The Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) was the largest galaxy in a group of galaxies that entered the Milky Way (MW) system at late times. Seven of the 11 brightest dwarf galaxies of the MW may have been part of this system. The association of dwarfs with the plane of the LMCs orbit has been used to argue that they are formed from tidal debris from LMC and SMC (Kroupa et al 2005). Instead, we find that they owe to the tidal breakup of the Magellanic Group. The Cold Dark Matter (CDM) paradigm suffers from the small-scale structure problem where 500 galaxies as massive as Draco and Ursa Minor are expected, but only 11 are seen. If seven of the 11 observed were part of the LMC group, the substructure in this group is close to CDM predictions. There are other likely nearby dwarf groups, including a second Milky Way group associated with Fornax (Lynden-Bell 1982), great circles of satellites in M31 (Koch & Grebel 2006) and groupings of otherwise isolated dwarfs (Tully et al. 2006). For the first time, we build he circular velocity distribution of the satellites in system as small as groups of dwarf galaxies, using the dwarf galaxies that likely entered with the LMC system and data on nearby dwarf systems. Our work points to natural mechanisms that lead to less suppression of satellites in dwarf groups providing an explanation for the missing satellite problem in the Local Group.
We identify a third image in the unique quasar lens SDSS J1029+2623, the second known quasar lens produced by a massive cluster of galaxies. The spectrum of the third image shows similar emission and absorption features, but has a redder continuum than the other two images which can be explained by differential extinction or microlensing. We also identify several lensed arcs. Our observations suggest a complicated structure of the lens cluster at z~0.6. We argue that the three lensed images are produced by a naked cusp on the basis of successful mass models, the distribution of cluster member galaxies, and the shapes and locations of the lensed arcs. Lensing by a naked cusp is quite rare among galaxy-scale lenses but is predicted to be common among large-separation lensed quasars. Thus the discovery can be viewed as support for an important theoretical prediction of the standard cold dark matter model.
Combining strong and weak (S+W) lensing is becoming an important tool in mass measurements of clusters. Determining mass maps of clusters using S+W analysis can be challenging because of the difference in length scales associated with the different signals. Traditionally researchers have used grid based methods to reconstruct the density fields. In this paper we develop PBL, a particle based method that incorporates these two scales without the necessity of regularization. We apply the particle based method to do mass reconstruction using ellipticities only, but show that PBL can be easily generalized to include strong lensing information as well. We apply these techniques to a number of test cases and find excellent agreement between the reconstructed and input mass distribution. In particular we reconstruct the mass distribution of a softened isothermal sphere with a $\chi^2$ of 1.1. We have also applied PBL to ``Bullet Cluster'' (1E0657-56) data and compared the resulting mass distribution with the publicly available mass map.
There is increasing evidence of a local population of short duration Gamma-ray Bursts (sGRB), but it remains to be seen whether this is a separate population to higher redshift bursts. Here we choose plausible Luminosity Functions (LF) for both neutron star binary mergers and giant flares from Soft Gamma Repeaters (magnetars, SGR), and combined with theoretical and observed Galactic intrinsic rates we examine whether a single population alone of progenitors can reproduce both the overall BATSE sGRB number counts and a local population, or whether a dual progenitor population is required. In addition we compare the predicted redshift distribution from our best fit models with the sGRB redshift distribution from the Swift era. We find that only a bimodal population consisting of lower and higher luminosity populations can reproduce both the overall BATSE sGRB number counts and a local population, as well as being consistent with Swift redshifts. Furthermore, the best fit luminosity parameters agree well with the known properties of SGR giant flares and classic short GRBs.
The structural parameters of a magnitude-limited sample of 148 unbarred S0-Sb galaxies were derived to study the correlations between bulge and disk parameters as well as the probability distribution function (PDF) of the intrinsic equatorial ellipticity of bulges. A new algorithm (GASP2D) was used to perform the bidimensional bulge-disk decomposition of the J-band galaxy images extracted from the archive of the 2MASS survey. The PDF of intrinsic ellipticities was derived from the distribution of the observed ellipticities of the bulges and misalignments between the the bulges and disks. About 80% of the observed bulges are not oblate but triaxial ellipsoids. Their mean axial ratio in the equatorial plane is <B/A>=0.85. There is not significant dependence of their PDF on morphology, light concentration or luminosity. This has to be explained by the different scenarios of bulge formation.
We studied the fraction and properties of bars in a sample of about 3000 galaxies extracted from SDSS-DR5. This represents a volume limited sample with galaxies located between redshift 0.01<z<0.04, absolute magnitude Mr>-20, and inclination i < 60. Interacting galaxies were excluded from the sample. The fraction of barred galaxies in our sample is 45%. We found that 32% of S0s, 55% of early-type spirals, and 52% of late-type spirals are barred galaxies. The bars in S0s galaxies are weaker than those in later-type galaxies. The bar length and galaxy size are correlated, being larger bars located in larger galaxies. Neither the bar strength nor bar length correlate with the local galaxy density. On the contrary, the bar properties correlate with the properties of their host galaxies. Galaxies with higher central light concentration host less and weaker bars.
We present some results of an on-going project aimed at studying a sample of Galactic HII regions ionized by a single massive star to test the predictions of modern generation stellar atmosphere codes in the H Lyman continuum. The observations collected for this study comprise the optical spectra of the corresponding ionizing stars, along with imaging and long-slit spatially resolved nebular observations. The analysis of the stellar spectra allows to obtain the stellar parameters of the ionizing star, while the nebular observations provide constraints on the nebular abundances and gas distribution. All this information is then used to construct tailored photoionization models of the HII regions. The reliability of the stellar ionizing fluxes is hence tested by comparing the photoionization model results with the observations in terms of the spatial variation across the nebula of an appropriate set of nebular line ratios.
Context: We investigate the distribution of optically high and low states of
the system AM Herculis (AM Her).
Aims: We determine the state duty cycles, and their relationships with the
mass transfer process and binary orbital evolution of the system.
Methods: We make use of the photographic plate archive of the Harvard College
Observatory between 1890 and 1953 and visual observations collected by the
American Association of Variable Star Observers between 1978 and 2005. We
determine the statistical probability of the two states, their distribution and
recurrence behaviors.
Results: We find that the fractional high state duty cycle of the system AM
Her is 63%. The data show no preference of timescales on which high or low
states occur. However, there appears to be a pattern of long and short duty
cycle alternation, suggesting that the state transitions retain memories. We
assess models for the high/low states for polars (AM Her type systems). We
propose that the white-dwarf magnetic field plays a key role in regulating the
mass transfer rate and hence the high/low brightness states, due to variations
in the magnetic-field configuration in the system.
Using recent results from numerical relativity simulations of black hole mergers, we revisit previous studies of cosmological black hole spin evolution. We show that mergers are very unlikely to yield large spins, unless alignment of the spins of the merging holes with the orbital angular momentum is very efficient. If iron-line measurements and LISA observations of extreme mass-ratio inspirals (EMRIs) only yield dimensionless spins j>0.9, then prolonged accretion should be responsible for spin-up, and chaotic accretion scenarios would be very unlikely. If only a fraction of the whole population of low-redshift black holes spins rapidly, spin-alignment during binary mergers (rather than prolonged accretion) could be responsible for spin-ups.
We present detections of numerous 10-20 micron H2O emission lines from two protoplanetary disks around the T Tauri stars AS 205A and DR Tau, obtained using the InfraRed Spectrograph on the Spitzer Space Telescope. Follow-up 3-5 micron Keck-NIRSPEC data confirm the presence of abundant water and spectrally resolve the lines. We also detect the P4.5 (2.934 micron) and P9.5 (3.179 micron) doublets of OH and 12CO/13CO v=1-0 emission in both sources. Line shapes and LTE models suggest that the emission from all three molecules originates between ~0.5 and 5 AU, and so will provide a new window for understanding the chemical environment during terrestrial planet formation. LTE models also imply significant columns of H2O and OH in the inner disk atmospheres, suggesting physical transport of volatile ices either vertically or radially; while the significant radial extent of the emission stresses the importance of a more complete understanding of non-thermal excitation processes.
This article discusses statistical models for solar flare interval distribution in individual active regions. We analyzed solar flare data in 55 active regions that are listed in the GOES soft X-ray flare catalog. We discuss some problems with a conventional procedure to derive probability density functions from any data set and propose a new procedure, which uses the maximum likelihood method and Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) to objectively compare some competing probability density functions. We found that lognormal and inverse Gaussian models are more likely models than the exponential model for solar flare interval distribution in individual active regions. The results suggest that solar flares do not occur randomly in time; rather, solar flare intervals appear to be regulated by solar flare mechanisms. We briefly mention a probabilistic solar flare forecasting method as an application of a solar flare interval distribution analysis.
Young O stars are strong, hard, and variable X-ray sources, properties which strongly affect their circumstellar and galactic environments. After ~1 Myr, these stars settle down to become steady sources of soft X-rays. I use high-resolution X-ray spectroscopy and MHD modeling to show that young O stars like theta-1 Ori C are well explained by the magnetically channeled wind shock scenario. After their magnetic fields dissipate, older O stars produce X-rays via shock heating in their unstable stellar winds. Here too I use X-ray spectroscopy and numerical modeling to confirm this scenario. In addition to elucidating the nature and cause of the O star X-ray emission, modeling of the high-resolution X-ray spectra of O supergiants provides strong evidence that mass-loss rates of these O stars have been overestimated.
We have made a radio survey--the Australia Telescope Low Brightness Survey (ATLBS)--of 8.4 square degrees sky area, using the Australia Telescope Compact Array in the 20-cm band, in an observing mode designed to provide wide-field images with exceptional sensitivity in surface brightness, and thereby explore a new parameter space in radio source populations. The goals of this survey are to quantify the distribution in angular sizes, particularly at weak surface brightness levels: this has implications for the confusion in deep surveys with the SKA. The survey is expected to lead to a census of the radio emission associated with low-power radio galaxies at redshifts 1-3, without any missing extended emission, and hence a study of the cosmic evolution of low-power radio galaxies to higher redshift and a comprehensive study of the AGN feedback during the intense black hole growth phase during this redshift range.
Based on the conventional sequential-accretion paradigm, we have proposed that, during the migration of first-born gas giants outside the orbits of planetary embryos, super Earth planets will form inside the 2:1 resonance location by sweeping of mean motion resonances (Zhou et al. 2005). In this paper, we study the subsequent evolution of a super Earth (m_1) under the effects of tidal dissipation and perturbation from a first-born gas giant (m_2) in an outside orbit. Secular perturbation and mean motion resonances (especially 2:1 and 5:2 resonances) between m_1 and m_2 excite the eccentricity of m_1, which causes the migration of m_1 and results in a hot super Earth. The calculated final location of the hot super Earth is independent of the tidal energy dissipation factor Q'. The study of migration history of a Hot Super Earth is useful to reveal its Q' value and to predict its final location in the presence of one or more hot gas giants. When this investigation is applied to the GJ876 system, it correctly reproduces the observed location of GJ876d around 0.02AU.
In this paper, we describe an analytical method for treating uniformly rotating homogeneous rings without a central body in Newtonian gravity. We employ series expansions about the thin ring limit and use the fact that in this limit the cross-section of the ring tends to a circle. The coefficients can in principle be determined up to an arbitrary order. Results are presented here to the 20th order and compared with numerical results.
An iterative method is presented for solving the problem of a uniformly rotating, self-gravitating ring without a central body in Newtonian gravity by expanding about the thin ring limit. Using this method, a simple formula relating mass to the integrated pressure is derived to the leading order for a general equation of state. For polytropes with the index n=1, analytic coefficients of the iterative approach are determined up to the third order. Analogous coefficients are computed numerically for other polytropes and the results strongly suggest that ring solutions exist for arbitrarily large polytropic indices. Our solutions are compared with those generated by highly accurate numerical methods to test their accuracy.
We reassess the estimate of the cross-correlation of the spatial distribution of the NRAO VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) radio sources with that of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP). This re-analysis is motivated by the fact that most previous studies adopted a redshift distribution of NVSS sources inconsistent with recent data. We find that the constraints on the bias-weighted redshift distribution, b(z)xN(z), of NVSS sources, set by the observed angular correlation function, w(theta), strongly mitigate the effect of the choice of N(z). If such constraints are met, even highly discrepant redshift distributions yield NVSS-WMAP cross-correlation functions consistent with each other within statistical errors. The models favoured by recent data imply a bias factor, b(z), decreasing with increasing z, rather than constant, as assumed by most previous analyses. As a consequence, the function b(z)xN(z) has more weight at z<1, i.e. in the redshift range yielding the maximum contribution to the ISW in a standard LambdaCDM cosmology. On the whole, the NVSS turns out to be better suited for ISW studies than generally believed, even in the absence of an observational determination of the redshift distribution. The NVSS-WMAP cross-correlation function is found to be fully consistent with the prediction of the standard LambdaCDM cosmology.
We present a new catalogue of variable stars compiled from data taken for the University of New South Wales Extrasolar Planet Search. From 2004 October to 2007 May, 25 target fields were each observed for 1-4 months, resulting in ~87000 high precision light curves with 1600-4400 data points. We have extracted a total of 850 variable light curves, 659 of which do not have a counterpart in either the General Catalog of Variable Stars, the New Suspected Variables catalogue or the All Sky Automated Survey southern variable star catalogue. The catalogue is detailed here, and includes 142 Algol-type eclipsing binaries, 23 beta Lyrae-type eclipsing binaries, 218 contact eclipsing binaries, 53 RR Lyrae stars, 26 Cepheid stars, 13 rotationally variable active stars, 153 uncategorised pulsating stars with periods <10 d, including delta Scuti stars, and 222 long period variableswith variability on timescales of >10 d. As a general application of variable stars discovered by extrasolar planet transit search projects, we discuss several astrophysical problems which could benefit from carefully selected samples of bright variables. These include: (i) the quest for contact binaries with the smallest mass ratio, which could be used to test theories of binary mergers; (ii) detached eclipsing binaries with pre-main-sequence components, which are important test objects for calibrating stellar evolutionary models; and (iii) RR Lyrae-type pulsating stars exhibiting the Blazhko-effect, which is one of the last great mysteries of pulsating star research.
We study self-similar analytical solutions for force-free magnetic field in azimuthal symmetry and arcade topology. We assume the existence of a poloidal magnetic field, anchored on a heavy spherical conductor. The field is changed by shearing the foot points of the arcade due to differential rotation. This rotation gives rise to a toroidal component in the magnetic structure which reacts by expanding the poloidal flux outwards. This could be a slow process at the early stages, however it becomes very fast at the final stages when the poloidal flux expands to infinity. We address the question of the pressure environment confining the arcade, a pressure profile proportional to $r^{-4}$ is particularly interesting as it allows finite twist before the field expands to infinity. Finally, some time evolution estimates are made to demonstrate the limitations of this study.
The process of diffusive shock acceleration relies on the efficacy with which hydromagnetic waves can scatter charged particles in the precursor of a shock. The growth of self-generated waves is driven by both resonant and non-resonant processes. We perform high-resolution magnetohydrodynamic simulations of the non-resonant cosmic-ray driven instability, in which the unstable waves are excited beyond the linear regime. In a snapshot of the resultant field, particle transport simulations are carried out. The use of a static snapshot of the field is reasonable given that the Larmor period for particles is typically very short relative to the instability growth time. The diffusion rate is found to be close to, or below, the Bohm limit for a range of energies. This provides the first explicit demonstration that self-excited turbulence reduces the diffusion coefficient and has important implications for cosmic ray transport and acceleration in supernova remnants.
The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS), to be installed on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2008, will be equipped with a proximity focusing Ring Imaging CHerenkov detector (RICH). This detector will be equipped with a dual radiator (aerogel+NaF), a lateral conical mirror and a detection plane made of 680 photomultipliers and light-guides, enabling measurements of particle electric charge and velocity. A likelihood method for the Cherenkov angle reconstruction was applied leading to a velocity determination for protons with a resolution around 0.1%. The electric charge reconstruction is based on the counting of the number of photoelectrons and on an overall efficiency estimation on an event-by-event basis. Results from the application of both methods are presented.
An important issue in the tomographic reconstruction of the solar poles is the relatively rapid evolution of the polar plumes. We demonstrate that it is possible to take into account this temporal evolution in the reconstruction. The difficulty of this problem comes from the fact that we want a 4D reconstruction (three spatial dimensions plus time) while we only have 3D data (2D images plus time). To overcome this difficulty, we introduce a model that describes polar plumes as stationary objects whose intensity varies homogeneously with time. This assumption can be physically justified if one accepts the stability of the magnetic structure. This model leads to a bilinear inverse problem. We describe how to extend linear inversion methods to these kinds of problems. Studies of simulations show the reliability of our method. Results for SOHO/EIT data show that we are able to estimate the temporal evolution of polar plumes in order to improve the reconstruction of the solar poles from only one point of view. We expect further improvements from STEREO/EUVI data when the two probes will be separated by about 60 degrees.
Coronal holes (CH) emit significantly less at coronal temperatures than quiet-Sun regions (QS), but can hardly be distinguished in most chromospheric and lower transition region lines. A key quantity for the understanding of this phenomenon is the magnetic field. We use data from SOHO/MDI to reconstruct the magnetic field in coronal holes and the quiet Sun with the help of a potential magnetic model. Starting from a regular grid on the solar surface we then trace field lines, which provide the overall geometry of the 3D magnetic field structure. We distinguish between open and closed field lines, with the closed field lines being assumed to represent magnetic loops. We then try to compute some properties of coronal loops. The loops in the coronal holes (CH) are found to be on average flatter than in the QS. High and long closed loops are extremely rare, whereas short and low-lying loops are almost as abundant in coronal holes as in the quiet Sun. When interpreted in the light of loop scaling laws this result suggests an explanation for the relatively strong chromospheric and transition region emission (many low-lying, short loops), but the weak coronal emission (few high and long loops) in coronal holes. In spite of this contrast our calculations also suggest that a significant fraction of the cool emission in CHs comes from the open flux regions. Despite these insights provided by the magnetic field line statistics further work is needed to obtain a definite answer to the question if loop statistics explain the differences between coronal holes and the quiet Sun.
We developed a code for the reconstruction of nonlinear force-free and non-force-free coronal magnetic fields. The 3D magnetic field is computed numerically with the help of an optimization principle. The force-free and non-force-free codes are compiled in one program. The force-free approach needs photospheric vector magnetograms as input. The non-force-free code additionally requires the line-of-sight integrated coronal density distribution in combination with a tomographic inversion code. Previously the optimization approach has been used to compute magnetic fields using all six boundaries of a computational box. Here we extend this method and show how the coronal magnetic field can be reconstructed only from the bottom boundary, where the boundary conditions are measured with vector magnetographs. The program is planed for use within the Stereo mission.
Very-high-energy (VHE; E>100GeV) gamma-rays from distant sources suffer attenuation through pair-production with low energy photons from the diffuse extragalactic photon fields in the ultraviolet (UV) to far-infrared (FIR) (commonly referred to as Extragalactic Background Light; EBL). When modeling the intrinsic spectra of the VHE gamma-ray sources it is crucial to correctly account for the attenuation. Unfortunately, direct measurements of the EBL are difficult and the knowledge about the EBL over certain wavelength ranges is poor. To calculate the EBL attenuation usually predictions from theoretical models are used. Recently, the limits on the EBL from direct and indirect methods have narrowed down the possible EBL range and many of the previous models are in conflict with these limits. We propose a new generic EBL density (not a complete model), which is in compliance with the new EBL limits. EBL evolution with redshift is included in the calculation in a very simple but effective ad-hoc way. Properties of this generic EBL are discussed.
Recent advances in signal processing have focused on the use of sparse representations in various applications. A new field of interest based on sparsity has recently emerged: compressed sensing. This theory is a new sampling framework that provides an alternative to the well-known Shannon sampling theory. In this paper we investigate how compressed sensing (CS) can provide new insights into astronomical data compression and more generally how it paves the way for new conceptions in astronomical remote sensing. We first give a brief overview of the compressed sensing theory which provides very simple coding process with low computational cost, thus favoring its use for real-time applications often found on board space mission. We introduce a practical and effective recovery algorithm for decoding compressed data. In astronomy, physical prior information is often crucial for devising effective signal processing methods. We particularly point out that a CS-based compression scheme is flexible enough to account for such information. In this context, compressed sensing is a new framework in which data acquisition and data processing are merged. We show also that CS provides a new fantastic way to handle multiple observations of the same field view, allowing us to recover information at very low signal-to-noise ratio, which is impossible with standard compression methods. This CS data fusion concept could lead to an elegant and effective way to solve the problem ESA is faced with, for the transmission to the earth of the data collected by PACS, one of the instruments on board the Herschel spacecraft which will be launched in 2008.
High-resolution HST ultra-violet spectra for five B-type stars in the Magellanic Bridge and in the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds have been analysed to estimate their iron abundances. Those for the Clouds are lower than estimates obtained from late-type stars or the optical lines in B-type stars by approximately 0.5 dex. This may be due to systematic errors possibly arising from non-LTE effects or from errors in the atomic data as similar low Fe abundances having previously been reported from the analysis of the ultra-violet spectra of Galactic early-type stars. The iron abundance estimates for all three Bridge targets appear to be significantly lower than those found for the SMC and LMC by approximately -0.5 dex and -0.8 dex respectively and these differential results should not be affected by any systematic errors present in the absolute abundance estimates. These differential iron abundance estimates are consistent with the underabundances for C, N, O, Mg and Si of approximately -1.1 dex relative to our Galaxy previously found in our Bridge targets. The implications of these very low metal abundances for the Magellanic Bridge are discussed in terms of metal deficient material being stripped from the SMC.
We derive the basic physical parameters of the field double-mode RR Lyrae star BS Com from its observed periods and the requirement of consistency between the pulsational and evolutionary constraints. By using the current solar-scaled horizontal branch evolutionary models of Pietrinferni et al. (2004) and our linear non-adiabatic purely radiative pulsational models, we get M/M(Sun) = 0.698 +/- 0.004, log(L/L(Sun)) = 1.712 +/- 0.005, T(eff) = 6840 +/- 14 K, [Fe/H] = -1.67 +/- 0.01, where the errors are standard deviations assuming uniform age distribution along the full range of uncertainty in age. The last two parameters are in a good agreement with the ones derived from the observed BVIc colours and the updated ATLAS9 stellar atmosphere models. We get T(eff) = 6842 +/- 10 K, [Fe/H] = -1.58 +/- 0.11, where the errors are purely statistical ones. It is remarkable that the derived parameters are nearly independent of stellar age at early evolutionary stages. Later stages, corresponding to the evolution toward the asymptotic giant branch are most probably excluded because the required high temperatures are less likely to satisfy the constraints posed by the colours. We also show that our conclusions are only weakly sensitive to nonlinear period shifts predicted by current hydrodynamical models.
The goal of this presentation is in paying attention to the 1D cylindrical version of the Grad-Shafranov (GS) equation. In our opinion, this approach is more rich than classical self-similar ones, and more suitable for astrophysical jets we observe. In particular, it allows us describing the central (and, hence, the most energetic) part of the flow.
We present a detailed analysis of oxygen ion velocity distributions in the extended solar corona, based on observations made with the Ultraviolet Coronagraph Spectrometer (UVCS) on the SOHO spacecraft. Polar coronal holes at solar minimum are known to exhibit broad line widths and unusual intensity ratios of the O VI 1032, 1037 emission line doublet. The traditional interpretation of these features has been that oxygen ions have a strong temperature anisotropy, with the temperature perpendicular to the magnetic field being much larger than the temperature parallel to the field. However, recent work by Raouafi and Solanki suggested that it may be possible to model the observations using an isotropic velocity distribution. In this paper we analyze an expanded data set to show that the original interpretation of an anisotropic distribution is the only one that is fully consistent with the observations. It is necessary to search the full range of ion plasma parameters to determine the values with the highest probability of agreement with the UVCS data. The derived ion outflow speeds and perpendicular kinetic temperatures are consistent with earlier results, and there continues to be strong evidence for preferential ion heating and acceleration with respect to hydrogen. At heliocentric heights above 2.1 solar radii, every UVCS data point is more consistent with an anisotropic distribution than with an isotropic distribution. At heights above 3 solar radii, the exact probability of isotropy depends on the electron density chosen to simulate the line-of-sight distribution of O VI emissivity. (abridged abstract)
We discuss results of the AMANDA neutrino telescope, in operation at the South Pole since 2000, and present the status and scientific potential of its km$^3$ extension, IceCube.
AIMS. We present spectroscopic observations of galaxies in 15 survey fields
as part of the ESO Distant Cluster Survey (EDisCS). We determine the redshifts
and velocity dispersions of the galaxy clusters located in these fields, and we
test for possible substructure in the clusters.
METHODS. We obtained multi-object mask spectroscopy using the FORS2
instrument at the VLT. We reduced the data with particular attention to the sky
subtraction. We implemented the method of Kelson for performing sky subtraction
prior to any rebinning/interpolation of the data. From the measured galaxy
redshifts, we determine cluster velocity dispersions using the biweight
estimator and test for possible substructure in the clusters using the
Dressler-Shectman test.
RESULTS. The method of subtracting the sky prior to any
rebinning/interpolation of the data delivers photon-noise-limited results,
whereas the traditional method of subtracting the sky after the data have been
rebinned/interpolated results in substantially larger noise for spectra from
tilted slits. Redshifts for individual galaxies are presented and redshifts and
velocity dispersions are presented for 21 galaxy clusters. For the 9 clusters
with at least 20 spectroscopically confirmed members, we present the
statistical significance of the presence of substructure obtained from the
Dressler-Shectman test, and substructure is detected in two of the clusters.
CONCLUSIONS. Together with data from our previous paper, spectroscopy and
spectroscopic velocity dispersions are now available for 26 EDisCS clusters
with redshifts in the range 0.40-0.96 and velocity dispersions in the range
166-1080 km/s.
