Search results for "Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics"
showing 10 items of 347 documents
Modelling of asymmetric nanojets in coronal loops
2021
Context. Observations of reconnection jets in the solar corona are emerging as a possible diagnostic for studying highly elusive coronal heating. Such jets, and in particular those termed nanojets, can be observed in coronal loops and have been linked to nanoflares. However, while models successfully describe the bilateral post-reconnection magnetic slingshot effect that leads to the jets, observations reveal that nanojets are unidirectional or highly asymmetric, with only the jet travelling inward with respect to the coronal loop’s curvature being clearly observed. Aims. The aim of this work is to address the role of the curvature of the coronal loop in the generation and evolution of asym…
RotNet: Fast and Scalable Estimation of Stellar Rotation Periods Using Convolutional Neural Networks
2020
Magnetic activity in stars manifests as dark spots on their surfaces that modulate the brightness observed by telescopes. These light curves contain important information on stellar rotation. However, the accurate estimation of rotation periods is computationally expensive due to scarce ground truth information, noisy data, and large parameter spaces that lead to degenerate solutions. We harness the power of deep learning and successfully apply Convolutional Neural Networks to regress stellar rotation periods from Kepler light curves. Geometry-preserving time-series to image transformations of the light curves serve as inputs to a ResNet-18 based architecture which is trained through transf…
iLocater: a diffraction-limited Doppler spectrometer for the Large Binocular Telescope
2016
We are developing a stable and precise spectrograph for the Large Binocular Telescope (LBT) named "iLocater." The instrument comprises three principal components: a cross-dispersed echelle spectrograph that operates in the YJ-bands (0.97-1.30 microns), a fiber-injection acquisition camera system, and a wavelength calibration unit. iLocater will deliver high spectral resolution (R~150,000-240,000) measurements that permit novel studies of stellar and substellar objects in the solar neighborhood including extrasolar planets. Unlike previous planet-finding instruments, which are seeing-limited, iLocater operates at the diffraction limit and uses single mode fibers to eliminate the effects of m…
Carbon Monoxide in the Cold Debris of Supernova 1987A
2013
We report spectroscopic and imaging observations of rotational transitions of cold CO and SiO in the ejecta of SN1987A, the first such emission detected in a supernova remnant. In addition to line luminosities for the CO J=1-0, 2-1, 6-5, and 7-6 transitions, we present upper limits for all other transitions up to J=13-12, collectively measured from the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA), the Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment (APEX), and the Herschel Spectral and Photometric Imaging REceiver (SPIRE). Simple models show the lines are emitted from at least 0.01 solar masses of CO at a temperature > 14 K, confined within at most 35% of a spherical volume expanding at ~ 2000 km/s. Moreover, we…
Correcting the effect of stellar spots on ARIEL transmission spectra
2020
The goal of this study is to assess the impact of the stellar spots on the extraction of the planetary transmission spectra observed by ARIEL. We develop a method to model the stellar spectrum of a star in the presence of spots by using the out-of-transit observations. It is based on a chi squared minimization procedure of the out-of-transit spectrum on a grid of stellar spectra with different sizes and temperatures of the spots. The approach allows us also to study the temporal evolution of the spots when comparing stellar spectra observed at different epochs. We also present a method to correct the transit depth variations due to non-occulted stellar spots and estimate the error we introd…
Variable X-ray emission from the accretion shock in the classical T Tauri star V2129 Ophiuchi
2011
The soft X-ray emission from high density plasma in CTTS is associated with the accretion process. It is still unclear whether this high density cool plasma is heated in the accretion shock, or if it is coronal plasma fed/modified by the accretion process. We conducted a coordinated quasi-simultaneous optical and X-ray observing campaign of the CTTS V2129 Oph (Chandra/HETGS data to constrain the X-ray emitting plasma components, and optical observations to constrain the characteristics of accretion and magnetic field). We analyze a 200 ks Chandra/HETGS observation of V2129 Oph, subdivided into two 100 ks segments, corresponding to two different phases within one stellar rotation. The X-ray …
Main Sequence Stars with Asymmetric Dark Matter
2012
We study the effects of feebly or non-annihilating weakly interacting Dark Matter (DM) particles on stars that live in DM environments denser than that of our Sun. We find that the energy transport mechanism induced by DM particles can produce unusual conditions in the core of Main Sequence stars, with effects which can potentially be used to probe DM properties. We find that solar mass stars placed in DM densities of rhochi>= e2 GeV/cm3 are sensitive to Spin-Dependent scattering cross-section sigmsd >= e-37 cm2 and a DM particle mass as low as mchi=5 GeV, accessing a parameter range weakly constrained by current direct detection experiments.
The puzzling case of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J00291+5934: flaring optical emission during quiescence
2017
We present an optical (gri) study during quiescence of the accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar IGR J00291+5934 performed with the 10.4m Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) in August 2014. Despite the source being in quiescence at the time of our observations, it showed a strong optical flaring activity, more pronounced at higher frequencies (i.e. the g band). Once the flares were subtracted, we tentatively recovered a sinusoidal modulation at the system orbital period in all bands, even if a significant phase shift with respect to an irradiated star, typical of accreting millisecond X-ray pulsars is detected. We conclude that the observed flaring could be a manifestation of the presence of an acc…
The Gaia-ESO Survey: Dynamics of ionized and neutral gas in the Lagoon nebula (M 8)
2017
Aims. We present a spectroscopic study of the dynamics of the ionized and neutral gas throughout the Lagoon nebula (M 8), using VLT-FLAMES data from the Gaia-ESO Survey. The new data permit exploration of the physical connections between the nebular gas and the stellar population of the associated star cluster NGC 6530. Methods. We characterized through spectral fitting emission lines of Hα, [N II] and [S II] doublets, [O III], and absorption lines of sodium D doublet, using data from the FLAMES-Giraffe and UVES spectrographs, on more than 1000 sightlines toward the entire face of the Lagoon nebula. Gas temperatures are derived from line-width comparisons, densities from the [S II] doublet …
Gaia-ESO Survey: Gas dynamics in the Carina nebula through optical emission lines
2016
Aims. We present observations from the Gaia-ESO Survey in the lines of Hα, [N II], [S II], and He I of nebular emission in the central part of the Carina nebula. Methods. We investigate the properties of the two already known kinematic components (approaching and receding), which account for the bulk of emission. Moreover, we investigate the features of the much less known low-intensity high-velocity (absolute RV >50 km s) gas emission. Results. We show that gas giving rise to Hα and He I emission is dynamically well correlated with but not identical to gas seen through forbidden-line emission. Gas temperatures are derived from line-width ratios, and densities from [S II] doublet ratios. Th…