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Spitzer White Dwarf Planet Limits, F. Mullally, Ted Von Hippel, D. E. Winget Oct 2006

Spitzer White Dwarf Planet Limits, F. Mullally, Ted Von Hippel, D. E. Winget

Publications

We present preliminary limits on the presence of planets around white dwarf stars using the IRAC photometer on the Spitzer space telescope. Planets emit strongly in the mid-infrared which allows their presence to be detected as an excess at these wavelengths. We place limits of 5 MJ for 8 stars assuming ages of 1 Gyr, and 10 MJ for 23 stars.We describe our survey, present our results and comment on approaches to improve our methodology.


Cluster Observations Of Reconnection Due To The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability At The Dawnside Magnetospheric Flank, K. Nykyri, A. Otto, B. Lavraud, C. Mouikis, L. M. Kistler, A. Balogh, H. Rème Oct 2006

Cluster Observations Of Reconnection Due To The Kelvin-Helmholtz Instability At The Dawnside Magnetospheric Flank, K. Nykyri, A. Otto, B. Lavraud, C. Mouikis, L. M. Kistler, A. Balogh, H. Rème

Publications

On 3 July 2001, the four Cluster satellites traversed along the dawnside magnetospheric flank and observed large variations in all plasma parameters. The estimated magnetopause boundary normals were oscillating in the z-direction and the normal component of the magnetic field showed systematic ~2–3 min bipolar variations for 1 h when the IMF had a small positive bz-component and a Parker-spiral orientation in the x, y-plane. Brief ~33 s intervals with excellent deHoffman Teller frames were observed satisfying the Wal´en relation. Detailed comparisons with 2- D MHD simulations indicate that Cluster encountered rotational discontinuities generated by Kelvin-Helmholtz instability. We estimate a …


Signals For Lorentz Violation In Post-Newtonian Gravity, Quentin G. Bailey, V. Alan Kostelecký Aug 2006

Signals For Lorentz Violation In Post-Newtonian Gravity, Quentin G. Bailey, V. Alan Kostelecký

Publications

The pure-gravity sector of the minimal standard-model extension is studied in the limit of Riemann spacetime. A method is developed to extract the modified Einstein field equations in the limit of small metric fluctuations about the Minkowski vacuum, while allowing for the dynamics of the 20 independent coefficients for Lorentz violation. The linearized effective equations are solved to obtain the post-Newtonian metric. The corresponding post-Newtonian behavior of a perfect fluid is studied and applied to the gravitating many-body system. Illustrative examples of the methodology are provided using bumblebee models. The implications of the general theoretical results are studied for a …


Debris Disks Around White Dwarfs: The Daz Connection, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Jul 2006

Debris Disks Around White Dwarfs: The Daz Connection, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We present near-infrared spectroscopic observations of 20 previously known DAZ white dwarfs obtained at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. Two of these white dwarfs (G29-38 and GD 362) are known to display significant K-band excesses due to circumstellar debris disks. Here we report the discovery of excess K-band radiation from another DAZ white dwarf WD0408041 (GD56). Using spectroscopic observations, we show that the excess radiation cannot be explained by a stellar or substellar companion, and is likely to be caused by a warm debris disk. Our observations strengthen the connection between the debris disk phenomena and the observed …


Inverting Color-Magnitude Diagrams To Access Precise Star Cluster Parameters: A Bayesian Approach, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. Jul 2006

Inverting Color-Magnitude Diagrams To Access Precise Star Cluster Parameters: A Bayesian Approach, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We demonstrate a new Bayesian technique to invert color-magnitude diagrams of main-sequence and white dwarf stars to reveal the underlying cluster properties of age, distance, metallicity, and line-of-sight absorption, as well as individual stellar masses. The advantages our technique has over traditional analyses of color-magnitude diagrams are objectivity, precision, and explicit dependence on prior knowledge of cluster parameters. Within the confines of a given set of often-used models of stellar evolution, a single mapping of initial to final masses, and white dwarf cooling, and assuming photometric errors that one could reasonably achieve with the Hubble Space Telescope, our technique …