The class `bulges' contains objects with very different formation and evolution paths and very different properties. I review two types of `bulges', the boxy/peanut bulges (B/Ps) and the discy bulges. The former are parts of bars seen edge-on, have their origin in vertical instabilities of the disc and are somewhat shorter in extent than bars. Their stellar population is similar to that of the inner part of the disc from which they formed. Discy bulges have a disc-like outline, i.e., seen face-on they are circular or oval and seen edge-on they are thin. Their extent is of the order of 5 times smaller than that of the boxy/peanut bulges. They form from the inflow of mainly gaseous material to the centre of the galaxy and from subsequent star formation. They thus contain a lot of young stars and gas. Bulges of different types often coexist in the same galaxy. I review the main known results on these two types of bulges and present new simulation results. B/Ps form about 1Gyr after the bar, via a vertical buckling. At that time the bar strength decreases, its inner part becomes thicker -- forming the peanut or boxy shape -- and the ratio $\sigma_z^2/\sigma_r^2$ increases. A second buckling episode is seen in simulations with strong bars, also accompanied by a thickening of the peanut and a weakening of the bar. The properties of the B/Ps correlate strongly with those of the bar: stronger bars have stronger peanuts, a more flat-topped vertical density distribution and have experienced more bucklings. I also present simulations of disc galaxy formation, which include the formation of a discy bulge. Decomposition of their radial density profile into an exponential disc and a Sersic bulge gives realistic values for the disc and bulge scale-lengths and mass ratios, and a Sersic shape index of the order of 1.
We report on new 5-GHz VLA radio observations of the pulsar-powered supernova remnant G21.5-0.9. These observations have allowed us to make a high-quality radio image of this remnant with a resolution of ~0.7". It has a filamentary structure similar to that seen in the Crab Nebula. Radio structure suggestive of the torus seen around the Crab pulsar is tentatively identified. We also compared the new image with one taken ~15 yr earlier at 1.5 GHz, both to find the expansion speed of the remnant and to make a spectral index image. Between 1991 and 2006, we find that the average expansion rate of the remnant is 0.11 +/- 0.02 %/year, corresponding, for a distance of 5 kpc, to a speed of 910 +/- 160 km/s wrt. the centre of the nebula. Assuming undecelerated expansion, this expansion speed implies that the age of G21.5-0.9 is 870 (+200,-150) yr, which makes PSR J1833-1034 one of the youngest, if not the youngest, known pulsars in the Galaxy.
I discuss results from the COSMOS survey, showing that the fraction of disc
galaxies that is barred decreases considerably with look-back time from z ~ 0.2
to z ~ 0.8. This decrease is more important for small mass and low luminosity
spirals. Classical bar formation theory provides a promising framework for
understanding these results.
I also discuss the formation of discy bulges using N-body simulations
reproducing well the properties of observed discy bulges. Thus, these simulated
discy bulges have the shape of a disc, they have Sersic profiles with small
values of the shape index and their size is of the order of a kpc. They are
formed by radial inflow of material driven by the bar and are thus composed of
both gas and stars and have a considerable fraction of young stars. They can
harbour spiral structure, or an inner bar.
I discuss the formation and evolution of boxy/peanut bulges (B/Ps) and present new simulations results. Orbital structure studies show that B/Ps are parts of bars seen edge-on, they have their origin in vertical instabilities of the disc material and they are somewhat shorter in extent than bars. When the bar forms it is vertically thin, but after a time of the order of a Gyr it experiences a vertical instability and buckles. At that time the strength of the bar decreases, its inner part becomes thicker, so that, seen edge-on, it acquires a peanut or boxy shape. A second buckling episode is seen in simulations with strong bars, accompanied by a further thickening of the B/P and a weakening of the bar. Quantitatively, this evolution depends considerably on the properties of the halo and particularly on the extent of its core. This influences the amount of angular momentum exchanged within the galaxy, emitted by near-resonant material in the bar region and absorbed by near-resonant material in the halo and in the outer disc. Haloes with small cores generally harbour stronger bars and B/Ps and they often witness double buckling.
We apply the previously suggested accretion model for the behavior of the super-massive binary system Eta Carinae close to periastron passages. In that model it is assumed that for ~10 week near periastron passages one star is accreting mass from the slow dense wind blown by the other star. We find that the secondary, the less massive star, accretes ~2x10^{-6}Mo. This mass posses enough angular momentum to form a disk, or a belt, around the secondary. The viscous time is too long for the establishment of equilibrium, and the belt must be dissipated as its mass is being blown in the reestablished secondary wind. This processes requires about half a year, which we identify with the recovery phase of Eta Car. We show that radiation pressure, termed radiative braking, cannot prevent accretion. In addition to using the commonly assumed binary model for Eta Car, we also examine alternative models where the stellar masses are larger, and/or the less massive secondary blows the slow dense wind, while the primary blows the tenuous fast wind and accretes mass for ~10 week near periastron passages. We end by some predictions for the next event (January-March 2009).
We provide a generic but physically clear discussion of the clustering properties of dark energy models. We explicitly show that in quintessence-type models the dark energy fluctuations, on scales smaller than the Hubble radius, are of the order of the perturbations to the Newtonian gravitational potential, hence necessarily small on cosmological scales. Moreover, comparable fluctuations are associated with different gauge choices. We also demonstrate that the often used homogeneous approximation is unrealistic, and that the so-called dark energy mutation is a trivial artifact of an effective, single fluid description. Finally, we discuss the particular case where the dark energy fluid is coupled to dark matter.
We review some recent results on the identification and characterisation of Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN) obtained by cross correlating X-ray surveys with infrared and submillimetre surveys. We also look toward the scientific gains that could be achieved from an XMM-Newton survey of the medium-deep legacy fields that are being observed at ~1-850um.
We present the results of an 80 ks Chandra ACIS-S observation of the double pulsar system J0737-3039. Furthermore, we report on spectral, spatial and timing analysis of the combined X-ray observations performed so far for this system. Fitting a total of ~1100 photons, we show that the X-ray spectrum of the J0737-3039 system is very soft, and not satisfactorily modeled by a simple blackbody or an atmospheric model. However, it is not possible yet to discriminate between a predominantly non-thermal and a predominantly thermal origin for the X-ray emission. Adopting a simple power-law emission model, the photon index (Gamma=3.7) and the implied conversion efficiency of the rotational energy of PSR J0737-3039A into X-ray emission (4.1x10^-4, for a distance to the source of 500 pc) are compatible with the X-ray photons being emitted in the magnetosphere of PSR J0737-3039A. This hypothesis is also supported by the absence of detectable X-ray orbital modulation (up to a pulsed fraction of ~20%) or any X-ray nebular emission and it is in agreement with the high (~75%) X-ray pulsed fraction of PSR J0737-3039A. A two blackbody or a Comptonized blackbody model also reproduce the data, and the upper limit to the value of the hydrogen column density N_H <10^20 cm^-2, is in better agreement (with respect to the power-law model) with the Galactic N_H in that direction and at that distance. For the two blackbody model the implied emission radii and temperatures are also compatible with those seen in other recycled pulsars, calling for the bulk of the X-ray photons being originated from heated regions at the surface of pulsar A. On the other hand, in the Comptonized blackbody model, the electron temperature seems to be significantly smaller than in other similar objects.
Neutrinos and antineutrinos emitted from a core collapse supernova interact among themselves, giving rise to collective flavor conversion effects that are significant near the neutrinosphere. We develop a formalism to analyze these collective effects in the complete three-flavor framework. It naturally generalizes the spin-precession analogy to three flavors and is capable of analytically describing phenomena like vacuum/MSW oscillations, synchronized oscillations, bipolar oscillations and spectral split. Using the formalism, we demonstrate that the flavor conversions may be "factorized" into two-flavor oscillations with hierarchical frequencies. We explicitly show how the three-flavor solution may be constructed by combining two-flavor solutions. For a typical supernova density profile, we identify an approximate separation of regions where distinctly different flavor conversion mechanisms operate, and demonstrate the interplay between collective and MSW effects. We pictorialize our results in terms of the "e_3 - e_8 triangle" diagram, which is a tool that can be used to visualize three-neutrino flavor conversions in general, and offers insights into the analysis of the collective effects in particular.
The quasinormal modes (QNMs) and the late-time behavior of arbitrary spin fields are studied in the background of a Schwarzschild black hole with a global monopole (SBHGM). It has been shown that the real part of the QNMs for a SBHGM decreases as the symmetry breaking scale parameter $H$ increases but imaginary part increases instead. For large overtone number $n$, these QNMs become evenly spaced and the spacing for the imaginary part equals to $-i(1-H)^{3/2}/(4M)$ which is dependent of $H$ but independent of the quantum number $l$. It is surprisingly found that the late-time behavior is dominated by an inverse power-law tail $t^{-2[1+\sqrt{(s+1/2)^{2}+ (l-s)(l+s+1)/(1-H)}]}$ for each $l$, and as $H\to0$ it reduces to the Schwarzschild case $t^{-(2l+3)}$ which is independent of the spin number $s$.
Motivated by the recent work of Wang, Lin, Pavon, and Abdalla [1], we generalize their work to the non-flat case. In particular, we provide a thermodynamical interpretation for the holographic dark energy model in a non-flat universe. For this case, the characteristic length is no more the radius of the event horizon (R_E) but the event horizon radius as measured from the sphere of the horizon (L). Furthermore, when interaction between the dark components of the holographic dark energy model in the non-flat universe is present its thermodynamical interpretation changes by a stable thermal fluctuation. A relation between the interaction term of the dark components and this thermal fluctuation is obtained. In the limiting case of a flat universe, i.e. k=0, all results given by Wang, Lin, Pavon, and Abdalla in [1] are obtained.
Chaotic inflation predicts a large gravitational wave signal which can be tested by the upcoming Planck satellite. We discuss a SUGRA implementation of chaotic inflation in the presence of moduli fields, and find that inflation does not work with a generic KKLT moduli stabilisation potential. A viable model can be constructed with a fine-tuned moduli sector, but only for a very specific choice of Kahler potential. Our analysis also shows that inflation models satisfying \partial_{i} W_{\rm inf}=0 for all inflation sector fields \phi_i can be combined successfully with a fine-tuned moduli sector.
The scalar-tensor theory of gravity with the Higgs field as scalar field is presented. For central symmetry it reproduces the empirically measured flat rotation curves of galaxies. We approximate the galaxy by a polytropic gas sphere with the polytropic index $\gamma=2$ and a massive core.
Considerable and ongoing effort is made to identify promising scalar field candidates in string theory to drive a cosmological period of inflation. At stake is the possibility that fundamental string parameters could be encoded in observables such as the CMB perturbation spectrum. In this contribution, we hold a concrete model of string inflation (KKLMMT) up against WMAP3 and discuss the constraints obtained.
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We derive analytic merger rates for dark-matter haloes within the framework of the Extended Press-Schechter (EPS) formalism. These rates become self-consistent within EPS once we realize that the typical merger in the limit of a small time-step involves more than two progenitors, contrary to the assumption of binary mergers adopted in earlier studies. We present a general method for computing merger rates that span the range of solutions permitted by the EPS conditional mass function, and focus on a specific solution that attempts to match the merger rates in N-body simulations. The corrected EPS merger rates are more accurate than the earlier estimates of Lacey & Cole, by ~20% for major mergers and by up to a factor of ~3 for minor mergers of mass ratio 1:10^4. Based on the revised merger rates, we provide a new algorithm for constructing Monte-Carlo EPS merger trees, that could be useful in Semi-Analytic Modeling. We provide analytic expressions and plot numerical results for several quantities that are very useful in studies of galaxy formation. This includes (a) the rate of mergers of a given mass ratio per given final halo, (b) the fraction of mass added by mergers to a halo, and (c) the rate of mergers per given main progenitor. We also compute the creation and destruction rates of haloes as a self-consistency check. Our method for computing merger rates can be applied to conditional mass functions beyond EPS, such as those obtained by the ellipsoidal collapse model or extracted from N-body simulations.
We study the evolution in axisymmetry of accretion disks formed self-consistently through collapse of magnetized hypermassive neutron stars to black holes. Such stars can arise following the merger of binary neutron stars. They are differentially rotating, dynamically stable, and have rest masses exceeding the mass limit for uniform rotation. However, hypermassive neutron stars are secularly unstable to collapse due to MHD-driven angular momentum transport. The rotating black hole which forms in this process is surrounded by a hot, massive, magnetized torus and a magnetic field collimated along the spin axis. This system is a candidate for the central engine of a short-hard gamma-ray burst (GRB). Our code integrates the coupled Einstein-Maxwell-MHD equations and is used to follow the collapse of magnetized hypermassive neutron star models in full general relativity until the spacetime settles down to a quasi-stationary state. We then employ the Cowling approximation, in which the spacetime is frozen, to track the subsequent evolution of the disk. This approximation allows us to greatly extend the disk evolutions and study the resulting outflows, which may be relevant to the generation of a GRB. We find that outflows are suppressed when a stiff equation of state is assumed for low density disk material and are sensitive to the initial magnetic field configuration.
We present three-dimensional (3-D) simulations of rotationally induced line variability arising from complex circumstellar environment of classical T Tauri stars (CTTS) using the results of the 3-D magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of Romanova et al., who considered accretion onto a CTTS with a misaligned dipole magnetic axis with respect to the rotational axis. The density, velocity and temperature structures of the MHD simulations are mapped on to the radiative transfer grid, and corresponding line source function and the observed profiles of neutral hydrogen lines (H-beta, Pa-beta and Br-gamma) are computed using the Sobolev escape probability method. We study the dependency of line variability on inclination angles (i) and magnetic axis misalignment angles (Theta). By comparing our models with the Pa-beta profiles of 42 CTTS observed by Folha & Emerson, we find that models with a smaller misaligngment angle (Theta<~15 deg.) are more consistent with the observations which show that majority of Pa-beta are rather symmetric around the line centre. For a high inclination system with a small dipole misalignment angle (Theta ~ 15 deg.), only one accretion funnel (on the upper hemisphere) is visible to an observer at any given rotational phase. This can cause an anti-correlation of the line equivalent width in the blue wing (v<0) and that in the red wing (v>0) over a half of a rotational period, and a positive correlation over other half. We find a good overall agreement of the line variability behaviour predicted by our model and those from observations. (Abridged)
The decrease in the rms contrast of time-averaged images with the averaging time is compared between four datasets: (1) a series of solar granulation images recorded at La Palma in 1993; (2) a series of artificial granulation images obtained in numerical simulations by Rieutord et al. (2002); (3) a similar series computed by Steffen and his colleagues (see Wedemeyer et al., 2004}); (4) a random field with some parameters typical of the granulation, constructed by Rast (2002). In addition, (5) a sequence of images was obtained from real granulation images using a temporal and spatial shuffling procedure, and the contrast of the average of n images from this sequence as a function of n is analysed. The series (1) of real granulation images exhibits a considerably slower contrast decrease than do both the series (3) of simulated granulation images and the series (4) of random fields. Starting from some relatively short averaging times t, the behaviour of the contrast in series (3) and (4) resembles the t^{-1/2} statistical law, while the shuffled series (5) obeys the n^{-1/2} law from n = 2 on. Series (2) demonstrates a peculiarly slow decline of contrast, which could be attributed to particular properties of the boundary conditions used in the simulations. Comparisons between the analysed contrast-variation laws indicate quite definitely that the brightness field of solar granulation contains a long-lived component, which could be associated with locally persistent dark intergranular holes and/or with the presence of quasi-regular structures. The suggestion that the random field (4) successfully reproduces the contrast-variation law for the real granulation (Rast, 2002) can be declined.
We present infrared observations of 3C 58 with the Spitzer Space Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. Using the IRAC camera, we have imaged the entire source resulting in clear detections of the nebula at 3.6 and 4.5 microns. The derived flux values are consistent with extrapolation of the X-ray spectrum to the infrared band, demonstrating that any cooling break in the synchrotron spectrum must occur near the soft X-ray band. We also detect the torus surrounding PSR J0205+6449, the 65 ms pulsar that powers 3C 58. The torus spectrum requires a break between the infrared and X-ray bands, and perhaps multiple breaks. This complex spectrum, which is an imprint of the particles injected into the nebula, has considerable consequences for the evolution of the broadband spectrum of 3C 58. We illustrate these effects and discuss the impact of these observations on the modeling of broadband spectra of pulsar wind nebulae.
The formation of the first generations of stars at redshifts z > 15-20 signaled the transition from the simple initial state of the universe to one of increasing complexity. We here review recent progress in understanding the assembly process of the first galaxies, starting with cosmological initial conditions and modelling the detailed physics of star formation. In particular, we study the role of HD cooling in ionized primordial gas, the impact of UV radiation produced by the first stars, and the propagation of the supernova blast waves triggered at the end of their brief lives. We conclude by discussing how the chemical abundance patterns observed in extremely low-metallicity stars allow us to probe the properties of the first stars.
We present binary galaxy merger simulations with varying mass ratios and different progenitor morphologies. The simulations include mergers of gas-rich disks (Sp-Sp), of early-type galaxies and disks (E-Sp, mixed mergers), and mergers of early-type galaxies (E-E, dry mergers). We follow the dynamics of gas, stars and dark matter, and include radiative cooling, star formation and black hole (BH) accretion and the associated feedback processes as in Springel et al. We study the mass assembly of the BHs and discuss technical issues of the implemented model in detail. For Sp-Sp mergers, the peak star formation rate and BH accretion rate decrease and the growth timescales of the central black holes and newly formed stars increase with higher progenitor mass ratios. The peak BH accretion rate typically occurs shortly after the time of BH merging for low progenitor mass ratios (e.g. 3:1 and lower), whereas for higher progenitor mass ratios there is no clear correlation between the peak BH accretion rate and BH merging time. The termination of star formation by BH feedback in disk mergers is significantly less important for higher progenitor mass ratios (e.g. 3:1 and higher). In addition, the inclusion of BH feedback suppresses efficiently star formation in dry E-E mergers and mixed E-Sp mergers. All merger remnants, independent of their progenitors, follow the observed relations between the central BH mass and the stellar velocity dispersion M_BH-sigma and the bulge mass M_BH-M_*, with the dominant source of scatter arising from variations in the initial gas mass fraction. The normalizations for both relations and the simulated slope of the M_BH-sigma relation are in good agreement, whereas the simulated slope of the M_BH-M_* relation is slightly steeper compared to the observations (abridged).
The serendipitous discovery of infrared echoes around the supernova remnant
of Cas A by the Spitzer satellite has provided astronomers with a unique
opportunity to study the properties of the echoing material and the history and
nature of the outburst that generated these echoes. In retrospect, the echoes
are also clearly visible as infrared "hot spots" in \iras images of the region.
In this paper we present a detailed analysis of the geometry and spectra of the
echoes, and the nature of the radiation source that that created them.
All the echoes located within a distance of ~15 arcmin from the SN are caused
by the delayed arrival of thermal emission from dust located at a distance of
160 lyr (corresponding to half the adopted age of the remnant) directly behind
the origin of the explosion. The spectra of the echoes are distinct from that
of the general diffuse interstellar medium (ISM) revealing hot silicate grains
that are either stochastically heated to temperatures in excess of ~150 K, or
radiating at an equilibrium temperature of this value. We show that the optical
light curve from the supernova, is not capable of producing such spectra, and
could therefore not have given rise to the echoes. Instead, we find that the
echoes were generated by an intense and short burst of EUV-UV radiation with a
luminosity of ~ 1.5E11 Lsun. The average H-column density of the IR emitting
region in the echoing clouds is about 5E17 cm-2. Taking a burst time of ~1 d
gives a cloud density of ~400 cm-3, typical of dense IR cirrus.
We have carried out a multiwavelength observational campaign demonstrating some of the remarkable properties of the infrared-bright variable star BP Psc. Surrounded by a compact dusty, gaseous disk, this little-studied late-G (or early-K) type star emits about 75% of its detected energy flux at infrared wavelengths. Evidence for accretion of gas in conjunction with narrow bi-polar jets and Herbig-Haro objects is apparently consistent with classification of BP Psc as a pre-main sequence star, as postulated in most previous studies. If young, then BP Psc would be one of the nearest and oldest known classical T Tauri stars. However, such an evolutionary classification encounters various problems that are absent or much less severe if BP Psc is instead a luminosity class III post-main sequence star. In this case, it would be the first known example of a first ascent giant surrounded by a massive molecular disk with accompanying rapid gas accretion and prominent jets and HH objects. In this model, the genesis of the massive dusty gaseous disk could be a consequence of the envelopment of a low mass companion star. Properties in the disk may be conducive to the current formation of planets, a gigayear or more after the formation of BP Psc itself.
We study the properties of Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) and Lyman-break galaxies (LBGs) at z=3-6 using cosmological SPH simulations. We investigate two simple scenarios for explaining the observed Ly-a and rest-frame UV luminosity functions (LFs) of LAEs: (i) the ``escape fraction'' scenario, in which the effective escape fraction (including the IGM attenuation) of Ly-a photons is \fLya ~0.1 (0.15) at z=3 (6), and (ii) the ``duty cycle'' scenario, in which the fraction of LAEs that are turned on at z=3 (6) is \Cduty ~0.07 (0.2) after correcting for the IGM attenuation. Our comparisons with a number of different observations suggest that the duty cycle scenario is preferred over the escape fraction scenario. We find that the mean values of stellar mass, metallicity and black hole mass hosted by LAEs are all smaller in the duty cycle scenario than in the escape fraction scenario. In our simulations, the galaxy stellar mass function evolves rapidly, as expected in hierarchical structure formation. However, its evolution is largely compensated by a beginning decline in the specific star formation rate, resulting in little evolution of the rest-frame UV LF from z=6 to 3. The rest-frame UV LF of both LAEs and LBGs at z=3 & 6 can be described well by the duty cycle scenario provided the extinction is moderate, E(B-V)~0.15, for both populations, although our simulation might be overpredicting the number of bright LBGs at z=6. We also discuss the correlation length and bias of LAEs. The Ly-a LFs at z=6 in a field-of-view of 0.2 deg^2 show a significantly larger scatter owing to cosmic variance relative to that in a 1 deg^2 field, and the scatter seen in the current observational estimates of the Ly-a LF can be accounted for by cosmic variance.
We present a single-pulse study of the four-component pulsar J1819+1305, whose ``null'' pulses bunch at periodic intervals of around 57 times the rotation period. The emission bursts between the null bunches exhibit characteristic modulations at two shorter periodicities of approximately 6.2 and 3 times the rotation period, the former found largely in the two outer components, and the latter only in the first component. Many bursts commence with bright emission in second component, exhibit positive six-period drift across the full profile width, and end with 3-period modulation in the leading component. The 57-period cycle can be modelled geometrically as a sparsely filled subbeam carousel with nulls appearing whenever our line of sight intersects a circulating empty region. This interpretation is compatible with other recent evidence for periodic, carousel-related nulling and appears to support the physics of a polar-gap emission model for ``drifting'' subpulses, but the subtle structure of the emission bursts defies an easy explanation.
We have selected a sample of broad absorption line (BAL) quasars which show significant radio variations, indicating the presence of polar BAL outflows. We obtained snapshot XMM observations of four polar BAL QSOs, to check whether strong X-ray absorption, one of the most prominent characteristics of most BAL QSOs, also exist in polar outflows. Two of the sources are detected in X-ray. Spectral fittings show that they are X-ray normal with no intrinsic X-ray absorption, suggesting the X-ray shielding gas might be absent in polar BAL outflows. Comparing to non-BAL QSOs, one of two X-ray nondetected sources remains consistent with X-ray normal, while the other one, which is an iron low-ionization BAL (FeLoBAL), shows an X-ray weakness factor of > 19, suggesting strong intrinsic X-ray absorption. Alternative explanations to the nondetection of strong X-ray absorption in the two X-ray detected sources are 1) the absorption is more complex than a simple neutral absorber, such as partial covering absorption or ionized absorption; 2) there might be significant jet contribution to the detected X-ray emission. Current data is insufficient to test these possibilities, and further observations are required to understand the X-ray nature of polar BAL outflows.
We present an analysis of high precision radial velocity (RV) observations of stars hosting multi-planet systems with Jovian companions. We use dynamical stability constraints and quasi-global methods of optimization. As an illustration, we present new results derived for the RV data of the Sun-like dwarfs HD 155358 and $\tau^1$ Gruis.
Observational astronomy is the beneficiary of an ancient chain of apprenticeship. Kepler's laws required Tycho's data. As the pace of discoveries has increased over the centuries, so has the cadence of tutelage (literally, "watching over"). Naked eye astronomy is thousands of years old, the telescope hundreds, digital imaging a few decades, but today's undergraduates will use instrumentation yet unbuilt - and thus, unfamiliar to their professors - to complete their doctoral dissertations. Not only has the quickening cadence of astronomical data-taking overrun the apprehension of the science within, but the contingent pace of experimental design threatens our capacity to learn new techniques and apply them productively. Virtual technologies are necessary to accelerate our human processes of perception and comprehension to keep up with astronomical instrumentation and pipelined dataflows. Necessary, but not sufficient. Computers can confuse us as efficiently as they illuminate. Rather, as with neural pathways evolved to meet competitive ecological challenges, astronomical software and data must become organized into ever more coherent "threads" of execution. These are the same threaded constructs as understood by computer science. No datum is an island.
