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At least 523 records · Page 29

CHARACTERIZATION OF THE MOST LUMINOUS STAR IN M33: A SUPER SYMBIOTIC BINARY

We present the first spectrum of the most luminous infrared star in M33, and use it to demonstrate that the object is almost certainly a binary composed of a massive O star and a dust-enshrouded red hypergiant. This is the most luminous symbiotic binary ever discovered. Its radial velocity is an excellent match to that of the hydrogen gas in the disk of M33, supporting our interpretation that it is a very young and massive binary star.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A LIKELY MILLISECOND PULSAR BINARY COUNTERPART FOR FERMI SOURCE 2FGL J2039.6–5620

We have identified an optical/X-ray binary with an orbital period of P{sub b} = 5.47 hr as the likely counterpart of the Fermi source 2FGL J2039.6−5620. GROND, SOAR, and DES observations provide an accurate orbital period and allow us to compare to the light curve of an archival XMM exposure. Like many short-period optical/X-ray binaries associated with Large Area Telescope sources, this may be an interacting (black widow/redback) millisecond pulsar binary. The X-ray light curve is consistent with the emission associated with an intrabinary shock. The optical light curve shows evidence of companion heating, but has a peculiar asymmetric double peak. The nature of this optical structure is not yet clear; additional optical studies and, in particular, detection of an orbital modulation in a γ-ray pulsar are needed to elucidate the nature of this peculiar source.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Binary operations on neuromorphic hardware with application to linear algebraic operations and stochastic equations

Abstract Non-von Neumann computational hardware, based on neuron-inspired, non-linear elements connected via linear, weighted synapses—so-called neuromorphic systems—is a viable computational substrate. Since neuromorphic systems have been shown to use less power than CPUs for many applications, they are of potential use in autonomous systems such as robots, drones, and satellites, for which power resources are at a premium. The power used by neuromorphic systems is approximately proportional to the number of spiking events produced by neurons on-chip. However, typical information encoding on these chips is in the form of firing rates that unarily encode information. That is, the number of spikes generated by a neuron is meant to be proportional to an encoded value used in a computation or algorithm. Unary encoding is less efficient (produces more spikes) than binary encoding. For this reason, here we present neuromorphic computational mechanisms for implementing binary two’s complement operations. We use the mechanisms to construct a neuromorphic, binary matrix multiplication algorithm that may be used as a primitive for linear differential equation integration, deep networks, and other standard calculations. We also construct a random walk circuit and apply it in Brownian motion simulations. We study how both algorithms scale in circuit size and iteration time.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

The ‘Giraffe’: discovery of a stripped red giant in an interacting binary with an ∼2 M ⊙ lower giant

We report the discovery of a stripped giant + lower giant Algol-type binary, 2M04123153+6738486 (2M0412), identified during a search for non-interacting compact object – star binaries. 2M0412 is an evolved ( T eff, giant ≃ 4000 K), luminous ( L giant ≃ 150 L ⊙ ) red giant in a circular P = 81.2 d binary. 2M0412 is a known variable star previously classified as a semiregular variable. The cross-correlation functions of follow-up Keck/HIRES and LBT/Potsdam Echelle Polarimetric and Spectroscopic Instrument (PEPSI) spectra show an radial velocity variable second component with implied mass ratio q = M giant / M comp ≃ 0.20 ± 0.01. The All-Sky Automated Survey for SuperNovae (ASAS-SN), Asteroid Terrestrial-impact Last Alert System (ATLAS), Transiting Exoplanet Survey Telescope ( TESS ), and Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) light curves show that the giant is a Roche lobe filling ellipsoidal variable with an inclination of 49.4 ± 0.3°, and a giant mass of M giant = 0.38 ± 0.01 M ⊙ for a distance of ≃ 3.7 kpc. The mass of the giant indicates that its envelope has been partially stripped. The giant companion on the lower red giant branch has a mass of M comp = 1.91 ± 0.03 M ⊙ with T eff, comp ≃ 5000 K, L comp ≃ 60 L ⊙ , and R comp ≃ 11 R ⊙ . The lower giant contributes ${\sim }35{{\ \rm per\ cent}}$ of the flux in the V band. We also identify an orbital phase dependent, broad $\rm H\,\alpha$ emission line which could indicate ongoing accretion from the stripped red giant on to the companion.

