We survey observational constraints on the parameter space of inflation and axions and map out two allowed windows: the classic window and the inflationary anthropic window. The cosmology of the latter is particularly interesting; inflationary axion cosmology predicts the existence of isocurvature fluctuations in the CMB, with an amplitude that grows with both the energy scale of inflation and the fraction of dark matter in axions. Statistical arguments favor a substantial value for the latter, and so current bounds on isocurvature fluctuations imply tight constraints on inflation. For example, an axion Peccei-Quinn scale of 10^16 GeV excludes any inflation model with energy scale > 3.8*10^14 GeV (r > 2*10^(-9)) at 95% confidence, and so implies negligible gravitational waves from inflation, but suggests appreciable isocurvature fluctuations.
We present results from a low resolution (R~300) near-infrared spectroscopic variability survey of actively accreting T Tauri stars (TTS) in the Taurus-Auriga star forming region. Paschen and Brackett series H I recombination lines were detected in 73 spectra of 15 classical T Tauri systems. The values of the Pan/PaB, Brn/BrG, and BrG/Pan H I line ratios for all observations exhibit a scatter of < 20% about the weighted mean, not only from source to source, but also for epoch-to-epoch variations in the same source. A representative or `global' value was determined for each ratio in both the Paschen and Brackett series as well as the BrG/Pan line ratios. A comparison of observed line ratio values was made to those predicted by the temperature and electron density dependent models of Case B hydrogen recombination line theory. The measured line ratios are statistically well-fit by a tightly constrained range of temperatures (T < 2000 K) and electron densities 1e9 < n_e < 1e10 cm^-3. A comparison of the observed line ratio values to the values predicted by the optically thick and thin local thermodynamic equilibrium cases rules out these conditions for the emitting H I gas. Therefore, the emission is consistent with having an origin in a non-LTE recombining gas. While the range of electron densities is consistent with the gas densities predicted by existing magnetospheric accretion models, the temperature range constrained by the Case B comparison is considerably lower than that expected for accreting gas. The cooler gas temperatures will require a non-thermal excitation process (e.g., coronal/accretion-related X-rays and UV photons) to power the observed line emission.
Aims: Molecular emission lines originating in the nuclei of luminous
infra-red galaxies are used to determine the physical properties of the nuclear
ISM in these systems.
Methods: A large observational database of molecular emission lines is
compared with model predictions that include heating by UV and X-ray radiation,
mechanical heating, and the effects of cosmic rays.
Results: The observed line ratios and model predictions imply a separation of
the observedsystems into three groups: XDRs, UV-dominated high-density (n>=10^5
cm-3) PDRs, and lower-density (n=10^4.5 cm-3) PDRs that are dominated by
mechanical feedback.
Conclusions: The division of the two types of PDRs follows naturally from the
evolution of the star formation cycle of these sources, which evolves from
deeply embedded young stars, resulting in high-density (n>=10^5 cm-3) PDRs, to
a stage where the gas density has decreased (n=10^4.5 cm-3) and mechanical
feedback from supernova shocks dominates the heating budget.
Accretion discs at sub-pc distances around supermassive black holes are likely to cool rapidly enough that self-gravity results in fragmentation. Here, we use high-resolution hydrodynamic simulations of a simplified disc model to study how the outcome of fragmentation depends upon numerical resolution and cooling time, and to investigate the incidence of binary formation within fragmenting discs. We investigate a range of cooling times, from the relatively long cooling time-scales that are marginally unstable to fragmentation down to highly unstable cooling on a time-scale that is shorter than the local dynamical time. The characteristic mass of fragments decreases with reduced cooling time, though the effect is modest and dependent upon details of how rapidly bound clumps radiate. We observe a high incidence of capture binaries, though we are unable to determine their final orbits or probability of survival. The results suggest that faster cooling in the parent disc results in an increased binary fraction, and that a high primordial binary fraction may result from disc fragmentation. We discuss our results in terms of the young massive stars close to the Galactic Centre, and suggest that observations of some stellar binaries close to the Galactic Centre remain consistent with formation in a fragmenting accretion disc.
The nonlinear perturbation theory of gravitational instability is extended to include effects of both biasing and redshift-space distortions, which are inevitable in predicting observable quantities in galaxy surveys. The precise determination of scales of baryon acoustic oscillations is crucial to investigate the nature of dark energy by galaxy surveys. We find that a Lagrangian local bias and redshift-space distortions are naturally incorporated in our formalism of perturbation theory with a resummation technique via the Lagrangian picture. Our formalism is applicable to any biasing scheme which are local in Lagrangian space. The halo bias is a special case of such a scheme, and weakly nonlinear effects on halo clustering in redshift space are analytically given. We assume only a fundamental idea of the halo model: haloes form according to the extended Press-Schechter theory, and the spatial distributions are locally biased in Lagrangian space. There is no need for assuming the spherical collapse model to follow the dynamical evolution, which is additionally assumed in standard halo models. One-loop corrections to the power spectrum and correlation function of haloes in redshift space are explicitly derived and presented. Instead of relying on expensive numerical simulations, our approach provides an analytic way of investigating the weakly nonlinear effects, simultaneously including the nonlinear biasing and nonlinear redshift-space distortions. Nonlinearity introduces a weakly scale dependence in the halo bias. The scale dependence is a smooth function in Fourier space, and the bias does not critically change the feature of baryon acoustic oscillations in the power spectrum. The same feature in the correlation function is less affected by nonlinear effects of biasing.
Using a sample of 43 bright (V<16.1, distance <13 kpc) RR Lyrae stars (RRLS) from the QUEST survey with spectroscopic radial velocities and metallicities, we find that several separate halo substructures contribute to the Virgo overdensity (VOD). While there is little evidence for halo substructure in the spatial distribution of these stars, their distribution in radial velocity reveals two moving groups. These results are reinforced when the sample is combined with a sample of blue horizontal branch stars that were identified in the SDSS, and the combined sample provides evidence for one additional moving group. These groups correspond to peaks in the radial velocity distribution of a sample of F type main-sequence stars that was recently observed in the same directon by SEGUE, although in one case the RRLS and F star groups may not lie at the same distance. One of the new substructures has a very narrow range in metallicity, which is more consistent with it being the debris from a destroyed globular cluster than from a dwarf galaxy. A small concentration of stars have radial velocities that are similar to the Virgo Stellar Stream (VSS) that was identified previously in a fainter sample of RRLS. Our results suggest that this feature extends to distances as short as ~12 kpc from its previous detection at ~19 kpc. None of the new groups and only one star in the sample have velocities that are consistent with membership in the leading tidal stream from the Sagittarius Dwarf Spheroidal Galaxy, which some authors have suggested is the origin of the VOD.
Profiles of spectral lines produced near a neutron star or a black hole can
be strongly distorted by Doppler blue-, or red-shifting, and gravitational
red-shifting. These profiles may have both red- and blue-shifted absorption
troughs. We consider resonant absorption in a spectral line in the outflowing
plasma within several tens of Schwarzschild radii from a compact object. We
take into account both Doppler and gravitational shifting effects and
re-formulate the theory of P-Cygni profiles in these new circumstances. It is
found that a spectral line may have multiple absorption and emission components
depending on how far the region of interaction is from the compact object and
what is the distribution of velocity and opacity. The result should be
contrasted with classical P-Cygni profiles which consist of red-shifted
emission and blue-shifted absorption features.
We suggest this property of line profiles to have complicated narrow
absorption and emission components in the presence of strong gravity may help
to study spectroscopically the innermost parts of an outflow.
We present a light and fast, public available, ray-tracer {\tt Splotch} software tool which supports the effective visualization of cosmological simulations data. We describe the algorithm it relies on, which is designed in order to deal with point-like data, optimizing the ray-tracing calculation by ordering the particles as a function of their ``depth'' defined as a function of one of the coordinates or other associated parameter. Realistic three-dimensional impressions are reached through a composition of the final color in each pixel properly calculating emission and absorption of individual volume elements. We describe several scientific as well as public applications realized with {\tt Splotch}. We emphasize how different datasets and configurations lead to remarkable different results in terms of the images and animations. A few of these results are available online.
We present the results of NICMOS imaging of a sample of 16 high mass passively evolving galaxies with 1.3<z<2, taken primarily from the Gemini Deep Deep Survey. Around 80% of galaxies in our sample have spectra dominated by stars with ages >1 Gyr. Our rest-frame R-band images show that most of these objects have compact regular morphologies which follow the classical R^1/4 law. These galaxies scatter along a tight sequence in the Kormendy relation. Around one-third of the massive red objects are extraordinarily compact, with effective radii under one kiloparsec. Our NICMOS observations allow the detection of such systems more robustly than is possible with optical (rest-frame UV) data, and while similar systems have been seen at z>2, this is the first time such systems have been detected in a rest-frame optical survey at 1.3<z<2. We refer to these compact galaxies as "red nuggets". Similarly compact massive galaxies are completely absent in the nearby Universe. We introduce a new "stellar mass Kormendy relation" (stellar mass density vs size) which isolates the effects of size evolution from those of luminosity and color evolution. The 1.1 < z < 2 passive galaxies have mass densities that are an order of magnitude larger then early type galaxies today and are comparable to the compact distant red galaxies at 2 < z < 3. We show that size evolution occurs primarily in the 1.1 < z < 1.5 redshift interval, or over a time of only 1.6 Gyr. We briefly consider mechanisms for size evolution in contemporary models focusing on equal-mass mergers and adiabatic expansion driven by stellar mass loss. Neither of these mechanisms appears able to transform the high-redshift Kormendy relation into its local counterpart. <ABRIDGED>
A ring of dense molecular gas extending 2-7 pc orbits the supermassive black hole Sgr A* at the center of our Galaxy. Using the Green Bank Telescope, we detected water maser lines and both narrow (0.35 km/s) and broad (30 - 50 km/s) methanol emission from the molecular ring. Two of the strongest methanol lines at 44 GHz are confirmed as masers by interferometric observations. These class I methanol masers are collisionally excited and are signatures of early phases of massive star formation in the disk of the Galaxy, suggesting that star formation in the molecular ring is in its early phase. Close inspection of the kinematics of the associated molecular clumps in the HCN (J=1-0) line reveals broad red-shifted wings indicative of disturbance by protostellar outflows from young (few times 10^4 yr), massive stars embedded in the clumps. The thermal methanol profile has a similar shape, with a narrow maser line superimposed on a broad, red-shifted wing. Additional evidence for the presence of young massive protostars is provided by shocked molecular hydrogen and a number of striking ionized and molecular linear filaments in the vicinity of methanol sources suggestive of 0.5-pc scale protostellar jets. Given that the circumnuclear molecular ring is kinematically unsettled and thus is likely be the result of a recent capture, the presence of both methanol emission and broad, red-shifted HCN emission suggests that star formation in the circumnuclear ring is in its infancy.
We report the detection in CO of the far-side counterpart of the well-known expanding 3-Kpc Arm in the central region of the Galaxy. In a CO longitude-velocity map at b = 0 deg the Far 3-Kpc Arm can be followed over at least 20 deg of Galactic longitude as a faint lane at positive velocities running parallel to the Near Arm. The Far Arm crosses l = 0 deg at +56 km/s, quite symmetric with the -53 km/s expansion velocity of the Near Arm. In addition to their symmetry in longitude and velocity, we find that the two arms have linewidths (~21 km/s), linear scale heights (~103 pc FWHM), and H2 masses per unit length (~4.3 x 10^6 Mo/kpc) that agree to 26% or better. Guided by the CO, we have also identified the Far Arm in high-resolution 21 cm data and find, subject to the poorly known CO-to-H2 ratio in these objects, that both arms are predominately molecular by a factor of 3-4. The detection of these symmetric expanding arms provides strong support for the existence of a bar at the center of our Galaxy and should allow better determination of the bar's physical properties.
We investigate the formation of carbon-enhanced metal-poor (CEMP) stars via the scenario of mass transfer from a carbon-rich asymptotic giant branch (AGB) primary to a low-mass companion in a binary system. We explore the extent to which material accreted from a companion star becomes mixed with that of the recipient, focusing on the effects of thermohaline mixing and gravitational settling. We have created a new set of asymptotic giant branch models in order to determine what the composition of material being accreted in these systems will be. We then model a range of CEMP systems by evolving a grid of models of low-mass stars, varying the amount of material accreted by the star (to mimic systems with different separations) and also the composition of the accreted material (to mimic accretion from primaries of different mass). We find that with thermohaline mixing alone, the accreted material can become mixed with between 16 and 88 per cent of the pristine stellar material of the accretor, depending on the mass accreted and the composition of the material. If we include the effects of gravitational settling, we find that thermohaline mixing can be inhibited and, in the case that only a small quantity of material is accreted, can be suppressed almost completely.
We study the conditions for collisions between planetesimals to be accretional or disruptive in turbulent disks, through analytical arguments based on fluid dynamical simulations and orbital integrations. In turbulent disks, the velocity dispersion of planetesimals is pumped up by random gravitational perturbations from density fluctuations of the disk gas. When the velocity dispersion is larger than the planetesimals' surface escape velocity, collisions between planetesimals do not result in accretion, and may even lead to their destruction. In disks with a surface density equal to that of the ``minimum mass solar nebula'' and with nominal MRI turbulence, we find that accretion proceeds only for planetesimals with sizes above $\sim 300$ km at 1AU and $\sim 1000$ km at 5AU. We find that accretion is facilitated in disks with smaller masses. However, at 5AU and for nominal turbulence strength, km-sized planetesimals are in a highly erosive regime even for a disk mass as small as a fraction of the mass of Jupiter. The existence of giant planets implies that either turbulence was weaker than calculated by standard MRI models or some mechanism was capable of producing Ceres-mass planetesimals in very short timescales. In any case, our results show that in the presence of turbulence planetesimal accretion is most difficult in massive disks and at large orbital distances.
We report high spatial resolution 11.2 and 18.1 micron imaging of V838 Monocerotis obtained with Gemini Observatory's Michelle instrument in 2007 March. Strong emission is observed from the unresolved stellar core of V838 Mon in our Gemini imagery, and is confirmed by Spitzer MIPS 24 micron imaging obtained in 2007 April. The 2007 flux density of the unresolved mid-infrared emission component is 2 times brighter than that observed in 2004. No clear change in the net amount of 24 micron extended emission is observed between the 2004 and 2007 epoch Spitzer imagery. We interpret these data as evidence that V838 Mon has experienced a new circumstellar dust creation event. We suggest that this newly created dust has condensed from the expanding ejecta produced from V838 Mon's 2002 outburst events, and is most likely clumpy. We speculate that one (or more) of these clumps might have passed through the line-of-sight in late 2006, producing the brief multi-wavelength photometric event reported by Bond (2006) and Munari et al (2007). We detect no evidence of extended emission above a level of 1 mJy at 11.2 microns and 7 mJy at 18.1 microns over radial distances of 1860 - 93000 AU (0.3-15.0 arcsec) from the central source. Using the simple assumption that ejecta material expands at a constant velocity of 300-500 km/s, this gap of thermal emission suggests that no significant prior circumstellar dust production events have occurred within the past 900-1500 years.
We present the first multi-color view of the scattered light disk of the
Herbig Ae star HD 163296, based on coronagraphic observations from the Hubble
Space Telescope Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). Radial profile fits of the
surface brightness along the disk's semi-major axis indicates that the disk is
not continuously flared, and extends to 540 AU. The disk's color (V-I)=1.1 at a
radial distance of 3.5 arcseconds is redder than the observed stellar color
(V-I)=0.15. This red disk color might be indicative of either an evolution in
the grain size distribution (i.e. grain growth) and/or composition, both of
which would be consistent with the observed non-flared geometry of the outer
disk. We also identify a single ansa morphological structure in our F435W ACS
data, which is absent from earlier epoch F606W and F814W ACS data, but
corresponds to one of the two ansa observed in archival HST STIS coronagraphic
data.
Following transformation to similar band-passes, we find that the scattered
light disk of HD 163296 is 1 mag arcsec$^{-2}$ fainter at 3.5 arcseconds in the
STIS data than in the ACS data. Moreover, variations are seen in (i) the
visibility of the ansa(e) structures, in (ii) the relative surface brightness
of the ansa(e) structures, and in (iii) the (known) intrinsic polarization of
the system. These results indicate that the scattered light from the HD 163296
disk is variable. We speculate that the inner disk wall, which Sitko et al.
suggests has a variable scale height as diagnosed by near-IR SED variability,
induces variable self-shadowing of the outer disk. We further speculate that
the observed surface brightness variability of the ansa(e) structures may
indicate that the inner disk wall is azimuthally asymmetric.
In helioseismology, there is a well-known offset between observed and computed oscillation frequencies. This offset is known to arise from improper modeling of the near-surface layers of the Sun, and a similar effect must occur for models of other stars. Such an effect impedes progress in asteroseismology, which involves comparing observed oscillation frequencies with those calculated from theoretical models. Here, we use data for the Sun to derive an empirical correction for the near-surface offset, which we then apply three other stars (alpha Cen A, alpha Cen B and beta Hyi). The method appears to give good results, in particular providing an accurate estimate of the mean density of each star.
Non-gaussianity in the initial conditions of the universe is one of the most powerful mechanisms to discriminate among the competing theories of the early universe. Measurements using bispectrum of cosmic microwave background anisotropies are limited by the cosmic variance, i.e. available number of modes. Recent work has emphasized the possibility to probe non-gaussianity of local type using the scale dependence of large scale bias from highly biased tracers of large scale structure. However, this power spectrum method is also limited by cosmic variance, finite number of structures on the largest scales, and by the partial degeneracy with other cosmological parameters that can mimic the same effect. Here we propose an alternative method that solves both of these problems. It is based on the idea that on large scales halos are biased, but not stochastic, tracers of dark matter: by correlating a highly biased tracer of large scale structure against an unbiased tracer one eliminates the cosmic variance error, which can lead to a high signal to noise even from the structures comparable to the size of the survey. The square of error improvement on non-gaussianity parameter f_nl relative to the power spectrum method scales as Pn/2, where P and n is the power spectrum and the number density of the biased tracer, respectively. For an ideal survey out to z=2 the error reduction can be as large as a factor of seven, which should guarantee a detection of non-gaussianity from an all sky survey of this type. The improvements could be even larger if high density tracers that are sensitive to non-gaussianity can be identified and measured over a large volume.
Aims: The TeV BL Lac object Markarian 501 is a complex, core dominated radio
source, with a one sided, twisting jet on parsec scales. In the present work,
we attempt to extend our understanding of the source physics to regions of the
radio jet which have not been accessed before.
Methods: We present new observations of Mrk 501 at 1.4 and 86 GHz. The 1.4
GHz data were obtained using the Very Large Array (VLA) and High Sensitivity
Array (HSA) in November 2004, in full polarization, with a final r.m.s. noise
of 25 microJy/beam in the HSA total intensity image; the 86 GHz observations
were performed in October 2005 with the Global Millimeter VLBI Array (GMVA),
providing an angular resolution as good as 110 x 40 microarcseconds.
Results: The sensitivity and resolution provided by the HSA make it possible
to detect the jet up to ~700 milliarcseconds (corresponding to a projected
linear size of ~500 pc) from its base, while the superior resolution of the 86
GHz GMVA observations probes the innermost regions of the jet down to ~200
Schwarzschild radii. The brightness temperature at the jet base is in excess of
6e10 K. We find evidence of limb brightening on physical scales from <1 pc to
~40 pc. Polarization images and fits to the trend of jet width and brightness
vs. distance from the core reveal a magnetic field parallel to the jet axis.
Double peaked broad emission lines in active galactic nuclei are generally considered to be formed in an accretion disc. In this paper, we compute the profiles of reprocessing emission lines from a relativistic, warped accretion disc around a black hole in order to explore the possibility that certain asymmetries in the double-peaked emission line profile which can not be explained by a circular Keplerian disc may be induced by disc warping. The disc warping also provides a solution for the energy budget in the emission line region because it increases the solid angle of the outer disc portion subtended to the inner portion of the disc. We adopted a parametrized disc geometry and a central point-like source of ionizing radiation to capture the main characteristics of the emission line profile from such discs. We find that the ratio between the blue and red peaks of the line profiles becoming less than unity can be naturally predicted by a twisted warped disc, and a third peak can be produced in some cases. We show that disc warping can reproduce the main features of multi-peaked line profiles of four active galactic nuclei from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey.
The peak amplitude of linear polarization detected recently from an extrasolar hot giant planet HD 189733b, is a few times of $10^{-4}$, more than an order of magnitude higher than all theoretical predictions. Rayleigh scattering off $H_2$ and $He$ may although give rise to a planet-star flux ratio of the order of $10^{-4}$ in the blue band, it cannot account for the high polarization unless the planet has an unusually extended atmosphere. Therefore, it is suggested that the high polarization should be attributed to the presence of a thin cloud of sub-micron size dust grains in the upper visible atmosphere which supports the observational finding of an almost feature-less transmission spectrum in the optical with no indication of the expected alkaline absorption features. It is found that the polarimetry observation allows for a small eccentricity of the orbit that is predicted from the time delay of the secondary eclipse of the planet. The estimated longitude of the ascending node is $16^o\pm6$ which interestingly coincides with the observationally inferred location of the peak hemisphere-integrated brightness.
We have studied the characteristic timescales of 80 AGNs at 22, 37 and 90 GHz examining the properties of the wavelet method and comparing them to traditional Fourier-based methods commonly used in astronomy. We used the continuous wavelet transform with the Morlet wavelet to study the characteristic timescales. We also gain information when the timescale is present in the flux curve and if it is persistent or not. Our results show that the sources are not periodic and changes in the timescales over a long time are common. The property of wavelets to be able to distinguish when the timescale has been present is superior to the Fourier-based methods. Therefore we consider it appropriate to use wavelets when the quasi-periodicities in AGNs are studied.
The presence of exponential bulges and anti-truncated disks has been noticed in many lenticular galaxies. In fact, it could be expected because the very formation of S0 galaxies includes various processes of secular evolution. We discuss how to distinguish between a pseudobulge and an anti-truncated disk, and also what particular mechanisms may be responsible for the formation of anti-truncated disks. Some bright examples of lenticular galaxies with the multi-tiers exponential stellar structures are presented, among them -- two central group giant S0s seen face-on and perfectly axisymmetric.
The improvement in observational facilities requires refining the modelling of the geometrical structures of astrophysical objects. Nevertheless, for complex problems such as line overlap in molecules showing hyperfine structure, a detailed analysis still requires a large amount of computing time and thus, misinterpretation cannot be dismissed due to an undersampling of the whole space of parameters. We extend the discussion of the implementation of the Gauss--Seidel algorithm in spherical geometry and include the case of hyperfine line overlap. We first review the basics of the short characteristics method that is used to solve the radiative transfer equations. Details are given on the determination of the Lambda operator in spherical geometry. The Gauss--Seidel algorithm is then described and, by analogy to the plan--parallel case, we see how to introduce it in spherical geometry. Doing so requires some approximations in order to keep the algorithm competitive. Finally, line overlap effects are included. The convergence speed of the algorithm is compared to the usual Jacobi iterative schemes. The gain in the number of iterations is typically factors of 2 and 4 for the two implementations made of the Gauss--Seidel algorithm. This is obtained despite the introduction of approximations in the algorithm. A comparison of results obtained with and without line overlaps for N2H+, HCN, and HNC shows that the J=3-2 line intensities are significantly underestimated in models where line overlap is neglected.
We present an empirical assessment of the use of broadband optical colours as age indicators for unresolved extragalactic clusters and investigate stochastic sampling effects on integrated colours. We use the integrated properties of Galactic open clusters as models for unresolved extragalactic clusters. The population synthesis code Starburst99 (Leitherer et al. 1999) and four optical colours were used to estimate how well we can recover the ages of 62 well-studied Galactic open clusters with published ages. We provide a method for estimating the ages of unresolved clusters and for reliably determining the uncertainties in the age estimates. Our results support earlier conclusions based on comparisons to synthetic clusters, namely the (U-B) colour is critical to the estimation of the ages of star forming regions. We compare the observed optical colours with those obtained from Starburst99 using the published ages and get good agreement. The scatter in the (B-V)_observed-(B-V)_model is larger for lower luminosity clusters, perhaps due to stochastic effects.
