Long slit spectrophotometry of the bipolar planetary nebula IC 4406, in the range from 360 to 930nm, has been used to study the chemical structure along its major axis. We find that: - the He, O, N, Ne, and Ar abundances are constant, within errors, along the major axis of the nebula. Average values for He/H, O/H, N/H, Ne/H, and Ar/H are: 0.126, 5

We describe and apply the methods that have been developed to calibrate the Advanced Stokes Polarimeter and to compensate for the polarization effects introduced by the Vacuum Tower Telescope at the National Solar Observatory/Sunspot. A seven-parameter model of the telescope is fitted to data obtained at a variety of mirror angles using

Light stops can give a strong first order electroweak phase transition in the Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (MSSM) satisfying one of the necessary conditions for electroweak baryogenesis. I discuss the region of parameter space where this occurs using a perturbative analysis of the Higgs effective potential. Two-loop QCD corrections

A model scenario has recently been introduced by de la Reza and colleagues to explain the presence of very strong Li lines in the spectra of some low-mass K giant stars. In this scenario all ordinary, Li-poor, K giants become Li rich during a short time (~105 yr) when compared to the red giant phase of 5 x 107 yr. In this "Li period," a large

We compare schematic modeling of spots and plage on the surface of cool dwarfs with Pleiades data to assess effects of magnetic activity on the strengths of the LiI and KI resonance lines in Pleiades spectra. Comprehensive LiI and KI NLTE line formation computation is combined with comparatively well-established empirical solar spot and plage

The possible generation of linear polarization in spectral lines due to depopulation-pumping processes in stellar atmospheres is investigated within the framework of a quantum electrodynamic theory for the transfer of polarized radiation based on the atomic density-matrix formalism. It is shown that the radiation field's anisotropy in solar-like