Alessi 95 and the short-period Cepheid SU Cassiopeiae

The parameters for the newly discovered open cluster Alessi 95 are established on the basis of available photometric and spectroscopic data, in conjunction with new observations. Colour excesses for spectroscopically observed B- and A-type stars near SU Cas follow a reddening relation described by E(U-B)/E(B-V) = 0.83 + 0.02E(B-V), implying a value of R=AV/E(B-V) ? 2.8 for the associated dust. Alessi 95 has a mean reddening of E(B-V)(B0) = 0.35 +/- 0.02 s.e., an intrinsic distance modulus of V0-MV= 8.16 +/- 0.04 s.e. (+/- 0.21 s.d.), d= 429 +/- 8 pc, and an estimated age of 108.2 yr from zero-age main sequence (ZAMS) fitting of available UBV, CCD BV, NOMAD, and Two Micron All Sky Survey JHKs observations of cluster stars. SU Cas is a likely cluster member, with an inferred space reddening of E(B-V) = 0.33 +/- 0.02 and a luminosity of < MV >=-3.15 +/- 0.07 s.e., consistent with overtone pulsation (PFM= 2.75 d), as also implied by the Cepheids light-curve parameters, rate of period increase and Hipparcos parallaxes for cluster stars. There is excellent agreement of the distance estimates for SU Cas inferred from cluster ZAMS fitting, its pulsation parallax derived from the infrared surface brightness technique and Hipparcos parallaxes, which all agree to within a few per cent.

Milky Way demographics with the VVV survey I. The 84-million star colour-magnitude diagram of the Galactic bulge

Context. The Milky Way (MW) bulge is a fundamental Galactic component for understanding the formation and evolution of galaxies, in particular our own. The ESO Public Survey VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea is a deep near-IR survey mapping the Galactic bulge and southern plane. Particularly for the bulge area, VVV is covering similar to 315 deg(2). Data taken during 2010 and 2011 covered the entire bulge area in the JHKs bands. Aims. We used VVV data for the whole bulge area as a single and homogeneous data set to build for the first time a single colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) for the entire Galactic bulge. Methods. Photometric data in the JHK(s) bands were combined to produce a single and huge data set containing 173 150 467 sources in the three bands, for the similar to 315 deg(2) covered by VVV in the bulge. Selecting only the data points flagged as stellar, the total number of sources is 84 095 284. Results. We built the largest colour-magnitude diagrams published up to date, containing 173.1+ million sources for all data points, and more than 84.0 million sources accounting for the stellar sources only. The CMD has a complex shape, mostly owing to the complexity of the stellar population and the effects of extinction and reddening towards the Galactic centre. The red clump (RC) giants are seen double in magnitude at b similar to -8 degrees-10 degrees, while in the inner part (b similar to -3 degrees) they appear to be spreading in colour, or even splitting into a secondary peak. Stellar population models show the predominance of main-sequence and giant stars. The analysis of the outermost bulge area reveals a well-defined sequence of late K and M dwarfs, seen at (J - K-s) similar to 0.7-0.9 mag and K-s greater than or similar to 14 mag. Conclusions. The interpretation of the CMD yields important information about the MW bulge, showing the fingerprint of its structure and content. We report a well-defined red dwarf sequence in the outermost bulge, which is important for the planetary transit searches of VVV. The double RC in magnitude seen in the outer bulge is the signature of the X-shaped MW bulge, while the spreading of the RC in colour, and even its splitting into a secondary peak, are caused by reddening effects. The region around the Galactic centre is harder to interpret because it is strongly affected by reddening and extinction.

DYNAMICAL EVOLUTION OF VISCOUS DISKS AROUND Be STARS. I. PHOTOMETRY

Be stars possess gaseous circumstellar disks that modify in many ways the spectrum of the central B star. Furthermore, they exhibit variability at several timescales and for a large number of observables. Putting the pieces together of this dynamical behavior is not an easy task and requires a detailed understanding of the physical processes that control the temporal evolution of the observables. There is an increasing body of evidence that suggests that Be disks are well described by standard alpha-disk theory. This paper is the first of a series that aims at studying the possibility of inferring several disk and stellar parameters through the follow-up of various observables. Here we study the temporal evolution of the disk density for different dynamical scenarios, including the disk buildup as a result of a long and steady mass injection from the star, the disk dissipation that occurs after mass injection is turned off, as well as scenarios in which active periods are followed by periods of quiescence. For those scenarios, we investigate the temporal evolution of continuum photometric observables using a three-dimensional non-LTE radiative transfer code. We show that light curves for different wavelengths are specific of a mass loss history, inclination angle, and alpha viscosity parameter. The diagnostic potential of those light curves is also discussed.

