SL(2,R)$ by applying a Group Approach to Quantization (GAQ). The explicit form of the Hamiltonian as well as the ladder operators is found in the enveloping algebra of this basic symmetry group. The present algorithm provides a physical realization of the non-unitary, finite-dimensional, irreducible representations of the $SL(2,R)$ group. The non-unitarity manifests itself in that only half of the states are normalizable, in contrast with the representations of SU(2) where all the states are physical.Comment: 17 pages, LaTe

Finite-Difference Equations in Relativistic Quantum Mechanics

Relativistic Quantum Mechanics suffers from structural problems which are traced back to the lack of a position operator $\hat{x}$, satisfying $[\hat{x},\hat{p}]=i\hbar\hat{1}$ with the ordinary momentum operator $\hat{p}$, in the basic symmetry group -- the Poincar\'e group. In this paper we provide a finite-dimensional extension of the Poincar\'e group containing only one more (in 1+1D) generator $\hat{\pi}$, satisfying the commutation relation $[\hat{k},\hat{\pi}]=i\hbar\hat{1}$ with the ordinary boost generator $\hat{k}$. The unitary irreducible representations are calculated and the carrier space proves to be the set of Shapiro's wave functions. The generalized equations of motion constitute a simple example of exactly solvable finite-difference set of equations associated with infinite-order polarization equations.Comment: 10 LaTeX pages, final version, enlarged (2 more pages

Modular Invariance on the Torus and Abelian Chern-Simons Theory

The implementation of modular invariance on the torus as a phase space at the quantum level is discussed in a group-theoretical framework. Unlike the classical case, at the quantum level some restrictions on the parameters of the theory should be imposed to ensure modular invariance. Two cases must be considered, depending on the cohomology class of the symplectic form on the torus. If it is of integer cohomology class $n$, then full modular invariance is achieved at the quantum level only for those wave functions on the torus which are periodic if $n$ is even, or antiperiodic if $n$ is odd. If the symplectic form is of rational cohomology class $\frac{n}{r}$, a similar result holds --the wave functions must be either periodic or antiperiodic on a torus $r$ times larger in both direccions, depending on the parity of $nr$. Application of these results to the Abelian Chern-Simons is discussed.Comment: 24 pages, latex, no figures; title changed; last version published in JM

A Perturbative Approach to the Relativistic Harmonic Oscillator

A quantum realization of the Relativistic Harmonic Oscillator is realized in terms of the spatial variable $x$ and {\d\over \d x} (the minimal canonical representation). The eigenstates of the Hamiltonian operator are found (at lower order) by using a perturbation expansion in the constant $c^{-1}$. Unlike the Foldy-Wouthuysen transformed version of the relativistic hydrogen atom, conventional perturbation theory cannot be applied and a perturbation of the scalar product itself is required.Comment: 9 pages, latex, no figure

Group-quantization of non-linear sigma models: particle on S^2 revisited

We present the quantum mechanics of "partial-trace" non-linear sigma models, on the grounds of a fully symmetry-based procedure. After the general scheme is sketched, the particular example of a particle on the two-sphere is explicitly developed. As a remarkable feature, no explicit constraint treatment is required nor ordering ambiguities do appear. Moreover, the energy spectrum is recovered without extra terms in the curvature of the sphere.Comment: 8 page