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NASA NTRS1985

An analysis of the bright white dwarf CD - 38 deg 10980

The bright DA white dwarf CD - 38 deg 10980 is comprehensively analyzed using all available data. Detailed comparisons of the overall energy distribution and Lyman-alpha and Balmer profiles are made with theoretical predictions based on a homogeneous grid of model atmospheres. These comparisons yield a consistent, well-defined effective temperature and surface gravity for this star of 24,700 + or - 250 K and log g = 7.95 + or - 0.15, respectively. A new gravitational redshift of 28.4 + or - 4.8 km/s is derived from an IUE high-dispersion spectrum. Conclusions regarding the mass and radius of CD - 38 deg 10980 are also presented.

Holberg, J. B.↗

NASA NTRS1988

Birth of millisecond pulsars in globular clusters

It is argued here that accretion-induced collapse of white dwarfs in binaries can form millisecond pulsars directly without requiring a precursor low-mass X-ray binary stage. Ablation of the precollapse binary companion by the millisecond pulsar's radiation field, a process invoked to explain some of the characteristics of the recently discovered eclipsing millisecond pulsar, can then yield isolated neutron stars witout requiring an additional stellar encounter.

Grindlay, J. E.↗

NASA NTRS1993

The magnetic field configurations of AM Herculis binaries

We have considered equilibrium configurations of a white dwarf and a red dwarf companion in AM Herculis type binary system where the red dwarf is assumed to have an intrinsic centered dipole field, and the white dwarf an offset dipole or a centered dipole plus a quadrupole field, and the interaction is purely magnetic. The restoring torque, due to the system being perturbed from its stable equilibrium configuration, is compared with the accretion torque. The results are used to show that the observed alignment of the main cyclotron emission region relative to the red star can be explained quite simply by these models without having to invoke gravitational torques. We also provide a possible explanation of the observation that the more strongly accreting pole has the weaker field strength in the few systems where fields have been determined at both poles.

Wu, Kinwah↗

NASA NTRS1988

Spectral types for objects in the Kiso survey. IV - Data for 81 stars

Spectroscopy and spectral types for 81 ultraviolet-excess objects found in the Kiso Schmidt-camera survey are reported. The data were secured with the McGraw-Hill 1.3 m telescope at 8-A resolution covering the wavelength interval 4000 -7200 A using the Mark II spectrograph. Descriptions of the spectra of some of the more peculiar objects found in this sample are given and include 14 sub-dwarfs, 23 definite DA white dwarfs, including a magnetic one, and one DQ whie dwarf, eight quasars and emission-line objects, and a new composite DA + dM system. More spectroscopy of the new cataclysmic variable KUV 01584-0939 and a possibly related object is also described.

Wegner, Gary↗

NASA NTRS1984

X-ray observations of X Persei

The HEAO 2 Einstein Observatory was used to confirm the identification of 4U 0352 + 30 with X Per. The HEAO 2 data were analyzed in order to determine an additional point in the pulse period history of the X-ray source and to search for short binary periods. In addition, a majority of the historical X-ray observations was reanalyzed and more refined values for the pulse period as a function of time were obtained. The period history possess significant scatter, but no evidence for a measurable long-term spin-up trend is found, and hence a lower limit to the spin-up time scale is set. This lower limit is consistent with the presence of a neutron star, but it does not rule out a degenerate dwarf. The period history was also searched for evidence of binary motion, and upper limits to a(x) sin i were obtained.

Weisskopf, M. C.↗

NASA NTRS1991

The ultraviolet spectrum of KX Trianguli Australis

Low-dispersion and high-dispersion IUE satellite observations of the symbiotic star KX TrA, carried out on May 7, 1990, are reported. The low-dispersion data show no significant changes from the observation data obtained a decade ago. Resonantly excited high-excitation Fe II emission lines are seen in the UV spectra of KX TrA, suggesting the existence of a very hot (greater than 60,000 K) subdwarf or white dwarf in the system. The S-type symbiotic KX TrA exhibits a UV spectrum that is nearly identical to that of the D-type symbiotic V1016 Cyg.

