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Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons

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Astrophysics and Astronomy

Swarthmore College

2009

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Discovery Of A Magnetic Field In The O9 Sub-Giant Star Hd 57682 By The Mimes Collaboration, J. H. Grunhut, G. A. Wade, W. L.F. Marcolino, V. Petit, H. F. Henrichs, David H. Cohen, E. Alecian, D. A. Bohlender, J.-C. Bouret, O. Kochukhov, C. Neiner, N. St. Louis, R. H.D. Townsend Nov 2009

Discovery Of A Magnetic Field In The O9 Sub-Giant Star Hd 57682 By The Mimes Collaboration, J. H. Grunhut, G. A. Wade, W. L.F. Marcolino, V. Petit, H. F. Henrichs, David H. Cohen, E. Alecian, D. A. Bohlender, J.-C. Bouret, O. Kochukhov, C. Neiner, N. St. Louis, R. H.D. Townsend

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

We report the detection of a strong, organized magnetic field in the O9IV star HD 57682, using spectropolarimetric observations obtained with ESPaDOnS at the 3.6-m Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope within the context of the Magnetism in Massive Stars (MiMeS) Large Programme. From the fitting of our spectra using non-local thermodynamic equilibrium model atmospheres, we determined that HD 57682 is a 17(-9)(+19)M(circle dot) star with a radius of 7.0(-1.8)(+2.4)R(circle dot) and a relatively low mass-loss rate of 1.4(-0.95)(+3.1) x 10(-9) M(circle dot) yr(-1). The photospheric absorption lines are narrow, and we use the Fourier transform technique to infer v sin i = 15 …


No Transition Disk? Infrared Excess, Pah, H-2, And X-Rays From The Weak-Lined T Tauri Star Doar 21, Eric L.N. Jensen, David H. Cohen, M. Gagné Sep 2009

No Transition Disk? Infrared Excess, Pah, H-2, And X-Rays From The Weak-Lined T Tauri Star Doar 21, Eric L.N. Jensen, David H. Cohen, M. Gagné

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

As part of a program to understand disk dispersal and the interplay between circumstellar disks and X-ray emission, we present new high-resolution mid-infrared (IR) imaging, high-resolution optical spectroscopy, and Chandra grating X-ray spectroscopy of the weak-lined T Tauri star DoAr 21. DoAr 21 (age < 10(6) yr and mass similar to 2.2M(circle dot) based on evolutionary tracks) is a strong X-ray emitter, with conflicting evidence in the literature about its disk properties. It shows weak but broad H alpha emission (reported here for the first time since the 1950s); polarimetric variability; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) and H-2 emission; and a strong, spatially resolved 24 mu m excess in archival Spitzer photometry. Gemini sub-arcsecond-resolution 9-18 mu m images show that there is little or no excess mid-IR emission within 100 AU of the star; the excess emission is extended over several arcseconds and is quite asymmetric. The extended emission is bright in the ultraviolet (UV)-excited lambda = 11.3 mu m PAH emission feature. A new high-resolution X-ray grating spectrum from Chandra shows that the stellar X-ray emission is very hard and dominated by continuum emission; it is well fit by a multi-temperature thermal model, typical of hard coronal sources, and shows no evidence of unusually high densities. A flare during the X-ray observation shows a temperature approaching 10(8) K. We argue that the far-UV emission from the transition region is sufficient to excite the observed extended PAH and continuum emission, and that the H-2 emission may be similarly extended and excited. While this extended emission may be a disk in the final stages of clearing, it also could be more akin to a small-scale photodissociation region than a protoplanetary disk, highlighting both the very young ages (<10(6) yr) at which some stars are found without disks and the extreme radiation environment around even late-type pre-main-sequence stars.


