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2012

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Articles 211 - 240 of 352

Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy

Measurements Of The Angular Cross-Sections Of The Decay Products Of Proton Capture By Lithium-6, Benjamin Barber Apr 2012

Measurements Of The Angular Cross-Sections Of The Decay Products Of Proton Capture By Lithium-6, Benjamin Barber

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

We have studied the nuclear reaction Li-6 + p => He-3 + He-4 using protons from the 200-keV linear accelerator located in the Manning Nuclear Physics Laboratory in the Neils Science Center. We have measured the angular distribution and energy of the resulting He-3 and He-4 nuclei. Measurements were made using a Si surface barrier detector. The incident proton energy was 125 keV, and the angular measurements were made between 150 and 120 degrees downstream of the beam. Results and highlights are presented.

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The Reduction And Reporting Of Data On Proto-Planetary Nebulae From Two Observatories, Wesley Cheek Apr 2012

The Reduction And Reporting Of Data On Proto-Planetary Nebulae From Two Observatories, Wesley Cheek

Symposium on Research and Creative Expression (SORCE)

I am documenting the light variability in a sample of proto-planetary nebulae (PPNs) observed from two observatories. PPNs are stars in the stage of evolution between the AGB and planetary nebula phases. I analyzed the digital images of the data taken on 34 nights from the SARA-South observatory located in Cerro Tololo, Chile along with data taken from the SARA-North Observatory located in Tucson, Arizona. This was done to obtain quantitative measurements of the brightness variations over time. Once I had this information for each object, I plotted light curves, which can be used to document the amplitudes and possible …

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Section Abstracts: Astronomy, Mathematics And Physics With Materials Science Apr 2012

Section Abstracts: Astronomy, Mathematics And Physics With Materials Science

Virginia Journal of Science

Abstracts of the Astronomy, Mathematics, and Physics with Material Science Section for the 90th Annual Meeting of the Virginia Academy of Science, May 23-25, 2012, Norfolk State University, Norfolk, Virginia

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1112+3548_Nir_Spex, J. Patience Apr 2012

1112+3548_Nir_Spex, J. Patience

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

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A Study Of Pixelated Cdznte Detector Setups For Future 0Νββ Decay Searches, Alexander Leder Apr 2012

A Study Of Pixelated Cdznte Detector Setups For Future 0Νββ Decay Searches, Alexander Leder

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.

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The S4g Perspective On Circumstellar Dust Extinction Of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars In M100., Sharon Meidt, Eva Schinnerer, Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos, Benne W. Holwerda, Luis C. Ho, Barry F. Madore, Johan H. Knapen, Albert Bosma, E. Athanassoula, Joannah L. Hinz, Kartik Sheth, Michael Regan, Armando Gil De Paz, Karin Menendez-Delmestre, Mark Seibert, Taehyun Kim, Trisha Mizusawa, Dimitri A. Gadotti, Eija Laurikainen, Heikki Salo, Jarkko Laine, Sebastien Comeron Apr 2012

The S4g Perspective On Circumstellar Dust Extinction Of Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars In M100., Sharon Meidt, Eva Schinnerer, Juan Carlos Munoz-Mateos, Benne W. Holwerda, Luis C. Ho, Barry F. Madore, Johan H. Knapen, Albert Bosma, E. Athanassoula, Joannah L. Hinz, Kartik Sheth, Michael Regan, Armando Gil De Paz, Karin Menendez-Delmestre, Mark Seibert, Taehyun Kim, Trisha Mizusawa, Dimitri A. Gadotti, Eija Laurikainen, Heikki Salo, Jarkko Laine, Sebastien Comeron

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

We examine the effect of circumstellar dust extinction on the near-IR (NIR) contribution of asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in intermediate-age clusters throughout the disk of M100. For our sample of 17 AGB-dominated clusters we extract optical-to-mid-IR spectral energy distributions (SEDs) and find that NIR brightness is coupled to the mid-IR dust emission in such a way that a significant reduction of AGB light, of up to 1 mag in the K band, follows from extinction by the dust shell formed during this stage. Since the dust optical depth varies with AGB chemistry (C-rich or O-rich), our results suggest that …

