13,788 research outputs found

    X-ray emission from the old pulsar B0950+08

    Full text link
    We present the timing and spectral analyses of theXMM-newton data on the 17-Myr-old, nearby radio pulsar B0950+08. This observation revealed pulsations of the X-ray flux of the pulsar at its radio period. The pulse shape and pulsed fraction are apparently different at lower and higher energies of the observed 0.2-10 keV energy range, which suggests that the radiation cannot be explained by a single emission mechanism. The X-ray spectrum of the pulsar can be fitted with a power-law model with a photon index about 1.75 and an (isotropic) luminosity about 9.8e29 erg/s in the 0.2-10 keV. Better fits are obtained with two-component, power-law plus thermal, models with index of 1.30 and 9.7e29 erg/s for the power-law component that presumably originates from the pulsar's magnetosphere. The thermal component, dominating at E>0.7 keV, can be interpreted as radiation from heated polar caps on the neutron star surface covered with a hydrogen atmosphere. The inferred effective temperature, radius, and bolometric luminosity of the polar caps are about 1 MK, 250 m, and 3e29 erg/s. Optical through X-ray nonthermal spectrum of the pulsar can be described as a single power-law with index 1.3-1.4 for the two-component X-ray fit. The ratio of the nonthermal X-ray (1-10 keV) luminosity to the nonthermal optical (4000-9000 \AA) luminosity is within the range of 1e2-1e3 observed for younger pulsars, which suggests that the magnetospheric X-ray and optical emissions are powered by the same mechanism in all pulsars. An upper limit on the temperature of the bulk of the neutron star surface, inferred from the optical and X-ray data, is about 0.15 MK. We also analyze X-ray observations of several other old pulsars, B2224+65, J2043+2740, B0628-28, B1813-36, B1929+10, and B0823+26.Comment: To be published in ApJ. Nonthermal optical and X-ray luminosities of seven radio pulsars are updated and presented in a new Table. Figure 6 showing the ratios of the luminosities vs. spin-down energy is also update

    Topological entropy and blocking cost for geodesics in riemannian manifolds

    Full text link
    For a pair of points x,yx,y in a compact, riemannian manifold MM let nt(x,y)n_t(x,y) (resp. st(x,y)s_t(x,y)) be the number of geodesic segments with length t\leq t joining these points (resp. the minimal number of point obstacles needed to block them). We study relationships between the growth rates of nt(x,y)n_t(x,y) and st(x,y)s_t(x,y) as tt\to\infty. We derive lower bounds on st(x,y)s_t(x,y) in terms of the topological entropy h(M)h(M) and its fundamental group. This strengthens the results of Burns-Gutkin \cite{BG06} and Lafont-Schmidt \cite{LS}. For instance, by \cite{BG06,LS}, h(M)>0h(M)>0 implies that ss is unbounded; we show that ss grows exponentially, with the rate at least h(M)/2h(M)/2.Comment: 13 page

    A five year record of high-frequency in situ measurements of non-methane hydrocarbons at Mace Head, Ireland

    Get PDF
    Continuous high-frequency in situ measurements of a range of non-methane hydrocarbons have been made at Mace Head since January 2005. Mace Head is a background Northern Hemispheric site situated on the eastern edge of the Atlantic. Five year measurements (2005–2009) of six C<sub>2</sub>–C<sub>5</sub> non-methane hydrocarbons have been separated into baseline Northern Hemispheric and European polluted air masses, among other sectors. Seasonal cycles in baseline Northern Hemispheric air masses and European polluted air masses arriving at Mace Head have been studied. Baseline air masses show a broad summer minima between June and September for shorter lived species, longer lived species show summer minima in July/August. All species displayed a winter maxima in February. European air masses showed baseline elevated mole fractions for all non-methane hydrocarbons. Largest elevations (of up to 360 ppt for ethane maxima) from baseline data were observed in winter maxima, with smaller elevations observed during the summer. Analysis of temporal trends using the Mann-Kendall test showed small (<6 % yr<sup>−1</sup>) but statistically significant decreases in the butanes and <i>i</i>-pentane between 2005 and 2009 in European air. No significant trends were found for any species in baseline air