We present an analysis of the foreground emission present in the WMAP 3-year data as determined by the method of Independent Component Analysis. We derived coupling coefficients between the WMAP data and foreground templates which are then used to infer the spectral behaviour for three foreground components -- synchrotron, anomalous dust-correlated emission and free-free. For the first two components, we find values consistent with previous results although slightly steeper. We confirm the inconsistency in the scaling between the Ha template and free-free emission at K- and Ka-bands where an electron temperature of ~ 4000 K is indicated. We also see evidence of significantly flatter spectral behaviour to higher frequencies than expected theoretically and previously noted by Dobler et al.(2008a), but only when analysing the Kp2 sky coverage. We further apply FASTICA 'iteratively', using data pre-cleaned using foreground templates scaled to the WMAP frequencies by coupling coefficients determined by a prior FASTICA analysis. This multi-frequency analysis allows us to determine the presence of residual foreground emission not traced by the templates. We confirm the existence of a component spatially distributed along the Galactic plane and particularly enhanced near the center (the 'WMAP haze'). This emission is less extended when using the WMAP K-Ka data as the synchrotron template confirming that it can be considered a better template for foreground cleaning of the WMAP data. However its use complicates the physical interpretation of the nature of the foreground emission and residuals. since it contains a mixture of several, physically distinct emission mechanisms.
We study a scalar $\phi$ field that unifies inflation and dark energy with a long period of a hot decelerating universe in between these two stages of inflation. To reheat the universe after inflation we introduce a generic coupling $\vin(\phi,\vp)$ between $\phi$ and another scalar field $\vp$. This interaction allows for $\phi$ to quantum decay into $\vp$ at a high energy density $V_I$, even though $\phi$ does not oscillate around the minimum of its potential, and $\rvp$ dominates the universe for a long time. At a late epoch close to present time, using the same $\vin$, the field $\vp$ decays back into $\phi$ leading to the second stage of acceleration, i.e. dark energy. The back decay is possible only for a narrow range of values for the mass of $\vp$, $m_{\phi o} < m_\vp <V_I/m_{pl}^3 $, with $m_{\phi o}$ the present mass of dark energy. In the model presented here this range implies the constraint $(10^{-3}eV)^4<\rvpbd < (0.1 eV)^4$ for the back decay energy density $\rvpbd$ explaining, therefore, the coincidence problem. A key feature is that the transition between the intermediate decelerated phase to the dark energy phase is related to the quantum regeneration of the scalar field $\phi$ instead to purely classical dynamics.
Atomic hydrogen escaping from the extrasolar giant planet HD209458b provides the largest observational signature ever detected for an extrasolar planet atmosphere. In fact, the upper atmosphere of this planet is evaporating. Observational evidences and interpretations coming from various models are reviewed. Implications for exoplanetology are discussed.
We present the first results of a search for Lyman-alpha emitters (LAEs) in the DEEP2 spectroscopic database that uses a search technique that is different from but complementary to traditional narrowband imaging surveys. We have visually inspected ~20% of the available DEEP2 spectroscopic data and have found nine high-quality LAEs with clearly asymmetric line profiles and an additional ten objects of lower quality, some of which may also be LAEs. Our survey is most sensitive to LAEs at z=4.4-4.9 and that is indeed where all but one of our high-quality objects are found. We find the number density of our spectroscopically-discovered LAEs to be consistent with those found in narrowband imaging searches. The combined, averaged spectrum of our nine high-quality objects is well fit by a two-component model, with a second, lower-amplitude component redshifted by ~420 km/s with respect to the primary Lyman-alpha line, consistent with large-scale outflows from these objects. We conclude by discussing the advantages and future prospects of blank-sky spectroscopic surveys for high-z LAEs.
Active galactic nuclei and quasars are thought to be scaled up versions of Galactic black hole binaries, powered by accretion onto supermassive black holes with masses of 10^6-10^9 M_Sun, as opposed to the ~10 M_Sun in binaries. One example of the similarities between these two types of systems is the characteristic rapid X-ray variability seen from the accretion flow. The power spectrum of this variability in black hole binaries consists of a broad, band-limited noise with multiple quasi-periodic oscillations superimposed, where power is concentrated over a narrow range of frequencies. Although the broad noise component has been observed in many active galactic nuclei, there are no significant detections of quasi-periodic oscillations. Here we report the discovery of a ~1h X-ray periodicity in a bright active galaxy RE J1034+396. The signal is highly statistically significant (at the 5.6 sigma level) and very coherent, with quality factor Q > 16. This reinforces the link between stellar and supermassive black holes, emphasizing the universal properties of accretion onto objects with very different masses. The X-ray modulation arises from the direct vicinity of the black hole, so this provides a new tool for studying active galactic nuclei.
The grand-design spiral galaxy M51 has long been a crucial target for theories of spiral structure. Studies of this iconic spiral can address the question of whether strong spiral structure is transient (e.g. interaction-driven) or long-lasting. As a clue to the origin of the structure in M51, we investigate evidence for radial variation in the spiral pattern speed using the radial Tremaine-Weinberg (TWR) method. We implement the method on CO observations tracing the ISM-dominant molecular component. Results from the method's numerical implementation--combined with regularization, which smooths intrinsically noisy solutions--indicate two distinct patterns speeds inside 4 kpc at our derived major axis PA=170 deg., both ending at corotation and both significantly higher than the conventionally adopted global value. Inspection of the rotation curve suggests that the pattern speed interior to 2 kpc lacks an ILR, consistent with the leading structure seen in HST near-IR observations. We also find tentative evidence for a lower pattern speed between 4 and 5.3 kpc measured by extending the regularized zone. As with the original TW method, uncertainty in major axis position angle (PA) is the largest source of error in the calculation; in this study, where \delta PA=+/-5 deg. a ~20% error is introduced to the parameters of the speeds at PA=170 deg. Accessory to this standard uncertainty, solutions with PA=175 deg. (also admitted by the data) exhibit only one pattern speed inside 4 kpc, and we consider this circumstance under the semblance of a radially varying PA.
The interferometric technique known as peeling addresses many of the challenges faced when observing with low-frequency radio arrays, and is a promising tool for the associated calibration systems. We investigate a real-time peeling implementation for next-generation radio interferometers such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). The MWA is being built in Australia and will observe the radio sky between 80 and 300 MHz. The data rate produced by the correlator is just over 19 GB/s (a few Peta-Bytes/day). It is impractical to store data generated at this rate, and software is currently being developed to calibrate and form images in real time. The software will run on-site on a high-throughput real-time computing cluster at several tera-flops, and a complete cycle of calibration and imaging will be completed every 8 seconds. Various properties of the implementation are investigated using simulated data. The algorithm is seen to work in the presence of strong galactic emission and with realistic ionospheric conditions. It is also shown to scale well as the number of antennas increases, which is essential for many upcoming instuments. Lessons from MWA pipeline development and processing of simulated data may be applied to future low-frequency fixed dipole arrays.
Rotation plays a major role in the evolution of massive stars. A revised grid of stellar evolutionary tracks accounting for rotation has recently been released by the Geneva group and implemented into the Starburst99 evolutionary synthesis code. Massive stars are predicted to be hotter and more luminous than previously thought, and the spectral energy distributions of young populations mirror this trend. The hydrogen ionizing continuum in particular increases by a factor of up to 3 in the presence of rotating massive stars. The effects of rotation generally increase towards shorter wavelengths and with decreasing metallicity. Revised relations between star-formation rates and monochromatic luminosities for the new stellar models are presented.
Absent any indirect tests on the thermal history of the Universe prior to the formation of light nuclear elements, it is legitimate to investigate situations where, before nucleosyntheis, the sound speed of the plasma was larger than $c/\sqrt{3}$, at most equalling the speed of light $c$. In this plausible extension of the current cosmological paradigm, hereby dubbed Tensor-$\Lambda$CDM (i.e. T$\Lambda$CDM) scenario, high-frequency gravitons are copiously produced. Without conflicting with the bounds on the tensor to scalar ratio stemming from the combined analysis of the three standard cosmological data sets (i.e. cosmic microwave background anisotropies, large-scale structure and supenovae), the spectral energy density of the relic gravitons in the T$\Lambda$CDM scenario can be potentially observable by wide-band interferometers (in their advanced version) operating in a frequency window which ranges between few Hz and few kHz.
A large number of coronagraphs have been proposed to overcome the ratio that exists between the star and its planet. The planet finder of the Extremely Large Telescope, which is called EPICS, will certainly need a more efficient coronagraph than the ones that have been developed so far. We propose to use a combination of chromatic Four Quadrant Phase Mask coronagraph to achromatize the dephasing of the device while maintaining a high rejection performance. After describing this multi-stage FQPM coronagraph, we show preliminary results of a study on its capabilities in the framework of the EPICS instrument, the planet finder of the European Extremely Large Telescope. Eventually, we present laboratory tests of a rough prototype of a multi-stage four-quadrant phase mask. On one hand, we deduce from our laboratory data that a detection at the 10^-10 level is feasible in monochromatic light. On the other hand, we show the detection of a laboratory companion fainter than 10^-8 with a spectral bandwidth larger than 20%.
The Guitar Nebula is an H-alpha nebula produced by the interaction of the relativistic wind of a very fast pulsar, PSR B2224+65, with the interstellar medium. It consists of a ram-pressure confined bow shock near its head and a series of semi-circular bubbles further behind, the two largest of which form the body of the Guitar. We present a scenario in which this peculiar morphology is due to instabilities in the back flow from the pulsar bow shock. From simulations, these back flows appear similar to jets and their kinetic energy is a large fraction of the total energy in the pulsar's relativistic wind. We suggest that, like jets, these flows become unstable some distance down-stream, leading to rapid dissipation of the kinetic energy into heat, and the formation of an expanding bubble. We show that in this scenario the sizes, velocities, and surface brightnesses of the bubbles depend mostly on observables, and that they match roughly what is seen for the Guitar. Similar instabilities may account for features seen in other bow shocks.
We study the possibility that the Dilaton is stabilized by the contribution of fermion masses to its effective potential. We consider the Dilaton gravity action in four dimensions to which we add a mass term for a Dirac fermion. Such an action describes the interaction of the Dilaton with the fermions in the Yang-Mills sector of the coupled supergravity/super-Yang-Mills action which emerges as the low energy effective action of superstring theory after the extra spatial dimensions have been fixed. The Dilaton couples to the Fermion mass term via the usual exponential factor of this field which multiplies the non-kinetic terms of the matter Lagrangian, if we work in the Einstein frame. In the kinetic part of the Fermion action in the Einstein frame the Dilaton does not enter. Such masses can be generated in several ways: they can arise as a consequence of flux about internal spatial dimensions, they may arise as thermal fermion masses in a quasi-static phase in the early universe, and they will arise after the breaking of supersymmetry at late times. The vacuum contribution to the potential for the Dilaton is evaluated up to two loops. The result shows a minimum which could stabilize the Dilaton for reasonable ranges of parameter values. The internal energy and entropy are also evaluated here at the one loop order, with the aim of further considering the cosmological evolution of the model.
In general there are a large number of light scalar fields in the theories going beyond standard model, such as string theory, and some of them can be taken as the candidates of curvatons. For simplicity, we assume all of curvatons have the same decay rate and suddenly decay into radiation at the same time. In order to distinguish this scenario from the more general case, we call it "N-vaton". We use $\delta {\cal N}$ formalism to calculate the primordial power spectrum and bispectrum in N-vaton model and investigate various bounds on the non-Gaussianity parameter $f_{NL}$. A red tilted primordial power spectrum and a large value of $f_{NL}$ can be naturally obtained if the curvature perturbation generated by inflaton also makes a significant contribution to the primordial power spectrum. As a realistic N-vaton model, we suppose that the axions in the KKLT compactifications of Type IIB string theory are taken as curvatons and a rich phenomenology is obtained.
We study direct and indirect detection possibilities of neutralino dark matter produced non-thermally by e.g. the decay of long-lived particles, as is easily implemented in the case of anomaly or mirage mediation models. In this scenario, large self-annihilation cross sections are required to account for the present dark matter abundance, and it leads to significant enhancement of the gamma-ray signature from the Galactic Center and the positron flux from the dark matter annihilation. It is found that GLAST and PAMELA will find the signal or give tight constraints on such nonthermal production scenarios of neutralino dark matter.
An enormous amount of observations on Cosmic Microwave Background radiation has been collected in the last decade, and much more data are expected in the near future from planned or operating satellite missions. These datasets are a goldmine of information for Cosmology and Theoretical Physics; their efficient exploitation posits several intriguing challenges from the statistical point of view. In this paper we review a number of open problems in CMB data analysis and we present applications to observations from the WMAP mission.
In this work we show that single horizon black hole behaves as a "laser". It is in many aspects conceptually analogous to Corley and Jacobson work on the two horizon black hole "laser". We started by proposition that circumference of the black hole horizon holds the natural (integer) quantum number of corresponding reduced Compton's wave length of some boson systems in great canonical ensemble. For macroscopic black hole ground state is practically totally occupied while other states are practically totally unoccupied which is a typical Bose condensation. Number of the systems in this condensate represents black hole entropy. For microscopic black hole few lowest energy levels are occupied with almost equivalent population (with negative chemical potential) while all other energy states (with positive chemical potential) are practically unoccupied. It implies that here not only spontaneous but also stimulated emission of radiation comparable with spontaneous emission occurs. By Hawking evaporation any macroscopic black hole turns out in a microscopic black hole that yields, in a significant degree, coherent stimulated emission of the radiation. It implies that by total black hole evaporation there is no decoherence, i.e. information loss. Finally, a mass duality characteristic for suggested black hole model corresponding to string T-duality is discussed.
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We present new metallicity measurements for individual red giant branch stars in eight of the least luminous dwarf spheroidal galaxies (dSphs) in the Milky Way (MW) system. Our technique is based on medium resolution Keck/DEIMOS spectroscopy coupled with spectral synthesis. We present the first spectroscopic metallicities at [Fe/H] < -3.0 of stars in a dwarf galaxy, with individual stellar metallicities as low as [Fe/H] = -3.3. Because our [Fe/H] measurements are not tied to empirical metallicity calibrators and are sensitive to arbitrarily low metallicities, we are able to probe these extremely metal-poor regimes accurately. The metallicity distribution of stars in these dSphs is similar to the MW halo at the metal-poor end. We also demonstrate that the luminosity-metallicity relation previously seen in more luminous dSph galaxies (M_V = -13.4 to -8.8) extends smoothly down to an absolute magnitude of M_V = -3.7. The discovery of extremely metal-poor stars in dSphs lends support to the LCDM galaxy assembly paradigm wherein dwarf galaxies dissolve to form the stellar halo of the MW.
The Canadian MOST satellite is a unique platform for observations of bright transiting exoplanetary systems. Providing nearly continuous photometric observations for up to 8 weeks, MOST can produce important observational data to help us learn about the properties of exosolar planets. We review our current observations of HD 209458, HD 189733 with implications towards the albedo and our progress towards detecting reflected light from an exoplanet.
The massive Galactic black hole and the stars around it are a unique laboratory for studying how relaxation processes lead to close interactions of stars and compact remnants with the central massive black hole, in particular those leading to the emission of gravitational waves. I review new results on the processes of strong mass segregation and loss-cone refilling by massive perturbers and resonant relaxation; describe observational evidence that these processes play a role in the Galactic Center and can be studied there; and discuss some of the implications for Extreme Mass Ration Inspiral event rates and their properties.
Space astrometry is capable of sub-microarcsecond measurements of star positions. A hundred visits over several years could yield relative astrometric precision of ~0.1 uas, below the astrometric signature (0.3 uas) of a Sun-Earth system at a distance of 10 parsecs. We investigate the impact of starspots on the detectability, via astrometric and radial velocity techniques, of Earthlike planets orbiting Sunlike stars. We find that for nearby stars, although starspot noise imposes severe restrictions on detectability by the radial velocity technique, it does not significantly affect astrometric detectability of habitable zone planets down to below an Earth mass.
The gravitational lensing equations for convergence, potential, shear, and flexion are simple in polar coordinates and separate under a multipole expansion once the shear and flexion spinors are rotated into a ``tangential'' basis. We use this to investigate whether the useful monopole aperture-mass shear formulae generalize to all multipoles and to flexions. We re-derive the result of Schneider and Bartelmann that the shear multipole m at radius R is completely determined by the mass multipole at R, plus specific moments Q^m_in and Q^m_out of the mass multipoles internal and external, respectively, to R. The m>=0 multipoles are independent of Q_out. But in contrast to the monopole, the m<0 multipoles are independent of Q_in. These internal and external mass moments can be determined by shear (and/or flexion) data on the complementary portion of the plane, which has practical implications for lens modelling. We find that the ease of E/B separation in the monopole aperture moments does {\em not} generalize to m!=0: the internal monopole moment is the {\em only} non-local E/B discriminant available from lensing observations. We have also not found practical local E/B discriminants beyond the monopole, though they could exist. We show also that the use of weak-lensing data to constrain a constant shear term near a strong-lensing system is impractical without strong prior constraints on the neighboring mass distribution.
A growing number of observations indicate that magnetic fields are present among a small fraction of massive O- and B-type stars, yet the origin of these fields remains unclear. Here we present the results of a VLT/FORS1 spectropolarimetric survey of 15 B-type members of the open cluster NGC 3766. We have detected two magnetic B stars in the cluster, including one with a large field of nearly 2 kG, and we find marginal detections of two additional stars. There is no correlation between the observed longitudinal field strengths and the projected rotational velocity, suggesting that a dynamo origin for the fields is unlikely. We also use the Oblique Dipole Rotator model to simulate populations of magnetic stars with uniform or slightly varying magnetic flux on the ZAMS. None of the models successfully reproduces our observed range in B_l and the expected number of field detections, and we rule out a purely fossil origin for the observed fields.
The outer disks of galaxies present a unique laboratory for studying the process of disk formation. A considerable fraction of observed disks exhibit a break in their surface brightness profiles. The ubiquity of these features points to a crucial aspect of disk formation which must be explained. Recent theoretical work suggests that such breaks are related to significant amounts of radial migration. We discuss the current observational evidence which supports this picture.
The search for binarity in AGB stars is of critical importance for our understanding of how planetary nebulae acquire the dazzling variety of aspherical shapes which characterises this class. However, detecting binary companions in such stars has been severely hampered due to their extreme luminosities and pulsations. We have carried out a small imaging survey of AGB stars in ultraviolet light (using GALEX) where these cool objects are very faint, in order to search for hotter companions. We report the discovery of significant far-ultraviolet excesses towards nine of these stars. The far-ultraviolet excess most likely results either directly from the presence of a hot binary companion, or indirectly from a hot accretion disk around the companion.
I study the dynamics of a superfluid (SF) vortex in a random potential, as in the inner crust of a neutron star (NS). Dissipation between the vortex and its environment determines the time scale for damping of the vortex to a pinned state, though even in the absence of dissipation the vortex is largely immobilized by the potential unless there is high-speed flow of the ambient SF. Low-drag, translatory motion is not dynamically possible, a result with important implications for NS precession and the dynamical properties of SF nuclear matter.
We investigate the total kinetic powers (L_j) and ages (t_age) of powerful jets in FR II radio galaxies by comparison of the dynamical model of expanding cocoons with observations. We select four FR II radio sources (Cygnus A, 3C 223, 3C 284, and 3C 219), for which the mass-density profiles of intracluster medium (ICM) are known in the literature. It is found that large fractions > 0.02 - 0.7 of the Eddington luminosity (L_Edd) are carried away as a kinetic power of jet. The upper limit of estimated 2 L_j / L_Edd are larger than unity (< 10) for some sources, suggesting a possibility of super-Eddington mass accretions. As a consequence of the large powers, we also find that the total energy stored in the cocoon (E_c) exceeds the energy derived from the minimum energy condition for the energy of radiating non-thermal electrons and magnetic fields (E_min): 4< E_c /E_min <310. This implies that most of the energy in cocoon is carried by invisible components such as thermal leptons (electron and positron) and/or protons.
Recent observational and theoretical studies on the three-dimensional (3D) space motions of the Large and the Small Magellanic Clouds (LMC and SMC, respectively) have strongly suggested that the latest proper motion measurements of the Magellanic Clouds (MCs) are consistent with their orbital evolution models in which the MCs have arrived in the Galaxy quite recently for the first time. The suggested orbital models appear to be seriously inconsistent with the tidal interaction models in which the Magellanic Stream (MS) can be formed as a result of the mutual tidal interaction between the MCs and the Galaxy for the last ~2 Gyr. Based on orbital models of the MCs, we propose that if the MCs have a common diffuse dark halo with the mass larger than ~ 2 * 10^{10} M_sun, the MCs can not only have the present 3D velocities consistent with the latest proper motion measurements but also interact strongly with each other and with the Galaxy for the last 2 Gyr.These results imply that if the observed proper motions of the MCs are true ones of the centers of mass for the MCs, the common halo of the MCs would need to be considered in constructing self-consistent MS formation models. We discuss whether the origin of the possible common halo can be closely associated either with the past binary formation or with the MCs having been in a small group.
Long duration gamma ray bursts (GRBs) and X-ray flashes (XRFs) are produced by highly- relativistic jets ejected in core-collapse supernova explosions. The origin of short hard gamma-ray bursts (SHBs) has not been established. They may be produced by highly relativistic jets ejected in various processes: mergers of compact stellar objects; large-mass accretion episodes onto compact stars in close binaries or onto intermediate-mass black holes in dense stellar regions; phase transition of compact stars. Natural environments of such events are the dense cores of globular clusters, superstar clusters and young supernova remnants. We have used the cannonball model of GRBs to analyze all Swift SHBs with a well-sampled X-ray afterglow. We show that their prompt gamma-ray emission can be explained by inverse Compton scattering (ICS) of the progenitor's glory light, and their extended soft emission component by ICS of high density light or synchrotron radiation (SR) in a high density interstellar medium within the cluster. The mechanism generating the afterglow is synchrotron radiation outside the cluster. No associated supernova could be detected in the low luminosity nearby GRBs 060614 and 060505. We interpret them as SHBs seen relatively far off axis.
An approximation for the inverse-Compton radiation power of electrons in the isotropic black-body photon field is presented. The approximation allows one to calculate inverse-Compton emissivity as integral over the energies of incident electrons rather than over the field photon energies. Such an approach opens the possibility for accurate modeling of IC emission of electrons with energy spectra being different from power-law, in tasks where powerful CPU resources are essential. High accuracy of this approximation allows one to use it in a wide range of conditions, from Thomson to extreme Klein-Nishina limits.
I show that the predicted densities of the inner dark matter halos in LCDM models of structure formation appear to be higher than estimates from real galaxies and constraints from dynamical friction on bars. This inconsistency would not be a problem for the LCDM model if physical processes that are omitted in the collisionless collapse simulations were able to reduce the dark matter density in the inner halos. I review the mechanisms proposed to achieve the needed density reduction.
InfraRed Dark Clouds (IRDCs) are extinction features against the Galactic infrared background, mainly in mid-infrared band. Recently they were proposed to be potential sites of massive star formation. In this work we have made 12CO, 13CO, and C18O (J=1-0) survey of 61 IRDCs, 52 of which are in the first Galactic quadrant, selected from a catalog given by Simon et al. (2006), while the others are in the outer Galaxy, selected by visually inspecting the MSX images. Detection rates in the three CO lines are 90%, 71%, and 62% respectively. The distribution IRDCs in the first Galactic quadrant is consistent with the 5 kpc molecular ring picture, while slight trace of spiral pattern can also be noticed, which needs to be further examined. The IRDCs have typical excitation temperature of 10 K and typical column density of several 10^{22} cm^{-2}. Their typical physical size is estimated to be several pcs using angular sizes from the Simon catalog. Typical volume density and typical LTE mass are ~5000 cm^{-3} and ~5000 M_{sun} respectively. The IRDCs are in or near virial equilibrium. The properties of IRDCs are similar to those of star forming molecular clumps, and they seem to be intermediate between giant molecular clouds and Bok globules, thus they may represent early stages of massive star formation.
In the present study time evolution of quasi-spherical polytropic accretion flow with toroidal magnetic field was investigated. The study especially focused the astrophysically important case in which the adiabatic exponent $\gamma=5/3$. In this scenario, it was assumed that the angular momentum transport is due to viscous turbulence and used $\alpha$-prescription for kinematic coefficient of viscosity. The equations of accretion flow are solved in a simplified one-dimensional model that neglects the latitudinal dependence of the flow. In order to solve the integrated equations which govern the dynamical behavior of the accretion flow, self-similar solution was used. The solution provides some insight into the dynamics of quasi-spherical accretion flow and avoids many of the strictures of the steady self-similar solution. The effect of the toroidal magnetic field is considered with additional variable $\beta[=p_{mag}/p_{gas}]$, where $p_{mag}$ and $p_{gas}$ are the magnetic and gas pressure, respectively. The solution indicates a transonic point in the accretion flow, that this point approaches to central object by adding strength of the magnetic field. Also, by adding strength of the magnetic field, the radial-thickness of the disk decreases and the disk compresses. It was analytically indicated that the radial velocity is only a function of Alfv'en velocity. The model implies that the flow has differential rotation and is sub-Keplerian at all radii.
