2019
Authors
Perraut, K; Labadie, L; Lazareff, B; Klarmann, L; Segura Cox, D; Benisty, M; Bouvier, J; Brandner, W; Garatti, ACO; Caselli, P; Dougados, C; Garcia, P; Garcia Lopez, R; Kendrew, S; Koutoulaki, M; Kervella, P; Lin, CC; Pineda, J; Sanchez Bermudez, J; van Dishoeck, E; Abuter, R; Amorim, A; Berger, JP; Bonnet, H; Buron, A; Cantalloube, F; Clenet, Y; du Foresto, VC; Dexter, J; de Zeeuw, PT; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Eupen, F; Gao, F; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Gordo, P; Grellmann, R; Haubois, X; Haussmann, F; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Hubert, Z; Jocou, L; Lacour, S; Le Bouquin, JB; Lena, P; Merand, A; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rabien, S; Ray, T; Rau, C; Rousset, G; Scheithauer, S; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Vincent, F; Waisberg, I; Wank, I; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiest, M; Wiezorrek, E; Woillez, J; Yazici, S;
Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Abstract
Context. The formation and the evolution of protoplanetary disks are important stages in the lifetime of stars. Terrestrial planets form or migrate within the innermost regions of these protoplanetary disks and so, the processes of disk evolution and planet formation are intrinsically linked. Studies of the dust distribution, composition, and evolution of these regions are crucial to understanding planet formation. Aims. We built a homogeneous observational dataset of Herbig Ae/Be disks with the aim of spatially resolving the sub au-scale region to gain a statistical understanding of their morphological and compositional properties, in addition to looking for correlations with stellar parameters, such as luminosity, mass, and age. Methods. We observed 27 Herbig Ae/Be stars with the GRAVITY instrument installed at the combined focus of the Very Large Telescope Interferometer (VLTI) and operating in the near-infrared K-band, focused on the K-band thermal continuum, which corresponds to stellar flux reprocessed by the dust grains. Our sample covers a large range of effective temperatures, luminosities, masses, and ages for the intermediate-mass star population. The circumstellar disks in our sample also cover a range of various properties in terms of reprocessed flux, flared or flat morphology, and gaps. We developed semi-physical geometrical models to fit our interferometric data. Results. Our best-fit models correspond to smooth and wide rings that support previous findings in the H-band, implying that wedgeshaped rims at the dust sublimation edge are favored. The measured closure phases are generally non-null with a median value of similar to 10 degrees, indicating spatial asymmetries of the intensity distributions. Multi-size grain populations could explain the closure phase ranges below 20-25 degrees but other scenarios should be invoked to explain the largest ones. Our measurements extend the Radius-Luminosity relation to similar to 10(4) L-circle dot luminosity values and confirm the significant spread around the mean relation observed by PIONIER in the H-band. Gapped sources exhibit a large N-to-K band size ratio and large values of this ratio are only observed for the members of our sample that would be older than 1 Ma, less massive, and with lower luminosity. In the mass range of 2 M-circle dot, we do observe a correlation in the increase of the relative age with the transition from group II to group I, and an increase of the N-to-K size ratio. However, the size of the current sample does not yet permit us to invoke a clear, universal evolution mechanism across the Herbig Ae/Be mass range. The measured locations of the K-band emission in our sample suggest that these disks might be structured by forming young planets, rather than by depletion due to EUV, FUV, and X-ray photo-evaporation.
