339 research outputs found
The 2006 hot phase of Romano's star (GR 290) in M33
Understanding the nature of the instabilities of LBVs is important to
understand the late evolutionary stages of very massive stars.
We investigate the long term, S Dor-type variability of the luminous blue
variable GR290 (Romano's star) in M33, and its 2006 minimum phase.
New spectroscopic and photometric data taken in November and December 2006
were employed in conjunction with already published data on GR290 to derive the
physical structure of GR290 in different phases and the time scale of the
variability.
We find that by the end of 2006, GR 290 had reached the deepest visual
minimum so far recorded. Its present spectrum resembles closely that of the
Of/WN9 stars, and is the hottest so far recorded in this star (and in any LBV
as well), while its visual brightness decreased by about 1.4 mag.
This first spectroscopic record of GR290 during a minimum phase confirms
that, similarly to AG Car and other LBVs, the star is subject to ample S
Dor-type variations, being hotter at minimum, suggesting that the variations
take place at constant bolometric luminosity.Comment: 4 figures, 1 table, accepted for publication in A&A Letter
The origin of the supersoft X-ray--optical/UV flux anticorrelation in the symbiotic binary AG Draconis
AG Draconis produces a strong supersoft X-ray emission.The X-ray and
optical/UV fluxes are in a strict anticorrelation throughout the active and
quiescent phases. The aim of this contribution is to identify the source of the
X-ray emission and reveal the nature of the observed flux anticorrelation. For
this purpose we model the X-ray and UV observations with XMM-Newton, far-UV
spectroscopy from FUSE, low- and high-resolution IUE spectra and
optical/near-IR spectroscopic and/or photometric observations. Our analysis
showed that the supersoft X-ray emission is produced by the white dwarf
photosphere. The X-ray and far-UV fluxes make it possible to determine its
temperature unambiguously. The supersoft X-ray--optical/UV flux anticorrelation
is caused by the variable wind from the hot star. The enhanced hot star wind
gives rise to the optical bursts by reprocessing high-energy photons from the
Lyman continuum to the optical/UV.Comment: 9 pages, 2 figures, 3 tables. Submitted to AA on 25/11/2008, revised
on 27/05/200
A Flattened Protostellar Envelope in Absorption around L1157
Deep Spitzer IRAC images of L1157 reveal many of the details of the outflow
and the circumstellar environment of this Class 0 protostar. In IRAC band 4, 8
microns, there is a flattened structure seen in absorption against the
background emission. The structure is perpendicular to the outflow and is
extended to a diameter of 2 arcminutes. This structure is the first clear
detection of a flattened circumstellar envelope or pseudo-disk around a Class 0
protostar. Such a flattened morphology is an expected outcome for many collapse
theories that include magnetic fields or rotation. We construct an extinction
model for a power-law density profile, but we do not constrain the density
power-law index.Comment: ApJL accepte
Submillimeter CO emission from shock-heated gas in the L1157 outflow
We present the CO J=6-5, 4-3, and 3-2 spectra from the blueshifted gas of the
outflow driven by the low-mass class 0 protostar in the L1157 dark cloud.
Strong submillimeter CO emission lines with T_mb > 30 K have been detected at
63" (~0.13 pc) south from the protostar. It is remarkable that the blue wings
in the submillimeter lines are stronger by a factor of 3-4 than that of the CO
J=1-0 emission line. The CO line ratios suggest that the blueshifted lobe of
this outflow consists of moderately dense gas of n(H_2) = (1-3)x10^4 cm^-3
heated to T_kin = 50-170 K.It is also suggested that the kinetic temperature of
the outflowing gas increases from ~80 K near the protostar to ~170 K at the
shocked region in the lobe center, toward which the largest velocity dispersion
of the CO emission is observed. A remarkable correlation between the kinetic
temperature and velocity dispersion of the CO emission along the lobe provides
us with direct evidence that the molecular gas at the head of the jet-driven
bow shock is indeed heated kinematically. The lower temperature of ~80 K
measured at the other shocked region near the end of the lobe is explained if
this shock is in a later evolutionary stage, in which the gas has been cooled
mainly through radiation of the CO rotational lines.Comment: 10 pages, 4 PDF figures, APJL in pres
GR 290 (Romano's Star): 2. Light history and evolutionary state
We have built the historical light curve of the luminous variable GR 290 back
to 1901, from old observations of the star found in several archival plates of
M 33. These old recordings together with published and new data show that for
at least half a century the star was in a low luminosity state, with B ~18.
After 1960, five large variability cycles of visual luminosity were recorded.
