Radiative decay of the 4d5(6S)5p z5,7Po states in Tc ii: comparison along the homologous and isoelectronic sequences. Application to astrophysics

Using three independent theoretical approaches (CA, HFR + CP, AUTOSTRUCTURE), oscillator strengths have been calculated for a set of Tc  ii transitions of astrophysical interest and the reliability of their absolute scale has been assessed. The examination of the spectra emitted by some Ap stars has allowed the identification of Tc  ii transitions in HD 125248. This Tc  ii detection should however await confirmation from spectral synthesis relying on dedicated model atmospheres. New partition functions are also provided for Tc  i , Tc  ii and Tc  iii for temperatures ranging between 4000 and 13 000 K.     

Shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae and application to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj

Recently, a soft blackbody component was observed in the early X-ray afterglow of GRB 060218, which was interpreted as shock breakout from the thick wind of the progenitor Wolf–Rayet (WR) star of the underlying Type Ic supernova 2006aj. In this paper, we present a simple model for computing the characteristic quantities (including energy, temperature and time duration) for the transient event from the shock breakout in Type Ibc supernovae produced by the core-collapse of WR stars surrounded by dense winds. In contrast to the case of a star without a strong wind, the shock breakout occurs in the wind region rather than inside the star, caused by the large optical depth in the wind. We find that, for the case of a WR star with a dense wind, the total energy of the radiation generated by the supernova shock breakout is larger than that in the case of the same star without a wind by a factor of >10. The temperature can be either hotter or colder, depending on the wind parameters. The time duration is larger caused by the increase in the effective radius of the star due to the presence of a thick wind. Then, we apply the model to GRB 060218/SN 2006aj. We show that, to explain both the temperature and the total energy of the blackbody component observed in GRB 060218 by the shock breakout, the progenitor WR star has to have an unrealistically large core radius (the radius at optical depth of 20), larger than 100 R_⊙. In spite of this disappointing result, our model is expected to have important applications to the observations on Type Ibc supernovae in which the detection of shock breakout will provide important clues to the progenitors of Type Ibc supernovae.     

Optical flares from the faint mid‐dM star 2MASS J00453912+4140395

We present B and V light curves of a large stellar flare obtained with the Wide Field Camera at the Isaac Newton 2.5‐m telescope (La Palma). The source object is a faint (m_V = 21.38) foreground star in the field of the Andromeda galaxy, with its most probable spectral type being dM4. We provide an estimate of the total flare energy in the optical range and find it to be of the order of 1035 erg. The cooling phase of the large flare shows three additional weak flare‐like events, which we interpret as results of a triggering mechanism also observed on the Sun during large coronal mass ejections. (© 2007 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Simultaneous UBVRI observations of the cataclysmic variable AE Aquarii: Temperatures and masses of fireballs

We report simultaneous multicolour observations in 5 bands (UBVRI) of the flickering variability of the cataclysmic variable AE Aqr. Our aim is to estimate the parameters (colours, temperature, size) of the fireballs that produce the optical flares. The observed rise times of the optical flares are in the interval 220‐440 s. We estimate the dereddened colours of the fireballs as (U ‐B)₀∼0.8‐1.4, (B ‐V)₀∼0.03‐0.24, and (V ‐I)₀∼0.26‐0.78. We find for the fireballs temperatures of 10000‐25000 K, masses of (7‐90)x10¹⁹ g, and sizes of (3‐7)x10⁹ cm (using a distance of d = 86 pc). These values refer to the peak of the flares observed in the UBVRI bands. The data are available upon request from the authors (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

探测到气体的碎片盘统计研究

碎片盘通常被描述为贫气盘, 其气尘比显著低于原行星盘, 因此很少在碎片盘中探测到气体. 得益于各种灵敏的望远镜, 探测到气体的碎片盘的数量正在不断增加, 寻找更多的含有气体的碎片盘成为碎片盘研究的重点课题. 然而大范围的搜寻非常耗时且低效, 因而为了更快更好地遴选探测的目标, 需要根据这类源的特性择选更小范围样本. 通过统计探测到气体的碎片盘及其宿主恒星的参数总结出这些源的总体特性. 为此搜集了已经发表的探测到气体的碎片盘的文献, 总计找到37个源, 包括探测到CO等冷气体的12个源、CaII等热气体的14个源以及冷热气体共存的11个源. 通过统计其宿主恒星的光谱类型、年龄、离地球距离和碎片盘的相对光度、气体质量、尘埃质量等信息, 得出了主要结论: 宿主恒星多为B型和A型恒星, 年龄大部分都小于50Myr, 相对光度分布相比于已知碎片盘更为集中, 在$10^{ - 5