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Articles 211 - 240 of 292

Full-Text Articles in Astrophysics and Astronomy

A New, Bright, Short-Period, Emission Line Binary In Ophiuchus, M. A. Stark, Richard A. Wade, John R. Thorstensen, Christopher S. Peters Feb 2008

A New, Bright, Short-Period, Emission Line Binary In Ophiuchus, M. A. Stark, Richard A. Wade, John R. Thorstensen, Christopher S. Peters

Dartmouth Scholarship

The 11th magnitude star LS IV-08°3 has been classified previously as an OB star in the Luminous Stars survey, or alternatively as a hot subdwarf. It is actually a binary star. We present spectroscopy, spectroscopic orbital elements, and time-series photometry from observations made at the Kitt Peak National Observatory 2.1 m, Steward Observatory 2.3 m, MDM Observatory 1.3 m and 2.4 m, Hobby-Eberly 9.2 m, and Michigan State University 0.6 m telescopes. The star exhibits emission of varying strength in the cores of H and He I absorption lines. Emission is also present at 4686 Å (He II) and near …


Small-Scale X-Ray Variability In The Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant, Daniel J. Patnaude, Robert A. Fesen Dec 2007

Small-Scale X-Ray Variability In The Cassiopeia A Supernova Remnant, Daniel J. Patnaude, Robert A. Fesen

Dartmouth Scholarship

A comparison of X-ray observations of the Cassiopeia A supernova remnant taken in 2000, 2002, and 2004 with the Chandra ACIS-S3 reveals the presence of several small-scale features (≤10'') that exhibit significant intensity changes over a 4 yr time frame. Here we report on the variability of six features, four of which show count rate increases from ~10% to over 90%, and two of which show decreases of ~30%-40%. While extracted 1-4.5 keV X-ray spectra do not reveal gross changes in emission-line strengths, spectral fits using nonequilibrium-ionization, metal-rich plasma models indicate increased or decreased electron temperatures for features showing increasing …


Constraints On A New Post-General Relativity Cosmological Parameter, Robert Caldwell, Asantha Cooray, Alessandro Melchiorri Jul 2007

Constraints On A New Post-General Relativity Cosmological Parameter, Robert Caldwell, Asantha Cooray, Alessandro Melchiorri

Dartmouth Scholarship

A new cosmological variable is introduced to characterize the degree of departure from Einstein’s general relativity with a cosmological constant. The new parameter, ϖ, is the cosmological analog of γ, the parametrized post-Newtonian variable which measures the amount of spacetime curvature per unit mass. In the cosmological context, ϖ measures the difference between the Newtonian and longitudinal potentials in response to the same matter sources, as occurs in certain scalar-tensor theories of gravity. Equivalently, ϖ measures the scalar shear fluctuation in a dark-energy component. In the context of a vanilla, cosmological constant-dominated universe, a nonzero ϖ signals a departure from …


The Acs Survey Of Galactic Globular Clusters. Ii. Stellar Evolution Tracks, Isochrones, Luminosity Functions, And Synthetic Horizontal-Branch Models, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer, Darko Jevremović, E. Baron Jun 2007

The Acs Survey Of Galactic Globular Clusters. Ii. Stellar Evolution Tracks, Isochrones, Luminosity Functions, And Synthetic Horizontal-Branch Models, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer, Darko Jevremović, E. Baron

Dartmouth Scholarship

The ACS Survey of Galactic Globular Clusters, an HST Treasury Project, will deliver high-quality, homogeneous photometry of 65 globular clusters. This paper introduces a new collection of stellar evolution tracks and isochrones suitable for analyzing the ACS survey data. Stellar evolution models were computed at [Fe/H] = -2.5, -2.0, -1.5, -1.0, -0.5, and 0; [α/Fe] = -0.2, 0, 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, and 0.8; and three initial He abundances for masses from 0.1 to 1.8 M⊙ and ages from 2 to 15 Gyr. Each isochrone spans a wide range in luminosity, from MV ~ 14 up to the tip …


Bvi Photometry And The Luminosity Functions Of The Globular Cluster M92, Nathaniel E. Q. Paust, Brian Chaboyer, Ata Sarajedini May 2007

Bvi Photometry And The Luminosity Functions Of The Globular Cluster M92, Nathaniel E. Q. Paust, Brian Chaboyer, Ata Sarajedini

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present new BVI ground-based photometry and VI space-based photometry for the globular cluster M92 (NGC 6341) and examine luminosity functions in B, V, and I containing over 50,000 stars ranging from the tip of the red giant branch to several magnitudes below the main-sequence turnoff. Once corrected for completeness, the observed luminosity functions agree very well with theoretical models and do not show stellar excesses in any region of the luminosity function. Using reduced-χ2 fitting, the new M92 luminosity function is shown to be an excellent match to the previously published luminosity function for M30. These …


Bianchi Identities And Weak Gravitational Lensing, Brian Keith Jan 2007

Bianchi Identities And Weak Gravitational Lensing, Brian Keith

Undergraduate Review

No abstract provided.


