Measuring stellar differential rotation with high-precision space-borne photometry

We introduce a method of measuring a lower limit to the amplitude of surface differential rotation from high-precision, evenly sampled photometric time series. It is applied to main-sequence late-type stars whose optical flux modulation is dominated by starspots. An autocorrelation of the time series was used to select stars that allow an accurate determination of starspot rotation periods. A simple two-spot model was applied together with a Bayesian information criterion to preliminarily select intervals of the time series showing evidence of differential rotation with starspots of almost constant area. Finally, the significance of the differential rotation detection and a measurement of its amplitude and uncertainty were obtained by an a posteriori Bayesian analysis based on a Monte Carlo Markov Chain approach. We applied our method to the Sun and eight other stars for which previous spot modelling had been performed to compare our results with previous ones. We find that autocorrelation is a simple method for selecting stars with a coherent rotational signal that is a prerequisite for successfully measuring differential rotation through spot modelling. For a proper Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis, it is necessary to take the strong correlations among different parameters that exist in spot modelling into account. For the planet-hosting star Kepler-30, we derive a lower limit to the relative amplitude of the differential rotation of \Delta P / P = 0.0523 \pm 0.0016. We confirm that the Sun as a star in the optical passband is not suitable for measuring differential rotation owing to the rapid evolution of its photospheric active regions. In general, our method performs well in comparison to more sophisticated and time-consuming approaches.Comment: Accepted to Astronomy and Astrophysics, 15 pages, 13 figures, 4 tables and an Appendi

Avaliação de diferentes substratos na aclimatização de plântulas de Epidendrum ibaguense (Kunth).

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar diferentes substratos na aclimatização de plântulas micropropagadas de orquídeas da espécie Epidendrum ibaguense

Testing the recovery of stellar rotation signals from Kepler light curves using a blind hare-and-hounds exercise

We present the results of a blind exercise to test the recoverability of stellar rotation and differential rotation in Kepler light curves. The simulated light curves lasted 1000 days and included activity cycles, Sun-like butterfly patterns, differential rotation and spot evolution. The range of rotation periods, activity levels and spot lifetime were chosen to be representative of the Kepler data of solar like stars. Of the 1000 simulated light curves, 770 were injected into actual quiescent Kepler light curves to simulate Kepler noise. The test also included five 1000-day segments of the Sun's total irradiance variations at different points in the Sun's activity cycle. Five teams took part in the blind exercise, plus two teams who participated after the content of the light curves had been released. The methods used included Lomb-Scargle periodograms and variants thereof, auto-correlation function, and wavelet-based analyses, plus spot modelling to search for differential rotation. The results show that the `overall' period is well recovered for stars exhibiting low and moderate activity levels. Most teams reported values within 10% of the true value in 70% of the cases. There was, however, little correlation between the reported and simulated values of the differential rotation shear, suggesting that differential rotation studies based on full-disk light curves alone need to be treated with caution, at least for solar-type stars. The simulated light curves and associated parameters are available online for the community to test their own methods.Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS. Accepted, 13 April 2015. Received, 26 March 2015; in original form, 9 November 201

Effect of packaging and storage conditions on the physiological quality of seeds and seedlings in Myrciaria dubia.

Objetivou-se determinar a qualidade fisiológica de sementes de Myrciaria dubia, armazenadas em diferentes ambientes e embalagens durante 300 dias, a partir dos testes de condutividade elétrica, e vigor das plântulas. As sementes foram armazenadas dentro de embalagem de vidro e potes plásticos com água até à superfície do recipiente, no laboratório à temperatura ambiente entre 23 a 25°C e 60-70% UR e em câmara fria à temperatura entre 14-16°C e 50-60% UR. A cada período de armazenamento (0, 30, 60, 120, 180, 240 e 300 dias), foi retirada, de cada recipiente, uma amostra de 110 sementes e submetida às seguintes avaliações: curva de embebição de água, massa seca de sementes, teste de condutividade elétrica, emergência de plantulas e índice de velocidade de emergência. De acordo com os resultados, verificou-se que o armazenamento das sementes de Myrciaria dubia em potes plásticos com água até superfície do recipiente, quer no laboratório e quer na câmara fria, é indicado para manter a qualidade fisiológica e vigor de plântulas até 300 dias

The variability behavior of CoRoT M-giant Stars

For 6 years the Convection, Rotation, and Planetary Transits (CoRoT) space mission has acquired photometric data from more than one hundred thousand point sources towards and directly opposite from the inner and outer regions of the Galaxy. The high temporal resolution of the CoRoT data combined with the wide time span of the observations has enabled the study of short and long time variations in unprecedented detail. From the initial sample of 2534 stars classified as M-giants in the CoRoT databasis, we selected 1428 targets that exhibit well defined variability, using visual inspection. The variability period and amplitude of C1 stars (stars having Teff < 4200 K) were computed using Lomb-Scargle and harmonic fit methods. The trends found in the V-I vs J-K color-color diagram are in agreement with standard empirical calibrations for M-giants. The sources located towards the inner regions of the Galaxy are distributed throughout the diagram while the majority of the stars towards the outer regions of the Galaxy are spread between the calibrations of M-giants and the predicted position for Carbon stars. The stars classified as supergiants follow a different sequence from the one found for giant stars. We also performed a KS test of the period and amplitude of stars towards the inner and outer regions of the Galaxy. We obtained a low probability that the two samples come from the same parent distribution. The observed behavior of the period-amplitude and period-Teff diagrams are, in general, in agreement with those found for Kepler sources and ground based photometry, with pulsation being the dominant cause responsible for the observed modulation. We also conclude that short-time variations on M-Giant stars do not exist orare very rare and the few cases we found are possibly related to biases or background stars.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figure

Desinfestação de explantes radiculares de bacurizeiro (Platonia insignis Mart.).

O bacurizeiro (Platonia insignis Mart.) é uma planta frutífera que apresenta madeira com boa característica físico-mecânica e suas sementes podem ser utilizadas para extração de óleo. Este trabalho objetivou avaliar diferentes tratamentos de desinfestação de explantes radiculares de bacurizeiro para o seu estabelecimento in vitro. Segmentos radiculares foram lavados com água destilada e detergente, em seguida foram seccionados em estacas de 1,5 a 2,0 cm, as quais foram imersas em álcool 70% (v/v) por 1 minuto e em soluções de hipoclorito de sódio a 0,50, 1,25 e 1,75% (p/v), durante 20 e 30 minutos. Metade das estacas foram imersas em solução antifúngica (carboxin 0,067% p/v + thiram 0,067% p/v, carbendazim 0,17% p/v, clorotalonil 0,17% p/v + tiofanato-metílico 0,067% p/v) por 30 minutos, em seguida todos explantes ficaram imersos em solução antioxidante com 100 mg.L-1 de ácido ascórbico e 150 mg.L-1 de ácido cítrico por 10 minutos. Os explantes foram inoculados em meio MS acrescido de 3,0% de sacarose, 100 mg/L de cefotaxima e 0,8% de ágar. Foram utilizadas dez repetições por tratamento. Observou-se que a imersão em solução de hipoclorito de sódio a 1,75% por 30 minutos, foi eficiente quando associada à utilização da solução antifúngica, obtendo descontaminação total dos explantes. As soluções de 0,50 e 1,25%, mesmo associadas à solução fungicida, resultaram em níveis de contaminação variáveis. Os tratamentos nos quais não se utilizou solução antifúngica atingiram 100% de contaminação