64,026 research outputs found
Atmospheres of brown dwarfs
No full textChH highlights financial support of the European Community under the FP7 by an ERC starting grant. SLC acknowledges financial support of University of LeicesterBrown Dwarfs are the coolest class of stellar objects known to date. Our present perception is that Brown Dwarfs follow the principles of star formation, and that Brown Dwarfs share many characteristics with planets. Being the darkest and lowest mass stars known makes Brown Dwarfs also the coolest stars known. This has profound implication for their spectral fingerprints. Brown Dwarfs cover a range of effective temperatures which cause brown dwarfs atmospheres to be a sequence that gradually changes from a M-dwarf-like spectrum into a planet-like spectrum. This further implies that below an effective temperature of ≲ 2800K, clouds form already in atmospheres of objects marking the boundary between M-Dwarfs and brown dwarfs. Recent developments have sparked the interest in plasma processes in such very cool atmospheres: sporadic and quiescent radio emission has been observed in combination with decaying Xray-activity indicators across the fully convective boundary.Peer reviewe
The shocking transit of WASP-12b : modelling the observed early ingress in the near ultraviolet
No full text4 pages, 2 figuresNear ultraviolet observations of WASP-12b have revealed an early ingress compared to the optical transit lightcurve. This has been interpreted as due to the presence of a magnetospheric bow shock which forms when the relative velocity of the planetary and stellar material is supersonic. We aim to reproduce this observed early ingress by modelling the stellar wind (or coronal plasma) in order to derive the speed and density of the material at the planetary orbital radius. From this we determine the orientation of the shock and the density of compressed plasma behind it. With this model for the density structure surrounding the planet we perform Monte Carlo radiation transfer simulations of the near UV transits of WASP-12b with and without a bow shock. We find that we can reproduce the transit lightcurves with a wide range of plasma temperatures, shock geometries and optical depths. Our results support the hypothesis that a bow shock could explain the observed early ingress.Peer reviewe
Ionization in atmospheres of brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets V. Alfvén ionization
No full textObservations of continuous radio and sporadic X-ray emission from low-mass objects suggest they harbor localized plasmas in their atmospheric environments. For low-mass objects, the degree of thermal ionization is insufficient to qualify the ionized component as a plasma, posing the question: what ionization processes can efficiently produce the required plasma that is the source of the radiation? We propose Alfvén ionization as a mechanism for producing localized pockets of ionized gas in the atmosphere, having sufficient degrees of ionization (?10<sup>�7</sup>) that they constitute plasmas. We outline the criteria required for Alfvén ionization and demonstrate its applicability in the atmospheres of low-mass objects such as giant gas planets, brown dwarfs, and M dwarfs with both solar and sub-solar metallicities. We find that Alfvén ionization is most efficient at mid to low atmospheric pressures where a seed plasma is easier to magnetize and the pressure gradients needed to drive the required neutral flows are the smallest. For the model atmospheres considered, our results show that degrees of ionization of 10<sup>�6</sup>-1 can be obtained as a result of Alfvén ionization. Observable consequences include continuum bremsstrahlung emission, superimposed with spectral lines from the plasma ion species (e.g., He, Mg, H<sub>2</sub>, or CO lines). Forbidden lines are also expected from the metastable population. The presence of an atmospheric plasma opens the door to a multitude of plasma and chemical processes not yet considered in current atmospheric models. The occurrence of Alfvén ionization may also be applicable to other astrophysical environments such as protoplanetary disks
Planetary host stars : evaluating uncertainties in cool model atmospheres
No full textChH highlights financial support of the European Community under the FP7 by an ERC starting grant. IB thanks the Physics Trust of the University of St Andrews for supporting her summer placement.M-dwarfs are emerging in the literature as promising targets for detecting low-mass, Earth-like planets. An important step in this process is to determine the stellar parameters of the M-dwarf host star as accurately as possible. Different well-tested stellar model atmosphere simulations from different groups are widely applied to undertake this task. This paper provides a comparison of different model atmosphere families to allow a better estimate of systematic errors on host-star stellar parameter introduced by the use of one specific model atmosphere family only. We present a comparison of the ATLAS9, MARCS, PHOENIX and DRIFT-PHOENIX model atmosphere families including the M-dwarf parameter space (Teff = 2500-4000 K, log(g) = 3.0-5.0, [M/H] = -2.5to0.5). We examine the differences in the (Tgas, pgas)-structures, in synthetic photometric fluxes and in colour indices. Model atmospheres results for higher log(g) deviate considerably less between different models families than those for lower log(g) for all Teff = 2500-4000 K examined. We compiled the broad-band synthetic photometric fluxes for all available model atmospheres (incl. M-dwarfs and brown dwarfs) for the UKIRT WFCAM ZYJHK, 2MASS JHKs and Johnson UBVRI filters, and calculated related colour indices. Synthetic colours in the IR wavelengths diverge by no more than 0.15 dex amongst all model families. For all spectral bands considered, model discrepancies in colour diminish for higher Teff atmosphere simulations. We notice differences in synthetic colours between all model families and observed example data (including Kepler 42 and GJ1214).Peer reviewe
Three graviton scattering in M-theory