(Abridged) To define a framework for the formation and evolution of the cooling cores in X-ray galaxy clusters, we study how the physical properties change as function of the cosmic time in the inner regions of a 4 keV and 8 keV galaxy cluster under the action of radiative cooling and gravity only. The cooling radius, R_cool, defined as the radius at which the cooling time equals the Universe age at given redshift, evolves from ~0.01 R200 at z>2, where the structures begin their evolution, to ~0.05 R200 at z=0. The values measured at 0.01 R200 show an increase of about 15-20 per cent per Gyr in the gas density and surface brightness and a decrease with a mean rate of 10 per cent per Gyr in the gas temperature. The emission-weighted temperature diminishes by about 25 per cent and the bolometric X-ray luminosity rises by a factor ~2 after 10 Gyrs when all the cluster emission is considered in the computation. On the contrary, when the core region within 0.15 R500 is excluded, the gas temperature value does not change and the X-ray luminosity varies by 10-20 per cent only. The cooling time and gas entropy radial profiles are well represented by power-law functions. The behaviour of the inner slopes of the gas temperature and density profiles are the most sensitive and unambiguous tracers of an evolving cooling core. Their values after 10 Gyrs of radiative losses, T_gas ~ r^0.4 and n_gas ~ r^(-1.2) for the hot (cool) object, are remarkably in agreement with the observational constraints available for nearby X-ray luminous cooling core clusters. Because our simulations do not consider any AGN heating, they imply that the feedback process does not greatly alter the gas density and temperature profiles as generated by radiative cooling alone.
Sensitivity coefficients to temporal variation of the fine-structure constant alpha for transitions between the fine-structure (FS) sub-levels of the ground states of C I, O I, Si I, S I, Fe I, N II, Fe II, O III, Ne III, S III, Ar III, Fe III, Ne V, Mg V, Ca V, Na VI, Fe VI, Mg VII, Si VII, Ca VII, Fe VII, and Si IX are calculated. These transitions lie in the mid- and far-infrared regions and can be observed in spectra of high-redshift quasars and infrared bright galaxies with active galactic nuclei. Using FS transitions to study alpha-variation over cosmological timescale allows to improve the limit on $|\Delta\alpha/\alpha|$ by several times as compared to contemporaneous optical observations ($|\Delta\alpha/\alpha| < 10^{-5}$), and to suppress considerably systematic errors of the radial velocity measurements caused by the Doppler noise. Moreover, the far infrared lines can be observed at redshifts z > 10, far beyond the range accessible to optical observations (z < 4). We have derived a simple analytical expression which relates the FS intervals and the sensitivity of the FS transitions to the change of alpha.
We examine global incompressible axisymmetric perturbations of a differentially rotating MHD plasma with radial density gradients. It is shown that the standard magnetorotational instability, (MRI) criterion drawn from the local dispersion relation is often misleading. If the equilibrium magnetic field is either purely axial or purely toroidal, the problem reduces to finding the global radial eigenvalues of an effective potential. The standard Keplerian profile including the origin is mathematically ill-posed, and thus any solution will depend strongly on the inner boundary. We find a class of unstable modes localized by the form of the rotation and density profiles, with reduced dependence on boundary conditions.
We present Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) and Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS E140M) observations of the post-asymptotic giant branch star ZNG 1 in the globular cluster Messier 5 (l=3.9, b=+47.7; d=7.5 kpc, z=+5.3 kpc). High velocity absorption is seen in C IV, Si IV, O VI, and lower ionization species at LSR velocities of -140 and -110 km/s. We conclude that this gas is not circumstellar on the basis of photoionization models and path length arguments. Thus, the high velocity gas along the ZNG 1 sight line is the first evidence that highly-ionized HVCs can be found near the Galactic disk. We measure the metallicity of these HVCs to be [O/H]=+0.22\pm0.10, the highest of any known HVC. Given the clouds' metallicity and distance constraints, we conclude that these HVCs have a Galactic origin. This sight line probes gas toward the inner Galaxy, and we discuss the possibility that these HVCs may be related to a Galactic nuclear wind or Galactic fountain circulation in the inner regions of the Milky Way.
After almost 5 years of operation, ESA's International Gamma-Ray Astrophysics Laboratory (INTEGRAL) Space Observatory has unveiled a new soft Gamma ray sky and produced a remarkable harvest of results, ranging from identification of new high energy sources, to the discovery of dozens of variable sources to the mapping of the Aluminum emission from the Galaxy Plane to the presence of electrons and positrons generating the annihilation line in the Galaxy central radian. INTEGRAL is continuing the deep observations of the Galactic Plane and of the whole sky in the soft Gamma ray range. The new IBIS gamma ray catalogue contains more than 420 sources detected above 20 keV. We present a view of the INTEGRAL high energy sky with particular regard to sources emitting at high energy, including Active Galactic Nuclei (AGN), HESS/MAGIC counterparts and new view of the cosmic gamma ray diffuse background.
The author reviews a model for the emission of high energy cosmic rays, gamma-rays and neutrinos from AGN (Active Galactic Nuclei) that he has proposed since 1985. Further discussion of the knee energy phenomenon of the cosmic ray energy spectrum requires the existence of a heavy particle with mass in the knee energy range. A possible method of detecting such a particle in the Pierre Auger Project is suggested. Also presented is a relation between the spectra of neutrinos and gamma-rays emitted from AGN. This relation can be tested by high energy neutrino detectors such as ICECUBE, the Mediterranean Sea Detector and possibly by the Pierre Auger Project.
We use a numerical simulation of a loose group containing a Milky Way halo to probe that in the hierarchical universe the Magellanic Clouds and some dSphs have been accreted into the Milky Way halo from a late infalling group of dwarfs. Our simulations show that the tidal breakup of the Magellanic group occurs before it enters the Milky Way halo. Only half of the satellites contributed from the group are predicted to be inside the Milky Way virial radius. Half of its subhalos survive outside the current virial radius in the form of satellites, whereas the remaining material contributes to the diffuse Milky Way halo. At z~0 the disrupted group contributes less than 10% to the Milky Way halo mass but 20% of the brightest dwarf galaxies of the Milky Way have been part of this group. This scenario points out that some dSphs might have been form away from giant spirals and been accreted already as spheroids, by a late infall group in contrast with the classical picture of tidal stripping of dSph formation models. This would naturally explain several peculiarities of the local dSph: why Draco and the other luminous dSphs exist compared to other ultra-faint satellite galaxies, the location of Tucana and Cetus in the outskirts of the Local Group and the mismatch in metallicity between the stellar halo of the Milky Way and the dwarf galaxies that many have suspected dissolved to build it.
The Taiwanese-American Occultation Survey (TAOS) operates four telescopes to search for occultations of stars by Kuiper Belt Objects. This paper provides a detailed description of the TAOS multi-telescope system.
A recent study by Wylie et al 2006 has revealed that s-process element abundances are enhanced relative to iron in both red giant branch and asymptotic giant branch stars of 47 Tucanae. A more detailed investigation into s-process element abundances throughout the colour-magnitude diagram of 47 Tucanae is vital in order to determine whether the observed enhancements are intrinsic to the cluster. This paper explores this possibility through observational and theoretical means. The visibility of s- and r-process element lines in synthetic spectra of giant and dwarf stars throughout the colour magnitude diagram of 47 Tucanae has been explored. It was determined that a resolving power of 10 000 was sufficient to observe s-process element abundance variations in globular cluster giant branch stars. These synthetic results were compared with the spectra of eleven 47 Tucanae giant branch stars observed during the performance verification of the Robert Stobie Spectrograph on the Southern African Large Telescope. Three s-process elements, Zr, Ba, Nd, and one r-process element, Eu, were investigated. No abundance variations were found such that [X/Fe] = 0.0 +/- 0.5 dex. It was concluded that this resolving power, R ~ 5000, was not sufficient to obtain exact abundances but upper limits on the s-process element abundances could be determined.
AB Dor, Speedy Mic and Rst137B are in their early post-T Tauri evolutionary phase (<100Myr), at the age of fastest rotation in the life of late-type stars. They straddle the coronal saturation-supersaturation boundary first defined by young stars in open clusters. High resolution Chandra X-ray spectra have been analysed to study their coronal properties as a function of coronal activity parameters Rossby number, $L_X/L_{bol}$ and a coronal temperature index. Plasma emission measure distributions as a function of temperature show broad peaks at T~10e7K. Differences between stars suggest that as supersaturation is reached the DEM slope below the temperature of peak DEM becomes shallower, while the DEM drop-off above this temperature becomes more pronounced. A larger sample comprising our three targets and 22 active stars studied in the recent literature reveals a general increase of plasma at T>10e7 toward the saturated-supersaturated boundary but a decline beyond this among supersaturated stars. All three of the stars studied in detail here show lower coronal abundances of the low FIP elements Mg, Si and Fe, relative to the high FIP elements S, O and Ne, as compared to the solar mixture. The coronal Fe abundances of the stellar sample are inversely correlated with Lx/Lbol, declining slowly with rising Lx/Lbol, but with a much more sharp decline at Lx/Lbol>3x10e-4. For dwarfs the Fe abundance is also well-correlated with Rossby number. The coronal O/Fe ratios for dwarfs show a clear increase with decreasing Rossby number, apparently reaching saturation at [O/Fe]=0.5 at the coronal supersaturation boundary. Similar increases in O/Fe with increasing coronal temperature and $L_X/L_{bol}$ are seen.
We present global, three-dimensional numerical simulations of the atmospheric circulation on HD 209458b and HD 189733b and calculate the infrared spectra and light curves predicted by these simulations, which we compare with available observations. Radiative heating/cooling is parameterized with a simplified Newtonian relaxation scheme. Our simulations develop day-night temperature contrasts that vary strongly with pressure. At low pressure (<10 mbar), air flows from the substellar point toward the antistellar point, both along the equator and over the poles. At deeper levels, the flow develops an eastward equatorial jet with speeds of 3-4 km/sec, with weaker westward flows at high latitudes. This basic flow pattern is robust to variations in model resolution, gravity, radiative time constant, and initial temperature structure. Nightside spectra show deep absorption bands of H2O, CO, and/or CH4, whereas on the dayside these absorption bands flatten out or even flip into emission. This results from the strong effect of dynamics on the vertical temperature-pressure structure; the temperature decreases strongly with altitude on the nightside but becomes almost isothermal on the dayside. In Spitzer bandpasses, our predicted planet-to-star flux ratios vary by a factor of 2-10 with orbital phase, depending on the wavelength and chemistry. For HD 189733b, where a detailed 8-micron light curve has been obtained, we correctly produce the observed phase offset of the flux maximum, but we do not explain the flux minimum and we overpredict the total flux variation. This discrepancy likely results from the simplifications inherent in the Newtonian relaxation scheme and provides motivation for incorporating realistic radiative transfer in future studies.
Invisible plasma content in blazar jets such as protons and/or thermal electron-positron ($e^{\pm}$) pairs is explored through combined arguments of dynamical and radiative processes. By comparing physical quantities required by the internal shock model with those obtained through the observed radio-to-gamma-ray spectra for Mrk 421, we find the existence of a copious amount of invisible plasma in the jet. We speculate that the blazar sequence could arise from variations of total amount and/or blending ratio of $e^{\pm}$ pair and electron-proton plasma.
Recent observations revealed that the solar atmosphere is highly structured in density, temperature and magnetic field. The presence of these gradients may lead to the appearance of currents in the plasma, which in the weakly collisional corona can constitute sources of free energy for driving micro-instabilities. Such instabilities are very important since they represent a possible source of ion-cyclotron waves which have been conjectured to play a prominent role in coronal heating, but whose solar origin remains unclear. Considering a density stratification transverse to the magnetic field, this paper aims at studying the possible occurrence of gradient-induced plasma micro-instabilities under typical conditions of coronal holes. Taking into account the WKB (Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) approximation, we perform a Fourier plane waves analysis using the collisionless multi-fluid model. By neglecting the electron inertia, this model allows us to take into account ion-cyclotron wave effects that are absent from the one-fluid model of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Realistic models of density and temperature, as well as a 2-D analytical magnetic-field model, are used to define the background plasma in the open-field funnel in a polar coronal hole. The ray-tracing theory is used to compute the ray path of the unstable waves, as well as the evolution of their growth rates during the propagation. We demonstrate that in typical coronal hole conditions, and when assuming typical transverse density length scales taken from radio observations, the current generated by a relative electron-ion drift provides enough free energy for driving the mode unstable. This instability results from a coupling between oppositely propagating slow-mode waves.
We present the results of a ~230 ks long X-ray observation of the relativistic double pulsar system PSR J0737-3039 obtained with the XMM-Newton satellite in 2006 October. We confirm the detection in X-rays of pulsed emission from PSR A, mostly ascribed to a soft non-thermal power-law component (photon index ~ 3.3) with a 0.2-3 keV luminosity of ~1.9E+30 erg/s (assuming a distance of 500 pc). For the first time, pulsed X-ray emission from PSR B is also detected in part of the orbit. This emission, consistent with thermal radiation with temperature kT=30 eV and bolometric luminosity of ~1E+32 erg/s, is likely powered by heating of PSR B's surface caused by PSR A's wind. A hotter (~130 eV) and fainter (~5E+29 erg/s) thermal component, probably originating from back-falling particles heating polar caps of either PSR A or PSR B is also required by the data. No signs of X-ray emission from a bow-shock between PSR A's wind and the interstellar medium or PSR B's magnetosphere are present. The upper limit on the luminosity of such a shock component (~1E+29 erg/s) constrains the wind magnetization parameter sigma of PSR A to values greater than 1.
Important results achieved over the last years on supernova remnants, planetary nebulae and superbubbles are briefly reviewed in the context of X-ray observations. I intend to review the important open scientific questions in these fields, and the specific contributions that can be made by XMM-Newton.
CONTEXT: Gravitationally lensed quasars constitute an independent tool to derive H0 through time-delays; they offer as well the opportunity to study the mass distribution and interstellar medium of their lensing galaxies and, through microlensing they also allow one to study details of the emitting source. AIMS: For such studies, one needs to have an excellent knowledge of the close environment of the lensed images in order to model the lensing potential: this means observational data over a large field-of-view and spectroscopy at high spatial resolution. METHODS: We present VIMOS integral field observations around four lensed quasars: HE 0230-2130, RX J0911.4+0551, H 1413+117 and B 1359+154. Using the low, medium and high resolution modes, we study the quasar images and the quasar environments, as well as provide a detailed report of the data reduction. RESULTS: Comparison between the quasar spectra of the different images reveals differences for HE 0230-2130, RX J0911.4+0551 and H 1413+117: flux ratios between the images of the same quasar are different when measured in the emission lines and in the continuum. We have also measured the redshifts of galaxies in the neighborhood of HE 0230-2130 and RX J0911.4+0551 which possibly contribute to the total lensing potential. CONCLUSIONS: A careful analysis reveals that microlensing is the most natural explanation for the (de)magnification of the continuum emitting region of the background sources. In HE 0230-2130, image D is likely to be affected by microlensing magnification; in RX J0911.4+0551, images A1 and A3 are likely to be modified by microlensing de-magnification and in H 1413+117, at least image D is affected by microlensing.
A review of the main issues in the field of particle acceleration in Supernova Remnants is provided in the context of future X-ray observations with Simbol-X. After a summary of the nonthermal acceleration mechanisms at work, I briefly review the observations of supernova remnants in hard X-rays and in gamma rays. Open issues are discussed in this framework.
Accreting binaries containing a black hole are stellar systems composed of a normal star and a black hole. Because of the strong gravitational pull of the black hole, matter is removed from the companion star and falls into the compact ob ject. In falling, it forms an accretion disk of gas that spirals towards the center, heating up and emitting in X rays. The physics of such a structure is extremely complex and can be studied through observations with X-ray satellites. The time series derived from X-ray observations of bright black-hole binaries in the Galaxy show a complex phenomenology. Broad noise components with a variability of up to 40% are observed, as well as quasi-periodic features on time scales from 100 seconds down to a few milliseconds. The characteristic frequencies of the different components can change on very short time scales. However, some of these signals are elusive as they are very weak and are drowned in intrinsic and instrumental noise. The physical nature of these signals is still largely unknown, but it is clear that they originate from gas orbiting a few kilometers from the central black hole and accreting onto it. In addition of being important for the study of the accretion of matter onto a black hole, these observational properties constitute a unique probe for testing General Relativity in the strong field regime. I review the current observational status as well as the techniques used to study these signals.
CONTEXT: Cosmic voids are observed in the distribution of galaxies and, to some extent, in the dark matter distribution. If these distributions have fractal geometry, it must be reflected in the geometry of voids; in particular, we expect scaling sizes of voids. However, this scaling is not well demonstrated in galaxy surveys yet. AIMS: Our objective is to understand the geometry of cosmic voids in relation to a fractal structure of matter. We intend to distinguish monofractal voids from multifractal voids, regarding their scaling properties. We plan to analyse voids in the distributions of mass concentrations (halos) in a multifractal and their relation to galaxy voids. METHODS: We make a statistical analysis of point distributions based on the void probability function and correlation functions. We assume that voids are spherical and devise a simple spherical void finder. For continuous mass distributions, we employ the methods of fractal geometry. We confirm the analytical predictions with numerical simulations. Smoothed mass distributions are suitable for the method of excursion sets. RESULTS: Voids are very nonlinear and non-perturbative structures. Voids reflect the fractal geometry of the matter distribution but not always directly: scaling sizes of voids imply fractal geometry, but fractal voids may have a complicated geometry and may not have scaling sizes. Proper multifractal voids are of this type. A natural multifractal biasing model implies that the voids in the galaxy distribution inherit the same complicated geometry. CONCLUSIONS: Current galaxy surveys as well as cosmological N-body simulations indicate that cosmic voids are proper multifractal voids. This implies the presence in the voids of galaxies or, at least, small dark matter halos.
Calculations have been made of fall-back disk heating by the pulsar wind as distinct from the soft X-rays emitted by the neutron-star surface. The relation between these heating rates and measured near-infrared fluxes in the K and Ks bands places severe constraints on the inner radii of any fall-back disks that may be present in radio pulsars and in some anomalous X-ray pulsars. The lower limits found are so large that the disks concerned can have no significant effect on pulsar spin-down.
The fluctuating brightness of cosmic X-ray sources, particularly accreting black holes and neutron star systems, has enabled enormous progress in understanding the physics of turbulent accretion flows, the behaviour of matter on the surfaces of neutron stars and improving the evidence for black holes. Most of this progress has been made by analysing and modelling time series data in terms of their power and cross spectra, as will be discussed in other articles in this volume. Recently, attempts have been made to make use of other aspects of the data, by testing for non-linearity, non-Gaussianity, time asymmetry and by examination of higher order Fourier spectra. These projects, which have been made possible by the vast increase in data quality and quantity over the past decade, are the subject of this article.
We discuss the infrared divergences that appear to plague cosmological perturbation theory. We show that within the stochastic framework they are regulated by eternal inflation so that the theory predicts finite fluctuations. Using the $\Delta N$ formalism to one loop, we demonstrate that the infrared modes can be absorbed into additive constants and the coefficients of the diagrammatic expansion for the connected parts of two and three-point functions of the curvature perturbation. As a result, the use of any infrared cutoff below the scale of eternal inflation is permitted, provided that the background fields are appropriately redefined. The natural choice for the infrared cutoff would of course be the present horizon; other choices manifest themselves in the running of the correlators. We also demonstrate that it is possible to define observables that are renormalization group invariant. As an example, we derive a non-perturbative, infrared finite and renormalization point independent relation between the two-point correlators of the curvature perturbation for the case of the free single field.
Based on identifications from the Veron and Quasars.org catalogs, we determine the optical-to-X-ray spectral indices for a sample of 201 BL Lacs and search for trends in the distribution of these indices of the sources detected in high-energy bands. As is expected for the two-bump spectral energy distributions, TeV-detected objects are strong in X rays while EGRET-detected ones are low-energy peaked. Positional correlation with the arrival directions of ultra-high-energy cosmic rays from the previously studied AGASA, Yakutsk and High Resolution Fly's Eye samples is saturated by low-energy-peaked BL Lacs.
AIMS: One of the most challenging and important problem of digital signal
processing in Cosmology is the separation of foreground contamination from
cosmic microwave background (CMB). This problem becomes even more difficult in
situations, as the CMB polarization observations, where the amount of available
"a priori" information is limited. In this case, it is necessary to resort to
the "blind separation" methods. One important member of this class is
represented by the "Independent Components Analysis" (ICA). In its original
formulation, this method has various interesting characteristics, but also some
limits. One of the most serious is the difficulty to take into account any
information available in advance. In particular, ICA is not able to exploit the
fact that emission of CMB is the same at all the frequencies of observations.
Here, we show how to deal with this question. The connection of the proposed
methodology with the "Internal Linear Composition" (ILC) technique is also
illustrated.
METHODS: A modification of the classic ICA approach is presented and its
characteristics are analyzed both analytically and by means of numerical
experiments.
RESULTS: The modified version of ICA appears to provide more stable results
and of better quality.
We have performed time resolved photometry on the dwarf nova CG Dra and have established for the first time that it is an eclipsing system. By measuring the times of the eclipses, we determined the orbital period as 0.18864(4) d, or 4h 31m 38 +/- 3s. This value is consistent with the shorter of two periods proposed from earlier spectroscopic studies. The orbital period places CG Dra above the period gap. The symmetrical eclipses are of short duration (FWHM 18+/-2 min, or 0.066(7) of the orbital period) and shallow (average 0.16+/-0.02 mag), suggesting a grazing eclipse which is consistent with an orbital inclination just above the critical value. Flickering persists through the eclipse which means that the flickering source is not occulted by the secondary star.
We present a comprehensive study of the Crab Nebula spectral energy distribution (SED) over more than 6 decades in frequency ranging from 1 to 106 GHz. We focus on the millimetre regime where an excess of flux has been claimed. For this purpose we use new radio and submillimetre data from the WMAP satellite between 23 and 94 GHz and from the Archeops balloon experiment between 143 and 545 GHz, and a compendium of already published Crab Nebula observations. The Crab SED has been compared to models including three main components : synchrotron which is responsible for the emission at low and at high frequencies, dust which explains the excess of flux observed by the IRAS satellite and an extra component to account for a possible millimetre excess. For this extra component we have considered both a low-temperature dust and a low-energy cutoff synchrotron. In the case of extra dust component the best fit model requires extremely low dust temperatures of 5-6 K and therefore a large dust mass of $\sim$110-230 M$_\odot$, making the model fully unrealistic. In any case the extra dust component does not significantly improve the fit to the data in the millimetric regime from 100 to 1000 GHz. For the case of an extra synchrotron component we find that the spectral index of the energy distribution and the cutoff frequency are not constrained by the model. More importantly the best-fit to the data has larger residuals in the millimetric regime that when assuming no extra component. The currently available data in the unpolarised emission of the Crab Nebula show no evidence of millimetric excess with respect to the known synchrotron emission. This is important for the Planck satellite mission which will use the Crab nebula for polarisation cross-checks in the range 30 to 857 GHz.
Recent numerical relativistic results demonstrate that the merger of comparable-mass spinning black holes has a maximum ``recoil kick'' of up to $\sim 4000 \kms$. However the scaling of these recoil velocities with mass ratio is poorly understood. We present new runs showing that the maximum possible kick parallel to the orbital axis does not scale as $\sim\eta^2$ (where $\eta$ is the symmetric mass ratio), as previously proposed, but is more consistent with $\sim\eta^3$. We discuss the effect of this dependence on galactic ejection scenarios and retention of intermediate-mass black holes in globular clusters.
We describe a new method to include magnetic fields into smooth particle hydrodynamics. The derivation of the self-gravitating hydrodynamics equations from a variational principle is discussed in some detail. The non-dissipative magnetic field evolution is instantiated by advecting so-called Euler potentials. This approach enforces the crucial $\nabla\cdot\vec{B}=0$-constraint by construction. These recent developments are implemented in our three-dimensional, self-gravitating magnetohydrodynamics code MAGMA. A suite of tests is presented that demonstrates the superiority of this new approach in comparison to previous implementations.
We propose a three-stage model with Blandford-Znajek (BZ) and hyperaccretion process to interpret the recent observations of early afterglows of Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs). In the first stage, the prompt GRB is powered by a rotating black hole (BH) invoking the BZ process. The second stage is a quiet stage, in which the BZ process is shut off, and the accretion onto the BH is depressed by the torque exerted by the magnetic coupling (MC) process. Part of the rotational energy transported by the MC process from the BH is stored in the disk as magnetic energy. In the third stage, the MC process is shut off when the magnetic energy in the disk accumulates and triggers the magnetic instability. At this moment, the hyperaccretion process may onset, and the jet launched in this restarted central engine generates the observed X-ray flares. This model can account for energies and timescales of GRBs with X-ray flares observed in early afterglows.
We study the distribution function (DF) of dark matter particles in haloes of mass range 10^{14}--10^{15}\Msun. In the numerical part of this work we measure the DF for a sample of relaxed haloes formed in the simulation of a standard \LambdaCDM model. The DF is expressed as a function of energy E and the absolute value of angular momentum L, a form suitable for comparison with theoretical models. We show that the DF can be effectively determined in terms of the anisotropy of particle orbits \beta(r) and by proper scaling we obtain results independent of the parameters of the density profile. We demonstrate that the DF can be separated into energy and angular momentum components and propose a phenomenological model of the DF in the form f_{E}(E)[1+L^{2}/(2L_{0}^{2})]^{-\beta_{\infty}+\beta_{0}}L^{-2\beta_{0}}. This formulation involves three parameters describing the anisotropy profile in terms of its asymptotic values (\beta_{0} and \beta_{\infty}) and the scale of transition between them (L_{0}). The energy part f_{E}(E) is obtained via inversion of the integral for spatial density. We provide a straightforward numerical scheme for this procedure as well as a simple analytical approximation for a typical halo formed in the simulation. The DF model is extensively compared with the simulations: using the model parameters obtained from fitting the anisotropy profile, we recover the DF from the simulation as well as the profiles of the dispersion and kurtosis of radial and tangential velocities. Finally, we show that our DF model reproduces the power-law behaviour of phase space density Q(r)=\rho(r)/\sigma^{3}(r).
