1,721,171 research outputs found
Are Local Group Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxies the First Safe Planet-hosting Environments?
No full textWe explore whether Local Group dwarf spheroidal (dSph) galaxies might have hosted Earth-like planets dwelling unexposed for several billions of years to major galactic threats to life, such as supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. To this aim, we developed a novel semiempirical model that exploits the observed chemical abundances and star formation histories of a selected sample of local dSphs, to explore whether their stars may have (i) reached the minimum metallicity to trigger planet formation and (ii) avoided exposure to destructive events long enough to provide time for possible biological development. From our work two scenarios emerge. If planet formation is possible for [Fe/H] ≲ −1, then in all dSphs with 5 × 103 L⊙ ≤ LV ≤ 2 × 107 L⊙ a fraction ≈0.1%-10% of stars might have safely hosted terrestrial planets for more than 1 Gyr. In this scenario, ancient ultrafaint dwarf galaxies (UFDs, LV ≤ 105 L⊙) would have been the first to reach this condition in the history of the Local Group. Conversely, if planets form for [Fe/H] ≥ −0.6 then they should not exist in UFDs, while only ≈0.001%-0.1% of stars in dSphs with LV ≥ 3 × 105 L⊙ would host planets dwelling in safe conditions for long times. Interestingly, we find a “luminosity sweet spot” at LV ∼ 106 L⊙, where dSphs in our sample safely host terrestrial planets up to 4 Gyr and in any planet formation scenario explored. In conclusion, planet formation at low metallicity is key to understanding which types of galaxies might have formed Earth-like planets that dwelt unexposed to galactic threats over several billions of years, first in the history of the Local Group
First results from VLBA survey of water masers towards low-mass YSOs: the Serpens core and RNO 15-FIR.
Full text linkThis article reports first results of a long-term observational program aimed to study the earliest evolution of jet/disk systems in low-mass YSOs by means of VLBI observations of the 22.2 GHz water masers. Up to now we collected data for the cluster of low-mass YSOs in the Serpens molecular core and for the single object RNO 15-FIR. Towards Serpens SMM1, the most luminous submm source of the Serpens cluster, the water maser emission comes from two small (le 5 AU in size) cluster of features separated by ≈25 AU, having line of sight velocities strongly red-shifted (by more than 10 km s-1) respect to the LSR velocity of the molecular cloud. The two maser clusters are oriented on the sky along a direction that is approximately perpendicular to the axis of the radio jet observed with the VLA towards SMM1. The spatial and velocity distribution of the maser features let us favour the interpretation that the maser emission can be excited by interaction of the receding lobe of the jet with dense gas in the accretion disk surrounding the YSO in SMM1. Towards RNO 15-FIR, the few detected maser features have both positions and (absolute) velocities aligned along a direction which is parallel to the axis of the molecular outflow observed on much larger angular scales. In this case the maser emission likely emerges from dense, shocked molecular clumps displaced along the axis of the jet emerging from the YSO. The protostar in Serpens SMM1 is more massive than the one in RNO 15-FIR. We discuss the case where an higher mass ejection rate can generate jets sufficiently powerful to evacuate along the direction of motion, close to the YSO, the densent portions of circumstellar gas. In that case, the excitation conditions for water masers might preferably occur at the interface between the jet and the accretion disk, rather than along the jet axis
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
X-Shooter study of accretion in
Full text linkWe present new VLT/X-Shooter optical and near-infrared spectra of a sample of 17 candidate young low-mass stars and brown dwarfs located in the ρ-Ophiucus cluster. We derived the spectral type and extinction for all the targets, and then we determined their physical parameters. All the objects but one have M⋆≲0.6 M⊙, and eight have mass below or close to the hydrogen-burning limit. Using the intensity of various permitted emission lines present in their spectra, we determined the accretion luminosity and mass accretion rates (Ṁacc) for all the objects. When compared with previous works targeting the same sample, we find that, in general, these objects are not as strongly accreting as previously reported, and we suggest that the reason is our more accurate estimate of the photospheric parameters. We also compare our findings with recent works in other slightly older star-forming regions, such as Lupus, to investigate possible differences in the accretion properties, but we find that the accretion properties for our targets have the same dependence on the stellar and substellar parameters as in the other regions. This leads us to conclude that we do not find evidence for a different dependence of Ṁacc with M⋆ when comparing low-mass stars and brown dwarfs. Moreover, we find a similar small (≲1 dex) scatter in the Ṁacc−M⋆ relation as in some of our recent works in other star-forming regions, and no significant differences in Ṁacc due to different ages or properties of the regions. The latter result suffers, however, from low statistics and sample selection biases in the current studies. The small scatter in the Ṁacc−M⋆ correlation confirms that mass accretion rate measurements in the literature based on uncertain photospheric parameters and single accretion indicators, such as the Hα width, can lead to a scatter that is unphysically large. Our studies show that only broadband spectroscopic surveys coupled with a detailed analysis of the photospheric and accretion properties allows us to properly study the evolution of disk accretion rates in star-forming regions
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Calibration of Evolutionary Diagnostics in High-mass Star Formation
Full text linkThe evolutionary classification of massive clumps that are candidate progenitors of high-mass young stars and clusters relies on a variety of independent diagnostics based on observables from the near-infrared to the radio. A promising evolutionary indicator for massive and dense cluster-progenitor clumps is the L/M ratio between the bolometric luminosity and the mass of the clumps. With the aim of providing a quantitative calibration for this indicator, we used SEPIA/APEX to obtain CH3C2H(J = 12-11) observations, which is an excellent thermometer molecule probing densities ≥slant {10}5 cm-3, toward 51 dense clumps with M≥slant 1000 M {}☉ and uniformly spanning -2 ≲ Log(L/M) [L {}☉ /M {}☉ ] ≲ 2.3. We identify three distinct ranges of L/M that can be associated to three distinct phases of star formation in massive clumps. For L/M ≤slant 1 no clump is detected in CH3C2H, suggesting an inner envelope temperature below ∼30K. For 1 ≲ L/M ≲ 10 we detect 58% of the clumps with a temperature between ∼30 and ∼35 K independently from the exact value of L/M; such clumps are building up luminosity due to the formation of stars, but no star is yet able to significantly heat the inner clump regions. For L/M ≳ 10 we detect all the clumps with a gas temperature rising with Log(L/M), marking the appearance of a qualitatively different heating source within the clumps; such values are found toward clumps with UCH II counterparts, suggesting that the quantitative difference in T versus L/M behavior above L/M ∼ 10 is due to the first appearance of ZAMS stars in the clumps
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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