No full textThe leading eikonal S-matrix for three-graviton scattering in d = 11 pergravity and Matrix theory are shown to precisely agree. The result unifies the source-probe plus recoil approach of Okawa and Yoneya and relaxes the restriction imposed by those authors that all D-particle impact parameters and velocities are mutually perpendicular. Furthermore, the unified S-matrix approach facilitates a clean-cut study of M-theoretic Image curvature corrections to the low energy supergravity effective action. In particular, the leading Image correction to the three-graviton S-matrix is computed and compared to the corresponding next to leading order two-loop U(3) amplitude in Matrix theory. We find a clear disagreement of the two resulting tensor structures
Expect the unexpected : non-equilibrium processes in brown dwarf atmospheres
No full textChH highlights financial support of the European Community under the FP7 by an ERC starting grant 257341Brown Dwarf atmosphere are a chemically extremely rich, one example being the formation of clouds driven by the phase-non-equilibrium of the atmospheric gas. Cloud formation modelling is an integral part of any atmosphere simulation used to interpret spectral observations of ultra-cool objects and to determine fundamental parameters like log(g) and Teff. This proceeding to the workshop 'GAIA and the Unseen: The Brown Dwarf Question' first summarizes what a model atmosphere simulation is, and then advocates two ideas: A) The use of a multitude of model families to determine fundamental parameters with realistic confidence interval. B) To keep an eye on the unexpected, like for example, ionisation signatures resulting plasma processesPeer reviewe
Gas-phase mean opacities for varying [M/H], N/O and C/O
No full textWe present a set of gas-phase Planck mean and Rosseland mean opacity tables applicable for simulations of star and planet formation, stellar evolution and disc modelling at various metallicities in hydrogen-rich environments. The tables are calculated for gas temperatures between 1000 and 10 000 K and total hydrogen number densities between 10(2) and 10(17) cm(-3). The carbon-to-oxygen ratio is varied from 0.43 to well above 2.0, the nitrogen-to-oxygen ratio between 0.14 and 100.0. The tables are calculated for a range of metallicities down to [M/H]' = log N-M/N-H = -7.0. We demonstrate how the mean opacities and the abundances of the opacity species vary with C/O, N/O and [M/H]'. We use the element abundances from Grevesse et al., and we provide additional tables for the oxygen abundance value from Caffau et al. All tables will be available online at http://star-www.st-and.ac.uk/similar to ch80/datasources.html.</p
Erratum to: Effect of moderate red wine intake on cardiac prognosis after recent acute myocardial infarction of subjects with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (Diabetic Medicine, (2006), 23, 9, (974-981), 10.1111/j.1464-5491.2006.01886.x)
No full textIn an article by Marfella et al, the author name C. Saron is incorrect and should be listed as C. Sardu. Therefore the correct author list is: R. Marfella, F. Cacciapuoti, M. Siniscalchi, F. C. Sasso, F. Marchese, F. Cinone, E. Musacchio, M. A. Marfella, L. Ruggiero, G. Chiorazzo, D. Liberti, G. Chiorazzo, G. F. Nicoletti, C. Sardu, F. D'Andrea, C. Ammendola, M. Verza and L. Coppola.In an article by Marfella et al, the author name C. Saron is incorrect and should be listed as C. Sardu. Therefore the correct author list is: R. Marfella, F. Cacciapuoti, M. Siniscalchi, F. C. Sasso, F. Marchese, F. Cinone, E. Musacchio, M. A. Marfella, L. Ruggiero, G. Chiorazzo, D. Liberti, G. Chiorazzo, G. F. Nicoletti, C. Sardu, F. D'Andrea, C. Ammendola, M. Verza and L. Coppola
The influence of galactic cosmic rays on ion-neutral hydrocarbon chemistry in the upper atmospheres of free-floating exoplanets
No full textThe authors highlight financial support of the European Community under the FP7 by an ERC starting grant.Cosmic rays may be linked to the formation of volatiles necessary for prebiotic chemistry. We explore the effect of cosmic rays in a hydrogen-dominated atmosphere, as a proof-of-concept that ion–neutral chemistry may be important for modelling hydrogen-dominated atmospheres. In order to accomplish this, we utilize Monte Carlo cosmic ray transport models with particle energies of 106 eV<E<1012 eV in order to investigate the cosmic-ray enhancement of free electrons in substellar atmospheres. Ion–neutral chemistry is then applied to a Drift–Phoenix model of a free-floating giant gas planet. Our results suggest that the activation of ion–neutral chemistry in the upper atmosphere significantly enhances formation rates for various species, and we find that C2H2, C2H4, NH3, C6H6 and possibly C10H are enhanced in the upper atmospheres because of cosmic rays. Our results suggest a potential connection between cosmic-ray chemistry and the hazes observed in the upper atmospheres of various extrasolar planets. Chemi-ionization reactions are briefly discussed, as they may enhance the degree of ionization in the cloud layer.Peer reviewe
Ionization in atmospheres of brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets. i. The role of electron avalanche
No full textBrown dwarf and extrasolar planet atmospheres form clouds which strongly influence the local chemistry and physics. These clouds are globally neutral obeying dust-gas charge equilibrium which is, on short timescales, inconsistent with the observation of stochastic ionization events of the solar system planets. We argue that a significant volume of the clouds in brown dwarfs and extrasolar planets is susceptible to local discharge events. These are electron avalanches triggered by charged dust grains. Such intra-cloud discharges occur on timescales shorter than the time needed to neutralize the dust grains by collisional processes. An ensemble of discharges is likely to produce enough free charges to suggest a partial and stochastic coupling of the atmosphere to a large-scale magnetic field
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