scholarly journals The chaotic wind of WR 40 as probed by BRITE

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (4) ◽  
pp. 5921-5930 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tahina Ramiaramanantsoa ◽  
Richard Ignace ◽  
Anthony F J Moffat ◽  
Nicole St-Louis ◽  
Evgenya L Shkolnik ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Among Wolf–Rayet stars, those of subtype WN8 are the intrinsically most variable. We have explored the long-term photometric variability of the brightest known WN8 star, WR 40, through four contiguous months of time-resolved, single-passband optical photometry with the BRIght Target Explorer nanosatellite mission. The Fourier transform of the observed light curve reveals that the strong light variability exhibited by WR 40 is dominated by many randomly triggered, transient, low-frequency signals. We establish a model in which the whole wind consists of stochastic clumps following an outflow visibility promptly rising to peak brightness upon clump emergence from the optically thick pseudo-photosphere in the wind, followed by a gradual decay according to the right-half of a Gaussian. Free electrons in each clump scatter continuum light from the star. We explore a scenario where the clump size follows a power-law distribution, and another one with an ensemble of clumps of constant size. Both scenarios yield simulated light curves morphologically resembling the observed light curve remarkably well, indicating that one cannot uniquely constrain the details of clump size distribution with only a photometric light curve. Nevertheless, independent evidence favours a negative-index power law, as seen in many other astrophysical turbulent media.

2019 ◽  
Vol 490 (1) ◽  
pp. 927-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Michael Burgess ◽  
Jochen Greiner ◽  
Damien Bégué ◽  
Franceso Berlato

ABSTRACT Inspired by the confirmed detection of a short gamma-ray burst (GRB) in association with a gravitational wave signal, we present the first Bayesian Fermi-Gamma-ray Burst Monitor (GBM) short GRB spectral catalogue. Both peak flux and time-resolved spectral results are presented. Data are analysed with the proper Poisson likelihood allowing us to provide statistically reliable results even for spectra with few counts. All fits are validated with posterior predictive checks. We find that nearly all spectra can be modelled with a cut-off power law. Additionally, we release the full posterior distributions and reduced data from our sample. Following our previous study, we introduce three variability classes based on the observed light-curve structure.


2018 ◽  
Vol 612 ◽  
pp. A40 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Simón-Díaz ◽  
C. Aerts ◽  
M. A. Urbaneja ◽  
I. Camacho ◽  
V. Antoci ◽  
...  

Context. Despite important advances in space asteroseismology during the last decade, the early phases of evolution of stars with masses above ~15 M⊙ (including the O stars and their evolved descendants, the B supergiants) have been only vaguely explored up to now. This is due to the lack of adequate observations for a proper characterization of the complex spectroscopic and photometric variability occurring in these stars. Aim. Our goal is to detect, analyze, and interpret variability in the early-B-type supergiant HD 2905 (κ Cas, B1 Ia) using long-term, ground-based, high-resolution spectroscopy. Methods. We gather a total of 1141 high-resolution spectra covering some 2900 days with three different high-performance spectrographs attached to 1–2.6m telescopes at the Canary Islands observatories. We complement these observations with the hipparcos light curve, which includes 160 data points obtained during a time span of ~1200 days. We investigate spectroscopic variability of up to 12 diagnostic lines by using the zero and first moments of the line profiles. We perform a frequency analysis of both the spectroscopic and photometric dataset using Scargle periodograms. We obtain single snapshot and time-dependent information about the stellar parameters and abundances by means of the FASTWIND stellar atmosphere code. Results. HD 2905 is a spectroscopic variable with peak-to-peak amplitudes in the zero and first moments of the photospheric lines of up to 15% and 30 km s−1, respectively. The amplitude of the line-profile variability is correlated with the line formation depth in the photosphere and wind. All investigated lines present complex temporal behavior indicative of multi-periodic variability with timescales of a few days to several weeks. No short-period (hourly) variations are detected. The Scargle periodograms of the hipparcos light curve and the first moment of purely photospheric lines reveal a low-frequency amplitude excess and a clear dominant frequency at ~0.37 d−1. In the spectroscopy, several additional frequencies are present in the range 0.1–0.4 d−1. These may be associated with heat-driven gravity modes, convectively driven gravity waves, or sub-surface convective motions. Additional frequencies are detected below 0.1 d−1. In the particular case of Hα, these are produced by rotational modulation of a non-spherically symmetric stellar wind. Conclusions. Combined long-term uninterrupted space photometry with high-precision spectroscopy is the best strategy to unravel the complex low-frequency photospheric and wind variability of B supergiants. Three-dimensional (3D) simulations of waves and of convective motions in the sub-surface layers can shed light on a unique interpretation of the variability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 494 (1) ◽  
pp. 425-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
P Rodríguez-Gil ◽  
T Shahbaz ◽  
M A P Torres ◽  
B T Gänsicke ◽  
P Izquierdo ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We obtained time-resolved optical photometry and spectroscopy of the nova-like variable KR  Aurigae in the low state. The spectrum reveals a DAB white dwarf (WD) and a mid-M dwarf companion. Using the companion star’s i-band ellipsoidal modulation we refine the binary orbital period to be P = 3.906519 ± 0.000001 h. The light curve and the spectra show flaring activity due to episodic accretion. One of these events produced brightness oscillations at a period of 27.4 min, that we suggest to be related with the rotation period of a possibly magnetic WD at either 27.4 or 54.8 min. Spectral modelling provided a spectral type of M4–5 for the companion star and $T_{1}=27\, 148$ $\pm \, 496$ K, $\log \, g=8.90 \pm 0.07$, and $\log (\mathrm{He/H})= -0.79^{+0.07}_{-0.08}$ for the WD. By simultaneously fitting absorption- and emission-line radial velocity curves and the ellipsoidal light curve, we determined the stellar masses to be $M_1 = 0.94^{+0.15}_{-0.11}\, {\rm{M}_{\rm \odot}}$ and $M_2 = 0.37^{+0.07}_{-0.07}\,{\rm{M}_{\rm \odot}}$ for the WD and the M-dwarf companion, respectively, and an orbital inclination of $47^{+1^{\rm o}}_{-2^{\rm o}}$. Finally, we analyse time-resolved spectroscopy acquired when the system was at an i-band magnitude of 17.1, about 1.3 mag brighter than it was in the low state. In this intermediate state, the line profiles contain an emission S-wave delayed by ≃0.2 orbital cycle relative to the motion of the WD, similar to what is observed in SW Sextantis stars in the high state.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ghislain Romaric Meleu ◽  
Paulin Yonta Melatagia

