36,709 research outputs found
Coupled radio and X-ray emission and evidence for discrete ejecta in the jets of SS 433
We present five epochs of simultaneous radio (VLA) and X-ray (Chandra)
observations of SS 433, to study the relation between the radio and X-ray
emission in the arcsecond-scale jets of the source. We detected X-ray emission
from the extended jets in only one of the five epochs of observation,
indicating that the X-ray reheating mechanism is transient. The reheating does
not correlate with the total flux in the core or in the extended radio jets.
However, the radio emission in the X-ray reheating regions is enhanced when
X-ray emission is present. Deep images of the jets in linear polarization show
that outside of the core, the magnetic field in the jets is aligned parallel to
the local velocity vector, strengthening the case for the jets to be composed
of discrete bullets rather than being continuous flux tubes. We also observed
anomalous regions of polarized emission well away from the kinematic trace,
confirming the large-scale anisotropy of the magnetic field in the ambient
medium surrounding the jets.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. 11 pages (emulateapj), 9 figures, 3
table
Observation of the Charge Symmetry Breaking d + d -> 4He + pi0 Reaction Near Threshold
We report the first observation of the charge symmetry breaking d + d -> 4He
+ pi0 reaction near threshold at the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility.
Kinematic reconstruction permitted the separation of 4He + pi0 events from
double radiative capture 4He + gamma + gamma events. We measured total cross
sections for neutron pion production of 12.7 +- 2.2 pb at 228.5 MeV and 15.1 +-
3.1 pb at 231.8 MeV. The uncertainty is dominated by statistical errors.Comment: 7 pages, 2 figures, plain Te
Revealing the Nature of Algol Disks through Optical and UV Spectroscopy, Synthetic Spectra, and Tomography of TT Hydrae
We have developed a systematic procedure to study the disks in Algol-type
binaries using spectroscopic analysis, synthetic spectra, and tomography. We
analyzed 119 H-alpha spectra of TT Hya, an Algol-type eclipsing interacting
binary, collected from 1985-2001. The new radial velocities enabled us to
derive reliable orbital elements, including a small non-zero eccentricity, and
to improve the accuracy of the absolute dimensions of the system. High
resolution IUE spectra were also analyzed to study the formation of the
ultraviolet lines and continuum. Synthetic spectra of the iron curtain using
our new shellspec program enabled us to derive a characteristic disk
temperature of 7000K. We have demonstrated that the UV emission lines seen
during total primary eclipse cannot originate from the accretion disk, but most
likely arise from a hotter disk-stream interaction region.
The synthetic spectra of the stars, disk, and stream allowed us to derive a
lower limit to the mass transfer rate of 2e-10 solar masses per year. Doppler
tomography of the observed H-alpha profiles revealed a distinct accretion disk.
The difference spectra produced by subtracting the synthetic spectra of the
stars resulted in an image of the disk, which virtually disappeared once the
composite synthetic spectra of the stars and disk were used to calculate the
difference spectra. An intensity enhancement of the resulting tomogram revealed
images of the gas stream and an emission arc. We successfully modeled the gas
stream using shellspec and associated the emission arc with an asymmetry in the
accretion disk.Comment: 46 pages, 15 figures, 6 tables, accepted by Ap
INTEGRAL/RossiXTE high-energy observation of a state transition of GX 339-4
On 2004 August 15, we observed a fast (shorter than 10 hours) state
transition in the bright black-hole transient GX 339-4 simultaneously with
RossiXTE and INTEGRAL. This transition was evident both in timing and spectral
properties. Combining the data from PCA, HEXTE and IBIS, we obtained good
quality broad-band (3-200 keV) energy spectra before and after the transition.
These spectra indicate that the hard component steepened. Also, the high-energy
cutoff that was present at ~70 keV before the transition was not detected after
the transition. This is the first time that an accurate determination of the
broad-band spectrum across such a transition has been measured on a short time
scale. It shows that, although some spectral parameters do not change abruptly
through the transition, the high-energy cutoff increases/disappears rather
fast. These results constitute a benchmark on which to test theoretical models
for the production of the hard component in these systems.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS (9 pages, 6 figures
Quantum Glass Transition in a Periodic Long-Range Josephson Array
We show that the ground state of the periodic long range Josephson array
frustrated by magnetic field is a glass for a sufficiently large Josephson
energies despite the absence of a quenched disorder. Like superconductors, this
glass state has non-zero phase stiffness and Meissner response; for smaller
Josephson energies the glass "melts" and the ground state loses the phase
stiffness and becomes insulating. We find the critical scaling behavior near
this quantum phase transition: the excitation gap vanishes as (J-J_c)^2, the
frequency-dependent magnetic susceptibility behaves as \chi(\omega) ~
\sqrt{\omega}\ln{\omega}.Comment: 9 pages, Latex, 3 figures in separated eps-file
The Nucleon-Mass Difference in Chiral Perturbation Theory and Nuclear Forces
A new method is developed for treating the effect of the neutron-proton mass
difference in isospin-violating nuclear forces. Previous treatments utilized an
awkward subtraction scheme to generate these forces. A field redefinition is
used to remove that mass difference from the Lagrangian (and hence from
asymptotic nucleon states) and replace its effect by effective interactions.
