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Despite the absence of large surveys, the recent X-ray observatories provide X-ray data for hundreds of massive stars (294 OB stars detected in the 2XMM catalog, 129 OB stars detected in the Chandra Carina Complex Project). Analyzing medium-resolution spectra led to new results on the relationship between the X-ray luminosity and the bolometric luminosity, as well as on the typical properties (plasma temperature, variability) of these objects.
Un-pulsed γ-ray emission has been detected close to periastron in the pulsar/Be-star binary system PSR B1259-63/SS 2883, believed to originate from the shock front that forms between the stellar and pulsar winds. A likely source of γ-ray production is the inverse Compton up-scattering of target photons from the Be star by relativistic electrons/positrons in the pulsar wind. In this study the influence of the infrared radiation, emanating from the circumstellar disc, on isotropic inverse Compton γ-ray production is investigated. It is shown that the scattering of infrared disc photons can increase the γ-ray flux by a factor ~2 in the 1–10 GeV range.
A giant outburst occurred in A0535+262/V725 Tau in November 2009, which lasted approximately 30 days. We carried out spectroscopic monitoring at OAO and GAO from November 2009 to March 2010, from before the giant outburst to the rising phase of the normal outburst which occurred after the next periastron. The obtained H-alpha, H-beta and He I emission lines exhibited drastic profile variability during the observations.
We report on the results from 3-D SPH simulations of TeV binaries with Be stars. Since there is only one TeV binary (B 1259-63) where the nature of the compact companion has been established, we mainly focus on this Be-pulsar system. From simulations of B 1259-63 around periastron, we find that the pulsar wind dominates the Be-star wind and strips off an outer part of the Be-star disk, causing a strongly asymmetric, phase-dependent structure of the circumstellar material around the Be star. Such a large modulation may be detected by optical, IR, and/or UV observations at phases near periastron. We also discuss the results from simulations of another TeV binary LS I+61 303, for which the nature of the compact object is not yet known.
The Tarantula Survey is an ESO Large Programme which has obtained multi-epoch spectroscopy of over 1,000 massive stars in the 30 Doradus region of the Large Magellanic Cloud. The assembled consortium will exploit these data to address a range of fundamental questions in both stellar and cluster evolution.
In this project, we study the effects of stellar rotation on the pulsation predictions for stars in the Main Sequence following the series δ Scu, γ Dor, SPB, Be and β Cep. The objects' rotation in this series span from a few km/s to a few hundreds of km/s. We will compare theoretical predictions yielded by the codes CESAM/FILOU with published data from the MOST and CoRoT satellites. A better diagnostic of the rotation effects on stellar pulsations will help to improve the oscillatory models.
Magnetic reconnection is an important process that is prevalent in a wide range of astrophysical bodies. It is the mechanism that permits magnetic fields to relax to a lower energy state through the global restructuring of the magnetic field and is thus associated with a range of dynamic phenomena such as solar flares and CMEs. The characteristics of three-dimensional reconnection are reviewed revealing how much more diverse it is than reconnection in two dimensions. For instance, three-dimensional reconnection can occur both in the vicinity of null points, as well as in the absence of them. It occurs continuously and continually throughout a diffusion volume, as opposed to at a single point, as it does in two dimensions. This means that in three-dimensions field lines do not reconnect in pairs of lines making the visualisation and interpretation of three-dimensional reconnection difficult.
By considering particular numerical 3D magnetohydrodynamic models of reconnection, we consider how magnetic reconnection can lead to complex magnetic topologies and current sheet formation. Indeed, it has been found that even simple interactions, such as the emergence of a flux tube, can naturally give rise to ‘turbulent-like’ reconnection regions.
Thermal convection plays a very important role in the structure and evolution of stars, as it is one of the main physical processes that transport heat from their interior where it is released, to the surface where it is radiated into space. Much progress has been achieved in modeling that process during the past 60 years, and I shall recall here how Juri Toomre has greatly contributed to it.