We discuss work by the eSTAR project which demonstrates a fully closed loop autonomous system for the follow up of possible micro-lensing anomalies. Not only are the initial micro-lensing detections followed up in real time, but ongoing events are prioritised and continually monitored, with the returned data being analysed automatically. If the ``smart software'' running the observing campaign detects a planet-like anomaly, further follow-up will be scheduled autonomously and other telescopes and telescope networks alerted to the possible planetary detection. We further discuss the implications of this, and how such projects can be used to build more general autonomous observing and control systems.
We compare the Li abundances of a sample of stars with planets discovered with the Doppler method to a sample of stars without detected planets. We prepared the samples by combining the Li abundances reported in several recent studies in a consistent way. Our results confirm recent claims that the Li abundances of stars with planets are smaller than those of stars without planets near the solar temperature. We also find that the vsini and $R^{'}_{\rm HK}$ anomalies correlate with the Li abundance anomalies. These results suggest that planet formation processes have altered the rotation and Li abundances of stars that host Doppler detected planets. We encourage others to test these findings with additional observations of Li in stars with temperatures between 5600 and 6200 K.
Prior to the launch of the Swift mission several X-ray line detections were reported in Gamma Ray Burst afterglow spectra. To date, these pre-Swift era results have not been conclusively confirmed. The most contentious issue in this area is the choice of statistical method used to evaluate the significance of these features. In this paper we compare three different methods already extant in the literature for assessing the significance of possible line features and discuss their relative advantages and disadvantages. The methods are demonstrated by application to observations of 40 bursts from the archive of Swift XRT at early times (< few ks post trigger in the rest frame of the burst). Based on this thorough analysis we found no strong evidence for emission lines. For each of the three methods we have determined detection limits for emission line strengths in bursts with spectral parameters typical of the Swift-era sample. We also discuss the effects of the current calibration status on emission line detection.
Extragalactic transient searches have historically been limited to looking for the appearance of new sources such as supernovae. We propose a new kind of survey that will do the opposite, that is, search for the disappearance of massive stars. This will entail the systematic observation of galaxies within a distance of 10 Mpc in order to watch ~1 million supergiants. Reaching this critical number ensures that we will see something occur yearly, since these massive stars must end their lives with a core collapse within ~1 million years. Using deep imaging and image subtraction it is possible to determine the fates of these stars whether they end with a bang (supernova) or a whimper (fall out of sight). Such a survey would place completely new limits on the total rate of all core collapses, which is critical for determining the validity of supernova models. The designed sensitivity of such a survey will also allow us determine the properties of supernova progenitors, better characterize poorly understood optical transients, such as eta Carina-like mass ejections, find and characterize large numbers of Cepheids, luminous blue variables and eclipsing binaries, and allow the discovery of any new phenomena which inhabit this relatively unexplored parameter space.
We propose a cosmological scenario for the formation and evolution of dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs), satellites of the Milky Way (MW). An improved version of the semi-analytical code GAMETE (GAlaxy Merger Tree & Evolution) is used to follow the dSphs evolution simultaneously with the MW formation, matching the observed properties of both. In this scenario dSph galaxies represent fossil objects virializing at z = 7.2 +/- 0.7 (i.e. in the pre-reionization era z > z_rei = 6) in the MW environment, which at that epoch has already been pre-enriched up to [Fe/H] ~ -3; their dynamical masses are in the narrow range M = (1.6 +/- 0.7) x 10^8 M_sun, although a larger spread might be introduced by a more refined treatment of reionization. Mechanical feedback effects are dramatic in such low-mass objects, causing the complete blow-away of the gas ~100 Myr after the formation epoch: 99% of the present-day stellar mass, M_* = (3 +/- 0.7) x 10^6 M_sun, forms during this evolutionary phase, i.e. their age is >13 Gyr. Later on, star formation is re-ignited by returned gas from evolved stars and a second blow-away occurs. The cycle continues for about 1 Gyr during which star formation is intermittent. At z = 0 the dSph gas content is M_g = (2.68 +/- 0.97) x 10^4 M_sun. Our results match several observed properties of Sculptor, used as a template of dSphs: (i) the Metallicity Distribution Function; (ii) the Color Magnitude Diagram; (iii) the decrement of the stellar [O/Fe] abundance ratio for [Fe/H] > -1.5; (iv) the dark matter content and the light-to-mass ratio; (v) the HI gas mass content.
Standard cosmology is based on the assumption that the universe is spatially homogeneous. However the consensus on a homogeneous matter structure, even on very large scales, has never been complete. The advantage of correlation dimension calculations is that they enable one to obtain the transition scale to a homogeneous distribution, whereas other methods, such as those using the two-point correlation function, make it hard to exhibit the possible fractal properties of the Universe matter content. Our purpose is to calculate the correlation dimension $D_2$, looking for a possible transition to homogeneity, which would imply $D_2 = 3$. We apply the correlation integral method to the three dimensional sample composed of 332,876 galaxies which we extract from the Fifth Data Release of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We analyze the raw data up to the scale $d_{max} = 160$ Mpc, assuming $H_0 = 70$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$ and considering three cosmological models in order to test the model dependence of our method. Using volume limited samples for this range leaves us with about 20,000 galaxies. Applying our method to random maps helps us to calibrate our results. We obtain a correlation dimension of the galaxy distribution which seems to increase with scales up to $D_2=3$ reached around 70 Mpc. The results of our analysis, performed on the largest volume limited sample which can be extracted from the SDSS catalog, are compatible with those formerly obtained by other authors. However, to get a more reliable description of the structures at various scales, we think it will be mandatory to use still larger catalogs than those which are currently available.
Using a sample of 14 BeppoSAX and 53 Swift GRBs with measured redshift we tested the correlation between the intrinsic peak energy of the time-integrated spectrum, E_p,i, the isotropic-equivalent peak luminosity, L_p,iso, and the duration of the most intense parts of the GRB computed as T_0.45 ("Firmani correlation"). For 32 out of 67 GRBs we could estimate all of the three required properties. Apart from 980425, which appears to be a definite outlier and notoriously peculiar in many respects, we used 31 GRBs to fit the correlation with the D'Agostini method, suitable to account for the extrinsic scatter in addition to the intrinsic uncertainties affecting the single GRBs. We confirm the correlation. However, unlike the results by Firmani et al., we found that the correlation does have a logarithmic scatter comparable with that of the E_p,i - E_iso ("Amati") correlation. We also find that the slope of the product L_p,iso T_0.45 is equal to ~0.5, which is consistent with the hypothesis that the E_p,i - L_p,iso - T_0.45 correlation is equivalent to the E_p,i - E_iso correlation (slope ~0.5). We conclude that, based on presently available data, there is no clear evidence that the E_p,i - L_p,iso - T_0.45 correlation is different (both in terms of slope and dispersion) from the E_p,i - E_iso correlation.
We confirm the reality of a reversal of the sign of the Faraday Rotation Measure in the Galactic plane in Cygnus (Lazio et al, 1990), possibly associated with the Cygnus OB1 association. The rotation measure changes by several hundred rad/m$^2$ over an angular scale of $2-5^{\circ}$. We show that a simple model of an expanding plasma shell with an enhanced density and magnetic field, consistent with observations of H$\alpha$ emission in this part of sky, and physically associated with a superbubble of the Cygnus OB1 association, can account for the magnitude and angular scale of this feature.
Various observations of magnetic fields in the Intra-Cluster Medium (ICM), most of the time restricted to cluster cores, point towards field strength of the order of a few microG (synchrotron radiation from radio relics and radio halos, inverse Compton radiation in X-rays and Faraday rotation measure of polarised background sources). Both the origin and the spatial structure of galaxy clusters magnetic fields are still under debate. In particular, the radial profile of the magnetic field, from the core of clusters to their outskirts, is of great importance for cosmic rays propagation within the Cosmic Web. In this letter, we highlight the importance of cooling processes in amplifying the magnetic field in the core of galaxy clusters up to one order of magnitude above the typical amplification obtained for a pure adiabatic evolution. We have performed a ``zoom'' cosmological simulation of a 3 keV cluster, including dark matter and gas dynamics, atomic cooling, UV heating and star formation using the newly developed MHD solver in the AMR code RAMSES. Magnetic field amplification proceeds mainly through gravitational contraction. Shearing motions due to turbulence provide additional amplification in the outskirts of the cluster, while magnetic reconnection during mergers causes magnetic field dissipation in the core. Cooling processes have a strong impact on the magnetic field structure in the cluster. First, due to the sharp rise of the gas density in the centre, gravitational amplification is significantly amplified, when compared to the non--radiative run. Second, due to cooling processes, shearing motions are much stronger in the core than in the adiabatic case, leading to additional field amplification and no significant magnetic reconnection.
Monte Carlo calculations of the O Kalpha line fluoresced by coronal X-rays and emitted just above the temperature minimum region of the solar atmosphere have been employed to investigate the use of this feature as an abundance diagnostic. While quite weak, we estimate line equivalent widths in the range 0.02-0.2 AA, depending on the X-ray plasma temperature. The line remains essentially uncontaminated by blends for coronal temperatures T =< 3e6 K and should be quite observable, with a flux >~ 2 ph/s/arcmin^2. Model calculations for solar chemical mixtures with an O abundance adjusted up and down by a factor of 2 indicate 35-60% changes in O Kalpha line equivalent width, providing a potentially useful O abundance diagnostic. Sensitivity of equivalent width to differences between recently recommended chemical compositions with ``high'' and ``low'' complements of the CNO trio important for interpreting helioseismological observations is less accute, amounting to 20-26% at coronal temperatures T ~< 2e6 K. While still feasible for discriminating between these two mixtures, uncertainties in measured line equivalent widths and in the models used for interpretation would need to be significantly less than 20%. Provided a sensitive X-ray spectrometer with resolving power >= 1000 and suitably well-behaved instrumental profile can be built, X-ray fluorescence presents a viable means for resolving the solar ``oxygen crisis''.
One of the problems of constructing a successful cyclic universe scenario is that it has to incorporate the second law of thermodynamics. This leads to Tolman's ever shrinking cycles which eventually vanish at a finite proper time in the past. In this paper we construct a theoretically consistent (ghost-free) non-singular toy model where as the cycles shrink in the past they also spend more and more time in the Hagedorn phase where all the string states are in thermal equilibrium and entropy is conserved. Thus in such a scenario the entropy asymptotes to a finite non-zero constant in the infinite past. The universe ``emerges'' from a small (string size) geodesically complete quasi-periodic space-time. This paradigm also naturally addresses some of the classic puzzles of Big Bang cosmology, such as the largeness, horizon and flatness problems.
We study the spectrum of cosmological fluctuations in the D3/D7 brane inflationary universe with particular attention to the parametric excitation of entropy modes during the reheating stage. The same tachyonic instability which renders reheating in this model very rapid leads to an exponential growth of entropy fluctuations during the preheating stage which in turn induces a large contribution to the large-scale curvature fluctuations. We take into account the effects of long wavelength quantum fluctuations in the matter fields. As part of this work, we perform an analytical analysis of the reheating process. We find that the initial stage of preheating proceeds by the tachyonic instability channel. An upper bound on the time it takes for the energy initially stored in the inflaton field to convert into fluctuations is obtained by neglecting the local fluctuations produced during the period of tachyonic decay and analyzing the decay of the residual homogeneous field oscillations, which proceeds by parametric resonance. We show that in spite of the fact that the resonance is of narrow-band type, it is sufficiently efficient to rapidly convert most of the energy of the background fields into matter fluctuations.
We show that the entropy created by Ohmic dissipation inside an accreting charged black hole may exceed the Bekenstein-Hawking entropy by a large factor. The second law of thermodynamics does not hold on spacelike slices inside these model black holes, even when the slices avoid Planck scale densities and curvatures. This result is distinct from, but consistent with, the fact that there is no entropy bound for spacelike surfaces. Lightlike slices do obey an entropy bound, and in the model black holes, lightlike slices also obey the second law.
We examine the energy losses of a small black hole passing through the Earth, and in particular, the excitations created in the frequency range accessible to modern acoustic detectors. The dominating contributions to the effect are due to the coherent sound radiation of the Cherenkov type and to the conversion of black hole radiation into sound waves.
I recall the place of neutrinos in the electroweak theory and summarize what we know about neutrino mass and flavor change. I next review the essential characteristics expected for relic neutrinos and survey what we can say about the neutrino contribution to the dark matter of the Universe. Then I discuss the standard-model interactions of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos, paying attention to the consequences of neutrino oscillations, and illustrate a few topics of interest to neutrino observatories. I conclude with short comments on the remote possibility of detecting relic neutrinos through annihilations of ultrahigh-energy neutrinos at the $Z$ resonance.
Transfer matrix method gives underlying dynamics of a multifractal. In the present studies transfer matrix method is applied to multifractal properties of Cherenkov image from which probabilities of electromagnetic components are obtained.
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Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) are ideal for studying the production of X-ray emission by their strong fast stellar winds. We have started a systematic survey for X-ray emission from WR stars in the MCs using archival Chandra, ROSAT, and XMM-Newton observations. In Paper I, we reported the detection of X-ray emission from 29 WR stars using Chandra ACIS observations of 70 WR stars in the MCs. In this paper, we report the search and analysis of archival ROSAT PSPC and HRI observations of WR stars. While useful ROSAT observations are available for 117 WR stars in the MCs, X-ray emission is detected from only 7 of them. The detection rate of X-ray emission from MCs WR stars in the ROSAT survey is much smaller than in the Chandra ACIS survey, illustrating the necessity of high angular resolution and sensitivity. LMC-WR 101-102 and 116 were detected by both ROSAT and Chandra, but no large long-term variations are evident.
We have investigated the radio emission from the anomalous X-ray pulsar 1E 1547.0-5408 (PSR J1550-5418) using the Parkes telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array. The flux density of the pulsar is roughly the same between 1.4 and 45 GHz, but shows time variability. The radiation is nearly 100% linearly polarized between frequencies of 45 and 3.2 GHz, but from 2.3 to 1.4 GHz it becomes increasingly more depolarized. The rotation measure of -1860 rad/m^2 is the largest for any known pulsar, and implies an average magnetic field strength along the line of sight of 2.7 microG. The pulse profiles are circularly polarized at all frequencies observed, more so at lower frequencies, at the ~15% level. The observed swing of the position angle of linear polarization as a function of pulse phase suggests that in this neutron star the rotation and magnetic axes are nearly aligned, and that its radio emission is only detectable within a small solid angle. Timing measurements indicate that the period derivative of this 2 s pulsar has increased by nearly 40% in a 6-month period. The flat spectrum and variability in flux density and pulse profiles are reminiscent of the properties of XTE J1810-197, the only other known radio-emitting magnetar, and are anomalous by comparison with those of ordinary radio pulsars.
I review both well established and more recent findings on the properties of bars, and their host galaxies, stemming from photometric and spectroscopic observations, and discuss how these findings can be understood in terms of a global picture of the formation and evolution of bars, keeping a connection with theoretical developments. In particular, I show the results of a detailed structural analysis of ~ 300 barred galaxies in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, providing physical quantities, such as bar length, ellipticity and boxyness, and bar-to-total luminosity ratio, that can either be used as a solid basis on which realistic models can be built, or be compared against more fundamental theoretical results. I also show correlations that indicate that bars grow longer, thinner and stronger with dynamical age, and that the growth of bars and bulges is connected. Finally, I briefly discuss open questions and possible directions for future research.
We present evidence for cosmological gas accretion onto spiral galaxies in the local universe. The accretion is seen through its effects on the dynamics of the extra-planar neutral gas. The accretion rates that we estimate for two nearby spiral galaxies are of the order of their star formation rates. Our model shows that most of the extra-planar gas is produced by supernova feedback (galactic fountain) and only 10-20 % comes from accretion. The accreting material must have low specific angular momentum about the disc's spin axis, although the magnitude of the specific angular-momentum vector can be higher. We also explore the effects of a hot corona on the dynamics of the extra-planar gas and find that it is unlikely to be responsible for the observed kinematical pattern and the source of accreted gas. However, the interaction with the fountain flow should profoundly affect the hydrodynamics of the corona.
We present estimates of the photometric redshifts, stellar masses and star formation histories of sources in the SCUBA HAlf Degree Extragalactic Survey (SHADES). This paper describes the 60 SCUBA sources detected in the Lockman Hole covering an area of ~320 square arcmin. Using photometry spanning the B band to 8um, we find that the average SCUBA source forms a significant fraction of its stars in an early period of star formation and that most of the remainder forms in a shorter more intense burst around the redshift it is observed. This trend does not vary significantly with source redshift but the exact ratio of early to late mass is quite sensitive to the way extinction is treated in the modelling. However, the sources show a clear increase in stellar mass with redshift, consistent with downsizing. In terms of SED types, only two out of the 51 sources we have obtained photometric redshifts for are best fit by a quasar-like spectral energy distribution, with approximately 80 per cent of the sources being best fit with late-type spectra (Sc, Im and starburst). By including photometry at 850um, we conclude that the average SCUBA source is forming stars at a rate somewhere between 6 and 30 times the rate implied from the rest-frame optical in a dust obscured burst and that this burst creates 15-65 per cent of the total stellar mass. Using a simplistic calculation, we estimate from the average star formation history that between one in five and one in 15 bright (L_* +2 mag < L_optical < L_* -1 mag) galaxies in the field over the interval 0 < z < 3 will at some point in their lifetime experience a similar energetic dusty burst of star formation. Finally, we compute the evolution of the star formation rate density and find it peaks around z=2.
We apply the Minimum Description Length model selection approach to the detection of extra-solar planets, and use this example to show how specification of the experimental design affects the prior distribution on the model parameter space and hence the posterior likelihood which, in turn, determines which model is regarded as most `correct'. Our analysis shows how conditioning on the experimental design can render a non-compact parameter space effectively compact, so that the MDL model selection problem becomes well-defined.
A deep Chandra observation of the cooling core cluster Abell 4059 (A4059) is presented. Previous studies have found two X-ray cavities in the central regions of A4059 together with a ridge of X-ray emission 20kpc south-west of the cluster center. These features are clearly related to the radio galaxy PKS2354-35 which resides in the cD galaxy. Our new data confirm these previous findings and strengthen previous suggestions that the south-western ridge is colder and denser than, but in approximate pressure equilibrium with, the surrounding ICM atmosphere. In addition, we find evidence for a weak shock that wraps around the north and east sides of the cavity structure. Our data allow us to map the 2-dimensional distribution of metals in the ICM of A4059 for the first time. We find that the SW ridge possesses an anomalously high (super-solar) metalicity. The unusual morphology, temperature structure and metal distribution all point to significant asymmetry in the ICM atmosphere prior to the onset of radio-galaxy activity. Motivated by the very high metalicity of the SW ridge, we hypothesize that the ICM asymmetry was caused by the extremely rapid stripping of metal enriched gas from a starburst galaxy that plunged through the core of A4059. Furthermore, we suggest that the onset of powerful radio-galaxy activity in the cD galaxy may have been initiated by this starburst/stripping event, either via the tidal-shocking of cold gas native to the cD galaxy, or the accretion of cold gas that had been stripped from the starburst galaxy.
We report a discovery of an extended globular-like star cluster, M33-EC1, at the outer edge of the spiral galaxy M33. The distance to the cluster is 890 kpc, and it lies at a 12.5 kpc projected distance from the center of M33. Old age (>~7 Gyr) and low metallicity ([M/H] <~ -1.4) are estimated on the basis of isochrone fits. Color-magnitude diagrams of stars, located in the cluster's area, photometric and structural parameters of the cluster are presented. Cluster's luminosity (M_V = -6.6) and half-light radius (r_h = 20.3 pc) are comparable to those of the extended globular clusters, discovered in more luminous Local Group galaxies, the Milky Way and M31. Extended globular clusters are suspected to be remnants of accreted dwarf galaxies, and the finding of such a cluster in the late-type dwarf spiral galaxy M33 would imply a complex merging history in the past.
Wolf-Rayet (WR) stars are evolved massive stars with strong fast stellar winds. WR stars in our Galaxy have shown three possible sources of X-ray emission associated with their winds: shocks in the winds, colliding stellar winds, and wind-blown bubbles; however, quantitative analyses of observations are often hampered by uncertainties in distances and heavy foreground absorption. These problems are mitigated in the Magellanic Clouds (MCs), which are at known distances and have small foreground and internal extinction. We have therefore started a survey of X-ray emission associated with WR stars in the MCs using archival Chandra, ROSAT, and XMM-Newton observations. In the first paper of this series, we report the results for 70 WR stars in the MCs using 192 archival Chandra ACIS observations. X-ray emission is detected from 29 WR stars. We have investigated their X-ray spectral properties, luminosities, and temporal variability. These X-ray sources all have luminosities greater than a few times 10^32 ergs s^-1, with spectra indicative of highly absorbed emission from a thin plasma at high temperatures typical of colliding winds in WR+OB binary systems. Significant X-ray variability with periods ranging from a few hours up to ~20 days is seen associated with several WR stars. In most of these cases, the X-ray variability can be linked to the orbital motion of the WR star in a binary system, further supporting the colliding wind scenario for the origin of the X-ray emission from these stars.
We update constraints on the Hubble function H(phi) during inflation, using the most recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS) data. Our main focus is on a comparison between various commonly used methods of calculating the primordial power spectrum via analytical approximations and the results obtained by integrating the exact equations numerically. In each case, we impose naive, minimally restrictive priors on the duration of inflation. We find that the choice of priors has an impact on the results: the bounds on inflationary parameters can vary by up to a factor two. Nevertheless, it should be noted that within the region allowed by the minimal prior of the exact method, the accuracy of the approximations is sufficient for current data. We caution however that a careless minimal implementation of the approximative methods allows models for which the assumptions behind the analytical approximations fail, and recommend using the exact numerical method for a self-consistent analysis of cosmological data.
Ultraluminous supersoft X-ray sources (ULSSS) exhibit supersoft spectra with blackbody temperatures of 50-100 eV and bolometric luminosities above $10^{39}$ erg s$^{-1}$, and are possibly intermediate mass black holes (IMBHs) of $\ge10^3 M_\odot$ or massive white dwarfs that are progenitors of type Ia supernovae. In this letter we report our optical studies of such a source in M81, M81-ULS1, with HST archive observations. M81-ULS1 is identified with a point-like object, the spectral energy distribution of which reveals a blue component in addition to the companion of an AGB star. The blue component is consistent with the power-law as expected from the geometrically-thin accretion disk around an IMBH accretor, but inconsistent with the power-law as expected from the X-ray irradiated flared accretion disk around a white dwarf accretor. This result is strong evidence that M81-ULS1 is an IMBH instead of a white dwarf.
We study the origin and properties of 'extra' or 'excess' central light in the surface brightness profiles of gas-rich merger remnants. Combining a large set of hydrodynamical simulations with data on observed mergers (spanning a broad range of profiles at various masses and degrees of relaxation), we show how to robustly separate the physically meaningful extra light -- stellar populations formed in a compact central starburst during a gas-rich merger -- from the outer profile established by violent relaxation acting on stars already present in the progenitors prior to the final merger. This separation is sensitive to the profile treatment, and we demonstrate that certain fitting procedures can yield physically misleading results. We show that our method reliably recovers the younger starburst population, and examine how the properties of this component scale with mass, gas content, and other aspects of the progenitors. We consider the time evolution of profiles in different bands, and estimate biases introduced by observational studies at different times and wavelengths. We show that extra light is ubiquitous in observed and simulated gas-rich merger remnants, with sufficient mass (~3-30% of the stellar mass) to explain the discrepancy in the maximum phase-space densities of ellipticals and their progenitor spirals. The nature of this central component provides powerful new constraints on the formation histories of observed systems.
We present the results from realistic N-body modelling of massive star clusters in the Magellanic Clouds. We have computed eight simulations with N ~ 10^5 particles; six of these were evolved for at least a Hubble time. The aim of this modelling is to examine the possibility of large-scale core expansion in massive star clusters and search for a viable dynamical origin for the radius-age trend observed for such objects in the Magellanic Clouds. We identify two physical processes which can lead to significant and prolonged cluster core expansion: mass-loss due to rapid stellar evolution in a primordially mass segregated cluster, and heating due to a retained population of stellar-mass black holes. These two processes operate over different time-scales - the former occurs only at early times and cannot drive core expansion for longer than a few hundred Myr, while the latter typically does not begin until several hundred Myr have passed but can result in core expansion lasting for many Gyr. We investigate the behaviour of these expansion mechanisms in clusters with varying degrees of primordial mass segregation and in clusters with varying black hole retention fractions. In combination, the two processes can lead to a wide variety of evolutionary paths on the radius-age plane, which fully cover the observed cluster distribution and hence define a dynamical origin for the radius-age trend in the Magellanic Clouds. We discuss the implications of core expansion for various aspects of globular cluster research, as well as the possibility of observationally inferring the presence of a population of stellar-mass black holes in a cluster.
We use detailed simulations of the Gaia observations of synthetic planetary systems and develop and utilize independent software codes in double-blind mode to analyze the data, including statistical tools for planet detection and different algorithms for single and multiple Keplerian orbit fitting that use no a priori knowledge of the true orbital parameters of the systems. 1) Planets with astrometric signatures $\alpha\simeq 3$ times the single-measurement error $\sigma_\psi$ and period $P\leq 5$ yr can be detected reliably, with a very small number of false positives. 2) At twice the detection limit, uncertainties in orbital parameters and masses are typically $15%-20%$. 3) Over 70% of two-planet systems with well-separated periods in the range $0.2\leq P\leq 9$ yr, $2\leq\alpha/\sigma_\psi\leq 50$, and eccentricity $e\leq 0.6$ are correctly identified. 4) Favorable orbital configurations have orbital elements measured to better than 10% accuracy $> 90%$ of the time, and the value of the mutual inclination angle determined with uncertainties $\leq 10^{\degr}$. 5) Finally, uncertainties obtained from the fitting procedures are a good estimate of the actual errors. Extrapolating from the present-day statistical properties of the exoplanet sample, the results imply that a Gaia with $\sigma_\psi$ = 8 $\mu$as, in its unbiased and complete magnitude-limited census of planetary systems, will measure several thousand giant planets out to 3-4 AUs from stars within 200 pc, and will characterize hundreds of multiple-planet systems, including meaningful coplanarity tests. Finally, we put Gaia into context, identifying several areas of planetary-system science in which Gaia can be expected to have a relevant impact, when combined with data coming from other ongoing and future planet search programs.