2019
Authors
Shultz, M; Le Bouquin, JB; Rivinius, T; Wade, GA; Kochukhov, O; Alecian, E; Petit, V; Pfuhl, O; Karl, M; Gao, F; Grellmann, R; Lin, CC; Garcia, P; Lacour, S;
Publication
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Abstract
NU Ori is a massive spectroscopic and visual binary in the Orion Nebula Cluster, with four components: Aa, Ab, B, and C. The B0.5 primary (Aa) is one of the most massive B-type stars reported to host a magnetic field. We report the detection of a spectroscopic contribution from the C component in high-resolution ESPaDOnS spectra, which is also detected in a Very Large Telescope Interferometer data set. Radial velocity (RV) measurements of the inner binary (designated Aab) yield an orbital period of 14.3027(7) d. The orbit of the third component (designated C) was constrained using both RVs and interferometry. We find C to be on a mildly eccentric 476(1) d orbit. Thanks to spectral disentangling of mean line profiles obtained via least-squares deconvolution, we show that the Zeeman Stokes V signature is clearly associated with C, rather than Aa as previously assumed. The physical parameters of the stars were constrained using both orbital and evolutionary models, yielding M-Aa = 14.9 +/- 0.5 M-circle dot, M-Ab = 3.9 +/- 0.7 M-circle dot, and M-C = 7.8 +/- 0.7 M-circle dot. The rotational period obtained from longitudinal magnetic field (B-z) measurements is P-rot = 1.09468(7)d, consistent with previous results. Modelling of (B-z) indicates a surface dipole magnetic field strength of similar to 8 kG. NU Ori C has a magnetic field strength, rotational velocity, and luminosity similar to many other stars exhibiting magnetospheric Ha emission, and we find marginal evidence of emission at the expected level (similar to 1 per cent of the continuum).
2019
Authors
Amorim, A; Bauboeck, M; Benisty, M; Berger, JP; Clenet, Y; du Forest, VC; de Zeeuw, T; Dexter, J; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Ferreira, MC; Gao, F; Garcia, PJV; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Gordo, P; Habibi, M; Horrobin, M; Jimenez Rosales, A; Jocou, L; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Le Bouquin, JB; Lena, P; Ott, T; Poessel, M; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Coira, GR; Rousset, G; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, S; Waisberg, I; Widmann, F;
Publication
MONTHLY NOTICES OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY
Abstract
Precise measurements of the S-stars orbiting SgrA* have set strong constraints on the nature of the compact object at the centre of the Milky Way. The presence of a black hole in that region is well established, but its neighbouring environment is still an open debate. In that respect, the existence of dark matter in that central region may be detectable due to its strong signatures on the orbits of stars: the main effect is a Newtonian precession which will affect the overall pericentre shift of S2, the latter being a target measurement of the GRAVITY instrument. The exact nature of this dark matter (e.g. stellar dark remnants or diffuse dark matter) is unknown. This article assumes it to be a scalar field of toroidal distribution, associated with ultralight dark matter particles, surrounding the Kerr black hole. Such a field is a form of 'hair' expected in the context of superradiance, a mechanism that extracts rotational energy from the black hole. Orbital signatures for the S2 star are computed and shown to be detectable by GRAVITY. The scalar field can be constrained because the variation of orbital elements depends both on the relative mass of the scalar field to the black hole and on the field mass coupling parameter.
2019
Authors
Abuter, R; Amorim, A; Bauboeeck, M; Berger, JP; Bonnet, H; Brandner, W; Clenet, Y; du Foresto, VC; de Zeeuw, PT; Dexter, J; Duvert, G; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Schreiber, NMF; Garcia, P; Gao, F; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gerhard, O; Gillessen, S; Habibi, M; Haubois, X; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Jimenez Rosales, A; Jocou, L; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrere, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Lena, P; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rabien, S; Coira, GR; Rousset, G; Scheithauer, S; Sternberg, A; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, S; Waisberg, I; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Wiezorrek, E; Woillez, J; Yazici, S;
Publication
ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS
Abstract
We present a 0.16% precise and 0.27% accurate determination of R-0, the distance to the Galactic center. Our measurement uses the star S2 on its 16-year orbit around the massive black hole Sgr A* that we followed astrometrically and spectroscopically for 27 years. Since 2017, we added near-infrared interferometry with the VLTI beam combiner GRAVITY, yielding a direct measurement of the separation vector between S2 and Sgr A* with an accuracy as good as 20 mu as in the best cases. S2 passed the pericenter of its highly eccentric orbit in May 2018, and we followed the passage with dense sampling throughout the year. Together with our spectroscopy, in the best cases with an error of 7 km s(-1), this yields a geometric distance estimate of R-0 = 8178 +/- 13(stat.) +/- 22(sys.) pc. This work updates our previous publication, in which we reported the first detection of the gravitational redshift in the S2 data. The redshift term is now detected with a significance level of 20 sigma with f(redshift) = 1.04 +/- 0.05.