(stars:) binaries: spectroscopic↗

The binary nature of PSR J2032+4127

PSR J2032+4127 is a γ-ray and radio-emitting pulsar which has been regarded as a young luminous isolated neutron star. However, its recent spin-down rate has extraordinarily increased by a factor of 2. Here we present evidence that this is due to its motion as a member of a highly-eccentric binary system with an ~15–M⊙ Be star, MT91 213. Timing observations show that, not only are the positions of the two stars coincident within 0.4 arcsec, but timing models of binary motion of the pulsar fit the data much better than a model of a young isolated pulsar. MT91 213, and hence the pulsar, lie in the Cyg OB2 stellar association, which is at a distance of only 1.4–1.7 kpc. The pulsar is currently on the near side of, and accelerating towards, the Be star, with an orbital period of 20–30 yr. Finally, the next periastron is well constrained to occur in early 2018, providing an opportunity to observe enhanced high-energy emission as seen in other Be-star binary systems.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Signatures of deconfined quark phases in binary neutron star mergers

We investigate the quark deconfinement phase transition in the context of binary neutron star (BNS) mergers. We employ a new finite-temperature composition-dependent equation of state (EOS) with a first order phase transition between hadrons and deconfined quarks to perform numerical relativity simulations of BNS mergers. Here, the softening of the EOS due to the phase transition causes the merger remnants to be more compact and to collapse to a black hole (BH) at earlier times. The phase transition is imprinted on the postmerger gravitational wave (GW) signal duration, amplitude, and peak frequency. However, this imprint is only detectable for binaries with sufficiently long-lived remnants. Moreover, the phase transition does not result in significant deviations from quasi-universal relations for the postmerger GW peak frequency. We also study the impact of the phase transition on dynamical ejecta, remnant accretion disk masses, r-process nucleosynthetic yields and associated electromagnetic (EM) counterparts. While there are differences in the EM counterparts and nucleosynthesis yields between the purely hadronic models and the models with phase transitions, these can be primarily ascribed to the difference in remnant collapse time between the two. An exception is the non-thermal afterglow caused by the interaction of the fastest component of the dynamical ejecta and the interstellar medium, which is systematically boosted in the binaries with phase transition as a consequence of the more violent merger they experience.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Reverse phase transitions in binary neutron-star systems with exotic-matter cores

Multimessenger observations of binary neutron-star mergers provide a unique opportunity to constrain the dense-matter equation of state. Although it is known from quantum chromodynamics that hadronic matter will undergo a phase transition to exotic forms of matter—e.g., quark matter—the onset density of such a phase transition cannot be computed from first principles. Hence, it remains an open question if such phase transitions occur inside isolated neutron stars or during binary neutron-star mergers, or if they appear at even higher densities that are not realized in the cosmos. Here, in this article, we perform numerical relativity simulations of neutron-star mergers and investigate scenarios in which the onset density of such a phase transition is exceeded in at least one inspiraling binary component. Our simulations reveal that shortly before the merger, it is possible that such stars undergo a “reverse phase transition”—i.e., densities decrease and the quark core inside the star disappears, leaving a purely hadronic star at merger. After the merger, when densities increase once more, the phase transition occurs again and leads, in the cases considered in this work, to the rapid formation of a black hole. We compute the gravitational-wave signal and the mass ejection for our simulations of such scenarios and find clear signatures that are related to the postmerger phase transition—e.g., smaller ejecta masses due to the softening of the equation of state through the quark core formation. Unfortunately, we do not find measurable imprints of the reverse phase transition.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Detectability of QCD phase transitions in binary neutron star mergers: Bayesian inference with the next generation gravitational wave detectors

