Transforming observational data and theoretical isochrones into the ACS/WFC Vega-mag system

We propose a zero-point photometric calibration of the data from the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) Wide Field Channel (WFC) on board the Hubble Space Telescope , based on a spectrum of Vega and the most up-to-date in-flight transmission curves of the camera. This calibration is accurate at the level of a few hundredths of a magnitude. The main purpose of this effort is to transform the entire set of evolutionary models into a simple observational photometric system for ACS/WFC data, and to make them available to the astronomical community. We provide the zero-points for the most used ACS/WFC bands, and give basic recipes for calibrating both the observed data and the models. We also present the colour–magnitude diagram from ACS data of five Galactic globular clusters, spanning the metallicity range  −2.2 <[Fe/H] < −0.04  , and we provide fiducial points representing their sequences from several magnitudes below the turn-off to the red giant branch tip. The observed sequences are compared with the models in the newly defined photometric system.     

Flickering in the Magnetic Cv Star Am Herculis

In this study, we present a photometric study of AM Her, a prototype of a class of magnetic CVs. Optical photometry of AM Her was obtained using the Russian–Turkish 1.5 m telescope at TüBİTAK National Observatory (TUG) in August 2003. The R band light curve of the system shows two maxima and two minima during one orbital cycle. In both observing nights the star showed flickering at a significant level. The measured flickering time scale is about 5 min.     

Chaotic Diffusion And Effective Stability of Jupiter Trojans

It has recently been shown that Jupiter Trojans may exhibit chaotic behavior, a fact that has put in question their presumed long term stability. Previous numerical results suggest a slow dispersion of the Trojan swarms, but the extent of the ‘effective’ stability region in orbital elements space is still an open problem. In this paper, we tackle this problem by means of extensive numerical integrations. First, a set of 3,200 fictitious objects and 667 numbered Trojans is integrated for 4 Myrs and their Lyapunov time, T_L, is estimated. The ones following chaotic orbits are then integrated for 1 Gyr, or until they escape from the Trojan region. The results of these experiments are presented in the form of maps of T_Land the escape time, T_E, in the space of proper elements. An effective stability region for 1 Gyr is defined on these maps, in which chaotic orbits also exist. The distribution of the numbered Trojans follows closely the T_E=1 Gyr level curve, with 86% of the bodies lying inside and 14% outside the stability region. This result is confirmed by a 4.5 Gyr integration of the 246 chaotic numbered Trojans, which showed that 17% of the numbered Trojans are unstable over the age of the solar system. We show that the size distributions of the stable and unstable populations are nearly identical. Thus, the existence of unstable bodies should not be the result of a size-dependent transport mechanism but, rather, the result of chaotic diffusion. Finally, in the large chaotic region that surrounds the stability zone, a statistical correlation between T_LandT_E is found.     

Small-Amplitude Disturbances in a Radiating and Scattering Grey MediumIII. Gravitational Effects on the Solutions of Given Real Wave Number k

We study the fundamental modes of radiation hydrodynamic linear waves that arise from one-dimensional small-amplitude initial fluctuations with wave number k in a radiating and scattering grey medium by taking into account the gravitational effects. The equation of radiative acoustics is derived from three hydrodynamic equations, Poisson’s equation, and two moment equations of radiation, by assuming a spherical symmetry for the matter and radiation and by using the Eddington approximation. We solve the dispersion relation as a quintic function of angular frequency ω, the wave number k being a real parameter. Numerical results reveal that wave patterns of five solutions are distinguished into three types: the radiation-dominated, type 1, and type 2 matter-dominated cases. In the case of no gravitaional effects (Kaneko et al., 2005), the following wave modes appear: radiation wave, conservative radiation wave, entropy wave, Newtonian-cooling wave, opacity-damped and cooling-damped waves, constant-volume and constant-pressure diffusions, adiabatic sound wave, cooling-damped and drag-force-damped isothermal sound waves, isentropic radiation-acoustic wave, and gap mode. Meanwhile, the gravitaional effects being taken into account, the growing gravo-diffusion mode newly arises from the constant-pressure diffusion at the point that k agrees with Jeans’ wave number specified by the isothermal sound speed. This mode changes to the growing radiation-acoustic gravity mode near the point that k becomes Jeans’ wave number specified by the isentropic radiation-acoustic speed. In step with a transition between them, the isentropic radiation-acoustic wave splits into the damping radiation-acoustic gravity mode and constant-volume diffusion. The constant-volume diffusion emerges twice if the gravitational effects are taken into account. Since analytic solutions are derived for all wave modes, we discuss their physical significance. The critical conditions are given which distinguish between radiation-dominated and type 1 matter-dominated cases, and between type 1 and type 2 matter-dominated cases. Waves in a self-gravitating scattering grey medium are also analyzed, which provides us some hints for the effects of energy and momentum exchange between matter and radiation.     

X-ray absorption in Seyfert 2 galaxies

We have studied the correlation among X-ray absorption, optical reddening and nuclear dust morphology in Seyfert 2 galaxies. Two main conclusions emerge: (i) the Balmer decrement and the amount of X-ray absorption are anticorrelated over a wide range of column density,     – the correlation no longer applies to Compton-thick objects     , although they span a comparable range in Balmer decrement; (ii) Compton-thin Seyfert 2s seem to prefer nuclear environments, which are rich in dust on scales of hundreds of parsecs. On the other hand, Compton-thick Seyferts indifferently exhibit 'dust-poor' and 'dust-rich' environments. These results support an extension of the Seyfert unification scenario (as recently proposed by Matt ), where Compton-thick Seyfert 2s are observed through compact 'torii', whereas Compton-thin ones are obscured by dust on much larger scales.