The amplitude of the oscillations was seen increasing towards the 1992-1994
maximum, then decreasing during the last maxima. The recent light curve
indicates that the photometric variations have been quite similar in all the
bands, and that the B-V color index has been constant within +/-0.1 m despite
the 1.5m change of the visual luminosity. The spectrum of GR 290 at the large
maximum of 1992-94, was equivalent to late-B type, while, during 2002-2014, it
has varied between WN10h-11h near the visual maxima to WN8h-9h at the
luminosity minima. We have detected, during this same period, a clear
anti-correlation between the visual luminosity, the strength of the HeII 4686 A
emission line, the strength of the 4600-4700 A lines blend and the spectral
type. From a model analysis of the spectra collected during the whole 2002-2014
period we find that the Rosseland radius R_{2/3}, changed between the minimum
and maximum luminosity phases by a factor of 3, while T_eff varied between
about 33,000 K and 23,000 K. The bolometric luminosity of the star was not
constant, but increased by a factor of ~1.5 between minimum and maximum
luminosity, in phase with the apparent luminosity variations. In the light of
current evolutionary models of very massive stars, we find that GR 290 has
evolved from a ~60 M_Sun progenitor star and should have an age of about 4
million years. We argue that it has left the LBV stage and is moving to a
Wolf-Rayet stage of late nitrogen spectral type.Comment: Accepted on The Astronomical Journal, 10 figures. Replaced because
the previous uploaded file was that without the final small corrections
requested by the refere
The CHANDRA HETGS X-ray Grating Spectrum of Eta Car
Eta Car may be the most massive and luminous star in the Galaxy and is
suspected to be a massive, colliding wind binary system. The CHANDRA X-ray
observatory has obtained a calibrated, high-resolution X-ray spectrum of the
star uncontaminated by the nearby extended soft X-ray emisssion. Our 89 ksec
CHANDRA observation with the High Energy Transmission Grating Spectrometer
(HETGS) shows that the hot gas near the star is non-isothermal. The temperature
distribution may represent the emission on either side of the colliding wind
bow shock, effectively ``resolving'' the shock. If so, the pre-shock wind
velocities are ~ 700 and ~ 1800 km/s in our analysis, and these velocities may
be interpreted as the terminal velocities of the winds from Eta Car and from
the hidden companion star. The forbidden-to-intercombination (f/i) line ratios
for the He-like ions of S, Si and Fe are large, indicating that the line
forming region lies far from the stellar photosphere. The iron fluorescent line
at 1.93 Angstrom, first detected by ASCA, is clearly resolved from the thermal
iron line in the CHANDRA grating spectrum. The Fe fluorescent line is weaker in
our CHANDRA observation than in any of the ASCA spectra. The CHANDRA
observation also provides an uninterrupted high-time resolution lightcurve of
the stellar X-ray emission from Eta Car and suggests that there was no
significant, coherent variability during the CHANDRA observation. The Eta Car
CHANDRA grating spectrum is unlike recently published X-ray grating spectra of
single massive stars in significant ways and is generally consistent with
colliding wind emission in a massive binary.Comment: revised after comments from referee and includes a new variability
analysis, taking into account the effects of CCD pileu
The sensitivity of a specific denitrification rate under the dissolved oxygen pressure
The biological denitrification process is extensively discussed in scientific literature. The process requires anoxic conditions, but the influence of residual dissolved oxygen (DO) on the efficiency is not yet adequately documented. The present research aims to fill this gap by highlighting the effects of DO on the specific denitrification rate (SDNR) and consequently on the efficiency of the process. SDNR at a temperature of 20◦C (SDNR20◦C) is the parameter normally used for the sizing of the denitrification reactor in biological-activated sludge processes. A sensitivity analysis of SNDR20◦C to DO variations is developed. For this purpose, two of the main empirical models illustrated in the scientific literature are taken into consideration, with the addition of a deterministic third model proposed by the authors and validated by recent experimentations on several full-scale plants. In the first two models, SDNR20◦C is expressed as a function of the only variable food:microrganism ratio in denitrification (F:MDEN), while in the third one, the dependence on DO is made explicit. The sensitivity analysis highlights all the significant dependence of SDNR20◦C on DO characterized by a logarithmic decrease with a very pronounced gradient in correspondence with low DO concentrations. Moreover, the analysis demonstrates the relatively small influence of F:MDEN on the SDNR20◦C and on the correlation between SDNR20◦C and DO. The results confirm the great importance of minimizing DO and limiting, as much as possible, the transport of oxygen in the denitrification reactor through the incoming flows and mainly the mixed liquor recycle. Solutions to achieve this result in full-scale plants are reported
- …