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The Relationship Between Γ Cassiopeiae’S X-Ray Emission And Its Circumstellar Environment, Myron A. Smith, Raimundo Lopes De Oliveira, Christian Motch, Gregory W. Henry, Noel D. Richardson, Karen S. Bjorkman, Philippe Stee, Denis Mourard, John D. Monnier, Xiao Che, R. Bücke, E. Pollmann, Douglas R. Gies, Gail Schaefer, Theo A. Ten Brummelaar, Harold Mcalister, Nils H. Turner, Judit Sturmann, Laszlo Sturmann, Stephen T. Ridgway Mar 2012

The Relationship Between Γ Cassiopeiae’S X-Ray Emission And Its Circumstellar Environment, Myron A. Smith, Raimundo Lopes De Oliveira, Christian Motch, Gregory W. Henry, Noel D. Richardson, Karen S. Bjorkman, Philippe Stee, Denis Mourard, John D. Monnier, Xiao Che, R. Bücke, E. Pollmann, Douglas R. Gies, Gail Schaefer, Theo A. Ten Brummelaar, Harold Mcalister, Nils H. Turner, Judit Sturmann, Laszlo Sturmann, Stephen T. Ridgway

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

γ Cas is the prototypical classical Be star and is recently best known for its variable hard X-ray emission. To elucidate the reasons for this emission, we mounted a multiwavelength campaign in 2010 centered around four XMM-Newton observations. The observational techniques included long baseline optical interferometry (LBOI) from two instruments at CHARA, photometry carried out by an automated photometric telescope and Hα observations. Because γ Cas is also known to be in a binary, we measured radial velocities from the Hα line and redetermined its period as 203.55 ± 0.20 days and its eccentricity as near zero. The LBOI observations …

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The Creation And Propagation Of Radiation: Fields Inside And Outside Of Sources, Stanislaw Olbert, John Belcher, Richard H. Price Mar 2012

The Creation And Propagation Of Radiation: Fields Inside And Outside Of Sources, Stanislaw Olbert, John Belcher, Richard H. Price

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present an algorithm for computing the electromagnetic fields due to currents inside and outside of finite sources with a high degree of spatial symmetry for arbitrary time-dependent currents. The solutions for these fields do not involve the time derivatives of the currents but involve only the currents and their time integrals. We give solutions for moving planar sheets of charge, and a rotating spherical shell carrying a uniform charge density. We show that the general solutions reduce to the standard expressions for magnetic dipole radiation for slow time variations of the currents. If the currents are turned on very …

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The Curious Conundrum Regarding Sulfur Abundances In Planetary Nebulae, R. B. C. Henry, Angela Speck, Amanda I. Karakas, Gary J. Ferland, Mason Maguire Mar 2012

The Curious Conundrum Regarding Sulfur Abundances In Planetary Nebulae, R. B. C. Henry, Angela Speck, Amanda I. Karakas, Gary J. Ferland, Mason Maguire

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

Sulfur abundances derived from optical emission line measurements and ionization correction factors (ICFs) in planetary nebulae are systematically lower than expected for the objects' metallicities. We have carefully considered a large range of explanations for this "sulfur anomaly," including: (1) correlations between the size of the sulfur deficit and numerous nebular and central star properties, (2) ICFs which undercorrect for unobserved ions, (3) effects of dielectronic recombination on the sulfur ionization balance, (4) sequestering of S into dust and/or molecules, and (5) excessive destruction of S or production of O by asymptotic giant branch stars. It appears that all but …

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Ensemble Forecasting Of Coronal Mass Ejections Using The Wsa-Enlil With Coned Model, Daniel J. Emmons Ii Mar 2012

Ensemble Forecasting Of Coronal Mass Ejections Using The Wsa-Enlil With Coned Model, Daniel J. Emmons Ii

