In collisional ionization equilibrium (CIE), the X-ray spectrum from a plasma depends on the distribution of emission measure over temperature (DEM). Due to the well-known ill conditioning problem, no precisely resolved DEM can be inverted directly f
rom the spectrum, so often only a gross parametrization of the DEM is used to approximate the data, in hopes that the parametrization can provide useful model-independent constraints on the heating process. However, ill conditioning also introduces ambiguity into the various different parametrizations that could approximate the data, which may spoil the perceived advantages of model independence. Thus, this paper instead suggests a single parametrization for both the heating mechanism and the X-ray sources, based on a model of impulsive heating followed by complete cooling. This approach is similar to a ``cooling flow approach, but allows injection at multiple initial temperatures, and applies even when the steady state is distribution of different shock strengths, as for a standing shock with a range of obliquities, or for embedded stochastic shocks that are only steady in a statistical sense. This produces an alternative parametrization for X-ray spectra that is especially streamlined for higher density plasmas with efficient radiative cooling, and provides internal consistency checks on the assumption of impulsive heating followed by complete cooling. The result is no longer model independent, but the results are more directly interpretable in terms of useful physical constraints on the impulsive heating distribution.
We calculate the circularly polarized Stokes V profile for emission lines, formed in hot-star winds threaded with a weak radial magnetic field. For simplicity, the field is treated as a split monopole under the assumptions that it has been radially c
ombed by the wind, and rotation is not playing a central role. Invoking the weak-field approximation, we find that the V profile has a characteristic ``heartbeat shape exhibiting multiple sign
By considering the advection and interaction of the vector momentum flux in highly supersonic spherically diverging winds, we derive a simple analytic description of the asymptotic opening angle of a wind-collision shock cone, in the approximation th
at the shocked gas is contained in a cone streaming out along a single characteristic opening angle. Both highly radiative and highly adiabatic limits are treated, and their comparison is the novel result. Analytic closed-form expressions are obtained for the inferred wind momentum ratios as a function of the observed shock opening angle, allowing the conspicuous shape of the asymptotic bow shock to be used as a preliminary constraint on more detailed modeling of the colliding winds. In the process, we explore from a general perspective the limitations in applying to the global shock geometry the so-called Dyson approximation, which asserts a local balance in the perpendicular ram pressure across the shock.
We derive analytic expressions, and approximate them in closed form, for the effective detection aperture for Cerenkov radio emission from ultra-high-energy neutrinos striking the Moon. The resulting apertures are in good agreement with recent Monte
Carlo simulations and support the conclusion of James & Protheroe (2009)that neutrino flux upper limits derived from the GLUE search (Gorham et al.2004) were too low by an order of magnitude. We also use our analytic expressions to derive scaling laws for the aperture as a function of observational and lunar parameters. We find that at low frequencies downward-directed neutrinos always dominate, but at higher frequencies, the contribution from upward-directed neutrinos becomes increasingly important, especially at low neutrino energies. Detecting neutrinos from Earth near the GZK regime will likely require radio telescope arrays with extremely large collecting area and hundreds of hour of exposure time. Higher energy neutrinos are most easily detected using lower frequencies. Lunar surface roughness is a decisive factor for obtaining detections at higher frequencies and higher energies.
