Search results for "WHITE DWARF"

Pressure Shift and Gravitational Red Shift of Balmer Lines in White Dwarfs. Rediscussion

2015

The Stark-induced shift and asymmetry, the so-called pressure shift (PS) of $H_\alpha$ and $H_\beta$ Balmer lines in spectra of DA white dwarfs (WDs), as masking effects in measurements of the gravitational red shift in WDs, have been examined in detail. The results are compared with our earlier ones from before a quarter of a century (Grabowski et al. 1987, hereafter ApJ'87; Madej and Grabowski 1990). In these earlier papers, as a dominant constituent of the Balmer-line-profiles, the standard, symmetrical Stark line profiles, shifted as the whole by PS-effect, were applied to all spectrally active layers of the WD atmosphere. At present, in each of the WD layers, the Stark-line-profiles (e…

High energy neutrinos from novae in symbiotic binaries: The case of V407 Cygni

2010

Detection of high-energy (>= 100 MeV) gamma rays by the Fermi Large Area Telescope from a nova in the symbiotic binary system V407 Cygni has opened the possibility of high-energy neutrino detection from this type of source. A thermonuclear explosion on the white dwarf surface sets off a nova shell in motion that expands and slows down in a dense surrounding medium provided by the red giant companion. Particles are accelerated in the shocks of the shell and interact with the surrounding medium to produce observed gamma rays. We show that proton-proton interaction, which is most likely responsible for producing gamma rays via neutral pion decay, produces >= 0:1 GeV neutrinos that can be detec…

A search for diffuse absorption bands in carbon-rich stars -- I. Barium and related stars

2003

The results of a search for interstellar and circumstellar absorption lines in high-resolution optical spectra of seven late-type stars are presented. All these stars are single-lined spectroscopic binaries with unseen companions, presumably white dwarfs. Some residual material indicative of recent mass transfer from an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star might still be associated with the systems. Peculiar energy distribution and the sodium D 1 and D 2 lines give direct evidence about the material in the line of sight in some cases. Absorption features of simple carbon-bearing molecules (C 2 , CN) have been detected in most of the examined stars, confirming a carbon-rich nature of the corre…

Optical and X-ray Observations of M31N 2007-12b: An Extragalactic Recurrent Nova with a Detected

2009

The VST Photometric Hα Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+)

2014

The VST Photometric Halpha Survey of the Southern Galactic Plane and Bulge (VPHAS+) is surveying the southern Milky Way in u, g, r, i and Halpha at 1 arcsec angular resolution. Its footprint spans the Galactic latitude range -5 < b < +5 at all longitudes south of the celestial equator. Extensions around the Galactic Centre to Galactic latitudes +/-10 bring in much of the Galactic Bulge. This ESO public survey, begun on 28th December 2011, reaches down to 20th magnitude (10-sigma) and will provide single-epoch digital optical photometry for around 300 million stars. The observing strategy and data pipelining is described, and an appraisal of the segmented narrowband Halpha filter in us…

Is it possible to explore Peccei-Quinn axions from frequency dependence radiation dimming?

2011

Abstract We explore how the Peccei–Quinn (PQ) axion parameter space can be constrained by the frequency-dependence dimming of radiation from astrophysical objects. To do so we perform accurate calculations of photon–axion conversion in the presence of a variable magnetic field. We propose several tests where the PQ axion parameter space can be explored with current and future astronomical surveys: the observed spectra of isolated neutron stars, occultations of background objects by white dwarfs and neutron stars, the light-curves of eclipsing binaries containing a white dwarf. We find that the lack of dimming of the light-curve of a detached eclipsing white dwarf binary recently observed, l…

Gravitational Waves from the Merging of White Dwarfs

2003

Binary white dwarfs emit gravitational waves with frequencies of up to a few mHz. As a consequence of the loss of angular momentum both components gradually approach and the gravitational waves emitted by the system increase both in amplitude and frequency (it is said that they chirp). In fact, the chirp of the galactic white dwarf binary population is expected to be the dominant source of noise at low frequencies. A fraction of these binaries, those separated by a distance smaller than roughly three solar radii, will eventually merge in a time shorter than a Hubble time. It is expected that during the merging they will emit gravitational waves transporting extremely valuable information ab…

Origin of asymmetries in X-ray emission lines from the blast wave of the 2014 outburst of nova V745 Sco

2016

The symbiotic nova V745 Sco was observed in outburst on 2014 February 6. Its observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory at days 16 and 17 have revealed a spectrum characterized by asymmetric and blue-shifted emission lines. Here we investigate the origin of these asymmetries through three-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations describing the outburst during the first 20 days of evolution. The model takes into account thermal conduction and radiative cooling and assumes a blast wave propagates through an equatorial density enhancement. From the simulations, we synthesize the X-ray emission and derive the spectra as they would be observed with Chandra. We find that both the blast wave and th…

Self-Enrichment in Globular Clusters: Is There a Role for the Super-Asymptotic Giant Branch Stars?

2008

In four globular clusters (GCs) a non negligible fraction of stars can be interpreted only as a very helium rich population. The evidence comes from the presence of a "blue" main sequence in $\omega$ Cen and NGC 2808, and from the the very peculiar horizontal branch morphology in NGC 6441 and NGC 6388. Although a general consensus is emerging on the fact that self--enrichment is a common feature among GCs, the helium content required for these stars is Y$\simgt$0.35, and it is difficult to understand how it can be produced without any --or, for $\omega$ Cen, without a considerable--associated metal enhancement. We examine the possible role of super--AGB stars, and show that they may provide…

Discovery of a new accreting millisecond X-ray pulsar in the globular cluster NGC 2808

2016

We report on the discovery of coherent pulsations at a period of 2.9 ms from the X-ray transient MAXI J0911-655 in the globular cluster NGC 2808. We observed X-ray pulsations at a frequency of $\sim339.97$ Hz in three different observations of the source performed with XMM-Newton and NuSTAR during the source outburst. This newly discovered accreting millisecond pulsar is part of an ultra-compact binary system characterised by an orbital period of $44.3$ minutes and a projected semi-major axis of $\sim17.6$ lt-ms. Based on the mass function we estimate a minimum companion mass of 0.024 M$_{\odot}$, which assumes a neutron star mass of 1.4 M$_{\odot}$ and a maximum inclination angle of $75^{\…