The fractal structure of the interstellar medium suggests that the interaction of UV radiation with the ISM as described in the context of photon-dominated regions (PDR) dominates most of the physical and chemical conditions, and hence the far-infrared and submm emission from the ISM in the Milky Way. We investigate to what extent the Galactic FIR line emission of the important species CO, C, C+, and O, as observed by the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) satellite can be modeled in the framework of a clumpy, UV-penetrated cloud scenario. The far-infrared line emission of the Milky Way is modeled as the emission from an ensemble of clumps with a power law clump mass spectrum and mass-size relation with power-law indices consistent with the observed ISM structure. The individual clump line intensities are calculated using the KOSMA-tau PDR-model for spherical clumps. The model parameters for the cylindrically symmetric Galactic distribution of the mass density and volume filling factor are determined by the observed radial distributions. A constant FUV intensity, in which the clumps are embedded, is assumed. We show that this scenario can explain, without any further assumptions and within a factor of about 2, the absolute FIR-line intensities and their distribution with Galactic longitude as observed by COBE.
We present MUSE, a software framework for combining existing computational
tools for different astrophysical domains into a single multiphysics,
multiscale application. MUSE facilitates the coupling of existing codes written
in different languages by providing inter-language tools and by specifying an
interface between each module and the framework that represents a balance
between generality and computational efficiency. This approach allows
scientists to use combinations of codes to solve highly-coupled problems
without the need to write new codes for other domains or significantly alter
their existing codes. MUSE currently incorporates the domains of stellar
dynamics, stellar evolution and stellar hydrodynamics for studying generalized
stellar systems. We have now reached a ``Noah's Ark'' milestone, with (at
least) two available numerical solvers for each domain. MUSE can treat
multi-scale and multi-physics systems in which the time- and size-scales are
well separated, like simulating the evolution of planetary systems, small
stellar associations, dense stellar clusters, galaxies and galactic nuclei.
In this paper we describe three examples calculated using MUSE: the merger of
two galaxies, the merger of two evolving stars, and a hybrid N-body simulation.
In addition, we demonstrate an implementation of MUSE on a distributed computer
which may also include special-purpose hardware, such as GRAPEs or GPUs, to
accelerate computations. The current MUSE code base is publicly available as
open source at this http URL
Fringe tracking in interferometers is typically analyzed with the implicit assumption that there is a single phase associated with each telescope in the array. If the telescopes have apertures significantly larger than r0 and only partial adaptive optics correction, then the phase measured by a fringe sensor may differ significantly from the "piston" component of the aperture phase. In some cases, speckle noise will cause "branch points" in the measured phase as a function of time, causing large and sudden jumps in the phase. We present simulations showing these effects in order to understand their implications for the design of fringe tracking algorithms.
The NeXT (New exploration X-ray Telescope), the new Japanese X-ray Astronomy Satellite following Suzaku, is an international X-ray mission which is currently planed for launch in 2013. NeXT is a combination of wide band X-ray spectroscopy (3 - 80 keV) provided by multi-layer coating, focusing hard X-ray mirrors and hard X-ray imaging detectors, and high energy-resolution soft X-ray spectroscopy (0.3 - 10 keV) provided by thin-foil X-ray optics and a micro-calorimeter array. The mission will also carry an X-ray CCD camera as a focal plane detector for a soft X-ray telescope and a non-focusing soft gamma-ray detector. With these instruments, NeXT covers very wide energy range from 0.3 keV to 600 keV. The micro-calorimeter system will be developed by international collaboration lead by ISAS/JAXA and NASA. The simultaneous broad bandpass, coupled with high spectral resolution of Delta E ~ 7 eV by the micro-calorimeter will enable a wide variety of important science themes to be pursued.
We study second-order cosmological perturbations in scalar-tensor models of dark energy that satisfy local gravity constraints, including f(R) gravity. We derive equations for matter fluctuations under a sub-horizon approximation and clarify conditions under which first-order perturbations in the scalar field can be neglected relative to second-order matter and velocity perturbations. We also compute the skewness of the matter density distribution and find that the difference from the LCDM model is only less than a few percent even if the growth rate of first-order perturbations is significantly different from that in the LCDM model. This shows that the skewness provides a model-independent test for the picture of gravitational instability from Gaussian initial perturbations including scalar-tensor modified gravity models.
Flares on dM stars contain plasmas at very different temperatures and thus
affect a wide wavelength range in the electromagnetic spectrum. While the
coronal properties of flares are studied best in X-rays, the chromosphere of
the star is observed best in the optical and ultraviolet ranges. Therefore,
multiwavelength observations are essential to study flare properties throughout
the atmosphere of a star. We analysed simultaneous observations with UVES/VLT
and XMM-Newton of the active M5.5 dwarf CN Leo (Gl 406) exhibiting a major
flare. The optical data cover the wavelength range from 3000 to 10000 Angstrom.
From our optical data, we find an enormous wealth of chromospheric emission
lines occurring throughout the spectrum. We identify a total of 1143 emission
lines, out of which 154 are located in the red arm, increasing the number of
observed emission lines in this red wavelength range by about a factor of 10.
Here we present an emission line list and a spectral atlas. We also find line
asymmetries for H I, He I, and Ca II lines. For the last, this is the first
observation of asymmetries due to a stellar flare. During the flare onset,
there is additional flux found in the blue wing, while in the decay phase,
additional flux is found in the red wing. We interpret both features as caused
by mass motions. In addition to the lines, the flare manifests itself in the
enhancement of the continuum throughout the whole spectrum, inverting the
normal slope for the net flare spectrum.
We present 3.5m Apache Point Observatory second-epoch spectra of four low-metallicity emission-line dwarf galaxies discovered serendipitously in the Data Release 5 of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) to have extraordinary large broad Halpha luminosities, ranging from 3x10^41 to 2x10^42 erg/s. The oxygen abundance in these galaxies is very low, varying in the range 12+logO/H = 7.36- 7.99. Such extraordinarily high broad Halpha luminosities cannot be accounted for by massive stars at different stages of their evolution. By comparing with the first-epoch SDSS spectra, we find that the broad Halpha luminosities have remained constant over a period of 3-7 years, which probably excludes type IIn supernovae as a possible mechanism of broad emission. The emission most likely comes from accretion disks around intermediate-mass black holes with lower mass limits in the range ~5x10^5 Msun-3x10^6 Msun. If so, these four objects form a new class of very low-metallicity AGN that have been elusive until now. The absence of the strong high-ionization lines [NeV] 3426 and He II 4686 can be understood if the nonthermal radiation contributes less than ~10% of the total ionizing radiation.
As part of a broader effort to characterize the population of star-forming galaxies in the local universe, we have carried out an H-alpha+[NII] imaging survey for an essentially volume-limited sample of galaxies within 11 Mpc of the Milky Way. This paper describes the design of the survey, the observation, data processing, and calibration procedures, and the characteristics of the galaxy sample. The main product of the paper is a catalog of integrated H-alpha fluxes, luminosities, and equivalent widths for the galaxies in the sample. We briefly discuss the completeness properties of the survey and compare the distribution of the sample and its star formation properties to other large H-alpha imaging surveys. These data form the foundation for a series of follow-up studies of the star formation properties of the local volume, and the properties and duty cycles of star formation bursts in dwarf galaxies.
We describe Spitzer IRAC and MIPS observations of the nearby 25 Myr-old open cluster NGC 2232. Combining these data with ROSAT All-Sky Survey observations, proper motions, and optical photometry/spectroscopy, we construct a list of highly probable cluster members. We identify 1 A-type star, HD 45435, with definite excess emission at 4.5--24 micron indicative of debris from terrestrial planet formation. We also identify 2--4 late-type stars with possible 8 micron excesses, and 8 early-type stars with definite 24 micron excesses. Constraints on the dust luminosity and temperature suggest that the detected excesses are produced by debris disks. From our sample of B and A stars, stellar rotation appears correlated with 24 micron excess, a result expected if massive primordial disks evolve into massive debris disks. To explore the evolution of the frequency and magnitude of debris around A-type stars, we combine our results with data for other young clusters. The frequency of debris disks around A-type stars appears to increase from ~ 25% at 5 Myr to ~ 50--60% at 20--25 Myr. Older A-type stars have smaller debris disk frequencies: ~ 20% at 50--100 Myr. For these ages, the typical level of debris emission rises from 5--20 Myr and then declines. Because 24 micron dust emission probes icy planet formation around A-type stars, our results suggest that the frequency of icy planet formation is eta(i) > 0.5--0.6. Thus, most A-type stars (approx. 1.5--3 Msun) produce icy planets.
Accurate and homogeneous atmospheric parameters (Teff, log (g), Vt, [Fe/H]) are derived for 74 FGK non-variable supergiants from high-resolution, high signal-to-noise ratio, echelle spectra. Extremely high precision for the inferred effective temperatures (10-40 K) is achieved by using the line-depth ratio method. The new data are combined with atmospheric values for 164 classical Cepheids, observed at 675 different pulsation phases, taken from our previously published studies. The derived values are correlated with unreddened B-V colours compiled from the literature for the investigated stars in order to obtain an empirical relationship of the form: (B-V)o = 57.984 - 10.3587(log Teff)^2 + 1.67572(log Teff)^3 - 3.356(log (g)) + 0.0321(Vt) + 0.2615[Fe/H] + 0.8833((log (g))(log Teff)). The expression is used to estimate colour excesses E(B-V) for individual supergiants and classical Cepheids, with a precision of +-0.05 mag. for supergiants and Cepheids with n=1-2 spectra, reaching +-0.025 mag. for Cepheids with n>2 spectra, matching uncertainties for the most sophisticated photometric techniques. The reddening scale is also a close match to the system of space reddenings for Cepheids. The application range is for spectral types F0--K0 and luminosity classes I and II.
Broad Fe II emission is a prominent feature of the optical and ultraviolet spectra of quasars. We report on a systematical investigation of optical Fe II emission in a large sample of 4037 z < 0.8 quasars selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. We have developed and tested a detailed line-fitting technique, taking into account the complex continuum and narrow and broad emission-line spectrum. Our primary goal is to quantify the velocity broadening and velocity shift of the Fe II spectrum in order to constrain the location of the Fe II-emitting region and its relation to the broad-line region. We find that the majority of quasars show Fe II emission that is redshifted, typically by ~ 400 km/s but up to 2000 km/s, with respect to the systemic velocity of the narrow-line region or of the conventional broad-line region as traced by the Hbeta line. Moreover, the line width of Fe II is significantly narrower than that of the broad component of Hbeta. We show that the magnitude of the Fe II redshift correlates inversely with the Eddington ratio, and that there is a tendency for sources with redshifted Fe II emission to show red asymmetry in the Hbeta line. These characteristics strongly suggest that Fe II originates from a location different from, and most likely exterior to, the region that produces most of Hbeta. The Fe II-emitting zone traces a portion of the broad-line region of intermediate velocities whose dynamics may be dominated by infall.
We report on a systematic investigation of the Hbeta and Fe II emission lines in a sample of 568 quasars within z < 0.8 selected from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. The conventional broad Hbeta emission line can be decomposed into two components--one with intermediate velocity width and another with very broad width. The velocity shift and equivalent width of the intermediate-width component do not correlate with those of the very broad component of Hbeta, but they do resemble Fe II. Moreover, the width of the very broad component is roughly 2.5 times that of the intermediate-width component. These characteristics strongly suggest the existence of an intermediate-line region, whose kinematics seem to be dominated by infall, located at the outer portion of the broad-line region.
We present the results of C18O observations by the Nobeyama Millimeter Array toward dense clumps with radii of ~ 0.3 pc in six cluster-forming regions including massive (proto)stars. We identified 171 cores, whose radius, line width, and molecular mass range from 0.01 to 0.09 pc, 0.43 to 3.33 km/s, and 0.5 to 54.1 Mo, respectively. Many cores with various line widths exist in one clump, and the index of the line width-radius relationship of the cores and the parental clump differs from core to core in the clump. This indicates that the degree of dissipation of the turbulent motion varies for each core in one clump. Although the mass of the cores increases with the line width, most cores are gravitationally bound by the external pressure. In addition, the line width and the external pressure of the cores tend to decrease with the distance from the center of the clump, and these dependencies may be caused by the inner H2 density structure of the clump that affects the physical properties of the cores. Moreover, the number density of the cores and the number density of young (proto)stars have a similar relationship to the average H2 density of the clumps. Thus, our findings suggest that the cluster is formed in the clump through the formation of such multiple cores, whose physical properties would have been strongly related to the H2 density structure and the turbulent motion of the clump.
We acquired high resolution spectroscopic and low resolution
spectropolarimetric observations to achieve the following goals: a) to improve
the orbital parameters to allow a more in-depth discussion on the possibility
of mass transfer in the binary system, b) to carry out a non-local
thermodynamic equilibrium (NLTE) abundance analysis, and c) to search for the
presence of a magnetic field.
The study of the radial velocities using CORALIE spectra allowed us to
significantly improve the orbital parameters. A comparative NLTE abundance
analysis was undertaken for theta Car and two other early B-type stars with
recently detected magnetic fields, tau Sco and xi^1 CMa. The analysis revealed
significantly different abundance patterns: a one-order-of-magnitude nitrogen
overabundance and carbon depletion was found in theta Car, while the oxygen
abundance is roughly solar. For the stars xi^1 CMa and tau Sco the carbon
abundance is solar and, while an N excess is also detected, it is of much
smaller amplitude (0.4-0.6dex). Such an N overabundance is typical of the
values already found for other slowly-rotating (magnetic) B-type dwarfs. For
theta Car, we attribute instead the chemical peculiarities to a past episode of
mass transfer between the two binary components. The results of the search for
a magnetic field using FORS1 at the VLT consisting of 26 measurements over a
time span of ~1.2h are rather inconclusive: only few measurements have a
significance level of 3sigma. Although we detect a periodicity of the order of
~8.8min in the dataset involving the measurements on all hydrogen Balmer lines
with the exception of the Halpha and Hbeta lines, these results have to be
confirmed by additional time-resolved magnetic field observations.
We present a new survey for pulsars in the error boxes of the low-latitude EGRET sources 3EG J1027-5817, 3EG J1800-2338 and 3EG J1810-1032. Although all of these sources have been covered by previous pulsar surveys, the recent discovery of the young, energetic pulsar PSR J1410-6132 at 6.7 GHz has shown that pulsars of this type can be hidden from low frequency surveys. Using an observing frequency of 3.1 GHz we discovered a 91-ms pulsar, PSR J1028-5819, which observations made at the Parkes telescope and the Australia Telescope Compact Array have shown to be young and energetic. We believe this pulsar is likely to be powering the unidentified EGRET source 3EG J1027-5817. Like other energetic pulsars, PSR J1028-5819 is highly linearly polarised, but astonishingly has a pulse duty cycle of only 0.4%, one of the smallest in the entire pulsar catalogue.
The observation by the Swift X-ray Telescope of the Fe K alpha_1, alpha_2 doublet during a large flare on the RS CVn binary system II Peg represents one of only two firm detections to date of photospheric Fe K alpha from a star other than our Sun. We present models of the Fe K alpha equivalent widths reported in the literature for the II Peg observations and show that they are most probably due to fluorescence following inner shell photoionisation of quasi-neutral Fe by the flare X-rays. Our models constrain the maximum height of flare the to 0.15 R_* assuming solar abundances for the photospheric material, and 0.1 R_* and 0.06 R_* assuming depleted photospheric abundances ([M/H]=-0.2 and [M/H]=-0.4, respectively). Accounting for an extended loop geometry has the effect of increasing the estimated flare heights by a factor of ~3. These predictions are consistent with those derived using results of flaring loop models, which are also used to estimate the flaring loop properties and energetics. From loop models we estimate a flare loop height of 0.13 R_*, plasma density of ~4 * 10^12 cm^-3 and emitting volume of ~6 * 10^30 cm^3. Our estimates for the flare dimensions and density allow us to estimate the conductive energy losses to E_cond <= 2 * 10^36 erg, consistent with upper limits previously obtained in the literature. Finally, we estimate the average energy output of this large flare to be ~10^33 erg sec^-1, or 1/10th of the stellar bolometric luminosity.
We carried out intensive spectroscopic observations of two WZ Sge-type dwarf novae, GW Lib, and V455 And during their superoutbursts in 2007, at 6 observatories. The observations covered the whole of both superoutbursts from the very maximum to the fading tail. We found evidence of the winds having a speed of $\sim$1000 km s$^{-1}$ which blew in GW Lib during the rising phase. The evolution of the hydrogen, helium, and carbon lines suggests flaring of the accretion disk and emergence of the temperature inversion layer on the disk.
We show that the mass (M_{dm}) and the mean density (rho_dm) of the dark matter halo within the optical radius (~3 kpc) of the Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) are unusually low, based on the high-resolution neutral hydrogen (HI) observations of the SMC. The estimated M_dm and rho_dm are 7.5 * 10^7 M_sun and 6.7 * 10^{-4} M_su$ pc^{-3}, respectively, for the V-band stellar-to-mass-to-light ratio (M_s/L_V) of 1. The maximum possible M_dm and rho_dm are, however, 7.8 * 10^8 M_sun and 6.9 * 10^{-3} M_sun pc^{-3}, respectively, if we consider the possible uncertainties in M_s/L_V. These values are rather low, given that the total baryonic mass (i.e., gas and stars) of the SMC is (1.6-2.4) * 10^9 M_sun. We thus present two possible scenarios for the origin of the derived unusually low-mass and low-density halo of the SMC. One is that the dark matter halo of the SMC has the Burkert profile with a large core radius (>1 kpc) (thus a low density) and a large mass (M_dm > 3 * 10^9 M_sun) so that most of the dark halo mass can be located outside the optical radius. In this scenario, the dark halo would have already lost a significant fraction of its original mass due to the strong tidal interactions with the Galaxy and possibly with the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The other scenario is that the SMC is a ``tidal dwarf'' formed from tidal tails of merging or interacting luminous galaxies and thus has almost no dark matter halo. We show that the former scenario is more plausible and realistic, and thus suggest that the dark mater halo of the SMC is likely to have the initial total mass and core radius as large as, or larger than, 6.5 * 10^9 M_sun and 3.2 kpc, respectively. The observed high baryonic density of the SMC, relative to other dwarf irregular galaxies, implies its unique formation history.
We examine the evolution of variously-sized radio galaxies [i.e., compact
symmetric objects (CSOs), medium-size symmetric objects (MSOs), Fanaroff-Riley
type II radio galaxies (FRIIs)], by comparing the relation between the hot spot
size and the projected linear size with a coevolution model of hot spots and a
cocoon. We take account of the deceleration effect by the cocoon head growth.
We find that the advance speed of hot spots and lobes inevitably show the
deceleration phase (CSO-MSO phase) and the acceleration phase (MSO-FRII phase).
This is ascribed to the change of the power-law index of ambient density
profile in the MSO phase ($\sim $1 kpc). It is also found that the cocoon shape
becomes nearly spherical or disrupted for MSOs, while an elongated morphology
is predicted for CSOs and FRIIs. This seems to be consistent with the higher
fraction of distorted morphology of MSOs than that of CSOs and FRI.
Finally, we predict that only CSOs whose initial advance speed is higher than
about 0.1c can evolve into FRIIs, comparing the hot spot speed with the sound
speed of the ambient medium.
We present a population synthesis study of the observed properties of the
magnetars, which allows for X-ray selection effects, investigating the
hypothesis that they are drawn from a population of progenitors that are more
massive than those of the normal radio pulsars. We assume that the anomalous
X-ray emission is caused by the decay of a toroidal or tangled up field that
does not partake in the spin down of the star.
We find that we can explain the observed properties, such as the period and
field distributions and the Period - Period derivative diagram, if we suitably
parametrise the time evolution of the anomalous X-ray luminosity as an
exponentially decaying function of time.
The magnetic flux of the neutron stars is required to be a strong function of
the progenitor mass with the magnetars arising from the mass range 20-45 solar
masses.
Unlike with the radio pulsars, the magnetars only weakly constrain the birth
spin period, due to their rapid spin-down. Our model predicts a birthrate of
about 0.15-0.3 per century.
Long ignored in blazars because of the dominance of the beamed radiation from the jet, the topic of thermal emissions in these objects is just beginning to be explored. While this emission is weak in most blazars compared to the dominant nonthermal jet components, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests that thermal emission is observable even in the most highly beamed objects. The emitting regions, which can include the accretion disk as well as the torus, are key parts of the central engine which also powers the jets. They also may be of critical importance in helping us decide between unified scheme models. We will review the observational evidence for thermal emissions in blazars, with an emphasis on recent work, and the spectral and variability characteristics that have been observed. The majority of the evidence for thermal emission in blazars (now observed in several objects) has come as a result of multiwavelength campaigns, where the object showed a clear bump in the optical-UV in a faint state. However, evidence exists from other avenues as well, including both purely spectral and variability based arguments as well as statistical analyses of large samples of objects. We will also discuss the impact of thermal emission on an object's overall SED, including its Comptonized signatures. Finally, we will assess the current standing of unified scheme models as respects thermal signatures and the prospects for detecting thermal emission with new telescopes and missions, and further utilizing it as a probe of the central engine of blazars.
The ARGO-YBJ experiment has been designed to study the Extensive Air Showers with an energy threshold lower than that of the existing arrays by exploiting the high altitude location(4300 m a.s.l. in Tibet, P.R. China) and the full ground plane coverage. The lower energy limit of the detector (E $\sim$ 1 GeV) is reached by the scaler mode technique, i.e. recording the counting rate at fixed time intervals. At these energies, transient signals due to local (e.g. Forbush Decreases) and cosmological (e.g. Gamma Ray Bursts) phenomena are expected as a significant variation of the counting rate compared to the background. In this paper the performance of the ARGO-YBJ detector operating in scaler mode is described and discussed.
We present a source and lens reconstruction for the optical Einstein ring gravitational lens system RXS J1131-1231. We resolve detail in the source, which is the host galaxy of a $z=0.658$ quasar, down to a resolution of 0.045 arc seconds (this is the size of the smallest conclusively resolved structures, rather than the pixel scale), using a Bayesian technique with a realistic model for the prior information. The source reconstruction reveals a substantial amount of complex structure in the host galaxy, which is $\sim$ 8 kpc in extent and contains several bright compact substructures, with the quasar source residing in one of these bright substructures. Additionally, we recover the mass distribution of the lensing galaxy, assuming a simply-parameterised model, using information from both the quasar images and the extended images. This allows a direct comparison of the amount of information about the lens that is provided by the quasar images in comparison to the extended images. In this system, we find that the extended images provide significantly more information about the lens than the quasar images alone, especially if we do not include prior constraints on the central position of the lens.
The classical T Tauri star DG Tau shows all typical signatures of X-ray activity and, in particular, harbors a resolved X-ray jet. We demonstrate that its soft and hard X-ray components are separated spatially by approximately 0.2 arcsec by deriving the spatial offset between both components from the event centroids of the soft and hard photons utilizing the intrinsic energy-resolution of the Chandra ACIS-S detector. We also demonstrate that this offset is physical and cannot be attributed to an instrumental origin or to low counting statistics. Furthermore, the location of the derived soft X-ray emission peak coincides with emission peaks observed for optical emission lines, suggesting that both, soft X-rays and optical emission, have the same physical origin.
The flight calibration of the spectral response of CCD instruments below 1.5 keV is difficult in general because of the lack of strong lines in the on-board calibration sources typically available. We have been using 1E 0102.2-7219, the brightest supernova remnant in the Small Magellanic Cloud, to evaluate the response models of the ACIS CCDs on the Chandra X-ray Observatory (CXO), the EPIC CCDs on the XMM-Newton Observatory, the XIS CCDs on the Suzaku Observatory, and the XRT CCD on the Swift Observatory. E0102 has strong lines of O, Ne, and Mg below 1.5 keV and little or no Fe emission to complicate the spectrum. The spectrum of E0102 has been well characterized using high-resolution grating instruments, namely the XMM-Newton RGS and the CXO HETG, through which a consistent spectral model has been developed that can then be used to fit the lower-resolution CCD spectra. We have also used the measured intensities of the lines to investigate the consistency of the effective area models for the various instruments around the bright O (~570 eV and 654 eV) and Ne (~910 eV and 1022 eV) lines. We find that the measured fluxes of the O VII triplet, the O VIII Ly-alpha line, the Ne IX triplet, and the Ne X Ly-alpha line generally agree to within +/-10 % for all instruments, with 28 of our 32 fitted normalizations within +/-10% of the RGS-determined value. The maximum discrepancies, computed as the percentage difference between the lowest and highest normalization for any instrument pair, are 23% for the O VII triplet, 24% for the O VIII Ly-alpha line, 13% for the Ne IX triplet, and 19% for the Ne X Ly-alpha line. If only the CXO and XMM are compared, the maximum discrepancies are 22% for the O VII triplet, 16% for the O VIII Ly-alpha line, 4% for the Ne IX triplet, and 12% for the Ne X Ly-alpha line.