Theses and Dissertations

The combination of the Wang-Sheeley-Arge (WSA) coronal model, ENLIL heliospherical model version 2.7, and Coned Model version 1.3 (WSA-ENLIL with Coned Model) was employed to form ensemble forecasts for 15 halo coronal mass ejections (CME's). The input parameter distributions were formed from 100 sets of CME cone parameters derived from the Coned Model. The Coned Model employed image processing along with the bootstrap approach to automatically calculate cone parameter distributions from SOHO-LASCO imagery based on techniques described by Pulkkinen et al. [2010]. The input parameter distributions were used as input to WSA-ENLIL to calculate the temporal evolution of the …

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A Quantitative Analysis Of Solar Flare Characteristics As Observed In The Solar Observing Optical Network And The Global Oscillation Network Group, Thomas M. Wittman Mar 2012

A Quantitative Analysis Of Solar Flare Characteristics As Observed In The Solar Observing Optical Network And The Global Oscillation Network Group, Thomas M. Wittman

Theses and Dissertations

This study consists of a quantitative comparison of H-alpha solar flare area and brightness as recorded by the Solar Observing Optical Network (SOON) and the Global Oscillation Network Group (GONG) from March 11 through November 30, 2011. The Air Force utilizes the three-site SOON network for H-alpha flare monitoring, while the six-site GONG network, managed by the National Solar Observatory, provides backup H alpha flare monitoring for SOON. A total of 1000 flares were observed and 100 of these were rated larger or brighter than the 0-F category. In the SOON network, 8% of flares observed by two sites had …

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Hadamard Renormalisation Of The Stress Energy Tensor On The Horizons Of A Spherically Symmetric Black Hole Space-Time, Cormac Breen, Adrian Ottewill Mar 2012

Hadamard Renormalisation Of The Stress Energy Tensor On The Horizons Of A Spherically Symmetric Black Hole Space-Time, Cormac Breen, Adrian Ottewill

Articles

We consider a quantum field which is in a Hartle-Hawking state propagating in a general spherically symmetric black hole space-time. We make use of uniform approximations to the radial equation to calculate the components of the stress tensor, renormalized using the Hadamard form of the Green's function, on the horizons of this space-time. We then specialize these results to the case of the `lukewarm' Reissner-Nordstrom-de Sitter black hole and derive some conditions on the stress tensor for the regularity of the Hartle-Hawking state

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Third Component Search And Abundances Of The Very Dusty Short-Period Binary Bd +20°307, Francis C. Fekel, Maria J. Cordero, Raphael Galicher, Benjamin Zuckerman, Carl Melis, Alycia J. Weinberger Mar 2012

Third Component Search And Abundances Of The Very Dusty Short-Period Binary Bd +20°307, Francis C. Fekel, Maria J. Cordero, Raphael Galicher, Benjamin Zuckerman, Carl Melis, Alycia J. Weinberger

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

We have obtained near-infrared adaptive optics imaging and collected additional radial velocity observations to search for a third component in the extremely dusty short-period binary system BD +20°307. Our image shows no evidence for a third component at separations greater than 19 AU. Our four seasons of radial velocities have a constant center-of-mass velocity and are consistent with the systemic velocities determined at two earlier epochs. Thus, the radial velocities also provide no support for a third component. Unfortunately, the separation domains covered by our imaging and radial velocity results do not overlap. Thus, we examined the parameters for possible …

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Non-Equilibrium Landauer Transport Model For Hawking Radiation From A Black Hole, P. D. Nation, M. P. Blencowe, Franco Nori Mar 2012

Non-Equilibrium Landauer Transport Model For Hawking Radiation From A Black Hole, P. D. Nation, M. P. Blencowe, Franco Nori