We present an atlas of three-dimensional (position-position-velocity) spectra of the Orion Nebula in optical emission lines from a variety of different ionization stages: [O I] 6300, [S II] 6716,6731, [N II] 6584, [S III] 6312, H alpha 6563, and [O III] 5007. These transitions provide point to point information about the physical structure and kinematics of the nebula at an effective resolution of 3'' x 2'' x 10 km/s, clearly showing the large scale behavior of the ionized gas and the presence of localized phenomena such as Herbig-Haro outflows. As an example application of the atlas, we present a statistical analysis of the widths of the H alpha, [O III], and [N II] lines that permits a determination of the mean electron temperature in the nebula of (9200 +/- 400) K. We also find, in contradiction to previous claims, that the non-thermal line broadening is not significantly different between recombination lines and collisional lines.
The past few years have seen great progress in observing oscillations in solar-type stars, lying on or just above the main sequence. We review the most recent results, most of which were obtained using high-precision velocity measurements. We also briefly discuss observations of more evolved stars, namely G, K and M giants and supergiants.
We compare the performance of two automated classification algorithms: k-dimensional tree (kd-tree) and support vector machines (SVMs), to separate quasars from stars in the databases of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) catalogs. The two algorithms are trained on subsets of SDSS and 2MASS objects whose nature is known via spectroscopy. We choose different attribute combination as input patterns to train the classifier using photometric data only and present the classification results obtained by these two methods. Performance metrics such as precision and recall, true positive rate and true negative rate, F-measure, G-mean and Weighted Accuracy are computed to evaluate the performance of the two algorithms. The study shows that both kd-tree and SVMs are effective automated algorithms to classify point sources. SVMs show slightly higher accuracy, but kd-tree requires less computation time. Given different input patterns based on various parameters(e.g. magnitudes, color information), we conclude that both kd-tree and SVMs show better performance with fewer features. What is more, our results also indicate that the accuracy using the four colors (u-g, g-r, r-i, i-z) and r magnitude based on SDSS model magnitudes adds up to the highest value. The classifiers trained by kd-tree and SVMs can be used to solve the automated classification problems faced by the virtual observatory (VO); moreover, they all can be applied for the photometric preselection of quasar candidates for large survey projects in order to optimize the efficiency of telescopes.
Sensitive, high resolution images of the double-double radio galaxy PKS B1545-321 reveal detailed structure, which we interpret in the light of previous work on the interaction of restarted jets with pre-existing relict cocoons. We have also examined the spectral and polarization properties of the source, the color distribution in the optical host and the environment of this galaxy in order to understand its physical evolution. We propose that the restarted jets generate narrow bow shocks and that the inner lobes are a mixture of cocoon plasma reaccelerated at the bow shock and new jet material reaccelerated at the termination shock. The dynamics of the restarted jets implies that their hot spots advance at mildly relativistic speeds with external Mach numbers of at least 5. The existence of supersonic hot spot Mach numbers and bright inner lobes is the result of entrainment causing a reduction in the sound speed of the pre-existing cocoon. The interruption to jet activity in PKS B1545-321 has been brief - lasting less than a few percent of the lifetime $\sim (0.3-2)\times 10^{8} yr$ of the giant radio source. The host galaxy is located at the boundary of a large scale filamentary structure, and shows blue patches in color distribution indicative of a recent merger, which may have triggered the Mpc-scale radio galaxy.
The blazar, S5 2007+77 shows intraday variability in cm wavelengths. Seven epochs of VSOP observations were carried out in 1998 and 1999 at 5 GHz to look for the origin of the variability with the highest achievable angular resolution at cm wavelengths. Here the results of four epochs are analysed, which revealed ~10% variations in polarized flux density.
We revisit the "dynamical shakeup" model of Solar System terrestrial planet formation, wherein the whole process is driven by the sweeping of Jupiter's secular resonance as the gas disk is removed. Using a large number of 0.5 Gyr-long N-body simulations, we investigate the different outcomes produced by such a scenario. We confirm that in contrast to existing models, secular resonance sweeping combined with tidal damping by the disk gas can reproduce the low eccentricities and inclinations, and high radial mass concentration, of the Solar System terrestrial planets. At the same time, this also drives the final assemblage of the planets on a timescale of several tens of millions of years, an order of magnitude faster than inferred from previous numerical simulations which neglected these effects, but possibly in better agreement with timescales inferred from cosmochemical data. In addition, we find that significant delivery of water-rich material from the outer Asteroid Belt is a natural byproduct.
Cosmological models involving an interaction between dark matter and dark energy have been proposed in order to solve the so-called coincidence problem. Different forms of coupling have been studied, but there have been claims that observational data seem to narrow (some of) them down to something annoyingly close to the $\Lambda$CDM model, thus greatly reducing their ability to deal with the problem in the first place. The smallness problem of the initial energy density of dark energy has also been a target of cosmological models in recent years. Making use of a moderately general coupling scheme, this paper aims to unite these different approaches and shed some light as to whether this class of models has any true perspective in suppressing the aforementioned issues that plague our current understanding of the universe, in a quantitative and unambiguous way.
The goal of our serial papers is to examine the evolutionary connection between AGN and star formation in its host galaxy in the partially obscured AGNs (i.e., Seyfert 1.8 and 1.9 galaxies). Taking advantage of these galaxies, the properties of both components can be studied together by direct measurements. In this paper, we focus on the broad-line composite galaxies (composite AGNs) which are located between the theoretical and empirical separation lines in the [NII]/Ha vs. [OIII]/Hb diagram. These galaxies are searched for from the composite galaxies provided by the SDSS DR4 MPA/JHU catalogs. After re-analyze the spectra, we perform a fine classification for the 85 composite AGNs in terms of the BPT diagrams. All the objects located below the three theoretical separation lines are associated with a young stellar population (<1Gyrs), while either a young or old stellar population is identified in the individual multiply-classified object. The multiply-classified objects with a very old stellar population are located in the LINER region in the [OI]/Ha vs. [OIII]/Hb diagram. We then consider the connection between AGN and star formation to derive the key results. The Eddington ratio inferred from the broad Ha emission, the age of the stellar population of AGN's host as assessed by D_n(4000), and the line ratio [OI]/Ha are found to be related with each other. These relations strongly support the evolutionary scenario in which AGNs evolve from high L/L_Edd state with soft spectrum to low L/L_Edd state with hard spectrum as young stellar population ages and fades. The significant correlation between the line ratio [OI]/Ha and D_n(4000) leads us to suggest that the line ratio could be used to trace the age of stellar population in type I AGNs.
Aims. To study intensity oscillations in the solar chromosphere/corona above a quiet-Sun magnetic network. Methods. We analyse the time series of He II 256.32, Fe XI 188.23 and Fe XII 195.12 spectral lines observed by EUV Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on board Hinode near the south pole. Then we use a standard wavelet tool to produce power spectra of intensity oscillations above the magnetic network. Results. We get ~7 min intensity oscillations in all spectral lines and ~13 min intensity oscillations only in He II with the probability of ~96-98 %, which probably reflects the process of magneto-acoustic wave propagation above the network. Conclusions. We suggest that field-free cavity areas under bipolar magnetic canopies in the vicinity of magnetic network may serve as resonators for the magneto-acoustic waves. The cavities with photospheric sound speed and granular dimensions may produce the waves with the observed periods. The waves may propagate upwards in the transition region/corona and cause observed intensity oscillations.
ASTROD I is a planned interplanetary space mission with multiple goals. The primary aims are: to test General Relativity with an improvement in sensitivity of over 3 orders of magnitude, improving our understanding of gravity and aiding the development of a new quantum gravity theory; to measure key solar system parameters with increased accuracy, advancing solar physics and our knowledge of the solar system and to measure the time rate of change of the gravitational constant with an order of magnitude improvement and the anomalous Pioneer acceleration, thereby probing dark matter and dark energy gravitationally. It is an international project, with major contributions from Europe and China and is envisaged as the first in a series of ASTROD missions. ASTROD I will consist of one spacecraft carrying a telescope, four lasers, two event timers and a clock. Two-way, two-wavelength laser pulse ranging will be used between the spacecraft in a solar orbit and deep space laser stations on Earth, to achieve the ASTROD I goals. A second mission, ASTROD II is envisaged as a three-spacecraft mission which would test General Relativity to one part per billion, enable detection of solar g-modes, measure the solar Lense-Thirring effect to 10 parts per million, and probe gravitational waves at frequencies below the LISA bandwidth. In the third phase (ASTROD III or Super-ASTROD), larger orbits could be implemented to map the outer solar system and to probe primordial gravitational-waves at frequencies below the ASTROD II bandwidth.
Following re-analysis of Hubble Space Telescope observations of primary transits of the extrasolar planet HD209458b at Lyman-alpha, Ben-Jaffel (2007, BJ007) claims that no sign of evaporation is observed. Here we show that, in fact, this new analysis is consistent with the one of Vidal-Madjar et al. (2003, VM003) and supports the detection of evaporation. The apparent disagreement is mainly due to the disparate wavelength ranges that are used to derive the transit absorption depth. VM003 derives a (15+/-4)% absorption depth during transit over the core of the stellar Lyman-alpha line (from -130 km/s to +100 km/s), and this result agrees with the (8.9+/-2.1)% absorption depth reported by BJ007 from a slightly expanded dataset but over a larger wavelength range (+/-200 km/s). These measurements agree also with the (5+/-2)% absorption reported by Vidal-Madjar et al. (2004) over the whole Lyman-alpha line from independent, lower-resolution data. We show that stellar Lyman-alpha variability is unlikely to significantly affect those detections. The HI atoms must necessarily have velocities above the escape velocities and/or be outside the Roche lobe, given the lobe shape and orientation. Absorption by HI in HD209458b's atmosphere has thus been detected with different datasets, and now with independent analyses. All these results strengthen the concept of evaporating hot-Jupiters, as well as the modelization of this phenomenon.
We calculate the tree-level bispectrum of the inflaton field perturbation directly from the field equations, and construct the corresponding f_NL parameter. Our results agree with previous ones derived from the Lagrangian. We argue that quantum theory should only be used to calculate the correlators when they first become classical a few Hubble times after horizon exit, the classical evolution taking over thereafter.
We study the excitation and damping of transverse oscillations in a multi-stranded model of a straight line-tied coronal loop. The transverse geometry of our equilibrium configuration is quite irregular and more realistic than the usual cylindrical loop model. By numerically solving the time-dependent ideal magnetohydrodynamic equations in two dimensions we show how the global motion of the whole bundle of strands, excited by an external disturbance, is converted into localized Alfv\'enic motions due to the process of resonant absorption. This process produces the attenuation of the transverse oscillations. At any location in the structure two dominant frequencies are found, the frequency of the global mode, or quasi-mode, and the local Alfv\'en frequency. We find that the mechanism of mode conversion, due to the coupling between fast and Alfv\'en waves, is not compromised by the complicated geometry of the model. We also show that it is possible to have energy conversion not only at the external edge of the composite loop but also inside the structure. The implications of these results and their relationship with the observations are discussed.
Context: The detection of narrow SiO lines toward the young shocks of the L1448-mm outflow has been interpreted as a signature of the magnetic precursor of C-shocks. In contrast with the low SiO abundances (<10E-12) in the ambient gas, the narrow SiO emission at almost ambient velocities reveals enhanced SiO abundances of 10E-11. This enhancement has been proposed to be produced by the sputtering of the grain mantles at the first stages of C-shocks. However, modelling of the sputtering of grains has usually averaged the SiO abundances over the dissipation region of C-shocks, which cannot explain the recent observations. Aims: To model the evolution of the gas phase abundances of SiO, CH3OH and H2O, produced by the sputtering of grains as the shock propagates through the ambient gas. Methods: We propose a parametric model to describe the physical structure of C-shocks as a function of time. Using the known sputtering yields for water mantles (with minor constituents like silicon and CH3OH) and olivine cores by collisions with H2, He, C, O, Si, Fe and CO, we follow the evolution of the abundances of silicon, CH3OH and H2O ejected from grains. Results: The evolution of these abundances shows that CO seems to be the most efficient sputtering agent in low velocity shocks. The velocity threshold for the sputtering of silicon from the grain mantles is reduced by 5-10 km s-1 by CO compared to other models. The sputtering by CO can generate SiO abundances of 10E-11 at the early stages of low velocity shocks, consistent with those observed in the magnetic precursor of L1448-mm. Our model also satisfactorily reproduce the progressive enhancement of SiO, CH3OH and H2O observed in this outflow by the coexistence of two shocks with vs=30 and 60kms-1 within the same region.
The parameters of cosmological model with cold dark matter and cosmological constant (Lambda CDM) have been determined on a basis of three-year cosmic microwave background observations by space mission WMAP, as well as the data on the large-scale structure of the Universe. The data cover scales from 1 up to 10000 Mpc. The best-fit values of LambdaCDM model parameters were found by minimization of chi^2 using the Levenberg-Markquardt approach (Omega_Lambda=0.736+-0.065, Omega_m=0.238+-0.080, Omega_b=0.05+-0.011, h=0.68+- 0.09, sigma_8=0.73+-0.08 and n_s=0.96+-0.015). It is shown that the LambdaCDM model with these values of the parameters agrees well with the angular power spectrum of cosmic microwave background and with power spectra of the density perturbations, estimated from spatial distributions of galaxies, rich galaxy clusters and from statistics of Ly_alpha absorption lines in spectra of distant quasars as well. The accordance of modeled characteristics of the large-scale structure with observable ones was analyzed, and possible reasons of significant discrepancies between some of them were considered.
We present the first results on the analysis of the structures observed in the jet of the quasar 0836+710. We obtain the ridge lines of the jet at different epochs and several frequencies. We interpret the oscillatory structures obtained as waves that can be attached to the growth of instabilities. We explain how to derive information on the nature and origin of these structures by fitting together the ridge lines at different epochs and frequencies. Finally we show the predictive power of this approach: by generating an artificial wave and applying the corresponding relativistic and projection effects we show that apparent changes in the jet direction in the inner regions of jets can be attached to the transversal motion of structures.
The photometric and kinematic properties of Sb NGC 1292 suggest it hosts a pseudobulge. The properties of the stellar population of such a pseudobulge are consistent with a slow buildup within a scenario of secular evolution.
The Wide-field High-resolution Infrared TElescope (WHITE) will be dedicated
in the first years of its life to carrying out a few (well focused in terms of
science objectives and time) legacy surveys.
WHITE would have an angular resolution of ~0.3'' homogeneous over ~0.7 sq.
deg. in the wavelength range 1 - 5 um, which means that we will very
efficiently use all the available observational time during night time and day
time. Moreover, the deepest observations will be performed by summing up
shorter individual frames. We will have a temporal information that can be used
to study variable objects.
The three key science objectives of WHITE are : 1) A complete survey of the
Magellanic Clouds to make a complete census of young stellar objects in the
clouds and in the bridge and to study their star formation history and the link
with the Milky Way. The interaction of the two clouds with our Galaxy might the
closest example of a minor merging event that could be the main driver of
galaxy evolution in the last 5 Gyrs. 2) The building of the first sample of
dusty supernovae at z<1.2 in the near infrared range (1-5 um) to constrain the
equation of state from these obscured objects, study the formation of dust in
galaxies and build the first high resolution sample of high redshift galaxies
observed in their optical frame 3) A very wide weak lensing survey over that
would allow to estimate the equation of state in a way that would favourably
compete with space projects.
Hard X-Ray bremsstrahlung continuum spectra, such as from solar flares, are commonly described in terms of power-law fits, either to the photon spectra themselves or to the electron spectra responsible for them. In applications various approximate relations between electron and photon spectral indices are often used for energies both above and below electron low-energy cutoffs. We examine the form of the exact relationships in various situations, and for various cross-sections, showing that empirical relations sometimes used can be highly misleading and consider how to improve fitting procedures. We obtain expressions for photon spectra from single, double and truncated power-law electron spectra for a variety of cross-sections and for the thin and thick target models and simple analytic expressions for the Bethe-Heitler cases. We show that above a low-energy cutoff the Kramers and Bethe-Heitler results match reasonably well with results for exact cross-sections up to energies around 100 keV; that below the low-energy cutoff, Kramers and other constant spectral index forms commonly used are very poor approximations to accurate results; but that our analytical forms are a very good match. Analytical forms of the Bethe-Heitler photon spectra from general power-law electron spectra are an excellent match to exact results for both thin and thick targets and they enable much faster spectral fitting than evaluation of the full spectral integrations.
Vastly different time and length scales are a common problem in numerical simulations of astrophysical phenomena. Here, we present an approach to numerical modeling of such objects on the example of Type Ia supernova simulations. The evolution towards the explosion proceeds on much longer time scales than the explosion process itself. The physical length scales relevant in the explosion process cover 11 orders of magnitude and turbulent effects dominate the physical mechanism. Despite these challenges, three-dimensional simulations of Type Ia supernova explosions have recently become possible and pave the way to a better understanding of these important astrophysical objects.
The origin of the tight radio--IR correlation in galaxies has not been fully understood. One reason is the uncertainty about which heating sources (stars or diffuse interstellar radiation field)provide the energy that is absorbed by dust and re-radiated in IR. Another problem is caused by comparing the IR emission with the thermal and nonthermal components of the radio continuum emission separated by simplistically assuming a constant nonthermal spectral index. We use the data at the $Spitzer$ MIPS wavelengths of 24, 70, and 160 $\mu$m, as well as recent radio continuum map at 3.6 cm observed with the 100--m Effelsberg telescope. Using the wavelet transformation, we separate diffuse emission components from compact sources and study the radio-IR correlation at various scales. We also investigate the IR correlations with the thermal and nonthermal radio emissions separated by our developed method. A H$\alpha$ map serves as a tracer of star forming regions.
We determine the variation in the nonthermal radio spectral index in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. We separate the thermal and nonthermal components of the radio continuum emission without the assumption of a constant nonthermal spectral index. Using the Spitzer FIR data at 70 and 160 $\mu$m and a standard dust model, we de-redden the H$\alpha$ emission. The extinction-corrected H$\alpha$ emission serves as a template for the thermal free-free radio emission. Subtracting from the observed 3.6 and 20cm emission (Effelsberg and the VLA) this free-free emission, we obtain maps of the nonthermal intensity and spectral index.
Quark matter both in terrestrial experiment and in astrophysics is briefly reviewed. Astrophysical quark matter could appear in the early Universe, in compact stars, and as cosmic rays. Emphasis is put on quark star as the nature of pulsars. Possible astrophysical implications of experiment-discovered sQGP are also concisely discussed.
The results of the measurements of the double-differential production cross-sections of pions in p-C and $\pi^\pm$-C interactions using the forward spectrometer of the HARP experiment are presented. The incident particles are 12 GeV/c protons and charged pions directed onto a carbon target with a thickness of 5% of a nuclear interaction length. For p-C interactions the analysis is performed using 100035 reconstructed secondary tracks, while the corresponding numbers of tracks for $\pi^-$-C and $\pi^+$-C analyses are 106534 and 10122 respectively. Cross-section results are presented in the kinematic range 0.5 GeV/c $\leq p_{\pi} <$ 8 GeV/c and 30 mrad $\leq \theta_{\pi} <$ 240 mrad in the laboratory frame. The measured cross-sections have a direct impact on the precise calculation of atmospheric neutrino fluxes and on the improved reliability of extensive air shower simulations by reducing the uncertainties of hadronic interaction models in the low energy range.
The Wyoming Survey for H-alpha, or WySH, is a large-area, ground-based, narrowband imaging survey for H-alpha-emitting galaxies over the latter half of the age of the Universe. The survey spans several square degrees in a set of fields of low Galactic cirrus emission. The observing program focuses on multiple dz~0.02 epochs from z~0.16 to z~0.81 down to a uniform (continuum+line) luminosity at each epoch of ~10^33 W uncorrected for extinction (3sigma for a 3" diameter aperture). First results are presented here for 98+208 galaxies observed over approximately 2 square degrees at redshifts z~0.16 and 0.24, including preliminary luminosity functions at these two epochs. These data clearly show an evolution with lookback time in the volume-averaged cosmic star formation rate. Integrals of Schechter fits to the extinction-corrected H-alpha luminosity functions indicate star formation rates per co-moving volume of 0.009 and 0.014 h_70 M_sun/yr/Mpc^3 at z~0.16 and 0.24, respectively. The formal uncertainties in the Schechter fits, based on this initial subset of the survey, correspond to uncertainties in the cosmic star formation rate density at the >~40% level; the tentative uncertainty due to cosmic variance is 25%, estimated from separately carrying out the analysis on data from the first two fields with substantial datasets.
Nearby interstellar clouds at high Galactic latitudes are ideal objects in which the interaction of interstellar dust with photons from the well-characterized interstellar radiation field can be studied. Scattering and UV-excited photoluminescence at optical wavelengths as well as thermal emission at mid- and far-infrared wavelengths are observable manifestations of such interactions. Here we report initial results from an optical imaging survey of optically thin high-Galactic-latitude clouds, which is designed to study the surface brightness, structure, and spectral energy distribution of these objects. The primary aim of this paper is to study the extended red emission (ERE) that has been reported at high Galactic latitudes in earlier investigations and which is attributed to ultraviolet-excited photoluminescence of an as yet unidentified component of interstellar dust. We find strong evidence for dust emission in the form of a broad (>1000 A FWHM) ERE band with peak emission near 600 nm wavelength and peak intensity of ~ 5x10^-9 (erg cm^-2 s^-1 A^-1 sr^-1) in optically-thin clouds. This amounts to about 30% of the total optical surface brightness of these clouds, the remainder being consistent with expectations for dust-scattered light. This supports claims for the ubiquitous presence of the ERE carrier throughout the diffuse interstellar medium of the Milky Way Galaxy. We suggest that the ERE carrier is involved in the radiative processing of about 20% to 30% of the dust-absorbed UV/optical luminosity of the Milky Way galaxy, with the bulk of this energy being emitted in the near- to mid-infrared spectral regions.
In this note I present an outline of infrared (IR) photometric AGB properties, based on two samples of Galactic Long Period Variables (C- and S-type respectively). I show the various selection criteria used during the choice of the sources and describe the motivations of observing them at near- and mid-IR wavelengths. I discuss the problems encountered in estimating their luminosity and distance and motivate the methods I choose for this purpose. Properties of the luminosity functions and of the Hertzsprung-Russell (HR) diagrams obtained from the analysis are discussed. Finally, the choices made for estimating of the mass loss rates are described and preliminary results concerning them are shown.
We propose an explanation for the considerable scatter of the abundances of neutron capture elements observed in low-metallicity stars in the solar vicinity, compared to the small star-to-star scatter observed for the alpha-elements. We have developed a stochastic chemical evolution model in which the main assumption is a random formation of new stars subject to the condition that the cumulative mass distribution follows a given initial mass function. With our model, we are able to reproduce the different spreads of neutron capture elements and alpha-elements in low-metallicity stars. The reason for different observed spread in neutron capture elements and alpha-elements resides in the random birth of stars, coupled with different stellar mass ranges, from which alpha-elements and neutron capture elements originate. In particular, the site of production of alpha-elements is the whole range of massive stars, from 10 to 80 Msun whereas the mass range of production for neutron capture elements lies between 12 and 30 Msun.
We undertake a first attempt towards a consistent reconstruction of the coronal magnetic field and the coronal density structure. We consider a stationary solar corona which has to obey the equations of magnetohydrostatics. We solve these equations with help of a newly developed optimization scheme. As a first step we illustrate how tomographic information can be included into the reconstruction of coronal magnetic fields. In a second step we use coronal magnetic field information to improve the tomographic inversion process. As input the scheme requires magnetic field measurements on the photosphere from vector-magnetographs and the line-of-sight integrated density distribution from coronagraphs. We test our codes with well known analytic magnetohydrostatic equilibria and models. The program is planed for use within the STEREO mission.
Context. Observations indicate a strong link between star formation and black
hole (BH) growth, but some questions remain unanswered: whether both activities
are coeval or whether one precedes the other, what their characteristic
timescales are, and what kinds of physical processes are responsible for this
interplay.
Aims. We examine stellar and BH masses (M_star and M_BH) in z~2 active
systems at the peak of their AGN or star formation activity to investigate how
they are linked and whether AGN radiative or else radio power provides a
feedback mechanism that regulates the stellar growth in these systems.
Methods. We analyze the infrared (IR) spectral energy distributions of radio,
sub-millimeter and mid-IR selected AGNs at z~1-3 and constrain their stellar
and AGN luminosities using AGN and host-galaxy templates.
Results. We find evidence of increasing stellar light, thereby decreasing the
AGN mid-IR power going from mid-IR selected AGNs, to radio galaxies, and to
sub-millimeter AGNs. This trend can be explained by either decreasing Eddington
ratios or increasing offsets from the local M_BH-M_star relation. All systems
are characterized by high star formation rates regardless of their different
AGN powers, thus neither AGN radiative power nor AGN-driven radio activity
seems to influence the star formation rate in the selected AGNs. We discuss two
possible evolutionary scenarios that might link these three AGN classes.
We consider the scattering of a low-frequency gravitational wave by a massive compact body in vacuum. We apply partial-wave methods to compute amplitudes for the helicity-conserving and helicity-reversing contributions to the cross section, accurate to first order in $M\omega$. Contrary to previous claims, we find that the partial-wave cross section agrees with the cross section derived via perturbation-theory methods.