    Mass-to-Radius Ratio for the Millisecond Pulsar J0437-4715

    Get PDF
    Properties of X-ray radiation emitted from the polar caps of a radio pulsar depend not only on the cap temperature, size, and position, but also on the surface chemical composition, magnetic field, and neutron star's mass and radius. Fitting the spectra and the light curves with neutron star atmosphere models enables one to infer these parameters. As an example, we present here results obtained from the analysis of the pulsed X-ray radiation of a nearby millisecond pulsar J0437-4715. In particular, we show that stringent constraints on the mass-to-radius ratio can be obtained if orientations of the magnetic and rotation axes are known, e.g., from the radio polarization data.Comment: 2 figures, aasms4.sty; accepted for publication in ApJLetter

    Transonic pressure measurements and comparison of theory to experiment for an arrow-wing configuration. Volume 1: Experimental data report, base configuration and effects of wing twist and leading-edge configuration

    Get PDF
    A wind tunnel test of an arrow-wing-body configuration consisting of flat and twisted wings, as well as a variety of leading- and trailing-edge control surface deflections, was conducted at Mach numbers from 0.4 to 1.1 to provide an experimental pressure data base for comparison with theoretical methods. Theory-to-experiment comparisons of detailed pressure distributions were made using current state-of-the-art attached and separated flow methods. The purpose of these comparisons was to delineate conditions under which these theories are valid for both flat and twisted wings and to explore the use of empirical methods to correct the theoretical methods where theory is deficient

    The Search for Intergalactic Hydrogen Clouds in Voids

    Get PDF
    I present the results of a search for intergalactic hydrogen clouds in voids. Clouds are detected by their HI LyA absorption lines in the HST spectra of low-redshift AGN. The parameter with which the environments of clouds are characterized is the tidal field, which places a lower limit on the cloud mass-density which is dynamically stable against disruption. Galaxy redshift catalogs are used to sum the tidal fields along the lines of sight, sorting clouds according to tidal field upper, or lower limits. The analytical methodology employed is designed to detect gas clouds whose expansion following reionization is restrained by dark matter perturbations. End-products are the cloud equivalent width distribution functions (EWDF) of catalogs formed by sorting clouds according to various tidal field upper, or lower limits. Cumulative EWDFs are steep in voids (S ~ -1.5 \pm 0.2), but flatter in high tidal field zones (S ~ -0.5 \pm 0.1). Most probable cloud Doppler parameters are ~30 km/s in voids and ~60 km/s in proximity to galaxies. In voids, the cumulative line density at low EW (~ 15 mA) is ~ 500 per unit redshift. The void filling factor is found to be 0.87 <= f_v <= 0.94. The void EWDF is remarkably uniform over this volume, with a possible tendency for more massive clouds to be in void centers. The size and nature of the void cloud population suggested by this study is completely unanticipated by the results of published 3-D simulations, which predict that most clouds are in filamentary structures around galaxy concentrations, and that very few observable absorbers would lie in voids. Strategies for modeling this population are briefly discussed.Comment: 21 pages, 19 figures, apjemulate style, to appear in ApJ vol. 57

    Semirelativistic stability of N-boson systems bound by 1/r pair potentials

    Full text link
    We analyze a system of self-gravitating identical bosons by means of a semirelativistic Hamiltonian comprising the relativistic kinetic energies of the involved particles and added (instantaneous) Newtonian gravitational pair potentials. With the help of an improved lower bound to the bottom of the spectrum of this Hamiltonian, we are able to enlarge the known region for relativistic stability for such boson systems against gravitational collapse and to sharpen the predictions for their maximum stable mass.Comment: 11 pages, considerably enlarged introduction and motivation, remainder of the paper unchange
    corecore