52,996 research outputs found
The CTIO Prime Focus CCD: System Characteristics from 1982-1988
The CTIO Prime Focus CCD instrument with an RCA CCD was in operation at the
CTIO 4-m telescope for six years between 1982-1988. A large body of literature
has been published based on CCD images taken with this instrument. We review
the general properties of the now-retired PFCCD system to aid astronomers in
the interpretation of the photometric data in the literature.Comment: Accepted for publication in the PASP. 15 pages, AASTeX V4.0 latex
format (including figures), 4 ps figures, 4 separate AASTeX V4.0 latex table
Circular Dichroism of RbHe and RbN Molecules
We present measurements of the circular dichroism of optically pumped Rb
vapor near the D1 resonance line. Collisions with the buffer gases He and
N reduce the transparency of the vapor, even when fully polarized. We use
two methods to measure this effect, show that the He results can be understood
from RbHe potential curves, and show how this effect conspires with the
spectral profile of the optical pumping light to increase the laser power
demands for optical pumping of very optically thick samples
Effect of Coriaria arborea on seed banks during primary succession on Mt Tarawera, New Zealand
An experiment was conducted over two years to investigate the effect of Coriaria arborea, a native nitrogen-fixing shrub, on soil seed banks at sites representing a post-volcanic successional sequence on Mt Tarawera, New Zealand. The sites ranged from bare volcanic ash and lapilli substrate, through low-growing pre-Coriaria vegetation, to dense stands of Coriaria scrub. Soils (to a depth of 50 mm) under recently established Coriaria and older stands had more seedlings (1096 and 1585 seedlings 0.4 m-2, respectively) and species (37 and 45 species 0.4 m-2, respectively) emerge than where there was no Coriaria (243-320 seedlings 0.4 m-2, 14-25 species 0.4 m-2) and were the only soils with Coriaria seedlings. In total, 3488 seedlings representing 63 taxa were recorded. Seeds were still germinating after 24 months but rates declined markedly in the second year. For example, Coriaria reached a germination peak at 8 weeks but continued to germinate sporadically over the 2-year period. Tree species present in young forest within 0.5 km of the sites were absent. Establishment of Coriaria greatly accelerated an underlying trend of gradually increasing abundance and diversity of seeds in the soil with vegetation age. Adventive, wind-dispersed, and annual species were over-represented in the seed banks compared with the regional evergreen forest-dominated flora. These proportions are expected to decline as succession to forest gradually occurs
Extracting Electric Polarizabilities from Lattice QCD
Charged and neutral, pion and kaon electric polarizabilities are extracted
from lattice QCD using an ensemble of anisotropic gauge configurations with
dynamical clover fermions. We utilize classical background fields to access the
polarizabilities from two-point correlation functions. Uniform background
fields are achieved by quantizing the electric field strength with the proper
treatment of boundary flux. These external fields, however, are implemented
only in the valence quark sector. A novel method to extract charge particle
polarizabilities is successfully demonstrated for the first time.Comment: 17 pages, 6 figures, a few clarifications added, published versio
Anomaluos RR Lyrae (V-I)_0 colors in Baade's Window
We compare (V-I)_0-(V-K)_0 color-color and (V-I)_0-log P period-color
diagrams for Baade's Window and local RRab Lyrae stars. We find that for a
fixed log P the Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars are ~0.17 magnitudes redder in
(V-I)_0 than the local RR Lyrae stars. We also show that there is no such
effect observed in (V-K)_0. We argue that an extinction misestimate towards
Baade's Window is not a plausible explanation of the discrepancy. Unlike
Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars, the local ones follow a black-body color-color
relation and are well approximated by theoretical models. We test two
parameters, metallicity and surface gravity, and find that their effects are
too small to explain the (V-I)_0 discrepancy between the two groups of stars.
We do not provide any explanation for the anomalous (V-I)_0 behavior of the
Baade's Window RR Lyrae stars. We note that a similar effect for clump giant
stars has been recently reported by Paczynski and we caution that RR Lyrae
stars and clump giants, often used as standard candles, can be subject to the
same type of systematics.Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, submitted to Ap
The relative abundance of neon and magnesium in the solar corona
A technique is proposed for specifically determining the relative solar coronal abundance of neon and magnesium. The relative abundance is calculated directly from the relative intensity of the resonance lines of Ne X (12.134A) and Mg XI (9.169A) without the need for the development of a detailed model of the thermal structure of the corona. Moderate resolution Bragg crystal spectrometer results from the OVI-10 satellite were used to determine a coronal neon to magnesium relative abundance of 1.47 + or - 0.38. The application of this technique to a recent higher resolution rocket observation gave an abundance ratio of approximately 0.93 + or - 0.15
Hydrocarbons identified in extracts from estuarine water accommodated no. 2 fuel oil by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry
Results are presented on a computerized gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer analysis of methylene chloride and n-heptane extracts of a No. 2 fuel oil accommodated estuarine water sample. The analytical method is briefly described, and the limitations on the identifications are categorized. Some attempt was made to determine major and trace constituents in the water accommodate. Altogether 66 hydrocarbon compounds were identified specifically, and 75 compounds were partially identified. Seven compounds could be recognized as major constituents of the water accommodated oil and ten were present only as traces. The aromatic compounds found were alkyl benzenes, naphthalene, tetralin, indane, biphenyl, fluorene, anthracene, and some of their alkyl substituted isomers in the range of carbon numbers C7 to C15. Four n-alkanes, C10 to C13, were found along with four other assorted hydrocarbons
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