Sensitivity of the NEMO telescope to neutrinos from microquasars

We present the results of Monte Carlo simulation studies of the capability of the proposed NEMO telescope to detect TeV muon neutrinos from Galactic microquasars. In particular we determined the number of the detectable events from each known microquasar together with the expected atmospheric neutrino and muon background events. We also discuss the detector sensitivity to neutrino fluxes expected from microquasars, optimizing the event selection in order to reject the atmospheric background, and we show the number of events surviving the event selection.Comment: To be published on CRIS06 proceedings (Catania, Italy, May 29 - June 2, 2006

Collection of Housing Judgments: Buffalo\u27s Practice Compared to Other Municipalities

Each year the City of Buffalo files thousands of dollars in housing violation fines as judgments at the Erie County Clerk’s Office. Unfortunately, much of this money goes uncollected, in part due to the limited steps the City takes to collect outstanding fines. The problem the City faces in pursuing collections is a lack of resources and judgment proof defendants

Evidence of radius inflation in stars approaching the slow-rotator sequence

Average stellar radii in open clusters can be estimated from rotation periods and projected rotational velocities under the assumption of random orientation of the spin axis. Such estimates are independent of distance, interstellar absorption, and models, but their validity can be limited by missing data (truncation) or data that only represent upper/lower limits (censoring). We present a new statistical analysis method to estimate average stellar radii in the presence of censoring and truncation. We use theoretical distribution functions of the projected stellar radius $R \sin i$ to define a likelihood function in the presence of censoring and truncation. Average stellar radii in magnitude bins are then obtained by a maximum likelihood parametric estimation procedure. This method is capable of recovering the average stellar radius within a few percent with as few as $\approx$ 10 measurements. Here it is applied for the first time to the dataset available for the Pleiades. We find an agreement better than $\approx$ 10 percent between the observed $R$ vs $M_K$ relationship and current standard stellar models for 1.2 $\ge M/M_{\odot} \ge$ 0.85 with no evident bias. Evidence of a systematic deviation at $2\sigma$ level are found for stars with 0.8 $\ge M/M_{\odot} \ge$ 0.6 approaching the slow-rotator sequence. Fast-rotators ($P$ < 2 d) agree with standard models within 15 percent with no systematic deviations in the whole 1.2 $\ge M/M_{\odot} \ge$ 0.5 range. The evidence found of a possible radius inflation just below the lower mass limit of the slow-rotator sequence indicates a possible connection with the transition from the fast to the slow-rotator sequence.Comment: Accepted by Astronomy and Astrophysics, 11 pages, 6 figure

Silicon containing electroconductive polymers and structures made therefrom

An electropolymerized film comprised of polymers and copolymers of a monomer is formed on the surface of an anode. The finished structures have superior electrical and mechanical properties for use in applications such as electrostatic dissipation and for the reduction of the radar cross section of advanced aircraft

Impact of photometric variability on age and mass determination of Young Stellar Objects: A case study on Orion Nebula Cluster

In case of pre-main sequence objects, the only way to determine age and mass is by fitting theoretical isochrones on color-magnitude (alternatively luminosity-temperature) diagrams. Since young stellar objects exhibit photometric variability over wide range in magnitude and colors, the age and mass determined by fitting isochrones is expected to be inaccurate, if not erroneous. These in turn will badly affect any study carried out on age spread and process of star formation. Since we have carried out very extensive photometric observations of the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC), we decided to use our multi-band data to explore the influence of variability in determining mass and age of cluster members. In this study, we get the amplitudes of the photometric variability in V, R, and I optical bands of a sample of 346 ONC members and use it to investigate how the variability affects the inferred masses and ages and if it alone can take account for the age spread among the ONC members reported by earlier studies. We find that members that show periodic and smooth photometric rotational modulation have their masses and ages unaffected by variability. On other hand, we found that members with periodic but very scattered photometric rotational modulation and members with irregular variability have their masses and ages significantly affected. Moreover, using Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagrams we find that the observed I band photometric variability can take account of only a fraction (about 50%) of the inferred age spread, whereas the V band photometric variability is large enough to mask any age spread.Comment: Accepted by MNRAS; 17 pages, 4 Tables, 15 Figure