Book Review: Evolution Of Stars And Stellar Populations, T. D. Oswalt Jul 2006

Book Review: Evolution Of Stars And Stellar Populations, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of Evolution of Stars and Stellar Populations by Maurizio Salaris and Santi Cassisi Wiley, 2005 374p, 047009219X $150.00, 047009219X $60.00


Lp 400-22, A Very Low Mass And High-Velocity White Dwarf, Adela Kawka, Stephane Vennes, Terry D. Oswalt, J. Allyn Smith, Nicole M. Silvestri Jun 2006

Lp 400-22, A Very Low Mass And High-Velocity White Dwarf, Adela Kawka, Stephane Vennes, Terry D. Oswalt, J. Allyn Smith, Nicole M. Silvestri

Publications

We report the identification of LP 400-22 (WD 2234 + 222) as a very low mass and high-velocity white dwarf. The ultraviolet GALEX and optical photometric colors and a spectral line analysis of LP 400-22 show this star to have an effective temperature of 11,080 ± 140 K and a surface gravity of log g p 6.32 ± 0.08. Therefore, this is a helium-core white dwarf with a mass of 0.17 M. The tangential velocity of this white dwarf is 414 ± 43 km s-1, making it one of the fastest moving white dwarfs known. We …


The Mystery Deepens: Spitzer Observations Of Cool White Dwarfs, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al. May 2006

The Mystery Deepens: Spitzer Observations Of Cool White Dwarfs, Mukremin Kilic, Ted Von Hippel, Et Al.

Publications

We present 4.5 and 8 µm photometric observations of 18 cool white dwarfs obtained with the Spitzer Space Telescope. Our observations demonstrate that four white dwarfs with Teᶠᶠ < 6000 K show slightly depressed mid-infrared fluxes relative to white dwarf models. In addition, another white dwarf with a peculiar optical and near-infrared spectral energy distribution (LHS 1126) is found to display significant flux deficits in Spitzer observations. These mid-infrared flux deficits are not predicted by the current white dwarf models including collision-induced absorption due to molecular hydrogen. We postulate that either the collision-induced absorption calculations are incomplete or there are other unrecognized physical processes occurring in cool white dwarf atmospheres. The spectral energy distribution of LHS 1126 surprisingly fits a Rayleigh-Jeans spectrum in the infrared, mimicking a hot white dwarf with effective temperature well in excess of 105 K. This implies that the source of this flux deficit is probably not molecular absorption but some other process.


Origin Of The Turbulent Spectra In The High-Altitude Cusp: Cluster Spacecraft Observations, K. Nykyri, B. Grison, P. J. Cargill, B. Lavraud, E. Lucek, I. Dandouras, A. Balogh, N. Cornilleau-Wehrlin, H. Reme May 2006

Origin Of The Turbulent Spectra In The High-Altitude Cusp: Cluster Spacecraft Observations, K. Nykyri, B. Grison, P. J. Cargill, B. Lavraud, E. Lucek, I. Dandouras, A. Balogh, N. Cornilleau-Wehrlin, H. Reme

Publications

High-resolution magnetic field data from Cluster Flux GateMagnetometer (FGM) and the Spatio-Temporal Analysis of Field Fluctuations (STAFF) instruments are used to study turbulent magnetic field fluctuations during the highaltitude cusp crossing on 17 March 2001. Despite the quiet solar wind conditions, the cusp was filled with magnetic field turbulence whose power correlates with the field-aligned ion plasma flux. The magnetic field wave spectra shows power law behavior with both double and single slopes with break in the spectra usually occurring in the vicinity of the local ion cyclotron frequency. Strong peaks in the wave power close to local ion cyclotron …


The Clock Paradox In A Static Homogeneous Gravitational Field, Preston Jones, Lucas F. Wanex Feb 2006

The Clock Paradox In A Static Homogeneous Gravitational Field, Preston Jones, Lucas F. Wanex