We study the effective gravitational theory on a brane in a six-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell model of flux compactification, regularizing a conical defect as a codimension-one brane. We employ the gradient expansion technique valid at low energies. A lowest order analysis showed that standard four-dimensional Einstein gravity is reproduced on the brane. We extend this study to include second order corrections in the effective equations, and show that the correction term is given by a quadratic energy-momentum tensor. Taking the thin-brane limit where the regularized brane shrinks to the pole, we find that the second order metric diverges logarithmically on the brane, giving rise to divergences in the brane effective action. Away from the branes, the effective action is however well-defined.
At a critical finite chemical potential and low temperature QCD undergoes the chiral restoration phase transition. The folklore tradition is that simultaneously hadrons are deconfined and there appears the quark matter. We demonstrate that it is possible to have confined but chirally symmetric hadrons at a finite chemical potential and hence beyond the chiral restoration point at a finite chemical potential and low temperature there could exist a chirally symmetric matter consisting of chirally symmetric but confined hadrons. If it does happen in QCD, then the QCD phase diagram should be reconsidered with obvious implications for heavy ion programs and astrophysics.
We write a covariant transport equation for the phonon excitations of a relativistic superfluid valid at small temperatures. The hydrodynamical equations for this system are derived from the effective field theory associated to the superfluid phonons. We describe how to construct the kinetic theory for the phonon quasiparticles using a relativistic generalization of the analogue model of gravity developed by Unruh. This gravity analogy relies on the equivalence between the action of a phonon field moving in a superfluid background with that of a boson propagating in a given curved space-time. Exploiting this analogy we obtain continuity equations for the phonon current, entropy and energy-momentum tensor in a covariant form, valid in any reference frame. Our aim is to shed light on some aspects of transport phenomena of relativistic superfluidity. In particular, we are interested in the low temperature regime of the color flavor locked phase, which is a color superconducting and superfluid phase of high density QCD that may be realized in the core of neutron stars.
The LIGO gravitational wave detectors have recently reached their design sensitivity and finished a two-year science run. During this period one year of data with unprecedented sensitivity has been collected. I will briefly describe the status of the LIGO detectors and the overall quality of the most recent science run. I also will present results of a search for inspiral waveforms in gravitational wave data coincident with the short gamma ray burst detected on 1st February 2007, with its sky location error box overlapping a spiral arms of M31. No gravitational wave signals were detected and a binary merger in M31 can be excluded at the 99% confidence level.
A class of non-canonical inflationary models is identified, where the leading-order contribution to the non-Gaussianity of the curvature perturbation is determined by the sound speed of the fluctuations in the inflaton field. Included in this class of models is the effective action for multiple coincident branes in the finite n limit. The action for this configuration is determined using a powerful iterative technique, based upon the fundamental representation of SU(2). In principle the upper bounds on the tensor-scalar ratio that arise in the standard, single-brane DBI inflationary scenario can be relaxed in such multi-brane configurations if a large and detectable non-Gaussianity is generated. Moreover models with a small number of coincident branes could generate a gravitational wave background that will be observable to future experiments.
We show that brane inflation is very sensitive to tiny sharp features in extra dimensions, including those in the potential and in the warp factor. This can show up as observational signatures in the power spectrum and/or non-Gaussianities of the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). One general example of such sharp features is a succession of small steps in a warped throat, caused by Seiberg duality cascade using gauge/gravity duality. We study the cosmological observational consequences of these steps in brane inflation. Since the steps come in a series, the prediction of other steps and their properties can be tested by future data and analysis. It is also possible that the steps are too close to be resolved in the power spectrum, in which case they may show up only in non-Gaussianity in higher order CMB temperature fluctuation correlations and/or EE polarization. We study two cases. In the slow-roll scenario where steps appear in the inflaton potential, the sensitivity of brane inflation to the height and width of the steps is increased by several orders of magnitude comparing to that in previously studied large field models. In the IR DBI scenario where steps appear in the warp factor, we find that the glitches in the power spectrum caused by these sharp features are generally small or even unobservable, but associated distinctive non-Gaussianity can be large. Together with its large negative running of the power spectrum index, this scenario clearly illustrates how rich and different a brane inflationary scenario can be when compared to generic slow-roll inflation. Such distinctive stringy features may provide a powerful probe of superstring theory.
Neutrino telescopes will open, in the next years, new opportunities in
observational high energy astrophysics. For these experiments, atmospheric
muons from primary cosmic ray interactions in the atmosphere play an important
role, because they provide the most abundant source of events for calibration
and test. On the other side, they represent the major background source.
In this paper a fast Monte Carlo generator (called MUPAGE) of bundles of
atmospheric muons for underwater/ice neutrino telescopes is presented. MUPAGE
is based on parametric formulas [APP25(2006)1] obtained from a full Monte Carlo
simulation of cosmic ray showers generating muons in bundle, which are
propagated down to 5 km w.e. It produces the event kinematics on the surface of
a user-defined virtual cylinder, surrounding the detector. The multiplicity of
the muons in the bundle, the muon spatial distribution and energy spectrum are
simulated according to a specific model of primary cosmic ray flux, with
constraints from measurements of the muon flux with underground experiments. As
an example of the application, the result of the generation of events on a
cylindrical surface of 3 km^2 at a depth of 2450 m of water is presented.
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We report the discovery of a new dwarf spheroidal galaxy near M31 based on INT/WFC imaging. The system, Andromeda XVII (And XVII), is located at a projected radius of ~44 kpc from M31 and has a line-of-sight distance of 794+/-40 kpc measured using the tip of the red giant branch, and therefore lies well within the halo of M31. The colour of the red giant branch implies a metallicity of [Fe/H]~-1.9 and we find an absolute magnitude of M_v~ -8.5. Three globular clusters lie near the main body of And XVII, suggesting a possible association; if any of these are confirmed, it would make And XVII exceptionally unusual amongst the faint dSph population. The projected position on the sky of And XVII strengthens an intriguing alignment apparent in the satellite system of M31, although with a caveat about biases stemming from the current area surveyed to significant depth.
(Abridged) Objects with radii of 10 to 100 pc and masses in the range from 10^6 to 10^8 M_sun have been discovered during the past decade. These so-called ultra compact dwarf galaxies (UCDs) constitute a transition between classical star clusters and elliptical galaxies in terms of radii, relaxation times and V-band mass-to-light (M/L_V) ratios. Using new data, we find that the mass interval from 10^6 to 10^7 M_sun is of special interest, because within this range typical half-light radii and dynamical mass-to-light ratios begin to increase compared to globular clusters, the highest stellar densities are reached and typical median two-body relaxation times surpass a Hubble time. The M/L_V ratios of the UCDs turn out to be incompatible with the predictions from simple stellar population (SSP) models when using the canonical stellar initial mass function (IMF), although SSPs probably are good approximations to the real stellar populations in UCDs and the SSP models allow to account for metallicity effects on the M/L_V ratio. This provides evidence for the UCDs either having formed with an IMF different from the canonical one or containing dark matter. We emphasise that almost all pressure-supported stellar systems ranging from star clusters to massive elliptical galaxies have M/L_V ratios less than 10 M_sun/L_sun, and that only dSph satellite galaxies have M/L_V ratios greater than 100 M_sun/L_sun and therewith form exceptional systems.
The energy conditions play an important role in the understanding of several properties of the Universe, including the current accelerating expansion phase and the possible existence of the so-called phantom fields. We show that the integrated bounds provided by the energy conditions on cosmological observables such as the distance modulus $\mu(z)$ and the lookback time $t_L(z)$ are not sufficient (nor necessary) to ensure the local fulfillment of the energy conditions, making explicit the limitation of these bounds in the confrontation with observational data. We recast the energy conditions as bounds on the deceleration and normalized Hubble parameters, obtaining new bounds which are necessary and sufficient for the local fulfillment of the energy conditions. A statistical confrontation, with $1\sigma$ confidence level, between our bounds and supernovae data from the gold and combined samples is made for the recent past ($z \leq 1$). Our analyses indicate the fulfillment of the weak and dominant energy conditions (WEC and DEC) for $z \leq 0.95$, and a possible recent violation of the null energy condition (NEC), i.e. a very recent phase of super-acceleration. Our analyses also show the possibility of violation of the strong energy condition (SEC) in the recent past, but interestingly the $q(z)$-best-fit curve crosses the SEC-fulfillment divider at $z \simeq 0.67$, which is a value very close to the beginning of the epoch of cosmic acceleration predicted by the standard concordance flat $\Lambda$CDM scenario.
We present high spectral resolution optical spectra of three young intermediate mass stars, in all of which we spectrally resolve the 6300 Angstrom [OI] emission line. Two of these have a double peaked line profile. We fit these data with a simple model of the [OI] emission caused by photo-dissociation of OH molecules in the upper layer of a circumstellar disk by stellar UV radiation and thus translate the Doppler broadened [OI] emission profile into an amount of emission as a function of distance from the central star. The resulting spectra are in agreement with the expected disk shapes as derived from their spectral energy distribution. We find evidence for shadowing by an inner rim in the disk surrounding HD101412 and see a flaring disk structure in HD179218 while the [OI] spectrum of HD135344 is more complex. The [OI] emission starts for all three targets at velocities corresponding to their dust sublimation radius and extends up to radii of 10 -- 90 AU. This shows that this method can be a valuable tool in the future investigation of circumstellar disks.
We use the COMPLETE data to derive new calibrations of the X-factor and the 13CO abundance within Perseus. We divide Perseus into six sub-regions. The standard X factor, X=N(H2)/W(12CO), is derived both for the whole Perseus Complex and for each of the six sub-regions with values consistent with previous estimates. The X factor is heavily affected by the saturation of the emission above AV~4 mag, and variations are found between regions. We derive linear fits to relate W(12CO) and AV using only points below 4 mag of extinction, this yields a better estimation of the AV than the X-factor. We derive linear relations of W(13CO), N(13CO) and W(C18O) with AV . The extinction threshold above which 13CO(1-0) and C18O(1-0) are detected is about 1 mag larger than previous estimates. 12CO(1-0) and 13CO(1-0) lines saturate above 4 and 5 mag, respectively, whereas C18O(1-0) never saturates (up to 10 mag). Approximately 60% of the positions with 12CO emission have sub-thermally excited lines, and almost all positions have 12CO excitation temperatures below the dust temperature. Using the Meudon PDR code we find that 12CO and 13CO emission can be explained by uniform slab models with densities ranging between about 10^3 and 10^4 cm-3. Local variations in the volume density and non-thermal motions (linked to different star formation activity) can explain the observations. Higher densities are needed to reproduce CO data toward active star forming sites, where the larger internal motions driven by the young protostars allow more photons from the embedded high density cores to escape the cloud. In the most quiescent region, the 12CO and 13CO emission appears to arise from an almost uniform thin layer of molecular material at densities around 10^4 cm-3.
We investigate cosmic sparks from cusps on superconducting cosmic strings in light of the recently discovered millisecond radio burst by Lorimer et al [1]. We find that the observed duration, fluence, spectrum, and event rate can be reasonably explained by Grand Unification scale superconducting cosmic strings that carry currents \sim 10^5 GeV. The superconducting string model predicts an event rate that falls off only as S^{-1/2}, where S is the energy flux, and hence predicts a population of very bright bursts. Other surveys, with different observational parameters, are shown to impose tight constraints on the superconducting string model.
We report on the measurement of transit times for the HD 209458 planetary system from photometry obtained with the MOST (Microvariability & Oscillations of STars) space telescope. Deviations from a constant orbital period can indicate the presence of additional planets in the system that are yet undetected, potentially with masses approaching an Earth mass. The MOST data sets of HD 209458 from 2004 and 2005 represent unprecedented time coverage with nearly continuous observations spanning 14 and 43 days and monitoring 3 transits and 12 consecutive transits, respectively. The transit times we obtain show no variations on three scales: (a) no long-term change in P since before 2004 at the 25 ms level, (b) no trend in transit timings during the 2005 run, and (c) no individual transit timing deviations above 80 sec level. Together with previously published transit times from Agol & Steffen (2007), this allows us to place limits on the presence of additional close-in planets in the system, in some cases down to below an Earth mass. This result, along with previous radial velocity work, now eliminates the possibility that a perturbing planet could be responsible for the additional heat source needed to explain HD 209458b's anomalous low density.
Propagation of photons in relativistically expanding plasma outflows, characterized by steady Lorentz factor Gamma is considered. Photons that are injected in regions of high optical depth are advected with the flow until they escape at the photosphere. Below the photosphere, the photons are coupled to the plasma via Compton scattering. I show here, that as a result of the slight misalignment of the scattering electrons velocity vectors, the (local) comoving photon energy decreases with radius as epsilon'(r) ~ r^{-2/3}. This mechanism dominates the photon cooling in scenarios of faster adiabatic cooling of the electrons. I then show that the photospheric radius of a relativistically expanding plasma wind strongly depends on the angle to the line of sight, theta. For theta <~ 1/Gamma, r_{ph} is theta independent, while for theta >~ 1/Gamma, r_{ph} ~ theta^2. I show that the theta dependence of the photosphere implies that for flow parameters characterizing GRBs, thermal photons originating from below the photosphere can be observed up to tens of seconds following the inner engine activity decay. I calculate the probability density function P(r,theta) of a thermal photon to escape the plasma at radius r and angle theta. Using this function, I show that following the termination of the internal photon injection mechanism, the thermal flux decreases as F_{BB}^{ob.} ~ t^{-2}, and that the decay of the photon energy with radius results in a power law decay of the observed temperature, T^{ob.}(t) ~ t^{-2/3} at early times, which changes to t^{-1/2} later. Detailed numerical results are in very good agreement with the analytical predictions. I discuss the consequences of this temporal behavior in view of the recent evidence for a thermal emission component observed during the prompt emission phase of GRBs.
Recent analysis of five gamma-ray burst (GRB) afterglow spectra reveal the absence of molecular hydrogen absorption lines, a surprising result in light of their large neutral hydrogen column densities and the detection of H$_2$ in similar, more local star-forming regions like 30 Doradus in the LMC. Observational evidence further indicates that the bulk of the neutral hydrogen column in these sight lines lies 100 pc beyond the progenitor and that H$_2$ was absent prior to the burst, suggesting that direct flux from the star, FUV background fields, or both suppressed its formation. We present one-dimensional radiation hydrodynamical models of GRB host galaxy environments, including self-consistent radiative transfer of both ionizing and Lyman-Werner photons, nine-species primordial chemistry with dust formation of H$_2$, and dust extinction of UV photons. We find that a single GRB progenitor is sufficient to ionize neutral hydrogen to distances of 50 - 150 pc but that a galactic Lyman-Werner background is required to dissociate the molecular hydrogen. Only modest intensities of 0.01 - 8 times the Galactic mean are necessary to destroy H$_2$ in the cloud, depending on its density and metallicity. The minimum radii at which neutral hydrogen will be found in afterglow spectra is insensitive to the mass of the progenitor or the initial mass function (IMF) of its cluster, if present.
We further characterize the structures tentatively identified on thermal and chemical grounds as the sites of dissipation of turbulence in molecular clouds (Papers I and II). Our study is based on two-point statistics of line centroid velocities (CV), computed from three large 12CO maps of two fields. Probability density functions (PDF) of the CO line centroid velocity increments (CVI) over lags varying by an order of magnitude and structure functions of the line CV, up to the 6th order, are computed. We show that the line CV bear the three signatures of intermittency in a turbulent velocity field: (1) the non-Gaussian tails in the CVI PDF grow as the lag decreases, (2) the departure from Kolmogorov scaling of the high-order structure functions is more pronounced in the more turbulent field, (3) the positions contributing to the CVI PDF tails delineate narrow filamentary structures (thickness ~ 0.02 pc), uncorrelated to dense gas structures and spatially coherent with thicker ones (~0.18 pc) observed on larger scales. The confrontation with theoretical predictions leads us to identify these small-scale filamentary structures with extrema of velocity-shears associated with gas warmer than the bulk. Last, their average direction is parallel (or close) to that of the local magnetic field projection. Turbulence in these translucent fields exhibits the statistical and structural signatures of small-scale and inertial-range intermittency. The more turbulent field on the 30 pc-scale is also the more intermittent on small scales. The small-scale intermittent structures coincide with those formerly identified as sites of enhanced dissipation. They are organized into parsec-scale coherent structures, coupling a broad range of scales.
The Local Cluster Substructure Survey (LoCuSS, Smith et al.) is a systematic multi-wavelength survey of >100 X-ray luminous galaxy clusters (0.14<z<0.3) selected from the ROSAT all sky survey. We used data on 37 LoCuSS clusters from the XMM-Newton archive to investigate the global scaling relations of galaxy clusters. The scaling relations based solely on the X-ray data obey empirical self-similarity and reveal no additional evolution beyond the LSS growth. Weak lensing mass measurements are also available in the literature for 19 of the clusters with XMM-Newton data. The average of the X-ray based mass to weak lensing mass ratio is 1.09+/-8, setting the limit of the non-thermal pressure support to 9+/-8%. The mean of the X-ray based mass to weak lensing mass ratio of these clusters is ~1 with 31-51% scatter. The scatter in the mass--observable relations (M-Y_X, M-M_{gas} and M-T) is smaller using X-ray based masses than using weak lensing masses by a factor of 2. Using the scaled radius defined by the Y_X profile, we obtain lower scatter in the weak lensing mass based mass--observable relations. The normalization of the M-Y_X relation (also M-M_{gas} and M-T relations) using X-ray (weak lensing) mass estimates is lower than the one from simulations by up to 20% at ~3 sigma (~2 sigma) significance. Despite the large scatter in the X-ray to lensing comparison, the agreement between these two completely independent observational methods is an important step towards controlling astrophysical and measurement systematics in cosmological scaling relations.
The physical ingredients to describe the epoch of cosmological recombination are amazingly simple and well-understood. This fact allows us to take into account a very large variety of processes, still finding potentially measurable consequences. In this contribution we highlight some of the detailed physics that were recently studied in connection with cosmological hydrogen and helium recombination. The impact of these considerations is two-fold: (i) the associated release of photons during this epoch leads to interesting and unique deviations of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) energy spectrum from a perfect blackbody, which, in particular at decimeter wavelength, may become observable in the near future. Despite the fact that the abundance of helium is rather small, it also contributes a sizeable amount of photons to the full recombination spectrum, which, because of differences in the dynamics of the helium recombinations and the non-trivial superposition of all components, lead to additional distinct spectral features. Observing the spectral distortions from the epochs of hydrogen and helium recombination, in principle would provide an additional way to determine some of the key parameters of the Universe (e.g. the specific entropy, the CMB monopole temperature and the pre-stellar abundance of helium), not suffering from limitations set by cosmic variance. Also it permits us to confront our detailed understanding of the recombination process with direct observational evidence. (ii) with the advent of high precision CMB data, e.g. as will be available using the Planck Surveyor or CMBpol, a very accurate theoretical understanding of the ionization history of the Universe becomes necessary for the interpretation of the CMB temperature and polarization anisotropies. (abridged)
We present the first reconstruction of the three-dimensional shape of magnetic loops in an active region from two different vantage points based on simultaneously recorded images. The images were taken by the two EUVI telescopes of the SECCHI instrument onboard the recently launched STEREO spacecraft when the heliocentric separation of the two space probes was 12 degrees. We demostrate that these data allow to obtain a reliable three-dimensional reconstruction of sufficiently bright loops. The result is compared with field lines derived from a coronal magnetic field model extrapolated from a photospheric magnetogram recorded nearly simultaneously by SOHO/MDI. We attribute discrepancies between reconstructed loops and extrapolated field lines to the inadequacy of the linear force-free field model used for the extrapolation.
(Abridged) Results from the first dedicated study of Galactic PNe by means of optical integral field spectroscopy with the VLT FLAMES Argus IFU are presented. Three typical Galactic-disk PNe have been mapped with the 11.5''x7.2'' Argus array: two dimensional spectral maps of NGC 5882, 6153 and 7009 with 297 spatial pixels per target were obtained at sub-arcsec resolutions and 297 spectra per target were obtained in the 396.4-507.8 nm range. Spatially resolved maps of emission lines and of nebular physical properties were produced. The abundances of helium and of doubly ionized carbon and oxygen were derived from optical recombination lines (ORLs), while those of O^2+ were also derived from the collisionally excited lines (CELs). The abundance discrepancy problem was investigated by mapping the ratio of ORL/CEL abundances for O^2+ (the abundance discrepancy factor; ADF) across the face of the PNe. The ADF varies between targets and also with position within the targets attaining values of ~40 in the case of NGC 6153. Correlations of the ADF with geometric distance from the nucleus, as well as with [O III] electron temperature, plasma ionization state and other physical properties are established. Very small values of the temperature fluctuation parameter in the plane of the sky are found in all cases. It is argued that these results provide further evidence for the existence in typical PNe of a distinct nebular component consisting of hydrogen-deficient plasma. The zones containing this posited component appear as undulations in the C II and C II ORL abundance diagnostics of about 2 spatial pixels across; any associated structures should have physical sizes of less than ~1000 astronomical units. We propose that circumstellar disks, Abell 30-type knots, or Helix-type cometary globules may be involved.
We investigate the effect of a strong large scale magnetic field on the reflection of high frequency acoustic modes in rapidly oscillating Ap stars. To that end we consider a toy model composed of an isothermal atmosphere matched onto a polytropic interior and determine the numerical solution to the set of ideal magneto-hydrodynamic equations in a local plane-parallel approximation with constant gravity. Using the numerical solution in combination with approximate analytical solutions that are valid in the limits where the magnetic and acoustic components are decoupled, we calculate the relative fraction of energy flux that is carried away in each oscillation cycle by running acoustic waves in the atmosphere and running magnetic waves in the interior. For oscillation frequencies above the acoustic cutoff we show that most energy losses associated with the presence of running waves occur in regions where the magnetic field is close to vertical. Moreover, by considering the depth dependence of the energy associated with the magnetic component of the wave in the atmosphere we show that a fraction of the wave energy is kept in the oscillation every cycle. For frequencies above the acoustic cutoff frequency such energy is concentrated in regions where the magnetic field is significantly inclined in relation to the local vertical. Even though our calculations were aimed at studying oscillations with frequencies above the acoustic cutoff frequency, based on our results we discuss what results may be expected for oscillations of lower frequency.
Motivated by the recent observational and theoretical evidence that long Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) are likely associated with low metallicity, rapidly rotating massive stars, we examine the cosmological star formation rate (SFR) below a critical metallicity Z_crit~Z_sun/10 - Z_sun/5, to estimate the event rate of high-redshift long GRB progenitors. To this purpose, we exploit a galaxy formation scenario already successfully tested on a wealth of observational data on (proto)spheroids, Lyman break galaxies, Lyman alpha emitters, submm galaxies, quasars, and local early-type galaxies. We find that the predicted rate of long GRBs amounts to about 300 events/yr/sr, of which about 30 per cent occur at z>~6. Correspondingly, the GRB number counts well agree with the bright SWIFT data, without the need for an intrinsic luminosity evolution. Moreover, the above framework enables us to predict properties of the GRB host galaxies. Most GRBs are associated with low mass galaxy halos M_H<~10^11 M_sun, and effectively trace the formation of small galaxies in such halos. The hosts are young, with age smaller than 5*10^7 yr, gas rich, but poorly extincted (A_V<~0.1) because of their chemical immaturity; this also implies high specific SFR and quite extreme alpha-enhancement. Only the minority of hosts residing in large halos with M_H>~10^12 M_sun have larger extinction (A_V~0.7-1), SFRs exceeding 100 M_sun/yr and can be detected at submm wavelengths. Most of the hosts have UV magnitudes in the range -20 <~M_1350<~ -16, and Lyman alpha luminosity in the range 2*10^40 <~L_Lya<~2*10^42 erg/s. GRB hosts are thus tracing the faint end of the luminosity function of Lyman break galaxies and Lyman alpha emitters.
After a rapid introduction about the models of comptonization, we present some simulations that underlines the expected capabilities of Simbol-X to constrain the presence of this process in objects like AGNs or XRB.
(abridged) Aims. To reconstruct the spectral shape of the quasar ionizing radiation in the extreme-UV range (1Ryd <= E < 10Ryd) from the analysis of narrow absorption lines (NAL) of the associated systems. Methods. Computational technique for inverse spectroscopic problems - Monte Carlo Inversion augmented by procedure of the spectral shape recovering and modified to account for the incomplete coverage of the light source. Results. The ionizing spectra responsible for the ionization structure of the NAL systems require an intensity depression at E > 4Ryd which is attributed to the HeII Lyman continuum opacity (tau^HeII_c ~ 1). A most likely source of this opacity is a quasar accretion disk wind. The corresponding column density of HI in the wind is estimated as a few times 10^16 cm^-2. This amount of neutral hydrogen should cause a weak continuum depression at lamb <= 912A (rest-frame), and a broad and shallow absorption in HI Ly-alpha. If metallicity of the wind is high enough, other resonance lines of OVI, NeVI-NeVIII, etc. are expected. In the analyzed QSO spectra we do observe broad (stretching over 1000s km/s) and shallow (tau << 1) absorption troughs of HI Ly-alpha and OVI 1031,1037A...
