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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 145 records · Page 8
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1985

Activity-driven structure variations as a cause of period changes in RS Canis Venaticorum-like systems

Magnetic activity cycles of a convective star in a close binary system may lead to orbit period changes through tidal spin-orbit coupling. An increase in the mean magnetic field throughout the convection zone provides an additional pressure support and increases the star's moment of inertia. In order for the system to conserve angular momentum instantaneously, the convective star must reduce its rotation rate. When this happens, the system is no longer synchronous; in particular, the equilibrium tide now suffers a phase lag. A tidal torque must act, transferring angular momentum from the star's rotation to the orbit, lengthening the period. When the field decays, these events reverse and the period shortens. Observed period changes in RS CVn-like systems are of the order delta p/p = 10 to the -6th, implying variations in the mean field strength at the base of the convection zone of approximately 1000 G over time scales of 10-30 yr. It is predicted that the strength of magnetic activity indicators will track orbital period changes in a given system: the period will be largest during the active portion of the magnetic cycle and smallest during the quiescent part.

Van Buren, D.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Production of recycled pulsars in globular clusters via two-body tidal capture

The numbers of binary systems containing a neutron star that are formed in the cores of globular clusters via two-body tidal capture are investigated. The subsequent evolution of the resulting binary systems is examined. Monte Carlo techniques are employed to trace the histories of many neutron stars in the core of a model globular cluster. Various scenarios for mass stripping during capture and orbital circularization, and the effects of magnetic braking on the circularized orbits are explored. Calculations are carried out for two model clusters: 47 Tuc and Omega Cen. Distributions of orbital periods for newly formed binaries containing a neutron star in orbit with either a main-sequence star or a giant are presented. Each binary is followed until contact between the captured star and the neutron star is established. It is argued that these systems should be regarded as potential progenitors of 'recycled' pulsars.

Di Stefano, R↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Photonic Source for Binary Source Simulations

More than half of the sun-like stars are in binary systems or have companions that hinder the search for planets around them using traditional technologies. There are only 69 FGK dwarfs within ten pc that can harbor true earth analogs. Direct imaging can detect and study the habitability of those targets measuring the chemical composition of the atmosphere, and astrometry can measure the planet's mass. We use Multi-Star Wavefront Control (MSWC), a technique that removes stellar leakage from both stellar components to enable direct imaging of binary systems. Currently, there is a technology demonstration experiment of MSWC for the Roman coronagraph instrument at the High Contrast Imaging Testbeds operated at JPL. One of the challenges for this experiment is to produce a binary source where both stars are incoherent with each other at close physical separation. On the other hand, to measure masses, it is possible to obtain relative astrometry measurements between the binary. The TOLIMAN concept proposes to use a diffractive pupil to calibrate the distortion and detector effects to reach 1uas astrometric accuracy. JPL currently has a laboratory to demonstrate this technology, which faces the same challenge as the MSWC project of producing two incoherent nearby sources. We developed Photonic Chips with multiple waveguides in Silicon Nitride for both projects to create incoherent single sources as close as 15um. In this paper, we present the concept application, the chips design, and the first results.

photonic chips↗
NASA NTRS1992

Possible observational consequences of primordial binaries in globular clusters

The paper investigates the observational consequences of the evolution of a primordial binary population in a globular cluster. For those binary systems which begin mass transfer at orbital periods of less than about 1 d, the system is expected to evolve to a contact binary stage and to eventually merge to form a single star. At longer orbital periods, the binary system will enter into a common envelope stage. For periods less than about 10 d, the system is likely to merge, and the outcome of the evolution is a single red giant star. For systems characterized by orbital periods greater than about 15 d, a detached red dwarf-white dwarf binary system is expected to change. As a consequence of the mergers, a range in masses for the red giant stars is possible, leading to a color spread on the RGB of the color magnitude diagram. The luminosity function of stars at high luminosities is expected to steepen as a result of tidal interaction in the binary. It is suggested that the formation of cataclysmic variables via primordial binaries is expected only in loosely bound clusters of low-velocity dispersion.

