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Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy Commons™

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1998

Articles 1 - 23 of 23

Full-Text Articles in Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy

Cluster Versus Field Elliptical Galaxies And Clues On Their Formation, Mariangela Bernardi, Alvio Renzini, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner Dec 1998

Cluster Versus Field Elliptical Galaxies And Clues On Their Formation, Mariangela Bernardi, Alvio Renzini, Luiz N. Da Costa, Gary Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Using new observations for a sample of 931 early-type galaxies, we investigate whether the Mg2-σ0 relation shows any dependence on the local environment. The galaxies have been assigned to three different environments depending on the local overdensity (clusters, groups, and field); we used our complete redshift database to guide the assignment of galaxies. It is found that cluster, group, and field early-type galaxies follow almost identical Mg2-σ0 relations, with the largest Mg2 zero-point difference (clusters minus field) being only 0.007±0.002 mag. No correlation of the residuals is found with the morphological type or …

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A Search For Lithium-Rich Giants Among Stars With Infrared Excesses, Francis C. Fekel, Lyndon C. Watson Nov 1998

A Search For Lithium-Rich Giants Among Stars With Infrared Excesses, Francis C. Fekel, Lyndon C. Watson

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

The unusual nature of the single, rapidly rotating, lithium-rich K giant HDE 233517, which is currently undergoing significant mass loss, prompted a search for giants with similar properties. High-dispersion spectroscopic observations were obtained of HD 219025, a known lithium-rich infrared-excess giant, plus 39 stars from a list of G and K giants with excess far-infrared emission. The projected rotational velocities of the vast majority of infrared-excess giants appear to be similar to those of normal G and K giants. Six giants have lithium abundances at or above theoretical upper envelope values. The percentage of such stars in the sample of …

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Hubble Space Telescope Images And Spectra Of The Remnant Of Sn 1885 In M31, Robert A. Fesen, Christopher L. Gerardy, Kevin M. Mclin, Andrew J. S. Hamilton Oct 1998

Hubble Space Telescope Images And Spectra Of The Remnant Of Sn 1885 In M31, Robert A. Fesen, Christopher L. Gerardy, Kevin M. Mclin, Andrew J. S. Hamilton

Dartmouth Scholarship

Near-UV Hubble Space Telescope images of the remnant of SN 1885 (S And) in M31 show a 070±005 diameter absorption disk silhouetted against M31's central bulge, at SN 1885's historically reported position. The disk's size corresponds to a linear diameter of 2.5±0.4 pc at a distance of 725±70 kpc, implying an average expansion velocity of 11,000±2000 km s-1 over 110 yr. Low-dispersion Faint Object Spectrograph spectra over 3200-4800 Å reveal that the absorption arises principally from Ca II H and K (equivalent width 215 Å), with weaker absorption features of Ca I 4227 Å and Fe I 3720 Å. The …

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Wiyn Open Cluster Study. I. Deep Photometry Of Ngc188, Ted Von Hippel, Ata Sarajedini Oct 1998

Wiyn Open Cluster Study. I. Deep Photometry Of Ngc188, Ted Von Hippel, Ata Sarajedini

Publications

We have employed precise and carefully calibrated V - and I - band photometry of NGC 188 at WIYN Observatory to explore the cluster luminosity function (LF) and study the cluster white dwarfs. Our photometry is offset by V = 0.052 (fainter) from that of Sandage and Eggen & Sandage. All published photometry for the past three decades has been based on these two calibrations, which are in error by 0.05 ± 0.01. We employ the Pinsonneault et al. fiducial open cluster main sequence to derive a distance modulus of 11.43 ± 0.08 and E(B - V )=0.09, with …

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"Wcfields": A Magnetic Rotating Stellar Wind Model From Wind Compression Theory., R. Ignace, J. P. Cassinelli, J. E. Bjorkman Sep 1998

"Wcfields": A Magnetic Rotating Stellar Wind Model From Wind Compression Theory., R. Ignace, J. P. Cassinelli, J. E. Bjorkman

Richard Ignace

A stellar wind model for a magnetic rotating star is presented. We use the semianalytic wind compression model that predicts the two-dimensional geometry of outflows from rotating stars and consider the addition of a magnetic field. In the limit of weak magnetic fields, in such a way that the fields are unimportant in accelerating the flow, the wind compression model can be used to predict the magnetic field distribution throughout the wind, which is shown to follow the mass flux distribution. A compression of field lines near the equator results as the flow of material from higher latitudes brings magnetic …

