Variations in the X-ray eclipse transitions of Cen X-3

We report here an investigation of the X-ray eclipse transitions of the high mass X-ray binary pulsar Cen X-3 in different intensity states. The long term light curve of Cen X-3 obtained with RXTE-ASM spanning more than 5000 d shows strong aperiodic flux variations with low and high states. We have investigated the eclipse transitions of Cen X-3 in different intensity states with data obtained from pointed observations with the more sensitive instruments onboard ASCA, BeppoSAX, XMM- Newton, Chandra and RXTE. We found a very clear trend of sharp eclipse transitions in the high state and longer transitions in the low state. This is a confirmation of this feature first observed with the RXTE-ASM but now observed with much better clarity. From the light curves obtained from several missions, it is seen that the eclipse egress in the low state starts earlier by an orbital phase of 0.02 compared to the eclipse egress in the high state indicating that the observed X-rays originate from a much larger region. We have also performed spectral analysis of the post-eclipse part of each observation. From BeppoSAX observations, the out-of-eclipse X-ray flux is found to differ by a factor of -26 during the high and low intensity states while the eclipse count rates differ by a factor of only ~ 4.7. This indicates that in the low state, there is an additional scattering medium which scatters some of the source photons towards the observer even when the neutron star is completely eclipsed. We could also resolve the three iron line components using XMM-Newton observation in the low state. By comparing the iron line equivalent width during the high and low states, it is seen that the width of the iron line is relatively large during the low state which supports the fact that significant reprocessing and scattering of X-rays takes place in the low state.

Kadomstev-Petviashvilli-Burgers (KPB) Equation in a Five Component Cometary Plasma with Kappa Described Electrons and Ions

We investigate the existence of Ion-Acoustic solitary/shock waves in a five component cometary plasma consisting of positively and negatively charged oxygen ions, kappa described hydrogen ions, hot electrons and cold electrons. The KPB equation is derived for the system;its solution is plotted for different kappa values, as well as for the temperature ratios of ions. It is found that the amplitude of solitary structure increases with increasing kappa values and negatively charged oxygen ion densities. As the temperature of the positively charged oxygen ions increases, the amplitude of solitary wave also increases. We have also studied the dependence of coefficients of the KPB equation on physical parameters relevant to comet Halley.

Structural and luminescence enhancement properties of Eu^(3+)/Ag nanocrystallites doped SiO_2-TiO_2 matrices

We reported here the structural and optical characterisation of silver nanocrystallites/Eu3＋：SiO2-TiO2 matrices synthesised through sol-gel route. Structural characterisations were done by using energy dispersive spectroscopy （EDX）, X-ray diffraction （XRD）, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR）, atomic force microscope （AFM） and transmission electron microscopy （TEM） measurements and optical characterisations were performed by absorption and emission spectroscopy. The TEM and XRD measurements confirmed the presence of nanocrystals. A broad absorption band was observed due to surface plasmon resonance of silver nanocrystals. The effect of silver nanocrystals on the emission spectrum of Eu3＋ doped SiO2-TiO2 matrices was discussed. An attempt was made to explain this fluorescence enhancement by invoking phenomena such as energy transfer, asymmetry ratio, surface plasmon, surface roughness, crystallinity and grain boundary. Our analysis, based on the experimental results, suggested that all the phenomena except crystallinity and grain boundary had favourable effects on fluorescence enhancement. We also estimated the relevant parameters associated with the phenomena that affected the fluorescence emission from the Eu3＋ ions in the matrix. It was seen that the theoretical estimate of fluorescence enhancement agreed well with the experimental estimate.