Low-Mass X-ray Binaries and Globular Clusters in Early-Type Galaxies. I. Chandra Observations

We present a Chandra survey of LMXBs in 24 early-type galaxies. Correcting for detection incompleteness, the X-ray luminosity function (XLF) of each galaxy is consistent with a powerlaw with negative logarithmic differential slope, beta~2.0. However, beta strongly correlates with incompleteness, indicating the XLF flattens at low-Lx. The composite XLF is well-fitted by a powerlaw with a break at 2.21(+0.65,-0.56)E38 erg/s and beta=1.40(+0.10,-0.13) and 2.84(+0.39,-0.30) below and above it, respectively. The break is close to the Eddington limit for a 1.4Msun neutron-star, but the XLF shape rules out its representing the division between neutron-star and black-hole systems. Although the XLFs are similar, we find evidence of some variation between galaxies. The high-Lx XLF slope does not correlate with age, but may correlate with [alpha/Fe]. Considering only LMXBs with Lx>1E37 erg/s, matching the LMXBs with globular clusters (GCs) identified in HST observations of 19 of the galaxies, we find the probability a GC hosts an LMXB is proportional to LGC^alpha ZFe^gamma} where alpha=1.01+/-0.19 and gamma=0.33+/-0.11. Correcting for GC luminosity and colour effects, and detection incompleteness, we find no evidence that the fraction of LMXBs with Lx>1e37 erg/s in GCs (40%), or the fraction of GCs hosting LMXBs (~6.5%) varies between galaxies. The spatial distribution of LMXBs resembles that of GCs, and the specific frequency of LMXBs is proportional to the GC specific luminosity, consistent with the hypothesis that all LMXBs form in GCs. If the LMXB lifetime is tau and the duty cycle is Fd, our results imply ~1.5 (tau/1E8 yr)^-1 /Fd LMXBs are formed per Gyr per GC and we place an upper limit of 1 active LMXB in the field per 3.4E9Lsun of V-band luminosity.Comment: 24 pages, 17 figures and 6 tables. Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Expanded discussion and various minor revisions to improve robustness of results. Conclusions unchange

Design, Operations, and Safety of High-Speed Approach Rural Roundabouts

High-speed approach rural roundabouts have been found to reduce overall crashes by 71% and injury crashes by 87% and have become an effective tool used by public agencies to improve safety and capacity at rural intersections. In this presentation we will discuss critical design features for effective implementation, including alignment on approach, deflection, splitter islands, lighting, signing, curbing, diameter, design vehicle, and landscaping. Before-and-after results involving safety, operations, and public acceptance will be highlighted at specific US roundabouts

Charge-Transfer from Molecular-Hydrogen to Stored O-2+ and O-3+ Ions

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org

Magnetic dipole transition rates from measured lifetimes of levels of Be-like and B-like argon ions

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/The lifetimes of the 1s(2)2s2p P-3(2) level of Ar XV and 1s(2)2s(2)2p P-2(3/2) of Ar XIV have been measured using metastable Ar14+ and Ar13+ ions produced by an electron cyclotron resonance ion source, which were subsequently separately captured into a Kingdon ion trap. The lifetime results are tau(Ar XV, 2s2p P-3(2)) = 13.4(7) ms and tau(Ar XIV,2p P-2(3/2)) = 9.12(18) ms. Transition rates derived from the measured lifetimes differ significantly from both relativistic and nonrelativistic calculations of the 2s2p P-3(1)-P-3(2) M1 transition rate of Ar XV, but are in reasonable agreement with calculations for the 2p P-2(1/2)-P-2(3/2) M1 rate of Ar XIV. [S1050-2947(98)07108-X

Stored-Ion Collisional Relaxation to Equilibrium

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org

Does the nonlinearity of the equation of state impose an upper bound on the buoyancy frequency?

Mixing in the ocean is usually accompanied by a net reduction in volume caused by the nonlinear nature of the equation of state. This contraction-on-mixing at a certain depth implies that the whole water column above this depth slumps a little and so suffers a reduction in gravitational potential energy. Under certain circumstances the gravitational potential energy of the entire water column can decrease as a consequence of mixing activity at a certain depth. We examine Fofonoff\u27s hypothesis that in these circumstances the net reduction of gravitational potential energy of the whole water column causes a local increase in the turbulent mixing activity at the location of the original mixing. Fofonoff proposed that this increased local mixing diffuses the local property gradients until the criterion for positive feedback is no longer satisfied, so providing an upper bound for the vertical stratification in the ocean. Bearing in mind the relatively inefficient nature of turbulent mixing at causing diapycnal fluxes (the majority of the turbulent kinetic energy goes directly into internal energy), we find that the criterion for positive feedback is a factor of approximately seven more difficult to achieve than has been realized to date. An examination of oceanic data shows that while Fofonoff\u27s original criterion for positive feedback is often exceeded, the more appropriate criterion is almost never approached. The positive feedback hypothesis assumes that the reduction in the gravitational potential energy of the whole water column appears at the location of the original mixing as an increase in the turbulent mixing activity. We show that this very focused oceanic response is extremely difficult to justify. For example there is no such feedback in a strictly one-dimensional water column; rather all of the reduction in gravitational potential energy appears as an increase in internal energy at the depth of the original mixing and there is no possibility of any positive feedback to increase the turbulent mixing. As the positive feedback hypothesis is lacking a convincing theoretical basis and is not supported by oceanic data, we do not believe that it acts as an effective upper bound on oceanic stratification