2019
Authors
Amorim, A; Yazici, S; Berger, JP; Brandner, W; Clenet, Y; du Foresto, VC; de Zeeuw, PT; Dexter, J; Duvert, G; Ebert, M; Eckart, A; Eisenhauer, F; Schreiber, NMF; Garcia, P; Gao, F; Gendron, E; Genzel, R; Gillessen, S; Habibi, M; Haubois, X; Henning, T; Hippler, S; Horrobin, M; Hubert, Z; Rosales, AJ; Jocou, L; Kervella, P; Lacour, S; Lapeyrere, V; Le Bouquin, JB; Lena, P; Ott, T; Paumard, T; Perraut, K; Perrin, G; Pfuhl, O; Rabien, S; Rodriguez Coira, G; Rousset, G; Scheithauer, S; Sternberg, A; Straub, O; Straubmeier, C; Sturm, E; Tacconi, LJ; Vincent, F; von Fellenberg, S; Waisberg, I; Widmann, F; Wieprecht, E; Bauboeck, M; Wiezorrek, E;
Publication
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
Abstract
During its orbit around the four million solar mass black hole Sagittarius A* the star S2 experiences significant changes in gravitational potential. We use this change of potential to test one part of the Einstein equivalence principle: the local position invariance (LPI). We study the dependency of different atomic transitions on the gravitational potential to give an upper limit on violations of the LPI. This is done by separately measuring the redshift from hydrogen and helium absorption lines in the stellar spectrum during its closest approach to the black hole. For this measurement we use radial velocity data from 2015 to 2018 and combine it with the gravitational potential at the position of S2, which is calculated from the precisely known orbit of S2 around the black hole. This results in a limit on a violation of the LPI of vertical bar beta(He) - beta(H)vertical bar = (2.4 +/- 5.1) x 10(-2). The variation in potential that we probe with this measurement is six magnitudes larger than possible for measurements on Earth, and a factor of 10 larger than in experiments using white dwarfs. We are therefore testing the LPI in a regime where it has not been tested before.
2018
Authors
Coelho, A; Almeida, EN; Silva, P; Ruela, J; Campos, R; Ricardo, M;
Publication
2018 14TH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WIRELESS AND MOBILE COMPUTING, NETWORKING AND COMMUNICATIONS (WIMOB 2018)
Abstract
The advent of small and low-cost Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) is paving the way to use swarms of UAVs to perform missions such as aerial video monitoring and infrastructure inspection. Within a swarm, UAVs communicate by means of a Flying Multi-hop Network (FMN), which due to its dynamics induces frequent changes of network topology and quality of the links. Recently, UAVs have also been used to provide Internet access and enhance the capacity of existing networks in Temporary Events. This brings up additional routing challenges not yet addressed, in order to provide always-on and high capacity paths able to meet the Quality of Service expected by the users. This paper presents RedeFINE, a centralized routing solution for FMNs that selects high-capacity paths between UAVs and avoids communications disruptions, by defining in advance the forwarding tables and the instants they shall be updated in the UAVs; this represents a major step forward with respect to traditional routing protocols. The performance evaluation of RedeFINE shows promising results, especially regarding Throughput and Packet Delivery Ratio, when compared with state of the art routing solutions.
The access to the final selection minute is only available to applicants.
Please check the confirmation e-mail of your application to obtain the access code.