Quantization In Astrophysics, Brownian Motion, And Supersymmetry, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto Jan 2007

Quantization In Astrophysics, Brownian Motion, And Supersymmetry, Florentin Smarandache, Victor Christianto

Branch Mathematics and Statistics Faculty and Staff Publications

The present book discusses, among other things, various quantization phenomena found in Astrophysics and some related issues including Brownian Motion. With recent discoveries of exoplanets in our galaxy and beyond, this Astrophysics quantization issue has attracted numerous discussions in the past few years. Most chapters in this book come from published papers in various peer-reviewed journals, and they cover different methods to describe quantization, including Weyl geometry, Supersymmetry, generalized Schrödinger, and Cartan torsion method. In some chapters Navier-Stokes equations are also discussed, because it is likely that this theory will remain relevant in Astrophysics and Cosmology While much of the …


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 …


A New Color-Magnitude Diagram For Palomar 11, Matthew S. Lewis, W. M. Liu, N. E. Q. Paust, Brian Chaboyer Jan 2006

A New Color-Magnitude Diagram For Palomar 11, Matthew S. Lewis, W. M. Liu, N. E. Q. Paust, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present new photometry for the Galactic thick-disk globular cluster Palomar 11 extending well past the main-sequence turnoff in the V and I bands. This photometry shows noticeable, but depleted, red giant and subgiant branches. The difference in magnitude between the red horizontal branch (red clump) and the subgiant branch is used to determine that Palomar 11 has an age of 10.4 ± 0.5 Gyr. The red clump is used to derive a distance d⊙ = 14.3 ± 0.4 kpc and a mean cluster reddening of E(V - I) = 0.40 ± 0.03. There is differential …


Is First J102347.6+003841 Really A Cataclysmic Binary?, John R. Thorstensen, Eve Armstrong Aug 2005

Is First J102347.6+003841 Really A Cataclysmic Binary?, John R. Thorstensen, Eve Armstrong

Dartmouth Scholarship

The radio source FIRST J102347.6+003841 was presented as the first radio-selected cataclysmic variable star. In the discovery paper, Bond et al. (2002) show a spectrum consistent with a magnetic AM Her–type system, or polar, featuring strong Balmer lines, He I and He II emission lines, and a light curve with rapid, irregular flickering. In contrast, Woudt, Warner, and Pretorius found a smoothly varying light curve with a period near 4.75 hr and one minimum per orbit, indicating that the state of the system had changed dramatically. We present time-resolved spectra showing a superficially normal, mid-G type photosphere, with no detectable …


Cosmic Microwave Background And Supernova Constraints On Quintessence: Concordance Regions And Target Models, Robert R. Caldwell, Michael Doran Jun 2004

Cosmic Microwave Background And Supernova Constraints On Quintessence: Concordance Regions And Target Models, Robert R. Caldwell, Michael Doran

Dartmouth Scholarship

We perform a detailed comparison of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy with the predictions of quintessence cosmological models of dark energy. We consider a wide range of quintessence models, including: a constant equation-of-state; a simply-parametrized, time-evolving equation-of-state; a class of models of early quintessence; scalar fields with an inverse-power law potential. We also provide a joint fit to the CBI and ACBAR CMB data, and the type 1a supernovae. Using these select constraints we identify viable, target models for further analysis.


Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data, G. Wegner, M. Bernardi, C. N. A. Willmer, L. N. Da Costa Nov 2003

Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies: Spectroscopic Data, G. Wegner, M. Bernardi, C. N. A. Willmer, L. N. Da Costa

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present central velocity dispersions and Mg2 line indices for an all-sky sample of ~1178 elliptical and S0 galaxies, of which 984 had no previous measures. This sample contains the largest set of homogeneous spectroscopic data for a uniform sample of elliptical galaxies in the nearby universe. These galaxies were observed as part of the ENEAR project, designed to study the peculiar motions and internal properties of the local early-type galaxies. Using 523 repeated observations of 317 galaxies obtained during different runs, the data are brought to a common zero point. These multiple observations, taken during the many runs …


Stellar Pollution And [Fe/H] In The Hyades, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer Oct 2003

Stellar Pollution And [Fe/H] In The Hyades, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Hyades open cluster presents a unique laboratory for planet formation and stellar pollution studies because all of the stars have essentially the same age and were born from the same cloud of gas. Furthermore, with an age of ~650 Myr, most of the intermediate- and low-mass stars are on the main sequence. Given these assumptions, the accretion of metal-rich material onto the surface of a star during and shortly after the formation of planetary systems should be evident via the enhanced metallicity of the star. Building on previous work, stellar evolution models that include the effects of stellar pollution …


Gauge-Invariant Initial Conditions And Early Time Perturbations In Quintessence Universes, Michael Doran, Christian M. Müller, Gregor Schäfer, Christof Wetterich Sep 2003

Gauge-Invariant Initial Conditions And Early Time Perturbations In Quintessence Universes, Michael Doran, Christian M. Müller, Gregor Schäfer, Christof Wetterich

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present a systematic treatment of the initial conditions and evolution of cosmological perturbations in a universe containing photons, baryons, neutrinos, cold dark matter, and a scalar quintessence field. By formulating the evolution in terms of a differential equation involving a matrix acting on a vector comprised of the perturbation variables, we can use the familiar language of eigenvalues and eigenvectors. As the largest eigenvalue of the evolution matrix is fourfold degenerate, it follows that there are four dominant modes with a nondiverging gravitational potential at early times, corresponding to adiabatic, cold dark matter isocurvature, baryon isocurvature and neutrino isocurvature …


Grb 021004: A Possible Shell Nebula Around A Wolf‐Rayet Star Gamma‐Ray Burst Progenitor, N. Mirabal, J. P. Halpern, Ryan Chornock, Alexei V. Filippenko, D. M. Terndrup, E. Armstrong, J. Kemp, J. R. Thorstensen, M. Tavarez, C. Espaillat Jun 2003

Grb 021004: A Possible Shell Nebula Around A Wolf‐Rayet Star Gamma‐Ray Burst Progenitor, N. Mirabal, J. P. Halpern, Ryan Chornock, Alexei V. Filippenko, D. M. Terndrup, E. Armstrong, J. Kemp, J. R. Thorstensen, M. Tavarez, C. Espaillat

Dartmouth Scholarship

The rapid localization of GRB 021004 by the HETE-2 satellite allowed nearly continuous monitoring of its early optical afterglow decay, as well as high-quality optical spectra that determined a redshift of z3 = 2.328 for its host galaxy, an active starburst galaxy with strong Ly emission and several absorption lines. Spectral observations show multiple absorbers at z3A = 2.323, z3B= 2.317, and z3C = 2.293 blueshifted by ~450, ~990, and ~3155 km s-1, respectively, relative to the host galaxy Lyα emission. We argue that these correspond to a fragmented shell nebula that has …


Effects Of The Sound Speed Of Quintessence On The Microwave Background And Large Scale Structure, Simon Dedeo, R. R. Caldwell, Paul J. Steinhardt May 2003

Effects Of The Sound Speed Of Quintessence On The Microwave Background And Large Scale Structure, Simon Dedeo, R. R. Caldwell, Paul J. Steinhardt

Dartmouth Scholarship

We consider how quintessence models in which the sound speed differs from the speed of light and varies with time affect the cosmic microwave background and the fluctuation power spectrum. Significant modifications occur on length scales related to the Hubble radius during epochs in which the sound speed is near zero and the quintessence contributes a non-negligible fraction of the total energy density. For the microwave background, we find that the usual enhancement of the lowest multipole moments by the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect can be modified, resulting in suppression or bumps instead. Also, the sound speed can produce oscillations and …


Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry, M. V. Alonso, M. Bernardi, L. N. Da Costa, G. Wegner May 2003

Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies: Circular-Aperture Photometry, M. V. Alonso, M. Bernardi, L. N. Da Costa, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present R -band CCD photometry for 1332 early-type galaxies, observed as part of the ENEAR survey of peculiar motions using early-type galaxies in the nearby universe. Circular apertures are used to trace the surface brightness profiles, which are then fitted by a two-component bulge-disk model. From the fits, we obtain the structural parameters required to estimate galaxy distances using the Dn - and fundamental plane relations. We find that about 12% of the galaxies are well represented by a pure r1/4 law, while 87% are best fitted by a two-component model. There are 356 repeated observations of 257 galaxies …