We study the detectability of postmerger QCD phase transitions in neutron star binaries with next-generation gravitational-wave detectors Cosmic Explorer and Einstein Telescope. We perform numerical relativity simulations of neutron star mergers with equations of state that include a quark deconfinement phase transition through either a Gibbs or Maxwell construction. These are followed by Bayesian parameter estimation of the associated gravitational-wave signals using the nrpmw waveform model, with priors inferred from the analysis of the inspiral signal. We assess the ability of the model to measure the postmerger peak frequency $f$$^{peak}_{2}$ and identify aspects that should be improved in the model. We show that, even at postmerger signal to noise ratios as low as 10, the model can distinguish (at the 90% level) $f$$^{peak}_{2}$ between binaries with and without a phase transition in most cases. Phase-transition induced deviations in the $f$$^{peak}_{2}$ from the predictions of equation-of-state insensitive relations can also be detected if they exceed 1.6⁢σ. Our results suggest that next-generation gravitational wave detectors can measure phase transition effects in binary neutron star mergers. Furthermore, unless the phase transition is “strong,” disentangling it from other hadronic physics uncertainties will require significant theory improvements.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

General relativistic hydrodynamic simulations of binary strange star mergers

We perform fully general-relativistic simulations of binary strange star mergers considering two different approaches for thermal effects. The first uses a cold equation of state (EOS) derived from a modified version of the MIT bag model which is then supplemented by a Γ-law correction. The second approach employs a microphysical description of the finite-temperature effects. We describe results obtained with the two treatments, highlighting the influence of thermal effects. We find that the postmerger dynamics differs significantly in the two cases, leading to quantitative differences in the postmerger gravitational-wave spectrum and ejecta mass. The peak frequency of the postmerger gravitational-wave emission is consistent with the established quasi-universal relations for binary neutron star mergers and as a result, our simulations cannot distinguish between mergers of neutron stars and those of strange stars. Our models with realistic treatment of finite-temperature effects produce a significant amount of ejecta ≳0.02 M ⊙ ​. Here, the resulting flux of strangelets near the Earth, computed assuming that all neutron star mergers are in fact strange-stars mergers and that the binary considered here is representative, is in tension with experimental upper limits. As such, our results tentatively disfavor a scenario in which strange-quark matter is the lowest energy state of matter.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Implementation of an ultrasonic instrument for simultaneous mixture and flow analysis of binary gas systems

Precision ultrasonic measurements in binary gas systems provide continuous real-time monitoring of mixture composition and flow. Using custom micro-controller-based electronics, we have developed an ultrasonic instrument, with numerous potential applications, capable of making continuous high-precision sound velocity measurements. The instrument measures sound transit times along two opposite directions aligned parallel to - or obliquely crossing - the gas flow. The difference between the two measured times yields the gas flow rate while their average gives the sound velocity, which can be compared with a sound velocity vs. molar composition look-up table for the binary mixture at a given temperature and pressure. The look-up table may be generated from prior measurements in known mixtures of the two components, from theoretical calculations, or from a combination of the two. We describe the instrument and its performance within numerous applications in the ATLAS experiment at the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The instrument can be of interest in other areas where continuous in-situ binary gas analysis and flowmetry are required. (authors)

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗

FUNDAMENTAL PARAMETERS OF KEPLER ECLIPSING BINARIES. I. KIC 5738698

Eclipsing binaries serve as a valuable source of stellar masses and radii that inform stellar evolutionary models and provide insight into additional astrophysical processes. The exquisite light curves generated by space-based missions such as Kepler offer the most stringent tests to date. We use the Kepler light curve of the 4.8 day eclipsing binary KIC 5739896 with ground based optical spectra to derive fundamental parameters for the system. We reconstruct the component spectra to determine the individual atmospheric parameters, and model the Kepler photometry with the binary synthesis code Eclipsing Light Curve to obtain accurate masses and radii. The two components of KIC 5738698 are F-type stars with M{sub 1} = 1.39±0.04 M{sub ⊙}, M{sub 2} = 1.34±0.06 M{sub ⊙}, and R{sub 1} = 1.84±0.03 R{sub ⊙}, R{sub 2} = 1.72±0.03 R{sub ⊙}. We also report a small eccentricity (e≲0.0017) and unusual albedo values that are required to match the detailed shape of the Kepler light curve. Comparison with evolutionary models indicate an approximate age of 2.3 Gyr for the system.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SPECKLE INTERFEROMETRY OF SECONDARY COMPONENTS IN NEARBY VISUAL BINARIES