AbstractUsing the headers of scientific papers, we have built multilayer networks of entities involved in research namely: authors, laboratories, and institutions. We have analyzed some properties of such networks built from data extracted from the HAL archives and found that the network at each layer is a small-world network with power law distribution. In order to simulate such co-publication network, we propose a multilayer network generation model based on the formation of cliques at each layer and the affiliation of each new node to the higher layers. The clique is built from new and existing nodes selected using preferential attachment. We also show that, the degree distribution of generated layers follows a power law. From the simulations of our model, we show that the generated multilayer networks reproduce the studied properties of co-publication networks.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Garcia ◽  
Gregory Fettweis ◽  
Diego M Presman ◽  
Ville Paakinaho ◽  
Christopher Jarzynski ◽  
...  

Abstract Single-molecule tracking (SMT) allows the study of transcription factor (TF) dynamics in the nucleus, giving important information regarding the diffusion and binding behavior of these proteins in the nuclear environment. Dwell time distributions obtained by SMT for most TFs appear to follow bi-exponential behavior. This has been ascribed to two discrete populations of TFs—one non-specifically bound to chromatin and another specifically bound to target sites, as implied by decades of biochemical studies. However, emerging studies suggest alternate models for dwell-time distributions, indicating the existence of more than two populations of TFs (multi-exponential distribution), or even the absence of discrete states altogether (power-law distribution). Here, we present an analytical pipeline to evaluate which model best explains SMT data. We find that a broad spectrum of TFs (including glucocorticoid receptor, oestrogen receptor, FOXA1, CTCF) follow a power-law distribution of dwell-times, blurring the temporal line between non-specific and specific binding, suggesting that productive binding may involve longer binding events than previously believed. From these observations, we propose a continuum of affinities model to explain TF dynamics, that is consistent with complex interactions of TFs with multiple nuclear domains as well as binding and searching on the chromatin template.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Zhao ◽  
Mirco Musolesi ◽  
Pan Hui ◽  
Weixiong Rao ◽  
Sasu Tarkoma

2004 ◽  
Vol 13 (07) ◽  
pp. 1345-1349 ◽  
Author(s):  
JOSÉ A. S. LIMA ◽  
LUCIO MARASSI

A generalization of the Press–Schechter (PS) formalism yielding the mass function of bound structures in the Universe is given. The extended formula is based on a power law distribution which encompasses the Gaussian PS formula as a special case. The new method keeps the original analytical simplicity of the PS approach and also solves naturally its main difficult (the missing factor 2) for a given value of the free parameter.


2011 ◽  
Vol 116 (A10) ◽  
pp. n/a-n/a ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew B. Collier ◽  
Thomas Gjesteland ◽  
Nikolai Østgaard

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