Taam, Ronald E.↗
NASA NTRS2020

The Multiplanet System TOI-421: A Warm Neptune and a Super Puffy Mini-Neptune Transiting a G9 V Star in a Visual Binary

We report the discovery of a warm Neptune and a hot sub-Neptune transiting TOI-421 (BD-14 1137, TIC 94986319), a bright (V = 9.9) G9 dwarf star in a visual binary system observed by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) space mission in Sectors 5 and 6. We performed ground-based follow-up observations—comprised of Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope transit photometry, NIRC2 adaptive optics imaging, and FIbre-fed Echellé Spectrograph, CORALIE, High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher, High Resolution Échelle Spectrometer, and Planet Finder Spectrograph high-precision Doppler measurements—and confirmed the planetary nature of the 16 day transiting candidate announced by the TESS team. We discovered an additional radial velocity signal with a period of five days induced by the presence of a second planet in the system, which we also found to transit its host star. We found that the inner mini-Neptune, TOI-421 b, has an orbital period of P(b) = 5.19672 ± 0.00049 days, a mass of M(b) = 7.17 ± 0.66 Mꚛ, and a radius of R(b) = 2.68 (+0.19,-0.18) Rꚛ, whereas the outer warm Neptune, TOI-421 c, has a period of P(c) = 16.06819 ± 0.00035 days, a mass of M(c) = 16.42 (+1.06,-1.04) Mꚛ, a radius of R(c) = 5.09{+0.16,-0.15) Rꚛ, and a density of ρ(c) = 0.685 (+0.080,-0.072) g/cu. cm. With its characteristics, the outer planet (ρ(c) = .685 {+0.080,-0.072) g/cu cm) is placed in the intriguing class of the super-puffy mini-Neptunes. TOI-421 b and TOI-421 c are found to be well-suited for atmospheric characterization. Our atmospheric simulations predict significant Lyα transit absorption, due to strong hydrogen escape in both planets, as well as the presence of detectable CH4 in the atmosphere of TOI-421 c if equilibrium chemistry is assumed.

Ilaria Carleo↗
NASA NTRS1985

Magnetic Effects in the Heating and Modification of Flows in the Outer Stellar Atmospheres with Application to Early Type Star Case

Possible magnetic effects in the heating and modification of flows in early type star atmospheres are discussed by referring to the physically related phenomena dealt with for late type stars, young stars, and close binary systems. It is pointed out as the result of that the magnetic field may play important roles also in early type star atmospheres in converting the energy of the radiatively driven outflow into heat, or in modifying the outflow by nozzling or by initial modification of temperature and/or momentum by which the effect of the radiation pressure may be made the most of in accelerating the outflow.

Uchida, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Ultraviolet spectroscopy of F and G supergiants with IUE. II - The hot companions of HR 2786 and HR 2859

Hot companion stars in two binary systems are analyzed by means of IUE low-dispersion spectra. HR 2859B is found to be a B2 IV or V star, and analysis of ultraviolet to near-infrared photometry indicates the primary to be an early G star only one magnitude brighter in V with a magnitude of -4.0. A third star probably associated with this system was classified B9p Hg a probable visual absolute magnitude of about -1.6 is obtained for it. HR 2786 is now confirmed to have a hot secondary, for which a spectral class of B9-9.5 is obtained. With an assumed luminosity for this component, the G2 Ib primary then has a magnitude of -3.8.

Parsons, S. B.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Winds in collision. I - Geometric implications of the emission lines for V 1016 Cyg and HM Sge

Emission line profiles and radial velocity data obtained from spectra in the visual region are presented for V1016 Cyg and HM Sge. The profiles of the forbidden emission lines are found to be inconsistent with spherical symmetry for the hot nebular material. It is argued that part of the nebular material in a detached binary system where both stars have spontaneous winds will naturally assume the shape of a curved, roughly conical, shell. The data can be satisfactorily interpreted in terms of the interaction of a low-velocity wind from a red giant with a high-velocity wind from a white dwarf in a detached binary system. This scheme provides a natural assignment of emission line forming regions to different portions of the interaction shell and the two winds, explaining both the profiles and the velocities of the features.