Statistical characterization of secondary subsystems in binaries helps to distinguish between various scenarios of multiple-star formation. The Differential Speckle Survey Instrument was used at the Gemini-N telescope for several hours in 2015 July to probe the binarity of 25 secondary components in nearby solar-type binaries. Six new subsystems were resolved, with meaningful detection limits for the remaining targets. The large incidence of secondary subsystems agrees with other similar studies. The newly resolved subsystem HIP 115417 Ba,Bb causes deviations in the observed motion of the outer binary from which an astrometric orbit of Ba,Bb with a period of 117 years is deduced.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

A YOUNG ECLIPSING BINARY AND ITS LUMINOUS NEIGHBORS IN THE EMBEDDED STAR CLUSTER Sh 2-252E

We present a photometric and light curve analysis of an eccentric eclipsing binary in the K2 Campaign 0 field, which resides in Sh 2-252E, a young star cluster embedded in an H ii region. We describe a spectroscopic investigation of the three brightest stars in the crowded aperture to identify which is the binary system. We find that none of these stars are components of the eclipsing binary system, which must be one of the fainter nearby stars. These bright cluster members all have remarkable spectra: Sh 2-252a (EPIC 202062176) is a B0.5 V star with razor sharp absorption lines, Sh 2-252b is a Herbig A0 star with disk-like emission lines, and Sh 2-252c is a pre-main-sequence star with very red color.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE LEECH EXOPLANET IMAGING SURVEY: ORBIT AND COMPONENT MASSES OF THE INTERMEDIATE-AGE, LATE-TYPE BINARY NO UMa

We present high-resolution Large Binocular Telescope LBTI/LMIRcam images of the spectroscopic and astrometric binary NO UMa obtained as part of the LBT Interferometer Exozodi Exoplanet Common Hunt exoplanet imaging survey. Our H-, K{sub s}-, and L′-band observations resolve the system at angular separations <0.″09. The components exhibit significant orbital motion over a span of ∼7 months. We combine our imaging data with archival images, published speckle interferometry measurements, and existing spectroscopic velocity data to solve the full orbital solution and estimate component masses. The masses of the K2.0 ± 0.5 primary and K6.5 ± 0.5 secondary are 0.83 ± 0.02 M{sub ⊙} and 0.64 ± 0.02 M{sub ⊙}, respectively. We also derive a system distance of d = 25.87 ± 0.02 pc and revise the Galactic kinematics of NO UMa. Our revised Galactic kinematics confirm NO UMa as a nuclear member of the ∼500 Myr old Ursa Major moving group, and it is thus a mass and age benchmark. We compare the masses of the NO UMa binary components to those predicted by five sets of stellar evolution models at the age of the Ursa Major group. We find excellent agreement between our measured masses and model predictions with little systematic scatter between the models. NO UMa joins the short list of nearby, bright, late-type binaries having known ages and fully characterized orbits.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

SPECTROSCOPIC BINARIES IN THE ORION NEBULA CLUSTER AND NGC 2264

We examine the spectroscopic binary population for two massive nearby regions of clustered star formation, the Orion Nebula Cluster (ONC) and NGC 2264, supplementing the data presented by Tobin et al. with more recent observations and more extensive analysis. The inferred multiplicity fraction up to 10 au based on these observations is 5.3 ± 1.2% for NGC 2264 and 5.8 ± 1.1% for the ONC; these values are consistent with the distribution of binaries in the field in the relevant parameter range. Eight of the multiple systems in the sample have enough epochs to perform an initial fit for the orbital parameters. Two of these sources are double-lined spectroscopic binaries; for them, we determine the mass ratio. Our reanalysis of the distribution of stellar radial velocities toward these clusters presents a significantly better agreement between stellar and gas kinematics than was previously thought.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

