Alkali Line Profiles in Degenerate Dwarfs

Ultracool stellar atmospheres show absorption by alkali resonance lines severely broadened by collisions with neutral perturbers. In the coolest and densest atmospheres, such as those of T dwarfs, Na I and K I broadened by molecular hydrogen and helium can come to dominate the entire optical spectrum. Their profiles have been successfully modelled with accurate interaction potentials in the adiabatic theory, computing line profiles from the first few orders of a density expansion of the autocorrelation function. The line shapes in the emergent spectrum also depend on the distribution of absorbers as a function of depth, which can be modelled with improved accuracy by new models of dust condensation and settling. The far red K I wings of the latest T dwarfs still show missing opacity in these models, a phenomenon similar to what has been found for the Na I line profiles observed in extremely cool, metal-rich white dwarfs. We show that the line profile in both cases is strongly determined by multiple-perturber interactions at short distances and can no longer be reproduced by a density expansion, but requires calculation of the full profile in a unified theory. Including such line profiles in stellar atmosphere codes will further improve models for the coolest and densest dwarfs as well as for the deeper atmosphere layers of substellar objects in general.Comment: VI Serbian Conference on Spectral Line Shapes in Astrophysics; to be published by the American Institute of Physics, eds. Milan S. Dimitrijevic and Luka C. Popovic; 6 pages, 6 figure

Quasi-molecular lines in Lyman wings of cool DA white dwarfs; Application to FUSE observations of G231-40

We present new theoretical calculations of the total line profiles of Lyman alpha and Lyman beta which include perturbations by both neutral hydrogen AND protons and all possible quasi-molecular states of H_2 and H_2^+. They are used to improve theoretical modeling of synthetic spectra for cool DA white dwarfs. We compare them with FUSE observation of G231-40. The appearance of the line wings between Lyman alpha and Lyman beta is shown to be sensitive to the relative abundance of hydrogen ions and neutral atoms, and thereby to provide a temperature diagnostic for stellar atmospheres and laboratory plasmas.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysic

Steady-state MreB helices inside bacteria: dynamics without motors

Within individual bacteria, we combine force-dependent polymerization dynamics of individual MreB protofilaments with an elastic model of protofilament bundles buckled into helical configurations. We use variational techniques and stochastic simulations to relate the pitch of the MreB helix, the total abundance of MreB, and the number of protofilaments. By comparing our simulations with mean-field calculations, we find that stochastic fluctuations are significant. We examine the quasi-static evolution of the helical pitch with cell growth, as well as timescales of helix turnover and denovo establishment. We find that while the body of a polarized MreB helix treadmills towards its slow-growing end, the fast-growing tips of laterally associated protofilaments move towards the opposite fast-growing end of the MreB helix. This offers a possible mechanism for targeted polar localization without cytoplasmic motor proteins.Comment: 7 figures, 1 tabl

Photospheric properties and fundamental parameters of M dwarfs

M dwarfs are an important source of information when studying and probing the lower end of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagram, down to the hydrogen-burning limit. Being the most numerous and oldest stars in the galaxy, they carry fundamental information on its chemical history. The presence of molecules in their atmospheres, along with various condensed species, complicates our understanding of their physical properties and thus makes the determination of their fundamental stellar parameters more challenging and difficult. The aim of this study is to perform a detailed spectroscopic analysis of the high-resolution H-band spectra of M dwarfs in order to determine their fundamental stellar parameters and to validate atmospheric models. The present study will also help us to understand various processes, including dust formation and depletion of metals onto dust grains in M dwarf atmospheres. The high spectral resolution also provides a unique opportunity to constrain other chemical and physical processes that occur in a cool atmosphere The high-resolution APOGEE spectra of M dwarfs, covering the entire H-band, provide a unique opportunity to measure their fundamental parameters. We have performed a detailed spectral synthesis by comparing these high-resolution H-band spectra to that of the most recent BT-settl model and have obtained fundamental parameters such as effective temperature, surface gravity, and metallicity (Teff, log g and [Fe/H]) respectively.Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in A&

3D spatially-resolved optical energy density enhanced by wavefront shaping

We study the three-dimensional (3D) spatially-resolved distribution of the energy density of light in a 3D scattering medium upon the excitation of open transmission channels. The open transmission channels are excited by spatially shaping the incident optical wavefronts. To probe the local energy density, we excite isolated fluorescent nanospheres distributed inside the medium. From the spatial fluorescent intensity pattern we obtain the position of each nanosphere, while the total fluorescent intensity gauges the energy density. Our 3D spatially-resolved measurements reveal that the local energy density versus depth (z) is enhanced up to 26X at the back surface of the medium, while it strongly depends on the transverse (x; y) position. We successfully interpret our results with a newly developed 3D model that considers the time-reversed diffusion starting from a point source at the back surface. Our results are relevant for white LEDs, random lasers, solar cells, and biomedical optics

UHE nuclei propagation and the interpretation of the ankle in the cosmic-ray spectrum

We consider the stochastic propagation of high-energy protons and nuclei in the cosmological microwave and infrared backgrounds, using revised photonuclear cross-sections and following primary and secondary nuclei in the full 2D nuclear chart. We confirm earlier results showing that the high-energy data can be fit with a pure proton extragalactic cosmic ray (EGCR) component if the source spectrum is \propto E^{-2.6}. In this case the ankle in the CR spectrum may be interpreted as a pair-production dip associated with the propagation. We show that when heavier nuclei are included in the source with a composition similar to that of Galactic cosmic-rays (GCRs), the pair-production dip is not present unless the proton fraction is higher than 85%. In the mixed composition case, the ankle recovers the past interpretation as the transition from GCRs to EGCRs and the highest energy data can be explained by a harder source spectrum \propto E^{-2.2} - E^{-2.3}, reminiscent of relativistic shock acceleration predictions, and in good agreement with the GCR data at low-energy and holistic scenarios.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, submitted to A&A Letters (minor changes, two figures replaced, two references added

Spectral Energy Distributions for Disk and Halo M--Dwarfs

We have obtained infrared (1 to 2.5 micron) spectroscopy for 42 halo and disk dwarfs with spectral type M1 to M6.5. These data are compared to synthetic spectra generated by the latest model atmospheres of Allard & Hauschildt. Photospheric parameters metallicity, effective temperature and radius are determined for the sample. We find good agreement between observation and theory except for known problems due to incomplete molecular data for metal hydrides and water. The metal-poor M subdwarfs are well matched by the models as oxide opacity sources are less important in this case. The derived effective temperatures for the sample range from 3600K to 2600K; at these temperatures grain formation and extinction are not significant in the photosphere. The derived metallicities range from solar to one-tenth solar. The radii and effective temperatures derived agree well with recent models of low mass stars.Comment: 24 pages including 13 figures, 4 Tables; accepted by Ap