SETI bioastro: All quiet in Globular Clusters

From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Thu Sep 15 2005 - 16:17:29 UTC

  • Next message: LARRY KLAES: "SETI bioastro: Disc orientations in pre-main-sequence multiple systems"

    Paper: astro-ph/0509359
    Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2005 20:15:35 GMT (71kb)

    Title: All quiet in Globular Clusters

    Authors: Andrej Dobrotka (Slovak Univ. of Technology, IAP), Jean-Pierre
    Lasota
    (IAP), Kristen Menou (Columbia Univ.)

    Comments: 10 pages, 6 figures
    \\
    Cataclysmic Variables (CVs) should be present in large numbers in Globular
    Clusters (GCs). Numerous low-luminosity X-ray sources identified over the
    past
    few years as candidate CVs in GCs support this notion. Yet, very few
    "cataclysms," the characteristic feature of this class of objects in the
    field,
    have been observed in GCs. We address this discrepancy here, within the
    framework of the standard Disk Instability Model for CV outbursts. We argue
    that the paucity of outbursts in GCs is probably not a direct consequence of
    the donors' low metallicities. We present diagnostics based on outburst
    properties allowing tests of the hypothesis that rare cataclysms are
    entirely
    due to lower mass transfer rates in GCs relative to the field, and we argue
    against this explanation. Instead, we propose that a combination of low mass
    transfer rates (>~ 10^14-15 g/s) and moderately strong white dwarf magnetic
    moments (>~ 10^30 G cm^3) stabilize CV disks in GCs and thus prevent most of
    them from experiencing frequent outbursts. If it is so, rare cataclysms in
    GCs
    would signal important evolutionary differences between field and cluster
    CVs.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509359 , 71kb)

    Paper: astro-ph/0509372
    Date: Wed, 14 Sep 2005 06:28:31 GMT (378kb)

    Title: Photometric study of the variable star population in the globular
    cluster NGC 6397

    Authors: J. Kaluzny, I.B. Thompson, W.Krzeminski

    Comments: 8 pages, 9 figures, submitted to MNRAS on 21 April 2005
    \\
    We present the results of a photometric survey for variable stars in the
    central region of the nearby globular cluster NGC 6397.Time series
    photometry
    was obtained for 30 variable objects. The sample includes 12 new objects, of
    which 6 show periodic lightcurves and 2 are eclipsing binaries of unknown
    period. Six variables possess certain and three possess likely X-ray
    counterparts detected with the Chandra observatory. Among them four are
    cataclysmic variables and one is a foreground eclipsing binary. The
    cataclysmic
    variable CV2 exhibited a likely dwarf nova type outburst in May 2003. The
    cataclysmic variable CV3 was observed at 18.5<V<20.0 during 5 observing
    runs,
    but went into a low state in May 2003 when it reached V>22. We have found
    that
    thelight curve of the optical companion to the millisecond pulsar
    PSRJ1740-5340
    exhibits noticeable changes of its amplitude on a time scale of a few
    months. A
    shallow eclipse with Delta_V=0.03 mag was detected in one of the cluster
    turnoff stars suggesting the presence of a large planet or brown dwarf in
    orbit.

    \\ ( http://arXiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0509372 , 378kb)


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