Willson, L. A.↗
NASA NTRS2015

Parameter Estimation for Compact Binaries with Ground-Based Gravitational-Wave Observations Using the LALInference

The Advanced LIGO and Advanced Virgo gravitational wave (GW) detectors will begin operation in the coming years, with compact binary coalescence events a likely source for the first detections. The gravitational waveforms emitted directly encode information about the sources, including the masses and spins of the compact objects. Recovering the physical parameters of the sources from the GW observations is a key analysis task. This work describes the LALInference software library for Bayesian parameter estimation of compact binary signals, which builds on several previous methods to provide a well-tested toolkit which has already been used for several studies. We show that our implementation is able to correctly recover the parameters of compact binary signals from simulated data from the advanced GW detectors. We demonstrate this with a detailed comparison on three compact binary systems: a binary neutron star (BNS), a neutron star - black hole binary (NSBH) and a binary black hole (BBH), where we show a cross-comparison of results obtained using three independent sampling algorithms. These systems were analysed with non-spinning, aligned spin and generic spin configurations respectively, showing that consistent results can be obtained even with the full 15-dimensional parameter space of the generic spin configurations. We also demonstrate statistically that the Bayesian credible intervals we recover correspond to frequentist confidence intervals under correct prior assumptions by analysing a set of 100 signals drawn from the prior. We discuss the computational cost of these algorithms, and describe the general and problem-specific sampling techniques we have used to improve the efficiency of sampling the compact binary coalescence (CBC) parameter space.

gravitational wave↗
NASA NTRS1985

Evidence for Non-radiative Activity in Stars with T Sub Eff 10000 K

Major advances in the acquisition of evidence for and the understanding of nonradiative heating and other activity in stars cooler than T sub eff = 10,000 K has occurred in the last few years primarily as a result of the IUE and Einstein spececraft. This evidence is critically reviewed and trends that are now becoming apparent are noted. The existence for nonradiatively heated outer atmospheric layers (chromospheres, transition regions, and coronae) in dwarf stars cooler than spectral type A7, in F ang G giants, pre-main sequence stars, and close binary systems in unambiguous, and chromospheres exist in the K and M giants and supergiants. The existence of nonradiative heating in the outer layers of the A stars remains undetermined despite repeated searches at all wavelengths. Some important trends in these data are the decrease in plasma emission measure with age on the main sequence and decreasing rotational velocity. Variability and atmospheric inhomogeneity is commonly seen, and there is considerable evidence that magnetic fields define the geometry and control the energy balance in the outer atmospheric layers.

Linsky, J. L.↗
NASA NTRS1994

A general catalogue of close binary systems

A comprehensive catalog of close binary stars to be used for the study of the fundamental properties of stars and for the exploration and elucidation of evolutionary processes in those systems, is presented. Spectroscopic binaries, variable stars, suspected variable stars, and interacting binaries are included in the scope of the catalog.

Webbink, Ronald F.↗
NASA NTRS1982

The X-ray binary, UW CMa

The UW CMa is a close, eclipsing binary composed of an O7f primary with a stron wind and a less luminous O-type companion. It was found that UW CMa a variable X-ray source, whose X-ray variations are in phase with its optical light curve. Since both components of the binary system are O stars, accretion by a compact object is ruled out as a mechanism for generating X-rays. The UW CMa represents a new class of X-ray binaries, in which X-rays result from the collision of a wind from one star with the surface or wind of the other star. It is hypothesised that the impact of a wind against a star generates a shock wave about 0.25 stellar radii above the stellar surface, and material behind the shock front, heated to bout 10 million degrees, radiates the X-ray apparent X-ray variability is due to its location between the two stars, where it undergoes eclipses. The high temperature region maintains an ionization cavity in the wind, as detected with IUE. The ionization cavity is the source of depletion of absorbing ions in the wind between the two stars.

Heap, S. R.↗
NASA NTRS1989

Which stars have planets?

The question of predicting which stars have planetary systems is discussed, with special attention given to the work of Nakano (1988), who combined scaling arguments with his theory (Nakano, 1987) of formation of planets in the solar system to estimate planetary growth rates around stars of various masses. It is argued that, in addition to stellar mass, the process of planet formation depends on other parameters, such as angular momentum and collisions. The existence of binary and multiple star systems of varying type demonstrates that angular momentum variations can play a crucial role, while the fact that the solar system has four giant planets and four terrestrial planets is considered to be due to the effects of random impacts and scatterings. It is concluded that, at present, the concept of determining what types of planetary systems are to be expected about stars of varying masses cannot be resolved.

