We present the results of data-mining the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) archive for data on classical and recurrent novae. We find that the detections are consistent with dust emission, line emission, emission by a stellar photosphere, o
r a combination of these. Of the 36 novae detected in one or more WISE bands, 16 are detected in all four; thirty-one known novae are not detected by WISE. We also searched for WISE data on post-WISE novae, to gain information about nova progenitors. In this first paper we consider only the WISE data. In future papers we will provide a more detailed modelling of the WISE data, and discuss WISE data on post-WISE novae - including their variability - and will complement the WISE data with data from other IR surveys.
It has been shown in earlier works that the vertices of Platonic solids are good measurement choices for tests of EPR-steering using isotropically entangled pairs of qubits. Such measurements are regularly spaced, and measurement diversity is a good
feature for making EPR-steering inequalities easier to violate in the presence of experimental imperfections. However, such measurements are provably suboptimal. Here, we develop a method for devising optimal strategies for tests of EPR-steering, in the sense of being most robust to mixture and inefficiency (while still closing the detection loophole of course), for a given number $n$ of measurement settings. We allow for arbitrary measurement directions, and arbitrary weightings of the outcomes in the EPR-steering inequality. This is a difficult optimization problem for large $n$, so we also consider more practical ways of constructing near-optimal EPR-steering inequalities in this limit.
We present models for the X-ray spectrum of the Seyfert 2 galaxy NGC 1068. These are fitted to data obtained using the High Energy Transmission Grating (HETG) on the Chandra X-ray observatory. The data show line and radiative recombination continuum
(RRC) emission from a broad range of ions and elements. The models explore the importance of excitation processes for these lines including photoionization followed by recombination, radiative excitation by absorption of continuum radiation and inner shell fluorescence. The models show that the relative importance of these processes depends on the conditions in the emitting gas, and that no single emitting component can fit the entire spectrum. In particular, the relative importance of radiative excitation and photoionization/recombination differs according to the element and ion stage emitting the line. This in turn implies a diversity of values for the ionization parameter of the various components of gas responsible for the emission, ranging from log(xi)=1 -- 3. Using this, we obtain an estimate for the total amount of gas responsible for the observed emission. The mass flux through the region included in the HETG extraction region is approximately 0.3 Msun/yr assuming ordered flow at the speed characterizing the line widths. This can be compared with what is known about this object from other techniques.
We investigate the transfinite game values arising in infinite chess, providing both upper and lower bounds on the supremum of these values---the omega one of chess---with two senses depending on whether one considers only finite positions or also po
sitions with infinitely many pieces. For lower bounds, we present specific infinite positions with transfinite game values of omega, omega^2, omega^2 times k, and omega^3. By embedding trees into chess, we show that there is a computable infinite chess position that is a win for white if the players are required to play according to a deterministic computable strategy, but which is a draw without that restriction. Finally, we prove that every countable ordinal arises as the game value of a position in infinite three-dimensional chess, and consequently the omega one of infinite three-dimensional chess is as large as it can be, namely, true omega one.
We present the result of trawling through the WISE archive for data on classical and recurrent novae. The data show a variety of spectral energy distributions, including stellar photospheres, dust and probable line emission. During the mission WISE a
lso detected some novae which erupted subsequent to the survey, providing information about the progenitor systems.
We review infrared observations of classical and recurrent novae, at wavelengths >3microns, including both broad-band and spectroscopic observations. In recent years infrared spectroscopy in particular has revolutionised our understanding of the nova
phenomenon, by revealing fine-structure and coronal lines, and the mineralogy of nova dust. Infrared spectroscopic facilities that are, or will be, becoming available in the next 10 - 20 years have the potential for a comprehensive study of nova line emission and dust mineralogy, and for an unbiassed assessment of the extragalactic nova populations.
We present Spitzer Space Telescope and Herschel Space Observatory infrared observations of the recurrent nova T Pyx during its 2011 eruption, complemented by ground-base optical-infrared photometry. We find that the eruption has heated dust in the pr
e-existing nebulosity associated with T Pyx. This is most likely interstellar dust swept up by T Pyx - either during previous eruptions or by a wind - rather than the accumulation of dust produced during eruptions.
We present the first multi-wavelength follow-up observations of two candidate gravitational-wave (GW) transient events recorded by LIGO and Virgo in their 2009-2010 science run. The events were selected with low latency by the network of GW detectors
and their candidate sky locations were observed by the Swift observatory. Image transient detection was used to analyze the collected electromagnetic data, which were found to be consistent with background. Off-line analysis of the GW data alone has also established that the selected GW events show no evidence of an astrophysical origin; one of them is consistent with background and the other one was a test, part of a blind injection challenge. With this work we demonstrate the feasibility of rapid follow-ups of GW transients and establish the sensitivity improvement joint electromagnetic and GW observations could bring. This is a first step toward an electromagnetic follow-up program in the regime of routine detections with the advanced GW instruments expected within this decade. In that regime multi-wavelength observations will play a significant role in completing the astrophysical identification of GW sources. We present the methods and results from this first combined analysis and discuss its implications in terms of sensitivity for the present and future instruments.
We present infrared spectra of the binary XX Oph obtained with the Infrared Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. The data show some evidence for the presence of solid C_60 - the first detection of C_60 in the solid phase - together with the w
ell-known ``Unidentified Infrared emission features. We suggest that, in the case of XX Oph, the C_60 is located close to the hot component, and that in general it is preferentially excited by stars having effective temperatures in the range 15,000-30,000K. C_60 may be common in circumstellar environments, but un-noticed in the absence of a suitable exciting source.
Demonstrating nonclassical effects over longer and longer distances is essential for both quantum technology and fundamental science. The main challenge is loss of photons during propagation, because considering only those cases where photons are det
ected opens a detection loophole in security whenever parties or devices are untrusted. Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen (EPR) steering is equivalent to an entanglement-verification task in which one party (device) is untrusted. We derive arbitrarily loss-tolerant tests, enabling us to perform a detection-loophole-free demonstration of EPR-steering with parties separated by a coiled 1 km optical fiber, with a total loss of 8.9 dB (87%).