Feibelman, Walter A.↗

NASA NTRS2015

Extended Hard-X-Ray Emission in the Inner Few Parsecs of the Galaxy

The Galactic Centre hosts a puzzling stellar population in its inner few parsecs, with a high abundance of surprisingly young, relatively massive stars bound within the deep potential well of the central supermassive black hole, Sagittarius A* (ref. 1). Previous studies suggest that the population of objects emitting soft X-rays (less than 10 kiloelectronvolts) within the surrounding hundreds of parsecs, as well as the population responsible for unresolved X-ray emission extending along the Galactic plane, is dominated by accreting white dwarf systems2, 3, 4, 5.

x-ray emission↗

NASA NTRS2007

A Study of the Mass Loss Rates of Symbiotic Star Systems

The amount of mass loss in symbiotic systems is investigated, specifically mass loss via the formation of jets in R Aquarii (R Aqr). The jets in R Aqr have been observed in the X-ray by Chandra over a four year time period. The jet changes on times scales of a year and new outflows have been observed. Understanding the amount of mass and the frequency of ejection further constrain the ability of the white dwarf in the system to accrete enough mass to become a Type la supernova progenitor. The details of multi-wavelength studies, such as speed, density and spatial extent of the jets will be discussed in order to understand the mass balance in the binary system. We examine other symbiotic systems to determine trends in mass loss in this class of objects.

Korreck, K. E.↗

NASA NTRS1983

X-ray emission and spin-up evolution of the 6.1-ms pulsar

An upper bound is calculated for the X ray luminosity of the binary pulsar PSR1953+29 and discussed in terms of effects on theretical models for the pulsar's formation and spin-up. The upper limit was obtained by summing the detected counts measured by the Einstein Observatory within a circle of radius 150 arcsec and subtracting local background fluxes. A flux upper bound of less than 4 x 10 to the 32 erg/sec, a neutron star radius of 15 km, a temperature less than 1,000,000 K, and a pulsar age of at least 3000 year are obtained. The neutron star could be much older than 10,000,000 yr, the spin-down rate is up to 10 to the minus 17 str/sec, and formation occurred by accretion when the companion was in a red giant phase. The pulsar has a mass of about 0.3 solar mass, travels an orbit of about 10 to the 13 cm, and evolved from a white dwarf near its Chandrasekhar limit. It is suggested that the magnetic surface field of the pulsar has stabilized near 1 billion G.

Helfand, D. J.↗

NASA NTRS2012

Astrophysical Model Selection in Gravitational Wave Astronomy

Theoretical studies in gravitational wave astronomy have mostly focused on the information that can be extracted from individual detections, such as the mass of a binary system and its location in space. Here we consider how the information from multiple detections can be used to constrain astrophysical population models. This seemingly simple problem is made challenging by the high dimensionality and high degree of correlation in the parameter spaces that describe the signals, and by the complexity of the astrophysical models, which can also depend on a large number of parameters, some of which might not be directly constrained by the observations. We present a method for constraining population models using a hierarchical Bayesian modeling approach which simultaneously infers the source parameters and population model and provides the joint probability distributions for both. We illustrate this approach by considering the constraints that can be placed on population models for galactic white dwarf binaries using a future space-based gravitational wave detector. We find that a mission that is able to resolve approximately 5000 of the shortest period binaries will be able to constrain the population model parameters, including the chirp mass distribution and a characteristic galaxy disk radius to within a few percent. This compares favorably to existing bounds, where electromagnetic observations of stars in the galaxy constrain disk radii to within 20%.

hierarchical↗

NASA NTRS1981

Coordinated X-ray, ultraviolet and optical observations of AM Herculis, U Geminorum, and SS Cygni

Simultaneous and quasi-simultaneous optical, UV and X-ray observations of the accreting degenerate dwarf stars AM Herculis, U Geminorum and SS Cygni are reported. The observations were obtained in March 1979, by instruments on board the Einstein Observatory and the IUE satellite, and optical properties were monitored on the ground. AM Her was found to be in a high state at the time of the observations, while SS Cyg and U Gem appeared to be in the optical low state. The presence of a strong UV excess is found in SS Cyg, U Gem and AM Her, which most likely originates from the boundary of the accretion disk in U Gem. The observed excess, with a blackbody component greater than 10 eV, is noted to be inconsistent with standard accretion disk and column models. It is suggested that nuclear burning at the surface of the white dwarf may be responsible for the excess UV flux in the three systems, with differences in spectral distributions resulting from different levels of magnetic field intensity and accretion rate.

