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Stars, Interstellar Medium and the Galaxy

Dartmouth Scholarship

2006

Articles 1 - 10 of 10

Full-Text Articles in Physical Sciences and Mathematics

Discovery Of Extensive Optical Emission Associated With The X-Ray Bright, Radio Faint Galactic Snr G156.2+5.7, Christopher L. Gerardy, Robert A. Fesen Dec 2006

Discovery Of Extensive Optical Emission Associated With The X-Ray Bright, Radio Faint Galactic Snr G156.2+5.7, Christopher L. Gerardy, Robert A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present wide‐field Hα images of the Galactic supernova remnant (SNR) G156.2+5.7 which reveal the presence of considerable faint Hα line emission coincident with the remnant's X‐ray emission. We also present low‐resolution optical spectra for a few representative emission regions. The outermost Hα emission consists largely of long and thin (unresolved), smoothly curved filaments of Balmer‐dominated emission presumably associated with the remnant's forward shock front. Patches of brighter Hα emission along the western, south‐central, and north‐eastern regions appear to be radiative shocked interstellar medium filaments like those commonly seen in SNRs, with relatively strong [O i]λλ6300, 6364 and [S ii]λλ6716, …

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Faint X‐Ray Structure In The Crab Pulsar Wind Nebula, F. D. Seward, W. H. Tucker, R. A. Fesen Dec 2006

Faint X‐Ray Structure In The Crab Pulsar Wind Nebula, F. D. Seward, W. H. Tucker, R. A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We report on a Chandra observation of the Crab Nebula that gives the first clear view of the faint boundary of the Crab's X-ray-emitting pulsar wind nebula. There is structure in all directions. Fingers, loops, bays, and the south pulsar jet all indicate that either filamentary material or the magnetic field is controlling the relativistic electrons. In general, spectra soften as distance from the pulsar increases but do not change rapidly along linear features. This is particularly true for the pulsar jet. The termination of the jet is abrupt; the east side is close to an [O III] optical filament, …

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A Spitzer Space Telescope Study Of Sn 2002hh: An Infrared Echo From A Type Iip Supernova, W. P. S. Meikle, S. Mattila, C. L. Gerardy, R. Kotak, M. Pozzo, S. D. Van Dyk, D. Farrah, R. A. Fesen Sep 2006

A Spitzer Space Telescope Study Of Sn 2002hh: An Infrared Echo From A Type Iip Supernova, W. P. S. Meikle, S. Mattila, C. L. Gerardy, R. Kotak, M. Pozzo, S. D. Van Dyk, D. Farrah, R. A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present late-time (590-994 days) mid-IR photometry of the normal but highly reddened Type IIP supernova SN 2002hh. Bright, cool, slowly fading emission is detected from the direction of the supernova. Most of this flux appears not to be driven by the supernova event but instead probably originates in a cool, obscured star formation region or molecular cloud along the line of sight. We also show, however, that the declining component of the flux is consistent with an SN-powered IR echo from a dusty progenitor CSM. Mid-IR emission could also be coming from newly condensed dust and/or an ejecta/CSM impact, …

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Heliospheric Response To Different Possible Interstellar Environments, Hans-Reinhard Muller, Priscilla C. Frisch, Vladimir Florinski, Gary P. Zank Aug 2006

Heliospheric Response To Different Possible Interstellar Environments, Hans-Reinhard Muller, Priscilla C. Frisch, Vladimir Florinski, Gary P. Zank

Dartmouth Scholarship

At present, the heliosphere is embedded in a warm, low-density interstellar cloud that belongs to a cloud system flowing through the local standard of rest with a velocity near ~18 km s-1. The velocity structure of the nearest interstellar material (ISM), combined with theoretical models of the local interstellar cloud (LIC), suggest that the Sun passes through cloudlets on timescales of ≤103-104 yr, so the heliosphere has been, and will be, exposed to different interstellar environments over time. By means of a multifluid model that treats plasma and neutral hydrogen self-consistently, the interaction of the …

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Grb 060218/Sn 2006aj: A Gamma-Ray Burst And Prompt Supernova Atz= 0.0335, N. Mirabal, J. P. Halpern, D. An, J. R. Thorstensen, D. M. Terndrup Jun 2006

Grb 060218/Sn 2006aj: A Gamma-Ray Burst And Prompt Supernova Atz= 0.0335, N. Mirabal, J. P. Halpern, D. An, J. R. Thorstensen, D. M. Terndrup

Dartmouth Scholarship

We report the imaging and spectroscopic localization of GRB 060218 to a low-metallicity dwarf starburst galaxy at z = 0.03345 ± 0.00006. In addition to making it the second nearest gamma-ray burst known, optical spectroscopy reveals the earliest detection of weak, supernova-like Si II near 5720 Å (~0.1c), starting 1.95 days after the burst trigger. UBVRI photometry obtained between 1 and 26 days postburst confirms the early rise of supernova light, and suggests a short time delay between the gamma-ray burst and the onset of SN 2006aj if the early appearance of a soft component in the X-ray …