Dartmouth Scholarship

We propose that the Hawking radiation energy and entropy flow rates from a black hole can be viewed as a one-dimensional (1D), non-equilibrium Landauer transport process. Support for this viewpoint comes from previous calculations invoking conformal symmetry in the near-horizon region, which give radiation rates that are identical to those of a single 1D quantum channel connected to a thermal reservoir at the Hawking temperature. The Landauer approach shows in a direct way the particle statistics independence of the energy and entropy fluxes of a black hole radiating into vacuum, as well as one near thermal equilibrium with its environment. …

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The Kepler Light Curves Of V1504 Cygni And V344 Lyrae: A Study Of The Outburst Properties, John K. Cannizzo, Alan P. Smale, Matt A. Wood, Martin D. Still, Steve B. Howell Mar 2012

The Kepler Light Curves Of V1504 Cygni And V344 Lyrae: A Study Of The Outburst Properties, John K. Cannizzo, Alan P. Smale, Matt A. Wood, Martin D. Still, Steve B. Howell

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

We examine the Kepler light curves of V1504 Cyg and V344 Lyr, encompassing ~736 days at one-minute cadence. During this span each system exhibited ~64–65 outbursts, including 6 superoutbursts. We find that, in both systems, the normal outbursts lying between two superoutbursts increase in duration over time by a factor ~1.2–1.9, and then reset to a small value after the following superoutburst. In both systems the trend of quiescent intervals between normal outbursts is to increase to a local maximum about halfway through the supercycle—the interval from one superoutburst to the next—and then to decrease back to a small value …

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High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy Reveals The Special Nature Of The Wolf-Rayet Star Winds., L. Oskinova, K. Gayley, W.-R. Hamann, D. Huenemoerder, Richard Ignace, A. Pollock Mar 2012

High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy Reveals The Special Nature Of The Wolf-Rayet Star Winds., L. Oskinova, K. Gayley, W.-R. Hamann, D. Huenemoerder, Richard Ignace, A. Pollock

ETSU Faculty Works

We present the first high-resolution X-ray spectrum of a putatively single Wolf–Rayet (WR) star. 400 ks observations of WR 6 by the XMM-Newton telescope resulted in a superb quality high-resolution X-ray spectrum. Spectral analysis reveals that the X-rays originate far out in the stellar wind, more than 30 stellar radii from the photosphere, and thus outside the wind acceleration zone where the line-driving instability (LDI) could create shocks. The X-ray emitting plasma reaches temperatures up to 50 MK and is embedded within the unshocked, “cool” stellar wind as revealed by characteristic spectral signatures. We detect a fluorescent Fe line at …

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Ionized Reflection Spectra From Accretion Disks Illuminated By X-Ray Pulsars, D. R. Ballantyne, J. D. Purvis, R. G. Strausbaugh, R. C. Hickox Mar 2012

Ionized Reflection Spectra From Accretion Disks Illuminated By X-Ray Pulsars, D. R. Ballantyne, J. D. Purvis, R. G. Strausbaugh, R. C. Hickox

Dartmouth Scholarship

X-ray reflection signatures are observed around multiple classes of accreting compact objects. Modelling these features yield important constraints on the physics of accretion disks, motivating the development of X-ray reflection models appropriate for a variety of systems and illumination conditions. Here, constant density ionized X-ray reflection models are presented for a disk irradiated with a very hard power-law X-ray spectrum (\Gamma < 1) and a variable high-energy cutoff. These models are then applied to the Suzaku data of the accreting X-ray pulsar LMC X-4, where very good fits are obtained with a highly ionized reflector responsible for both the broad Fe K line and the soft excess. The ionized reflector shows strong evidence for significant Doppler broadening and is redshifted by ~10^4 km/s. These features indicate that the reflecting material is associated with the complex dynamics occurring at the inner region of the magnetically-truncated accretion disk. Thus, reflection studies of X-ray pulsar spectra may give important insights into the accretion physics at the magnetospheric radius.