The Impact Of Pollution On Stellar Evolution Models, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer Jan 2003

The Impact Of Pollution On Stellar Evolution Models, Aaron Dotter, Brian Chaboyer

Dartmouth Scholarship

An approach is introduced for incorporating the concept of stellar pollution into stellar evolution models. The approach involves enhancing the metal content of the surface layers of stellar models. In addition, the surface layers of stars in the mass range of 0.5-2.0 M☉ are mixed to an artificial depth motivated by observations of lithium abundance. The behavior of polluted stellar evolution models is explored assuming the pollution occurs after the star has left the fully convective pre-main-sequence phase. Stellar models polluted with a few Earth masses (M⊕) of iron are significantly hotter than stars of the …


Mass Profile Of The Infall Region Of The Abell 2199 Supercluster, K. Rines, M. J. Geller, A. Diaferio, A. Mahdavi, J. J. Mohr, G. Wegner Sep 2002

Mass Profile Of The Infall Region Of The Abell 2199 Supercluster, K. Rines, M. J. Geller, A. Diaferio, A. Mahdavi, J. J. Mohr, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Using a redshift survey of 1323 galaxies (1092 new or remeasured) in a region of 95 deg2 centered on the nearby galaxy cluster Abell 2199, we analyze the supercluster containing A2199, A2197, and an X-ray group. The caustic technique accurately reproduces the true mass profiles of simulated simple superclusters (i.e., superclusters for which the virial mass of one cluster is 2–10 times the virial mass of all other clusters in the supercluster). We calculate the masses of the two main components of A2197 (A2197W and A2197E) by using archival X-ray observations and demonstrate that the A2199 supercluster is simple (the …


Extraordinary Late‐Time Infrared Emission Of Type Iin Supernovae, Christopher L. Gerardy, Robert A. Fesen, Ken-Ichi Nomoto, Peter M. Garnavich Aug 2002

Extraordinary Late‐Time Infrared Emission Of Type Iin Supernovae, Christopher L. Gerardy, Robert A. Fesen, Ken-Ichi Nomoto, Peter M. Garnavich

Dartmouth Scholarship

Near-infrared observations are presented for five Type IIn supernovae (SN 1995N, SN 1997ab, SN 1998S, SN 1999Z, and SN 1999el) that exhibit strong infrared excesses at late times (t > 100 days). H- and K-band emission from these objects is dominated by a continuum that rises toward longer wavelengths. The data are interpreted as thermal emission from dust, probably situated in a preexisting circumstellar nebula. The IR luminosities implied by single-temperature blackbody fits are quite large, >1041-1042 ergs s-1, and the emission evolves slowly, lasting for years after maximum light. For SN 1995N, the integrated energy release via …


Sensitivity Of The Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy To Initial Conditions In Quintessence Cosmology, Rahul Dave, R. R. Caldwell, Paul J. Steinhardt Jul 2002

Sensitivity Of The Cosmic Microwave Background Anisotropy To Initial Conditions In Quintessence Cosmology, Rahul Dave, R. R. Caldwell, Paul J. Steinhardt

Dartmouth Scholarship

We analyze the evolution of energy density fluctuations in cosmological scenarios with a mixture of cold dark matter and quintessence, in which the quintessence field is modeled by a constant equation of state. We obtain analytic expressions for the time evolution of the quintessence perturbations in models with light fields. The fluctuations behave analogously to a driven harmonic oscillator, where the driving term arises from the inhomogeneities in the surrounding cosmological fluid. We demonstrate that the homogeneous solution, determined by the initial conditions, is completely subdominant to the inhomogeneous solution for physically realistic scenarios. Thus we show that the cosmic …


Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies. I. The Enearc Cluster Sample*, M. Bernardi, M. V. Alonso, L. N. Da Costa, C. N. A. Willmer, A. Wegner Jun 2002

Redshift-Distance Survey Of Early-Type Galaxies. I. The Enearc Cluster Sample*, M. Bernardi, M. V. Alonso, L. N. Da Costa, C. N. A. Willmer, A. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