Previous calculations of static Class II charge-independence-breaking and Class
III charge-symmetry-breaking potentials are verified using the new scheme,
which is also used to calculate Class IV nuclear forces. Two-body forces of the
latter type are found to be identical to previously obtained results. A novel
three-body force is also found. Problems involving Galilean invariance with
Class IV one-pion-exchange forces are identified and resolved.Comment: 20 pages, 2 figures, latex - submitted to Physical Review
A strongly changing accretion morphology during the outburst decay of the neutron star X-ray binary 4U 1608−52
It is commonly assumed that the properties and geometry of the accretion flow in transient low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs) significantly change when the X-ray luminosity decays below ∼10⁻² of the Eddington limit (L_(Edd)). However, there are few observational cases where the evolution of the accretion flow is tracked in a single X-ray binary over a wide dynamic range. In this work, we use NuSTAR and NICER observations obtained during the 2018 accretion outburst of the neutron star LMXB 4U 1608−52, to study changes in the reflection spectrum. We find that the broad Fe–Kα line and Compton hump, clearly seen during the peak of the outburst when the X-ray luminosity is ∼10³⁷ erg s⁻¹ (∼0.05 L_(Edd)), disappear during the decay of the outburst when the source luminosity drops to ∼4.5 × 10³⁵ erg s⁻¹ (∼0.002 L_(Edd)). We show that this non-detection of the reflection features cannot be explained by the lower signal-to-noise ratio at lower flux, but is instead caused by physical changes in the accretion flow. Simulating synthetic NuSTAR observations on a grid of inner disc radius, disc ionization, and reflection fraction, we find that the disappearance of the reflection features can be explained by either increased disc ionization (log ξ ≳ 4.1) or a much decreased reflection fraction. A changing disc truncation alone, however, cannot account for the lack of reprocessed Fe–Kα emission. The required increase in ionization parameter could occur if the inner accretion flow evaporates from a thin disc into a geometrically thicker flow, such as the commonly assumed formation of a radiatively inefficient accretion flow at lower mass accretion rates
The Far-Infrared/Radio Correlation in Nearby Abell Clusters
A comprehensive study of the effect of the cluster environment on the far-
infrared (FIR)/radio correlation in nearby Abell clusters is presented. Using
the cluster radio galaxy database from Miller & Owen (2001) and optical
spectroscopy and high resolution radio images to remove AGN, we assess the
FIR/radio correlation of cluster galaxies from the centers of the clusters out
well past the classical Abell radius. The FIR/radio correlation is shown to
hold quite well for star forming galaxies, and the FIR and radio fluxes for
cluster AGN are also well correlated. In the case of AGN, the relative radio-
to-FIR fluxes are greater and the scatter in the correlation is larger than
those seen for star forming galaxies. We also find that there is a rare but
statistically significant excess of star forming galaxies with enhanced radio
emission in the centers of the clusters, and that the degree of this
enhancement is typically a factor of two or three. The FIR/radio correlation
for cluster star forming galaxies is also tested against line-of-sight velocity
relative to the cluster systemic velocities, but no significant correlation is
found. While the radial dependence of the FIR/radio correlation is consistent
with the model wherein ram pressure increases the cluster galaxies' magnetic
field strengths through compression, the velocity data do not confirm this
model. Although a contribution from ram pressure can not be ruled out, the
thermal pressure due to the ICM alone is an equally viable alternative. The
high resolution radio images largely reject the hypothesis that the increased
radio emission arises from an AGN component, strengthening the claim that the
change in the correlation is caused by a change in the environment of the
galaxies.Comment: 26 pages, including 5 figures (uses AASTeX 5.0). Accepted for
publication in the Astronomical Journa
A new class of semiclassical wave function uniformizations
We present a new semiclassical technique which relies on replacing
complicated classical manifold structure with simpler manifolds, which are then
evaluated by the usual semiclassical rules. Under circumstances where the
original manifold structure gives poor or useless results semiclassically the
replacement manifolds can yield remarkable accuracy. We give several working
examples to illustrate the theory presented here.Comment: 12 pages (incl. 12 figures
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