9,096 research outputs found
On the Interpretation of Supernova Light Echo Profiles and Spectra
The light echo systems of historical supernovae in the Milky Way and local
group galaxies provide an unprecedented opportunity to reveal the effects of
asymmetry on observables, particularly optical spectra. Scattering dust at
different locations on the light echo ellipsoid witnesses the supernova from
different perspectives and the light consequently scattered towards Earth
preserves the shape of line profile variations introduced by asymmetries in the
supernova photosphere. However, the interpretation of supernova light echo
spectra to date has not involved a detailed consideration of the effects of
outburst duration and geometrical scattering modifications due to finite
scattering dust filament dimension, inclination, and image point-spread
function and spectrograph slit width. In this paper, we explore the
implications of these factors and present a framework for future resolved
supernova light echo spectra interpretation, and test it against Cas A and SN
1987A light echo spectra. We conclude that the full modeling of the dimensions
and orientation of the scattering dust using the observed light echoes at two
or more epochs is critical for the correct interpretation of light echo
spectra. Indeed, without doing so one might falsely conclude that differences
exist when none are actually present.Comment: 18 pages, 22 figures, accepted for publication in Ap
Coherent Line Removal: Filtering out harmonically related line interference from experimental data, with application to gravitational wave detectors
We describe a new technique for removing troublesome interference from
external coherent signals present in the gravitational wave spectrum. The
method works when the interference is present in many harmonics, as long as
they remain coherent with one another. The method can remove interference even
when the frequency changes. We apply the method to the data produced by the
Glasgow laser interferometer in 1996 and the entire series of wide lines
corresponding to the electricity supply frequency and its harmonics are
removed, leaving the spectrum clean enough to detect possible signals
previously masked by them. We also study the effects of the line removal on the
statistics of the noise in the time domain. We find that this technique seems
to reduce the level of non-Gaussian noise present in the interferometer and
therefore, it can raise the sensitivity and duty cycle of the detectors.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, Revtex, psfig. To appear in Phys. Rev.
Effect of Magnetization Inhomogeneity on Magnetic Microtraps for Atoms
We report on the origin of fragmentation of ultracold atoms observed on a
permanent magnetic film atom chip. A novel technique is used to characterize
small spatial variations of the magnetic field near the film surface using
radio frequency spectroscopy of the trapped atoms. Direct observations indicate
the fragmentation is due to a corrugation of the magnetic potential caused by
long range inhomogeneity in the film magnetization. A model which takes into
account two-dimensional variations of the film magnetization is consistent with
the observations.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure
The destruction and survival of dust in the shell around SN 2008S
SN 2008S erupted in early 2008 in the grand design spiral galaxy NGC 6946.
The progenitor was detected by Prieto et al. in Spitzer Space Telescope images
taken over the four years prior to the explosion, but was not detected in deep
optical images, from which they inferred a self-obscured object with a mass of
about 10 Msun. We obtained Spitzer observations of SN 2008S five days after its
discovery, as well as coordinated Gemini and Spitzer optical and infrared
observations six months after its outburst.
We have constructed radiative transfer dust models for the object before and
after the outburst, using the same r^-2 density distribution of pre-existing
amorphous carbon grains for all epochs and taking light-travel time effects
into account for the early post-outburst epoch. We rule out silicate grains as
a significant component of the dust around SN 2008S. The inner radius of the
dust shell moved outwards from its pre-outburst value of 85 AU to a
post-outburst value of 1250 AU, attributable to grain vaporisation by the light
flash from SN 2008S. Although this caused the circumstellar extinction to
decrease from Av = 15 before the outburst to 0.8 after the outburst, we
estimate that less than 2% of the overall circumstellar dust mass was
destroyed.
The total mass-loss rate from the progenitor star is estimated to have been
(0.5-1.0)x10^-4 Msun yr^-1. The derived dust mass-loss rate of 5x10^-7 Msun
yr^-1 implies a total dust injection into the ISM of up to 0.01 Msun over the
suggested duration of the self-obscured phase. We consider the potential
contribution of objects like SN 2008S to the dust enrichment of galaxies.Comment: 9 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables. rv2. To appear in MNRA
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