Determination of the magnetic fields of Magellanic X-ray pulsars

The 80 high-mass X-ray binary （HMXB） pulsars that are known to reside in the Magellanic Clouds （MCs） have been observed by the XMM-Newton and Chandra X-ray telescopes on a regular basis for 15 years, and the XMM-Newton and Chandra archives contain nearly complete information about the duty cycles of the sources with spin periods Ps 〈 100 s. We have reprocessed the archival data from both observatories and we combined the output products with all the published observations of 31 MC pulsars with Ps 〈 100 s in an attempt to investigate the faintest X-ray emission states of these objects that occur when accretion to the polar caps proceeds at the smallest possible rates. These states determine the so-called propeller lines of the accreting pulsars and yield information about the magnitudes of their surface magnetic fields. We have found that the faintest states of the pulsars segregate into five discrete groups which obey to a high degree of accuracy the theoretical relation between spin period and X-ray luminosity. So the entire population of these pulsars can be described by just five propeller lines and the five corresponding magnetic moments （0.29, 0.53, 1.2, 2.9 and 7.3, in units of 1030 G cma）.

Meta-analysis of electron cyclotron resonance absorption features detected in high-mass X-ray binaries

Using recent compilations of detailed X-ray observations and spectral models of exceptional quality, we record the electron cyclotron resonance absorption(ECRA) features that have been detected in 45 pulsating high-mass X-ray binaries(HMXBs) and ultraluminous X-ray(ULX) sources harboring neutron stars, although seven of these detections are still questionable and another 21 are single and/or not independently confirmed. From the comprehensive catalogs of Jaisawal & Naik and Staubert et al.and from several additional recent observations, we produce two lists of HMXB ECRA sources: a list of 17 sources in which multiple ECRA lines or single very low-energy lines are seen, in which we can reasonably assume that the lowest energy reveals the fundamental cyclotron level for each source;and a"contaminated" list of 38 sources including the 21 detections of single ECRA lines that may(not) be higherlevel harmonics. Both lists confirm a previous result that we have obtained independently by modeling the propeller lines of Magellanic HMXB pulsars: the surface dipolar magnetic fields B*of HMXB neutron stars are segregated around five distinct values with B*= 0.28 ± 0.08, 0.55 ± 0.11, 1.3 ± 0.37, 3.0 ± 0.68 and 7.9 ± 3.1, in units of TG. However, an explanation of this phenomenon is currently lacking. We have found no correlation between these B*values and the corresponding observed spin periods, spin period derivatives, orbital periods, maximum X-ray luminosities, neutron star masses or companion star masses.

Theoretical Models of Highly Magnetic White Dwarf Stars with Non-Polytropic Equation of State

Super-massive white dwarf (WD) stars in the mass range 2.4 - 2.8 solar masses are believed to be the progenitors of “super-luminous” Type Ia supernovae according to a hypothesis proposed by some researchers. They theorize such a higher mass of the WD due to the presence of a very strong magnetic field inside it. We revisit their first work on magnetic WDs (MWDs) and present our theoretical results that are very different from theirs. The main reason for this difference is in the use of the equation of state (EoS) to make stellar models of MWDs. An electron gas in a magnetic field is Landau quantized and hence, the resulting EoS becomes non-polytropic. By constructing models of MWDs using such an EoS, we highlight that a strong magnetic field inside a WD would make the star super-massive. We have found that our stellar models do indeed fall in the mass range given above. Moreover, we are also able to address an observational finding that the mean mass of MWDs are almost double that of non-magnetic WDs. Magnetic field changes the momentum-space of the electrons which in turn changes their density of states (DOS), and that in turn changes the EoS of matter inside the star. By correlating the magnetic DOS with the non-polytropic EoS, we were also able to find a physical reason behind our theoretical result of super-massive WDs with strong magnetic fields. In order to construct these models, we have considered different equations of state with at most three Landau levels occupied and have plotted our results as mass-radius relations for a particular chosen value of maximum Fermi energy. Our results also show that a multiple Landau-level system of electrons leads to such an EoS that gives multiple branches in the mass-radius relations, and that the super-massive MWDs are obtained when the Landau-level occupancy is limited to just one level. Finally, our theoretical results can be explained solely on the basis of quantum and statistical mechanics that warrant no assumptions regarding stars.

The Great Pretenders Among the ULX Class

The recent discoveries of pulsed X-ray emission from three ultraluminous X-ray （ULX） sources have finally enabled us to recognize a subclass within the ULX class： the great pretenders, neutron stars （NSs） that appear to emit X-ray radiation at isotropic luminosities Lx = 7 × 10^39 erg s-1 _ 1 ×10^41 erg s-i only because their emissions are strongly beamed toward our direction and our sight lines are offset by only a few degrees from their magnetic-dipole axes. The three known pretenders appear to be stronger emitters than the presumed black holes of the ULX class, such as Holmberg II ＆ IX X-1, IC10 X-1 and NGC 300 X-1. For these three NSs, we have adopted a single reasonable assumption, that their brightest observed outbursts unfold at the Eddington rate, and we have calculated both their propeller states and their surface magnetic-field magnitudes. We find that the results are not at all different from those recently obtained for the Magellanic Be/X-ray pulsars： the three NSs reveal modest magnetic fields of about 0.3-0.4TG and beamed propeller-line X-ray luminosities of 1036 - 1037 erg s-1, substantially below the Eddington limit.

Fabrication of Polymeric Visual Decoys for the Male Emerald Ash Borer （Agrilus planipennis）

Through a bioreplication approach, we have fabricated artificial visual decoys for the invasive species Agrilus planipen- nis--commonly known as the Emerald Ash Borer （EAB）. The mating behavior of this species involves an overflying EAB male pouncing on an EAB female at rest on an ash leaflet before copulating. The male spots the female on the leaflet by visually detecting the iridescent green color of the female＇s elytra. As rearing EAB and then deploying dead females as decoys for trapping is both arduous and inconvenient, we decided to fabricate artificial decoys. We used a dead female to make a negative die of nickel and a positive die of epoxy. Decoys were then made by first depositing a quarter-wave-stack Bragg reflector on a polymer sheet and then stamping it with a pair of matched negative and positive dies to take the shape of the upper surface of an EAB female. As nearly 100 artificial decoys were fabricated from just one EAB female, this bioreplication process is industrially scalable. Preliminary results from a field trapping test are indicative of success.