2,152 research outputs found
On Chromospheric Variations Modeling for Main-Sequence Stars of G and K Spectral Classes
We present a method of chromospheric flux simulation for 13 late-type
main-sequence stars. These Sun-like stars have well-determined cyclic flux
variations similar to 11 yr solar activity cycle. Our flux prediction is based
on chromospheric HK emission time series measurements from Mount Wilson
Observatory and comparable solar data. We show that solar three - component
modeling explains well the stellar observations. We find that the 10 - 20% of K
- stars disc surfaces are occupied by bright active regions.Comment: 8 pages, 2 figure
Femtosecond laser writing of buried graphitic structures in bulk diamond
Diamond samples are irradiated with 140fs pulses of 800nm wavelength. The pulse repetition rate is 1kHz. In the focal region of the irradiated pulses the diamond is transformed to graphite. The writing of graphitic wires along the incident beam is studied experimentally. Atechnique to produce buried graphitic wires with constant diameter is described. Diameters can be selected between 1.5ÎŒm and 10ÎŒm. The wire length is up to 680ÎŒm. The writing speed is typically between 1ÎŒmâsâ1 and 30ÎŒmâsâ
Spitzer Observations of Centaurus A: Infrared Synchrotron Emission from the Northern Lobe
We present measurements obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope in five
bands from 3.6-24 microns of the northern inner radio lobe of Centaurus A, the
nearest powerful radio galaxy. We show that this emission is synchrotron in
origin. Comparison with ultraviolet observations from GALEX shows that diffuse
ultraviolet emission exists in a smaller region than the infrared but also
coincides with the radio jet. We discuss the possibility, that synchrotron
emission is responsible for the ultraviolet emission and conclude that further
data are required to confirm this.Comment: 4 pages, accepted by ApJ
VLA observations of hot spots in high luminosity radio sources
VLA observations at 6 cm have been made of 16 distant luminous 3C sources that appeared to be unresolved or slightly resolved in Cambridge maps but which were known from VLBI observations to contain significant fine structure on the scale of about 1 kpc in their lobes. The general morphology of these sources is very similar to that of their nearby powerful counterparts; most of the lobes contain low brightness tails which are often directed from the hot spots towards the associated optical object. The hot spots are generally unresolved by the VLA observations; in 3C 254, 3C 268.4 and 3C 352, one of the lobes contains two hot spots
Ultraviolet Imagery of NGC 6752: A Test of Extreme Horizontal Branch Models
We present a 1620 A image of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6752 obtained
with the Ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (UIT) during the Astro-2 mission of the
Space Shuttle Endeavour in 1995 March. An ultraviolet-visible color-magnitude
diagram (CMD) is derived for 216 stars matched with the visible photometry of
Buonanno et al. (1986). This CMD provides a nearly complete census of the hot
horizontal branch (HB) population with good temperature and luminosity
discrimination for comparison with theoretical tracks. The observed data show
good agreement with the theoretical zero-age horizontal branch (ZAHB) of
Sweigart (1996) for an assumed reddening of E(B-V) = 0.05 and a distance
modulus of 13.05. The observed HB luminosity width is in excellent agreement
with the theoretical models and supports the single star scenario for the
origin of extreme horizontal branch (EHB) stars. However, only four stars can
be identified as post-EHB stars, whereas almost three times this many are
expected from the HB number counts. If this effect is not a statistical
anomaly, then some non-canonical effect may be decreasing the post-EHB
lifetime. The recent non-canonical models of Sweigart (1996), which have
helium-enriched envelopes due to mixing along the red giant branch, cannot
explain the deficit of post-EHB stars, but might be better able to explain
their luminosity distribution.Comment: 14 pages, AASTeX, includes 4 EPS figures ApJ Letters accepte
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
IR and UV Galaxies at z=0.6 -- Evolution of Dust Attenuation and Stellar Mass as Revealed by SWIRE and GALEX
We study dust attenuation and stellar mass of star-forming
galaxies using new SWIRE observations in IR and GALEX observations in UV. Two
samples are selected from the SWIRE and GALEX source catalogs in the
SWIRE/GALEX field ELAIS-N1-00 ( deg). The UV selected sample
has 600 galaxies with photometric redshift (hereafter photo-z) and NUV (corresponding to \rm L_{FUV} \geq 10^{9.6} L_\sun).
