5,669 research outputs found
Polyhedral vesicles
Polyhedral vesicles with a large bending modulus of the membrane such as the
gel phase lipid membrane were studied using a Brownian dynamics simulation. The
vesicles exhibit various polyhedral morphologies such as tetrahedron and cube
shapes. We clarified two types of line defects on the edges of the polyhedrons:
cracks of both monolayers at the spontaneous curvature of monolayer , and a crack of the inner monolayer at . Around the
latter defect, the inner monolayer curves positively. Our results suggested
that the polyhedral morphology is controlled by .Comment: 4 pages, 5 figure
The Nuclear Activity of the Galaxies in the Hickson Compact Groups
In order to investigate the nuclear activity of galaxies residing in compact
groups of galaxies, we present results of our optical spectroscopic program
made at Okayama Astrophysical Observatory. We have performed optical
spectroscopy of 69 galaxies which belong to 31 Hickson Compact Groups (HCGs) of
Galaxies. Among them, three galaxies have discordant redshifts. Further,
spectral quality is too poor to classify other three galaxies. Therefore, we
describe our results for the remaining 63 galaxies.
Our main results are summarized below. (1) We have found in our sample; 28
AGN, 16 HII nuclei, and 19 normal galaxies which show no emission line. We used
this HCG sample for statistical analyses. (2) Comparing the frequency
distributions of activity types between the HCGs and the field galaxies whose
data are taken from Ho, Filippenko, & Sargent (382 field galaxies), we find
that the frequency of HII nuclei in the HCGs is significantly less than that in
the field. However, this difference may be due to selection bias that our HCG
sample contains more early-type galaxies than the field, because it is known
that HII nuclei are rarer in early-type galaxies than in later ones. (3)
Applying correction this morphological bias to the HCG sample, we find that
there is no statistically significant difference in the frequency of occurrence
of emission-line galaxies between the HCGs and the field. This implies that the
dense galaxy environment in the HCGs does not affect triggering both the AGN
activity and the nuclear starburst. We discuss some implications on the nuclear
activity in the HCG galaxies.Comment: 33 pages (3 aasms4 LaTeX files), 5 figures (5 Postscript files:
excluded Figure 1), Accepted for publication in The Astronomical Journa
Perdeuterated cyanobiphenyl liquid crystals for infrared applications
Perdeuterated 4'-pentyl-4-cyanobiphenyl (D5CB) was synthesized and its physical properties evaluated and compared to those of 5CB. D5CB retains physical properties similar to those of 5CB, such as phase transition temperatures, dielectric constants, and refractive indices. An outstanding feature of D5CB is that it exhibits a much cleaner and reduced infrared absorption. Perdeuteration, therefore, extends the usable range of liquid crystals to the mid infrared by significantly reducing the absorption in the near infrared, which is essential for telecom applications
Starburst in the Intragroup Medium of Stephan's Quintet
Based on new ISO mid-infrared observations and ground based and
near-infrared observations, we report the detection of a bright starburst in
the intragroup medium (IGM) of the famous compact group of galaxies Stephan's
Quintet (Source A in Fig.1). We demonstrate that this starburst is caused by a
collision between a high velocity (V 1000 km/sec) intruder galaxy
(NGC7318b) and the IGM of the group. While this is the only starburst known
today that is induced by a galaxy/cold-intergalactic-medium collision, it
provides new constraints to the theory for interaction-induced starbursts, and
may hint at a new mechanism for the star formation excess seen in more distant
clusters.Comment: 17 pages, 2 PS figures. Accepted by Ap
K band Spectroscopy of Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies: The 2 Jy Sample
We present near-infrared spectroscopy for a complete sample of 33
ultraluminous infrared galaxies at a resolution of R\approx 1000. Most of the
wavelength range from 1.80-2.20 microns in the rest frame is covered, including
the Pa-alpha and Br-gamma hydrogen recombination lines, and the molecular
hydrogen vibration-rotation 1-0 S(1) and S(3) lines. Other species, such as He
I, [Fe II], and [Si VI] appear in the spectra as well, in addition to a number
of weaker molecular hydrogen lines. Nuclear extractions for each of the
individual galaxies are presented here, along with spectra of secondary nuclei,
where available. The Pa-alpha emission is seen to be highly concentrated on the
nuclei, typically with very little emision extending beyond a radius of 1 kpc.