Single-field models of inflation are analysed in light of the WMAP five-year data. It is found that for small-field models with canonical kinetic terms, the data shows a bias in favour of hilltop inflation. However, modular/new inflation models with small powers in the effective inflaton self-interaction are strongly disfavoured, with many ruled out at the 68% and 95% confidence limits for a standard range of e-folds. For large-field models driven by a monomial potential, the data favours potentials with a fractional power. We analyse a number of ultra-violet, DBI braneworld scenarios involving both wrapped and multiple-brane configurations. In all cases, we find that is difficult to satisfy the observations with known supergravity solutions.
We perform a detailed photometric analysis (bulge-disk-bar decomposition and Concentration-Asymmetry-Clumpiness - CAS parametrization) for a well defined sample of isolated galaxies, extracted from the Catalog of Isolated Galaxies (Karachentseva 1973) and reevaluated morphologically in the context of the AMIGA project. We focus on Sb-Sc morphological types, as they are the most representative population among the isolated spiral galaxies. Assuming that the bulge Sersic index and/or Bulge/Total luminosity ratios are reasonable diagnostics for pseudo- versus classical bulges, we conclude that the majority of late-type isolated disk galaxies likely host pseudobulges rather than classical bulges. Our parametrization of galactic bulges and disks suggests that the properties of the pseudobulges are strongly connected to those of the disks. This may indicate that pseudobulges are formed through internal processes within the disks (i.e. secular evolution) and that bars may play an important role in their formation. Although the sample under investigation covers a narrow morphological range, a clear separation between Sb and Sbc-Sc types is observed in various measures, e.g. the former are redder, brighter, have larger disks and larger bars, more luminous bulges, are more concentrated, more symmetric and clumpier than the latter. A comparison with samples of spiral galaxies (within the same morphological range) selected without isolation criteria reveals that the isolated galaxies tend to host larger bars, are more symmetric, less concentrated and less clumpy.
We present the first X-ray detection of PG 0043+039, a soft X-ray weak quasar (SXWQ) with broad absorption lines in the optical/UV spectrum. Our XMM-Newton EPIC and OM data confirm its X-ray weakness (a_ox = -2.11). The X-ray spectrum is well described by an unabsorbed (NH < 10^21 cm^-2) power law with Gamma~1.9. The derived column density for a possible warm absorber (NH ~ 2x10^22 cm^-2) and the non detection of a Fe emission line (EW < 110 eV) make unlikely that the X-ray weakness is due to the presence of intervening absorbers (as observed for most of SXWQs), suggesting that PG 0043+039 is intrinsically X-ray weak. Furthermore, the very large value inferred for the X-ray bolometric correction (k_[2-10] ~ 3800) is similar to those measured for the few other 'true' SXWQs known so far. The nature of an active galactic nuclei population with such a peculiar spectral energy distribution is still puzzling. The systematic study of SXWQs can therefore reveal useful insights on the physical properties of the accretion mechanism.
*AIMS: To study the interaction between young AGN and their host galaxies
based on their ionized gas and radio emission, and to analyze possible
implications for the radio galaxy evolution.
*METHODS: The [OIII] 5007 line and 5-GHz radio properties are compared and
studied on a large, representative sample of GPS and CSS (i.e., young) quasars
and radio galaxies as well as large-scale sources using [OIII] 5007 line and
5-GHz radio data from literature and our observations.
*RESULTS: Several correlations between the [OIII] 5007 line and 5-GHz radio
emission have been found. The main result is that the [OIII] 5007 emission is
strongly related to the GPS/CSS source size indicating that the [OIII] 5007
emission is clearly enhanced by the jet expansion through the host galaxy ISM.
Shocks are the most likely enhancing mechanism, although jet-induced star
formation could also be, partly, responsible for the [OIII] 5007 emission. The
data also suggests a possible deceleration of the jet as it grows. In this
case, however, the correlation is weak.
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Over the last 15 years, around a hundred very young stars have been observed in the central parsec of our Galaxy. While the presence of young stars forming one or two stellar discs at approx. 0.1 pc from the super-massive black hole (SMBH) can be understood through star formation in accretion discs, the origin of the S-stars observed a factor of ten closer to the SMBH has remained a major puzzle. Here we show the S-stars to be a natural consequence of dynamical interaction of two stellar discs at larger radii. Due to precession and Kozai interaction, individual stars achieve extremely high eccentricities at random orientation. Stellar binaries on such eccentric orbits are disrupted due to close passages near the SMBH, leaving behind a single S-star on a much tighter orbit. The remaining star may be ejected from the vicinity of the SMBH, thus simultaneously providing an explanation for the observed hyper-velocity stars in the Milky Way halo.
We explore the role of the group environment in the evolution of AGN at the redshift interval 0.7<z<1.4, by combining deep Chandra observations with extensive optical spectroscopy from the All-wavelength Extended Groth strip International Survey (AEGIS). The sample consists of 3902 optical sources and 71 X-ray AGN. Compared to the overall optically selected galaxy population, X-ray AGN are more frequently found in groups at the 99% confidence level. This is partly because AGN are hosted by red luminous galaxies, which are known to reside, on average, in dense environments. Relative to these sources, the excess of X-ray AGN in groups is significant at the 91% level only. Restricting the sample to 0.7<z<0.9 and M_B<-20mag in order to control systematics we find that X-ray AGN represent (4.7\pm1.6) and (4.5\pm1.0)% of the optical galaxy population in groups and in the field respectively. These numbers are consistent with the AGN fraction in low redshift clusters, groups and the field. The results above, although affected by small number statistics, suggest that X-ray AGN are spread over a range of environments, from groups to the field, once the properties of their hosts (e.g. colour, luminosity) are accounted for. There is also tentative evidence, significant at the 98% level, that the field produces more X-ray luminous AGN compared to groups, extending similar results at low redshift to z~1. This trend may be because of either cold gas availability or the nature of the interactions occurring in the denser group environment (i.e. prolonged tidal encounters).
We present infrared and millimeter observations of Barnard 335, the prototypical isolated Bok globule with an embedded protostar. Using Spitzer data we measure the source luminosity accurately; we also constrain the density profile of the innermost globule material near the protostar using the observation of an 8.0 um shadow. HHT observations of 12CO 2 --> 1 confirm the detection of a flattened molecular core with diameter ~10000 AU and the same orientation as the circumstellar disk (~100 to 200 AU in diameter). This structure is probably the same as that generating the 8.0 um shadow and is expected from theoretical simulations of collapsing embedded protostars. We estimate the mass of the protostar to be only ~5% of the mass of the parent globule.
We extend the previously described CMB Gibbs sampling framework to allow for exact Bayesian analysis of anisotropic universe models, and apply this method to the 5-year WMAP temperature observations. This involves adding support for non-diagonal signal covariance matrices, and implementing a general spectral parameter MCMC sampler. As a worked example we apply these techniques to the model recently introduced by Ackerman et al., describing for instance violations of rotational invariance during the inflationary epoch. After verifying the code with simulated data, we analyze the foreground-reduced 5-year WMAP temperature sky maps. For l < 400 and the W-band data, we find tentative evidence for a preferred direction pointing towards (l,b) = (110 deg, 10 deg) with an anisotropy amplitude of g* = 0.15 +- 0.039, nominally equivalent to a 3.8 sigma detection. Similar results are obtained from the V-band data [g* = 0.11 +- 0.039; (l,b) = (130 deg, 20 deg)]. Further, the preferred direction is stable with respect to multipole range, seen independently in both l=[2,100] and [100,400], although at lower statistical significance. We have not yet been able to establish a fully satisfactory explanation for the observations in terms of known systematics, but stress that further study of correlated noise is required, as preliminary analysis of publicly available 1-year WMAP noise simulations indicates noise correlation sensitivity. Even though the signatures seen in these simulations are significantly different from those seen in the actual data, the similarities are non-negligible. Thus, although the results are highly intriguing, we caution against over-interpreting them until a proper analysis of fully realistic 5-year WMAP simulations has been undertaken.
We present high resolution submillimeter interferometric imaging of two of the brightest high-redshift submillimeter galaxies known: GN20 and AzTEC1 at 0.3 and 0.8 arcsec resolution respectively. Our data - the highest resolution submillimeter imaging of high redshift sources accomplished to date - was collected in three different array configurations: compact, extended, and very extended. We derive angular sizes of 0.6 and 1.0 arcsec for GN20 and 0.3 and 0.4 arcsec for AzTEC1 from modeling their visibility functions as a Gaussian and elliptical disk respectively. Because both sources are B-band dropouts, they likely lie within a relatively narrow redshift window around z~4, which indicates their angular extent corresponds to physical scales of 4-8 and 1.5-3 kpc respectively for the starburst region. By way of a series of simple assumptions, we find preliminary evidence that these hyperluminous starbursts - with star formation rates >1000 $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ - are radiating at or close to their Eddington limit. Should future high resolution observations indicate that these two objects are typical of a population of high redshift Eddington-limited starbursts, this could have important consequences for models of star formation and feedback in extreme environments.
In the frame of the collapsar model for long gamma ray bursts (GRBs), we investigate the formation of a torus around a spinning BH and we check what rotational properties a progenitor star must have in order to sustain torus accretion over relatively long activity periods. We also study the time evolution of the BH spin parameter. We take into account the coupling between BH mass, its spin parameter and the critical specific angular momentum of accreting gas, needed for the torus to form. The large BH spin reduces the critical angular momentum which in turn can increase the GRB duration with respect to the Schwarzschild BH case. We quantify this effect and estimate the GRB durations in three cases: when a hyper accreting torus operates or a BH spins very fast or both. We show under what conditions a given progenitor star produces a burst that can last as short as several seconds and as long as several hundred of seconds. Our models indicate that it is possible for a single collapse to produce three kinds of jets: (1) a very short, lasting between a fraction of a second and a few seconds, 'precursor' jet, powered only by a hyper accreting torus before the BH spins up, (2) an 'early' jet, lasting several tens of seconds and powered by both hyper accretion and BH rotation, and (3) a 'late' jet, powered only by the spinning BH.
Preliminary results of a systematic study on the simultaneous optical-to-X-rays variability in blazars are presented. Data from Swift observations of four bright gamma-ray blazars (3C 279, ON +231, S5 0716+71, PKS 2155-304) have been analyzed, compared, and discussed. Specifically, 3C 279 shows a variable flattening in the low energy part of the X-ray spectrum that appears to be confined in a specific X-ray vs optical/UV fluxes region. Some implications are shortly analyzed.
The first, self-consistent calculations are presented of the cosmological, H2-dissociating UV background produced during the epoch of reionization by the sources of reionization. Large-scale radiative transfer simulations of reionization trace the impact of all the ionizing starlight on the IGM from all the sources in our simulation volume down to dwarf galaxies of mass ~10^8 Msun, identified by very high-resolution N-body simulations, including the self-regulating effect of IGM photoheating on dwarf galaxy formation. The UV continuum emitted below 13.6 eV by each source is then transferred through the same IGM, attenuated by atomic H Lyman series resonance lines, to predict the evolution of the inhomogeneous radiation background in the Lyman-Werner bands of H2 between 11 and 13.6 eV. On average, the intensity of this Lyman-Werner background is found to rise to the threshold level at which dissociation suppresses H2 cooling and star formation inside minihalos, long before reionization is complete. Spatial variations in the Lyman-Werner background are found which result from the clustering of sources associated with large-scale structure formation, such that intensity fluctuations correlate with matter density fluctuations. As a result, the Lyman-Werner background rises to the threshold level for H2 suppression earlier in the vicinity of the reionization sources and their H II regions.
We describe the Submillimeter Array (SMA) Polarimeter, a polarization converter and feed multiplexer installed on the SMA. The polarimeter uses narrow-band quarter-wave plates to generate circular polarization sensitivity from the linearly-polarized SMA feeds. The wave plates are mounted in rotation stages under computer control so that the polarization handedness of each antenna is rapidly selectable. Positioning of the wave plates is found to be highly repeatable, better than 0.2 degrees. Although only a single polarization is detected at any time, all four cross correlations of left- and right-circular polarization are efficiently sampled on each baseline through coordinated switching of the antenna polarizations in Walsh function patterns. The initial set of anti-reflection coated quartz and sapphire wave plates allows polarimetry near 345 GHz; these plates have been have been used in observations between 325 and 350 GHz. The frequency-dependent cross-polarization of each antenna, largely due to the variation with frequency of the retardation phase of the single-element wave plates, can be measured precisely through observations of bright point sources. Such measurements indicate that the cross-polarization of each antenna is a few percent or smaller and stable, consistent with the expected frequency dependence and very small alignment errors. The polarimeter is now available for general use as a facility instrument of the SMA.
Project GRAND, a proportional wire chamber array, is used to examine the decreased counting rate of ground level muons during the Forbush decrease event of September 11, 2005. Data are presented and compared to that of other cosmic ray monitors. A directional study of the Forbush decrease was undertaken and precursor anisotropies to this geomagnetic storm were studied utilizing GRAND's angular resolution.
GRAND is an array of position sensitive proportional wire chambers (PWCs) located at 86.2 degrees W, 41.7 degrees N at an elevation of 220 m adjacent to the campus of the University of Notre Dame with 82 square meters of total muon detector area. The geometry of the PWCs allows the angles of the charged secondary muon tracks to be measured to +/- 0.3 deg in each of two orthogonal planes. Muons are 99% differentiated from electrons by means of a 51 mm steel plate in each detector.
We present a publicly available code called Hammurabi for generating mock polarized observations of Galactic synchrotron emission for telescopes like LOFAR, SKA, Planck and WMAP, based on model inputs for the Galactic magnetic field (GMF), the cosmic-ray density distribution and the thermal electron density. We also present mock UHECR deflection measure (UDM) maps based on model inputs for the GMF. In future, when UHECR sources are identified, this will allow us to define UDM as a GMF probe in a similar way as polarized radio sources permit us to define rotation measures. To demonstrate the code's abilities mock observations are compared to real data as a means to constrain the input parameters of our simulations with a focus on large-scale magnetic field properties. As expected, attempts at trying to model the synchrotron, UHECR deflection and RM input parameters, show that any additional observational data set greatly increases the constraints on the models. The hammurabi code addresses this by allowing to perform simulations of several different data sets simultaneously, providing the means for a more reliable constraint of the magnetized inter-stellar-medium.
We report on the discovery of a bright Lyman alpha blob associated with the z=3 quasar SDSSJ124020.91+145535.6 which is also coincident with strong damped Lyman alpha absorption from a foreground galaxy (a so-called proximate damped Lyman alpha system; PDLA). The one dimensional spectrum acquired by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) shows a broad Lyman alpha emission line with a FWHM ~ 500 km/s and a luminosity of L_{Lya} = 3.9e43 erg/s superposed on the trough of the PDLA. Mechanisms for powering this large Lyman alpha luminosity are discussed. We argue against emission from HII regions in the PDLA galaxy since this requires an excessive star-formation rate ~ 500 Msun/yr and would correspond to the largest Lyman alpha luminosity ever measured from a damped Lyman alpha system or starburst galaxy. We use a Monte Carlo radiative transfer simulation to investigate the possibility that the line emission is fluorescent recombination radiation from the PDLA galaxy powered by the ionizing flux of the quasar, but find that the predicted Lyman alpha flux is several orders of magnitude lower than observed. We conclude that the Lyman alpha emission is not associated with the PDLA galaxy at all, but instead is intrinsic to the quasar's host and similar to the extended Lyman alpha 'fuzz' which is detected around many AGN. PDLAs are natural coronagraphs that block their background quasar at Lyman alpha, and we discuss how systems similar to SDSSJ124020.91+145535.6 might be used to image the neutral hydrogen in the PDLA galaxy in silhouette against the screen of extended Lyman alpha emission from the background quasar.
We report on the results of observations of hard X-ray sources in the Galactic plane with the Chandra X-ray Observatory. The hard X-ray IGR sources were discovered by the INTEGRAL satellite, and the goals of the Chandra observations are to provide sub-arcsecond localizations to obtain optical and infrared counterparts and to provide constraints on their 0.3-10 keV spectra. We obtained relatively short, ~5 ks, observations for 20 IGR sources and find a bright Chandra source in INTEGRAL error circles in 12 cases. In 11 of these cases, a cross-correlation with optical and/or infrared source catalogs yields a counterpart, and the range of J-band magnitudes is 8.1-16.4. Also, in 4 cases, the Chandra X-ray spectra show evidence for absorbing material surrounding the compact object with a column density of local material in excess of 5x10^22 cm^-2. We confirm that IGR J00234+6141 is a Cataclysmic Variable and IGR J14515-5542 is an Active Galactic Nucleus (AGN). We also confirm that IGR J06074+2205, IGR J10101-5645, IGR J11305-6256, and IGR J17200-3116 are High Mass X-ray Binaries (HMXBs). Our results (along with follow-up optical spectroscopy reported elsewhere) indicate that IGR J11435-6109 is an HMXB and IGR J18259-0706 is an AGN. We find that IGR J09026-4812, IGR J18214-1318, and IGR J18325-0756 may be HMXBs. In cases where we do not find a Chandra counterpart, the flux upper limits place interesting constraints on the luminosities of black hole and neutron star X-ray transients in quiescence.
We report on a statistical study of the 51 radio galaxies at the millijansky flux level from the Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty centimeters, including their optical morphologies and structure obtained with the Hubble Space Telescope. Our optical imaging is significantly deeper (~2 mag) than previous studies with the superior angular resolution of space-based imaging. We that find 8/51 (16%) of the radio sources have no optically identifiable counterpart to AB~24 mag. For the remaining 43 sources, only 25 are sufficiently resolved in the HST images to reliably assign a visual classification: 15 (60%) are elliptical galaxies, 2 (8%) are late-type spiral galaxies, 1 (4%) is an S0, 3 (12%) are point-like objects (quasars), and 4 (16%) are merger systems. We find a similar distribution of optical types with measurements of the Sersic index. The optical magnitude distribution of these galaxies peaks at I~20.7+-0.5 AB mag, which is ~3 mag brighter than the depth of our typical HST field and is thus not due to the WFPC2 detection limit. This supports the luminosity-dependent density evolutionary model, where the majority of faint radio galaxies typically have L*-optical luminosities and a median redshift of z~0.8 with a relatively abrupt redshift cut-off at z>~2. We discuss our results in the context of the evolution of elliptical galaxies and active galactic nuclei.
We calculate the jet power of the classical Blandford-Znajek (BZ) model and
hybrid model developed by Meier (2001) based on the global solutions of
advection dominated accretion flows (ADAFs) surrounding Kerr black holes. We
find that the jet power of the hybrid model is larger than that of the pure BZ
model. The jet power will dominate over the accretion power and the objects
will enter into "jet power dominated advective systems", when the accretion
rate is less than a critical value \dot{m}_c=\dot{M}_c/\dot{M}_Edd, where
$3*10^-4<\dot{m}_c< 5*10^-3 is a function of black hole spin parameter. The
accretion power will be dominant when \dot{m}> \dot{m}_c and the objects will
enter into "accretion power dominated advective systems". This is roughly
consistent with that constrained from the low/hard state black hole X-ray
binaries (e.g., Fender et al.).
We calculate the maximal jet power as a function of black hole mass with the
hybrid jet formation model, and find it can roughly reproduce the dividing line
of the Ledlow-Owen relation for FR I/II dichotomy in jet power-black hole(BH)
mass plane (Q_jet-M_BH), if the dimensionless accretion rate \dot{m}~0.01 and
BH spin parameter j~0.9-0.99 are adopted. This accretion rate \dot{m}~0.01 is
consistent with that the critical accretion rate for the accretion mode
transition of a standard disk to an ADAF constrained from the state transition
of X-ray binaries. Our results imply that most FR Is may be in the ADAF
accretion mode similar to the low/hard state XRBs.
Recently, analysis of near-infrared broad-band photometry and Spitzer IRS spectra has led to the identification of a new "pre-transitional disk" class whose members have an inner optically thick disk separated from an outer optically thick disk by an optically thin gap. This is in contrast to the "transitional disks" which have inner disk holes (i.e. large reductions of small dust from the star out to an outer optically thick wall). In LkCa 15, one of these proposed pre-transitional disks, detailed modeling showed that although the near-infrared fluxes could be understood in terms of optically thick material at the dust sublimation radius, an alternative model of emission from optically thin dust over a wide range of radii could explain the observations as well. To unveil the true nature of LkCa 15's inner disk we obtained a medium-resolution near-infrared spectrum spanning the wavelength range 2-5 microns using SpeX at the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility. We report that the excess near-infrared emission above the photosphere of LkCa 15 is a black-body continuum which can only be due to optically thick material in an inner disk around the star. When this confirmation of a primordial inner disk is combined with earlier observations of an inner edge to LkCa 15's outer disk it reveals a gapped structure. Forming planets emerge as the most likely mechanism for clearing the gap we detect in this evolving disk.
We explore the design of a space mission, Project Lyman, which has the goal of quantifying the ionization history of the universe from the present epoch to a redshift of z ~ 3. Observations from WMAP and SDSS show that before a redshift of z >~ 6 the first collapsed objects, possibly dwarf galaxies, emitted Lyman continuum (LyC) radiation shortward of 912 A, reionizing most of the universe. How LyC escapes from galactic environments, whether it induces positive or negative feedback on the local and global collapse of structures, and the role played by clumping, molecules, metallicity and dust are major unanswered theoretical questions, requiring observational constraint. Numerous intervening Lyman limit systems, which frustrate the detection of LyC from high z objects, thin below z ~ 3 where there are a few objects with apparently very high fesc. At low z there are only controversial detections and a handful of upper limits. A wide-field multi-object spectroscopic survey with moderate spectral and spatial resolution can quantify fesc within diverse spatially resolved galactic environments over redshifts with significant evolution in galaxy assemblage and quasar activity. It can also calibrate LyC escape against Ly-alpha escape, providing an essential tool to JWST for probing the beginnings of reionization. We present calculations showing the evolution of the characteristic apparent magnitude of star-forming galaxy luminosity functions at 900 A, as a function of redshift and assumed escape fraction to determine the required aperture for detecting LyC. We review our efforts to build a pathfinding dual order multi-object spectro/telescope with a (0.5deg)^2 field-of-view, using a GSFC microshutter array, and crossed delay-line micro-channel plate detector.
Galactic open clusters are since long recognized as one of the best tools for investigating the radial distribution of iron and other metals. We employed FLAMES at VLT to collect UVES spectra of bright giant stars in a large sample of open clusters, spanning a wide range of Galactocentric distances, ages, and metallicities. We present here the results for four clusters: Berkeley 20 and Berkeley 29, the two most distant clusters in the sample; Collinder 261, the oldest and the one with the minimum Galactocentric distance; Melotte 66. Equivalent width analysis was carried out using the spectral code MOOG and Kurucz model atmospheres to derive abundances of Fe, Al, Mg, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Ni, Ba; non-LTE Na abundances were derived by direct line-profile fitting. We obtain subsolar metallicities for the two anticenter clusters Be 20 ([Fe/H]=-0.30, rms=0.02) and Be 29 ([Fe/H]=-0.31, rms=0.03), and for Mel 66 ([Fe/H]=-0.33, rms=0.03), located in the third Galactic quadrant, while Cr 261, located toward the Galactic center, has higher metallicity ([Fe/H]=+0.13, rms=0.05 dex). The alpha-elements Si, Ca and Ti, and the Fe-peak elements Cr and Ni are in general close to solar; the s-process element Ba is enhanced. Non-LTE computations of Na abundances indicate solar scaled values, suggesting that the enhancement in Na previously determined in giants in open clusters could be due to neglected non-LTE effects. Our results support the presence of a steep negative slope of the Fe radial gradient up to about 10-11 kpc from the Galactic center, while in the outer disk the [Fe/H] distribution seems flat. All the elemental ratios measured are in very good agreement with those found for disk stars of similar metallicity and no trend with Galactocentric distance seems to be present.
We present a new determination of the mass content of the Sculptor dwarf spheroidal galaxy, based on a novel approach which takes into account the two distinct stellar populations present in this galaxy. This method helps to partially break the well-known mass-anisotropy degeneracy present in the modelling of pressure-supported stellar systems.
Recent observations of the Galactic center revealed a nuclear disk of young OB stars near the massive black hole (MBH), in addition to many similar outlying stars with higher eccentricities and/or high inclinations relative to the disk (some of them possibly belonging to a second disk). In addition, observations show the existence of young B stars (the 'S-cluster') in an isotropic distribution in the close vicinity of the MBH ($<0.04$ pc). We use extended N-body simulations to probe the dynamical evolution of these two populations. We show that the stellar disk could have evolved to its currently observed state from a thin disk of stars formed in a gaseous disk, and that the dominant component in its evolution is the interaction with stars in the cusp around the MBH. We also show that the currently observed distribution of the S-stars could be consistent with a capture origin through 3-body binary-MBH interactions. In this scenario the stars are captured at highly eccentric orbits, but scattering by stellar black holes could change their eccentricity distribution to be consistent with current observations.