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Observed And Modeled Solar Cycle Variation In Geocoronal Hydrogen Using Nrlmsise-00 Thermosphere Conditions And The Bishop Analytic Exosphere Model, S. M. Nossal, E. J. Mierkiewicz, F. L. Roesler Mar 2012

Observed And Modeled Solar Cycle Variation In Geocoronal Hydrogen Using Nrlmsise-00 Thermosphere Conditions And The Bishop Analytic Exosphere Model, S. M. Nossal, E. J. Mierkiewicz, F. L. Roesler

Publications

High precision observations during Solar Cycle 23 using the Wisconsin H‐alpha Mapper (WHAM) Fabry‐Perot quantify a factor of 1.5 ± 0.15 higher Balmer α column emission intensity during near‐solar‐maximum than during solar minimum conditions. An unresolved question is how does the observed solar cycle variation in the hydrogen column emission compare with that calculated from the hydrogen distribution in atmospheric models? We have compared WHAM solar minimum and near‐solar‐maximum column intensity observations with calculations using the thermospheric hydrogen density profile and background thermospheric conditions from the Mass Spectrometer Incoherent Scatter (NRLMSISE‐00) empirical model extended to exospheric altitudes using the analytic …

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Energetic Feedback And 26al From Massive Stars And Their Supernovae In The Carina Region, R. Voss, P. Martin, R. Diehl, J. S. Vink, Dieter H. Hartmann, T. Preibisch Mar 2012

Energetic Feedback And 26al From Massive Stars And Their Supernovae In The Carina Region, R. Voss, P. Martin, R. Diehl, J. S. Vink, Dieter H. Hartmann, T. Preibisch

Publications

We study the populations of massive stars in the Carina region and their energetic feedback and ejection of 26Al. Methods. We did a census of the stellar populations in young stellar clusters within a few degrees of the Carina nebula. For each star we estimated the mass, based on the spectral type and the host cluster age. We used population synthesis to calculate the energetic feedback and ejection of 26Al from the winds of the massive stars and their supernova explosions. We used 7 years of INTEGRAL observations to measure the 26Al signal from the region. Results. The INTEGRAL 26Al …

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Ion-By-Ion Cooling Efficiencies, Orly Gnat, Gary J. Ferland Mar 2012

Ion-By-Ion Cooling Efficiencies, Orly Gnat, Gary J. Ferland

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

We present ion-by-ion cooling efficiencies for low-density gas. We use Cloudy (version 10.00) to estimate the cooling efficiencies for each ion of the first 30 elements (H-Zn) individually. We present results for gas temperatures between 104 and 108 K, assuming low densities and optically thin conditions. When nonequilibrium ionization plays a significant role the ionization states deviate from those that obtain in collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE), and the local cooling efficiency at any given temperature depends on specific nonequilibrium ion fractions. The results presented here allow for an efficient estimate of the total cooling efficiency for any ionic …

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Observational Constraints On The Degenerate Mass-Radius Relation, Jay B. Holberg, Terry D. Oswalt, M A. Barstow Mar 2012

Observational Constraints On The Degenerate Mass-Radius Relation, Jay B. Holberg, Terry D. Oswalt, M A. Barstow

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

The white dwarf mass-radius relationship is fundamental to modern astrophysics. It is central to routine estimation of DA white dwarf masses derived from spectroscopic temperatures and gravities. It is also the basis for observational determinations of the white dwarf initial-final-mass relation. Nevertheless, definitive and detailed observational confirmations of the mass-radius relation (MRR) remain elusive owing to a lack of sufficiently accurate white dwarf masses and radii. Current best estimates of masses and radii allow only broad conclusions about the expected inverse relation between masses and radii in degenerate stars. In this paper, we examine a restricted set of 12 DA …

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Electron Microscopy Characterization Of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films And Nanoparticles, Felipe Rivera Mar 2012

Electron Microscopy Characterization Of Vanadium Dioxide Thin Films And Nanoparticles, Felipe Rivera