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Emission Line Profile Shapes From Anisotropic Scattering In Planar Equatorial Disks., R. Ignace Aug 1998

Emission Line Profile Shapes From Anisotropic Scattering In Planar Equatorial Disks., R. Ignace

Richard Ignace

The consequences of anisotropic resonance line scattering for the emission profiles of equatorial disks are considered. In particular the opportunity to infer the disk velocity field owing to the anisotropic scattering is discussed. Analytic expressions for the profile shapes are derived for the cases of constant expansion and rotation, and numerical results are given for more realistic disk velocity fields of linear expansion and Keplerian rotation. The essential result is that the anisotropic line scattering produces a different profile signature in expanding disks as compared to rotating disks, owing to the difference in the isovelocity pattern of the two cases …

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Inference Of Steady Stellar Wind V(R) Laws From Optically Thin Emission Lines Iii. Inversion Of Total Line Intensity Distributions., R. Ignace, J. C. Brown, J. E. Milne, J. P. Cassinelli Aug 1998

Inference Of Steady Stellar Wind V(R) Laws From Optically Thin Emission Lines Iii. Inversion Of Total Line Intensity Distributions., R. Ignace, J. C. Brown, J. E. Milne, J. P. Cassinelli

Richard Ignace

The variation with wavelength for a sequence of total intensities of stellar wind lines is considered as a basis for deriving the wind velocity law v(r). In particular, we focus on the case where the continuum formation in the wind is dominated by the free-free opacity so that the inner radius increases with wavelength, as is realized in some massive winds like those of the Wolf-Rayet stars. The line emission in the wind occurs exterior to the continuum photosphere, hence lines observed at different wavelengths probe different regions of the wind acceleration. A major consequence of these physical conditions is …

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Detection Of Intergalactic Red-Giant-Branch Stars In The Virgo Cluster, Henry C. Ferguson, Ted Von Hippel, Nial R. Tanvir Aug 1998

Detection Of Intergalactic Red-Giant-Branch Stars In The Virgo Cluster, Henry C. Ferguson, Ted Von Hippel, Nial R. Tanvir

Publications

It has been suspected for nearly 50 years that clusters of galaxies contain a population of intergalactic stars, ripped from galaxies during cluster formation or when the galaxies’ orbits take them through the cluster center. Support for the existence of such a population of free-floating stars comes from measurements of the diffuse light in clusters and from recent detections of planetary nebulae with positions and/or velocities far removed from any observed cluster galaxy. 10 , 11 But estimates for the mass of the diffuse population and its distribution relative to the galaxies are still highly uncertain. Here we report the …

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Semi-Automated Extraction Of Digital Objective Prism Spectra, Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones, Ted Von Hippel, Mike Irwin Aug 1998

Semi-Automated Extraction Of Digital Objective Prism Spectra, Coryn A.L. Bailer-Jones, Ted Von Hippel, Mike Irwin

Publications

We describe a method for the extraction of spectra from high dispersion objective prism plates. Our method is a catalogue driven plate solution approach, making use of the Right Ascension and Declination coordinates for the target objects. In contrast to existing methods of photographic plate reduction, we digitize the entire plate and extract spectra off-line. This approach has the advantages that it can be applied to CCD objective prism images, and spectra can be re-extracted (or additional spectra extracted) without having to re-scan the plate. After a brief initial interactive period, the subsequent reduction procedure is completely automatic, resulting in …

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Production Of Energy-Dependent Time Delays In Impulsive Solar Flare Hard X-Ray Emission By Short-Duration Spectral Index Variations, Ted N. La Rosa, Steven N. Shore Aug 1998

Production Of Energy-Dependent Time Delays In Impulsive Solar Flare Hard X-Ray Emission By Short-Duration Spectral Index Variations, Ted N. La Rosa, Steven N. Shore

Faculty and Research Publications

Cross-correlation techniques have been used recently to study the relative timing of solar flare hard X-ray emission at different energies. These studies find that for the majority of the impulsive flares observed with BATSE there is a systematic time delay of a few tens of milliseconds between low (approximate to 50 keV) and higher energy emission (approximate to 100 keV). These time delays have been interpreted as energy-dependent time-of-flight differences for electron propagation from the corona, where they are accelerated, to the chromosphere, where the bulk of the hard X-rays are emitted. We show in this paper that crosscorrelation methods …