We obtain full information on the orbital parameters by combining radial velocity and astrometric measurements by means of Bayesian inference. We sample the parameter probability densities of orbital model parameters with a Markov chain Monte Carlo (McMC) method in simulated observational scenarios to test the detectability of planets with orbital periods longer than the observational timelines. We show that, when fitting model parameters simultaneously to measurements from both sources, it is possible to extract much more information from the measurements than when using either source alone. We demonstrate this by studying the orbit of recently found extra-solar planet HD 154345 b.
The aim of this work is the computation of the cosmic Type Ia supernova rates at very high redshifts (z>2). We adopt various progenitor models in order to predict the number of explosions in different scenarios for galaxy formation and to check whether it is possible to select the best delay time distribution model, on the basis of the available observations of Type Ia supernovae. We also computed the Type Ia supernova rate in typical elliptical galaxies of different initial luminous masses and the total amount of iron produced by Type Ia supernovae in each case. It emerges that: it is not easy to select the best delay time distribution scenario from the observational data and this is because the cosmic star formation rate dominates over the distribution function of the delay times; the monolithic collapse scenario predicts an increasing trend of the SN Ia rate at high redshifts whereas the predicted rate in the hierarchical scheme drops dramatically at high redshift; for the elliptical galaxies we note that the predicted maximum of the Type Ia supernova rate depends on the initial galactic mass. The maximum occurs earlier (at about 0.3 Gyr) in the most massive ellipticals, as a consequence of downsizing in star formation. We find that different delay time distributions predict different relations between the Type Ia supernova rate per unit mass at the present time and the color of the parent galaxies and that bluer ellipticals present higher supernova Type Ia rates at the present time.
We have re-analyzed the X-ray spectra of the gravitational lensed high-redshift BAL QSO APM 08279+5255, observed with the XMM-Newton and Chandra observatories. Previous studies (Hasinger et al. 2002; Chartas et al. 2002) detected unusual, highly-ionized iron absorption features, but differed in their interpretation of these features, regarding the kinematical and ionization structure. We seek one physical model that can be successfully applied to both observations. For the first time we have performed detailed photoionization modeling on the X-ray spectrum of APM 08279+5255. The absorbing gas in APM 08279+5255 can be represented by a two-absorbers model with column densities N_H(1)~7x10^{22} cm^-2, N_H(2)~6x10^{22} cm^-2, and ionization parameters logxi(1)~1.5 and logxi(2)~3, with one of them (the high-ionization component) outflowing at v~0.18(\pm 0.01)c, carrying large amount of gas out of the system. We find that the Chandra spectrum of APM 08279+5255 requires the same Fe/O ratio overabundance (previously) indicated by the XMM-Newton observation, showing that both absorber components underwent similar chemical evolution and/or have similar origin.
LS 5039, a possible black hole x-ray binary, was recently observed with Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope. The observed spectrum presented here shows that the spectrum is inverted at the low frequency. When combined with the archival data with orbital phase similar to the present observations, it shows a clear indication of a spectral turnover. The combined data are fitted with a broken power-law and the break frequency signifies a possible spectral turnover of the spectrum around 964 MHz. Truly simultaneous observations in radio wavelength covering a wide range of frequencies are required to fix the spectrum and the spectral turn over which will play a crucial role in developing a deeper understanding of the radio emitting jet in LS 5039.
We present the research status of a deformable mirror made of a magnetic liquid whose surface is actuated by a triangular array of small current carrying coils. We demonstrate that the mirror can correct a 11 microns low order aberrated wavefront to a residual RMS wavefront error 0.05 microns. Recent developments show that these deformable mirrors can reach a frequency response of several hundred hertz. A new method for linearizing the response of these mirrors is also presented.
We have modeled optical to far infrared images, photometry, and spectroscopy of the object known as Gomez's Hamburger. We reproduce the images and spectrum with an edge-on disk of mass 0.3M_sun and radius 1600AU, surrounding an A0 III star at a distance of 280pc. Our mass estimate is in excellent agreement with recent CO observations. However, our distance determination is more than an order of magnitude smaller than previous analyses which inaccurately interpreted the optical spectrum. To accurately model the infrared spectrum we have extended our Monte Carlo radiation transfer codes to include emission from polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) molecules and very small grains (VSG). We do this using pre-computed PAH/VSG emissivity files for a wide range of values of the mean intensity of the exciting radiation field. When Monte Carlo energy packets are absorbed by PAHs/VSGs we reprocess them to other wavelengths by sampling from the emissivity files, thus simulating the absorption and re-emission process without reproducing lengthy computations of statistical equilibrium, excitation and de-excitation in the complex many level molecules. Using emissivity lookup tables in our Monte Carlo codes gives the flexibility to use the latest grain physics calculations of PAH/VSG emissivity and opacity that are being continually updated in the light of higher resolution infrared spectra. We find our approach gives a good representation of the observed PAH spectrum from the disk of Gomez's Hamburger. Our models also indicate the PAHs/VSGs in the disk have a larger scaleheight than larger radiative equilibrium grains, providing evidence for dust coagulation and settling to the midplane.
We observed the nearby, low-density globular cluster M71 (NGC 6838) with the Chandra X-ray Observatory to study its faint X-ray populations. Five X-ray sources were found inside the cluster core radius, including the known eclipsing binary millisecond pulsar (MSP) PSR J1953+1846A. The X-ray light curve of the source coincident with this MSP shows marginal evidence for periodicity at the binary period of 4.2 h. Its hard X-ray spectrum and luminosity resemble those of other eclipsing binary MSPs in 47 Tuc, suggesting a similar shock origin of the X-ray emission. A further 24 X-ray sources were found within the half-mass radius, reaching to a limiting luminosity of 1.5 10^30 erg/s (0.3-8 keV). From a radial distribution analysis, we find that 18+/-6 of these 29 sources are associated with M71, somewhat more than predicted, and that 11+/-6 are background sources, both galactic and extragalactic. M71 appears to have more X-ray sources between L_X=10^30--10^31 erg/s than expected by extrapolating from other studied clusters using either mass or collision frequency. We explore the spectra and variability of these sources, and describe the results of ground-based optical counterpart searches.
Single field inflationary models with a non-minimal kinetic term (also called k-inflationary models) can be characterised by the so-called sound flow functions, which complete the usual Hubble flow hierarchy. These parameters appear in the primordial power spectra of cosmological perturbations at leading order and, therefore, affect the resulting Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) anisotropies. Using the fifth year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP5) data, we derive the marginalised posterior probability distributions for both the sound and Hubble flow parameters. In contrast to the standard situation, these parameters remain separately unbounded, and notably there is no longer any upper limit on epsilon_1, the first Hubble flow function. Only special combinations of these parameters, corresponding to the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio observables, are actually constrained by the data. The energy scale of k-inflation is nevertheless limited from above to Hinf/mpl < 6x10^(-6) at two-sigma level. Moreover, for the sub-class of Dirac-Born-Infeld models, by considering the non-gaussianity bounds on the sound speed, we find a weak limit epsilon_1 < 0.08 at 95% confidence level.
Multiwavelength monitoring observations of Sagittarius A* exhibit variability on timescales of minutes to hours, indicating emission regions localized near the event horizon. (Sub)Millimeter-wavelength VLBI is uniquely suited to probe the environment of the assumed black hole on these scales. We consider a range of orbiting hot-spot and accretion-disk models and find that periodicity in Sgr A* flares is detectable using closure quantities. Our methods are applicable to any model producing source structure changes near the black hole, including jets and magnetohydrodynamic disk instabilities, and suggest that (sub)millimeter VLBI will play a prominent role in investigating Sgr A* near the event horizon.
Much progress has been made in measuring black hole (BH) masses in (non-active) galactic nuclei using the tight correlation between stellar velocity dispersions (sigma) in galaxies and the mass of their central BH. The use of this correlation in quasars, however, is hampered by the difficulty in measuring sigma in host galaxies that tend to be overpowered by their bright nuclei. We discuss results from a project that focuses on z~0.3 quasars suffering from heavy extinction at shorter wavelengths. This makes it possible to obtain clean spectra of the hosts in the spectral regions of interest, while broad lines (like H-alpha) are still visible at longer wavelengths. We compare BH masses obtained from velocity dispersions to those obtained from the broad line region and thus probe the evolution of this relation and BH growth with redshift and luminosity. Our preliminary results show an offset between the position of our objects and the local relation, in the sense that red quasars have, on average, lower velocity dispersions than local galaxies. We discuss possible biases and systematic errors that may affect our results.
We present limits on transit timing variations and secondary eclipse depth variations at 8 microns with the Spitzer Space Telescope IRAC camera. Due to the weak limb darkening in the infrared and uninterrupted observing, Spitzer provides the highest accuracy transit times for this bright system, in principle providing sensitivity to secondary planets of Mars mass in resonant orbits. Finally, the transit data provides tighter constraints on the wavelength- dependent atmospheric absorption by the planet.
Star clusters that form in nuclear rings appear to be at slightly larger radii than the gas. We argue that the star clusters move out from the gas in which they are formed because of satellite-disk tidal interactions. In calculating the dynamics of this star cluster and gas ring system, we include the effects of dynamical friction of the background stars in the host galaxy on the star cluster, and inflowing gas along the bar onto the nuclear ring at the two contact points. We show that the final separation is of the order of the Hill radius of the nuclear ring, which is typically 20-30% of its radius. Massive star clusters can reach half of this separation very quickly and produce a factor of a few enhancement in the gas surface density. If this leads to star formation in addition to the (ongoing) formation of star clusters near the contact points, a possible (initial) azimuthal age gradient may become diluted or even disappear. Finally, if the star cluster are massive and/or numerous enough, we expect the nuclear ring to migrate inward, away from the (possibly) associated (inner) Lindblad resonance. We discuss how these predictions may be tested observationally.
The extended holographic dark energy model with the Hubble horizon as the infrared cutoff avoids the problem of the circular reasoning of the holographic dark energy model. We show that the infrared cutoff of the extended holographic dark energy model cannot be the Hubble horizon provided that the Brans-Dicke parameter satisfies the experimental constraint $\omega> 10^4$, and this is proved as a no-go theorem. The no-go theorem also applies to the case in which the dark matter interacts with the dark energy.
The Dirac equation for the electron around a five-dimensional rotating black hole with two different angular momenta is separated into purely radial and purely angular equations. The general solution is expressed as a superposition of solutions derived from these two decoupled ordinary differential equations. By separating variables for the massive Klein-Gordon equation in the same space-time background, I derive a simple and elegant form for the Stackel-Killing tensor, which can be easily written as the square of a rank-three Killing-Yano tensor. I have also explicitly constructed a symmetry operator that commutes with the scalar Laplacian by using the Stackel-Killing tensor, and the one with the Dirac operator by the Killing-Yano tensor admitted by the five-dimensional Myers-Perry metric, respectively.
We study the evolution of homogeneous and isotropic, flat cosmological models within the general scalar-tensor theory of gravity with arbitrary coupling function and potential. After introducing the limit of general relativity we describe the details of the phase space geometry. Using the methods of dynamical systems for the decoupled equation of the Jordan frame scalar field we find the fixed points of flows in two cases: potential domination and matter domination. There are two types of fixed points, both are characterized by cosmological evolution mimicking general relativity, but only one of the types is compatible with the Solar System PPN constraints. We present the conditions on the mathematical form of the coupling function and potential which determine the nature of the fixed points (attractor or other).
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We present and discuss the bounds from the energy conditions on a general f(R) functional form in the framework of metric variational approach. As a concrete application of the energy conditions to locally homogeneous and isotropic f(R)-cosmology, the recent estimated values of the deceleration and jerk parameters are used to examine the bounds from the weak energy condition on the free parameter of the family of f(R)=\sqrt{R^2 - R_0^2} gravity theory.
We present the BMW-Chandra source catalogue drawn from essentially all Chandra ACIS-I pointed observations with an exposure time in excess of 10ks public as of March 2003 (136 observations). Using the wavelet detection algorithm developed by Lazzati et al. (1999) and Campana et al. (1999), which can characterise both point-like and extended sources, we identified 21325 sources. Among them, 16758 are serendipitous, i.e. not associated with the targets of the pointings, and do not require a non-automated analysis. This makes our catalogue the largest compilation of Chandra sources to date. The 0.5--10 keV absorption corrected fluxes of these sources range from ~3E-16 to 9E-12 erg cm^-2 s^-1 with a median of 7E-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1. The catalogue consists of count rates and relative errors in three energy bands (total, 0.5-7keV; soft, 0.5-2keV; and hard, 2-7keV), and source positions relative to the highest signal-to-noise detection among the three bands. The wavelet algorithm also provides an estimate of the extension of the source. We include information drawn from the headers of the original files, as well, and extracted source counts in four additional energy bands, SB1 (0.5-1keV), SB2 (1-2keV), HB1 (2-4keV), and HB2 (4-7keV). We computed the sky coverage for the full catalogue and for a subset at high Galactic latitude (|b|> 20deg). The complete catalogue provides a sky coverage in the soft band (0.5-2keV, S/N =3) of ~8 deg^2 at a limiting flux of 1E-13 erg cm^-2 s^-1, and ~2 deg^2 at a limiting flux of ~1E-15 erg cm^-2 s^-1.
We use a combination of analytic and numerical arguments to consider the impact of quasar photo-heating during HeII reionisation on the thermal evolution of the intergalactic medium (IGM). We demonstrate that rapid (\Delta z<0.1-0.2), strong (\Delta T_HeII > 10^4K) photo-heating is extremely difficult to achieve across the entire IGM unless quasar spectra are significantly harder than implied by current observational constraints. Although filtering of intrinsic quasar radiation through dense regions in the IGM does increase the mean excess energy per HeII photo-ionisation, it also weakens the radiation and lowers the photo-ionisation rate, preventing rapid heating over time intervals shorter than the local photo-ionisation timescale. Moreover, the hard photons responsible for the strongest heating are more likely to deposit their energy inside dense clumps, which cool rapidly and are furthermore invisible to most observational probes of the IGM temperature. As a result, although some of the IGM may be exposed to a hardened and weakened ionising background for long periods, most of the IGM is reionised by the more abundant, softer photons and the net heating is accordingly small (\Delta T_HeII < 5,000-10,000K). However, localised patches of much higher temperatures are still likely. The repeated ionisation of "fossil" quasar HeIII regions does not increase the net heating because the recombination times in these regions typically exceed the IGM cooling times. Detailed line-of-sight radiative transfer simulations confirm these expectations and predict a rich thermal structure in the IGM during HeII reionisation. The resulting complex relationship between temperature and density may help resolve discrepancies between optically thin simulations of the Lya forest and recent observations.
We present the 3-point function $\xi_3$ and $Q_3=\xi_3/\xi_2^2$ for a spectroscopic volume limited sample of 40,000 luminous red galaxies (LRG) from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey DR6. We find a strong (S/N>6) detection of Q_3 on scales of 55-125 Mpc/h, with a well defined peak around 105 Mpc/h in all $\xi_2$, $\xi_3$ and Q_3, in excellent agreement with the predicted shape and location of the imprint of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO). We use very large simulations (from a cubic box of L=7680 Mpc/h) to asses and test the significance of our measurement. This detection demonstrates the non-linear growth of structure by gravitational instability between z=1000 and the present. Our measurements show the expected shape for Q_3 as a function of the triangular configuration. This provides a first direct measurement of the non-linear mode coupling coefficients of density and velocity fluctuations which, on these large scales, are independent of cosmic time, the amplitude of fluctuations or cosmological parameters. The presence of the BAO peak in the data indicates $\Omega_m =0.28 \pm 0.03$ and $\Omega_B=0.077 \pm 0.018$ (for $h_0=0.70$, $n=0.95$) after marginalization over linear $b_1$ and quadratic $c_2$ bias, which are found to be: $b_1=1.5-2.2$ and $c_2=0.75-3.55$. The data allows a hierarchical contribution from primordial non-Gaussianities in the range Q_3=0.55-2.55. These constraints are independent and complementary to the ones that can be obtained using the 2-point function, which are presented in a separate paper. This is the first detection of the shape of Q_3 on BAO scales, but our errors are shot-noise dominated and the SDSS volume is still relatively small, so there is ample room for future improvement in this type of measurements.
We introduce the method and the implementation of a cosmological simulation of a class of metric-variation f(R) models that accelerate the cosmological expansion without a cosmological constant and evade solar-system bounds of small-field deviations to general relativity. Such simulations are shown to reduce to solving a non-linear Poisson equation for the scalar degree of freedom introduced by the f(R) modifications. We detail the method to efficiently solve the non-linear Poisson equation by using a Newton-Gauss-Seidel relaxation scheme coupled with multigrid method to accelerate the convergence. The simulations are shown to satisfy tests comparing the simulated outcome to analytical solutions for simple situations, and the dynamics of the simulations are tested with orbital and Zeldovich collapse tests. Finally, we present several static and dynamical simulations using realistic cosmological parameters to highlight the differences between standard physics and f(R) physics. In general, we find that the f(R) modifications result in stronger gravitational attraction that enhances the dark matter power spectrum by ~20% for large but observationally allowed f(R) modifications. More detailed study of the non-linear f(R) effects on the power spectrum are presented in a companion paper.
(Abridged) We present Keck, HST, and Gemini-North observations of the L4+L4 binary HD 130948BC which together span ~70% of the binary's orbital period. We determine a total dynamical mass of 0.109+/-0.002 Msun (114+/-2 Mjup). The flux ratio is near unity, so both components are unambiguously substellar for any plausible mass ratio. An independent constraint on the age of the system is available from the G2V primary HD 130948A. The available indicators suggest an age comparable to the Hyades, with the most precise age being 0.79 Gyr based on gyrochronology. Therefore, HD 130948BC is now a unique benchmark among field L and T dwarfs, with a well-determined mass, luminosity, and age. We find that substellar theoretical models disagree with our observations. Both components of HD 130948BC appear to be overluminous by a factor of ~2-3x compared to evolutionary models. The age of the system would have to be notably younger than the gyro age to ameliorate the luminosity disagreement. However, regardless of the adopted age, evolutionary and atmospheric models give inconsistent results, indicating systematic errors in at least one class of models, possibly both. The masses of HD 130948BC happen to be very near the theoretical mass limit for lithium burning, and thus measuring the differential lithium depletion in B and C will provide a uniquely discriminating test of theoretical models. The potential underestimate of luminosities by evolutionary models would have wide-ranging implications; therefore, a more refined age estimate for HD 130948A is critically needed.
Emission from Active Galactic Nuclei is known to vary strongly over time over a wide energy band, but the origin of the variability and especially of the inter-band correlations is still not well established. Here we present the results of our X-ray and optical monitoring campaign of the quasar MR2251-178, covering a period of 2.5 years. The X-ray 2-10 keV flux is remarkably well correlated with the optical B, V and R bands, their fluctuations are almost simultaneous with a delay consistent with 0 days and not larger than 4 days in either direction. The amplitude of variations shows an intriguing behaviour: rapid, large amplitude fluctuations over tens of days in the X-rays have only small counterparts in the optical bands, while the long-term trends over hundreds of days are stronger in the B band than in X-rays. We show that simple reprocessing models, where all the optical variability arises from the variable X-ray heating, cannot simultaneously explain the discrepant variability amplitudes on different time-scales and the short delays between X-ray and optical bands. We interpret the variability and correlations, in the optically-thick accretion disc plus corona scenario, as the result of intrinsic accretion rate variations modulating both X-ray and optical emission, together with reprocessing of X-rays by the accretion disc.
We present measurements of the luminosity and mass functions of low-mass stars constructed from a catalog of matched Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and 2 Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) detections. This photometric catalog contains more than 25,000 matched SDSS and 2MASS point sources spanning ~30 square degrees on the sky. We have obtained follow-up spectroscopy, complete to J=16, of more than 500 low mass dwarf candidates within a 1 square degree sub-sample, and thousands of additional dwarf candidates in the remaining 29 square degrees. This spectroscopic sample verifies that the photometric sample is complete, uncontaminated, and unbiased at the 99% level globally, and at the 95% level in each color range. We use this sample to derive the luminosity and mass functions of low-mass stars over nearly a decade in mass (0.7 M_sun > M_* > 0.1 M_sun). We find that the logarithmically binned mass function is best fit with an M_c=0.29 log-normal distribution, with a 90% confidence interval of M_c=0.20--0.50. These 90% confidence intervals correspond to linearly binned mass functions peaking between 0.27 M_sun and 0.12 M_sun, where the best fit MF turns over at 0.17 M_sun. A power law fit to the entire mass range sampled here, however, returns a best fit of alpha=1.1 (where the Salpeter slope is alpha = 2.35). These results agree well with most previous investigations, though differences in the analytic formalisms adopted to describe those mass functions can give the false impression of disagreement. Given the richness of modern-day astronomical datasets, we are entering the regime whereby stronger conclusions can be drawn by comparing the actual datapoints measured in different mass functions, rather than the results of analytic analyses that impose structure on the data a priori. (abridged)
This work presents a detailed analysis of the overall flow structure and unique features of the inner region of the tilted disk simulations described in Fragile et al. (2007). The primary new feature identified in the main disk body is a latitude-dependent radial epicyclic motion driven by pressure gradients attributable to the gravitomagnetic warping of the disk. The induced motion of the gas is coherent over the scale of the entire disk and is fast enough that it could be observable in features such as relativistic iron lines. The eccentricity of the associated fluid element trajectories increases with decreasing radius, leading to a crowding of orbit trajectories near their apocenters. This results in a local density enhancement akin to a compression. These compressions are sufficiently strong to produce a pair of weak shocks in the vicinity of the black hole. These shocks are roughly aligned with the line-of-nodes between the black-hole symmetry plane and disk midplane, with one shock above the line-of-nodes on one side of the black hole and the other below on the opposite side. These shocks enhance angular momentum transport and energy dissipation near the hole, forcing some material to plunge toward the black hole from well outside the innermost stable circular orbit. A new, extended simulation, which was evolved for more than a full disk precession period, allows us to confirm that these shocks and the previously identified ``plunging streams'' precess with the disk in such a way as to remain aligned relative to the line-of-nodes, as expected based on our physical understanding of these phenomena. Such a precessing structure would likely present a strong quasi-periodic signal.
This is the first paper of a series where we study the clustering of LRG galaxies in the latest spectroscopic SDSS data release, DR6, which has 75000 LRG galaxies covering over 1 $Gpc^3/h^3$ at $0.15<z<0.47$. Here we focus on modelling redshift space distortions in $\xips$, the 2-point correlation in separate line-of-sight and perpendicular directions, at large scales and away from the line-of-sight. We use large mock simulations to study the validity of models and errors. We show that errors in the data are dominated by a shot-noise term that is 40% larger than the Poisson error commonly used. We first use the normalized quadrupole to estimate $\beta=f(\Omega_m)/b=0.34 \pm 0.03$, where $f(\Omega_m)$ is the linear velocity growth factor and $b$ is the linear bias parameter that relates galaxy to matter fluctuations on large scales. We next use the full $\xips$ plane to find $\Omega_m= 0.245 \pm 0.020$ and the biased amplitude $b \sigma_8 = 1.56 \pm 0.09$. For standard gravity, we can combine these measurements to break degeneracies and find $\sigma_8=0.85 \pm 0.06$, $b=1.85 \pm 0.25$ and $f(\Omega_m)=0.64 \pm 0.09$ for the whole sample (mean $z=0.34$). We present constraints for modified theories of gravity and find that standard gravity is consistent with data as long as $0.80<\sigma_8<0.92$. We also calculate the cross-correlation with WMAP5 and show how both methods to measure the growth history are complementary to constrain non-standard models of gravity. Finally, we show results for different redshift slices, including a prominent BAO peak in the monopole at different redshifts (Abridged).
This is the second paper of a series where we study the clustering of LRG galaxies in the latest spectroscopic SDSS data release, DR6, which has 75000 LRG galaxies covering over 1 $Gpc^3/h^3$ for $0.15<z<0.47$. Here we focus on modeling redshift space distortions in $\xips$, the 2-point correlation in separate line-of-sight and perpendicular directions, at small scales and in the line-of-sight. We show that a simple Kaiser model for the anisotropic 2-point correlation function in redshift space, convolved with a distribution of random peculiar velocities with an exponential form, can describe well the correlation of LRG at all the scales. To describe with accuracy the so called "fingers-of-God" (FOG) elongations in the radial direction, it is necessary to model the scale dependence of both bias $b$ and the pairwise rms peculiar velocity $\sigma_v$ with the distance. We show how both quantities can be inferred from the $\xips$ data. From $r \simeq 10$ Mpc/h to $r \simeq 1$ Mpc/h, both the bias and $\sigma_v$ are shown to increase by a factor of two: from $b=2$ to $b=4$ and from $\sigma_v=350$ to 700 Km/s, in good agreement with simulations. We show that we are able to reproduce the fine structure in the FOG and the full $\xips$ correlation with this simple model.
