International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Core-collapse supernovae are among Nature's most energetic events. They mark the end of massive star evolution and pollute the interstellar medium with the life-enabling ashes of thermonuclear burning. Despite their importance for the evolution of galaxies and life in the universe, the details of the core-collapse supernova explosion mechanism remain in the dark and pose a daunting computational challenge. We outline the multi-dimensional, multi-scale, and multi-physics nature of the core-collapse supernova problem and discuss computational strategies and requirements for its solution. Specifically, we highlight the axisymmetric (2D) radiation-MHD code VULCAN/2D and present results obtained from the first full-2D angle-dependent neutrino radiation-hydrodynamics simulations of the post-core-bounce supernova evolution. We then go on to discuss the new code Zelmani which is based on the open-source HPC Cactus framework and ...

Science.gov (United States)

for massive star evolution, or they could all be very blue super- giant stars experiencing A , = 1-1.5 mag. The fact that the en- ...

CERN Document Server

Recent nucleosynthesis calculations of Type II supernovae using advanced neutrino transport determine that the early neutrino winds are proton-rich. However, a fraction of the ejecta emitted at the same time is composed of neutron-rich pockets. In this paper we calculate the nucleosynthesis contribution from the neutron-rich pockets in the hot convective bubbles of a core-collapse supernova and show that they do not contribute significantly to the total nucleosynthesis.

CERN Document Server

We use two-dimensional hydrodynamical simulations to investigate the properties of dense ejecta clumps (bullets) in a core collapse supernova remnant, motivated by the observation of protrusions probably caused by clumps in the Vela supernova remnant. The ejecta, with an inner flat and an outer steep power law density distribution, were assumed to freely expand into an ambient medium with a constant density, $\\sim 0.1$ H atoms cm$^{-3}$ for the case of Vela. At an age of $10^4$ yr, the reverse shock front is expected to have moved back to the center of the remnant. Ejecta clumps with an initial density contrast $\\chi \\sim 100$ relative to their surroundings are found to be rapidly fragmented and decelerated. In order to cause a pronounced protrusion on the blast wave, as observed in the Vela remnant, $\\chi \\sim 1000$ may be required. In this case, the clump should be near the inflection point in the ejecta density profile, at an ejecta ...

Science.gov (United States)

Apr 18, 2008 ... The FSS was produced by point-source filtering the individual detector data ... a 1-sigma noise map; and a coverage map giving the count of ...

CERN Document Server

Suppose an astronomer is equipped with a device capable of detecting emissions -- whether they be electromagnetic, gravitational, or neutrino -- from transient sources distributed throughout the cosmos. Because of source rate density evolution and variation of cosmological volume elements, the sources first detected when the machine is switched on are likely to be ones in the high-redshift universe; as observation time increases, rarer, more local, events will be found. We characterize the observer's evolving record of events in terms of a "probability event horizon", converging on the observer from great distances at enormous speed, and illustrate it by simulating neutron star birth events distributed throughout the cosmos. As an initial application of the concept, we determine the approach of this horizon for gamma-ray bursts (GRBs) by fitting to redshift data. The event rates required to fit the model are consistent with the proposed link between core-collapse ...

Science.gov (United States)

WR 104 is the prototype for a small but growing group of stars that present the remarkably striking appearance of pinwheels. High resolution images of WR 104 show the (apparently) face-on spiral turning with an 8 month period. The pinwheel is assumed to be composed of dust produced via colliding winds in a low-inclination WR+OB binary. These assumptions have been very successful in modeling the imaging, but remain largely untested by spectroscopy. Strong motivation for further study of this system has emerged. Recent theory suggests that some gamma-ray bursts (GRB's) are core-collapse supernovae viewed nearly pole-on. The WC class Wolf-Rayet star in WR 104 is the type of star thought to be a possible GRB progenitor. If the orbit (and thus stellar rotation axes) are pole-on, the effects on Earth's biosphere could be significant. Confrontation of the face-on colliding-wind binary model with eight years of spectroscopy, offering full phase coverage of WR 104, is ...

CERN Document Server

One class of gravitational wave signals LIGO is searching for consists of short duration bursts of unknown waveforms. Potential sources include core collapse supernovae, gamma ray burst progenitors, and the merger of binary black holes or neutron stars. We present a density-based clustering algorithm to improve the performance of time-frequency searches for the such gravitational-wave bursts when they are extended in time and/or frequency. We have implemented this algorithm as an extension to the QPipeline search for bursts, which currently determines the statistical significance of events based solely on the peak significance observed in minimum uncertainty regions of the time-frequency plane. Density based clustering improves the performance of such a search by considering the aggregate significance of arbitrarily shaped regions in the time-frequency plane and rejecting the isolated minimum uncertainty features expected from the background ...