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Hot White Dwarfs In The Extreme ‐ Ultraviolet Explorer Survey. Iv. Da White Dwarfs With Bright Companions, Stephane Vennes, Damian J. Christian, John R. Thorstensen Aug 1998

Hot White Dwarfs In The Extreme ‐ Ultraviolet Explorer Survey. Iv. Da White Dwarfs With Bright Companions, Stephane Vennes, Damian J. Christian, John R. Thorstensen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present an analysis of optical, ultraviolet, and X-ray spectral properties of a sample of 13 hot hydrogen-rich (DA) white dwarfs, each paired with a luminous unresolved companion. Using low-dispersion International Ultraviolet Explorer spectra, ROSAT photometry, and Extreme-Ultraviolet Explorer photometry and spectroscopy, we estimate the effective temperature, mass, and distance of the white dwarfs. Additionally, we examine the question of their atmospheric composition. We establish orbital properties for most binaries by means of high-dispersion optical spectroscopy obtained with the Hamilton echelle spectrograph at Lick Observatory; the same data help uncover evidence of activity in some of the secondary …

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Aquila X-1: A Low-Inclination Soft X-Ray Transient, T. Shahbaz, J. R. Thorstensen, P. A. Charles, N. D. Sherman Jun 1998

Aquila X-1: A Low-Inclination Soft X-Ray Transient, T. Shahbaz, J. R. Thorstensen, P. A. Charles, N. D. Sherman

Dartmouth Scholarship

We have obtained I-band photometry of the neutron star X-ray transient Aql X-1 during quiescence. We find a periodicity at 2.487 cycles d−1, which we interpret as twice the orbital frequency (19.30±0.05 h). Folding the data on the orbital period, we model the light-curve variations as the ellipsoidal modulation of the secondary star. We determine the binary inclination to be 20°–30° (90 per cent confidence) and also determine the 95 per cent upper limits to the radial velocity semi-amplitude and rotational broadening of the secondary star to be 117 and 50 km s−1, respectively.

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Physical Properties Of The Binary Star 12 Persei, David J. Barlow, Colin D. Scarfe, Francis C. Fekel Jun 1998

Physical Properties Of The Binary Star 12 Persei, David J. Barlow, Colin D. Scarfe, Francis C. Fekel

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We have obtained new radial velocities of the double-lined spectroscopic binary star 12 Persei, whose period is 331 days, and which has been resolved in recent years by speckle interferometry. We derive a solution for the orbital elements from the speckle and radial velocity data simultaneously, and find from that solution masses of 1.306 ± 0.035 and 1.172 ± 0.030 M☉ for the components, and an orbital parallax of 0farcs04224 ± 0farcs00056. We also determine spectroscopically the difference in magnitude between the components and, hence, their absolute magnitudes. We estimate their spectral types and individual colors by fitting standard-star colors …

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Pg 1002+506: A Be Star Apparently At Z > +10 Kiloparsecs, F. A. Ringwald, W. R. J. Rolleston, R. A. Saffer, John R. Thorstensen Apr 1998

Pg 1002+506: A Be Star Apparently At Z > +10 Kiloparsecs, F. A. Ringwald, W. R. J. Rolleston, R. A. Saffer, John R. Thorstensen

Dartmouth Scholarship

PG 1002+506 is found to be a Be star, one of three found so far by the Palomar-Green survey. Its spectrum is classified as a B5 ± 1 Ve, with Teff = 14,900 ± 1200, log g = 4.2 ± 0.2, and v sin i = 340 ± 50 km s-1. At b = +51°, its height above the Galactic plane would therefore be z = +10.8 kpc, putting this apparently young, rapidly rotating star well into the Galactic halo. Its heliocentric radial velocity is found to be -2 ± 15 km s-1, consistent with …

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White Dwarf Cosmochronometry. I. Monte Carlo Simulations Of Proper-Motion ̶ And Magnitude-Limited Samples Using Schmidt’S 1/Vmax Estimator, Matt A. Wood, Terry D. Oswalt Apr 1998

White Dwarf Cosmochronometry. I. Monte Carlo Simulations Of Proper-Motion ̶ And Magnitude-Limited Samples Using Schmidt’S 1/Vmax Estimator, Matt A. Wood, Terry D. Oswalt