We carry out a suite of cosmological simulations of modified action f(R) models where cosmic acceleration arises from an alteration of gravity instead of dark energy. These models introduce an extra scalar degree of freedom which enhances the force of gravity below the inverse mass or Compton scale of the scalar. The simulations exhibit the so-called chameleon mechanism, necessary for satisfying local constraints on gravity, where this scale depends on environment, in particular the depth of the local gravitational potential. We find that the chameleon mechanism can substantially suppress the enhancement of power spectrum in the non-linear regime if the background field value is comparable to or smaller than the depth of the gravitational potentials of typical structures. Nonetheless power spectrum enhancements at intermediate scales remain at a measurable level for models even when the expansion history is indistinguishable from a cosmological constant, cold dark matter model. Simple scaling relations that take the linear power spectrum into a non-linear spectrum fail to capture the modifications of f(R) due to the change in collapsed structures, the chameleon mechanism, and the time evolution of the modifications.
In the context of exoplanet detection, the performance of coronagraphs is limited by wavefront errors. To efficiently correct for these aberrations with a deformable mirror, it is mandatory to measure them using the science detector with a very high accuracy. The Self-Coherent Camera which is based on light incoherence between star and its environment enables an estimation of these wavefront errors. That estimation is directly derived from the encoded speckles in the science image. This avoids differential errors due to beam separation and non common optics. Earth-like planet detection is demonstrated by numerical simulations under realistic assumptions for a space telescope. The Self-Coherent Camera is an attractive technique for future space telescopes. It is also one of the techniques under investigation for the E-ELT planet finder so-called EPICS.
The Arcminute Microkelvin Imager is a pair of interferometer arrays operating with six frequency channels spanning 13.9-18.2 GHz, with very high sensitivity to angular scales 30''-10'. The telescope is aimed principally at Sunyaev-Zel'dovich imaging of clusters of galaxies. We discuss the design of the telescope and describe and explain its electronic and mechanical systems.
We study relatively isolated massive WN-type stars in the Galactic center. The K-band spectra of WR102ka and WR102c are exploited to infer the stellar parameters and to compute synthetic stellar spectra using the Potsdam Wolf-Rayet (PoWR) model atmosphere code. These models are combined with dust-shell models for analyzing the Spitzer IRS spectra of these objects. Archival IR images complement the interpretation. We report that WR102ka and WR102c are among the most luminous stars in the Milky Way. The mid-IR continua for both objects are dominated by dust emission. For the first time we report the presence of dust in the close vicinity of WN stars. Also for the first time, we have detected lines of pure-rotational transitions of molecular hydrogen in a massive-star nebula. A peony-shaped nebula around 102ka is resolved by the Spitzer MIPS camera. We attribute the formation of this nebula to the recent evolutionary history of WR102ka.
In traditional seeing-limited observations the spectrograph aperture scales with telescope aperture, driving sizes and costs to enormous proportions. We propose a new solution to the seeing-limited spectrograph problem. A massively fiber-sliced configuration feeds a set of small diffraction-limited spectrographs. We present a prototype, tunable, J-band, diffraction grating, designed specifically for Astronomical applications: The grating sits at the heart of a spectrograph, no bigger than a few inches on a side. Throughput requirements dictate using tens-of-thousands of spectrographs on a single 10 to 30 meter telescope. A full system would cost significantly less than typical instruments on 10m or 30m telescopes.
We probe the geometry of magnetospheric accretion in classical T Tauri stars by modeling red absorption at He I 10830 via scattering of the stellar and veiling continua. Under the assumptions that the accretion flow is an azimuthally symmetric dipole and helium is sufficiently optically thick that all incident 1-micron radiation is scattered, we illustrate the sensitivity of He I 10830 red absorption to both the size of the magnetosphere and the filling factor of the hot accretion shock. We compare model profiles to those observed in 21 CTTS with subcontinuum redshifted absorption at He I 10830 and find that about half of the stars have red absorptions and 1-micron veilings that are consistent with dipole flows of moderate width with accretion shock filling factors matching the size of the magnetospheric footpoints. However, the remaining 50% of the profiles, with a combination of broad, deep absorption and low 1-micron veiling, require very wide flows where magnetic footpoints are distributed over 10-20% of the stellar surface but accretion shock filling factors are < 1%. We model these profiles by invoking large magnetospheres dilutely filled with accreting gas, leaving the disk over a range of radii in many narrow "streamlets" that fill only a small fraction of the entire infall region. In some cases accreting streamlets need to originate in the disk between several stellar radii and at least the corotation radius. A few stars have such deep absorption at velocities greater than half the stellar escape velocity that flows near the star with less curvature than a dipole trajectory seem to be required.
By adopting the chemical evolution model of the Milky Way disk, we have studied the star formation and chemical evolution history for M31 galaxy disk. We mainly concentrated on the global properties of the M31 disk. The model has been scaled to the related disk parameters, mainly the disk scale length and total disk baryon mass of M31, which we have adopted to be $r_d$=5.5kpc and $M_{tot} = 7\times 10^{10}$ \ms. It is found that, when the classical Kennicutt star formation law was applied, the obtained radial profiles of gas surface density and star formation rate (SFR) have great difference from the observed results in M31 disk. Then we have adopted modified SFR as we did for the Milky Way galaxy, that is the SFR is radial dependent. Detailed calculations show that by adjusting the star formation efficiency, it is possible to get reasonable gas and abundance profiles, but the total disk SFR is a factor of 2-3 higher than that estimated from observations. And also the predicted SFR radial profile is also much higher than what GALEX observed in the outer part. Possible reasons could be that the M31 disk has been interacted by other factors which seriously altered the star formation history, or the observed SFR is underestimated due to inappropriate extinction correction.
BD-6^o1178 identified with the infrared source IRAS05238-0626 is shown for the first time to be a spectroscopic binary (SB2) by analyzing the high-resolution spectra taken with the NES echelle spectrograph of the 6-m telescope. The components of the binary have close spectral types and luminosity classes: F5IV-III and F3V. The heliocentric radial velocities are measured for both components at four observing moments in 2004-2005. Both stars have close rotation velocities, which are equal to 24 and 19km/s. We do not confirm the classification of BD-6^o1178 as a supergiant in the transition stage of becoming a planetary nebula. BD-6^o1178 probably is a young pre-MS stars. It is possibly a member of the 1c subgroup of the OriOB1 association.
Several f(R) modified gravity models have been proposed which realize the correct cosmological evolution and satisfy solar system and laboratory tests. Although nonrelativistic stellar configurations can be constructed, we argue that relativistic stars cannot be present in such f(R) theories. This problem appears due to the dynamics of the effective scalar degree of freedom in the strong gravity regime. Our claim thus raises doubts on the viability of f(R) models.
We present optical and IR spectra of a set of low-mass stars and brown dwarfs in the Coronet cluster (aged ~1Myr), obtained with the multifiber spectrograph FLAMES/VLT and IRS/Spitzer. The optical spectra reveal spectral types between M1 and M7.5, confirm the youth of the objects (via Li 6708 A absorption), and show the presence of accretion (via Halpha) and shocks (via forbidden line emission). The IRS spectra, together with IR photometry from the IRAC/MIPS instruments on Spitzer and 2MASS, confirm the presence of IR excesses characteristic of disks around ~70% of the objects. Half of the disks do not exhibit any silicate emission, or present flat features characteristic of large grains. The rest of the disks show silicate emission typical of amorphous and crystalline silicate grains a few microns in size. About 50% of the objects with disks do not show near-IR excess emission, having "transitional" disks, according to their classical definition. This is a very high fraction for such a young cluster. The large number of "transitional" disks suggests lifetimes comparable to the lifetimes of typical optically thick disks. Therefore, these disks may not be in a short-lived phase, intermediate between Class II and Class III objects. The median spectral energy distribution of the disks in the Coronet cluster is also closer to a flat disk than observed for the disks around solar-type stars in regions with similar age. The differences in the disk morphology and evolution in the Coronet cluster could be related to fact that these objects have very late spectral types compared to the solar-type stars in other cluster studies. Finally, the optical spectroscopy reveals that one of the X-ray sources is produced by a Herbig Haro object in the cloud.
We study the ejecta chemistry of a zero-metallicity progenitor, massive, supernova using a novel approach based on chemical kinetics. Species considered span the range of simple, di-atomic molecules such as CO or SiO to more complex species involved in dust nucleation processes. We describe their formation from the gas phase including all possible relevant chemical processes and apply it to the ejecta of a primordial 170 Msun supernova. Two ejecta cases are explored: full mixing of the heavy elements, and a stratified ejecta reflecting the progenitor nucleosynthesis. Penetration of hydrogen from the progenitor envelope is considered. We show that molecules form very efficiently in the ejecta of primordial supernovae whatever the level of mixing and account for 13 to 34% of the total progenitor mass, equivalent to 21 to 57 Msun of the ejecta material in molecular form. The chemical nature of molecules depends on mixing of heavy elements and hydrogen in the ejecta. Species produced include O2, CO, CO2, SiS, SO, SiO and H2. Consequently, molecules can be used as observational tracers of supernova mixing after explosion. We conclude that primordial massive supernovae are the first molecule providers to the early universe.
The Dark Energy Survey collaboration will study cosmic acceleration with a 5000 deg2 griZY survey in the southern sky over 525 nights from 2011-2016. The DES data management (DESDM) system will be used to process and archive these data and the resulting science ready data products. The DESDM system consists of an integrated archive, a processing framework, an ensemble of astronomy codes and a data access framework. We are developing the DESDM system for operation in the high performance computing (HPC) environments at NCSA and Fermilab. Operating the DESDM system in an HPC environment offers both speed and flexibility. We will employ it for our regular nightly processing needs, and for more compute-intensive tasks such as large scale image coaddition campaigns, extraction of weak lensing shear from the full survey dataset, and massive seasonal reprocessing of the DES data. Data products will be available to the Collaboration and later to the public through a virtual-observatory compatible web portal. Our approach leverages investments in publicly available HPC systems, greatly reducing hardware and maintenance costs to the project, which must deploy and maintain only the storage, database platforms and orchestration and web portal nodes that are specific to DESDM. In Fall 2007, we tested the current DESDM system on both simulated and real survey data. We used Teragrid to process 10 simulated DES nights (3TB of raw data), ingesting and calibrating approximately 250 million objects into the DES Archive database. We also used DESDM to process and calibrate over 50 nights of survey data acquired with the Mosaic2 camera. Comparison to truth tables in the case of the simulated data and internal crosschecks in the case of the real data indicate that astrometric and photometric data quality is excellent.
The GSC-II is an all-sky database of objects derived from the uncompressed
DSS that the STScI has created from the Palomar and UK Schmidt survey plates
and made available to the community. Like its predecessor (GSC-I), the GSC-II
was primarily created to provide guide star information and observation
planning support for HST. This version, however, is already employed at some of
the ground-based new-technology telescopes such as GEMINI, VLT, and TNG, and
will also be used to provide support for the JWST and Gaia space missions as
well as LAMOST, one of the major ongoing scientific projects in China. Two
catalogs have already been extracted from the GSC-II database and released to
the astronomical community. A magnitude-limited (R=18.0) version, GSC2.2, was
distributed soon after its production in 2001, while the GSC2.3 release has
been available for general access since 2007.
The GSC2.3 catalog described in this paper contains astrometry, photometry,
and classification for 945,592,683 objects down to the magnitude limit of the
plates. Positions are tied to the ICRS; for stellar sources, the all-sky
average absolute error per coordinate ranges from 0.2" to 0.28" depending on
magnitude. When dealing with extended objects, astrometric errors are 20% worse
in the case of galaxies and approximately a factor of 2 worse for blended
images. Stellar photometry is determined to 0.13-0.22 mag as a function of
magnitude and photographic passbands (B,R,I). Outside of the galactic plane,
stellar classification is reliable to at least 90% confidence for magnitudes
brighter than R=19.5, and the catalog is complete to R=20.
Our previous analysis indicates that small-scale fluctuations in the
intracluster medium (ICM) from cosmological hydrodynamic simulations follow the
lognormal distribution. In order to test the lognormal nature of the ICM
directly against X-ray observations of galaxy clusters, we develop a method of
extracting statistical information about the three-dimensional properties of
the fluctuations from the two-dimensional X-ray surface brightness.
We first create a set of synthetic clusters with lognormal fluctuations.
Performing mock observations of these synthetic clusters, we find that the
resulting X-ray surface brightness fluctuations also follow the lognormal
distribution fairly well. Systematic analysis of the synthetic clusters
provides an empirical relation between the density fluctuations and the X-ray
surface brightness. We analyze \chandra observations of the galaxy cluster
Abell 3667, and find that its X-ray surface brightness fluctuations follow the
lognormal distribution. While the lognormal model was originally motivated by
cosmological hydrodynamic simulations, this is the first observational
confirmation of the lognormal signature in a real cluster. Finally we check the
synthetic cluster results against clusters from cosmological hydrodynamic
simulations. As a result of the complex structure exhibited by simulated
clusters, the empirical relation shows large scatter. Nevertheless we are able
to reproduce the true value of the fluctuation amplitude of simulated clusters
within a factor of two from their X-ray surface brightness alone.
Our current methodology combined with existing observational data is useful
in describing and inferring the statistical properties of the three dimensional
inhomogeneity in galaxy clusters.
We explore the possibility that the present stage of accelerated expansion of the universe is due to the presence of a cosmic vector field. We show that vector theories allow for the generation of an accelerated phase without the introduction of potential terms or unnatural scales in the Lagrangian. We propose a particular model with the same number of parameters as LCDM and excellent fits to SNIa data. The model is scaling during radiation era, with natural initial conditions, thus avoiding the cosmic coincidence problem. Upcoming observations will be able to clearly discriminate it from standard LCDM cosmology
Numerical simulations of radiative processes in magnetized compact sources such as hot accretion disks around black holes, relativistic jets in active galaxies and gamma-ray bursts are complicated because the particle and photon distributions span many orders of magnitude in energy, they also strongly depend on each other, the radiative processes behave significantly differently depending on the energy regime, and finally due to the enormous difference in the time-scales of the processes. We have developed a novel computer code for the time-dependent simulations that overcomes these problems. The processes taken into account are Compton scattering, electron-positron pair production and annihilation as well as synchrotron emission and absorption. No approximation has been made on the corresponding rates. For the first time, we solve coupled integro-differential kinetic equations for photons and electrons/positrons without any limitations on the photon and lepton energies. A numerical scheme is proposed to guarantee energy conservation when dealing with synchrotron processes in electron and photon equations. We apply the code to model non-thermal pair cascades in the blackbody radiation field, to study the synchrotron self-absorption as particle thermalization mechanism, and to simulate time evolution of stochastically heated pairs and corresponding synchrotron self-Compton photon spectra which might be responsible for the prompt emission of gamma-ray bursts. Good agreement with previous works is found in the parameter regimes where comparison is feasible, with the differences caused by our improved treatment of the microphysics.
We present a 3-dimensional study of the local (< 100 kpc) environment of Sy1, Sy2 and Bright IRAS Galaxies. For this purpose we use three galaxy samples (Sy1, Sy2, BIRG) located at high galactic latitudes as well as three control sample of non-active galaxies having the same morphological, redshift and diameter size distributions as the corresponding Seyfert or BIRG sample. Using the CfA2 and SSRS galaxy catalogues as well as our own spectroscopic observations, we find that the fraction of BIRGs with a close neighbor is significantly higher than that of their control sample. We also find that Sy2 galaxies demonstrate the same behaviour with BIRG galaxies but not with Sy1s which do not show any excess of companions with respect to their control sample galaxies. An additional analysis of the relation between FIR colors and activity type of the BIRG's shows a significant difference between the colors of strongly-interacting and non-interacting starbursts and a resemblance between the colors of non-interacting starbursts and Sy2s.Our results support an evolutionary scenario leading from Starbursting to a Sy2 and finally to an unobscured Sy1 galaxy, where close interactions play the role of the triggering mechanism.
We use cosmological simulations to study the effects of supernova (SN) feedback on the dark matter distribution in galaxies. We simulate the formation of a Milky-Way type galaxy using a version of the SPH code GADGET2 which includes chemical enrichment and energy feedback by SN, a multiphase model for the gas component and metal-dependent cooling. We analyse the impact of the main three input SN feedback parameters on the amplitude and shape of the dark matter density profiles, focusing on the inner regions of the halo. In order to test the dependence of the results on the halo mass, we simulated a scale-down version of this system. First results of this ongoing work show that the dark matter distribution is affected by the feedback, through the redistribution of the baryons. Our findings suggest that the response of the dark matter halo could be the result of a combination of several physical parameters such as the amount of stellar mass formed at the centre, its shape, and probably the bursty characteristics of the star formation rate. As expected, we find that the dark matter haloes of small galaxies are more sensitive to SN feedback. Higher resolution simulations are being performed to test for numerical effects.
An updated catalogue of 76 galaxies with direct supermassive black hole mass
measurements (M_bh) plus, when available, their host bulge's central velocity
dispersion (sigma_0) is provided. Fifty of these mass measurements are
considered reliable, while the others remain somewhat uncertain at this time.
An additional eight stellar systems, including one stellar cluster and three
globular clusters, are listed as hosting potential intermediate mass black
holes < 10^6 M_solar.
With this larger data set, the demographics within the M_bh-sigma_0 diagram
are briefly explored. Many barred galaxies are shown to be offset from the
M_bh-sigma_0 relation defined by the non-barred galaxies, in the sense that
their velocity dispersions are too high. Furthermore, including 88 AGN with
black hole mass estimates from reverberation mapping studies, we speculate that
barred AGN may follow this same general trend. We also show that some AGN with
sigma_0 < 100 km/s tend to reside up to 0.6 dex above the "barless"
M_bh-sigma_0 relation. Finally, it is shown that ``core galaxies'' appear not
to define an additional subdivision of the M_bh-sigma_0 diagram, although
improved methods for measuring sigma_0-values will be valuable.
Sources of gravitational waves (GW) and emitters of high energy (HE) neutrinos both involve compact objects and matter moving at relativistic speeds. GW emission requires a departure from spherical symmetry, which is the case if clumps of matter are accreted around black holes or neutron stars, and ejected in relativistic jets, where neutrinos are believed to be produced. Both messengers interact weakly with the surrounding matter, hence point directly to the heart of the engines that power these emissions. Coincidences between GW interferometers (e.g. Virgo) and HE neutrino telescopes (e.g. Antares) would then give a unique insight on the physics of the most powerful objects in the Universe. The possibility, observability and detectability for such GW/HE neutrino coincidences are analysed.
Very long baseline interferometric observations of the radio galaxy 3C 120 show a systematic presence of gradients in Faraday rotation and degree of polarization across and along the jet. These are revealed by the passage of multiple superluminal components throughout the jet as they move out from the core in a sequence of 12 monthly polarimetric observations taken with the VLBA at 15, 22, and 43 GHz. The degree of polarization has an asymmetric profile in which the northern side of the jet is more highly polarized. The Faraday rotation measure is also stratified across the jet width, with larger values for the southern side. Superposed on this structure we find a localized region of high Faraday rotation measure (about 6000 rad/m^2) between approximately 3 and 4 mas from the core. This region of enhanced Faraday rotation may result from the interaction of the jet with the ambient medium, which may also explain the stratification in degree of polarization. The data are also consistent with a helical magnetic field in a two-fluid jet model, consisting of an inner emitting jet and a sheath of nonrelativistic electrons.
Sources of gravitational waves (GW) and emitters of high energy (HE) neutrinos both involve compact objects and matter moving at relativistic speeds. Coincidences between Virgo and Antares would give a unique insight on the physics of the most powerful objects in the Universe. The feasibility of such GW/HE neutrino coincidences is analysed.
We present very sensitive polarimetry of 55 Cnc and tau Boo in an attempt to detect the partially polarised reflected light from the planets orbiting these two stars. 55 Cnc is orbited by a hot Neptune planet (55 Cnc e) at 0.038 AU, a hot Jupiter planet (55 Cnc b) at 0.11 AU, and at least 3 more distant planets. The fractional polarisation of this star is very stable, with a standard deviation in the nightly averaged Stokes Q/I and U/I parameters of 2.2x10^{-6}. We derive upper limits on the geometric albedo, A_G and planetary radius using Monte Carlo multiple scattering simulations of a simple model atmosphere. We assume Rayleigh-like scattering and polarisation behaviour (scaled by the maximum polarisation, p_m at 90 degrees) and pressure insensitive extinction. Atmospheres in which multiple scattering plays only a small role have an almost linear relation between polarisation and A_G. In this case, the 4 sigma upper limits are A_G<0.13(R/1.2 R_{Jup})^{-2}p_m^{-1} for 55 Cnc e and A_G<1.21(R/1.2 R_{Jup})^{-2}p_m^{-1} for 55 Cnc b. This is most easily explained if 55 Cnc e is relatively small, like GJ436b, and therefore not a pure H-He planet. tau Boo is orbited by an unusually massive hot Jupiter planet. The data show a standard deviation in the night to night average Stokes Q/I and U/I polarisation parameters of 5.1x10^{-6}. The 4 sigma upper limit is A_G<0.37(R/1.2 R_{Jup})^{-2}p_m^{-1} for tau Boo b. This extends the similar upper limits reported previously for this planet to longer wavelengths. The relatively large scatter in the tau Boo data may be due to the spot activity detected photometrically by the MOST satellite. These results contrast markedly with the recent claim of a 3 sigma detection of a periodic polarisation signal from HD189733 with amplitude P=2x10^{-4}, attributed to the planet HD189733 b.
We found an unusual complex of narrow blue filaments, bright blue knots, and H-alpha emitting filaments and clouds, which morphologically resembled a complex of ``fireballs,'' extending up to 80 kpc south from an E+A galaxy RB199 in the Coma cluster. The galaxy has a highly disturbed morphology indicative of a galaxy--galaxy merger remnant. The narrow blue filaments extend in straight shapes toward the south from the galaxy, and several bright blue knots are located at the southern ends of the filaments. The Rc band absolute magnitudes, half light radii and estimated masses of the bright knots are -12 - -13 mag, 200 - 300 pc and 10^6-7 Msolar, respectively. Long, narrow H-alpha emitting filaments are connected at the south edge of the knots. The average color of the fireballs is B - Rc = 0.5, which is bluer than RB199 (B - R = 0.99), suggesting that most of the stars in the fireballs were formed within several times 10^8 yr. The narrow blue filaments exhibit almost no H-alpha emission. Strong H-alpha and UV emission appear in the bright knots. These characteristics indicate that star formation recently ceased in the blue filaments and now continues in the bright knots. The gas stripped by some mechanism from the disk of RB199 may be traveling in the intergalactic space, forming stars left along its trajectory. The most plausible fireball formation mechanism is ram pressure stripping by high-speed collision between the galaxy and the hot intra-cluster medium. The fireballs may be a snapshot of diffuse intra-cluster population formation, or halo star population formation in a cluster galaxy.
We present Rico, a code designed to compute the ionization fraction of the Universe during the epoch of hydrogen and helium recombination with an unprecedented combination of speed and accuracy. This is accomplished by training the machine learning code Pico on the calculations of a multi-level cosmological recombination code which self-consistently includes several physical processes that were neglected previously. After training, Rico is used to fit the free electron fraction as a function of the cosmological parameters. While, for example at low redshifts (z<~900), much of the net change in the ionization fraction can be captured by lowering the hydrogen fudge factor in Recfast by about 3%, Rico provides a means of effectively using the accurate ionization history of the full recombination code in the standard cosmological parameter estimation framework without the need to add new or refined fudge factors or functions to a simple recombination model. Within the new approach presented here it is easy to update Rico whenever a more accurate full recombination code becomes available. Once trained, Rico computes the cosmological ionization history with negligible fitting error in ~10 milliseconds, a speed-up of at least 10^6 over the full recombination code that was used here. Also Rico is able to reproduce the ionization history of the full code to a level well below 0.1%, thereby ensuring that the theoretical power spectra of CMB fluctuations can be computed to sufficient accuracy and speed for analysis from upcoming CMB experiments like Planck. Furthermore it will enable cross-checking different recombination codes across cosmological parameter space, a comparison that will be very important in order to assure the accurate interpretation of future cosmic microwave background data.
