7,653 research outputs found
Theoretical methods for the calculation of Bragg curves and 3D distributions of proton beams
The well-known Bragg-Kleeman rule RCSDA = A dot E0p has become a pioneer work
in radiation physics of charged particles and is still a useful tool to
estimate the range RCSDA of approximately monoenergetic protons with initial
energy E0 in a homogeneous medium. The rule is based on the
continuous-slowing-down-approximation (CSDA). It results from a generalized
(nonrelativistic) Langevin equation and a modification of the phenomenological
friction term. The complete integration of this equation provides information
about the residual energy E(z) and dE(z)/dz at each position z (0 <= z <=
RCSDA). A relativistic extension of the generalized Langevin equation yields
the formula RCSDA = A dot (E0 +E02/2M dot c2)p. The initial energy of
therapeutic protons satisfies E0 << 2M dot c2 (M dot c2 = 938.276 MeV), which
enables us to consider the relativistic contributions as correction terms.
Besides this phenomenological starting-point, a complete integration of the
Bethe-Bloch equation (BBE) is developed, which also provides the determination
of RCSDA, E(z) and dE(z)/dz and uses only those parameters given by the BBE
itself (i.e., without further empirical parameters like modification of
friction). The results obtained in the context of the aforementioned methods
are compared with Monte-Carlo calculations (GEANT4); this Monte-Carlo code is
also used with regard to further topics such as lateral scatter, nuclear
interactions, and buildup effects. In the framework of the CSDA, the energy
transfer from protons to environmental atomic electrons does not account for
local fluctuations.Comment: 97 pages review pape
Discovery of superstrong, fading, iron line emission and double-peaked Balmer lines of the galaxy SDSSJ0952+2143 - the light echo of a huge flare
We report the discovery of superstrong, fading, high-ionization iron line
emission in the galaxy SDSSJ095209.56+214313.3 (SDSSJ0952+2143 hereafter),
which must have been caused by an X-ray outburst of large amplitude.
SDSSJ0952+2143 is unique in its strong multiwavelength variability; such a
broadband emission-line and continuum response has not been observed before.
The strong iron line emission is accompanied by unusual Balmer line emission
with a broad base, narrow core and double-peaked narrow horns, and strong HeII
emission. These lines, while strong in the SDSS spectrum taken in 2005, have
faded away significantly in new spectra taken in December 2007. Comparison of
SDSS, 2MASS, GALEX and follow-up GROND photometry reveals variability in the
NUV, optical and NIR band. Taken together, these unusual observations can be
explained by a giant outburst in the EUV--X-ray band, detected even in the
optical and NIR. The intense and variable iron, Helium and Balmer lines
represent the ``light echo'' of the flare, as it traveled through circumnuclear
material. The outburst may have been caused by the tidal disruption of a star
by a supermassive black hole. Spectroscopic surveys such as SDSS are well
suited to detect emission-line light echoes of such rare flare events.
Reverberation-mapping of these light echoes can then be used as a new and
efficient probe of the physical conditions in the circumnuclear material in
non-active or active galaxies.Comment: ApJ Letters, 678, L13 (May 1 issue); incl. 4 colour figures. This and
related papers on tidal disruption flares also available at
http://www.xray.mpe.mpg.de/~skomossa
Spectroscopic Observations of Optically Selected Clusters of Galaxies from the Palomar Distant Cluster Survey
We have conducted a redshift survey of sixteen cluster candidates from the
Palomar Distant Cluster Survey (PDCS) to determine both the density of PDCS
clusters and the accuracy of the estimated redshifts presented in the PDCS
catalog (Postman et. al. 1996). We find that the matched-filter redshift
estimate presented in the PDCS has an error sigma_z = 0.06 in the redshift
range 0.1 < z < 0.35 based on eight cluster candidates with three or more
concordant galaxy redshifts.
We measure the low redshift (0.1 < z < 0.35) space density of PDCS clusters
to be 31.3^{+30.5}_{-17.1} * E-06 h^3 Mpc^-3 (68% confidence limits for a
Poisson distribution) for Richness Class 1 systems. We find a tentative space
density of 10.4^{+23.4}_{-8.4}* E-06 h^3 Mpc^-3 for Richness Class 2 clusters.
