67 research outputs found
Mt. Graham: Optical turbulence vertical distribution at standard and high vertical resolution
A characterization of the optical turbulence vertical distribution and all
the main integrated astroclimatic parameters derived from the CN2 and the wind
speed profiles above Mt. Graham is presented. The statistic includes
measurements related to 43 nights done with a Generalized Scidar (GS) used in
standard configuration with a vertical resolution of ~1 km on the whole 20-22
km and with the new technique (HVR-GS) in the first kilometer. The latter
achieves a resolution of ~ 20-30 m in this region of the atmosphere.
Measurements done in different periods of the year permit us to provide a
seasonal variation analysis of the CN2. A discretized distribution of the
typical CN2 profiles useful for the Ground Layer Adaptive Optics (GLAO)
simulations is provided and a specific analysis for the LBT Laser Guide Star
system ARGOS case is done including the calculation of the 'gray zones' for J,
H and K bands. Mt. Graham confirms to be an excellent site with median values
of the seeing without dome contribution equal to 0.72", the isoplanatic angle
equal to 2.5" and the wavefront coherence time equal to 4.8 msec. We provide a
cumulative distribution of the percentage of turbulence developed below H*
where H* is included in the (0,1 km) range. We find that 50% of the whole
turbulence develops in the first 80 m from the ground. The turbulence
decreasing rate is very similar to what has been observed above Mauna Kea.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figures, Proc. SPIE Conference "Ground-based and Airborne
Telescopes III", 27 June 2010, San Diego, California, US
Dust in Proto-Planetary Disks: Properties and Evolution
We review the properties of dust in protoplanetary disks around optically
visible pre-main sequence stars obtained with a variety of observational
techniques, from measurements of scattered light at visual and infrared
wavelengths to mid-infrared spectroscopy and millimeter interferometry. A
general result is that grains in disks are on average much larger than in the
diffuse interstellar medium (ISM). In many disks, there is evidence that a
large mass of dust is in grains with millimeter and centimeter sizes, more
similar to "sand and pebbles" than to grains. Smaller grains (with
micron-sizes) exist closer to the disk surface, which also contains much
smaller particles, e.g., polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. There is some
evidence of a vertical stratification, with smaller grains closer to the
surface. Another difference with ISM is the higher fraction of crystalline
relative to amorphous silicates found in disk surfaces. There is a large
scatter in dust properties among different sources, but no evidence of
correlation with the stellar properties, for samples that include objects from
intermediate to solar mass stars and brown dwarfs. There is also no apparent
correlation with the age of the central object, over a range roughly between 1
and 10 Myr. This suggests a scenario where significant grain processing may
occur very early in the disk evolution, possibly when it is accreting matter
from the parental molecular core. Further evolution may occur, but not
necessarily rapidly, since we have evidence that large amounts of grains, from
micron to centimeter size, can survive for periods as long as 10 Myr.Comment: Protostars and Planets V in press, 16 pages, 7 figure
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A semi-analytical model of stellar flares
We present a simplified point'' model to describe the hydrodynamic response of coronal loop plasma to the sudden release of energy which occurs at the time of a flare. Our simplification allows the full set of partial differential equations for energy, momentum, and mass conservation to be replaced by a corresponding set of ordinary differential equations for the plasma properties averaged over the loop volume. The temporal profiles of plasma temperature, density, and velocity are calculated over a time interval long enough to ensure that pre-flare conditions are re-established. The model is used for the interpretation of stellar flare data. In particular, we derive a set of representative loop geometries and flare energy inputs which allows us to reproduce the high emission measures typically inferred from observations of stellar flares. 4 refs., 1 fig
Near-infrared observations of galaxies in Pisces-Perseus: I. H-band surface photometry of 174 spirals
We present near-infrared, H-band (1.65 um), surface photometry of 174 spiral
galaxies in the area of the Pisces-Perseus supercluster. The images, acquired
with the ARNICA camera mounted on various telescopes, are used to derive radial
profiles of surface brightness, ellipticities, and position angles, together
with global parameters such as H-band magnitudes and diameters. The mean
relation between H-band isophotal diameter D_{21.5} and the B-band D_{25}
implies a B-H color of the outer disk bluer than 3.5; moreover, D_{21.5}/D_{25}
depends on (global) color and absolute luminosity. The correlations among the
various photometric parameters suggest a ratio between isophotal radius
D_{21.5}/2 and disk scale length of about 3.5 and a mean disk central
brightness of 17.5 H-mag arcsec^{-2}. We confirm the trend of the concentration
index C_{31} with absolute luminosity and, to a lesser degree, with
morphological type. We also assess the influence of non-axisymmetric structures
on the radial profiles and on the derived parameters.Comment: 10 pages, 11 postscript figures (one table and one figure are
available only at the CDS); to be published on A&A
Photometric Redshifts for Galaxies in the GOODS Southern Field
We use extensive multi-wavelength photometric data from the Great
Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS) to estimate photometric redshifts for
a sample of 434 galaxies with spectroscopic redshifts in the Chandra Deep Field
South. Using the Bayesian method, which incorporates redshift/magnitude priors,
we estimate photometric redshifts for galaxies in the range 18 < R (AB) < 25.5,
giving an rms scatter of 0.11. The outlier fraction is < 10%, with the
outlier-clipped rms being 0.047. We examine the accuracy of photometric
redshifts for several, special sub--classes of objects. The results for
extremely red objects are more accurate than those for the sample as a whole,
with rms of 0.051 and very few outliers (3%). Photometric redshifts for active
galaxies, identified from their X-ray emission, have a dispersion of 0.104,
with 10% outlier fraction, similar to that for normal galaxies. Employing a
redshift/magnitude prior in this process seems to be crucial in improving the
agreement between photometric and spectroscopic redshifts.Comment: Accepted for publication in ApJ
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