We present H- and K-band spectroscopy of OB and Wolf-Rayet (WR) members of the Milky Way cluster 1806-20 (G10.0-0.3), to obtain a revised cluster distance of relevance to the 2004 giant flare from the SGR 1806-20 magnetar. From GNIRS spectroscopy obtained with Gemini South, four candidate OB stars are confirmed as late O/early B supergiants, while we support previous mid WN and late WC classifications for two WR stars. Based upon an absolute Ks-band magnitude calibration for B supergiants and WR stars, and near-IR photometry from NIRI at Gemini North plus archival VLT/ISAAC datasets, we obtain a cluster distance modulus of 14.7+/-0.35 mag. The known stellar content of the 1806-20 cluster suggests an age of 3-5 Myr, from which theoretical isochrone fits infer a distance modulus of 14.7+/-0.7 mag. Together, our results favour a distance modulus of 14.7+/-0.4 mag (8.7^+1.8_-1.5 kpc) to the 1806-20 cluster, which is significantly lower than the nominal 15 kpc distance to the magnetar. For our preferred distance, the peak luminosity of the December 2004 giant flare is reduced by a factor of three to 7 X 10^46 erg/s, such that the contamination of BATSE short gamma ray bursts (GRB's) from giant flares of extragalactic magnetars is reduced to a few percent. We infer a magnetar progenitor mass of ~48^+20_-8 Msun, in close agreement with that obtained recently for the magnetar in Westerlund 1.
X-ray binaries are binary star systems in which a compact object (a neutron star or a black hole) and a relatively normal star orbit a common centre of mass. Since the discovery of X-ray binaries with the first X-ray telescopes in the 1960s, astronomers have tried to understand how these bizarre objects behave, and why. Some change in X-ray luminosity by 10^8 orders of magnitude on timescales of days to months due to an increased transfer of mass from the star towards the compact object. Many X-ray binaries are detected at all observable frequencies, from radio to gamma-rays. It has been found that many different sources of emission, which peak at different frequencies, are present in X-ray binary spectra and together they produce the observed broadband spectrum. However, disentangling these components has proved challenging. Much of the work in this thesis concerns disentangling the components that occupy the optical and near-infrared (NIR) region of the spectrum of X-ray binaries; possibly the region in which the relative contributions of the different components are least certain. In particular one component, the synchrotron emission from jets of outflowing matter, is found in this work to contribute ubiquitously to the optical and NIR light of X-ray binaries with relatively faint stars. These results confirm that the jets are powerful and in some of this work, observations of the jets interacting with the surrounding matter are used to infer their power.
Spurred by the improved measurement sensitivity in the very-high-energy (VHE) gamma-ray (>100 GeV) band, we assess the feasibility of detection of the nearby starburst galaxy M82. TeV emission is expected to be predominantly from the decay of neutral pions which are produced in energetic proton interactions with ambient protons. An estimate of TeV emission from this process is obtained by an approximate, semi-quantitative calculation, and also by a detailed numerical treatment based on a convection-diffusion model for energetic electron and proton propagation and energy losses. All relevant hadronic and leptonic processes are considered, gauged by the measured synchrotron radio emission from the inner disk region. We estimate an integrated flux f(>100 GeV)~3E-12 phot/(cm2 s). This level of TeV emission puts M82 within reach of the upcoming enhanced imaging air Cherenkov telescopes, such as MAGIC II.
We used the Australia Telescope in March-April 2005 to observe the RS CVn binary HR 1099 at 1.384 and 2.368 GHz at two epochs, each of 9 h in duration and 11 days apart. During two episodes of coherent emission, we employed a recently installed facility to sample the data at 78 ms intervals to measure the fine temporal and spectral structure of HR 1099. Our main observational results include: ~100% left hand circularly polarised emission was seen at both 1.384 and 2.368 GHz during both epochs; in the first event the emission feature drifted across the spectrum; three 22 min integrations made at 78 ms time resolution showed that the modulation index of the Stokes V parameter increased monotonically as the integration time was decreased and was still increasing at our resolution limit; we believe that the highly polarised emission is due to electron-cyclotron maser emission (ECME) operating in the corona of one of the binary components. We discuss two kinds of maser sources that may be responsible for driving the observed events. We suggest that the ECME source may be an aurora-like phenomenon due to the transfer of plasma from the K2 subgiant to the G5 dwarf in a strong stellar wind.
We describe the second telescope of the Wise Observatory, a 0.46-m Centurion
18 (C18) installed in 2005, which enhances significantly the observing
possibilities. The telescope operates from a small dome and is equipped with a
large-format CCD camera. In the last two years this telescope was intensively
used in a variety of monitoring projects.
The operation of the C18 is now automatic, requiring only start-up at the
beginning of a night and close-down at dawn. The observations are mostly
performed remotely from the Tel Aviv campus or even from the observer's home.
The entire facility was erected for a component cost of about 70k$ and a labor
investment of a total of one man-year.
We describe three types of projects undertaken with this new facility: the
measurement of asteroid light variability with the purpose of determining
physical parameters and binarity, the following-up of transiting extrasolar
planets, and the study of AGN variability. The successful implementation of the
C18 demonstrates the viability of small telescopes in an age of huge
light-collectors, provided the operation of such facilities is very efficient.
We analyse Chandra, XMM-Newton and HST data of the double-nucleus Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxy (ULIRG), Mrk463. The Chandra detection of two luminous ($\mathrm{L}_\mathrm{2-10 keV}=1.5\times10^{43}$ and $3.8\times10^{42}$ erg cm$^{-2}$ s$^{-1}$), unresolved nuclei in Mrk~463 indicates that this galaxy hosts a binary AGN, with a projected separation of $\simeq3.8$ kpc ($3.83\pm0.01$ arcsec). While the East nucleus was already known to be a Seyfert 2 (and this is further confirmed by our Chandra detection of a neutral iron line), this is the first unambiguous evidence in favour of the AGN nature of the West nucleus. Mrk463 is therefore the clearest case so far for a binary AGN, after NGC6240.
We present Spitzer Space Telescope time series photometry of the exoplanet system HD 189733 spanning two times of secondary eclipse, when the planet passes out of view behind the parent star. We estimate the relative eclipse depth in 5 distinct bands and find the planet-to-star flux ratio to be 0.256 +/- 0.014% (3.6 microns), 0.214 +/- 0.020% (4.5 microns), 0.310 +/- 0.034% (5.8 microns), 0.391 +/- 0.022% (8.0 microns), and 0.598 +/- 0.038% (24 microns). For consistency, we re-analyze a previously published time series to deduce a contrast ratio in an additional band, 0.519 +/- 0.020% (16 microns). Our data are strongly inconsistent with a Planck spectrum, and we clearly detect emission near 4 microns as predicted by published theoretical models in which this feature arises from a corresponding opacity window. Unlike recent results for the exoplanet HD 209458b, we find that the emergent spectrum from HD 189733b is best matched by models that do not include an atmospheric temperature inversion. Taken together, these two studies provide initial observational support for the idea that hot Jupiter atmospheres diverge into two classes, in which a thermal inversion layer is present for the more strongly irradiated objects.
The role of radiation in general relativistic magnetohydrodynamic (GRMHD) accretion simulations is discussed through axisymmetric simulations of the evolution of an initial torus seeded with a weak magnetic field. The paper compares and contrasts the rate of accretion onto a Kerr black hole and mass flux out out of the initial torus at large radii in the GRMHD code of De Villiers and Hawley and a newly developed radiative GRMHD code. This rGRMHD code currently operates in the diffusion approximation, restricting the study of radiative effects to the bound portion of the accretion disk/jet system. However, these preliminary findings suggest that radiative effects do play a potentially significant role in regulating the accretion flow.
Retrieving the Star Formation History (SFH) of a galaxy out of its integrated spectrum is the central goal of stellar population synthesis. Recent advances in evolutionary synthesis models have given new breath to this old field of research. Modern spectral synthesis techniques incorporating these advances now allow the fitting of galaxy spectra on an angstrom-by-angstrom basis. These detailed fits are useful for a number of studies, like emission line, stellar kinematics, and specially galaxy evolution. Applications of this semi-empirical approach to mega data sets are teaching us a lot about the lives of galaxies. The STARLIGHT spectral synthesis code is one of the tools which allows one to harness this favorable combination of plentifulness of data and models. To illustrate this, we show how SFHs vary across classical emission line diagnostic diagrams. Systematic trends are present along both the star-forming and active-galaxy sequences. We also briefly describe experiments with new versions of evolutionary synthesis models. Last but not least, we announce the public availability of both STARLIGHT and a database of detailed spectral fits and related products for over half a million galaxies from the SDSS. This facility allows more physically inspired explorations of the parameter space than is possible in terms of raw observed properties, offering new ways to navigate through the realm of galaxies.
Detailed models are compared to recent infrared observations of the nearby extrasolar planet, HD 189733b. It is demonstrated that atmospheric water is present and that the planet's day side has a non-isothermal structure down to gas pressures of ~ 0.1 bars. Furthermore, model spectra with different amounts of CO are compared to the observations and an atmosphere absent of CO is excluded at roughly 2-sigma. Constraining the CO concentration beyond that is unfortunately not possible with the current Spitzer photometry. However, radically enhanced (or depleted) metal abundances are unlikely and the basic composition of this planet is probably similar to that of its host star. When combined with Spitzer observations, a recent ground-based upper limit for the K-band day side flux allows one to estimate the day-to-night energy redistribution efficiency to be ~ 43%.
We provide an analytical estimate of the effect of a spherical inhomogeneity on light beams that travel through it. We model the interior of the inhomogeneity in terms of the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metric. We assume that the beam source is located outside the inhomogeneity. We study the relative deviations of travelling time, redshift, beam area and luminosity distance from their values in a homogeneous cosmology. They depend on the ratio Hb=H r_0 of the radius r_0 of the inhomogeneity to the horizon distance 1/H. For an observer located at the center, the deviations are of order Hb^2. For an observer outside the inhomogeneity, the deviations of crossing time and redshift are of order Hb^3. The deviations of beam area and luminosity distance are of order Hb^2. However, when averaged over all possible locations of the observer outside the inhomogeneity, they also become of order Hb^3. We discuss the implications for the possibility of attributing the observed cosmological acceleration to the emergence of large-scale structure.
We study the perturbative behaviour of charged topological-AdS black holes. We calculate both analytically and numerically the quasi-normal modes of the electromagnetic and gravitational perturbations. Keeping the charge-to-mass ratio constant, we show that there is a second-order phase transition at a critical temperature at which the mass of the black hole vanishes. We pay special attention to the purely dissipative modes appearing in the spectrum as they behave singularly at the critical point.
We perform a systematic study of the multi-wavelength signal induced by weakly interacting massive particle (WIMP) annihilations at the Galactic Center (GC). Referring to a generic WIMP dark matter (DM) scenario and depending on astrophysical inputs, we discuss spectral and angular features and sketch correlations among signals in the different energy bands. None of the components which have been associated to the GC source Sgr A*, nor the diffuse emission components from the GC region, have spectral or angular features typical of a DM source. Still, data-sets at all energy bands, namely the radio, near infrared, X-ray and gamma-ray bands, contribute to place significant constraints on the WIMP parameter space. In general, the gamma-ray energy range is not the one with the largest signal to background ratio. In case of large magnetic fields close to the GC, X-ray data give the tightest bounds. The emission in the radio-band, which is less model dependent, is very constraining as well. The recent detection by HESS of a GC gamma-ray source, and of a diffuse gamma-ray component, limits the possibility of a DM discovery with the next generation of gamma-ray telescopes, like GLAST and CTA. We find that the most of the region in the parameter space accessible to these instruments is actually already excluded at other wave-lenghts. On the other hand, there may be still an open window to improve constraints with wide-field radio observations.
We present a new model of D-term dominated chaotic inflation in supergravity. The F-flat direction present in this model is lifted by the dominant D-term, which leads to chaotic inflation and subsequent reheating. No cosmic string is formed after inflation because the U(1) gauge symmetry is broken during inflation. The leptogenesis scenario via the inflaton decay in our D-term chaotic inflation scenario is also discussed.
This talk offers some comments and perspectives on Lorentz and CPT violation.
Links to: arXiv, form interface, /find, astro-ph, /recent, /0802, /abs, contact, help (Access key information)
High-energy emission (from the X-ray through the gamma-ray band) of Flat Spectrum Radio Quasars is widely associated with the inverse Compton (IC) scattering of ambient photons, produced either by the accretion disk or by the Broad Line Region, by high-energy electrons in a relativistic jet. In the modelling of the IC spectrum one usually adopts a simple black-body approximation for the external radiation field, though the real shape is probably more complex. The knowledge of the detailed spectrum of the external radiation field would allow to better characterize the soft-medium X-ray IC spectrum, which is crucial to address several issues related to the study of these sources. Here we present a first step in this direction, calculating the IC spectra expected by considering a realistic spectrum for the external radiation energy density produced by the BLR, as calculated with the photoionization code CLOUDY. We find that, under a wide range of the physical parameters characterizing the BLR clouds, the IC spectrum calculated with the black-body approximation reproduces quite well the exact spectrum for energies above few keV. In the soft energy band, instead, the IC emission calculated using the BLR emission shows a complex shape, with a moderate excess with respect to the approximate spectrum, which becomes more important for decreasing values of the peak frequency of the photoionizing continuum. We also show that the high-energy spectrum shows a marked steepening, due to the energy dependence of the scattering cross section, above a characteristic energy of 10-20 GeV, quasi independent on the Lorentz factor of the jet.
We present a scenario for the production of dynamically cold rings around the Milky Way via a high-eccentricity, flyby encounter. These initial conditions are more cosmologically motivated than those considered in previous works. We find that the encounters we examine generically produce a series of nearly dynamically cold ring-like features on low-eccentricity orbits that persist over timescales of ~2-4 Gyr via the tidal response of the primary galaxy to the close passage of the satellite. Moreover, they are both qualitatively and quantitatively similar to the distribution, kinematics, and stellar population of the Monoceros ring. Therefore, we find that a high eccentricity flyby by a satellite galaxy represents a cosmologically appealing scenario for forming kinematically distinct ring-like features around the Milky Way.
We present optical spectra of the host galaxies of the short-duration gamma-ray burst GRB 070429B and the likely short-duration with extended emission GRB 070714B. In both cases, we find a single emission line that we identify as O II lambda 3727 at z ~ 0.9. Both events are more distant than any previous short-duration GRB with a secure host association from the sub-arcsecond position of an optical afterglow. GRBs 070429B and 070714B provide strong evidence in support of our previous claims in Berger et al. that a significant fraction of short-duration hosts (>~ 33%) reside at z > 0.7. We discuss the implications of the existence this population on the energetics of short-duration GRBs, as well as on progenitor models. In the context of the degenerate binary merger scenario, such events require progenitor systems with a range of lifetimes and disfavor progenitor models with a long, narrow lifetime distribution.
We determine the underlying shapes of spiral and elliptical galaxies in the
Sloan Digital Sky Survey Data Release 6 from the observed distribution of
projected galaxy shapes, taking into account the effects of dust extinction and
reddening. We assume that theunderlying shapes of spirals and ellipticals are
well approximated by triaxial ellipsoids. The elliptical galaxy data are
consistent with oblate spheroids, with a correlation between roundness and
ellipticity: the mean values of minor to middle axis ratios are 0.41+-0.03 for
faint ellipticals and 0.76+-0.04 for bright ellipticals. Ellipticals show
almost no dependence of axial ratio on galaxy colour, implying a negligible
dust optical depth.
There is a strong variation of spiral galaxy shapes with colour indicating
the presence of dust. The intrinsic shapes of spiral galaxies in the SDSS-DR6
are consistent with flat disks with a mean and dispersion of thickness to
diameter ratio of (21+-5)%, and a face-on ellipticity, e, of ln(e)=-1.85+-1.04.
Not including the effects of dust in the model leads to disks that are
systematically rounder by >10%. More luminous spiral galaxies tend to have
thicker and rounder disks than lower-luminosity spirals. Both elliptical and
spiral galaxies tend to be rounder for larger galaxies.
The marginalised value of the edge-on r-band dust extinction E_0 in spiral
galaxies is E_0 ~ 0.5 magnitudes for galaxies of median colours, increasing to
E_0=1 magnitudes for g-r>0.9 and E_0>2 for the luminous and most compact
galaxies, with half-light radii <2kpc/h.
We present a simple set of kinematic criteria that can distinguish between galaxies dominated by ordered rotational motion and those involved in major merger events. Our criteria are based on the dynamics of the warm ionized gas (as traced by H-alpha) within galaxies, making this analysis accessible to high-redshift systems, whose kinematics are primarily traceable through emission features. Using the method of kinemetry (developed by Krajnovic and co-workers), we quantify asymmetries in both the velocity and velocity dispersion maps of the warm gas, and the resulting criteria enable us to empirically differentiate between non-merging and merging systems at high redshift. We apply these criteria to 11 of our best-studied rest-frame UV/optical-selected z~2 galaxies for which we have near infrared integral field spectroscopic data from SINFONI on the VLT. Of these 11 systems, we find that >50% have kinematics consistent with a single rotating disk interpretation, while the remaining systems are more likely undergoing major mergers. This result, combined with the short formation timescales of these systems, provides evidence that rapid, smooth accretion of gas plays a significant role in galaxy formation at high redshift.
Sensitive Arecibo observations provide an unprecedented ability to detect nulls for an accurate pulse-modulation quelling (PMQ) analysis. We demonstrate that a number of conal pulsars show "periodic nulling" similar to the phenomenon found earlier in pulsar B1133+16.
The Pierre Auger observatory has presented evidence that the arrival directions of cosmic rays with energies in excess of 6x10^7 TeV may be correlated with nearby active galactic nuclei (AGN). In this context we revisit a suggestion based on gamma ray observations that nearby Fanaroff-Riley I galaxies such as Cen A and M87 are the sources of the local cosmic rays. We compute the accompanying neutrino flux and find a flux within reach of second-generation kilometer-scale neutrino telescopes.
We present new measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization from the final season of the Cosmic Anisotropy Polarization MAPper (CAPMAP). The data set was obtained in winter 2004-2005 with the 7 m antenna in Crawford Hill, New Jersey, from 12 W-band (84-100 GHz) and 4 Q-band (36-45 GHz) correlation polarimeters with 3.3' and 6.5' beamsizes, respectively. After selection criteria were applied, 956 (939) hours of data survived for analysis of W-band (Q-band) data. Two independent and complementary pipelines produced results in excellent agreement with each other. A broad suite of null tests as well as extensive simulations showed that systematic errors were minimal, and a comparison of the W-band and Q-band sky maps revealed no contamination from galactic foregrounds. We report the E-mode and B-mode power spectra in 7 bands in the range 200 < l < 3000, extending the range of previous measurements to higher l. The E-mode spectrum, which is detected at 11 sigma significance, is in agreement with cosmological predictions and with previous work at other frequencies and angular resolutions. The BB power spectrum provides one of the best limits to date on B-mode power at 4.8 uK^2 (95% confidence).
As part of a reanalysis of Galactic Asymptotic Giant Branch stars (hereafter AGB stars) at infrared wavelengths, we discuss here two samples (the first of carbon-rich stars, the second of S stars) for which photometry in the near- and mid-IR and distance estimates are available. Whenever possible we searched also for mass-loss rates. The observed spectral energy distributions extended in all cases up to 20 $\mu$m and for the best-observed sources up to 45 $\mu$m. The wide wavelength coverage allows us to obtain reliable bolometric corrections, and hence bolometric magnitudes. We show that mid-IR fluxes are crucial for estimating bolometric magnitudes for stars with dusty envelopes and that the so-called luminosity problem of C stars (i.e. the suggestion that they are less luminous than predicted by models) does not appear to exist.
Hierarchical turbulent structure constituting a jet is considered to reproduce energy-dependent variability in blazars, particularly, the correlation between X- and gamma-ray light curves measured in the TeV blazar Markarian 421. The scale-invariant filaments are featured by the ordered magnetic fields that involve hydromagnetic fluctuations serving as electron scatterers for diffusive shock acceleration, and the spatial size scales are identified with the local maximum electron energies, which are reflected in the synchrotron spectral energy distribution (SED) above the near-infrared/optical break. The structural transition of filaments is found to be responsible for the observed change of spectral hysteresis.
In this paper we investigate the feasibility of bremsstrahlung radiation from `nonthermal' electrons as a source of hard X-rays from the intracluster medium of clusters of galaxies. With an exact treatment of the Coulomb collisions in a Fokker-Planck analysis of the electron distribution we find that the severe difficulties with lifetimes of `nonthermal' particles found earlier by Petrosian (2001) using a cold target model remain problematic. We then address possible acceleration of background electrons into a nonthermal tail. We assume a simplified but generic acceleration rate and determine the expected evolution of an initially Maxwellian distribution of electrons. We find that strong nonthermal components arise only for rapid rate of acceleration which also heats up the entire plasma. These results confirm the conclusion that if the observed `nonthermal' excesses are due to some process accelerating the background thermal electrons this process must be short lived.
We investigate the effect of a disc-driven jet on the accretion growth of cosmological supermassive black holes (SMBHs). The presence of a jet enhances the mass growth rate because for a given luminosity, the mass accretion rate, is higher (or equivalently, the radiative efficiency e_r is lower for a fixed mass accretion rate) than that predicted by standard accretion disc theory. As jets carry away very little of the accreting matter, a larger proportion of the rest mass can reach the black hole during episodes of jet activity. We show quantitatively that the conditions required to grow a rapidly spinning black hole to a mass ~ 10^9 solar masses by redshift z ~ 6, whilst satisfying the observational constraint e_r > 0.1, are considerably less restrictive for jet-enhanced disc accretion than for standard disc accretion, which requires implausibly high super-Eddington accretion rates. Furthermore, jet-enhanced accretion growth offers a viable explanation for the observed correlation between black hole mass and radio-loudness of quasars.
We discuss how we obtain the spatial distribution of ice on the surface of the circumstellar disk around young stars. Ice in the disks plays a very important role in various issues, for instance, on the disk structure, on the planet formation, on the isotopic anomaly in meteorites, and on the origin of the sea on the Earth. Therefore, the spatially resolved observation of the condensation/sublimation front of ice, so-called ``snow line'' is strongly required. Here, we propose a new method for obtaining the spatially resolved ``snow line'' on the circumstellar disks by observing 3 \micron H$_2$O ice feature in the scattered light. Based on radiative transfer considerations, we show that the feature is clearly imprinted in the spectrum of the scattered light from both optically thick and thin circumstellar disks. We also show that the scattered light and the H$_2$O ice feature from protoplanetary disks are detectable and spatially resolvable with the current instruments through a $H_2O$ narrowband filter around 3 \micron. Finally, we present a diagnostics of disk dust properties on the $K-H_2O$ and $K-L'$ two color diagram.
We compare the zonal flow pattern in subsurface layers of the Sun with the distribution of surface magnetic features like sunspots and polar faculae. We demonstrate that in the activity belt, the butterfly pattern of sunspots coincides with the fast stream of zonal flows, although part of the sunspot distribution does spill over to the slow stream. At high latitudes, the polar faculae and zonal flow bands have similar distributions in the spatial and temporal domains.
Blandford-Znajek mechanism, by which the rotational energy of a black hole is extracted through electromagnetic fields, is one of the promising candidates as an essential process of the central engine of active compact objects such as Gamma-Ray Bursts. The only known analytical solution of this mechanism is the perturbative monopole solution for Kerr parameter a up to the second order terms. In order to apply Blandford-Znajek mechanism to rapidly rotating black holes, we try to obtain the perturbation solution up to the fourth order. As a result, we find that the fourth order terms of the vector potential diverge at infinity, which implies that the perturbation approach breaks down at large distance from the black hole. Although there are some uncertainties about the solution due to the unknown boundary condition at infinity for the fourth order terms, we can derive the evaluation of the total energy flux extracted from the black hole up to fourth order of a without any ambiguity. Further more, from the comparison between the numerical solution that is valid for 0<a<1 and the fourth order solution, we find that the fourth order solution reproduces the numerical result better than the second order solution. At the same time, since the fourth order solution does not match well with numerical result at large a, we conclude that more higher order terms are required to reproduce the numerical result.
With the diffusion approximation, we study the cascade and damping of Alfv\'{e}n-cyclotron fluctuations in solar plasmas numerically. Motivated by wave-wave couplings and nonlinear effects, we test several forms of the diffusion tensor. For a general locally anisotropic and inhomogeneous diffusion tensor in the wave vector space, the turbulence spectrum in the inertial range can be fitted with power-laws with the power-law index varying with the wave propagation direction. For several locally isotropic but inhomogeneous diffusion coefficients, the steady-state turbulence spectra are nearly isotropic in the absence of damping and can be fitted by a single power-law function. However, the energy flux is strongly polarized due to the inhomogeneity that leads to an anisotropic cascade. Including the anisotropic thermal damping, the turbulence spectrum cuts off at the wave numbers, where the damping rates become comparable to the cascade rates. The combined anisotropic effects of cascade and damping make this cutoff wave number dependent on the wave propagation direction, and the propagation direction integrated turbulence spectrum resembles a broken power-law, which cuts off at the maximum of the cutoff wave numbers or the $^4$He cyclotron frequency. Taking into account the Doppler effects, the model can naturally reproduce the broken power-law wave spectra observed in the solar wind and predicts that a higher break frequency is aways accompanied with a greater spectral index change that may be caused by the increase of the Alfv\'{e}n Mach number, the reciprocal of the plasma beta, and/or the angle between the solar wind velocity and the mean magnetic field. These predictions can be tested by future observations.
In this paper we investigate gravitational instability of shocked gas layers using linear analysis. An unperturbed state is a self-gravitating isothermal layer which grows with time by the accretion of gas through shock fronts due to a cloud-cloud collision. Since the unperturbed state is not static, and cannot be described by a self-similar solution, we numerically solved the perturbation equations and directly integrated them over time. We took account of the distribution of physical quantities across the thickness. Linearized Rankine-Hugoniot relations were imposed at shock fronts as boundary conditions. The following results are found from our unsteady linear analysis: the perturbation initially evolves in oscillatory mode, and begins to grow at a certain epoch. The wavenumber of the fastest growing mode is given by $k=2\sqrt{2\pi G\rho_\mathrm{E} {\cal M\mit}}/c_\mathrm{s}$, where $\rho_\mathrm{E}, c_\mathrm{s}$ and $\cal M\mit$ are the density of parent clouds, the sound velocity and the Mach number of the collision velocity, respectively. For this mode, the transition epoch from oscillatory to growing mode is given by $t_g = 1.2/\sqrt{2\pi G\rho_\mathrm{E} {\cal M\mit}}$. The epoch at which the fastest growing mode becomes non-linear is given by $2.4\delta_0^{-0.1}/\sqrt{2\pi G \rho_\mathrm{E}{\cal M\mit}}$, where $\delta_0$ is the initial amplitude of the perturbation of the column density. As an application of our linear analysis, we investigate criteria for collision-induced fragmentation. Collision-induced fragmentation will occur only when parent clouds are cold, or $\alpha_0=5c_\mathrm{s}^2 R/2G M < 1$, where $R$ and $M$ are the radius and the mass of parent clouds, respectively.