These densities compare favorably with those found for the whole of the PDCS
and support the finding that the space density of clusters in the PDCS is a
factor of ~5 above that of clusters in the Abell catalog (Abell 1958; Abell,
Corwin, and Olowin 1989). These new space density measurements were derived as
independently as possible from the original PDCS analysis and therefore,
demonstrate the robustness of the original work. Based on our survey, we
conclude that the PDCS matched-filter algorithm is successful in detecting real
clusters and in estimating their true redshifts in the redshift range we
surveyed.Comment: 23 pages with 4 figures and 3 seperate tables. To be published in the
November Issue of the Astronomical Journa
UV/Optical Detections of Candidate Tidal Disruption Events by GALEX and CFHTLS
We present two luminous UV/optical flares from the nuclei of apparently
inactive early-type galaxies at z=0.37 and 0.33 that have the radiative
properties of a flare from the tidal disruption of a star. In this paper we
report the second candidate tidal disruption event discovery in the UV by the
GALEX Deep Imaging Survey, and present simultaneous optical light curves from
the CFHTLS Deep Imaging Survey for both UV flares. The first few months of the
UV/optical light curves are well fitted with the canonical t^(-5/3) power-law
decay predicted for emission from the fallback of debris from a tidally
disrupted star. Chandra ACIS X-ray observations during the flares detect soft
X-ray sources with T_bb= (2-5) x 10^5 K or Gamma > 3 and place limits on hard
X-ray emission from an underlying AGN down to L_X (2-10 keV) <~ 10^41 ergs/s.
Blackbody fits to the UV/optical spectral energy distributions of the flares
indicate peak flare luminosities of > 10^44-10^45 ergs/s. The temperature,
luminosity, and light curves of both flares are in excellent agreement with
emission from a tidally disrupted main sequence star onto a central black hole
of several times 10^7 msun. The observed detection rate of our search over ~
2.9 deg^2 of GALEX Deep Imaging Survey data spanning from 2003 to 2007 is
consistent with tidal disruption rates calculated from dynamical models, and we
use these models to make predictions for the detection rates of the next
generation of optical synoptic surveys.Comment: 28 pages, 27 figures, 11 tables, accepted to ApJ, final corrections
from proofs adde
Rendering an Account: An Open-State Archive in Postgraduate Supervision
The paper begins with a brief account of the transformation of research degree studies under the pressures of global capitalism and neo-liberal governmentality. A parallel transformation is occurring in the conduct of research through the use of information and communication technologies. Yet the potential of ICTs to shape practices of surveillance or to produce new student-supervisor relations and enhance the processes of developing the dissertation has received almost no critical attention. As doctoral supervisor and student, we then describe the features and uses of a web-based open state archive of the student's work-in-progress, developed by the student and accessible to his supervisor. Our intention was to encourage more open conversations between data and theorising, student and supervisor, and ultimately between the student and professional community. However, we recognise that relations of accountability, as these have developed within a contemporary "audit revolution" (Power, 1994, 1997) in universities, create particular "lines of visibility" (Munro, 1996). Thus while the open-state archive may help to redefine in less managerial terms notions of quality, transparency, flexibility and accountability, it might also make possible greater supervisory surveillance. How should we think about the panoptical potential of this archive? We argue that the diverse kinds of interactional patterns and pedagogical intervention it encourages help to create shifting subjectivities. Moreover, the archive itself is multiple, in bringing together an array of diverse materials that can be read in various ways, by following multiple paths. It therefore constitutes a collage, which we identify as a mode of cognition and of accounting distinct from but related to argument and narrative. As a more "open" text (Iser, 1978) it has an indeterminacy which may render it less open to abuse for the technologies of managerial accountability
A New Way to Detect Massive Black Holes in Galaxies: The Stellar Remnants of Tidal Disruption
We point out that the tidal disruption of a giant may leave a luminous
(10^35-10^39 ergs/s), hot (10-100 eV) stellar core. The ``supersoft'' source
detected by Chandra at the center of M31 may be such a core; whether or not it
is, the observations have shown that such a core is detectable, even in the
center of a galaxy. We therefore explore the range of expected observational
signatures and how they may be used to (1) test the hypothesis that the M31
source is a remnant of tidal stripping and (2) discover evidence of black holes
and disruption events in other galaxies.Comment: Four pages with 1 figure. Appeared in ApJL (2001, 551, L37
Quasielastic 12C(e,e'p) Reaction at High Momentum Transfer
We measured the 12C(e,e'p) cross section as a function of missing energy in
parallel kinematics for (q,w) = (970 MeV/c, 330 MeV) and (990 MeV/c, 475 MeV).