The IR selected sample contains 430 galaxies with mJy
(\rm L_{dust} \geq 10^{10.8} L_\sun) in the same photo-z range. It is found
that the mean ratios of the z=0.6 UV galaxies are
consistent with that of their z=0 counterparts of the same . For
IR galaxies, the mean ratios of the z=0.6 LIRGs (\rm
L_{dust} \sim 10^{11} L_\sun) are about a factor of 2 lower than local LIRGs,
whereas z=0.6 ULIRGs (\rm L_{dust} \sim 10^{12} L_\sun) have the same mean
ratios as their local counterparts. This is consistent
with the hypothesis that the dominant component of LIRG population has changed
from large, gas rich spirals at z to major-mergers at z=0. The stellar
mass of z=0.6 UV galaxies of \rm L_{FUV} \leq 10^{10.2} L_\sun is about a
factor 2 less than their local counterparts of the same luminosity, indicating
growth of these galaxies. The mass of z=0.6 UV lunmous galaxies (UVLGs: \rm
L_{FUV} > 10^{10.2} L_\sun) and IR selected galaxies, which are nearly
exclusively LIRGs and ULIRGs, is the same as their local counterparts.Comment: 27 pages, 8 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal
Supplement series dedicated to GALEX result
The Local Universe as Seen in Far-Infrared and in Far-Ultraviolet: A Global Point of View on the Local Recent Star Formation
We select far-infrared (FIR-60 microns) and far-ultraviolet (FUV-1530 A)
samples of nearby galaxies in order to discuss the biases encountered by
monochromatic surveys (FIR or FUV). Very different volumes are sampled by each
selection and much care is taken to apply volume corrections to all the
analyses. The distributions of the bolometric luminosity of young stars are
compared for both samples: they are found to be consistent with each other for
galaxies of intermediate luminosities but some differences are found for high
(>5 10^{10} L_sun) luminosities. The shallowness of the IRAS survey prevents us
from securing comparison at low luminosities (<2 10^9 L_sun). The ratio of the
total infrared (TIR) luminosity to the FUV luminosity is found to increase with
the bolometric luminosity in a similar way for both samples up to 5 10^{10}
L_sun. Brighter galaxies are found to have a different behavior according to
their selection: the L_TIR/L_FUV ratio of the FUV-selected galaxies brighter
than 5 10^{10} L_sun reaches a plateau whereas L_TIR/L_FUV continues to
increase with the luminosity of bright galaxies selected in FIR. The
volume-averaged specific star formation rate (SFR per unit galaxy stellar mass,
SSFR) is found to decrease toward massive galaxies within each selection. The
SSFR is found to be larger than that measured for optical and NIR-selected
sample over the whole mass range for the FIR selection, and for masses larger
than 10^{10} M_sun for the FUV selection. Luminous and massive galaxies
selected in FIR appear as active as galaxies with similar characteristics
detected at z ~ 0.7.Comment: 32 pages, 9 figures, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal
Supplement series dedicated to GALEX result
The Density of Coronal Plasma in Active Stellar Coronae
We have analyzed high-resolution X-ray spectra of a sample of 22 active stars
observed with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer on {\em
Chandra} in order to investigate their coronal plasma density. Densities where
investigated using the lines of the He-like ions O VII, Mg XI, and Si XIII.
While Si XIII lines in all stars of the sample are compatible with the
low-density limit, Mg XI lines betray the presence of high plasma densities ( cm) for most of the sources with higher X-ray luminosity ( erg/s); stars with higher and tend to have higher
densities at high temperatures. Ratios of O VII lines yield much lower
densities of a few cm, indicating that the ``hot'' and
``cool'' plasma resides in physically different structures. Our findings imply
remarkably compact coronal structures, especially for the hotter plasma
emitting the Mg XI lines characterized by coronal surface filling factor,
, ranging from to , while we find
values from a few up to for the cooler plasma emitting the O
VII lines. We find that approaches unity at the same stellar surface
X-ray flux level as solar active regions, suggesting that these stars become
completely covered by active regions. At the same surface flux level,
is seen to increase more sharply with increasing surface flux. These
results appear to support earlier suggestions that hot K plasma in
active coronae arises from flaring activity, and that this flaring activity
increases markedly once the stellar surface becomes covered with active
regions.Comment: 53 pages, 19 figures, accepted for publication in Astrophysical
Journal. A version of the paper with higher quality figures is available from
http://www.astropa.unipa.it/Library/preprint.htm
UV and FIR selected star-forming galaxies at z=0: differences and overlaps
We study two samples of local galaxies, one is UV (GALEX) selected and the
other FIR (IRAS) selected, to address the question whether UV and FIR surveys
see the two sides ('bright' and 'dark') of the star formation of the same
population of galaxies or two different populations of star forming galaxies.
No significant difference between the L () luminosity
functions of the UV and FIR samples is found. Also, after the correction for
the `Malmquist bias' (bias for flux limited samples), the FIR-to-UV ratio v.s.
L relations of the two samples are consistent with each other. In the
range of 9 \la \log(L_{tot}/L_\sun) \la 12, both can be approximated by a
simple linear relation of \log (L_{60}/L_{FUV})=\log(L_{tot}/L_\sun)-9.66.
These are consistent with the hypothesis that the two samples represent the
same population of star forming galaxies, and their well documented differences
in L and in FIR-to-UV ratio are due only to the selection effect. A
comparison between the UV luminosity functions shows marginal evidence for a
population of faint UV galaxies missing in the FIR selected sample. The
contribution from these 'FIR-quiet' galaxies to the overall UV population is
insignificant, given that the K-band luminosity functions (i.e. the stellar
mass functions) of the two samples do not show any significant difference.Comment: 21 pages, 7 figures. Accepted by Ap
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