Observations of extrasolar planets reveal that planets can be found in close binary systems, where the semi-major axis of the binary orbit is less than 20 AU. The existence of these planets challenges planet formation theory, because the strong gravitational perturbations due to the companion increase encounter velocities between planetesimals and make it difficult for them to grow through accreting collisions. We study planetesimal encounter velocities in binary systems, where the planetesimals are embedded in a circumprimary gas disc that is allowed to evolve under influence of the gravitational perturbations of the companion star. We find that the encounter velocities between planetesimals of different size strongly depend on the gas disc eccentricity. In all cases studied, inclusion of the full gas dynamics increases the encounter velocity compared to the case of a static, circular gas disc. Full numerical parameter exploration is still impossible, but we derive analytical formulae to estimate encounter velocities between bodies of different sizes given the gas disc eccentricity. The gas dynamical evolution of a protoplanetary disc in a binary system tends to make planetesimal accretion even more difficult than in a static, axisymmetric gas disc.
We observed 7 hard X-ray sources discovered by the INTEGRAL observatory during its all-sky survey with the Chandra X-ray Observatory to refine their localization to ~2 arcsec and to study their X-ray spectra. Two sources are inferred to have a Galactic origin: IGR J08390-4833 is most likely a magnetic cataclysmic variable with a white dwarf spin period ~1,450 s and IGR J21343+4738 is a high-mass X-ray binary. Four sources (IGR J02466-4222, IGR J14493-5534, IGR J14561-3738 and IGR J23523+5844) prove to be nearby AGN with significant X-ray absorption along the line of sight. Furthemore, IGR J02466-4222 and IGR J14561-3738 are likely Compton thick AGN with absorption column densities NH>10^24 cm^-2, and the former further appears to be one of the nearest X-ray bright, optically normal galaxies. The remaining source IGR J09522-6231 is likely an obscured AGN as well, although further follow-up observations are needed to clarify its nature. With the newly identified sources, the number of heavily obscured (NH>~10^24 cm^-2) AGN detected by INTEGRAL has increased to ~10. Therefore, such objects constitute 10-15% of hard X-ray bright, non-blazar AGN in the local Universe. The small ratio (<<1%) of soft (0.5-8.0 keV) to hard (17-60 keV) band fluxes (Chandra to INTEGRAL) and the non-detection of optical narrow-line emission in some of the Compton thick AGN in our sample suggests that the central massive black hole may be surrounded by a geometrically thick dusty torus with a narrow ionization cone.
We report two-dimensional MHD simulations which demonstrate that photospheric 5-min oscillations can leak into the chromosphere inside small-scale vertical magnetic flux tubes. The results of our numerical experiments are compatible with those inferred from simultaneous spectropolarimetric observations of the photosphere and chromosphere obtained with the Tenerife Infrared Polarimeter (TIP) at 10830 A. We conclude that the efficiency of energy exchange by radiation in the solar photosphere can lead to a significant reduction of the cut-off frequency and may allow for the propagation of the 5 minutes waves vertically into the chromosphere.
Assuming that Dark Matter is dominated by WIMPs, it accretes by gravitational attraction and scattering over stellar material and annihilates inside a star, giving rise to a "Dark Luminosity" which may potentially affect the evolution of stars. In this short letter we estimate the Dark Luminosity achieved by different kinds of stars in a halo with DM properties characteristic of the ones were the first star formation episode occurs. We find that either massive, metal-poor(/free) and small, galactic-like stars can achieve Dark Luminosities comparable or exceeding their nuclear ones. This, together with the peculiar values of the DM distribution within the star, and the transport effects induced by WIMP scattering off baryons, might have dramatic effects over the evolution of the very first stars, known as Population III.
If a significant fraction of metals is in dust, star-forming cores with metallicity higher than a critical value ~10^{-6}-10^{-5}Z_sun are able to fragment by dust cooling, thereby producing low-mass cores. Despite being above the critical metallicity, a metallicity range is found to exist around 10^{-5}-10^{-4}Z_sun where low-mass fragmentation is prohibited. In this range, three-body H_2 formation starts at low (~100K) temperature and thus the resulting heating causes a dramatic temperature jump, which makes the central part of the star-forming core transiently hydrostatic and thus highly spherical. With little elongation, the core does not experience fragmentation in the subsequent dust-cooling phase. The minimum fragmentation mass is set by the Jeans mass just before the H_2 formation heating, and its value can be as high as ~10M_sun. For metallicity higher than ~10^{-4}Z_sun, H_2 formation is almost completed by the dust-surface reaction before the onset of the three-body reaction, and low-mass star formation becomes possible. This mechanism might explain the higher characteristic mass of metal-poor stars than in the solar neighborhood presumed from the statistics of carbon-enhanced stars.
Aims. Determination of the present evolutionary state and the restrictions on the initial mass ratios of RZ Cas, KO Aql and S Equ. Methods. Comparison of mass gaining stars with evolutionary models of single stars with the same mass and subsequent comparison with accretion tracks from simultaneous conservative binary evolution. Results. The gainers are in an early main sequence stage (Xc greater than 0.5), with KO Aql being almost unevolved. The initial donor/gainer mass ratios Mdi/Mgi must be larger than three to obtain the present mass and luminosity of the gainers.
In the last years the research on GRB host galaxies has proceeded to more detailed studies both using high resolution afterglow spectroscopy and spatially resolved spectra of nearby hosts. High resolution spectra give a detailed picture of the kinematic properties of matter along the line-of-sight in the host. Two afterglow spectra show clear indications for outflows from their host, namely GRB 030329 and GRB 060206, derived from the position of absorption and host emission lines, nonvariability of Mg I and the radiation field calculated from fine-structure line detections. In nearby GRB hosts it is possible to resolve the actual GRB site. GRB 060505, a SN-less GRB, originated in a relatively metal poor, star forming region with similar properties as other long-duration hosts. A similar conclusion is reached for the site of GRB 980425/SN 1998bw.
We performed 3-dimensional N-body/SPH simulations to study how mass resolution and other model parameters such as the star formation efficiency parameter, C* and the threshold density, nth affect structures of the galactic gaseous/stellar disk in a static galactic potential. We employ 10^6 - 10^7 particles to resolve a cold and dense (T < 100 K & n_H > 100 cm^{-3}) phase. We found that structures of the ISM and the distribution of young stars are sensitive to the assumed nth. High-nth models with nth = 100 cm^{-3} yield clumpy multi-phase features in the ISM. Young stars are distributed in a thin disk of which half-mass scale height is 10 - 30 pc. In low-nth models with nth = 0.1 cm^{-3}, which is the stellar disk is found to be several times thicker, and the gas disk appears smoother than the high-nth models. A high-resolution simulation with high-nth is necessary to reproduce the complex structure of the gas disk. The global properties of the model galaxies in low-nth models, such as star formation histories, are similar to those in the high-nth models when we tune the value of C* so that they reproduce the observed relation between surface gas density and surface star formation rate density. We however emphasize that high-nth models automatically reproduce the relation, regardless of the values of C*. The ISM structure, phase distribution, and distributions of young star forming region are quite similar between two runs with values of C* which differ by a factor of 15. We also found that the timescale of the flow from n_H ~1 cm^{-3} to n_H > 100 cm^{-3} is about 5 times as long as the local dynamical time and is independent of the value of C*. The use of a high-nth criterion for star formation in high-resolution simulations makes numerical models fairy insensitive to the modelling of star formation. (Abridged)
We present a study on the origin of the metallicity evolution of the intra-cluster medium (ICM) by applying a semi-analytic model of galaxy formation to N-body/SPH (smoothed particle hydrodynamic) non-radiative numerical simulations of clusters of galaxies. The semi-analytic model includes gas cooling, star formation, supernovae feedback and metal enrichment, and is linked to the diffuse gas of the underlying simulations so that the chemical properties of gas particles are dynamically and consistently generated from stars in the galaxies. This hybrid model let us have information on the spatial distribution of metals in the ICM. The results obtained for a set of clusters with virial masses of ~1.5*10^15 h^{-1} M_sun contribute to the theoretical interpretation of recent observational X-ray data, which indicate a decrease of the average iron content of the intra-cluster gas with increasing redshift. We find that this evolution arises mainly as a result of a progressive increase of the iron abundance within ~0.15 R_vir. The clusters have been considerably enriched by z~1 with very low contribution from recent star formation. Low entropy gas that has been enriched at high redshift sinks to the cluster centre contributing to the evolution of the metallicity profiles.
We report on investigations of the power of next generation cosmic microwave background and large scale structure surveys in constraining the nature of dark energy through the cross-correlation of the Integrated Sachs Wolfe effect and the galaxy distribution. First we employ a signal to noise analysis to find the most appropriate properties of a survey in order to detect the correlated signal at a level of more than 4 sigma: such a survey should cover more than 35% of the sky, the galaxy distribution should be probed with a median redshift higher than 0.8, and the number of galaxies detected should be higher than a few per squared arcmin. We consider the forthcoming surveys DUNE, LSST, SNAP, PanSTARRS. We then compute the constraints that the DUNE survey can put on the nature of dark energy (through different parametrizations of its equation of state) with a standard Fisher matrix analysis. We confirm that, with respect to pure CMB constraints, cross-correlation constraints help in breaking degeneracies among the dark energy and the cosmological parameters. Naturally, the constraining capability is not independent of the choice of the dark energy model. Despite being weaker than some other probes (like Gravitational Weak-Lensing), these constraints are complementary to them, being sensitive to the high-redshift behaviour of the dark energy.
Using 8 telescopes in the northern and southern hemispheres, plus archival data from two on-line sky surveys, we performed a systematic optical spectroscopic study of 39 putative counterparts of unidentified or poorly studied INTEGRAL sources in order to determine or at least better assess their nature. This was implemented within the framework of our campaign to reveal the nature of newly-discovered and/or unidentified sources detected by INTEGRAL. Our results show that 29 of these objects are active galactic nuclei (13 of which are of Seyfert 1 type, 15 are Seyfert 2 galaxies and one is possibly a BL Lac object) with redshifts between 0.011 and 0.316, 7 are X-ray binaries (5 with high-mass companions and 2 with low-mass secondaries), one is a magnetic cataclysmic variable, one is a symbiotic star and one is possibly an active star. Thus, the large majority (74%) of the identifications in this sample belongs to the AGN class. When possible, the main physical parameters for these hard X-ray sources were also computed using the multiwavelength information available in the literature. These identifications further underscore the importance of INTEGRAL in studying the hard X-ray spectra of all classes of X-ray emitting objects, and the effectiveness of a strategy of multi-catalogue cross-correlation plus optical spectroscopy to securely pinpoint the actual nature of still unidentified hard X-ray sources.
Powerful astronomical spectra reveal an urgent need for additional work on atomic lines, levels, and oscillator strengths. The star HD 65949 provides some excellent examples of species rarely identified in stellar spectra. For example, the Re II spectrum is well developed, with 17 lines between 3731 and 4904 [A], attributed wholly or partially to Re II. Classifications and oscillator strengths are lacking for a number of these lines. The spectrum of Os II is well identified. Of 14 lines attributed wholly or partially to Os II, only one has an entry in the VALD database. We find strong evidence that Te II is present. There are NO Te II lines in the VALD database. Ru II is clearly present, but oscillator strengths for lines in the visual are lacking. There is excellent to marginal evidence for a number of less commonly identified species, including Kr II, Nb II, Sb II, Xe II, Pr III, Ho III, Au II, and Pt II (probably Pt-198), to be present in the spectrum of HD 65949. The line Hg II at 3984 [A] is of outstanding strength, and all three lines of Multiplet 1 of Hg I are present, even though the surface temperature of HD 65949 is relatively high. Finally, we present the case of an unidentified, 24 [mA], line at 3859.63 [A], which could be the same feature seen in magnetic CP stars. It is typically blended with a putative U II line used in cosmochronology.
Mid-infrared spectrophotometric observations have revealed a small sub-class of circumstellar disks with spectral energy distributions (SEDs) suggestive of large inner gaps with low dust content. However, such data provide only an indirect and model dependent method of finding central holes. We present here the direct characterization of a 40 AU radius inner gap in the disk around LkHa 330 through 340 GHz (880 micron) dust continuum imaging with the Submillimeter Array (SMA). This large gap is fully resolved by the SMA observations and mostly empty of dust with less than 1.3 x 10^-6 M_solar of solid particles inside of 40 AU. Gas (as traced by accretion markers and CO M-band emission) is still present in the inner disk and the outer edge of the gap rises steeply -- features in better agreement with the underlying cause being gravitational perturbation than a more gradual process such as grain growth. Importantly, the good agreement of the spatially resolved data and spectrophometry-based model lends confidence to current interpretations of SEDs with significant dust emission deficits as arising from disks with inner gaps or holes. Further SED-based searches can therefore be expected to yield numerous additional candidates that can be examined at high spatial resolution.
Young stars observed in the distant Galactic halo are usually thought to have formed elsewhere, either in the Galactic disk or perhaps the Galactic center, and subsequently ejected at high velocities to their current position. However, some of these stars have apparent lifetimes shorter the required flight time from the Galactic disk/center. We suggest that such stars have evolved in close runaway or hypervelocity binaries. Stellar evolution of such binaries can drive them into mass transfer configurations and even mergers. Such evolution could then rejuvenate them (e.g. blue stragglers) and extend their lifetime after their ejection. The extended lifetimes of such stars could then be reconciled with their flight times to the Galactic halo. We study the possibilities of binary runaway and hypervelocity stars and show that such binaries could have been ejected in triple disruptions and other dynamical interactions with stars or with massive black holes. We show that currently observed ``too young'' star in the halo could have been ejected from the Galactic disk or the Galactic center and be observable in their current position if they were ejected as binaries (including the hypervelocity star HE 0437-5439; whereas other suggestions for its ejection from the LMC are shown to be highly unlikely). In addition, we suggest that triple disruptions by the massive black hole in the Galactic center could also capture binaries in close orbits near the MBH, some of which may later evolve to become more massive rejuvenated stars.
AIMS. We present a new Ks-band survey that represents a significant extension to the previous wide-field Ks-band imaging survey within the 0226-04 field of the VIMOS-VLT deep survey (VVDS). The new data add ~ 458 arcmin^2 to the previous imaging program, thus allowing us to cover a total contiguous area of ~ 600 arcmin^2 within this field. METHODS. Sources are identified both directly on the final K-band mosaic image and on the corresponding, deep chi^2-g'r'i' image from the CFHT Legacy Survey in order to reduce contamination while ensuring us the compilation of a truly K-selected catalogue down to the completeness limit of the Ks-band. The newly determined Ks-band magnitudes are used in combination with the ancillary multiwavelength data for the determination of accurate photometric redshifts. RESULTS. The final catalogue totals ~ 52000 sources, out of which ~ 4400 have a spectroscopic redshift from the VVDS first epoch survey. The catalogue is 90% complete down to K_Vega = 20.5 mag. We present K_s-band galaxy counts and angular correlation function measurements down to such magnitude limit. Our results are in good agreement with previously published work. We show that the use of K magnitudes in the determination of photometric redshifts significantly lowers the incidence of catastrophic errors. The data presented in this paper are publicly available through the CENCOS database.
Molecules present in exoplanetary atmospheres are expected to strongly influence the atmospheric radiation balance, trace dynamical and chemical processes, and indicate the presence of disequilibrium effects. Since molecules have the potential to reveal the exoplanet atmospheric conditions and chemistry, searching for them is a high priority. The rotational-vibrational transition bands of water, carbon monoxide, and methane are anticipated to be the primary sources of non-continuum opacity in hot-Jovian planets. Since these bands overlap in wavelength, and the corresponding signatures from them are weak, decisive identification requires precision infrared spectroscopy. Here we report on a near-infrared transmission spectrum of the planet HD 189733b showing the presence of methane. Additionally, a resolved water-vapour band at 1.9 microns confirms the recent claim of water in this object. On thermochemical grounds, carbon-monoxide is expected to be abundant in the upper atmosphere of hot-Jovian exoplanets; thus the detection of methane rather than carbon-monoxide in such a hot planet could signal the presence of a horizontal chemical gradient away from the permanent dayside, or it may imply an ill-understood photochemical mechanisms that leads to an enhancement of methane.
Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, has a thick atmosphere dominated by nitrogen and methane. The dense orange-brown smog hiding the satellite's surface is produced by photochemical reactions of methane, nitrogen and their dissociation products with solar ultraviolet, which lead primarily to the formation of ethane and heavier hydrocarbons. In the years prior to the exploration of Titan's surface by the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, the production and condensation of ethane was expected to have formed a satellite-wide ocean one kilometer in depth, assuming that it was generated over the Solar system's lifetime. However, Cassini-Huygens observations failed to find any evidence of such an ocean. Here we describe the main cause of the ethane deficiency on Titan: cryovolcanic lavas regularly cover its surface, leading to the percolation of the liquid hydrocarbons through this porous material and its accumulation in subsurface layers built up during successive methane outgassing events. The liquid stored in the pores may, combined with the ice layers, form a stable ethane-rich clathrate reservoir, potentially isolated from the surface. Even with a low open porosity of 10% for the subsurface layers, a cryovolcanic icy crust less than 2300 m thick is required to bury all the liquid hydrocarbons generated over the Solar system's lifetime.
A new survey of star clusters in the South-West field of the M31 disk based on the high resolution Subaru Suprime-Cam observations is presented. The UBVRI aperture CCD photometry catalog of 285 objects (V < 20.5; 169 of them identified for the first time) is provided. Each object is supplemented with multi-band color maps presented in the electronic edition of the Astrophysical Journal Supplement. Seventy seven star cluster candidates from the catalog are located in the Hubble Space Telescope archive frames.
Recent observations have pointed out various anomalies in some multipoles (small $\ell $) of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this paper, it is proved that some of these anomalies could be explained in the framework of a modified concordance model, in which, there is an appropriate distribution of vector perturbations with very large spatial scales. Vector modes are associated with divergenceless (vortical) velocity fields. Here, the generation of these modes is not studied in detail (it can be done "a posteriori"); on the contrary, we directly look for the distributions of these vector modes which lead to both alignments of the second and third multipoles and a planar octopole. A general three-dimensional (3D) superimposition of vector perturbations does not produce any alignment, but we have found rather general 2D superimpositions leading to anomalies similar to the observed ones; in these 2D cases, the angular velocity has the same direction at any point of an extended region and, moreover, this velocity has the same distribution in all the planes orthogonal to it. Differential rotations can be seen as particular cases, in which, the angular velocity only depends on the distance to a rotation axis. Our results strongly suggest that appropriate mixtures of scalar and vector modes with very large spatial scales could explain the observed CMB anomalies.
The Antennae galaxies are the closest example of an ongoing major galaxy merger, and thereby represent a unique laboratory for furthering the understanding of the formation of exotic objects (e.g., tidal dwarf galaxies, ultra-luminous X-ray sources, super-stellar clusters, etc). In a previous paper HST/WFPC2 observations were used to demonstrate that the Antennae system might be at a distance considerably less than that conventionally assumed in the literature. Here we report new, much deeper HST/ACS imaging that resolves the composite stellar populations, and most importantly, reveals a well-defined red giant branch. The tip of this red giant branch (TRGB) is unambiguously detected at Io(TRGB)=26.65 +/- 0.09 mag. Adopting the most recent calibration of the luminosity of the TRGB then yields a distance modulus for the Antennae of (m-M)o= 30.62 +/- 0.17 corresponding to a distance of 13.3 +/- 1.0 Mpc. This is consistent with our earlier result, once the different calibrations for the standard candle are considered. We briefly discuss the implications of this now well determined shorter distance.
We present Hubble Space Telescope NICMOS H-band imaging of 33 Ultraluminous Infrared Galaxies (ULIRGs) at z~2 that were selected from the 24 micron catalog of the Spitzer Extragalactic First Look Survey. The images reveal that at least 17 of the 33 objects are associated with interactions. Up to one fifth of the sources in our sample could be minor mergers whereas only 2 systems are merging binaries with luminosity ratio <=3:1, which is characteristic of local ULIRGs. The rest-frame optical luminosities of the sources are of the order 10^10-10^11 L_sun and their effective radii range from 1.4 to 4.9 kpc. The most compact sources are either those with a strong active nucleus or those with a heavy obscuration in the mid-infrared regime, as determined from Spitzer Infra-Red Spectrograph data. The luminosity of the 7.7 micron feature produced by Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon molecules varies significantly amongst compact systems whereas it is typically large for extended systems. A bulge-to-disk decomposition performed for the 6 brightest (m_H<20) sources in our sample indicates that they are best fit by disk-like profiles with small or negligible bulges, unlike the bulge-dominated remnants of local ULIRGs. Our results provide evidence that the interactions associated with ultraluminous infrared activity at z~2 can differ from those at z~0.
Polar Ring Galaxies, such as NGC4650A, are a class of galaxy which have two kinematically distinct components that are inclined by almost 90 degrees to each other. These striking galaxies challenge our understanding of how galaxies form; the origin of their distinct components has remained uncertain, and the subject of much debate. We use high-resolution cosmological simulations of galaxy formation to show that Polar Ring Galaxies are simply an extreme example of the angular moment misalignment that occurs during the hierarchical structure formation characteristic of Cold Dark Matter cosmology. In our model, Polar Ring Galaxies form through the continuous accretion of gas whose angular momentum is misaligned with the central galaxy.
The most general initial conditions of CMB anisotropies, compatible with the presence of pre-equality magnetic fields, are derived. When the plasma is composed by photons, baryons, electrons, CDM particles and neutrinos, the initial data of the truncated Einstein-Boltzmann hierarchy contemplate one magnetized adiabatic mode and four (magnetized) non-adiabatic modes. After obtaining the analytical form of the various solutions, the Einstein-Boltzmann hierarchy is numerically integrated for the corresponding sets of initial data. The TT, TE and EE angular power spectra are illustrated and discussed for the magnetized generalization of the CDM-radiation mode, of the baryon-radiation mode and of the non-adiabatic mode of the neutrino sector. Mixtures of initial conditions are examined by requiring that the magnetized adiabatic mode dominates over the remaining non-adiabatic contributions. In the latter case, possible degeneracies between complementary sets of initial data might be avoided through the combined analysis of the TT, TE and EE angular power spectra at high multipoles (i.e. $\ell >1000$).
Understanding the dynamics around rotating black holes is imperative to the success of the future gravitational wave observatories. Although integrable in principle, test particle orbits in the Kerr spacetime can also be elaborate, and while they have been studied extensively, classifying their general properties has been a challenge. This is the first in a series of papers that adopts a dynamical systems approach to the study of Kerr orbits, beginning with equatorial orbits. We define a taxonomy of orbits that hinges on a correspondence between periodic orbits and rational numbers. The taxonomy defines the entire dynamics, including aperiodic motion, since every orbit is in or near the periodic set. A remarkable implication of this periodic orbit taxonomy is that the simple precessing ellipse familiar from planetary orbits is not allowed in the strong-field regime. Instead, eccentric orbits trace out precessions of multi-leaf clovers in the final stages of inspiral. Furthermore, for any black hole, there is some point in the strong-field regime past which zoom-whirl behavior becomes unavoidable. Finally, we sketch the potential application of the taxonomy to problems of astrophysical interest, in particular its utility for computationally intensive gravitational wave calculations.
In this review, we discuss the role of the various experimental programs taking part in the broader effort to identify the particle nature of dark matter. In particular, we focus on electroweak scale dark matter particles and discuss a wide range of search strategies being carried out and developed to detect them. These efforts include direct detection experiments, which attempt to observe the elastic scattering of dark matter particles with nuclei, indirect detection experiments, which search for photons, antimatter and neutrinos produced as a result of dark matter annihilations, and collider searches for new TeV-scale physics. Each of these techniques could potentially provide a different and complementary set of information related to the mass, interactions and distribution of dark matter. Ultimately, it is hoped that these many different tools will be used together to conclusively identify the particle or particles that constitute the dark matter of our universe.
We use effective field theory techniques to compute the potentials due to spin-spin and spin-orbit effects, from which the spin(1)spin(2) contribution to the motion of spinning compact binaries to third Post-Newtonian (PN) order follow. We use a formalism which allows us to impose the spin supplementarity condition (SSC) in a canonical framework to all orders in the PN expansion. We explicitly show the equivalence with our previous results, obtained using the Newton-Wigner SSC at the level of the action for spin-spin and spin-orbit potentials reported in arXiv:gr-qc/0604099 and arXiv:0712.2032[gr-qc] respectively.
We show that for a force mediated by a vector particle coupled to a conserved U(1) charge, the apparent range and strength can depend on the size and density of the source, and the proximity to other sources. This "chameleon" effect is due to screening from a light charged scalar. Such screening can weaken astrophysical constraints on new gauge bosons. As an example we consider the constraints on chameleonic gauged B-L. We show that although Casimir measurements greatly constrain any B-L force much stronger than gravity with range longer than 0.1 microns, there remains an experimental window for a long range chameleonic B-L force. Such a force could be much stronger than gravity, and long or infinite range in vacuum, but have an effective range near the surface of the earth which is less than a micron.
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