Home

Highlights - Volume 487-3 (September I 2008)

Details: Published on 04 August 2008

HIGHLIGHTS: this week in A&A

Volume 487-3 (September I 2008)

In section 6. Interstellar and circumstellar matter

“High resolution radio study of the pulsar wind nebula within the supernova remnant G0.9+0.1”, by G. Dubner, E. Giacani, and A. Decourchelle, A&A 487, p. 1033

Combining high resolution X-ray and radio data is proving an effective way of studying the structure of supernova remnants and their associated pulsar wind nebulae. The study by Dubner et al. of the interesting remnant G0.9+0.1 is an excellent example of this.

In section 2. Astrophysical processes

“Hot-spot model for accretion disc variability as random process”, by T. Pecháček, V. Karas, and B. Czerny, A&A 487, p. 815

In a relativistic framework, appropriate for accreting neutron stars and black holes, the authors show how the observed power spectrum for fluctuations can be reproduced using a stationary random process. They assume a disk hot spot that fluctuates according to different stochastic processes (for instance, an avalanche or triggering picture in which an event provokes another with some probability distribution) can produce the slope and morphology of the observations. This new approach is very general and is the first step toward identifying the underlying physical mechanism for the fluctuations.