Publications

Observationally, white dwarf stars are a remarkably homogeneous class with a minimum observed Teff ~4000 K. Theoretically, the physics that determines their cooling timescales is relatively more straightforward than that which determines main-sequence evolutionary timescales. As a result, the white dwarf luminosity function has for the last decade been used as a probe of the age and star formation rate of the Galactic disk, providing an estimated local disk age of ~10 Gyr with estimated total uncertainties of roughly 20%. A long-standing criticism of the technique is that the reality of the reported downturn in the luminosity function (LF) …

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Contribution Of White Dwarfs To Cluster Masses, Ted Von Hippel Apr 1998

Contribution Of White Dwarfs To Cluster Masses, Ted Von Hippel

Publications

I have undertaken a literature search through 1997 July 31 of white dwarfs (WDs) in open and globular clusters. I have tried to make a careful evaluation in each case of the likelihood that the object is a WD and that it is a cluster member. The results are presented for 13 open clusters and 11 globular clusters. Currently there are 36 single WDs and Ðve WDs in binaries known among the open clusters, and 340 single WDs and 11 WDs in binaries known among the globular clusters. From these data, I have calculated WD mass fractions for four open …

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Contribution Of White Dwarfs To Cluster Masses, Ted Von Hippel Apr 1998

Contribution Of White Dwarfs To Cluster Masses, Ted Von Hippel

Publications

I have undertaken a literature search through 1997 July 31 of white dwarfs (WDs) in open and globular clusters. I have tried to make a careful evaluation in each case of the likelihood that the object is a WD and that it is a cluster member. The results are presented for 13 open clusters and 11 globular clusters. Currently there are 36 single WDs and Ðve WDs in binaries known among the open clusters, and 340 single WDs and 11 WDs in binaries known among the globular clusters. From these data, I have calculated WD mass fractions for four open …

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A Re-Evaluation Of Profile Shapes From Resonance Line Scattering In Spherical Stellar Winds., R. Ignace Mar 1998

A Re-Evaluation Of Profile Shapes From Resonance Line Scattering In Spherical Stellar Winds., R. Ignace

Richard Ignace

It is common to treat the scattering of light by resonance lines as isotropic, but in fact it has been known for some time that general resonance line scattering is partially isotropic and partially dipolar, the relative strength of the two components depending on the specific transition. As a result, the profile shapes of lines that scatter with strong dipole distributions could in principle differ markedly from those that scatter isotropically. This paper explores the consequences of general resonance line scattering in spherically symmetric stellar envelopes. As a simplified example, a resonance line profile arising in a constant expansion wind …

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Chromospherically Active Stars. Xvii. The Double-Lined Binary 54 Camelopardalis (Ae Lyncis), Francis C. Fekel, Joseph J. Eitter, José-Renan De Medeiros, J. Davy Kirkpatrick Mar 1998

Chromospherically Active Stars. Xvii. The Double-Lined Binary 54 Camelopardalis (Ae Lyncis), Francis C. Fekel, Joseph J. Eitter, José-Renan De Medeiros, J. Davy Kirkpatrick

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

New spectroscopic observations of the double-lined chromospherically active binary 54 Camelopardalis (=AE Lyncis) have been obtained, resulting in improved orbital elements and the determination of the fundamental properties of the system. 54 Cam has a period of 11.06794 days, an eccentricity of 0.125, and a mass ratio of 0.9945. The spectral types are F8 IV-V and G5 IV, positioning the components on opposite sides of the Hertzsprung gap. From a comparison with theoretical evolutionary tracks, the masses are estimated to be 1.60 and 1.59 M_⊙ for the G and F stars, respectively, while the radii are 3.7 and 3.2 R_⊙. …

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A Photometric And Spectroscopic Study Of The Cataclysmic Variable Sx Leonis Minoris In Quiescence And Superoutburst, R. Mark Wagner, John R. Thorstensen, R. K. Honeycutt, S. B. Howell Feb 1998

A Photometric And Spectroscopic Study Of The Cataclysmic Variable Sx Leonis Minoris In Quiescence And Superoutburst, R. Mark Wagner, John R. Thorstensen, R. K. Honeycutt, S. B. Howell

