5,997 research outputs found
Chemical composition and mixing in giant HII regions: NGC3603, 30Doradus, and N66
We investigate the chemical abundances of NGC3603 in the Milky Way, of
30Doradus in the Large Magellanic Cloud, and of N66 in the Small Magellanic
Cloud. Mid-infrared observations with the Infrared Spectrograph onboard the
Spitzer Space Telescope allow us to probe the properties of distinct physical
regions within each object: the central ionizing cluster, the surrounding
ionized gas, photodissociation regions, and buried stellar clusters. We detect
[SIII], [SIV], [ArIII], [NeII], [NeIII], [FeII], and [FeIII] lines and derive
the ionic abundances. Based on the ionic abundance ratio (NeIII/H)/(SIII/H), we
find that the gas observed in the MIR is characterized by a higher degree of
ionization than the gas observed in the optical spectra. We compute the
elemental abundances of Ne, S, Ar, and Fe. We find that the alpha-elements Ne,
S, and Ar scale with each other. Our determinations agree well with the
abundances derived from the optical. The Ne/S ratio is higher than the solar
value in the three giant HII regions and points toward a moderate depletion of
sulfur on dust grains. We find that the neon and sulfur abundances display a
remarkably small dispersion (0.11dex in 15 positions in 30Doradus), suggesting
a relatively homogeneous ISM, even though small-scale mixing cannot be ruled
out.Comment: Accepted for submission to ApJ. The present version replaces the
submitted one. Changes: new title, new figure, the text was modified in the
discussio
Characterizing the Rigidly Rotating Magnetosphere Stars HD 345439 and HD 23478
The SDSS III APOGEE survey recently identified two new Ori E type
candidates, HD 345439 and HD 23478, which are a rare subset of rapidly rotating
massive stars whose large (kGauss) magnetic fields confine circumstellar
material around these systems. Our analysis of multi-epoch photometric
observations of HD 345439 from the KELT, SuperWASP, and ASAS surveys reveals
the presence of a 0.7701 day period in each dataset, suggesting the
system is amongst the faster known Ori E analogs. We also see clear
evidence that the strength of H-alpha, H I Brackett series lines, and He I
lines also vary on a 0.7701 day period from our analysis of multi-epoch,
multi-wavelength spectroscopic monitoring of the system from the APO 3.5m
telescope. We trace the evolution of select emission line profiles in the
system, and observe coherent line profile variability in both optical and
infrared H I lines, as expected for rigidly rotating magnetosphere stars. We
also analyze the evolution of the H I Br-11 line strength and line profile in
multi-epoch observations of HD 23478 from the SDSS-III APOGEE instrument. The
observed periodic behavior is consistent with that recently reported by Sikora
and collaborators in optical spectra.Comment: Accepted in ApJ
XMM-Newton observation of SNR J0533-7202 in the Large Magellanic Cloud
Aims. We present an X-ray study of the supernova remnant SNR J0533-7202 in
the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) and determine its physical characteristics
based on its X-ray emission. Methods. We observed SNR J0533-7202 with
XMM-Newton (flare-filtered exposure times of 18 ks EPIC-pn and 31 ks
EPIC-MOS1/MOS2). We produced X-ray images of the SNR, performed an X-ray
spectral analysis, and compared the results to multi-wavelength studies.
