11,544 research outputs found
Surgery on -manifolds
We show that although closed -manifolds
do not admit metrics of nonpositive sectional curvature, the arguments of
Farrell and Jones can be extended to show that such manifolds are topologically
rigid, if .Comment: 7 pages, AMS-LaTeX file, To appear in the Canadian Mathematical
Bulletin
Superorbital Period in the High Mass X-ray Binary 2S 0114+650
We report the detection of a superorbital period in the high-mass X-ray
binary 2S 0114+650. Analyses of data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer
(RXTE) All-Sky Monitor (ASM) from 1996 January 5 to 2004 August 25 reveal a
superorbital period of 30.7 +/- 0.1 d, in addition to confirming the previously
reported neutron star spin period of 2.7 h and the binary orbital period of
11.6 d. It is unclear if the superorbital period can be ascribed to the
precession of a warped accretion disc in the system.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures, submitted to MNRAS 27th January 2005. Manuscript
expanded to include discussion of evolution of periods, and hardness ratio
variability. Number of figures increased from 5 to 9. Accepted for
publication 19th December 200
A Multicoloured View of 2S 0114+650
We report the results of radio and X-ray observations of the high mass X-ray
binary 2S 0114+650, made with the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope and the Rossi
X-ray Timing Explorer respectively. No emission was detected at radio
wavelengths. The neutral hydrogen column density was found to vary over the
orbital period, while no variability over the the super-orbital period was
observed. We discuss the causes of the observed relationships and the
implications for the underlying mechanisms.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures; to appear in proceedings for "The multicoloured
landscape of compact objects and their explosive progenitors", Cefalu,
Sicily, 2006 June 11-24, AIP, submitte
Recurrent ~24 h Periods in RXTE ASM Data
Analysis of data from the Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer satellite's All Sky
Monitor instrument for several X-ray binary sources has identified a recurrent
\~24 h period. This period is sometimes highly significant, giving rise to the
possibility of it being identified as an orbital or super-orbital period.
Further analysis has revealed the same period in a number of other X-ray
sources. As a result this period has been discounted as spurious, described
variously as arising from daily variations in background levels and beating
between the sampling period and long-term secular trends in the light curves.
We present here an analysis of the spurious periods and show that the dominant
mechanism is in fact spectral leakage of low-frequency power present in the
light curves.Comment: 9 Pages, 10 figures, 1 table, submitted to PASA 20th December 2004.
Added 1 page of text and 3 figures to clarify results and discussion.
Resubmitted 16th May 2005. Accepted 25th June 200
Attempted DNA extraction from a Rancho La Brea Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi): prospects for ancient DNA from asphalt deposits.
Fossil-bearing asphalt deposits are an understudied and potentially significant source of ancient DNA. Previous attempts to extract DNA from skeletons preserved at the Rancho La Brea tar pits in Los Angeles, California, have proven unsuccessful, but it is unclear whether this is due to a lack of endogenous DNA, or if the problem is caused by asphalt-mediated inhibition. In an attempt to test these hypotheses, a recently recovered Columbian mammoth (Mammuthus columbi) skeleton with an unusual pattern of asphalt impregnation was studied. Ultimately, none of the bone samples tested successfully amplified M. columbi DNA. Our work suggests that reagents typically used to remove asphalt from ancient samples also inhibit DNA extraction. Ultimately, we conclude that the probability of recovering ancient DNA from fossils in asphalt deposits is strongly (perhaps fatally) hindered by the organic compounds that permeate the bones and that at the Rancho La Brea tar pits, environmental conditions might not have been ideal for the general preservation of genetic material
Optical variability of the accretion disk around the intermediate mass black hole ESO 243-49 HLX-1 during the 2012 outburst
We present dedicated quasi-simultaneous X-ray (Swift) and optical (Very Large
Telescope (VLT), V- and R-band) observations of the intermediate mass black
hole candidate ESO 243-49 HLX-1 before and during the 2012 outburst. We show
that the V-band magnitudes vary with time, thus proving that a portion of the
observed emission originates in the accretion disk. Using the first quiescent
optical observations of HLX-1, we show that the stellar population surrounding
HLX-1 is fainter than V~25.1 and R~24.2. We show that the optical emission may
increase before the X-ray emission consistent with the scenario proposed by
Lasota et al. (2011) in which the regular outbursts could be related to the
passage at periastron of a star circling the intermediate mass black hole in an
eccentric orbit, which triggers mass transfer into a quasi-permanent accretion
disk around the black hole. Further, if there is indeed a delay in the X-ray
emission we estimate the mass-transfer delivery radius to be ~1e11 cm.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, accepted for publication in ApJ
Recommended from our members
Victim careers and 'career victims'? [In: Farrell, G. and Pease, K., eds., Repeat victimisation, Crime Prevention Studies, vol. 12]
Whereas there is a mature body of work examining criminal careers that has been established over the course of several decades, the study of victim careers is in its infancy. While there has been recent growth in the study of repeat victimization, the natural extension of this work into studies of the life course remains to be undertaken. The present paper suggests why the study of victimization over the life course may prove important for criminological theory and practice, and explores ways in which it might be taken forward. A rich vein of criminological enquiry remains to be exploited that promises to inform theories of criminal victimization as well as crime prevention practice. The paper also proposes the utilization of an accelerated longitudinal design to enhance the study of victim careers. Such designs are rich in promise but typically extremely expensive to conduct. In theory, a study of victim careers using such a design may be possible from extant data sources, which would make it cost-effective. However, even if the design proposed herein did not reach its full potential, theory and practice may be greatly informed through the pursuit of a research agenda that incorporates longitudinal studies of victim careers
Mode coupling of Schwarzschild perturbations: Ringdown frequencies
Within linearized perturbation theory, black holes decay to their final
stationary state through the well-known spectrum of quasinormal modes. Here we
numerically study whether nonlinearities change this picture. For that purpose
we study the ringdown frequencies of gauge-invariant second-order gravitational
perturbations induced by self-coupling of linearized perturbations of
Schwarzschild black holes. We do so through high-accuracy simulations in the
time domain of first and second-order Regge-Wheeler-Zerilli type equations, for
a variety of initial data sets. We consider first-order even-parity
perturbations and odd-parity ones, and all
the multipoles that they generate through self-coupling. For all of them and
all the initial data sets considered we find that ---in contrast to previous
predictions in the literature--- the numerical decay frequencies of
second-order perturbations are the same ones of linearized theory, and we
explain the observed behavior. This would indicate, in particular, that when
modeling or searching for ringdown gravitational waves, appropriately including
the standard quasinormal modes already takes into account nonlinear effects
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