Publications

The gedanken experiment of the clock paradox is solved exactly using the general relativistic equations for a static homogeneous gravitational field. We demonstrate that the general and special relativistic clock paradox solutions are identical and in particular that they are identical for finite acceleration. Practical expressions are obtained for proper time and coordinate time by using the destination distance as the key observable parameter. This solution provides a formal demonstration of the identity between the special and general relativistic clock paradox with finite acceleration and where proper time is assumed to be the same in both formalisms. By solving the …


Cool White Dwarfs In The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Mukremin Kilic, Jeffrey A. Munn, Hugh C. Harris, James W. Liebert, Ted Von Hippel, Kurtis A. Williams, Travis S. Metcalfe, D. E. Winget, Stephen E. Levine Jan 2006

Cool White Dwarfs In The Sloan Digital Sky Survey, Mukremin Kilic, Jeffrey A. Munn, Hugh C. Harris, James W. Liebert, Ted Von Hippel, Kurtis A. Williams, Travis S. Metcalfe, D. E. Winget, Stephen E. Levine

Publications

A reduced proper motion diagram utilizing Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) photometry and astrometry and USNO-B plate astrometry is used to separate cool white dwarf candidates from metal-weak, high-velocity, mainsequence Population II stars (subdwarfs) in the SDSS Data Release 2 imaging area. Follow-up spectroscopy using the Hobby-Eberly Telescope, the MMT, and the McDonald 2.7 m telescope is used to demonstrate that the white dwarf and subdwarf loci separate cleanly in the reduced proper motion diagram and that the contamination by subdwarfs is small near the cool white dwarf locus. This enables large, statistically complete samples of white dwarfs, particularly the …


The White Dwarf Luminosity Function From Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data, Hugh C. Harris, Jeffrey A. Munn, Mukremin Kilic, James W. Liebert, Kurtis A. Williams, Ted Von Hippel, Stephen E. Levine, David G. Monet, Daniel J. Eisenstein, S. J. Kleinman, T. S. Metcalfe, Atsuko Nikka, D. E. Winget, J. Brinkmann, Masataka Fukugita, G. R. Knapp, Robert H. Lupton, J. Allyn Smith, Donald P. Schneider Jan 2006

The White Dwarf Luminosity Function From Sloan Digital Sky Survey Imaging Data, Hugh C. Harris, Jeffrey A. Munn, Mukremin Kilic, James W. Liebert, Kurtis A. Williams, Ted Von Hippel, Stephen E. Levine, David G. Monet, Daniel J. Eisenstein, S. J. Kleinman, T. S. Metcalfe, Atsuko Nikka, D. E. Winget, J. Brinkmann, Masataka Fukugita, G. R. Knapp, Robert H. Lupton, J. Allyn Smith, Donald P. Schneider

Publications

A sample of white dwarfs is selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) Data Release 3 using their reduced proper motions, based on improved proper motions from combined SDSS and USNO-B data. Numerous SDSS and follow-up spectra (Kilic and coworkers) are used to quantify completeness and contamination of the sample; kinematicsmodels are used to understand and correct for velocity-dependent selection biases.A luminosity function is constructed covering the range 7 < Mbol < 16, and its sensitivity to various assumptions and selection limits is discussed. The white dwarf luminosity function based on 6000 stars is remarkably smooth and rises nearly monotonically to Mbol=15.3. It then drops abruptly, although the small number of low-luminosity stars in the sample and their unknown atmospheric composition prevent quantitative conclusions about this decline. Stars …


Book Review: The Amateur Astronomer's Introduction To The Celestial Sphere, T. D. Oswalt Jan 2006

Book Review: The Amateur Astronomer's Introduction To The Celestial Sphere, T. D. Oswalt

Publications

This document is Dr. Oswalt’s review of The Amateur Astronomer's Introduction to the Celestial Sphere by William Millar. Cambridge, 2006 299p, 052167123X $40.00, 9780521671231 $40.00.