Distant field blue horizontal branch stars – III. Identification of a probable outer halo stream at Galactocentric distance r= 70 kpc

We present FOcal Reducer/low dispersion Spectrograph-1 spectra (from the European Southern Observatory's Very Large Telescope) of a sample of 34 faint  20.0 < g * < 21.1  A-type stars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey Early Data Release, with the goal of measuring the velocity dispersion of blue horizontal branch (BHB) stars in the remote Galactic halo,   R ∼ 80 kpc  . We show that colour selection with  1.08 < u *− g * < 1.40  and  −0.2 < g *− r * < −0.04  minimizes contamination of the sample by less luminous blue stragglers. In classifying the stars we confine our attention to the 20 stars with spectra of signal-to-noise ratio >15 Å⁻¹. Classification produces a sample of eight BHB stars at distances  65–102 kpc  from the Sun (mean 80 kpc), which represents the most distant sample of Galactic stars with measured radial velocities. The dispersion of the measured radial component of the velocity with respect to the centre of the Galaxy is  58 ± 15 km s⁻¹  . This value is anomalously low in comparison with measured values for stars at smaller distances, as well as for satellites at similar distances. Seeking an explanation for the low measured velocity dispersion, further analysis reveals that six of the eight remote BHB stars are plausibly associated with a single orbit. Three previously known outer halo carbon stars also appear to belong to this stream. The velocity dispersion of all nine stars relative to the orbit is only  15 ± 4 km s⁻¹  . Further observations along the orbit are required to trace the full extent of this structure on the sky.     

Raman spectroscopic analysis of cyanobacterial colonization of hydromagnesite, a putative martian extremophile

Raman spectra of an extremophile cyanobacterial colony in hydromagnesite from Lake Salda in Turkey have revealed a biogeological modification which is manifest as aragonite in the stratum associated with the colony. The presence of key spectral biomarkers of organic protectant molecules such as β-carotene and scytonemin indicate that the survival strategy of the cyanobacteria is significantly one of UV-radiation protection. The terrestrial location of this extremophile is worthy of consideration further because of its possible putative link with the “White Rock” formations in Sabaea Terra and Juventae Chasma on Mars.     

Automated Detection of EUV Prominences

We present methods to detect automatically off-limb prominences in the extreme ultraviolet (EUV), using synoptic images taken by the extreme-ultraviolet imaging telescope (EIT) on board SOHO. The 304 Å line is essential for the detection of EUV prominences, but the optimal detection is achieved through a combined image processing of the four synoptic EIT images. In addition, the difference between consecutive 304 Å images serves to identify erupted prominences. Representation maps of the quiescent EUV prominences for a given Carrington rotation are generated and used for further analysis of the detected structures. Longitudinal profiles of long-lived prominences are investigated for three examples at different latitudes, in conjunction with on-disk intensity profiles in the EUV. The observations coincide with theoretically predicted apparent longitudinal profiles, which can be distinguished from the profile of a prominence rising before eruption. The developed algorithms may be relevant to study the 3D geometry of features seen in the EUV and may facilitate the analysis of data from the future STEREO mission.     

Homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits in the photogravitational restricted three-body problem

We study numerically the asymptotic homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits around the hyperbolic Lyapunov periodic orbits which emanate from Euler's critical points L ₁ and L ₂, in the photogravitational restricted plane circular three-body problem. The invariant stable-unstable manifolds associated to these Lyapunov orbits, are also presented. Poincaré surface of sections of these manifolds on appropriate planes and several homoclinic and heteroclinic orbits for the gravitational case as well as for varying radiation factor q ₁, are displayed. Homoclinic-homoclinic and homoclinic-heteroclinic-homoclinic chains which link the interior with the exterior Hill's regions, are illustrated. We adopt the Sun-Jupiter system and assume that only the larger primary radiates. It is found that for small deviations of its value from the gravitational case (q ₁ = 1), the radiation pressure exerts a significant impact on the Hill's regions and on these asymptotic orbits.     

EROS-II Variable Stars: Eclipsing Binaries in the EROS Microlensing Surveys

More than 10 years of microlensing survey observations by the EROS Collaboration have monitored several million stars, amongst them several thousand eclipsing binary stars. In this poster we present some of the difficulties and rewards of the study of this immense database.Based on observations made at ESO by the EROS collaboration     

The polarization signature from microlensing of circumstellar envelopes in caustic crossing events

In recent years, it has been shown that microlensing is a powerful tool for examining the atmospheres of stars in the Galactic bulge and Magellanic Clouds. The high gradient of magnification across the source during both small impact parameter events and caustic crossings offers a unique opportunity for determining the surface brightness profile of the source. Furthermore, models indicate that these events can also provide an appreciable polarization signal: arising from differential magnification across the otherwise symmetric source. Earlier work has addressed the signal from a scattering photosphere for both point mass lenses and caustic crossings. In a previous paper, polarimetric variations from point lensing of a circumstellar envelope were considered, as would be suitable for an extended envelope around a red giant. In this work, we examine the polarization in the context of caustic crossing events, the scenario that represents the most easily accessible situation for actually observing a polarization signal in Galactic microlensing. Furthermore, we present an analysis of the effectiveness of using the polarimetric data to determine the envelope properties, illustrating the potential of employing polarimetry in addition to photometry and spectroscopy with microlensing follow-up campaigns.     

Electron surfing acceleration in oblique magnetic fields

Initially, inhomogeneous plasma jets, ejected by active galactic nuclei and associated with gamma-ray bursts, are thermalized by the formation of internal shocks. Jet subpopulations can hereby collide at Lorentz factors of a few. As the resulting relativistic shock expands into the upstream plasma, a significant fraction of the upstream ions is reflected. These ions, together with downstream ions that leak through the shock, form relativistic beams of ions that outrun the shock. The thermalization of these beams via the two-stream instability is thought to contribute significantly to plasma heating and particle acceleration by the shock. Here, the capability of a two-stream instability to generate relativistic field-aligned and cross-field electron flow, is examined for a magnetized plasma by means of a particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The electrons interact with the developing quasi-electrostatic waves and oblique magnetic fields. The simulation results bring forward evidence that such waves, by their non-linear interactions with the plasma, produce a highly relativistic field-aligned electron flow and electron energies, which could contribute to the radio synchrotron emissions from astrophysical jets, to ultrarelativistic leptonic subpopulations propagating with the jet and to the halo particles surrounding the accretion disc of the black hole.     

Can the unresolved X-ray background be explained by the emission from the optically-detected faint galaxies of the GOODS project?

The emission from individual X-ray sources in the Chandra Deep Fields and XMM – Newton Lockman Hole shows that almost half of the hard X-ray background above 6 keV is unresolved and implies the existence of a missing population of heavily obscured active galactic nuclei (AGN). We have stacked the 0.5–8 keV X-ray emission from optical sources in the Great Observatories Origins Deep Survey (GOODS; which covers the Chandra Deep Fields) to determine whether these galaxies, which are individually undetected in X-rays, are hosting the hypothesized missing AGN. In the 0.5–6 keV energy range, the stacked-source emission corresponds to the remaining 10–20 per cent of the total background – the fraction that has not been resolved by Chandra . The spectrum of the stacked emission is consistent with starburst activity or weak AGN emission. In the 6–8 keV band, we find that upper limits to the stacked X-ray intensity from the GOODS galaxies are consistent with the ∼40 per cent of the total background that remains unresolved, but further selection refinement is required to identify the X-ray sources and confirm their contribution.