Fabbiano, G.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Ultraviolet and X-ray detection of the 56 Peg system (KO 2p + WD)

Both IUE short and long wavelength exposures of the 56 Peg system are discussed. This mild barium star has an X-ray luminosity of 3 x 10 to the 31st power ergs/1, comparable to the rapidly rotating RS CVn binary systems, yet lies in a region of the HR diagram where stellar X-rays are generally not observed. This cool, bright giant is not a rapid rotator and the key to understanding its emission lies in the recent discovery of its white dwarf companion. Accretion onto the white dwarf of approximately 0.1% of the stellar wind of the primary is sufficient to power an X-ray source of the observed luminosity. Reprocessing of the X-rays in the cool dense stellar wind explains the origin of the UV emission line spectrum, and may explain the time varying asymmetry of the Mg 2 kappa line profile that is observed. Graphs which show observed fluxes and wavelengths are discussed.

Schindler, M.↗

NASA NTRS1999

Multi-Wavelength Superoutburst Observations of T Leonis

We present results of simultaneous superoutburst observations in the X-ray, Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV), optical, and IR bands of the tremendous outburst amplitude dwarf novae T Leonis. Near peak luminosity, a single blackbody represents a good fit to T Leo's observed continuum in the EUV spectral region, yielding a boundary layer temperature of 71,000 to 97,000K. Inclusion of the longer wavelength observations, UV to the IR, indicates that a blackbody fit is inappropriate. A single temperature fit to only the UV and red-ward data for T Leo works well, but yields a much lower temperature, near 28,000K. Using our own observations and previously obtained EUV, UV and optical (super)outburst observations for the dwarf novae U Gem and SS Cyg, the SU UMa star VW Hyi, and the TOADS, TV Crv, BC UMa, and SW UMa, we find that in all cases, high energy observations yield high temperature, small emitting regions, while fits to UV and red-ward data produce cooler temperatures from much larger emitting regions. These results are consistent with the idea that high energy data provide a direct measurement of the boundary layer while the lower energy data measure a much larger, multi-temperature region, likely to be dominated by the outburst heated inner accretion disk. High energy outburst observations show that the boundary layer temperature decreases with decreasing orbital period and UV outburst observations provide evidence for a missing or weak inner disk in the TOADs. We present a simple model of mass accretion onto the white dwarf during (super)outburst which can account for the observed correlation between temperature.

Howell, Steve B.↗

NASA NTRS1975

Accretion and the nova outburst

Evolutionary sequences of thermonuclear runaways in the hydrogen-rich envelopes of carbon-oxygen white dwarfs are presented which include the effects of accretion of infalling material, allow the initial envelope to be out of equilibrium, and reproduce the gross features of the nova outburst. The models show that massive infall rates produce strong shocks at the stellar surface, that material passing through the shocks reaches nuclear-ignition temperatures, and that the thermonuclear runaway proceeds with an extended envelope around the star in the most extreme cases. The major effect of accretion is found to be a reduction in the amount of material ejected for a given degree of CNO enhancement as compared with previous nonaccretion models. It is also found that all the heating that causes ejection occurs in the deeper layers and that the light curves produced by the present models are in closer agreement with observed nova light curves that the previous models.

Starrfield, S. G.↗

NASA NTRS1979

On the energy distribution in Sirius B

A spectrum of Sirius B in the wavelength region 1100-1900 A taken with the IUE satellite shows an absolute flux and spectral energy distribution in the continuum in agreement with theoretical white-dwarf models with T(eff) of 26,000 K plus or minus 1000 K for log g equals 8.65 and R equals 5.08 x 10 to the 8th cm. The Lyman-alpha profile is also in agreement with these parameters. No obvious emission lines in the spectrum of Sirius B or A which could indicate the presence of a chromosphere or corona in either of the stars are observed.