CERN Document Server

We have used HST/FOS to study faint UV stars in the core of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397. We confirm the presence of a 4th cataclysmic variable (CV) in NGC 6397 (CV 4), and we use the photometry of Cool et al. (1998) to present evidence that CVs 1--4 all have faint disks and probably low accretion rates. By combining these results with new UV spectra of CV 1 and the published spectra of Grindlay et al. (1995) we present new evidence that CVs 1--3 may be DQ Her systems, and we show that CV 4 may either be a dwarf nova or another magnetic system. Another possibility is that the CVs could be old novae in hibernation between nova eruptions. We also present the first spectrum of a member of a new class of UV bright stars in NGC 6397. These faint, hot stars do not vary, unlike the CVs, and are thus denoted as ``non-flickerers'' (NFs). Like the CVs, their spatial concentration is strongly concentrated toward the cluster ...

CERN Document Server

Dwarf galaxies are generally faint. To derive their age and metallicity distributions, it is critical to optimize the use of any collected photon. Koleva et al., using full spectrum fitting, have found strong population gradients in some dwarf elliptical galaxies. Here, we show that the population profiles derived with this method are consistent and more precise than those obtained with spectrophotometric indices. This allows studying fainter objects in less telescope time.

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

We study the magnetic braking and viscous damping of differential rotation in incompressible, uniform density stars in general relativity. Differentially rotating stars can support significantly more mass in equilibrium than nonrotating or uniformly rotating stars, according to general relativity. The remnant of a binary neutron star merger or supernova core collapse may produce such a 'hypermassive' neutron star. Although a hypermassive neutron star may be stable on a dynamical time scale, magnetic braking and viscous damping of differential rotation will ultimately alter the equilibrium structure, possibly leading to delayed catastrophic collapse. Here we treat the slow-rotation, weak-magnetic field limit in which E_r_o_t<

CERN Document Server

CH Cygni is a symbiotic star consisting of an M giant and an accreting white dwarf, which is known to be a highly variable X-ray source with a complex, two-component, spectra. Here we report on two Suzaku observations of CH Cyg, taken in 2006 January and May, during which the system was seen to be in a soft X-ray bright, hard X-ray faint state. Based on the extraordinary strength of the 6.4 keV fluorescent Fe K-alpha line, we show that the hard X-rays observed with Suzaku are dominated by scattering.

CERN Document Server

The diffuse morphology and transient nature of coronal mass ejections (CMEs) make them difficult to identify and track using traditional image processing techniques. We apply multiscale methods to enhance the visibility of the faint CME front. This enables an ellipse characterisation to objectively study the changing morphology and kinematics of a sample of events imaged by the Large Angle Spectrometric Coronagraph (LASCO) onboard the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and the Sun Earth Connection Coronal and Heliospheric Investigation (SECCHI) onboard the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO). The accuracy of these methods allows us to test the CMEs for non-constant acceleration and expansion. We exploit the multiscale nature of CMEs to extract structure with a multiscale decomposition, akin to a Canny edge detector. Spatio-temporal filtering highlights the CME front as it propagates in time. We apply an ellipse parameterisation of the front to ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

This paper reports extensive new optical and radio observations of NGC 5728, emphasizing the central regions. Deep photographs revealing detail in the faint spiral arms are briefly discussed. Broad-band UBV CCD images obtained to examine the colors of the stellar populations that comprise the bar and central ring are presented. The velocity field and emission maps obtained from imaging spectroscopic measurements in the H-alpha emission line are discussed. Conventional long-slit spectra covering the ionized gas in the nuclear region are described. Detailed maps of the radio emission in the central regions of NGC 5728 are presented. These combined data provide considerable evidence for the inflow of gas into the nuclear region, in response to the nonaxisymmetric gravitational potential of the bar. The possible relation of this phenomenon to the Seyfert nature of NGC 5728 is also considered. 48 references.

