X-rays and Protostars in the Trifid Nebula

The Trifid Nebula is a young HII region recently rediscovered as a "pre-Orion" star forming region, containing protostars undergoing violent mass ejections visible in optical jets as seen in images from the Infrared Space Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. We report the first X-ray observations of the Trifid nebula using ROSAT and ASCA. The ROSAT image shows a dozen X-ray sources, with the brightest X-ray source being the O7 star, HD 164492, which provides most of the ionization in the nebula. We also identify 85 T Tauri star and young, massive star candidates from near-infrared colors using the JHKs color-color diagram from the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS). Ten X-ray sources have counterpart near-infrared sources. The 2MASS stars and X-ray sources suggest there are potentially numerous protostars in the young HII region of the Trifid. ASCA moderate resolution spectroscopy of the brightest source shows hard emission up to 10 keV with a clearly detected Fe K line. The best model fit is a two-temperature (T = 1.2x10^6 K and 39x10^6 K) thermal model with additional warm absorbing media. The hotter component has an unusually high temperature for either an O star or an HII region; a typical Galactic HII region could not be the primary source for such hot temperature plasma and the Fe XXV line emission. We suggest that the hotter component originates in either the interaction of the wind with another object (a companion star or a dense region of the nebula) or from flares from deeply embedded young stars.Comment: Accepted in ApJ (Oct, 20 issue, 2001

Spin-Vacancy-Induced Long-Range Order in a New Haldane-Gap Antiferromagnet

Magnetic susceptibility, high-field magnetization and inelastic neutron scattering experiments are used to study the magnetic properties of a new S=1 quasi-1-dimensional antiferromagnet PbNi2V2O8. Inter-chain interactions are shown to be almost, but not quite, strong enough to destroy the nonmagnetic singlet ground state and the energy gap in the magnetic excitation spectrum. Substituting nonmagnetic Mg$^{2+}$ (S=0) ions for Ni$^{2+}$ (S=1) induces a magnetically ordered state at low temperatures. To our knowledge this is the first observation of doping-induced long-range order in a Haldane-gap system.Comment: 5 pages including 4 figure

General technique of calculating drift velocity and diffusion coefficient in arbitrary periodic systems

We develop a practical method of computing the stationary drift velocity V and the diffusion coefficient D of a particle (or a few particles) in a periodic system with arbitrary transition rates. We solve this problem both in a physically relevant continuous-time approach as well as for models with discrete-time kinetics, which are often used in computer simulations. We show that both approaches yield the same value of the drift, but the difference between the diffusion coefficients obtained in each of them equals V*V/2. Generalization to spaces of arbitrary dimension and several applications of the method are also presented.Comment: 12 pages + 2 figures, RevTeX. Submitted to J. Phys. A: Math. Ge

muCool: A novel low-energy muon beam for future precision experiments

Experiments with muons ($\mu^{+}$) and muonium atoms ($\mu^{+}e^{-}$) offer several promising possibilities for testing fundamental symmetries. Examples of such experiments include search for muon electric dipole moment, measurement of muon $g-2$ and experiments with muonium from laser spectroscopy to gravity experiments. These experiments require high quality muon beams with small transverse size and high intensity at low energy. At the Paul Scherrer Institute, Switzerland, we are developing a novel device that reduces the phase space of a standard $\mu^{+}$ beam by a factor of $10^{10}$ with $10^{-3}$ efficiency. The phase space compression is achieved by stopping a standard $\mu^{+}$ beam in a cryogenic helium gas. The stopped $\mu^{+}$ are manipulated into a small spot with complex electric and magnetic fields in combination with gas density gradients. From here, the muons are extracted into the vacuum and into a field-free region. Various aspects of this compression scheme have been demonstrated. In this article the current status will be reported.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, TCP 2018 conference proceeding

ROSAT Blank Field Sources I: Sample Selection and Archival Data

We have identified a population of blank field sources (or `blanks') among the ROSAT bright unidentified X-ray sources with faint optical counterparts. The extreme X-ray over optical flux ratio of blanks is not compatible with the main classes of X-ray emitters except for extreme BL Lacertae objects. From the analysis of ROSAT archival data we found no indication of variability and evidence for only three sources, out of 16, needing absorption in excess of the Galactic value. We also found evidence for an extended nature for only one of the 5 blanks with a serendipitous HRI detection; this source (1WGAJ1226.9+3332) was confirmed as a z=0.89 cluster of galaxies. Palomar images reveal the presence of a red (O-E~2) counterpart in the X-ray error circle for 6 blanks. The identification process brought to the discovery of another high z cluster of galaxies, one (possibly extreme) BL Lac, two ultraluminous X-ray sources in nearby galaxies and two apparently normal type1 AGNs. These AGNs, together with 4 more AGN-like objects seem to form a well defined group: they present unabsorbed X-ray spectra but red Palomar counterparts. We discuss the possible explanations for the discrepancy between the X-ray and optical data, among which: a suppressed big blue bump emission, an extreme dust to gas (~40-60 the Galactic ratio), a high redshift (z>3.5) QSO nature, an atypical dust grain size distribution and a dusty warm absorber. These AGN-like blanks seem to be the bright (and easier to study) analogs of the sources which are found in deep Chandra observations. Three more blanks have a still unknown nature.Comment: 23 pages, 8 figures, accepted by ApJ main journa

X-rays in the Orion Nebula Cluster: Constraints on the origins of magnetic activity in pre-main sequence stars

A recent Chandra/ACIS observation of the Orion Nebula Cluster detected 1075 sources (Feigelson et al. 2002), providing a uniquely large and well-defined sample to study the dependence of magnetic activity on bulk properties for stars descending the Hayashi tracks. The following results are obtained: (1) X-ray luminosities L_t in the 0.5-8 keV band are strongly correlated with bolometric luminosity with = -3.8 for stars with masses 0.7<M<2 Mo, an order of magnitude below the main sequence saturation level; (2) the X-ray emission drops rapidly below this level in some or all stars with 2<M<3 Mo; (3) the presence or absence of infrared circumstellar disks has no apparent relation to X-ray levels; and (4) X-ray luminosities exhibit a slight rise as rotational periods increase from 0.4 to 20 days. This last finding stands in dramatic contrast to the strong anticorrelation between X-rays and period seen in main sequence stars. The absence of a strong X-ray/rotation relationship in PMS stars, and particularly the high X-ray values seen in some very slowly rotating stars, is a clear indication that the mechanisms of magnetic field generation differ from those operating in main sequence stars. The most promising possibility is a turbulent dynamo distributed throughout the deep convection zone, but other models such as alpha-Omega dynamo with `supersaturation' or relic core fields are not immediately excluded. The drop in magnetic activity in intermediate-mass stars may reflect the presence of a significant radiative core. The evidence does not support X-ray production in large-scale star-disk magnetic fields.Comment: 51 pages, 8 figures. To appear in the Astrophysical Journa

Diffusion and Trapping on a one-dimensional lattice

The properties of a particle diffusing on a one-dimensional lattice where at each site a random barrier and a random trap act simultaneously on the particle are investigated by numerical and analytical techniques. The combined effect of disorder and traps yields a decreasing survival probability with broad distribution (log-normal). Exact enumerations, effective-medium approximation and spectral analysis are employed. This one-dimensional model shows rather rich behaviours which were previously believed to exist only in higher dimensionality. The possibility of a trapping-dominated super universal class is suggested.Comment: 20 pages, Revtex 3.0, 13 figures in compressed format using uufiles command, to appear in Phys. Rev. E, for an hard copy or problems e-mail to: [email protected]