19,251 research outputs found
Raman Scattered He II 6545 Line in the Symbiotic Star V1016 Cygni
We present a spectrum of the symbiotic star V1016 Cyg observed with the 3.6 m
Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, in order to illustrate a method to measure the
covering factor of the neutral scattering region around the giant component
with respect to the hot emission region around the white dwarf component. In
the spectrum, we find broad wings around H and a broad emission feature
around 6545 that is blended with the [N II] 6548 line.
These two features are proposed to be formed by Raman scattering by atomic
hydrogen, where the incident radiation is proposed to be UV continuum radiation
around Ly in the former case and He II 1025 emission line
arising from transitions for the latter feature. We remove the
H wings by a template Raman scattering wing profile and subtract the [N
II] 6548 line using the 3 times stronger [N II] 6583
feature in order to isolate the He II Raman scattered 6545 \AA line. We obtain
the flux ratio of the He II 6560 emission
line and the 6545 \AA feature for V1016 Cyg. Under the assumption that the He
II emission from this object is isotropic, this ratio is converted to the ratio
of the number of the incident photons and that
of the scattered photons. This implies that the scattering region with H I
column density covers 17 per cent of the
emission region. By combining the presumed binary period yrs of this
system we infer that a significant fraction of the slow stellar wind from the
Mira component is ionized and that the scattering region around the Mira
extends a few tens of AU, which is closely associated with the mass loss
process of the Mira component.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Spectropolarimetry of the borderline Seyfert 1 galaxy ESO 323-G077
We report the detection of high linear polarization in the bright Seyfert 1
galaxy ESO 323-G077. Based on optical spectropolarimetry with FORS1 at the VLT
we find a continuum polarization which ranges from 2.2 % at 8300A to 7.5 % at
3600A. Similar amounts of linear polarization are found for the broad emission
lines, while the narrow lines are not polarized. The position angle of the
polarization is independent of the wavelength and found to be perpendicular to
the orientation of the extended [OIII] emission cone of this galaxy. Within the
standard model of Seyfert nuclei the observations can be well understood
assuming that this AGN is observed at an inclination angle where the nucleus is
partially obscured and seen mainly indirectly in the light scattered by dust
clouds within or above the torus and the illuminated inner edge of the dust
torus itself. Hence we conclude that ESO 323-G077 is a borderline Seyfert 1
galaxy which can provide important information on the geometric properties of
active nuclei
Toward the Evidence of the Accretion Disk Emission in the Symbiotic Star RR Tel
In this paper, we argue that in the symbiotic star RR Tel the existence of an
accretion disk around the hot companion is strongly implied by the
characteristic features exhibited by the Raman-scattered O VI lines around 6830
\AA and 7088 \AA. High degrees of polarization and double-peaked profiles in
the Raman-scattered lines and single-peak profiles for other emission lines are
interpreted as line-of-sight effects, where the H I scatterers near the giant
see an incident double-peaked profile and an observer with a low inclination
sees single-peak profiles. It is predicted that different mass concentrations
around the accretion disk formed by a dusty wind may lead to the disparate
ratios of the blue peak strength to the red counterpart observed in the 6830
and 7088 features. We discuss the evolutionary links between symbiotic stars
and bipolar protoplanetary nebulae and conclude that the Raman scattering
processes may play an important role in investigation of the physical
properties of these objects.Comment: 11 pages, 3 figures, accepted for publication in the ApJ Letter
Disorder Induced Stripes in d-Wave Superconductors
Stripe phases are observed experimentally in several copper-based high-Tc
superconductors near 1/8 hole doping. However, the specific characteristics may
vary depending on the degree of dopant disorder and the presence or absence of
a low- temperature tetragonal phase. On the basis of a Hartree-Fock decoupling
scheme for the t-J model we discuss the diverse behavior of stripe phases. In
particular the effect of inhomogeneities is investigated in two distinctly
different parameter regimes which are characterized by the strength of the
interaction. We observe that small concen- trations of impurities or vortices
pin the unidirectional density waves, and dopant disorder is capable to
stabilize a stripe phase in parameter regimes where homogeneous phases are
typically favored in clean systems. The momentum-space results exhibit
universal features for all coexisting density-wave solutions, nearly unchanged
even in strongly disordered systems. These coexisting solutions feature
generically a full energy gap and a particle-hole asymmetry in the density of
states.Comment: 28 pages, 8 figure
Raman-Scattering Wings of H alpha in Symbiotic Stars
Nussbaumer et al. (1989) proposed that broad H wings can be formed
through Raman scattering of Ly photons, and in this Letter we argue that
the H wings prevalently seen in symbiotic stars may be indeed formed in
this way. Assuming a flat incident UV radiation around Ly, we generate
template wing profiles around H that are formed through Raman
scattering in a plane-parallel H~I region. We perform profile fitting analyses
to show that the template wing profiles are in excellent agreement with the
observed ones that are provided by van Winckel et al. (1993) and Ivison et al.