Boehm-Vitense, E.↗

NASA NTRS1992

Ultraviolet observations of the symbiotic star AS 296

AS 296 is a well-known S-type symbiotic star which underwent an optical outburst during 1988. In this paper, UV data based on IUE observations obtained both during the quiescent and outburst stages are presented and discussed, correlating them to observations made in the optical region. It is concluded that the object is a symbiotic nova, in which the outburst is due to a thermonuclear runaway produced in the hydrogen-burning shell of a white dwarf with M of about 0.5 solar masses, accreting from the late-type giant at a rate M(acc) of about 9.7 x 10 exp -9 solar mass/year. It is not possible to determine from the observations if the hydrogen flash is degenerate or nondegenerate.

Gutierrez-Moreno, A.↗

NASA NTRS1992

The cool-star spectral catalog: A uniform collection of IUE SWP-LOs

Over the past decade and a half of its operations, the International Ultraviolet Explorer has recorded low-dispersion spectrograms in the 1150-2000 A interval of more than 800 stars of late spectral type (F-M). The sub-2000 A region contains a number of emission lines that are key diagnostics of physical conditions in the high-excitation chromospheres and subcoronal 'transition zones' of such stars. Many of the sources have been observed a number of times, and the available collection of SWP-LO exposures in the IUE Archives exceeds 4,000. With support from the Astrophysics Data Program, we have assembled the archival material into a catalog of IUE far-UV fluxes of late-type stars. In order to ensure uniform processing of the spectra, we: (1) photometrically corrected the raw vidicon images with a custom version of the 1985 SWP ITF; (2) identified and eliminated, sharp cosmic-ray 'hits' by means of a spatial filter; (3) extracted the spectral traces with the 'optimal' (weighted-slit) strategy; and (4) calibrated them against a well-characterized reference source, the DA white dwarf G191-B2B. Our approach is similar to that adopted by the IUE Project for its 'Final Archive', but our implementation is specialized to the case of chromospheric emission-line sources. We measured the resulting SWP-LO spectra using a semi-autonomous algorithm that establishes a smooth continuum by numerical filtering, and then fits the significant emissions (or absorptions) by means of a constrained Bevington-type multiple-Gaussian procedure. The algorithm assigns errors to the fitted fluxes - or upper limits in the absence of a significant detection - according to a model based on careful measurements of the noise properties of the IUE's intensified SEC cameras. Here, we describe the 'visualization' strategies we adopted to ensure human-review of the semi-autonomous processing and measuring algorithms; the derivation of the noise model and the assignment of errors; and the structure of the final catalog as delivered to the Astrophysics Data System.

Ayres, T.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Spectrophotometric and model-atmosphere analyses of the hot DO and DAO white dwarfs from the Palomar-Green survey

Recent optical and spectrophotometric observations of all currently known DAO and DO hot white dwarf candidates from the Palomar-Green Survey are presented. The optical observations were carried out using the Kitt Peak National Observatory Intensified Image Dissector Scanner (IIDS) system, the Multiple Mirror Telescope (MMT), and two photon-counting Reticon systems. Ultraviolet spectrophotometry was obtained using the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) short-wavelength and long-wavelength cameras. The following spectroscopic subgroups were identified in the observations: the cool DO stars with spectra showing H I features together with He II + H blends; the hot DO stars, with spectra exhibiting weak He II (+H) lines; and hydrogen-rich DAO stars with broad H lines and sharp H II lines at 4686 A. A fourth subgroup of stars resembling PG 1159 with He at He II lines at 4686, and a C, N ion blend in the optical spectrum were also found. The spectroscopic data were analyzed in terms of a grid of hot, high-gravity LTE model atmospheres composed of a mixture of hydrogen and helium, and atmospheric parameters are deduced for each class of objects. On the basis of the model atmosphere analysis, the local space density of the DO stars is estimated to be 1.9-3.0 x 10 to the -7th per cubic pc, depending on the scale height.

Wesemael, F.↗