Theses and Dissertations

Vanadium dioxide (VO_2) is a material of particular interest due to its exhibited metal to insulator phase transition at 68°C that is accompanied by an abrupt and significant change in its electronic and optical properties. Since this material can exhibit a reversible drop in resistivity of up to five orders of magnitude and a reversible drop in infrared optical transmission of up to 80%, this material holds promise in several technological applications. Solid phase crystallization of VO_2 thin films was obtained by a post-deposition annealing process of a VO_{x,x approx 2} amorphous film sputtered on an amorphous silicon dioxide (SiO_2) …

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Comparative Studies Of The Spectroscopic Properties Of Nd3+: Yag Nanocrystals Transparent Ceramic And Single Crystal, M. Pokhrel, N. Ray, G. A. Kumar, D. K. Sardar Mar 2012

Comparative Studies Of The Spectroscopic Properties Of Nd3+: Yag Nanocrystals Transparent Ceramic And Single Crystal, M. Pokhrel, N. Ray, G. A. Kumar, D. K. Sardar

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Detailed comparative spectroscopic studies of Nd3+ doped YAG nanocrystals, transparent ceramic and single crystal have been performed. Although most of the radiative spectral properties of Nd3+ are almost in good agreement between the three hosts, the non-radiative losses are significantly high in nanocrystals, which are attributed due to the presence of large amount of hydroxyl groups on the nanocrystals surface which deteriorates the quality of the material for laser applications. In addition, wavelength dependent scattering loss for the Nd3+ doped YAG nanocrystals is found significantly high compared to those of Nd3+ doped single crystal and ceramic. © 2012 Optical Society …

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A Note On The Weibel Instability And Thermal Fluctuations, R. A. Treumann, W. Baumjohann Feb 2012

A Note On The Weibel Instability And Thermal Fluctuations, R. A. Treumann, W. Baumjohann

Dartmouth Scholarship

The thermal fluctuation level of the Weibel in- stability is recalculated. It is shown that the divergence of the fluctuations at long wavelengths, i.e. the Weibel infrared catastrophe, never occurs. At large wavelengths the thermal fluctuation level is terminated by the presence of even the smallest available stable thermal anisotropy. Weibel fields penetrate only one skin depth into the plasma. When excited inside, they cause layers of antiparallel fields of skin depth width and vortices which may be subject to reconnection.

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Weak Localization In A Lateral Superlattice With Rashba And Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Interaction, D C. Marinescu, Andrei Manolescu Feb 2012

Weak Localization In A Lateral Superlattice With Rashba And Dresselhaus Spin-Orbit Interaction, D C. Marinescu, Andrei Manolescu

Publications

We calculate the weak localization (WL) correction to the conductivity of a lateral superlattice (LSL) with Rashba (R)-Dresselhaus (D) spin-orbit interaction (SOI). The superlattice is modeled as a sequence of parallel wires that support tunneling between adjacent sites, leading to the formation of extended Bloch states along its axis and a miniband in the energy spectrum. Our results, obtained by calculating the eigenvalues of the Cooperon operator in the diffusion approximation, indicate that the electron dephasing rate that determines the antilocalization correction is enhanced by a term proportional with the LSL potential and the bandwidth. Within the same formalism, the …

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Hysteresis And Relaxation In Granular Permanent Magnets, Ralph Skomski, B. Balamurugan, Tom A. George, Mircea Chipara, Xiao-Hui Wei, Jeff E. Shield, D. J. Sellmyer Feb 2012

Hysteresis And Relaxation In Granular Permanent Magnets, Ralph Skomski, B. Balamurugan, Tom A. George, Mircea Chipara, Xiao-Hui Wei, Jeff E. Shield, D. J. Sellmyer

Physics & Astronomy Faculty Publications

Some nontrivial aspects of the magnetic and structural characterization of hard-magnetic nanoparticles are investigated. Dilute ensembles are well-described by mean-field theory, although there is an asymmetry between exchange and magnetostatic interaction fields. Corrections to the mean-field approximation are caused by cooperative effects and have the character of Onsager reaction fields, which are much stronger in micromagnetism than in atomic-scale magnetism. The slow dynamics of zero-field-cooled (ZFC) magnetization curves is strongly affected by the particles0 magnetic anisotropy, which reduces the corresponding energy-barrier height from 25 to 19.1 kBT.

