3,688 research outputs found
The Kinematics of Kepler's Supernova Remnant as revealed by Chandra
I determine the expansion of the supernova remnant of SN1604 (Kepler's
supernova) based on archival Chandra ACIS-S observations made in 2000 and 2006.
The measurements were done in several distinct energy bands, and were made for
the remnant as a whole, and for six individual sectors. The average expansion
parameter indicates that the remnant expands as , but there
are significant differences in different parts of the remnant: the bright
northwestern part expands as , whereas the rest of the
remnant's expansion shows an expansion . The latter is
consistent with an explosion in which the outer part of the ejecta has a
negative power law slope for density () of , or with
an exponential density profile(). The expansion
parameter in the southern region, in conjunction with the shock radius,
indicate a rather low value (<5E50 erg) for the explosion energy of SN1604 for
a distance of 4 kpc. An higher explosion energy is consistent with the results,
if the distance is larger.
The filament in the eastern part of the remnant, which is dominated by X-ray
synchrotron radiation seems to mark a region with a fast shock speed , corresponding to a shock velocity of v= 4200 km/s, for a distance to
SN1604 of 4 kpc. This is consistent with the idea that X-ray synchrotron
emission requires shock velocities in excess of ~2000 km/s.
The X-ray based expansion measurements reported are consistent with results
based on optical and radio measurements, but disagree with previous X-ray
measurements based on ROSAT and Einstein observations.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ. This new version is the accepted
version, which differs mainly in the discussion sectio
Revealing the obscured supernova remnant Kes 32 with Chandra
I report here on the analysis and interpretation of a Chandra observation of
the supernova remnant Kes 32. Kes 32 is rather weak in X-rays due to a large
interstellar absorption, which is found to be ~4E22 cm^-2, larger than
previously reported. Spectral analysis indicates that the ionization age of
this object is very young, with n_e t ~ 4E9 cm^-3s, and a temperature of kT_e ~
1 keV. The X-ray emission peaks at a smaller radius than in the radio. The low
ionization age suggests that Kes 32 is a young remnant. However, a young age is
in contradiction with the relatively large apparent size, which indicates an
age of several thousand years, instead of a few hundred years. This problem is
discussed in connection with Kes 32's unknown distance and its possible
association with the Norma galactic arm.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. 7 pages, 7
figure
Capillary Waves in a Colloid-Polymer Interface
The structure and the statistical fluctuations of interfaces between
coexisting phases in the Asakura-Oosawa (AO) model for a colloid--polymer
mixture are analyzed by extensive Monte Carlo simulations. We make use of a
recently developed grand canonical cluster move with an additional constraint
stabilizing the existence of two interfaces in the (rectangular) box that is
simulated. Choosing very large systems, of size LxLxD with L=60 and D=120,
measured in units of the colloid radius, the spectrum of capillary wave-type
interfacial excitations is analyzed in detail. The local position of the
interface is defined in terms of a (local) Gibbs surface concept. For small
wavevectors capillary wave theory is verified quantitatively, while for larger
wavevectors pronounced deviations show up. For wavevectors that correspond to
the typical distance between colloids in the colloid-rich phase, the
interfacial fluctuations exhibit the same structure as observed in the bulk
structure factor. When one analyzes the data in terms of the concept of a
wavevector-dependent interfacial tension, a monotonous decrease of this
quantity with increasing wavevector is found. Limitations of our analysis are
critically discussed.Comment: 12 pages, 15 figure
A cryogenic amplifier for fast real-time detection of single-electron tunneling
We employ a cryogenic High Electron Mobility Transistor (HEMT) amplifier to
increase the bandwidth of a charge detection setup with a quantum point contact
(QPC) charge sensor. The HEMT is operating at 1K and the circuit has a
bandwidth of 1 MHz. The noise contribution of the HEMT at high frequencies is
only a few times higher than that of the QPC shot noise. We use this setup to
monitor single-electron tunneling to and from an adjacent quantum dot and we
measure fluctuations in the dot occupation as short as 400 nanoseconds, 20
times faster than in previous work.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure
Investigating Galactic supernova remnant candidates with LOFAR
We investigate six supernova remnant (SNR) candidates --- G51.21+0.11,
G52.37-0.70, G53.07+0.49, G53.41+0.03, G53.84-0.75, and the possible shell
around G54.1-0.3 --- in the Galactic Plane using newly acquired LOw-Frequency
ARray (LOFAR) High-Band Antenna (HBA) observations, as well as archival
Westerbork Synthesis Radio Telescope (WSRT) and Very Large Array Galactic Plane
Survey (VGPS) mosaics. We find that G52.37-0.70, G53.84-0.75, and the possible
shell around pulsar wind nebula G54.1+0.3 are unlikely to be SNRs, while
G53.07+0.49 remains a candidate SNR. G51.21+0.11 has a spectral index of
, but lacks X-ray observations and as such requires further
investigation to confirm its nature. We confirm one candidate, G53.41+0.03, as
a new SNR because it has a shell-like morphology, a radio spectral index of
and it has the X-ray spectral characteristics of a
1000-8000 year old SNR. The X-ray analysis was performed using archival
XMM-Newton observations, which show that G53.41+0.03 has strong emission lines
and is best characterized by a non-equilibrium ionization model, consistent
with an SNR interpretation. Deep Arecibo radio telescope searches for a pulsar
associated with G53.41+0.03 resulted in no detection, but place stringent upper
limits on the flux density of such a source if it is beamed towards Earth.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Wall-Fluid and Liquid-Gas Interfaces of Model Colloid-Polymer Mixtures by Simulation and Theory
We perform a study of the interfacial properties of a model suspension of
hard sphere colloids with diameter and non-adsorbing ideal polymer
coils with diameter . For the mixture in contact with a planar hard
wall, we obtain from simulations the wall-fluid interfacial free energy,
, for size ratios and 1, using
thermodynamic integration, and study the (excess) adsorption of colloids,
, and of polymers, , at the hard wall. The interfacial
tension of the free liquid-gas interface, , is obtained following
three different routes in simulations: i) from studying the system size
dependence of the interfacial width according to the predictions of capillary
wave theory, ii) from the probability distribution of the colloid density at
coexistence in the grand canonical ensemble, and iii) for statepoints where the
colloidal liquid wets the wall completely, from Young's equation relating
to the difference of wall-liquid and wall-gas interfacial
tensions, . In addition, we calculate , and using density functional theory and a scaled particle
theory based on free volume theory. Good agreement is found between the
simulation results and those from density functional theory, while the results
from scaled particle theory quantitatively deviate but reproduce some essential
features. Simulation results for obtained from the three
different routes are all in good agreement. Density functional theory predicts
with good accuracy for high polymer reservoir packing fractions,
but yields deviations from the simulation results close to the critical point.Comment: 23 pages, 10 figures, REVTEX. Fig 5a changed. Final versio
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