Modelling, Design And Diagnostics For A Photoionised Plasma Experiment, I. M. Hall, T. Turmaz, R. C. Mancini, J. E. Bailey, G. Rochau, Michael Jonathan Rosenberg , '08, David H. Cohen, I. Golovkin, J. J. Macfarlane, M. E. Sherril, J. Abdallah, R. F. Heeter, M. E. Foord, S. H. Glenzer, H. A. Scott Aug 2009

Modelling, Design And Diagnostics For A Photoionised Plasma Experiment, I. M. Hall, T. Turmaz, R. C. Mancini, J. E. Bailey, G. Rochau, Michael Jonathan Rosenberg , '08, David H. Cohen, I. Golovkin, J. J. Macfarlane, M. E. Sherril, J. Abdallah, R. F. Heeter, M. E. Foord, S. H. Glenzer, H. A. Scott

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Photoionised plasmas are common in astrophysical environments and new high resolution spectra from such sources have been recorded in recent years by the Chandra and XMM-Newton satellites. These provide a wealth of spectroscopic information and have motivated recent efforts aimed at obtaining a detailed understanding of the atomic-kinetic and radiative characteristics of photoionised plasmas. The Z-pinch facility at the Sandia National Laboratories is the most powerful terrestrial source of X-rays and provides an opportunity to produce photoionised plasmas in a well characterised radiation environment. We present modelling work and experimental design considerations for a forthcoming experiment at Sandia in which …


Spectroscopic Measurements Of Temperature And Plasma Impurity Concentration During Magnetic Reconnection At The Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment, Vernon Hampden Chaplin , '07, Michael R. Brown, David H. Cohen, T. Gray, C. D. Cothran Apr 2009

Spectroscopic Measurements Of Temperature And Plasma Impurity Concentration During Magnetic Reconnection At The Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment, Vernon Hampden Chaplin , '07, Michael R. Brown, David H. Cohen, T. Gray, C. D. Cothran

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Electron temperature measurements during counterhelicity spheromak merging studies at the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) [M. R. Brown, Phys. Plasmas 6, 1717 (1999)] are presented. VUV monochromator measurements of impurity emission lines are compared with model spectra produced by the non-LTE excitation kinematics code PRISMSPECT [J. J. MacFarlane et al., in Proceedings of the Third Conference on Inertial Fusion Science and Applications (2004)] to yield the electron temperature in the plasma with 1 mu s time resolution. Average T(e) is seen to increase from 12 to 19 eV during spheromak merging. Average C III ion temperature, measured with a new ion …


X-Ray Spectroscopy Of The Radiation-Driven Winds Of Massive Stars: Line Profile And Line Ratio Diagnostics, David H. Cohen Jan 2009

X-Ray Spectroscopy Of The Radiation-Driven Winds Of Massive Stars: Line Profile And Line Ratio Diagnostics, David H. Cohen

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Massive stars drive powerful, supersonic winds via the radiative momentum associated with the thermal UV emission from their photospheres. Shock phenomena are ubiquitous in these winds, heating them to millions, and sometimes tens of millions, of degrees. The emission line spectra from the shock-heated plasma provide powerful diagnostics of the winds' physical conditions, which in turn provide constraints on models of wind shock heating. Here I show how x-ray line transfer is affected by photoelectric absorption in the partially ionized component of the wind and how it can be modeled to determine the astrophysically important mass-loss rates of these stellar …


3d Reconnection And Flow Dynamics In The Ssx Experiment, Michael R. Brown, C. D. Cothran, David H. Cohen, Jason Alexander Horwitz , '07, Vernon Hampden Chaplin , '07 Jan 2009

3d Reconnection And Flow Dynamics In The Ssx Experiment, Michael R. Brown, C. D. Cothran, David H. Cohen, Jason Alexander Horwitz , '07, Vernon Hampden Chaplin , '07

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Works

Several new experimental results are reported from plasma merging studies at the Swarthmore Spheromak Experiment (SSX) with relevance to collisionless three-dimensional magnetic reconnection in laboratory and space plasmas. First, recent high-resolution velocity measurements of impurity ions using ion Doppler spectroscopy (IDS) show bi-directional outflow jets at 40 km/s (nearly the Alfven speed). The SSX IDS instrument measures with 1 mu s or better time resolution the width and Doppler shift of the C-III impurity (H plasma) 229.7 nm line to determine the temperature and line-averaged flow velocity during spheromak merging events. High flow speeds are corroborated using an in situ …