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Asteroseismology Of The Nearby Sn-Ii Progenitor: Rigel. I. The Most High-Precision Photometry And Radial Velocity Monitoring, Ehsan Moravveji, Edward F. Guinan, Matt Shultz, Michael H. Williamson, Andres Moya Feb 2012

Asteroseismology Of The Nearby Sn-Ii Progenitor: Rigel. I. The Most High-Precision Photometry And Radial Velocity Monitoring, Ehsan Moravveji, Edward F. Guinan, Matt Shultz, Michael H. Williamson, Andres Moya

Information Systems and Engineering Management Research Publications

Rigel (β Ori, B8 Ia) is a nearby blue supergiant displaying α Cyg type variability, and is one of the nearest Type II supernova progenitors. As such it is an excellent test bed to study the internal structure of pre-core-collapse stars. In this study, for the first time, we present 28 days of high-precision MOST photometry and over six years of spectroscopic monitoring. We report 19 significant pulsation modes of signal-to-noise ratio, S/N ≳ 4.6 from radial velocities, with variability timescales ranging from 1.21 to 74.7 days, which are associated with high-order low-degree gravity modes. While the radial velocity variations …

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On The Unification Of Active Galactic Nuclei, Moshe Elitzur Feb 2012

On The Unification Of Active Galactic Nuclei, Moshe Elitzur

Physics and Astronomy Faculty Publications

The inevitable spread in properties of the toroidal obscuration of active galactic nuclei (AGNs) invalidates the widespread notion that type 1 and 2 AGNs are intrinsically the same objects, drawn randomly from the distribution of torus covering factors. Instead, AGNs are drawn preferentially from the distribution; type 2 are more likely drawn from the distribution higher end, type 1 from its lower end. Type 2 AGNs have a higher IR luminosity, lower narrow-line luminosity, and a higher fraction of Compton thick X-ray obscuration than type 1. Meaningful studies of unification statistics cannot be conducted without first determining the intrinsic distribution …

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Veritas Observations Of Day-Scale Flaring Of M 87 In 2010 April, P. T. Reynolds, Et. Al. Feb 2012

Veritas Observations Of Day-Scale Flaring Of M 87 In 2010 April, P. T. Reynolds, Et. Al.

Physical Sciences Publications

VERITAS has been monitoring the very-high-energy (VHE; > 100 GeV) gamma-ray activity of the radio galaxy M 87 since 2007. During 2008, flaring activity on a timescale of a few days was observed with a peak flux of (0.70 ± 0.16) × 10–11 cm–2 s–1 at energies above 350 GeV. In 2010 April, VERITAS detected a flare from M 87 with peak flux of (2.71 ± 0.68) × 10–11 cm–2 s–1 for E > 350 GeV. The source was observed for six consecutive nights during the flare, resulting in a total of 21 hr of good-quality data. The most rapid flux variation …

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The Initial-Final Mass Relation Among White Dwarfs In Wide Binaries, Jingkun Zhao, T. D. Oswalt, Lee Anne Wilson, Qian Wang, Gang Zhao Feb 2012

The Initial-Final Mass Relation Among White Dwarfs In Wide Binaries, Jingkun Zhao, T. D. Oswalt, Lee Anne Wilson, Qian Wang, Gang Zhao

Aerospace, Physics, and Space Science Faculty Publications

We present the initial–final mass relation derived from 10 white dwarfs in wide binaries that consist of a main-sequence star and a white dwarf. The temperature and gravity of each white dwarf were measured by fitting theoretical model atmospheres to the observed spectrum using a χ2 fitting algorithm. The cooling time and mass were obtained using theoretical cooling tracks. The total age of each binary was estimated from the chromospheric activity of its main-sequence component to an uncertainty of about 0.17 dex in log t. The difference between the total age and white dwarf cooling time is taken as the …

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