Lissauer, J. J.↗
NASA NTRS1988

4U 1626-67 - The binary with the smallest known mass function

The pulsing X-ray source 4U 1626-67 is an accreting neutron star in a binary system with a very low mass companion. The source was observed by Exosat continuously for 23 hr on March 30-31, 1986 UT. It is found that, if the orbital inclination angle equals 90 deg, the optical companion star has a mass of less than about 0.002 solar mass; however, it is found that a companion star mass of greater than about 0.06 solar mass is required if gravitational radiation is responsible for driving the mass transfer in this system. Also presented are results on flaring activity in the system on time scales of about 1000 s, the energy-dependent pulse profiles, and the pulse period history over the past decade.

Levine, A.↗
NASA NTRS2018

Photodynamical Analysis of the Triply Eclipsing Hierarchical Triple System EPIC 249432662

Using Campaign 15 data from theK2mission, we have discovered a triply eclipsing triple star system: EPIC 249432662. The inner eclipsing binary system has a period of 8.23 d, withshallow∼3 per cent eclipses. During the entire 80-d campaign, there is also a single eclipse event of a third body in the system that reaches a depth of nearly 50 per cent and has a total duration of 1.7 d, longer than for any previously known third-body eclipse involving unevolved stars. The binary eclipses exhibit clear eclipse timing variations. A combination of photodynamical modeling of the light curve, as well as seven follow-up radial velocity measurements, has led to a prediction of the subsequent eclipses of the third star with a period of 188 d. A campaign of follow-up ground-based photometry was able to capture the subsequent pair of third-body events as well as two further 8-d eclipses. A combined photo-spectro-dynamical analysis then leads to the determination of many of the system parameters. The 8-d binary consists of a pair of M stars, while most of the system light is from a K star around which the pair of M stars orbits.

Close binaries↗
NASA NTRS1982

Hydrodynamic stability of jets produced by mass accreting systems

The existing model for pulsed X-ray emission from the source Hercules X-1 is reviewed. A necessary part of this model is a processing accretion disk which turns the source on and off with 35 day cycle. It is usually assumed that precession of the primary star in this binary system, Hz Hercules, slaves the disk to its precession rate. This model can account for the system behavior in a qualitative manner. Precession of Hz Hercules with 35 day period requires precession of the binary orbit. Pulse arrival times from Herc X-1 have been analyzed for orbital precession. The inclusion of precession does not significantly improve the results obtained assuming a non-precessing orbit. The fluid dynamical stability of extra-galactic jets and the possible consequences of Kelvin-Helmholtz instability at the jet surface external medium interface are considered.

Hardee, P. E.↗
NASA NTRS1992

X-ray observations of planetary nebulae with binary nuclei

Einstein and EXOSAT satellite observations of X-ray emission from the planetary nebulae A63 and LoTr 5 are reviewed. Both of these systems contain binary central stars. No flux was detected from A63 (central star UU Sge). LoTr 5 (central star IN Com) is a previously unreported X-ray emitter; it showed no statistically significant X-ray variability. Three models for the source of the X-ray emission in such systems are considered in the light of these and previous results.

Apparao, K. M. V.↗
NASA NTRS1990

X-rays from colliding stellar winds

A stellar wind from a massive OB or Wolf-Rayet star in a binary system will strike the surface or stellar wind of its companion, forming shocked gas that can radiate X-rays. The X-ray spectrum from the shocked winds will vary in a predictable way with orbital phase, owing to photoelectric absorption by the stellar winds. Detailed models are calculated for the hydrodynamics and X-ray emission from two such systems. In one of these systems (HD 165052), the winds are nearly identical in strength. In the other (V444 Cygni), the wind of the Wolf-Rayet star overwhelms and crushes that of its companion. The calculated X-ray luminosities agree fairly well with the observed values for HD 165052 and for V444 Cygni. These results can be scaled to other such systems.

Luo, Ding↗