This paper presents data on the ENEARc subsample of the larger ENEAR survey of nearby early-type galaxies. The ENEARc galaxies belong to clusters and were specifically chosen to be used for the construction of a D-n-sigma template. The ENEARc sample includes new measurements of spectroscopic and photometric parameters (redshift, velocity dispersion, line index Mg-2, and the angular diameter d(n)), as well as data from the literature. New spectroscopic data are given for 229 cluster early-type galaxies in 28 clusters. Objective criteria, based on catalogs of groups of galaxies derived from complete redshift surveys of the nearby universe, are used to …


Optical And Ultraviolet Spectroscopy Of Sn 1995n: Evidence For Strong Circumstellar Interaction, Claes Fransson, Roger A. Chevalier, Alexei V. Filippenko, Bruno Leibundgut, Aaron J. Barth, Robert A. Fesen, Robert P. Kirshner, Douglas C. Leonard, Weidong Li, Peter Lundqvist, Jesper Sollerman, Schuyler D. Van Dyk Feb 2002

Optical And Ultraviolet Spectroscopy Of Sn 1995n: Evidence For Strong Circumstellar Interaction, Claes Fransson, Roger A. Chevalier, Alexei V. Filippenko, Bruno Leibundgut, Aaron J. Barth, Robert A. Fesen, Robert P. Kirshner, Douglas C. Leonard, Weidong Li, Peter Lundqvist, Jesper Sollerman, Schuyler D. Van Dyk

Dartmouth Scholarship

Optical and ultraviolet observations of the Type IIn supernova SN 1995N at epochs between 321 and 1799 days after the explosion show three distinct velocity components. The narrow lines come from circumstellar gas and show both low and high ionization. This component has a low filling factor and is photoionized by X-rays from the shock. The intermediate component, which is dominated by newly processed oxygen, originates in a shell with velocity of 2500-5000 km s-1 and most likely comes from the ejecta. The hydrogen- and helium-dominated gas has a low ionization, a high density, and velocities that extend out …


The Qmap And Mat/Toco Experiments For Measuring Anisotropy In The Cosmic Microwave Background, A. Miller, J. Beach, S. Bradley, R. Caldwell, H. Chapman, M. J. Devlin, W. B. Devlin, W. B. Dorwart, T. Herbig, D. Jones, G. Monnelly, C. B. Netterfield, M. Nolta, L. A. Page, J. Puchalla, T. Robertson, E. Torbet, H. T. Tran, W. E. Vinje Jan 2002

The Qmap And Mat/Toco Experiments For Measuring Anisotropy In The Cosmic Microwave Background, A. Miller, J. Beach, S. Bradley, R. Caldwell, H. Chapman, M. J. Devlin, W. B. Devlin, W. B. Dorwart, T. Herbig, D. Jones, G. Monnelly, C. B. Netterfield, M. Nolta, L. A. Page, J. Puchalla, T. Robertson, E. Torbet, H. T. Tran, W. E. Vinje

Dartmouth Scholarship

We describe two related experiments that measured the anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). QMAP was a balloon-borne telescope that flew twice in 1996, collecting data on degree angular scales with an array of six high electron mobility transistor-based amplifiers (HEMTs). QMAP used an interlocking scan strategy to directly produce high signal-to-noise ratio CMB maps over a limited region of sky. The QMAP gondola was then refitted for ground-based work as the MAT/TOCO experiment. Observations were made from 5200 m on Cerro Toco in Northern Chile in 1997 and 1998 using time domain beam synthesis. MAT/TOCO measured the rise …


Fine-Tuning Solution For Hybrid Inflation In Dissipative Chaotic Dynamics, Rudnei O. Ramos Nov 2001

Fine-Tuning Solution For Hybrid Inflation In Dissipative Chaotic Dynamics, Rudnei O. Ramos

Dartmouth Scholarship

We study the presence of chaotic behavior in phase space in the preinflationary stage of hybrid inflation models. This is closely related to the problem of initial conditions associated with these inflationary types of model. We then show how an expected dissipative dynamics of fields just before the onset of inflation can solve or ease considerably the problem of initial conditions, driving the system naturally toward inflation. The chaotic behavior of the corresponding dynamical system is studied by computation of the fractal dimension of the boundary in phase space separating inflationary from noninflationary trajectories. The fractal dimension for this boundary …


Redshifts For 2410 Galaxies In The Century Survey Region, Gary Wegner, John R. Thorstensen, Michael J. Kurtz, Warren R. Brown, Daniel G. Fabricant, Margaret J. Geller, John P. Huchra, Ronald O. Marzke, Shoko Sakai Aug 2001