From the VIMOS VLT Deep Survey we use a sample of 6447 galaxies with I_{AB} < 24 to identify 251 pairs of galaxies, each member with a secure spectroscopic redshift, which are close in both projected separation and in velocity. We find that at z ~ 0.9, 10.9 +/- 3.2 % of galaxies with M_B(z) < -18-Qz are in pairs with separations dr < 20 kpc/h, dv < 500 km/s, and with dM_B < 1.5, significantly larger than 3.76 +/- 1.71 % at z ~ 0.5; we find that the pair fraction evolves as (1+z)^m with m = 2.49 +/- 0.56. For brighter galaxies with M_B(z=0) < -18.77, the pair fraction is higher and its evolution with redshift is somewhat flatter with m=1.88 \pm 0.40, a property also observed for galaxies with increasing stellar masses. Early type, dry mergers, pairs increase their relative fraction from 3 % at z ~ 0.9 to 12 % at z ~ 0.5. We find that the merger rate evolves as N_{mg}=(9.05 +/- 3.76) * 10^{-4}) * (1+z)^{2.43 +/- 0.76}. We find that the merger rate of galaxies with M_B(z) < -18-Qz has significantly evolved since z ~ 1. The merger rate is increasing more rapidly with redshift for galaxies with decreasing luminosities, indicating that the flat evolution found for bright samples is not universal. The merger rate is also strongly dependent on the spectral type of galaxies involved, late type mergers being more frequent in the past, while early type mergers are more frequent today, contributing to the rise in the local density of early type galaxies. About 20 % of the stellar mass in present day galaxies with log(M/M_{sun}) > 9.5 has been accreted through major merging events since z ~ 1, indicating that major mergers have contributed significantly to the growth in stellar mass density of bright galaxies over the last half of the life of the Universe.
We consider different renormalizable models of Lorentz invariance violation. Based on birefringent photon propagation of cosmic microwave background photons generically induced in such models, we constrain Lorentz invariance violation using the five year data of the Wilkinson microwave anisotropy probe (WMAP). We derive limits on a birefringent effective photon mass and on a polarization dependence of the speed of light which are significantly stronger than other published limits.
To understand low- to intermediate-mass star-formation in the nearby R CrA molecular cloud, we try to identify the stellar content that is accessible with near-infrared observations. We obtained a JHK band mosaic of 10 x 60 arcmin square covering the entire RCrA molecular cloud with unprecedented sensitivity. We present a catalogue of about 3500 near-infrared sources fainter than the saturation limit K = 10 mag, reaching K = 18mag. We analysed the extended sources by inspecting their morphology and point sources by means of colour-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams. Additionally, we compared the extinction inferred from the NIR data with the line-of-sight dust emission at 1.2 mm. Sources towards high dust emission but relatively low H-K show a projected mm-exces; these sources are either immediately surrounded by cold circumstellar material or, if too red to be a true foreground object, they are embedded in the front layer of the 1.2 mm emitting dust cloud. In both cases they are most likely associated with the cloud.
We calculate the shear viscosity $\eta$ and thermal conductivity $\kappa$ of a nuclear pasta phase in neutron star crusts. This involves complex non-spherical shapes. We use semiclassical molecular dynamics simulations involving 40,000 to 100,000 nucleons. The viscosity $\eta$ can be simply expressed in terms of the height $Z^*$ and width $\Delta q$ of the peak in the static structure factor $S_p(q)$. We find that $\eta$ increases somewhat, compared to a lower density phase involving spherical nuclei, because $Z^*$ decreases from form factor and ion screening effects. However, we do not find a dramatic increase in $\eta$ from non-spherical shapes, as may occur in conventional complex fluids.
The mass reinserted by young stars of an emerging massive compact cluster shows a bimodal hydrodynamic behaviour. In the inner part of the cluster, it is thermally unstable, while in its outer parts it forms an out-blowing wind. The chemical homogeneity/inhomogeneity of low/high mass clusters demonstrates the relevance of this solution to the presence of single/multiple stellar populations. We show the consequences that the thermal instability of the reinserted mass has to the galactic super-winds.
In the borders of the dead zones of protoplanetary disks, the inflow of gas produces a local density maximum that triggers the Rossby wave instability. The vortices that form are efficient in trapping solids. We aim to assess the possibility of gravitational collapse of the solids within the Rossby vortices. We perform global simulations of the dynamics of gas and solids in a low mass non-magnetized self-gravitating thin protoplanetary disk with the Pencil code. We use multiple particle species of radius 1, 10, 30, and 100 cm. The dead zone is modelled as a region of low viscosity. The Rossby vortices excited in the edges of the dead zone are very efficient particle traps. Within 5 orbits after their appearance, the solids achieve critical density and undergo gravitational collapse into Mars sized objects. The velocity dispersions are of the order of 10 m/s for newly formed embryos, later lowering to less than 1 m/s by drag force cooling. After 200 orbits, 38 gravitationally bound embryos were formed inside the vortices, half of them being more massive than Mars. The embryos are composed primarily of same-sized particles. We conclude that the presence of a dead zone naturally gives rise to a population of protoplanetary cores in the mass range of 0.1-0.6 Earth masses, on very short timescales.
Extending previous results [Phys. Rev. Lett. 97, 081301 (2006)], we explore the cosmological implications of a new quintessence scenario driven by a slow rolling homogeneous scalar field whose equation of state behaved as freezing over the entire cosmic evolution, is approaching -1 today, but will become thawing in the near future, thereby driving the Universe to an eternal deceleration. We argue that such a mixed behavior, named \emph{hybrid}, may reconcile the slight preference of current observational data for freezing potentials with the impossibility of defining observables in the String/M-theory context due to the existence of a cosmological event horizon in asymptotically de Sitter universes as, e.g., pure freezing scenarios.
Strong incompressible three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic turbulence is investigated by means of high resolution direct numerical simulations. The simulations show that the configuration space is characterized by regions of positive and negative cross-helicity, corresponding to highly aligned or anti-aligned velocity and magnetic field fluctuations, even when the average cross-helicity is zero. To elucidate the role of cross-helicity, the spectra and structure of turbulence are obtained in imbalanced regions where cross-helicity is non-zero. When averaged over regions of positive and negative cross-helicity, the result is consistent with the simulations of balanced turbulence. An analytical explanation for the obtained results is proposed.
Modern astrophysical and cosmological models are faced with two severe theoretical difficulties, that can be summarized as the dark energy and the dark matter problems. Relative to the former, it has been stated that cosmology has entered a 'golden age', in which high-precision observational data have confirmed with startling evidence that the Universe is undergoing a phase of accelerated expansion. Several candidates, responsible for this expansion, have been proposed in the literature, in particular, dark energy models and modified gravity, amongst others. One is liable to ask: What is the so-called 'dark energy' that is driving the acceleration of the universe? Is it a vacuum energy or a dynamical field (''quintessence'')? Or is the acceleration due to infra-red modifications of Einstein's theory of General Relativity? In the context of dark matter, two observations, namely, the behavior of the galactic rotation curves and the mass discrepancy in galactic clusters, suggest the existence of a (non or weakly interacting) form of dark matter at galactic and extra-galactic scales. It has also been proposed that modified gravity can explain the galactic dynamics without the need of introducing dark matter. We briefly review some of the modified theories of gravity that address these two intriguing and exciting problems facing modern physics.
Inelastic dark matter, in which WIMP-nucleus scatterings occur through a transition to an excited WIMP state ~ 100 keV above the ground state, provides a compelling explanation of the DAMA annual modulation signal. We demonstrate that the relative sensitivities of various dark matter direct detection experiments are modified such that the DAMA annual modulation signal can be reconciled with the absence of a reported signal at CDMS-Soudan, XENON10, ZEPLIN, CRESST, and KIMS for inelastic WIMPs with masses O(100 GeV). We review the status of these experiments, and make predictions for upcoming ones. In particular, we note that inelastic dark matter leads to highly suppressed signals at low energy, with most events typically occurring between 20 to 45 keV (unquenched) at xenon and iodine experiments, and generally no events at low (~ 10 keV) energies. Suppressing the background in this high energy region is essential to testing this scenario. The recent CRESST data suggests six observed tungsten events, which is consistent with expectations from this model. If the tungsten signal persists at future CRESST runs, it would provide compelling evidence for inelastic dark matter, while its absence should exclude it.
We analyse the signatures of brane inflation models with moduli stabilisation. These are hybrid inflation models with a non-trivial field-space metric which can induce complex trajectories for the fields during inflation. This in turn could lead to observable features on the power spectrum of the CMB fluctuations through departures from near scale invariance or the presence of isocurvature modes. We look specifically at multi-brane models in which the volume modulus also evolves. We find that the signatures are highly sensitive to the actual trajectories in field space, but their amplitudes are too small to be observable even for future high precision CMB experiments.
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Stellar mass black holes (BHs) are expected to segregate and form a steep density cusp around supermassive black holes in galactic nuclei. We follow the evolution of a multi-mass system of BHs and stars by numerically integrating the Fokker-Planck energy diffusion equations for a variety of BH mass distributions. We find that the BHs ``self-segregate'', and that the rarest, most massive BHs dominate the scattering rate closest to the SMBH (< .1 pc). BH--BH binaries form out of gravitational wave emission during BH encounters. We find that the expected rate of BH coalescence events detectable by Advanced LIGO is ~1-1000/yr, depending on the initial mass function of stars in galactic nuclei and the mass of the most massive BHs. The BH binaries that form this way in galactic nuclei have significant eccentricities as they enter the LIGO band (90% with e > 0.9), and are therefore distinguishable from other binaries, which circularize before becoming detectable. We also show that eccentric mergers can be detected to larger distances and greater BH masses than circular mergers, up to ~700 M_sun. Future ground-based gravitational wave observatories will be able to constrain both the mass function of BHs and stars in galactic nuclei.
Cosmological constant problem (in its various versions) is arguably the deepest gap in our understanding of theoretical physics, the solution to which may very likely require revisiting the Einstein theory of gravity. In this letter, I argue that the simplest consistent way to decouple gravity from the vacuum energy (and hence solve the problem) is through the introduction of an incompressible gravitational aether fluid. The theory then predicts that gravitational constant for radiation is 33% larger than that of non-relativistic matter, which is preferred by most cosmological observations (with the exception of light element abundances), but is not probed by current precision tests of gravity. I also show that slow-roll inflation can happen in this theory, with only minor modifications. Finally, interpreting gravitational aether as a thermodynamic description of gravity, I propose a finite-temperature correction to the equation of state of gravity, which would explain the present-day acceleration of the cosmic expansion as a consequence of the formation of stellar mass black holes.
The power carried by the jet of blazars is large, compared to the luminosity produced by their accretion disk, and is probably in the form of kinetic energy of a normal electron-proton plasma. The Poynting flux is modest, as suggested by the inconspicuous synchrotron luminosity when compared to the high energy (hard X-rays and gamma-ray) one, assumed to be produced by the inverse Compton process. It is suggested that the jet power and the SED (Spectral Energy Distribution) of its emission are linked to the mass of the black hole M and the accretion rate dot M. This corresponds to a new "blazar sequence" based on M and dot M instead of only the observed blazar luminosity. These ideas can be tested quite easily once the AGILE and especially the GLAST satellite observations, coupled with information in the optical/X-ray band from Swift, will allow the knowledge of the entire SED of hundreds blazars.
In the unusual intrinsic QSO redshift models, QSOs are ejected by active galaxies with periodic non-cosmological reshifts, thus QSOs are generally associated with active galaxies, and certain structures will be revealed in the QSO redshift distribution. As the largest homogeneous sample of QSOs and galaxies, SDSS data provide the best opportunity to examine this issue. We review the debates on this issue, focused on those based on SDSS and 2dF data, and conclude that there is no strong connection between foreground active galaxies and high-redshift QSOs. The existence of two dips in the SDSS QSO redshift distribution at z=2.7 and 3.5 has recently re-ignited those controversial debates on the origin of QSO redshift. It also turned out that both dips are totally caused by selection effects and after selection effects have been corrected, the two dips disappear and no structure in the redshift distribution of SDSS DR5 sample. These results support that the reshifts of QSOs are cosmological.
The luminosities of short gamma ray burst host galaxies are anticorrelated with both the isotropic equivalent gamma ray energy and the gamma ray luminosity of the explosions. Observational selection effects only strengthen the significance of this correlation. The correlation may indicate that there are two physically distinct groups of SGRBs. If so, it requires that the more luminous class of explosions be associated with the younger class of progenitors. Alternatively, it could be due to a continuous distribution of burst and host properties. As one possible explanation, we find that the effect of binary neutron star masses on inspiral time and energy reservoir produces a correlation of the appropriate sign, but does not automatically reproduce the correlation slope or the full range of SGRB energy scales. Any future model of SGRB progenitors needs to reproduce this correlation.
The double pulsar PSR J0737-3039A/B consists of two neutron stars in a highly relativistic orbit that displays a roughly 30-second eclipse when pulsar A passes behind pulsar B. Describing this eclipse of pulsar A as due to absorption occurring in the magnetosphere of pulsar B, we successfully use a simple geometric model to characterize the observed changing eclipse morphology and to measure the relativistic precession of pulsar B's spin axis around the total orbital angular momentum. This provides a test of general relativity and alternative theories of gravity in the strong-field regime. Our measured relativistic spin precession rate of 4.77 (+0.66,-0.65) degrees per year (68% confidence level) is consistent with that predicted by general relativity within an uncertainty of 13%.
We present accurate Monte-Carlo calculations of Lyman Alpha (hereafter Lya) radiation pressure in a range of models which represent galaxies during various epochs of our Universe. We show that the radiation force that Lya photons exert on hydrogen gas in the neutral intergalactic medium (IGM), that surrounds minihalos that host the first stars, may exceed gravity by orders of magnitude and drive supersonic winds. Lya radiation pressure may also dominate over gravity in the neutral IGM that surrounds the HII regions produced by the first galaxies. However, the radiation force is likely too weak to result in supersonic outflows in this case. Furthermore, we show that Lya radiation pressure may drive outflows in the interstellar medium of star forming galaxies that reach hundreds of km/s. This mechanism could also operate at lower redshifts z<6, and may have already been indirectly detected in the spectral line shape of observed Lya emission lines.
For the first time, the lunar occultation technique has been employed on a
very large telescope in the near-IR with the aim of achieving systematically
milliarcsecond resolution on stellar sources.
We have demonstrated the burst mode of the ISAAC instrument, using a fast
read-out on a small area of the detector to record many tens of seconds of data
at a time on fields of few squared arcsec. We have used the opportunity to
record a large number of LO events during a passage of the Moon close to the
Galactic Center in March 2006. We have developed a data pipeline for the
treatment of LO data, including the automated estimation of the main data
analysis parameters using a wavelet-based method, and the preliminary fitting
and plotting of all light curves.
We recorded 51 LO events over about four hours. Of these, 30 resulted of
sufficient quality to enable a detailed fitting. We detected two binaries with
subarcsec projected separation and three stars with a marginally resolved
angular diameter of about 2 mas. Two more SiO masers, were found to be resolved
and in one case we could recover the brightness profile of the extended
emission, which is well consistent with an optically thin shell. The remaining
unresolved stars were used to characterize the performance of the method.
The LO technique at a very large telescope is a powerful and efficient method
to achieve angular resolution, sensitivity, and dynamic range that are among
the best possible today with any technique. The selection of targets is
naturally limited and LOs are fixed-time events, however each observation
requires only a few minutes including overheads. As such, LOs are ideally
suited to fill small gaps of idle time between standard observations.
We report the results of the first self-consistent three-dimensional adaptive mesh refinement magnetohydrodynamical simulations of Population III star formation including the Biermann Battery effect. We find that the Population III stars formed including this effect are both qualitatively and quantitatively similar to those from hydrodynamics-only (non-MHD) cosmological simulations. We observe peak magnetic fields of ~10^-9 G in the center of our star-forming halo at z ~ 17.55. The magnetic fields created by the Biermann Battery effect are predominantly formed early in the evolution of the primordial halo at low density and large spatial scales, and then grow through compression and by shear flows. The fields seen in this calculation are never large enough to be dynamically important (with beta >= 10^{15} at all times), and should be considered the minimum possible fields in existence during Population III star formation, and may be seed fields for the stellar dynamo or the magnetorotational instability at higher densities and smaller spatial scales.
We present lunar occultation observations obtained in August 2006 with the
recently demonstrated burst mode of the ISAAC instrument at the ESO VLT. The
results presented here follow the previously reported observations carried out
in March 2006 on a similar but unrelated set of sources.
Interstellar extinction in the inner regions of the galactic bulge amounts to
tens of magnitudes at visual wavelengths. As a consequence, the majority of
sources in that area are poorly studied and large numbers of potentially
interesting sources such as late-type giants with circumstellar shells, stellar
masers, infrared stars, remain excluded from the typical investigations which
are carried out in less problematic regions. Also undetected are a large
numbers of binaries. By observing LO events in this region, we gain the means
to investigate at least a selected number of sources with an unprecedented
combination of sensitivity and angular resolution. The LO technique permits to
achieve mas resolution with a sensitivity of K~12mag at a very large telescope.
We have used the opportunity of a favorable passage of the Moon over a crowded
region in the general direction of the Galactic Center to observe 78 LO events
of heavily reddened stellar sources. We have detected six new binary and one
triple star, with typical projected separation of ~0.01". We have also detected
the compact circumstellar emission around one maser and one central star of a
planetary nebula. Additionally we have measured the diameter and/or
circumstellar shell of two carbon stars and other IR sources. In agreement with
our previous result, we conclude that lunar occultations in fast read-out mode
on a detector subwindow at an 8m-class telescope can achieve an angular
resolution close to 0.001" with a sensitivity K~12mag.
Kepler will monitor enough stars that it is likely to detect single transits of planets with periods longer than the mission lifetime. We show that by combining the Kepler photometry of such transits with precise radial velocity (RV) observations taken over ~3 months, and assuming circular orbits, it is possible to estimate the periods of these transiting planets to better than 20% (for planets with radii greater than that of Neptune) and the masses to within a factor of 2 (for planet masses m_p > M_Jup). We also explore the effects of eccentricity on our estimates of these uncertainties.
We employ a long XMM-Newton observation of the core of the Perseus cluster to validate claims of a non-thermal component discovered with Chandra. From a meticulous analysis of our dataset, which includes a detailed treatment of systematic errors, we find the 2-10 keV surface brightness of the non-thermal component to be smaller than about 5x10^-16 erg cm^-2s^-1arcsec^-2. The most likely explanation for the discrepancy between the XMM-Newton and Chandra estimates is a problem in the effective area calibration of the latter. Our EPIC based magnetic field lower limits are not in disagreement with Faraday rotation measure estimates on a few cool cores and with a minimum energy estimate on Perseus. In the not too distant future Simbol-X may allow detection of non-thermal components with intensities more than 10 times smaller than those that can be measured with EPIC; nonetheless even the exquisite sensitivity within reach for Simbol-X might be insufficient to detect the IC emission from Perseus.
The mounting evidence for violent nuclear star formation in Seyfert galaxies has led us to consider the hydrodynamics of the matter reinserted by massive stars through strong stellar winds and supernovae, under the presence of a central massive BH. We show that in all cases there is a bimodal solution strongly weighted by the location of the stagnation radius (Rst), which splits the star cluster into two different zones. Matter reinserted within the stagnation volume is to be accreted by the BH while its outer counterpart would composed a star cluster wind. The mechanical power of the latter, ensures that there is no accretion of the ISM into the BH and thus the BH accretion and its luminosity is regulated by the star formation feedback. The location of the stagnation radius is a function of three parameters: the BH mass, the mechanical power (or mass) of the star formation event and the size of the star forming region. Here we present our self-consistent, stationary solution, discuss the accretion rates and BH luminosities and show that our model predicts the intrinsic link between the BH activity and the starburst parameters.
Context: The recent discovery of a group of trans-neptunian objects (TNOs) in
a narrow region of the orbital parameter space and with surfaces composed of
almost pure water ice, being 2003 EL61 its largest member, promises new and
interesting results about the formation and evolution of the trans-neptunian
belt (TNb) and the outer Solar System.
Aims: The aim of this paper is to obtain information of the surface
properties of two members of this group ((24835) 1995 SM55, (120178) 2003 OP32)
and three potential members (2003 UZ117, (120347) 2004 SB60 and 2005 UQ513) and
to use that in order to confirm or reject their association.
Methods: We obtained visible spectra of five TNOs using the 3.58m Telescopio
Nazionale Galileo at the ''Roque de los Muchachos Observatory'' (La Palma,
Spain)
Results: The spectra of the five TNOs are featureless within the
uncertainties and with colors from slightly blue to red (-2<
S'<18%/0.1microns). No signatures of any absorption are found.
Conclusions: We confirm the association of 1995 SM55 and 2003 OP32 with the
group of 2003 EL61 as their spectra are almost identical to that of 2003 EL61.
Only one of the three candidates, 2003 UZ117, can be considered as a possible
member of the EL61-group, as its visible spectrum is compatible with a spectrum
of a surface composed of almost pure water ice and no complex organics. The
other two, 2004 SB60 and 2005 UQ513 are red and must be considered as
interlopers.
It is often assumed that primordial perturbations are statistically isotropic, which implies, among other properties, that their power spectrum is invariant under rotations. In this article, we test this assumption by placing model-independent bounds on deviations from rotational invariance of the primordial spectrum. Using five-year WMAP cosmic microwave anisotropy maps, we set limits on the overall norm and the amplitude of individual components of the primordial spectrum quadrupole. We find that there is no significant evidence for primordial isotropy breaking, and that an eventually non-vanishing quadrupole has to be subdominant.
Context. A recent, detailed study of the well-known solar wind disappearance event of 11 May 1999 traced its origin to a coronal hole (CH) lying adjacent to a large active region (AR), AR8525 in Carrington rotation 1949. The AR was located at central meridian on 05 May 1999 when the flows responsible for this event began. We examine the evolution of the AR-CH complex during 5-6 May 1999 to study the changes that apparently played a key role in causing this disappearance event. Aims. To study the evolution of the solar source region of the disappearance event of 11 May 1999. Methods. Using images from the Soft X-ray Telescope (SXT), the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIT) and the Michelson Doppler Imager (MDI) to examine the evolution of the CH and AR complex at the source region of the disappearance event. Results. We find a dynamic evolution taking place in the CH-AR boundary at the source region of the disappearance event of 11 May 1999. This evolution, which is found to reduce the area of the CH, is accompanied by the formation of new loops in EUV images that are spatially and temporally correlated with emerging flux regions as seen in MDI data. Conclusions. In the period leading up to the disappearance event of 11 May 1999, our observations, during quiet solar conditions and in the absence of CMEs, provide the first clear evidence for Sun-Earth connection originating from an evolving AR-CH region located at central meridian. With the exception of corotating interacting regions (CIR), these observations provide the first link between the Sun and space weather effects at 1 AU, arising from non-explosive solar events.
We investigate the variation of bar strength with central velocity dispersion in a sample of barred spiral galaxies. The bar strength is characterized by $Q_g$, the maximal tangential perturbation associated with the bar, normalized by the mean axisymmetric force. It is derived from the galaxy potentials which are obtained using near-infrared images of the galaxies. However, $Q_g$ is sensitive to bulge mass. Hence we also estimated bar strengths from the relative Fourier intensity amplitude ($A_{2}$) of bars in near-infrared images. The central velocity dispersions were obtained from integral field spectroscopy observations of the velocity fields in the centers of these galaxies; it was normalized by the rotation curve amplitude obtained from HI line width for each galaxy. We found a correlation between bar strengths (both $Q_g$ and $A_{2}$) and the normalized central velocity dispersions in our sample. This suggests that bars weaken as their central components become kinematically hotter. This may have important implications for the secular evolution of barred galaxies.
This paper reports an application of gas-kinetic BGK scheme to the computation of turbulent compressible convection in the stellar interior. After incorporating the Sub-grid Scale (SGS) turbulence model into the BGK scheme, we tested the effects of numerical parameters on the quantitative relationships among the thermodynamic variables, their fluctuations and correlations in a very deep, initially gravity-stratified stellar atmosphere. Comparison indicates that the thermal properties and dynamic properties are dominated by different aspects of numerical models separately. An adjustable Deardorff constant in the SGS model $c_\mu=0.25$ and an amplitude of artificial viscosity in the gas-kinetic BGK scheme $C_2=0$ are appropriate for current study. We also calculated the density-weighted auto- and cross-correlation functions in Xiong's (\cite{xiong77}) turbulent stellar convection theories based on which the gradient type of models of the non-local transport and the anisotropy of the turbulence are preliminarily studied. No universal relations or constant parameters were found for these models.
The neutrino-nucleus reaction cross sections of 4He and 12C are evaluated using new shell model Hamiltonians. Branching ratios of various decay channels are calculated to evaluate the yields of Li, Be, and B produced through the nu-process in supernova explosions. The new cross sections enhance the yields of 7Li and 11B produced during the supernova explosion of a 16.2 M_odot star model compared to the case using the conventional cross sections by about 10%. On the other hand, the yield of 10B decreases by a factor of two. The yields of 6Li, 9Be, and the radioactive nucleus 10Be are found at a level of 10^{-11} M_odot. The temperature of nu_{mu,tau}- and bar{nu}_{mu,tau}-neutrinos inferred from the supernova contribution of 11B in Galactic chemical evolution models is constrained to the 4.3 MeV to 6.5 MeV range. The increase in the 7Li and 11B yields due to neutrino oscillations is demonstrated with the new cross sections.
