On the Origin of the Type Ia Supernova Width-Luminosity Relation

Brighter Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have broader, more slowly declining B-band light curves than dimmer SNe Ia. We study the physical origin of this width-luminosity relation (WLR) using detailed radiative transfer calculations of Chandrasekhar mass SN Ia models. We find that the luminosity dependence of the diffusion time (emphasized in previous studies) is in fact of secondary relevance in understanding the model WLR. Instead, the essential physics involves the luminosity dependence of the spectroscopic/color evolution of SNe Ia. Following maximum-light, the SN colors are increasingly affected by the development of numerous Fe II/Co II lines which blanket the B-band and, at the same time, increase the emissivity at longer wavelengths. Because dimmer SNe Ia are generally cooler, they experience an earlier onset of Fe III to Fe II recombination in the iron-group rich layers of ejecta, resulting in a more rapid evolution of the SN colors to the red. The faster B-band decline rate of dimmer SNe Ia thus reflects their faster ionization evolution.Comment: 6 pages, submitted to Ap

Optimization of exposure time division for wide field observations

The optical observations of wide fields of view encounter the problem of selection of best exposure time. As there are usually plenty of objects observed simultaneously, the quality of photometry of the brightest ones is always better than of the dimmer ones. Frequently all of them are equally interesting for the astronomers and thus it is desired to have all of them measured with the highest possible accuracy. In this paper we present a novel optimization algorithm dedicated for the division of exposure time into sub-exposures, which allows to perform photometry with more balanced noise budget. Thanks to the proposed technique, the photometric precision of dimmer objects is increased at the expense of the measurement fidelity of the brightest ones. We tested the method on real observations using two telescope setups demonstrating its usefulness and good agreement with the theoretical expectations. The main application of our approach is a wide range of sky surveys, including the ones performed by the space telescopes. The method can be applied for planning virtually any photometric observations, in which the objects of interest show a wide range of magnitudes.Comment: 18 pages, 5 figure

Triggering one dimensional phase transition with defects at the graphene zigzag edge

One well-known argument about one dimensional(1D) system is that 1D phase transition at finite temperature cannot exist, despite this concept depends on conditions such as range of interaction, external fields and periodicity. Therefore 1D systems usually have random fluctuations with intrinsic domain walls arising which naturally bring disorder during transition. Herein we introduce a real 1D system in which artificially created defects can induce a well-defined 1D phase transition. The dynamics of structural reconstructions at graphene zigzag edges are examined by in situ aberration corrected transmission electron microscopy (ACTEM). Combined with an in-depth analysis by ab-initio simulations and quantum chemical molecular dynamics (QM/MD), the complete defect induced 1D phase transition dynamics at graphene zigzag edge is clearly demonstrated and understood on the atomic scale. Further, following this phase transition scheme, graphene nanoribbons (GNR) with different edge symmetries can be fabricated, and according to our electronic structure and quantum transport calculations, a metal-insulator-semiconductor transition for ultrathin GNRs is proposed.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Properties of SN-host galaxies

It is of prime importance to recognize evolution and extinction effects in supernovae results as a function of redshift, for SN Ia to be considered as distance indicators. This review surveys all observational data searching for an evolution and/or extinction, according to host morphology. For instance, it has been observed that high-z SNe Ia have bluer colours than the local ones: although this goes against extinction to explain why SN are dimmer with redshift until z ~ 1, supporting a decelerating universe, it also demonstrates intrinsic evolution effects. -- SNe Ia could evolve because the age and metallicity of their progenitors evolve. The main parameter is carbon abundance. Smaller C leads to a dimmer SN Ia and also less scatter on peak brightness, as it is the case in elliptical galaxy today. Age of the progenitor is an important factor: young populations lead to brighter SNe Ia, as in spiral galaxies, and a spread in ages lead to a larger scatter, explaining the observed lower scatter at high z. -- Selection biases also play a role, like the Malmquist bias; high-z SNe Ia are found at larger distance from their host center: there is more obscuration in the center, and also detection is easier with no contamination from the center. This might be one of the reason why less obscuration has been found for SNe Ia at high z. -- There is clearly a sample evolution with z: currently only the less bright SNe Ia are detected at high z, with less scatter. The brightest objects have a slowly declining light-curve, and at high z, no slow decline has been observed. This may be interpreted as an age effect, high-z SN having younger progenitors.Comment: 10 pages, 5 figures, review paper in "Supernovae and dust" (Paris, May 2003), to be published by New Astronomy Review

Average Emissivity Curve of BATSE Gamma-Ray Bursts with Different Intensities

Six intensity groups with ~150 BATSE gamma-ray bursts each are compared using average emissivity curves. Time-stretch factors for each of the dimmer groups are estimated with respect to the brightest group, which serves as the reference, taking into account the systematics of counts-produced noise effects and choice statistics. A stretching/intensity anti-correlation is found with good statistical significance during the average back slopes of bursts. A stretch factor ~2 is found between the 150 dimmest bursts, with peak flux 4.1 ph cm^{-2} s^{-1}. On the other hand, while a trend of increasing stretching factor may exist for rise fronts for burst with decreasing peak flux from >4.1 ph cm^{-2} s^{-1} down to 0.7 ph cm^{-2} s^{-1}, the magnitude of the stretching factor is less than ~ 1.4 and is therefore inconsistent with stretching factor of back slope.Comment: 21 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to Ap

Shaping the import system of mitochondria

Evidence is accumulating that unrelated species have independently evolved the same way of importing proteins in their mitochondria