Results. The distribution of X-ray emission is highly non-uniform, with the
south-west region brighter than the north-east. The X-ray emission is
correlated with the radio emission from the remnant. We determine that this
morphology is likely due to the SNR expanding into a non-uniform ambient medium
and not an absorption effect. We estimate the size to be 53.9 (\pm 3.4) x 43.6
(\pm 3.4) pc, with the major axis rotated ~64 degrees east of north. We find no
spectral signatures of ejecta and infer that the X-ray plasma is dominated by
swept-up interstellar medium. Using the spectral fit results and the Sedov
self-similar solution, we estimate an age of ~17-27 kyr, with an initial
explosion energy of (0.09-0.83) x 10^51 erg. We detected an X-ray source
located near the centre of the remnant, namely XMMU J053348.2-720233. The
source type could not be conclusively determined due to the lack of a
multi-wavelength counterpart and low X-ray counts. We find that it is likely
either a background active galactic nucleus or a low-mass X-ray binary in the
LMC. Conclusions. We detected bright thermal X-ray emission from SNR J0533-7202
and determined that the remnant is in the Sedov phase of its evolution. The
lack of ejecta emission prohibits us from typing the remnant with the X-ray
data. Therefore, the likely Type Ia classification based on the local stellar
population and star formation history reported in the literature cannot be
improved upon.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and
Astrophysic
Spitzer/IRS Imaging and Spectroscopy of the luminous infrared galaxy NGC 6052 (Mrk 297)
We present photometric and spectroscopic data of the interacting starburst
galaxy NGC 6052 obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope. The mid-infrared
(MIR) spectra of the three brightest spatially resolved regions in the galaxy
are remarkably similar and are consistent with dust emission from young nearly
coeval stellar populations. Analysis of the brightest infrared region of the
system, which contributes ~18.5 % of the total 16\micron flux, indicates that
unlike similar off-nuclear infrared-bright regions found in Arp 299 or NGC
4038/9, its MIR spectrum is inconsistent with an enshrouded hot dust (T > 300K)
component. Instead, the three brightest MIR regions all display dust continua
of temperatures less than ~ 200K. These low dust temperatures indicate the dust
is likely in the form of a patchy screen of relatively cold material situated
along the line of sight. We also find that emission from polycyclic aromatic
hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the forbidden atomic lines is very similar for each
region. We conclude that the ionization regions are self-similar and come from
young (about 6 Myr) stellar populations. A fourth region, for which we have no
MIR spectra, exhibits MIR emission similar to tidal tail features in other
interacting galaxies.Comment: 20 pages in preprint form, estimated 7 pages in ApJ Aeptember 10,
2007, v666n 2 issue, six encapsulated postscript figure
Spectroastrometry of rotating gas disks for the detection of supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. I. Method and simulations
This is the first in a series of papers in which we study the application of
spectroastrometry in the context of gas kinematical studies aimed at measuring
the mass of supermassive black holes. The spectroastrometrical method consists
in measuring the photocenter of light emission in different wavelength or
velocity channels. In particular we explore the potential of spectroastrometry
of gas emission lines in galaxy nuclei to constrain the kinematics of rotating
gas disks and to measure the mass of putative supermassive black holes. By
means of detailed simulations and test cases, we show that the fundamental
advantage of spectroastrometry is that it can provide information on the
gravitational potential of a galaxy on scales significantly smaller (~ 1/10)
than the limit imposed by the spatial resolution of the observations. We then
describe a simple method to infer detailed kinematical informations from
spectroastrometry in longslit spectra and to measure the mass of nuclear mass
concentrations. Such method can be applied straightforwardly to integral field
spectra, which do not have the complexities due to a partial spatial covering
of the source in the case of longslit spectra.Comment: Accepted for publication in A&
Periodic Orbits in Polygonal Billiards
We review some properties of periodic orbit families in polygonal billiards
and discuss in particular a sum rule that they obey. In addition, we provide
algorithms to determine periodic orbit families and present numerical results
that shed new light on the proliferation law and its variation with the genus
of the invariant surface. Finally, we deal with correlations in the length
spectrum and find that long orbits display Poisson fluctuations.Comment: 30 pages (Latex) including 11 figure
NASA Light Emitting Diode Medical Applications from Deep Space to Deep Sea
This work is supported and managed through the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center-SBIR Program. LED-technology developed for NASA plant growth experiments in space shows promise for delivering light deep into tissues of the body to promote wound healing and human tissue growth. We present the results of LED-treatment of cells grown in culture and the effects of LEDs on patients’ chronic and acute wounds. LED-technology is also biologically optimal for photodynamic therapy of cancer and we discuss our successes using LEDs in conjunction with light-activated chemotherapeutic drugs
Time-Series Photometry of M67: W UMa Systems, Blue Stragglers, and Related Systems
We present an analysis of over 2200 V images taken on 14 nights at the Mt.
Laguna 1 m telescope of the open cluster M67. Our observations overlap but
extend beyond the field analyzed by Gilliland et al. (1991), and complement
data recently published by van den Berg et al. (2002) and Stassun et al.
(2002). We show variability in the light curves of all 4 of the known W UMa
variables on timescales ranging from a day to decades (for AH Cnc). We have
modeled the light curve of AH Cnc, and the total eclipses allow us to determine
q = 0.16 +0.03/-0.02 and i = 86 +4/-8 degrees. The position of this system near
the turnoff of M67 makes it useful for constraining the turnoff mass for the
cluster. We have also detected two unusual features in the light curve of AH
Cnc that may be caused by prominences. We have also monitored cluster blue
stragglers for variability, and we present evidence hinting at low level
variations in the stragglers S752, S968, and S1263, and we place limits on the
variability of a number of other cluster blue stragglers. Finally, we provide
photometry of the sub-subgiant branch star S1063 showing variability on
timescales similar to the orbital period, while the ``red straggler'' S1040
shows evidence of an unexplained drop in brightness at phases corresponding to
the passage of the white dwarf in front of the giant.Comment: 44 pages, 16 figures, AASTeX, accepted for A
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