Bulletin of the American Physical Society
APS April Meeting 2015
Volume 60, Number 4
Saturday–Tuesday, April 11–14, 2015; Baltimore, Maryland
Session B9: Invited Session: Thesis Prize Talk |
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Sponsoring Units: DAP Chair: John Beacom, Ohio State University Room: Key 5 |
Saturday, April 11, 2015 10:45AM - 11:21AM |
B9.00001: The End of Accretion: The X-Ray Binary/Millisecond Pulsar Transition Object PSR J1023+0038 Invited Speaker: Anne Archibald Millisecond radio pulsars (MSRPs), those spinning hundreds of times per second, have long been understood to be old pulsars that have been spun up by the accretion of matter from a companion in a low-mass X-ray binary (LMXB) phase. Yet the details of this transformation, particularly the end of the accretion process and the birth of a radio pulsar, remain mysterious. I will describe the discovery and detailed study of the first object known to transition between MSRP and LMXB states, PSR J1023+0038. By dint of a multiwavelength campaign of observations in the RMSP state, we are able to measure all the key system parameters and show the existence of an X-ray shock close to the pulsar-facing side of the companion. Since the discovery of PSR J1023+0038, two more objects (XSS J12270-4859 and M28I) have been found to make the same transition, and the study of these transitioning objects has become an active field of research. Most interestingly, PSR J1023+0038 has transitioned back into an LMXB state, with an active accretion disk and a puzzling increase in gamma-ray flux. Our detailed picture of the system allows us to test models of accretion against the phenomena we observe in PSR J1023+0038, and in fact these observations challenge current models: in spite of the low luminosity of the system (and low inferred accretion rate) some material is penetrating the centrifugal barrier and falling on the neutron-star surface. Key evidence for explaining this puzzling behaviour will come when PSR J1023+0038 returns to an MSRP state and we are able to compare pulsar timing models from after the LMXB state with those we obtained in this work. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:21AM - 11:57AM |
B9.00002: Photometric ``Flicker:'' Tracer of Granulation and an Accurate Measure of Stellar Surface Gravity Invited Speaker: Fabienne Bastien As a result of the high precision and cadence of surveys like NASA's Kepler, we may now directly observe the very low-level light variations in Sun-like stars. In my dissertation, I found that some of these variations unexpectedly arise from granulation, a result that enables us to more accurately determine the physical properties of Sun-like stars, permits us to understand the nature of surface convection and its connection to activity, and allows us to better determine the properties of planets around Sun-like stars. I find that granulation manifests through light ``flicker,'' thereby yielding a simple measurement of stellar surface gravity with a precision of 0.1~dex. I use this, together and solely with two other simple ways of characterizing the stellar photometric variations in a high quality light curve, to construct an evolutionary diagram for Sun-like stars from the main-sequence on towards the red giant branch. I use flicker to re-determine the fundamental properties of Kepler planet host stars, finding that the stars -- and hence the planets orbiting them -- are 20-30\% larger than previous estimates. Finally, I show that high precision light curves can yield remarkably clean predictors of radial velocity (RV) jitter in magnetically inactive stars, allowing the exoplanet community to prioritize RV follow-up campaigns with discovery light curves and providing insight into the primary physical drivers of RV jitter in such stars. [Preview Abstract] |
Saturday, April 11, 2015 11:57AM - 12:33PM |
B9.00003: Dynamical Tides and Oscillations in Star and Planetary Systems Invited Speaker: Jim Fuller The oscillations of stars and planets are a powerful tool for understanding the structure and evolution of these bodies. In compact white dwarf (WD) binaries, tidally excited waves within the WDs deposit energy and angular momentum within the WDs, producing strong tidal dissipation. The tidal torque spins up the WDs such that they are nearly synchronously rotating by the onset of mass transfer. Tidal heating may make the WDs more luminous by orders of magnitude, and it could even reignite thermonuclear fusion in the WD's hydrogen shell. In various types of star systems observed by {\it Kepler}, tidally excited oscillations are detectable and provide direct constraints on tidal dissipation rates in these systems. Finally, in the planet Saturn, planetary oscillation modes have been detected via their gravitational influence on the rings. The frequencies of the modes allow for the first seismic constraints on a planet other than the Earth, and they provide evidence for non-conventional structures within Saturn. [Preview Abstract] |
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