Signatures of active nuclei are rare in the present sample, occurring in only
two of the 33 galaxies. It is found that visual extinctions to the nuclei via
the Pa-alpha/Br-gamma line ratio in excess of 10 magnitudes are relatively
common among ULIRGs, and that visual extinctions greater than 25 mag are
necessary to conceal a QSO emitting half the total bolometric luminosity. The
vibration-rotation lines of molecular hydrogen appear to be predominantly
thermal in origin, with effective temperatures generally around 2200 K. The
relative nuclear velocities between double nucleus ULIRGs are investigated,
through which it is inferred that the maximum deprojected velocity difference
is about 200 km/s. This figure is lower than the velocities predicted by
physical models of strong interactions/mergers of large, gas-rich galaxies.Comment: 52 pages (19 with just figures), 9 figures, accepted for publication
in the Astronomical Journal; Table 3 not formatted properly on astro-ph: get
source and print Murphy.tab3.p
Evidence for a companion to BM Gem, a silicate carbon star
Balmer and Paschen continuum emission as well as Balmer series lines of P
Cygni-type profile from H_gamma through H_23 are revealed in the violet spectra
of BM Gem, a carbon star associated with an oxygen-rich circumstellar shell
(`silicate carbon star') observed with the high dispersion spectrograph (HDS)
on the Subaru telescope. The blue-shifted absorption in the Balmer lines
indicates the presence of an outflow, the line of sight velocity of which is at
least 400 km s^-1, which is the highest outflow velocity observed to date in a
carbon star. We argue that the observed unusual features in BM Gem are strong
evidence for the presence of a companion, which should form an accretion disk
that gives rise to both an ionized gas region and a high velocity, variable
outflow. The estimated luminosity of ~0.2 (0.03-0.6) L_sun for the ionized gas
can be maintained by a mass accretion rate to a dwarf companion of ~10^-8 M_sun
yr^-1, while ~10^-10 M_sun yr^-1 is sufficient for accretion to a white dwarf
companion. These accretion rates are feasible for some detached binary
configurations on the basis of the Bond-Hoyle type accretion process. We
concluded that the carbon star BM Gem is in a detached binary system with a
companion of low mass and low luminosity. However, we are unable to determine
whether this companion object is a dwarf or a white dwarf. The upper limits for
binary separation are 210 AU and 930 AU for a dwarf and a white dwarf,
respectively. We also note that the observed features of BM Gem mimic those of
Mira (omi Cet), which may suggest actual similarities in their binary
configurations and circumstellar structures.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in Ap
Beryllium in the Ultra-Lithium-Deficient,Metal-Poor Halo Dwarf, G186-26
The vast majority of low-metal halo dwarfs show a similar amount of Li; this
has been attributed to the Li that was produced in the Big Bang. However, there
are nine known halo stars with T 5900 K and [Fe/H] 1.0 that are
ultra-Li-deficient. We have looked for Be in the very low metallicity star, G
186-26 at [Fe/H] = 2.71, which is one of the ultra-Li-deficient stars. This
star is also ultra-Be deficient. Relative to Be in the Li-normal stars at
[Fe/H] = 2.7, G 182-26 is down in Be by more than 0.8 dex. Of two potential
causes for the Li-deficiency -- mass-transfer in a pre-blue straggler or extra
rotationally-induced mixing in a star that was initially a very rapid rotator
-- the absence of Be favors the blue-straggler hypothesis, but the rotation
model cannot be ruled-out completely.Comment: Accepted for Ap.J. Letters 10 pages, 4 figure
Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor Stars. III. Main-Sequence Turn-Off Stars from the SDSS/SEGUE Sample
The chemical compositions of seven Carbon-Enhanced Metal-Poor (CEMP) turn-off
stars are determined from high-resolution spectroscopy. Five of them are
selected from the SDSS/SEGUE sample of metal-poor stars. The effective
temperatures of these objects are all higher than 6000 K, while their
metallicities, parametrized by [Fe/H], are all below -2. Six of our program
objects exhibit high abundance ratios of barium ([Ba/H]> +1), suggesting large
contributions of the products of former AGB companions via mass transfer across
binary systems. Combining our results with previous studies provides a total of
20 CEMP main-sequence turn-off stars for which the abundances of carbon and at
least some neutron-capture elements are determined. Inspection of the [C/H]
ratios for this sample of CEMP turn-off stars show that they are generally
higher than those of CEMP giants; their dispersion in this ratio is also
smaller. We take these results to indicate that the carbon-enhanced material
provided from the companion AGB star is preserved at the surface of turn-off
stars with no significant dilution. In contrast, a large dispersion in the
observed [Ba/H] is found for the sample of CEMP turn-off stars, suggesting that
the efficiency of the s-process in very metal-poor AGB stars may differ greatly
from star to star. Four of the six stars from the SDSS/SEGUE sample exhibit
kinematics that are associated with membership in the outer-halo population, a
remarkably high fraction.Comment: 45 pages, 10 figures, 10 tables, Astrophysical Journal, in pres
Anisotropic Susceptibility of La_2-xSr_xCoO_4 related to the Spin States of Cobalt
We present a study of the magnetic susceptibility of La_2-xSr_xCoO_4 single
crystals in a doping range 0.3<=x<=0.8. Our data shows a pronounced magnetic
anisotropy for all compounds. This anisotropy is in agreement with a low-spin
ground state (S=0) of Co^3+ for x>=0.4 and a high-spin ground state (S=3/2) of
Co^2+. We compare our data with a crystal-field model calculation assuming
local moments and find a good description of the magnetic behavior for x>=0.5.
This includes the pronounced kinks observed in the inverse magnetic
susceptibility, which result from the anisotropy and low-energy excited states
of Co^2+ and are not related to magnetic ordering or temperature-dependent
spin-state transitions
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