Methyl formate in its first torsionally excited state (vt=1 at 131 cm-1) is detected for the first time toward W51 e2. All transitions from excited methyl formate within the observed spectral range are actually detected (82 transitions) and no strong lines are missing. The column density of the excited state is comparable to that of the ground state. For a source size of 7'' we find that Trot = 104 +/- 14 K and N = 9.4 +4.0/-2.8 x 10^16 cm-2 for the excited state and Trot = 176 +/- 24 K and N = 1.7 +.2/-.2 x 10^17 cm-2 for the ground state. Lines from ethyl cyanide in its two first excited states (vt=1, torsion mode at 212 cm-1) and (vb=1, CCN in-plane bending mode at 206 cm-1) are also present in the observed spectrum. However blending problems prevent a precise estimate of its abundance. With regard to the number of lines of excited methyl formate and ethyl cyanide detected in W51 e2, it appears that excited states of large molecules certainly account for a large number of unidentified lines in spectral survey of molecular clouds.
M 87 is the first extragalactic source detected in the Very High Energy (VHE; E > 100 GeV) gamma-ray domain that is not a blazar, its large scale jet not being aligned to the line of sight. Slight modification of standard emission models of TeV blazars allows to account for the gamma-ray spectra obtained with H.E.S.S. We present a multi-blob synchrotron self-Compton model taking explicitly into account large viewing angles and moderate values of the Lorentz factor as inferred from MHD simulations of jet formation. Predictions of the VHE emission for the nearby radiogalaxy Cen A and an interpretation of the broadband radiation of M 87 are presented.
In this paper we report on the spectral evolution of 4U 1608-522 performed as part of the long Galactic Bulge monitoring with INTEGRAL. The data set include the April 2005 outburst. BeppoSAX archival data (two observations, in 1998 and 2000) have been also analysed and compared with the INTEGRAL ones. Three different spectral states have been identified from the hard Color-Intensity diagram derived from INTEGRAL: the canonical Hard and Soft as well as an Intermediate state. The hard state spectrum is well described by a weak black body component plus a Comptonised plasma component with high electron temperature (kTe~60 keV) extending up to 200 keV without any additional cut-off. The soft spectra are characterized by a cold Comptonised plasma (kTe= 2-3 keV, and 7 keV for the intermediate state) and a strong disk black body component. A reflection component, indicating reflection of the X-ray radiation from the accretion disc, is also present in the soft state revealed by BeppoSAX in 1998. The 2000 BeppoSAX observation revealed the source in quiescent state modelled by a neutron star atmosphere (assuming a neutron star with radius 10 km and mass 1.4 Msun) with an effective temperature, kTeff of 0.1 keV plus a power law component with Gamma~3 detected for the first time for this source. This spectrum can also be modelled with a simple black body compatible with emission originating from a small fraction of the NS surface of radius of 0.4 km.
We study static solutions of the Tolman--Oppenheimer--Volkoff equations for spherically symmetric objects (stars) living in a space filled with the Chaplygin gas. Two cases are considered. In the normal case all solutions (excluding the de Sitter one) realize a three-dimensional spheroidal geometry because the radial coordinate achieves a maximal value (the "equator"). After crossing the equator, three scenarios are possible: a closed spheroid having a Schwarzschild-type singularity with infinite blue-shift at the "south pole", a regular spheroid, and a truncated spheroid having a scalar curvature singularity at a finite value of the radial coordinate. The second case arises when the modulus of the pressure exceeds the energy density (the phantom Chaplygin gas). There is no more equator and all solutions have the geometry of a truncated spheroid with the same type of singularity. We consider also static spherically symmetric configurations existing in a universe filled with the phantom Chaplygin gas only. In this case two classes of solutions exist: truncated spheroids and solutions of the wormhole type with a throat. However, the latter are not asymptotically flat and possess curvature singularities at finite values of the radial coordinate. Thus, they may not be used as models of observable compact astrophysical objects.
The detection of transiting extrasolar planets requires high-photometric quality and long-duration photometric stellar time-series. In this paper, we investigate the advantages provided by the Antarctic observing platform Dome C for planet transit detections during its long winter period, which allows for relatively long, uninterrupted time-series. Our calculations include limiting effects due to the Sun and Moon, cloud coverage and the effect of reduced photometric quality for high extinction of target fields. We compare the potential for long time-series from Dome C with a single site in Chile, a three-site low-latitude network as well as combinations of Dome C with Chile and the network, respectively. Dome C is one of the prime astronomical sites on Earth for obtaining uninterrupted long-duration observations in terms of prospects for a high observational duty cycle. The duty cycle of a project can, however, be significantly improved by integrating Dome C into a network of sites.
The different regimes of gravitational lensing constitutes an interesting tool in order to map the mass distribution in galaxy clusters on different scales. In this proceedings article, I review some work I have performed on this topic. More precisely, I will focus on : (i) galaxy scale substructures, using weak galaxy-galaxy lensing in order to study how does the environment shape their properties; (ii) the mass profile of Abell~1689 as probed combining strong and weak lensing; (iii) the slope of the inner dark matter distribution in Abell~1703 as measured by strong lensing. The lensing results will be compared to the expectations from numerical simulations, when available.
Cosmic ray acceleration in SNRs in the presence of the Alfv\'enic drift is considered. It is shown that spectra of accelerated particles may be considerably softer in the presence of amplified magnetic fields.
We present a joint analysis of ultra-violet (UV) data from the GALEX mission and (optical) colour profiles for a sample of 10 brightest cluster galaxies (BCGs) in the Canadian Cluster Comparison Project. We find that every BCG which has a blue rest-frame UV colour also shows a blue-core in its optical colour profile. Conversely, BCGs that lack blue cores and show monotonic colour gradients consistent with a decrease in metallicity with radius typical of old elliptical galaxies are red in the UV. We interpret this as evidence that the UV enhancement in the blue BCGs is driven by recent star formation and not from old evolved stellar populations such as horizontal branch stars. Furthermore, the UV enhancement cannot be from an AGN because the spatial extent of the blue cores is significantly larger than the typical sphere of influence of a massive black hole. The recent star formation in the blue BCGs typically has an age less than 0.5 Gyrs and contributes mass fractions of less than a percent. Although the sample studied here is small, we demonstrate, for the first time, a one-to-one correspondence between blue cores in elliptical galaxies (in particular BCGs) and a UV-enhancement observed using GALEX.
Over the past decade the use of the red clump (RC) as distance indicator has
increased in importance as this evolutionary phase is well populated and a good
local calibration exists.
The absolute calibration of the RC in the $I$ and $K$ band is investigated
again based on the recently published revised Hipparcos parallaxes.
A numerical model is developed that takes the various selection criteria and
the properties of the Hipparcos catalogue into account. The biases involved in
applying certain selections are estimated with this model.
The absolute magnitudes that are found are $M_{\rm I} = -0.22 \pm 0.03$ and
$M_{\rm K} = -1.54 \pm 0.04$ (on the 2MASS system). The $I$-band value is in
good agreement with previous determinations, the $K$-band value is fainter than
previously quoted, and this seems to be related to a selection bias whereby
accurate $K$-magnitudes are only available for relatively few bright stars.
Applying population corrections to the absolute $K$ magnitude of RC stars in
clusters supports the fainter magnitude scale.
We consider small-scale spheroidal clusters of weakly interacting massive particles in our Galaxy as non-compact gravitational microlenses and predict the appearance of caustics in the plane of a lensed source. The crossing of these caustics by a lensed star can produce a large variety of light curves, including some observed in actual microlensing events that have been interpreted as manifestations of binary gravitational lenses. We consider also observable effects during the gravitational microlensing of stars of non-zero angular size with a given brightness distribution across their disks by such an exotic objects as natural wormholes and objects whose space-time environment is described with the NUT metric. We demonstrate that, under certain conditions, the microlensing light curves, chromatic and polarizational effects due to the properties of the lens and the star disk brightness distributions can differ considerably from those observed for a Schwarzschild gravitational lens, so that their analysis can facilitate the identification of such objects.
We have explored radial color and stellar surface mass density profiles for a sample of 85 late-type spiral galaxies with deep (down to $\sim$27 mag/arcsec$^2$) SDSS g' and r' band surface brightness profiles. About $90 % $ of the light profiles have been classified as broken exponentials, either exhibiting truncations (Type II galaxies) or antitruncations (Type III galaxies). The color profiles of Type II galaxies show a 'U-shape' with a minimum of $(g'-r') = 0.47 \pm 0.02$ mag at the break radius. Around the break radius Type III galaxies have a plateau region with a color of $(g'-r') = 0.57 \pm 0.02$. Using the color to calculate the stellar surface mass density profiles reveals a surprising result. The breaks, well established in the light profiles of the truncated galaxies, are almost gone, and the mass profiles resemble now those of the pure exponential (Type I) galaxies. This result suggests that the origin of the break in Type II galaxies is more likely due to a radial change in stellar population than being associated to an actual drop in the distribution of mass. Type III galaxies however seem to preserve their shape in the stellar mass density profiles. We find that the stellar surface mass density at the break for truncated galaxies is $13.6 \pm 1.6 {\rm M}_{\sun}{\rm pc}^{-2}$ and $ 9.9 \pm 1.3 {\rm M}_{\sun}{\rm pc}^{-2}$ for the antitruncated ones. We estimate that the fraction of stellar mass outside the break radius is $\sim 15 %$ for truncated galaxies and $ \sim 9 %$ for antitruncated galaxies.
We report the discovery that substructures/subhaloes of a galaxy-size halo tend to fall in together in groups in cosmological simulations, something that may explain the oddity of the MW satellite distribution. The original clustering at the time of infall is still discernible in the angular momenta of the subhaloes even for events which took place up to eight Gyrs ago, $z \sim 1$. This phenomenon appears to be rather common since at least 1/3 of the present-day subhaloes have fallen in groups in our simulations. Hence, this may well explain the Lynden-Bell & Lynden-Bell ghostly streams. We have also found that the probability of building up a flattened distribution similar to the MW satellites is as high as $\sim 80%$ if the MW satellites were from only one group and $\sim 20%$ when five groups are involved. Therefore, we conclude that the `peculiar' distribution of satellites around the MW can be expected with the CDM structure formation theory. This non-random assignment of satellites to subhaloes implies an environmental dependence on whether these low-mass objects are able to form stars, possibly related to the nature of reionization in the early Universe.
Absolute flux distributions for eight stars are well measured from 0.8-2.5mu m with NICMOS grism spectrophotometry at a resolution of R~100 and an accuracy of 1-2%. These SEDs are fit with Castelli & Kurucz model atmospheres; and the results are compared with the Cohen-Walker-Witteborn (CWW) template models for the same stars. In some cases, the T_{eff}, log g, and log z parameters of the best fitting model differ by up to 1000 K from the earlier CWW model. However, differences in the continua of the modeled IR flux distributions from 0.4-40mu m are always less than the quoted CWW uncertainty of 5% because of compensating changes in the measured extinction. At wavelengths longward of the 2.5mu m NICMOS limit, uncertainties still approach 5%, because A-star models are not yet perfect. All of these A stars lie in the JWST continuous viewing zone and will be important absolute flux standards for the 0.8-30mu m JWST wavelength range.
We compute one-loop corrections to the power spectrum of the curvature perturbation in single-field slow-roll inflation arising from gravitons and inflaton interactions. The quantum corrections due to gravitons to the power spectrum of the inflaton field are computed around the time of horizon crossing and their effect on the curvature perturbation is obtained on superhorizon scales through the delta-N formalism. We point out that one-loop corrections from the tensor modes are of the same magnitude as those coming from scalar self-interactions, therefore they cannot be neglected in a self-consistent calculation.
Analytic methods to investigate periodic orbits in galactic potentials. To evaluate the quality of the approximation of periodic orbits in the logarithmic potential constructed using perturbation theory based on Hamiltonian normal forms. The solutions of the equations of motion corresponding to periodic orbits are obtained as series expansions computed by inverting the normalizing canonical transformation. To improve the convergence of the series a resummation based on a continued fraction may be performed. This method is analogous to that looking for approximate rational solutions (Prendergast method). It is shown that with a normal form truncated at the lowest order incorporating the relevant resonance it is possible to construct quite accurate solutions both for normal modes and periodic orbits in general position.
A paradox associated with the astrophysical Poynting-Robertson effect is presented. The paradox arises when relativity theory and Mie's solution of Maxwell's equations are confronted with the statements on the Poynting-Robertson effect. Although the relevant physics has been known already for a century (Poynting 1903, Einstein 1905, Mie 1908), nobody has been aware of the inconsistency between the theories.
It is shown that globular clusters and the dwarf spheroidal companions of the Galaxy have a different distribution of flattening values, and appear to occupy adjacent regions of the M_v versus log R_h plane that can be separated by what will be referred to as the Shapley line. Surprisingly, typical dwarf spheroidal companions to the Milky Way System are fainter than the average Galactic globular cluster.
Observations of the intergalactic medium (IGM) suggest that quasars reionize HeII in the IGM at z ~ 3. We have run a set of 190 and 430 comoving Mpc simulations of HeII being reionized by quasars to develop an understanding of the nature of HeII reionization and its potential impact on observables. We find that HeII reionization heats regions in the IGM by as much as 25,000 K above the temperature that is expected otherwise, with the volume-averaged temperature increasing by ~ 12,000 K and with large temperature fluctuations on ~ 50 Mpc scales. Much of the heating occurs far from QSOs by hard photons. We find a temperature-density equation of state of gamma -1 ~ 0.3 during HeII reionization, but with a wide dispersion in this relation having sigma ~ 10^4 K. HeII reionization by the observed population of quasars cannot produce an inverted relation (gamma - 1 < 0). Our simulations are consistent with the observed evolution in the mean transmission of the HeII Ly-alpha forest. We argue that the heat input due to HeII reionization is unable to cause the observed depression at z = 3.2 in the HI Ly-alpha forest opacity as has been suggested. We investigate how uncertainties in the properties of QSOs and of HeII Lyman-limit systems influence our predictions.
EPOXI (EPOCh + DIXI) is a NASA Discovery Program Mission of Opportunity using the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft. The EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) Science Investigation will gather photometric time series of known transiting exoplanet systems from January through August 2008. Here we describe the steps in the photometric extraction of the time series and present preliminary results of the first four EPOCh targets.
HiRes has made the first statistically significant observation of the Griessen-Zatsepin-Kuzmin suppression, by fitting the ultra high energy cosmic ray spectrum observed in monocular mode by the two HiRes detectors to a broken power law model. We find the break to be at an energy of $5.6\times10^{19}$ eV, with a significance of $5.3\sigma$;. The significance is determined by Poisson statistics where we expect 43.2 events above the break point, but observe only 13. We have also looked for correlations between HiRes stereo events and active galactic nuclei. We observe no statistically significant correlation in a number of different tests. We have performed a search for upward going showers, which would be indicative of neutrinos propagating through the Earth and interacting just below the surface. Observing no such events, we set a limit on the electron neutrino flux. This limit is significantly lower in this topology than limits on the other types of neutrinos due to the LPM effect greatly increasing the available target mass for neutrino interactions. Finally we look forward to improving these and other results in our work in the Telescope Array.
We performed, for the first time, the simulation of spiral-in of a star cluster formed close to the Galactic center (GC) using a fully self-consistent N-body simulation of the system of the central super-massive black hole (SMBH), surrounding stars and the star cluster with stellar evolution and collisions included. We found that an intermediate-mass black hole (IMBH) is formed in the star cluster and stars escaped from the cluster are captured into the 1:1 mean motion resonance with the IMBH. These ``Trojan'' stars are brought close to the SMBH by the IMBH, which spirals into the GC due to the dynamical friction. Our results show that, once the IMBH is formed, it brings the massive stars to the vicinity of the central SMBH even after the star cluster itself is disrupted. Stars carried by the IMBH form a disk similar to the observed disks and the core of the cluster including the IMBH have similar properties as those of IRS13E, which is a compact assembly of several young stars.
Recently, Tiwari, Chaubey, & Pandey (2007) detected the bright component of the visual binary HD151878 to exhibit rapid photometric oscillations through a Johnson B filter with a period of 6 min (2.78 mHz) and a high, modulated amplitude up to 22 mmag peak-to-peak, making this star by far the highest amplitude roAp star known. As a new roAp star, HD151878 is of additional particular interest as a scarce example of the class in the northern sky, and only the second known case of an evolved roAp star - the other being HD 116114. We used the FIES spectrograph at the Nordic Optical Telescope to obtain high time resolution spectra at high dispersion to attempt to verify the rapid oscillations. We show here that the star at this epoch is spectroscopically stable to rapid oscillations of no more than a few tens of m/s. The high-resolution spectra furthermore show the star to be of type Am rather than Ap and we show the star lacks most of the known characteristics for rapidly oscillating Ap stars. We conclude that this is an Am star that does not pulsate with a 6-min period. The original discovery of pulsation is likely to be an instrumental artefact.
The atmospheric Cherenkov gamma-ray telescope MAGIC, designed for a low-energy threshold, has detected very-high-energy gamma rays from a giant flare of the distant Quasi-Stellar Radio Source (in short: radio quasar) 3C 279, at a distance of more than 5 billion light-years (a redshift of 0.536). No quasar has been observed previously in very-high-energy gamma radiation, and this is also the most distant object detected emitting gamma rays above 50 gigaelectron volts. Since high-energy gamma rays may be stopped by interacting with the diffuse background light in the universe, the observations by MAGIC imply a low amount for such light, consistent with that known from galaxy counts.
The formation of resonant planets pairs in exoplanetary systems involves planetary migration inside the protoplanetary disc : an inwards migrating outer planet captures in Mean Motion Resonance an inner planet. During the migration of the resonant pair of planets, the eccentricities are expected to rise excessively, if no damping mechanism is applied on the inner planet. We express the required damping action to match the observations, and we show that the inner disk can play this role. This result applies for instance to the system GJ 876 : we reproduce the observed orbital elements through a fully hydrodynamical simulation of the evolution of the resonant planets.
We report the discovery of a new Milky Way dwarf spheroidal galaxy in the constellation of Leo identified in data from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey. Leo V lies at a distance of about 180 kpc, and is separated by about 3 degrees from another recent discovery, Leo IV. We present follow-up imaging from the Isaac Newton Telescope and spectroscopy from the Hectochelle fiber spectrograph at the Multiple Mirror Telescope. Leo V's heliocentric velocity is 173.4 km/s, which is offset by about 40 km/s from that of Leo IV. A simple interpretation of the kinematic data is that both objects may lie on the same stream, though the implied orbit is only modestly eccentric (e = 0.2)
We carried out extensive numerical orbit integrations to probe the long-term chaotic dynamics of the two strongest mean motion resonances of Neptune in the Kuiper belt, the 3:2 (Plutinos) and 2:1 (Twotinos). Our primary results include a computation of the relative volumes of phase space characterized by large- and small-resonance libration amplitudes, and maps of resonance stability measured by mean chaotic diffusion rate. We find that Neptune's 2:1 resonance has weaker overall long-term stability than the 3:2 -- only 15% of Twotinos are projected to survive for 4 Gyr, compared to 28% of Plutinos. We find that Pluto has only a modest effect, causing a ~4% decrease in the Plutino population that survives to 4 Gyr. Given current observational estimates, we conclude that the primordial populations of Plutinos and Twotinos formerly made up more than half the population of the classical and resonant Kuiper Belt. We also conclude that Twotinos were originally nearly as numerous as Plutinos, consistent with models of Neptune's migration and resonance sweeping of the Kuiper Belt.
The NASA Discovery mission EPOXI, utilizing the Deep Impact flyby spacecraft, comprises two phases: EPOCh (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization) and DIXI (Deep Impact eXtended Investigation). With EPOCh, we use the 30-cm high resolution visible imager to obtain ultraprecise photometric light curves of known transiting planet systems. We will analyze these data for evidence of additional planets, via transit timing variations or transits; for planetary moons or rings; for detection of secondary eclipses and the constraint of geometric planetary albedos; and for refinement of the system parameters. Over a period of four months, EPOCh observed four known transiting planet systems, with each system observed continuously for several weeks. Here we present an overview of EPOCh, including the spacecraft and science goals, and preliminary photometry results.
I report on observations of the z=0.01 dwarf galaxy SBS1543+593 which is projected onto the background QSO HS1543+5921. As a star-forming galaxy first noted in emission, this dwarf is playing a pivotal role in our understanding of high-redshift galaxy populations, because it also gives rise to a Damped Lyman Alpha system. This enabled us to analyze, for the first time, the chemical abundance of $\alpha$ elements in a Damped Lyman Alpha galaxy using both, emission and absorption diagnostics. We find that the abundances agree with one another within the observational uncertainties. I discuss the implications of this result for the interpretation of high-redshift galaxy observations. A catalog of dwarf-galaxy--QSO projections culled from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey is provided to stimulate future work.
The mysterious 3rd magnitude long period eclipsing binary star system epsilon Aurigae is predicted to be starting its 2 year eclipse in the late summer of 2009. While this is when the real excitement starts, much is to be learned before first contact. This paper discusses current observational results that have accumulated thus far, using photometric monitoring, H-alpha spectroscopy and with other data sources. Key among the findings are that (1) the low amplitude light variation quasi-period has decreased significantly over the past 20 years, and (2) that the duration of egress, eclipse-to-eclipse has been decreasing, while the duration of total eclipse has been increasing. The website for the observing campaign is: www.du.edu/~rstencel/epsaur.htm .
Accurately understanding the interior structure of extra-solar planets is critical for inferring their formation and evolution and resolving the origin of anomalous planetary radii. The internal density distribution of the planet has a direct effect on the star-planet orbit through the gravitational quadrupole of rotational and tidal bulges, measured by the planetary Love number ($k_{2p}$, twice the apsidal motion constant). We find that the quadrupole of the planetary tidal bulges dominates the rate of apsidal precession of single very hot Jupiters by more than an order of magnitude over general relativity and the stellar quadrupole. For the shortest-period planets, the planetary interior induces precession of a few degrees per year. By investigating the full photometric signal of apsidal precession, we find that transit timing induces a relatively small signal compared to the changes in transit shapes. With its long baseline of ultra-precise photometry, the future space-based \emph{Kepler} mission should be able to realistically detect the presence or absence of a core in very hot Jupiters with orbital eccentricities as low as $e \simeq 0.001$. We show that the signal due to $k_{2p}$ is not degenerate with other parameters and has a unique signature on the transit light curve. This technique provides the first readily employed method for directly probing the interiors of extra-solar planets.
From Doppler velocity maps of active regions constructed from spectra obtained by the Extreme-ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (EIS) on the Hinode spacecraft we observe large areas of outflow (20-50 km/s) that can persist for at least a day. These outflows occur in areas of active regions that are faint in coronal spectral lines formed at typical quiet Sun and active region temperatures. The outflows are positively correlated with non-thermal velocities in coronal plasmas. The bulk mass motions and non-thermal velocities are derived from spectral line centroids and line widths, mostly from a strong line of Fe XII at 195.12 Angstroms. The electron temperature of the outflow regions estimated from an Fe XIII to Fe XII line intensity ratio is about 1.2-1.4 MK. The electron density of the outflow regions derived from a density sensitive intensity ratio of Fe XII lines is rather low for an active region. Most regions average around 7E10+8 cm(-3), but there are variations on pixel spatial scales of about a factor of 4. We discuss results in detail for two active regions observed by EIS. Images of active regions in line intensity, line width, and line centroid are obtained by rastering the regions. We also discuss data from the active regions obtained from other orbiting spacecraft that support the conclusions obtained from analysis of the EIS spectra. The locations of the flows in the active regions with respect to the longitudinal photospheric magnetic fields suggest that these regions might be tracers of long loops and/or open magnetic fields that extend into the heliosphere, and thus the flows could possibly contribute significantly to the solar wind.
We investigate the future evolution of the dark energy universe in modified gravities, including $F(R)$-theory, string-inspired scalar-Gauss-Bonnet and modified Gauss-Bonnet gravities and ideal fluid with inhomogeneous equation of state (EoS). Modified Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) dynamics for all these theories may be presented in universal form using the effective ideal fluid with inhomogeneous EoS. Applying the reconstruction program the explicit modified gravity examples which produce accelerating cosmologies ending at finite-time future singularity of all four known types are constructed. Some scenarios to resolve the finite-time future singularity are presented. Among of them, the most natural one is related with additional modification of gravitational action at the early universe. Late-time cosmology in the non-minimal Maxwell-Einstein theory is considered. We investigate the forms of the non-minimal gravitational coupling which generates the finite-time future singularities and the general conditions for this coupling in order that the finite-time future singularities cannot emerge. Furthermore, it is shown that the non-minimal gravitational coupling can remove the finite-time future singularities or make the singularity stronger (or weaker) in modified gravity.
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