Redshifts For 2410 Galaxies In The Century Survey Region, Gary Wegner, John R. Thorstensen, Michael J. Kurtz, Warren R. Brown, Daniel G. Fabricant, Margaret J. Geller, John P. Huchra, Ronald O. Marzke, Shoko Sakai

Dartmouth Scholarship

The Century Survey strip covers 102 deg2 within the limits 85 ≤ α ≤ 165, 290 ≤ δ ≤ 300, equinox B1950.0. The strip passes through the Corona Borealis supercluster and the outer region of the Coma cluster. Within the Century Survey region, we have measured 2410 redshifts that constitute four overlapping complete redshift surveys: (1) 1728 galaxies with Kron-Cousins Rph ≤ 16.13 covering the entire strip, (2) 507 galaxies with Rph ≤ 16.4 in right ascension range 8h32m ≤ α ≤ 10 h45m, equinox B1950.0, (3) 1251 galaxies with absorption- …


Heavy‐Element Diffusion In Metal‐Poor Stars, Brian Chaboyer, W. H. Fenton, Jenica E. Nelan, D. J. Patnaude, Francesca E. Simon Aug 2001

Heavy‐Element Diffusion In Metal‐Poor Stars, Brian Chaboyer, W. H. Fenton, Jenica E. Nelan, D. J. Patnaude, Francesca E. Simon

Dartmouth Scholarship

Stellar evolution models that include the effect of helium and heavy-element diffusion have been calculated for initial iron abundances of [Fe/H] = -2.3, -2.1, -1.9, and -1.7. These models were calculated for a large variety of masses and three separate mixing lengths, α = 1.50, 1.75, and 2.00 (with α = 1.75 being the solar calibrated mixing length). The change in the surface iron abundance for stars of different masses was determined for the ages of 11, 13, and 15 Gyr. Iron settles out of the surface convection zone on the main sequence ; this iron is dredged back up …


X‐Ray–Emitting Groups In The Infall Region Of Abell 2199, K. Rines, A. Mahdavi, M. J. Geller, A. Diaferio, J. J. Mohr, G. Wegner Jul 2001

X‐Ray–Emitting Groups In The Infall Region Of Abell 2199, K. Rines, A. Mahdavi, M. J. Geller, A. Diaferio, J. J. Mohr, G. Wegner

Dartmouth Scholarship

Using a large redshift survey covering 95 deg2, we demonstrate that the infall region of Abell 2199 contains Abell 2197, one or two X-ray-emitting groups, and up to five additional groups identified in redshift surveys. Our survey shows that the X-ray-emitting systems, located at projected radii of 14, 19, and 51 (2.2, 3.1, and 8.0 h-1 Mpc), are connected kinematically to A2199. A2197 is itself an optically rich cluster; its weak X-ray emission suggests that it is much less massive than A2199. The absence of a sharp peak in the infall pattern at the position of A2197 supports this …


Shortcuts In The Fifth Dimension, Robert Caldwell, David Langlois Jul 2001

Shortcuts In The Fifth Dimension, Robert Caldwell, David Langlois

Dartmouth Scholarship

If our Universe is a three-brane embedded in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime, in which matter is confined to the brane and gravity inhabits an infinite bulk space, then the causal propagation of luminous and gravitational signals is in general different. A gravitational signal traveling between two points on the brane can take a “shortcut” through the bulk, and appear quicker than a photon traveling between the same two points along a geodesic on the brane. Similarly, in a given time interval, a gravitational signal can propagate farther than a luminous signal. We quantify this effect, and analyze the impact …


The Expansion Center And Dynamical Age Of The Galactic Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A, John R. Thorstensen, Robert A. Fesen, Sidney Van Den Bergh Jul 2001

The Expansion Center And Dynamical Age Of The Galactic Supernova Remnant Cassiopeia A, John R. Thorstensen, Robert A. Fesen, Sidney Van Den Bergh

Dartmouth Scholarship

We present proper motions for 21 bright main shell and 17 faint, higher velocity, outer ejecta knots in the Cas A supernova remnant and use them to derive new estimates for the remnant's expansion center and age. Our study included 1951–1976 Palomar 5 m prime focus plates, 1988–1999 CCD images from the KPNO 4 m and MDM 2.4 m telescopes, and 1999 HST WFPC2 images. Measurable positions covered a 23 to 41 yr time span for most knots, with a few outer knots followed for almost 48 yr. We derive an expansion center of α(J2000) = 23h23m …