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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2011

HST-COS Observations on Hydrogen, Helium, Carbon, and Nitrogen Emission from the SN 1987A Reverse Shock

We present the most sensitive ultraviolet observations of Supernova 1987 A to date. Imaging spectroscopy from the Hubble Space Telescope-Cosmic Origins Spectrograph shows many narrow (Delta v approximates 300 km/s) emission lines from the circumstellar ring, broad Delta v approximates 10-20 x 10(exp 3) km/s) emission lines from the reverse shock, and ultraviolet continuum emission. The high signal-to-noise ratio (>40 per resolution element) broad Ly-alpha emission is excited by soft X-ray and EUV heating of mostly neutral gas in the circumstellar ring and outer supernova debris. The ultraviolet continuum at lambda > 1350 A can be explained by H-I two-photon (2s(exp 2)S(sub 1/2)-l(exp 2)S(sub 1/2)) emission from the same region. We confirm our earlier, tentative detection of N V lambda 1240 emission from the reverse shock and present the first detections of broad He II lambda1640, C IV lambda 1550, and N IV ] lambda1486 emission lines from the reverse shock. The helium abundance in the high-velocity material is He/H = 0.14 +/- 0.06. The N V /H alpha line ratio requires partial ion-electron equilibration (T(sub e)/T(sub p) approximately equal to 0.14-0.35). We find that the N/C abundance ratio in the gas crossing the reverse shock is significantly higher than that in the circumstellar ring, a result that may be attributed to chemical stratification in the outer envelope of the supernova progenitor. The N/C abundance may have been stratified prior to the ring expUlsion, or this result may indicate continued CNO processing in the progenitor subsequent to the expUlsion of the circumstellar ring.

France, Kevin↗
NASA NTRS2012

Spatially-Resolved HST GRISM Spectroscopy of a Lensed Emission Line Galaxy at Z to approximately 1

We take advantage of gravitational lensing amplification by Abell 1689 (z=0.187) to undertake the first space-based census of emission line galaxies (ELGs) in the field of a massive lensing cluster. Forty-three ELGs are identified to a flux of i(sub 775)=27.3 via slitless grism spectroscopy. One ELG (at z=0.7895) is very bright owing to lensing magnification by a factor of approx = 4.5. Several Balmer emission lines detected from ground-based follow-up spectroscopy signal the onset of a major starburst for this low-mass galaxy (M(sub star) approx = 2 x 10(exp 9)Solar Mass) with a high specific star formation rate (approx = 20/ Gyr). From the blue emission lines we measure a gas-phase oxygen abundance consistent with solar (12+log(O /H)=8.8 +/- O.2). We break the continuous line-emitting region of this giant arc into seven approx 1 kpc bins (intrinsic size) and measure a variety of metallicity dependent line ratios. A weak trend of increasing metal fraction is seen toward the dynamical center of the galaxy. Interestingly, the metal line ratios in a region offset from the center by -lkpc have a placement on the blue HI! region excitation diagram with f([OIII]/ f(H-Beta) and f([NeIII/ f(H-Beta) that can be fit by an AGN. This asymmetrical AGN-like behavior is interpreted as a product of shocks in the direction of the galaxy's extended tail, possibly instigated by a recent galaxy interaction.

Frye, Brenda L.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Testing the Universality of the Stellar IMF with Chandra and HST

The stellar initial mass function (IMF), which is often assumed to be universal across unresolved stellar populations, has recently been suggested to be bottom-heavy for massive ellipticals. In these galaxies, the prevalence of gravity-sensitive absorption lines (e.g., Na I and Ca II) in their near-IR spectra implies an excess of low-mass (m < or approx. = 0.5 Stellar Mass) stars over that expected from a canonical IMF observed in low-mass ellipticals. A direct extrapolation of such a bottom-heavy IMF to high stellar masses (m > or approx. = 8 Stellar Mass) would lead to a corresponding deficit of neutron stars and black holes, and therefore of low-mass X-ray binaries (LMXBs), per unit near-IR luminosity in these galaxies. Peacock et al. searched for evidence of this trend and found that the observed number of LMXBs per unit K-band luminosity (N/LK) was nearly constant. We extend this work using new and archival Chandra X-ray Observatory and Hubble Space Telescope observations of seven low-mass ellipticals where N/LK is expected to be the largest and compare these data with a variety of IMF models to test which are consistent with the observed N/LK. We reproduce the result of Peacock et al., strengthening the constraint that the slope of the IMF at m > or approx. = 8 Stellar Mass must be consistent with a Kroupa-like IMF. We construct an IMF model that is a linear combination of a Milky Way-like IMF and a broken power-law IMF, with a steep slope (alpha1 = 3.84) for stars < 0.5 Stellar Mass (as suggested by near-IR indices), and that flattens out (alpha2 = 2.14) for stars > 0.5 Stellar Mass, and discuss its wider ramifications and limitations.

galaxies: elliptical and lenticular↗
NASA NTRS2021

On the Nature of AGN and Star Formation Enhancement in thez=3.1 SSA22Protocluster: The HST WFC3 IR View

We examine possible environmental sources of the enhanced star formation and active galactic nucleus (AGN) activity in the z=3.09 SSA22 protocluster using Hubble WFC3 F160W (∼1.6μm) observations of the SSA22 field, including new observations centered on eight X-ray selected protocluster AGN. To investigate the role of mergers in the observed AGN and star formation enhancement, we apply both quantitative (Sérsic-fit and Gini–M20)and visual morphological classifications to F160W images of protocluster Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) in the fields of the X-ray AGN and z∼3field LBGs in SSA22 and GOODS-N. We find no statistically significant differences between the morphologies and merger fractions of protocluster and field LBGs, though we are limited by small number statistics in the protocluster. We also fit the UV-to-near-IR spectral energy distributions of F160W-detected protocluster and field LBGs to characterize their stellar masses and star formation histories. We find that the mean protocluster LBG is a factor of∼2 times more massive and more attenuated than the mean z∼3field LBG. We take our results to suggest that ongoing mergers are not more common among protocluster LBGs than field LBGs, though protocluster LBGs appear to be more massive. We speculate that the larger mass of the protocluster LBGs contributes to the enhancement of SMBH mass and accretion rate in the protocluster, which in turn drives the observed protocluster AGN enhancement

Erik B. Monson↗