We study the connections between the sun's convection zone evolution and the dynamics of the solar wind and corona. We input the magnetic fields generated by a 2.5D axisymmetric kinematic dynamo code (STELEM) into a 2.5D axisymmetric coronal MHD code (DIP). The computations were carried out for an 11 year cycle. We show that the solar wind's velocity and mass flux vary in latitude and in time in good agreement with the well known time-latitude assymptotic wind speed diagram. Overall sun's mass loss rate, momentum flux and magnetic breaking torque are maximal near the solar minimum.
We study the effects of different approximations of scattering in 3D radiation-hydrodynamics simulations on the photospheric temperature stratification of metal-poor red giant stars. We find that assuming a Planckian source function and neglecting the contribution of scattering to extinction in optically thin layers provides a good approximation of the effects of coherent scattering on the photospheric temperature balance.
This paper discusses nonlinear dynamos where the nonlinearity arises directly via the Lorentz force in the Navier-Stokes equation, and leads to a situation where the Lorentz force and the velocity and the magnetic field are in direct competition over substantial regions of the flow domain. Filamentary and non-filamentary dynamos are contrasted, and the concept of Alfvénic dynamos with almost equal magnetic and kinetic energies is reviewed via examples. So far these remain in the category of toy models; the paper concludes with a discussion of whether similar dynamos are likely to exist in astrophysical objects, and whether they can model the solar cycle.
We investigate conditions in a radially self-similar outflow in the regime of large resistivity. Using the PLUTO code, we performed simulations with proper choice of boundary conditions, relaxed at the footpoints of critical surfaces in the flow. We investigate outflow propagation in a high-resistive disk corona, and compare it to the results with small or vanishing resistivity.
We study the complexity of supergranular cells using the intensity patterns obtained at the Kodaikanal solar observatory during the solar maximum. Our data consists of visually identified supergranular cells, from which a fractal dimension D is obtained according to the relation P ∝ AD/2 where A is the area and P is the perimeter of the cells. We find a difference in the fractal dimension between the active and the quiet region cells which is conjectured to be due to the magnetic activity level.
Recent results are reviewed on galaxy dynamics, bar evolution, destruction and re-formation, cold gas accretion, gas radial flows and AGN fueling, minor mergers. Some problems of galaxy evolution are discussed in particular, exchange of angular momentum, radial migration through resonant scattering, and consequences on abundance gradients, the frequency of bulgeless galaxies, and the relative role of secular evolution and hierarchical formation.
Observations have shown that the Sun's magnetic field has helical structures. The helicity content in magnetic field configurations is a crucial constraint on the dynamical evolution of the system. Since helicity is connected with the number of links we investigate configurations with interlocked magnetic flux rings and one with unlinked rings. It turns out that it is not the linking of the tubes which affects the magnetic field decay, but the content of magnetic helicity.
The origin and evolution of magnetic fields in the Universe is a cosmological problem. Although exotic mechanisms for magneotgenesis cannot be ruled out, galactic magnetic fields could have been seeded by magnetic fields from stars and accretion disks, and must be continuously regenerated due to the ongoing replacement of the interstellar medium. Unlike stellar dynamos, galactic dynamos operate in a multicomponent gas at low collisionality and high magnetic Prandtl number. Their background turbulence is highly compressible, the plasma β ~ 1, and there has been time for only a few large exponentiation times at large scale over cosmic time. Points of similarity include the importance of magnetic buoyancy, the large range of turbulent scales and tiny microscopic scales, and the coupling between the magnetic field and certain properties of the flow. Understanding the origin and maintenance of the large scale galactic magnetic field is the most challenging aspect of the problem.
We perform 3D radiative hydrodynamic simulations to study convection in low-mass main-sequence stars with the aim of improving stellar models. Comparing models from a 0.90 M⊙ evolutionary track with 3D simulations reveals distinct differences between simulations and mixing length theory. The simulations show obvious structural differences throughout the superadiabatic layer where convection is inefficient at transporting energy. The discrepancy between MLT and simulation changes as the star evolves and the dynamical effects of turbulence increase. Further, the simulations reveal a T-tau relation that is sensitive to the strength of the turbulence, which is in contrast to 1D stellar models that use the same T-tau relation across the HR diagram.