At w=475 MeV, at the maximum of the quasielastic peak, there is a large
continuum (E_m > 50 MeV) cross section extending out to the deepest missing
energy measured, amounting to almost 50% of the measured cross section. The
ratio of data to DWIA calculation is 0.4 for both the p- and s-shells. At w=330
MeV, well below the maximum of the quasielastic peak, the continuum cross
section is much smaller and the ratio of data to DWIA calculation is 0.85 for
the p-shell and 1.0 for the s-shell. We infer that one or more mechanisms that
increase with transform some of the single-nucleon-knockout into
multinucleon knockout, decreasing the valence knockout cross section and
increasing the continuum cross section.Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures, Revtex (multicol, prc and aps styles), to appear
in Phys Rev
Tidal Disruption of a Star By a Black Hole : Observational Signature
We have modeled the time-variable profiles of the Halpha emission line from
the non-axisymmetric disk and debris tail created in the tidal disruption of a
solar-type star by a million solar mass black hole. Two tidal disruption event
simulations were carried out using a three dimensional relativistic
smooth-particle hydrodynamic code, to describe the early evolution of the
debris during the first fifty to ninety days. We have calculated the physical
conditions and radiative processes in the debris using the photoionization code
CLOUDY. We model the emission line profiles in the period immediately after the
accretion rate onto the black hole became significant. We find that the line
profiles at these very early stages of the evolution of the post-disruption
debris do not resemble the double peaked profiles expected from a rotating disk
since the debris has not yet settled into such a stable structure. As a result
of the uneven distribution of the debris and the existence of a ``tidal tail''
(the stream of returning debris), the line profiles depend sensitively on the
orientation of the tail relative to the line of sight. Moreover, the predicted
line profiles vary on fairly short time scales (of order hours to days). Given
the accretion rate onto the black hole we also model the Halpha light curve
from the debris and the evolution of the Halpha line profiles in time.Comment: 20 pages, 9 figures, to appear in ApJ, 1 August 2004 issue; mpeg
simulations of tidal disruption available at
http://www.astro.psu.edu/users/tamarab/tdmovies.htm
Sixfold improved single particle measurement of the magnetic moment of the antiproton
Our current understanding of the Universe comes, among others, from particle physics and cosmology. In particle physics an almost perfect symmetry between matter and antimatter exists. On cosmological scales, however, a striking matter/antimatter imbalance is observed. This contradiction inspires comparisons of the fundamental properties of particles and antiparticles with high precision. Here we report on a measurement of the g-factor of the antiproton with a fractional precision of 0.8 parts per million at 95% confidence level. Our value /2=2.7928465(23) outperforms the previous best measurement by a factor of 6. The result is consistent with our proton g-factor measurement gp/2=2.792847350(9), and therefore agrees with the fundamental charge, parity, time (CPT) invariance of the Standard Model of particle physics. Additionally, our result improves coefficients of the standard model extension which discusses the sensitivity of experiments with respect to CPT violation by up to a factor of 20.EU/ERC/290870-MEFUCOMax-Planck SocietyHelmholtz-GemeinschaftRIKEN Initiative Research Unit ProgramRIKEN President FundingRIKEN Pioneering Project FundingRIKEN FPR FundingRIKEN JRA ProgramMEXT/24000008Max-Planck SocietyEU/ERC Advanced Grant/290870-MEFUCOHelmholtz-GemeinschaftCERN-fellowship program
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