No Arabic abstract
We performed extensive, multi-wavelength observations of the prototypical symbiotic star Z Andromedae between 2000 and 2003, during a large eruption. The rise to optical maximum occurred in three distinct stages. During the first stage, the rise was very similar to an earlier, small outburst which we determined was due to an accretion-disk instability. In the second stage, an optically thick shell of material was ejected, and in the third stage, the shell cleared to reveal a white dwarf whose luminosity was roughly 10^4 Lsun. We suggest that the outburst was powered by an increase in the rate of nuclear burning on the white-dwarf surface, triggered by a sudden burst of accretion. This outburst thus combined elements of both dwarf novae and classical novae.
Combining intervals of ekpyrotic (ultra-slow) contraction with a (non-singular) classical bounce naturally leads to a novel cyclic theory of the universe in which the Hubble parameter, energy density and temperature oscillate periodically, but the scale factor grows by an exponential factor from one cycle to the next. The resulting cosmology not only resolves the homogeneity, isotropy, flatness and monopole problems and generates a nearly scale invariant spectrum of density perturbations, but it also addresses a number of age-old cosmological issues that big bang inflationary cosmology does not. There may also be wider-ranging implications for fundamental physics, black holes and quantum measurement.
We describe the discovery of a new kind of radio transient, which we call early-riser bursts or ERBs. We found this new class of source by considering traditional radio searches, but extending into the complex plane of dispersion measure. ERBs have the remarkable property of appearing before they are searched for. We provide suggestions for the most likely origin of this new astronomical phenomenon.
We have analysed structural motifs in the Deem database of hypothetical zeolites, to investigate whether the structural diversity found in this database can be well-represented by classical descriptors such as distances, angles, and ring sizes, or whether a more general representation of atomic structure, furnished by the smooth overlap of atomic positions (SOAP) method, is required to capture accurately structure-property relations. We assessed the quality of each descriptor by machine-learning the molar energy and volume for each hypothetical framework in the dataset. We have found that SOAP with a cutoff-length of 6 AA, which goes beyond near-neighbor tetrahedra, best describes the structural diversity in the Deem database by capturing relevant inter-atomic correlations. Kernel principal component analysis shows that SOAP maintains its superior performance even when reducing its dimensionality to those of the classical descriptors, and that the first three kernel principal components capture the main variability in the data set, allowing a 3D point cloud visualization of local environments in the Deem database. This ``cloud atlas of local environments was found to show good correlations with the contribution of a given motif to the density and stability of its parent framework. Local volume and energy maps constructed from the SOAP/machine-learning analyses provide new images of zeolites that reveal smooth variations of local volumes and energies across a given framework, and correlations between local volume and energy in a given framework.
This paper reports the observation of hysteresis in the vortex pinning in a superconductor / ferromagnetic epitaxial nanocomposite consisting of fcc Gd particles incorporated in a Nb matrix. We show that this hysteretic pinning is associated with magnetic reversal losses in the Gd particles and is fundamentally different in origin to pinning interactions previously observed for ferromagnetic particles or other microstructural features.
The morphology and optical spectrum of IPHASXJ210205+471015, a nebula classified as a possible planetary nebula, are however strikingly similar to those of ATCnc, a classical nova shell around a dwarf nova. To investigate its true nature, we have obtained high-resolution narrow-band [O III] and [N II] images and deep GTC OSIRIS optical spectra. The nebula shows an arc of [N II]-bright knots notably enriched in nitrogen, whilst an [O III]-bright bow-shock is progressing throughout the ISM. Diagnostic line ratios indicate that shocks are associated with the arc and bow-shock. The central star of this nebula has been identified by its photometric variability. Time-resolved photometric and spectroscopic data of this source reveal a period of 4.26 hours, which is attributed to a binary system. The optical spectrum is notably similar to that of RWSex, a cataclysmic variable star (CV) of the UXUMa nova-like (NL) type. Based on these results, we propose that IPHASX J210205+471015 is a classical nova shell observed around a CV-NL system in quiescence.