(1994). The wing flux is determined by the scattering H~I column density and
the incident Ly flux strength and profile. From our profile analysis it
is proposed that the Raman scattering component may be identified with the
neutral envelope with a column density ranging that
surrounds the binary system. We briefly discuss alternative candidates for the
wing formation mechanism and observational implications of Raman scattering in
symbiotic stars and in other astronomical objects including planetary nebulae,
post AGB stars and active galactic nuclei.Comment: 6 pages including 2 figures, to appear in the Astrophysical Journal
Letter
Chemical ordering and composition fluctuations at the (001) surface of the Fe-Ni Invar alloy
We report on a study of (001) oriented fcc Fe-Ni alloy surfaces which
combines first-principles calculations and low-temperature STM experiments.
Density functional theory calculations show that Fe-Ni alloy surfaces are
buckled with the Fe atoms slightly shifted outwards and the Ni atoms inwards.
This is consistent with the observation that the atoms in the surface layer can
be chemically distinguished in the STM image: brighter spots (corrugation
maxima with increased apparent height) indicate iron atoms, darker ones nickel
atoms. This chemical contrast reveals a c2x2 chemical order (50% Fe) with
frequent Fe-rich defects on Invar alloy surface. The calculations also indicate
that subsurface composition fluctuations may additionally modulate the apparent
height of the surface atoms. The STM images show that this effect is pronounced
compared to the surfaces of other disordered alloys, which suggests that some
chemical order and corresponding concentration fluctuations exist also in the
subsurface layers of Invar alloy. In addition, detailed electronic structure
calculations allow us to identify the nature of a distinct peak below the Fermi
level observed in the tunneling spectra. This peak corresponds to a surface
resonance band which is particularly pronounced in iron-rich surface regions
and provides a second type of chemical contrast with less spatial resolution
but one that is essentially independent of the subsurface composition.Comment: 7 pages, 5 figure
Kinetically driven helix formation during the homopolymer collapse process
Using Langevin simulations, we find that simple 'generic' bead-and-spring
homopolymer chains in a sufficiently bad solvent spontaneously develop helical
order during the process of collapsing from an initially stretched
conformation. The helix formation is initiated by the unstable modes of the
straight chain, which drive the system towards a long-lived metastable
transient state. The effect is most pronounced if hydrodynamic interactions are
screened.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
Detecting Extrasolar Planets with Integral Field Spectroscopy
Observations of extrasolar planets using Integral Field Spectroscopy (IFS),
if coupled with an extreme Adaptive Optics system and analyzed with a
Simultaneous Differential Imaging technique (SDI), are a powerful tool to
detect and characterize extrasolar planets directly; they enhance the signal of
the planet and, at the same time, reduces the impact of stellar light and
consequently important noise sources like speckles. In order to verify the
efficiency of such a technique, we developed a simulation code able to test the
capabilities of this IFS-SDI technique for different kinds of planets and
telescopes, modelling the atmospheric and instrumental noise sources. The first
results obtained by the simulations show that many significant extrasolar
planet detections are indeed possible using the present 8m-class telescopes
within a few hours of exposure time. The procedure adopted to simulate IFS
observations is presented here in detail, explaining in particular how we
obtain estimates of the speckle noise, Adaptive Optics corrections, specific
instrumental features, and how we test the efficiency of the SDI technique to
increase the signal-to-noise ratio of the planet detection. The most important
results achieved by simulations of various objects, from 1 M_J to brown dwarfs
of 30 M_J, for observations with an 8 meter telescope, are then presented and
discussed.Comment: 60 pages, 37 figures, accepted in PASP, 4 Tables adde
Influence of strain on magnetization and magnetoelectric effect in La0.7A0.3MnO3 / PMN-PT(001) (A = Sr; Ca)
We investigate the influence of a well-defined reversible biaxial strain
<=0.12 % on the magnetization (M) of epitaxial ferromagnetic manganite films. M
has been recorded depending on temperature, strain and magnetic field in 20 -
50 nm thick films. This is accomplished by reversibly compressing the isotropic
in-plane lattice parameter of the rhombohedral piezoelectric 0.72PMN-0.28PT
(001) substrates by application of an electric field E <= 12 kV cm-1. The
magnitude of the total variable in-plane strain has been derived.
Strain-induced shifts of the ferromagnetic Curie temperature (Tc) of up to 19 K
were found in La0.7Sr0.3MnO3 (LSMO) and La0.7Ca0.3MnO3 films and are
quantitatively analysed for LSMO within a cubic model. The observed large
magnetoelectric coupling coefficient alpha=mu0 dM/dE <= 6 10-8 s m-1 at ambient
temperature results from the strain-induced M change in the
magnetic-film-ferroelectric-substrate system. It corresponds to an enhancement
of mu0 DeltaM <= 19 mT upon biaxial compression of 0.1 %. The extraordinary
large alpha originates from the combination of three crucial properties: (i)
the strong strain dependence of M in the ferromagnetic manganites, (ii) large
piezo-strain of the PMN-PT substrates and (iii) effective elastic coupling at
the film-substrate interface.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 1 tabl
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