CERN Document Server

The third US Naval Observatory (USNO) CCD Astrograph Catalog, UCAC3 was released at the IAU General Assembly on 2009 August 10. It is the first all-sky release in this series and contains just over 100 million objects, about 95 million of them with proper motions, covering about R = 8 to 16 magnitudes. Current epoch positions are obtained from the observations with the 20 cm aperture USNO Astrograph's "red lens", equipped with a 4k by 4k CCD. Proper motions are derived by combining these observations with over 140 ground- and space-based catalogs, including Hipparcos/Tycho and the AC2000.2, as well as unpublished measures of over 5000 plates from other astrographs. For most of the faint stars in the Southern Hemisphere the Yale/San Juan first epoch plates from the SPM program (YSJ1) form the basis for proper motions. These data are supplemented by all-sky Schmidt plate survey astrometry and photometry obtained from the SuperCOSMOS project, as well as 2MASS near-IR ...

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Central velocity dispersions and rotation curves to radii of approx.5 kpc have been measured for 32 galaxies, mostly field S0's. Our rotation curves confirm the result of Kormendy and Illingworth that the bulges of S0 galaxies are in rapid rotation, with enough rotational kinetic energy to account for their flattenings. The V/sigma-ellipticity relation we find for S0 bulges is compared with similar data for elliptical galaxies from Davies et al. We conclude that (1) faint SO bluges and elliptical galaxies (M/sub B/ fainter than -20.5) are both consistent with oblate rotators with isotropic velocity dispersions (although in our sample, S0 bluges are flatter, on the average, than ellipticals) and (2) bright S0 bulges, -22.0

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

The available experimental data on the specific heat, magnetic susceptibility, magnetization, valence, NMR Knight shift and relaxation rate, and the quadrupolar moment of YbPd_2Si_2 are examined within the framework of the single-ion Anderson model. Such an analysis has previously given excellent agreement between theory and experiment for numerous other light heavy-fermion compounds, where crystalline fields do not play a dominant role. For YbPd_2Si_2, substantial crystalline-field splittings make difficult a quantitative comparison with existing exact solutions of the Anderson model. Inconsistencies with the interpretation that a nearly degenerate ground quadruplet determines the low-temperature thermodynamics are pointed out. It is concluded that at least three of the four Kramers doublets participate in the low-T properties. These three doublets should have a splitting of the order of the Kondo temperature, i.e., about 100 K. A simple resonant-level model parametrizing the NMR ...

CERN Document Server

Using the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the FIRST (Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty Centimeters) catalogs, we examined the optical environments around double-lobed radio sources. Previous studies have shown that multi-component radio sources exhibiting some degree of bending between components are likely to be found in galaxy clusters. Often this radio emission is associated with a cD-type galaxy at the center of a cluster. We cross-correlated the SDSS with the FIRST catalog and measured the richness of the cluster environments surrounding both bent and straight multi-component sources. This led to the discovery and classification of a large number of galaxy clusters out to a redshift of z ~ 0.5. We divided our sample into smaller subgroups based on their optical and radio properties. We find that FR I radio sources are more likely to be found in galaxy clusters than FR II sources. Further, we find that bent radio sources are more often found in galaxy ...

CERN Document Server

The spectral properties of Lyman break galaxies (LBGs) offer a means to isolate pure samples displaying either dominant Ly-alpha in absorption or Ly-alpha in emission using broadband information alone. We present criteria developed using a large z ~ 3 LBG spectroscopic sample from the literature that enables large numbers of each spectral type to be gathered in photometric data, providing good statistics for multiple applications. In addition, we find that the truncated faint, blue-end tail of z ~ 3 LBG population overlaps and leads directly into an expected Ly-alpha emitter (LAE) population. As a result, we present simple criteria to cleanly select large numbers of z ~ 3 LAEs in deep broadband surveys. We present the spectroscopic results of 32 r' <~ 25.5 LBGs and r' <~ 27.0 LAEs at z ~ 3 pre-selected in the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope Legacy Survey that confirm these criteria.

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

The state of exploration in the Terra Nova field offshore Newfoundland, and the progress in constructing the floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) at Bull Arm, the assembly site west of St. John's for the Terra Nova vessel, are described. Comparisons are made between the excitement created by the first production well at Leduc in Western Canada in 1947, and the offshore developments currently underway and accelerating offshore Newfoundland. It is estimated that exploration and development offshore had barely touched the surface, with only 160 wells of all types drilled to date, of which 48 exploration wells have uncovered 1.7 billion barrels of oil. The area is practically unexplored; the source rock is there, and the current estimate is that there are a number of basins in the offshore area that are several times the size of the Jeanne d'Arc Basin, where the Hibernia field is currently producing about 135,000 barrels of oil per day. The total estimated ...