THE MULTI-WAVELENGTH CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TeV BINARY LS I+61°303

We study the characteristics of the TeV binary LS I+61°303 in radio, soft X-ray, hard X-ray, and gamma-ray (GeV and TeV) energies. The long-term variability characteristics are examined as a function of the phase of the binary period of 26.496 days as well as the phase of the superorbital period of 1626 days, dividing the observations into a matrix of 10 × 10 phases of these two periods. We find that the long-term variability can be described by a sine function of the superorbital period, with the phase and amplitude systematically varying with the binary period phase. We also find a definite wavelength-dependent change in this variability description. To understand the radiation mechanism, we define three states in the orbital/superorbital phase matrix and examine the wideband spectral energy distribution. The derived source parameters indicate that the emission geometry is dominated by a jet structure showing a systematic variation with the orbital/superorbital period. We suggest that LS I+61°303 is likely a microquasar with a steady jet.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

OGLE-2015-BLG-0479LA,B: BINARY GRAVITATIONAL MICROLENS CHARACTERIZED BY SIMULTANEOUS GROUND-BASED AND SPACE-BASED OBSERVATIONS

We present a combined analysis of the observations of the gravitational microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-0479 taken both from the ground and by the Spitzer Space Telescope . The light curves seen from the ground and from space exhibit a time offset of ∼13 days between the caustic spikes, indicating that the relative lens-source positions seen from the two places are displaced by parallax effects. From modeling the light curves, we measure the space-based microlens parallax. Combined with the angular Einstein radius measured by analyzing the caustic crossings, we determine the mass and distance of the lens. We find that the lens is a binary composed of two G-type stars with masses of ∼1.0 M {sub ⊙} and ∼0.9 M {sub ⊙} located at a distance of ∼3 kpc. In addition, we are able to constrain the complete orbital parameters of the lens thanks to the precise measurement of the microlens parallax derived from the joint analysis. In contrast to the binary event OGLE-2014-BLG-1050, which was also observed by Spitzer, we find that the interpretation of OGLE-2015-BLG-0479 does not suffer from the degeneracy between (±, ±) and (±, ∓) solutions, confirming that the four-fold parallax degeneracy in single-lens events collapses into the two-fold degeneracy for the general case of binary-lens events. The location of the blend in the color–magnitude diagram is consistent with the lens properties, suggesting that the blend is the lens itself. The blend is bright enough for spectroscopy and thus this possibility can be checked from future follow-up observations.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗

Neutron star mass-radius constraints of the quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries X7 and X5 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc

We present Chandra/ACIS-S subarray observations of the quiescent neutron star (NS) low-mass X-ray binaries X7 and X5 in the globular cluster 47 Tuc. The large reduction in photon pile-up compared to previous deep exposures enables a substantial improvement in the spectroscopic determination of the NS radius and mass of these NSs. Modeling the thermal emission from the NS surface with a non-magnetized hydrogen atmosphere and accounting for numerous sources of uncertainties, we obtain for the NS in X7 a radius of R=11.1{sub −0.7}{sup +0.8} km for an assumed stellar mass of M = 1.4 M {sub ⊙} (68% confidence level). We argue, based on astrophysical grounds, that the presence of a He atmosphere is unlikely for this source. Due to the excision of data affected by eclipses and variable absorption, the quiescent low-mass X-ray binary X5 provides less stringent constraints, leading to a radius of R=9.6{sub −1.1}{sup +0.9} km, assuming a hydrogen atmosphere and a mass of M = 1.4 M {sub ⊙}. When combined with all existing spectroscopic radius measurements from other quiescent low-mass X-ray binaries and Type I X-ray bursts, these measurements strongly favor radii in the 9.9–11.2 km range for a ∼1.5 M {sub ⊙} NS and point to a dense matter equation of state that is somewhat softer than the nucleonic ones that are consistent with laboratory experiments at low densities.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