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From Canonical To Enhanced Extra Mixing In Low‐Mass Red Giants: Tidally Locked Binaries, Pavel A. Denissenkov, Brian Chaboyer, Ke Li Apr 2006

From Canonical To Enhanced Extra Mixing In Low‐Mass Red Giants: Tidally Locked Binaries, Pavel A. Denissenkov, Brian Chaboyer, Ke Li

Dartmouth Scholarship

Stellar models that incorporate simple diffusion or shear-induced mixing are used to describe canonical extra mixing in low-mass red giants of low and solar metallicity. These models are able to simultaneously explain the observed Li and CN abundance changes along the upper red giant branch (RGB) in field low-metallicity stars and match photometry, rotation, and 12C/13C ratios for stars in the old open cluster M67. The shear mixing model requires that main-sequence (MS) progenitors of upper RGB stars possessed rapidly rotating radiative cores and that specific angular momentum was conserved in each of their mass shells during …

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Theoretical Uncertainties In Red Giant Branch Evolution: The Red Giant Branch Bump, Stephan R. R. Bjork, Brian Chaboyer Apr 2006

Theoretical Uncertainties In Red Giant Branch Evolution: The Red Giant Branch Bump, Stephan R. R. Bjork, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

A Monte Carlo simulation exploring uncertainties in standard stellar evolution theory on the red giant branch of metal-poor globular clusters has been conducted. Confidence limits are derived on the absolute V-band magnitude of the bump in the red giant branch luminosity function (MV,b) and the excess number of stars in the bump, Rb. The analysis takes into account uncertainties in the primordial helium abundance, abundance of α-capture elements, radiative and conductive opacities, nuclear reaction rates, neutrino energy losses, the treatments of diffusion and convection, the surface boundary conditions, and color transformations. The uncertainty in …

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The Eclipsing Binary V1061 Cygni: Confronting Stellar Evolution Models For Active And Inactive Solar-Type Stars, Guillermo Torres, Claud H. Lacy, L. A. Marshall, Holly A. Sheets, Jeff A. Mader Apr 2006

The Eclipsing Binary V1061 Cygni: Confronting Stellar Evolution Models For Active And Inactive Solar-Type Stars, Guillermo Torres, Claud H. Lacy, L. A. Marshall, Holly A. Sheets, Jeff A. Mader

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present spectroscopic and photometric observations of the eclipsing system V1061 Cyg (P = 2.35 days). A third star is visible in the spectrum, and the system is a hierarchical triple. We combine the radial velocities for the three stars, times of eclipse, and intermediate astrometric data from the Hipparcos mission (abscissa residuals) to establish the elements of the outer orbit, which is eccentric and has a period of 15.8 yr. We determine accurate values for the masses, radii, and effective temperatures of the binary components: MAa = 1.282 ± 0.015 M☉, RAa = 1.615 …

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Near‐Infrared And Optical Limits For The Central X‐Ray Point Source In The Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant, R. A. Fesen, G. G. Pavlov, D. Sanwal Jan 2006

Near‐Infrared And Optical Limits For The Central X‐Ray Point Source In The Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant, R. A. Fesen, G. G. Pavlov, D. Sanwal

Dartmouth Scholarship

We set new near-infrared and optical magnitude limits for the central X-ray point source (XPS) in the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant based on HST images. Near-infrared images of the center of Cas A taken with the NICMOS 2 camera in combination with the F110W and F160W filters (~J and H bands) have magnitude limits ≥26.2 and ≥24.6, respectively. These images reveal no sources within a 12 radius (corresponding to a 99% confidence limit) of the Chandra XPS position. The NICMOS data, taken together with broadband optical magnitude limits (R ~ 28 mag) obtained from a deep STIS CCD …

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Ubvi Ccd Photometry Of The Old Open Cluster Berkeley 17, Zosia A. C. Krusberg, Brian Chaboyer Jan 2006

Ubvi Ccd Photometry Of The Old Open Cluster Berkeley 17, Zosia A. C. Krusberg, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

Photometric UBVI CCD photometry is presented for NGC 188 and Berkeley 17. Color-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) are constructed and reach well past the main-sequence turnoff for both clusters. Cluster ages are determined by means of isochrone fitting to the cluster CMDs. These fits are constrained to agree with spectroscopic metallicity and reddening estimates. Cluster ages are determined to be 7.0 ± 0.5 Gyr for NGC 188 and 10.0 ± 1.0 Gyr for Berkeley 17, where the errors refer to uncertainties in the relative age determinations. These ages are compared to the ages of relatively metal-rich inner halo/thick-disk globular clusters and other …

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