Manipulation of length and lexicality localizes the functional neuroanatomy of phonological processing in adult readers

In a previous study of single word reading, regions in the left supramarginal gyrus and left angular gyrus showed positive BOLD activity in children but significantly less activity in adults for high-frequency words. This developmental decrease may reflect decreased reliance on phonological processing for familiar stimuli in adults. Therefore, in the present study, variables thought to influence phonological demand (string length and lexicality) were manipulated. Length and lexicality effects in the brain were explored using both ROI and whole-brain approaches. In the ROI analysis, the supramarginal and angular regions from the previous study were applied to this study. The supramarginal region showed a significant positive effect of length, consistent with a role in phonological processing, whereas the angular region showed only negative deflections from baseline with a strong effect of lexicality and other weaker effects. At the whole-brain level, varying effects of length and lexicality and their interactions were observed in 85 regions throughout the brain. The application of hierarchical clustering analysis to the BOLD time course data derived from these regions revealed seven clusters, with potentially revealing anatomical locations. Of note, a left angular gyrus region was the sole constituent of one cluster. Taken together, these findings in adult readers (1) provide support for a widespread set of brain regions affected by lexical variables, (2) corroborate a role for phonological processing in the left supramarginal gyrus, and (3) do not support a strong role for phonological processing in the left angular gyrus

TRIDENT: an Infrared Differential Imaging Camera Optimized for the Detection of Methanated Substellar Companions

A near-infrared camera in use at the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope (CFHT) and at the 1.6-m telescope of the Observatoire du Mont-Megantic is described. The camera is based on a Hawaii-1 1024x1024 HgCdTe array detector. Its main feature is to acquire three simultaneous images at three wavelengths across the methane absorption bandhead at 1.6 microns, enabling, in theory, an accurate subtraction of the stellar point spread function (PSF) and the detection of faint close methanated companions. The instrument has no coronagraph and features fast data acquisition, yielding high observing efficiency on bright stars. The performance of the instrument is described, and it is illustrated by laboratory tests and CFHT observations of the nearby stars GL526, Ups And and Chi And. TRIDENT can detect (6 sigma) a methanated companion with delta H = 9.5 at 0.5" separation from the star in one hour of observing time. Non-common path aberrations and amplitude modulation differences between the three optical paths are likely to be the limiting factors preventing further PSF attenuation. Instrument rotation and reference star subtraction improve the detection limit by a factor of 2 and 4 respectively. A PSF noise attenuation model is presented to estimate the non-common path wavefront difference effect on PSF subtraction performance.Comment: 41 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Excited-Level Lifetimes and Hyperfine-Structure Measurements on Ions using Collinear Laser Ion-Beam Spectroscopy

Journals published by the American Physical Society can be found at http://publish.aps.org/The mean lifetimes tau of the Ca II 4p P-2(1/2) and 4p P-2(3/2) levels, and the Cl-35 II 4p' F-1(3) level, have been measured by a variant of the collinear laser-ion-beam lifetime technique applied previously to the Ar II 4p' F-2(7/2)o level [Jian Jin and D. A. Church, Phys. Rev. A 47, 132 (1993)]. The present results are tau(Ca II, 4p P-2(1/2)) = 7.098(0.020) ns, tau(Ca II, 4p P-2(3/2)) = 6.924(0.019) ns, and tau(Cl II, 4p' F-1(3)) = 11.17(0.06) ns. The experimental lifetimes of these, plus the Ar II 4p' F-2(7/2) level, are compared with available recent many-electron calculations. Typically 1%-3% differences between measurement and ab initio theory are found, while certain semiempirical calculations are in better agreement with experiment. Data for other precise lifetime measurements on alkali-metal systems are compared with recent ab initio and semiempirical calculations to provide perspective on the Ca II results. The hyperfine structure of the Cl-35 II 3d' 1G4-4p' F-1(3) transition was also measured and analyzed in the course of the measurements, with the resulting hyperfine-structure constants: A(F-1(3)) = 301.9(0.5) MHz, B(F-1(3)) = -6.7(0.8) MHz, A(1G4) = 205.1(0.5) MHz, and B(1G4) = -3.9(2.4) MHz