Reconnection studies under different types of turbulence driving

We study a model of fast magnetic reconnection in the presence of weak turbulence proposed by Lazarian and Vishniac (1999) using three-dimensional direct numerical simulations. The model has been already successfully tested in Kowal et al. (2009) confirming the dependencies of the reconnection speed V-rec on the turbulence injection power P-inj and the injection scale l(inj) expressed by a constraint V-rec similar to P(inj)(1/2)l(inj)(3/4)and no observed dependency on Ohmic resistivity. In Kowal et al. (2009), in order to drive turbulence, we injected velocity fluctuations in Fourier space with frequencies concentrated around k(inj) = 1/l(inj), as described in Alvelius (1999). In this paper, we extend our previous studies by comparing fast magnetic reconnection under different mechanisms of turbulence injection by introducing a new way of turbulence driving. The new method injects velocity or magnetic eddies with a specified amplitude and scale in random locations directly in real space. We provide exact relations between the eddy parameters and turbulent power and injection scale. We performed simulations with new forcing in order to study turbulent power and injection scale dependencies. The results show no discrepancy between models with two different methods of turbulence driving exposing the same scalings in both cases. This is in agreement with the Lazarian and Vishniac (1999) predictions. In addition, we performed a series of models with varying viscosity nu. Although Lazarian and Vishniac (1999) do not provide any prediction for this dependence, we report a weak relation between the reconnection speed with viscosity, V-rec similar to nu(-1/4).

Homogeneous metallicities and radial velocities for Galactic globular clusters

Well determined radial velocities and abundances are essential for analyzing the properties of the globular cluster system of the Milky Way. However more than 50% of these clusters have no spectroscopic measure of their metallicity. In this context, this work provides new radial velocities and abundances for twenty Milky Way globular clusters which lack or have poorly known values for these quantities. The radial velocities and abundances are derived from spectra obtained at the Ca II triplet using the FORS2 imager and spectrograph at the VLT, calibrated with spectra of red giants in a number of clusters with well determined abundances. For about half of the clusters in our sample we present significant revisions of the existing velocities or abundances, or both. We also confirm the existence of a sizable abundance spread in the globular cluster M 54, which lies at the center of the Sagittarius dwarf galaxy. In addition evidence is provided for the existence of a small intrinsic internal abundance spread (sigma[Fe/H](int) approximate to 0.11-0.14 dex, similar to that of M 54) in the luminous distant globular cluster NGC 5824. This cluster thus joins the small number of Galactic globular clusters known to possess internal metallicity ([Fe/H]) spreads.

Fog- and cloud-induced aerosol modification observed by the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET)

Large fine mode-dominated aerosols (submicron radius) in size distributions retrieved from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) have been observed after fog or low-altitude cloud dissipation events. These column-integrated size distributions have been obtained at several sites in many regions of the world, typically after evaporation of low-altitude cloud such as stratocumulus or fog. Retrievals with cloud-processed aerosol are sometimes bimodal in the accumulation mode with the larger-size mode often similar to 0.4-0.5 mu m radius (volume distribution); the smaller mode, typically similar to 0.12 to similar to 0.20 mu m, may be interstitial aerosol that were not modified by incorporation in droplets and/or aerosol that are less hygroscopic in nature. Bimodal accumulation mode size distributions have often been observed from in situ measurements of aerosols that have interacted with clouds, and AERONET size distribution retrievals made after dissipation of cloud or fog are in good agreement with particle sizes measured by in situ techniques for cloud-processed aerosols. Aerosols of this type and large size range (in lower concentrations) may also be formed by cloud processing in partly cloudy conditions and may contribute to the "shoulder" of larger-size particles in the accumulation mode retrievals, especially in regions where sulfate and other soluble aerosol are a significant component of the total aerosol composition. Observed trends of increasing aerosol optical depth (AOD) as fine mode radius increased suggests higher AOD in the near-cloud environment and higher overall AOD than typically obtained from remote sensing owing to bias toward sampling at low cloud fraction.