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present CCD imaging, CCD photometry on long and short timescales, and time-resolved spectroscopy of SX LMi, a new SU Ursae Majoris type dwarf nova. The quiescent optical spectrum shows broad double-peaked Balmer, He I, and He II emission lines, similar to other quiescent dwarf novae. Absorption lines from a late-type secondary are not detected. Time-resolved spectra obtained in quiescence reveal radial velocity variations of the Balmer emission lines on a period of 0.06717 ± 0.00011 days, or 96.72 ± 0.16 minutes, with only a slight possibility of a daily cycle-count error. Optical photometry obtained between 1987 and 1991 shows …

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Inference Of Steady Stellar Wind V(R) Laws From Optically Thin Emission Lines Ii. Occultation Effects And The Determination Of Intrinsic Stellar Properties., R. Ignace, J. C. Brown, L. L. Richardson, J. P. Cassinelli Jan 1998

Inference Of Steady Stellar Wind V(R) Laws From Optically Thin Emission Lines Ii. Occultation Effects And The Determination Of Intrinsic Stellar Properties., R. Ignace, J. C. Brown, L. L. Richardson, J. P. Cassinelli

Richard Ignace

This paper extends previous work on the inversion of line profiles to obtain wind velocity laws to a case that includes the occultation of light from the far side of the star. The velocity law v(r) is assumed to be from a wind that is steady and spherically symmetric. The wind is also assumed to be optically thin in the emission line profile. The major result here is the derivation of an analytic inversion formula. The effects of stellar occultation are shown to produce a significant change in the analysis from paper I, and by accounting for the occultation, the …

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A Search For Optical Afterglow From Grb 970828, P. J. Groot, T. J. Galama, J. Van Paradijs, C. Kouveliotou, R. A. M. J. Wijers, J. Bloom, N. Tanvir, R. Vanderspek, J. Greiner, A. J. Castro-Tirado, J. Gorosabel, T. Von Hippel, M. Lehnert, K. Kuijken, H. Hoekstra, N. Metcalfe, C. Howk, C. Conselice, J. Telting, R. G. M. Rutten, J. Rhoads, A. Cole, D. J. Pisano, R. Naber, R. Schwarz Jan 1998

A Search For Optical Afterglow From Grb 970828, P. J. Groot, T. J. Galama, J. Van Paradijs, C. Kouveliotou, R. A. M. J. Wijers, J. Bloom, N. Tanvir, R. Vanderspek, J. Greiner, A. J. Castro-Tirado, J. Gorosabel, T. Von Hippel, M. Lehnert, K. Kuijken, H. Hoekstra, N. Metcalfe, C. Howk, C. Conselice, J. Telting, R. G. M. Rutten, J. Rhoads, A. Cole, D. J. Pisano, R. Naber, R. Schwarz

Publications

We report on the results of R-band observations of the error box of the g-ray burst of 1997 August 28 made between 4 hr and 8 days after this burst occurred. No counterpart was found varying by more than 0.2 mag down to R 5 23.8. We discuss the consequences of this nondetection for relativistic blast wave models of g-ray bursts and the possible effect of redshift on the relation between optical absorption and the low-energy cutoff in the X-ray afterglow spectrum.

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New Rotation Periods In The Pleiades: Interpreting Activity Indicators, Anita Krishnamurthi, D. M. Terndrup, M. H. Pinsonneault, K. Sellgren, John R. Stauffer, Rudolph Schild, D. E. Backman, K. B. Beisser, D. B. Dahari, Amil Dasgupta, J. T. Hagelgans, M. A. Seeds, Rajan Anand '98, Bentley D. Laaksonen '95, Laurence A. Marschall, T. Ramseyer Jan 1998

New Rotation Periods In The Pleiades: Interpreting Activity Indicators, Anita Krishnamurthi, D. M. Terndrup, M. H. Pinsonneault, K. Sellgren, John R. Stauffer, Rudolph Schild, D. E. Backman, K. B. Beisser, D. B. Dahari, Amil Dasgupta, J. T. Hagelgans, M. A. Seeds, Rajan Anand '98, Bentley D. Laaksonen '95, Laurence A. Marschall, T. Ramseyer

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present results of photometric monitoring campaigns of G, K and M dwarfs in the Pleiades carried out in 1994, 1995 and 1996. We have determined rotation periods for 18 stars in this cluster. In this paper, we examine the validity of using observables such as X-ray activity and amplitude of photometric variations as indicators of angular momentum loss. We report the discovery of cool, slow rotators with high amplitudes of variation. This contradicts previous conclusions about the use of amplitudes as an alternate diagnostic of the saturation of angular momentum loss. We show that the X-ray data can be …

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